10 things you need to know today: April 2, 2016

(Image credit: Alex Brandon/Associated Press)

Jump to category:

1. Obama slams Trump comments on nuclear weapons
2. U.S. adds 215,000 jobs in March, unemployment ticks up to 5 percent
3. Sanders and Clinton make early plays for votes in New York
4. State Department suspends review of Hillary Clinton emails
5. Clinton leads Trump with women by 23 points
6. Officials urge action at Zika summit
7. Tesla takes 232,000 Model 3 pre-orders
8. Blogger Andrew Sullivan returns to covering politics
9. Tiger Woods to miss Masters
10. NCAA readies for Final Four face-offs

published 2 April 2016

1. Obama slams Trump comments on nuclear weapons

Speaking at the end of the Nuclear Security Summit on Friday, President Obama criticized Donald Trump's suggestion that Japan and South Korea should obtain nuclear weapons. "The person who made the statements doesn't know much about foreign policy or nuclear policy or the Korean Peninsula or the world, generally," he said. The Republican presidential frontrunner said the nations would be able to defend themselves from North Korea with nuclear weapons, and the U.S. could pull out of Asia.

The U.S. economy exceeded expectations by adding 215,000 jobs in March. The unemployment rate rose slightly to 5 percent from 4.9 percent, largely because the labor force grew by some 400,000 people, suggesting that more and more people are actively seeking jobs. Average hourly earnings rose by 0.3 percent month-on-month, and were up 2.3 percent from the same period last year. In the first three months of 2016, job gains have averaged 209,000 per month.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are already campaigning in New York ahead of its April 19 primary. Both candidates have deep ties to the state — Clinton, whose primary home is in Chappaqua, is noting her eight years representing the state in the U.S. Senate, while Sanders is talking about his childhood in Brooklyn. New York, with 247 delegates, is the second-largest pool of pledged delegates left after California, and Sanders is hoping an upset victory over Clinton will propel him to the nomination.

The State Department suspended its internal review of Hillary Clinton's emails at the request of the FBI, a spokeswoman said Friday. "The FBI communicated to us that we should follow our standard practice, which is to put our internal review on hold while there is an ongoing law enforcement investigation," Elizabeth Trudeau said. Clinton has come under scrutiny for using a private email server as secretary of state.

Donald Trump's unpopularity with women could prove detrimental to his chances of winning a general election if he becomes the Republican Party's presidential nominee, a new national survey by Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg out Friday revealed. Clinton leads Trump by a whopping 23 points among women, and she pulls even further ahead with unmarried women, leading 73 percent to Trump's 21 percent. Only among married women does Trump enjoy a slim three-point advantage.

Federal officials urged local and state agencies to take action against the Zika virus at a White House-convened summit Friday. "If we wait until we see widespread transmission in the United States, if we wait until the public is panicking because they're seeing babies born with birth defects, we will have waited too late," said Amy Pope, a deputy homeland security adviser. The mosquito-borne virus hasn't yet been transmitted locally in the U.S., but it's been spreading in territories, including Puerto Rico.

Tesla has taken at least 232,200 pre-orders since unveiling its Model 3 Thursday evening. Customers lined up outside showrooms in the U.S. and Europe to plunk down $1,000 deposits and place orders on the new model, whose price starts at $35,000. Previous Tesla vehicles have sold for $69,000 to more than $100,000. The Model 3, which can go 215 miles on a single charge, is scheduled for release in 2017.

After a yearlong hiatus from the world of political commentating, Andrew Sullivan is officially back in the business — but not back to his blog, The Dish. New York Magazine announced Friday that the former New Republic editor has joined its team as a contributing editor. Sullivan says his break was "revelatory," but with Donald Trump leading the Republican presidential race, he decided it was time for him to do his "civic duty to get engaged with this election."

Golf legend Tiger Woods will miss the 2016 Masters tournament, set to start Thursday. Woods is recovering from September back surgery. "I've been hitting balls and training daily, but I'm not physically ready. I've said all along that this time I need to be cautious and do what's best for my long-term health and career," he said in a statement Friday. "Unfortunately, playing Augusta next week wouldn't be the right decision."

Explore More

Julie Kliegman is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed, Vox, Mental Floss, Paste, the Tampa Bay Times and PolitiFact. Her cats can do somersaults.