(Image source: WEWS )

BY NATHAN BYRNE

ANCHOR LOGAN TITTLE  

President Obama kicks off day two of his Rust Belt bus tour. HLN reports the president is going after his opponent .

“ … saying Mitt Romney is not prepared to stand up to China on trade. And the president repeated claims that Romney’s old company, Bain Capital, sent jobs overseas. Mitt Romney strongly denies that.”

Economists expect low numbers in June’s jobs report — which comes out today. Fox News says it could pose a problem for the Obama campaign .

“ … and he hopes these job numbers refuel his stops today, because if they are bad, it’s going to be very hard to paint a positive picture.”

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton isn’t pleased with two notable absences from today’s Friends of Syria meeting in Paris. The BBC has more details .

“The Russians said that they saw no point in another Friends of Syria meeting being held and they decided to stay away. China followed suit. So, that’s a disappointment to the international community, which is trying to rally everybody together.”

Meanwhile, a Syrian general has become the country’s most senior military defector. And euronews reports he’ll be attending the Friends of Syria meeting .

“Manaf Tlass, the Syrian army general reported to have defected is said to be on his way to the French capital. That would cheer the 100-nation group which, given the continued absence of Russia and China, often appears to be nothing more than a talking shop.”