Midday Roundup: Britain moves to help more migrants

Hazardous journey. Britain will take in thousands more Syrian refugees to try to alleviate the flood of migrants overwhelming Europe, Prime Minister David Cameron announced today. The government is targeting its efforts closer to the source of the problem by working on a plan to resettle people from Syrian refugee camps, not those already in Europe. “This provides them with a more direct and safe route to the U.K. rather than risk the hazardous journey, which has tragically cost so many lives,” Cameron said. The announcement came the day after a heartbreaking photo of a drowned Syrian toddler was published around the world. Three-year-old Aylan Kurdi had fled Syria with his family and died on a boat trip from Turkey to Greece. His mother and brother also drowned; all three were buried today in their hometown of Kobani, Syria. Their father and husband, Abdullah Kurdi, said he will remain in Syria now to be close to his family. Meanwhile, hundreds of refugees trying to get out of Hungary and deeper into Europe broke through a police barrier at a railway station in Budapest and started running down the train tracks. It is 84 miles from there to the Austrian border.

Pinky promise. GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump met with Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus yesterday and pledged not to run as a third-party candidate if he fails to win the party’s nomination in 2016. Trump made headlines last month during the Fox News GOP Republican primary debate as the only candidate not willing to rule out a third-party run. He said at the time it would depend on how the GOP treated him. Most political observers say an independent run by Trump would be disastrous for the Republican Party, almost certainly ensuring a Democratic win in the 2016 presidential contest.

Secret testimony. Democrats want the congressional testimony of a key Hillary Clinton aide made public immediately. Cheryl Mills, Clinton’s chief of staff during her stint as secretary of state, testified behind closed doors yesterday before the House Select Committee on Benghazi. The Committee’s ranking member, Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., said the probe into the 2012 terrorist attack on Benghazi is just an attempt to derail Clinton’s presidential bid, and he wants the facts out now. But Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., said the investigation has to run its course, and Mills won’t be given special treatment. Bryan Pagliano, a Clinton aide who oversaw the setup of her private email server, said he would plead the Fifth Amendment if he’s called to testify before the Benghazi committee.

Good-ish news. The U.S. unemployment rate fell to 5.1 percent in August, the lowest it has been since April 2008. Though the number signals the country might have recovered from its monetary meltdown, the fact that employers added fewer jobs than expected last month shows it’s not full-speed-ahead for the economy just yet. The mixed signals in the jobs report made investors scratch their heads, and U.S. markets opened slightly down this morning.

WORLD Radio’s Mary Reichard and Jim Henry and The Associated Press contributed to this report.