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The U.S. economy gained just 126,000 jobs in March, a figure well short of economists' expectations and the weakest growth since December 2013, the Labor Department reports. The unemployment rate held steady at 5.5 percent.

The consensus among economic forecasters had been for 245,000 new jobs, which would have continued a 200,000+ monthly streak that has been the longest such spurt of job growth since the early 1990s. Over the last year alone, the U.S. economy has added 3 million jobs.

Robust jobs numbers from January and February were also revised downward by 69,000 total, according to the monthly Employment Situation Survey.

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The labor participation rate remained nearly unchanged.

Jason Furman, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers said in a statement that: "A range of factors including the weather and the global economic slowdown have affected economic data for the first quarter. The President has been clear that he will continue to push for policies including investments in infrastructure and relief from the sequester that would help ensure the strong underlying longer-term trends persist."

Despite the tepid news, average monthly salaries for nonfarm payrolls in March were up slightly, 7 cents to $24.86. The average hourly earnings of private-sector and nonsupervisory employees rose by 4 cents to $20.86.

The latest report bucks a trend that the BLS says saw an average of 269,000 new jobs per month in the previous 12 months. However, with Friday's revisions factored in, the average for the last three months has been 197,000.

The Associated Press notes: "Economic growth has been hammered this year by winter weather, factory slowdowns and lackluster construction activity. The manufacturing, construction and government sectors each shed workers, while hiring at restaurants plunged from February."

Wall Street will have a long weekend to ponder the meaning of the latest employment figures because markets are closed today for Good Friday. But, the apparent deceleration in hiring could cause the Federal Reserve to hold off on raising interest rates.

Economist John Canally of LPL Financial tells NPR's John Ydstie that what "the Fed wants to see, or hopes to see, is that all this growth in the job market will eventually begin to push up wages. And then wages are a prerequisite to get any kind of inflation to stick. So until you get some wage inflation, you're not likely to get very much overall inflation in the economy."

Sectors that added jobs in March include professional and business services (40,000); retail trade (26,000) and health care (22,000). By contrast, mining lost 11,000 jobs.

Canally says there was weakness in weather-related sectors such as construction, amusement, accommodations and food.

"With the port strike over, the weather improving, and most of the oil patch cap ex cuts behind us, the labor market is likely to re-accelerate in the coming months," he says.

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Pope Francis, in his annual Urbi et Orbi ("To the City [Rome] and to the World") Easter address at St. Peter's Basilica, praised the framework agreement on Iran's nuclear program and expressed concern about bloodshed in Africa and the Middle East.

"[In] hope we entrust to the merciful Lord the framework recently agreed to in Lausanne, that it may be a definitive step toward a more secure and fraternal world," the pope said in his first public comment on the deal reached in Switzerland.

The Associated Press reports that

"During Mass, Francis was shielded from pelting rain by a canopy erected outside St. Peter's Basilica, while prelates carried umbrellas in the yellow and white colors of the Vatican.

"The downpour petered out to a drizzle, and by the end of the ceremony, the rain had stopped. Francis, wearing a white overcoat, was driven through the square in the open-sided popemobile so he could wave to the faithful."

The pope asked for peace and denounced "arms dealers, who earn their living with the blood of men and women."

Speaking of "absurd bloodshed and all barbarous acts of violence," the pontiff singled out the fighting in places such as Yemen, Nigeria, Syria, Iraq and Libya and decried Christians targeted by Islamist extremists and "the suffering of so many of our brothers persecuted because of his name."

He also called for the warring parties in Ukraine to "rediscover peace and hope thanks to the commitment of all interested parties."

Pope Francis

Easter Sunday

This story starts when Neil Richardson retired and moved to Braintree, a small town in Essex, northeast of London. Richardson didn't know his new neighbors, but strangely, they knew him.

"[As] I walked through the streets," he tells NPR's Rachel Martin, "I was really surprised at how many people waved to me and said, 'Hello, John!' 'Hello, John!' "

One person in a cafe even said to him, "You're John Jemison, aren't you?"

This went on for months, until he finally ran into the real John Jemison. Ignorant of each other, they each signed up for a trip to a British Library exhibition on the Magna Carta. The hellos began again, Richardson says, on the bus to London.

"I heard someone say" — but not to Richardson this time — " 'Hello, John.' 'Hello, Mr. Jemison.' "

"At that point," Jemison continues the story, "Neil said to me, 'You must be John Jemison.' And I said, 'Yes, I am. What have I done now?' "

The pair struck up a conversation, and then a friendship, discovering they shared more than an affinity for British constitutional history.

"We started swapping life stories, and that's when the really spooky bit happened, when we found that there were so many similarities in our lives," Jemison says.

Both studied at the College of St. Mark and St. John in Chelsea in the 1960s. Both went on to become religious education teachers. Both still sing in choirs; they bank at same bank.

"We've both got sons who play the didgeridoo," says Richardson.

"Yeah, how about that!" Jemison says.

And they look alike.

"From my point of view ... he doesn't look like me at all, but other people say he's my twin," Richardson says.

"I'm very aware of the differences," agrees Jemison. "I'm a lot better looking than he is, for instance."

Despite the incredible similarities, they've compared family histories and are satisfied that they're not related. They simply can't account for the coincidences.

But Jemison is willing to let Hamlet try: "What's the word? 'There are many things in this world, Horatio,' is it? I haven't got the exact right ... "

" 'There's more to Heaven and Earth than in your philosophy, Horatio,' " Richardson helps him out.

"Yeah, that's it!" says Jemison. They both laugh.

There are golf carts and palm trees and an Olympic-sized pool at the Mohammed Bin Naif Counseling and Care Center, a sprawling complex on the outskirts of Saudi Arabia's capital, Riyadh.

Once a holiday resort, the walled compound still looks like one — and not a rehabilitation center for convicted terrorists.

In the past year, the country has expanded counter-terrorism laws that make it illegal for Saudis to fight in Syria and Iraq. The kingdom has also expanded the terrorism rehab centers.

More than 3,000 young Saudi men graduated from the program since it began in 2008, including 120 former prisoners from a U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay.

The centers only work with inmates not convicted for violent crimes. The Saudis claim a success rate of more than 80 percent of the detainees returning to their families as well-adjusted members of Saudi society.

On my visit, the inmates are kept out of sight, except for a handpicked star graduate, 29-year-old Badr al-Anzi. Two years ago, he was set to join the militants of the self-declared Islamic State. Now he's a model of rehabilitation.

"I wanted to go to jihad," explains al-Anzi, who has a wife and three daughters. His plan was to travel to Syria with his cousin and brother, but he was arrested when he tried to pick up his passport at a government office.

After a six-month jail sentence, al-Anzi was sent to the rehab center. His treatment was intense, with psychological counseling, religious re-education, vocational training, plus financial incentives. Al-Anzi now attends college on a scholarship. He had help finding a job.

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Many inmates draw pictures of castles. Al-Yami, the art therapist, interprets them to mean, "I'm not going to give you any information. I'm behind the wall and you can't get through." Deb Amos hide caption

itoggle caption Deb Amos

Many inmates draw pictures of castles. Al-Yami, the art therapist, interprets them to mean, "I'm not going to give you any information. I'm behind the wall and you can't get through."

Deb Amos

He makes monthly visits to the center to counsel others.

"Now, I want to fight ISIS," he says, which he does on Twitter, challenging Saudi recruits to quit and come home.

Al-Anzi's was an easy case. He never made it to the battlefield. But what about the hardened cases, the al-Qaida extremists?

"They're not so tough," says Dr. Awad Al-Yami, a counselor here. "These are our kids, and anyway, they are members of our society, and they are hurting us. We feel obligated to help them."

Al-Yami trained as an art therapist at the University of Pennsylvania. He pioneered an innovative program that's unusual in Saudi's ultra-conservative culture, where some clerics say that drawing is forbidden.

"I had a hard time convincing my people with art, let alone art therapy for jihadists," he says.

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But the program has delivered results.

"Actually, art creates balance for your psyche," he says.

It is also a window on the psyche, he says. Drawing is a way for inmates to express emotions, anger and depression, when they first arrive at the center.

He keeps a gallery of paintings, which he analyzes like a detective. The black and white landscapes, which depict scenes from Afghanistan, mean an inmate is still living in the past.

After a few months of counseling, the paintings show more promise. Inmates use color and depict scenes from family life in Riyadh. Al-Yami says this is a sign that the inmate is coming to terms with coming home.

There is a striking number of inmates who draw pictures of castles with high walls. Those send a distinct message, according to Al-Yami.

"I'm not going to give you any information," he says. "I'm behind the wall and you can't get through. If I give you information, I am weak."

He takes the failures hard. Some 20 percent of the inmates here go back to the fight. One spectacular failure went on to become an al-Qaida leader in Yemen.

Now, Al-Yami is preparing for a new wave of inmates: the ISIS generation. He knows they are more extreme than al-Qaida.

"We've got some in prison, waiting for their sentences to be over and they will be here," he says.

Can he reach them, too? He pauses before he answers.

"What the hell am I going to do with ISIS?" he says, a man who knows his toughest challenge is ahead.

Saudi Arabia