Survey: US jobless to reach 9.4% this year

The US jobless rate will reach 9.4 percent this year and remain elevated through at least 2011, a monthly Bloomberg News survey indicates. 

The peak in unemployment surpasses the 8.8% estimated last month, according to the median of 54 projections in a survey taken from March 2 to March 9. 

The average rate for the next two years will exceed the 25-year high of 8.1% reached in February, the survey shows. 

The White House projected the jobless rate will decline to 7.9 percent next year. A worse performance means President Barack Obama's $787 billion stimulus plan may not prove sufficient, analysts said. 

The unemployment rate in February was the highest since 1983, and employers cut 651,000 workers from payrolls, the government reported last week. The US has already lost 4.4 million jobs since the recession began in Dec. 2007. 

Federal Reserve policy makers in January estimated US long-term growth potential at 2.5% to 2.7%, with an unemployment rate of 4.8% to 5%, a level that will be exceeded for at least four years, according to the Bloomberg survey. 

The world's largest economy will shrink 2.5% this year, the most since 1946, and expand 1.8% next year, according to the survey median. Both figures were lower than estimated last month. 

As unemployment rises, more Americans will be unable to make mortgage or car payments, choking off growth and leading to even higher joblessness, said David Rosenberg, chief North American economist at Banc of America Securities - Merrill Lynch in New York. 

Rosenberg projected the jobless rate would reach 10% by the end of the year.

UN to investigate CIA's gulag archipelago

Two United Nations special rapporteurs say that they plan to investigate secret detention centers used by the CIA in its counter-terrorism campaign. 

"We call on all governments to cooperate, not just in clarifying the facts, but in ensuring that such secret detention centers will no longer be used in the future," Manfred Nowak, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture said on Tuesday. 

Nowak and Martin Scheinin, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counter-terrorism, will study locations alleged to have hosted such secret detention centers, including US military bases. 

The detention and interrogation program of the Central Intelligence Agency was authorized under a classified September 17, 2001 presidential order. 

After years of refusing to deny or confirm the existence of the Presidential Order on Detention Facilities Abroad, in response to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the U.S. government acknowledged its existence in 2006. 

It has refused to make the document public, however, or even provide it to members of Congress. 

Human rights advocates state that secret detention, otherwise known as enforced disappearances, violates a host of human rights norms. 

It prevents detainees from asserting the right to judicial and administrative remedies for arbitrary detention and violation of the right to liberty and security of the person. 

It enables detaining authorities to expect impunity for acts of torture and other cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment and violation of rights to life and to fair and public trial. 

However, it seems that change really is in the air in the United States, since the Obama team has signalled that they want to adopt a more civilized approach in contrast to the Bush administration's flippant attitude toward human rights.

Illinois Pastor shot dead during service

A gunman has attacked an Illinois church packed with some 150 people, killing a pastor during service, the Maryville Police Department says. 

The incident took place on Sunday morning in front of the perplexed parishioners in the First Baptist Church in Maryville, about 30 km (20 miles) northeast of St. Louis, Illinois. 

The suicidal attacker walked up one of the aisles at the church and exchanged words with Pastor Fred Winters, who walked over towards him. The suspect then pulled out a .45-caliber pistol and fired one shot, Illinois State police spokesman Ralph Timmens said. 

The gunman then pulled out a knife began stabbing himself when the gun jammed, police said. 

"Some parishioners tackled him and held him on the floor," Timmens said, AFP reported. 

"Two subjects received knife injuries during the restriction of the subject and were treated at hospital." 

According to police, there were approximately 150 people in the church at the time of the incident. 

Two of those who went after the attacker suffered non-life-threatening injuries, while the suspect's injuries are "very serious," Timmens said. 

The Illinois shooting is believed to be the nation's first in a church since July, when a 58-year-old man opened fire in a Knoxville, Tennessee. Two people were killed and six others were wounded in the shooting at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church.

Obama sets 2010 Iraq withdrawal date

President Barack Obama declares the end of combat operations in Iraq, saying a major troop drawdown would be in effect by August 31, 2010. 

Obama's withdrawal proclamation at Marine Corps base at Camp LeJeune comes after weeks of discussions with top military commanders. He also named veteran diplomat, Christopher Hill as the new US ambassador to Iraq. 

Explaining his policy thrust toward the Middle East, Obama said he is, "Going forward, the United States will pursue principled and sustained engagement with all of the nations in the region, and that will include Iran and Syria." 

Some Democrats are concerned that the date falls short of his election pledges, which is the biggest limitation Obama faces on Iraq. The agreement between Baghdad and Washington signed before he took office, requires that all US forces depart the country by the end of 2011. 

Obama also said 35,000 to 50,000 of the 142,000 troops now in Iraq would stay after that date to advise Iraqi forces, target terror potentials and to protect US interests. No mention was made of how long this force would remain in place. 

He praised the progress made but said, "Iraq is not yet secure, and there will be difficult days ahead." 

Obama had phoned the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, to brief him on his newly announced Iraq troop pullout plan, the White House said but gave no details of the conversation. 

Deeply unpopular former president George W. Bush still maintains the invasion was the right decision, and said that opinion polls are indecisive, that history will excuse him if Iraq emerges as a possible pro-Western democratic state. 

But, for now, surveys show the US public fiercely rejects the war six years after it began, with 60 percent saying it was 'not worth it,' according to an ABC television poll released last week. In March 19, 2003, public opinion was just the opposite, with two-out-of-three Americans favoring Bush's war to remove Saddam Hussein from power. 

Up to now, the United States has spent USD 687b on the war in Iraq, and another USD 184b in Afghanistan, according to the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments think tank in Washington. Some outside calculations say the Iraq conflict has cost more than one trillion dollars. 

The war has had other, less solid, but potentially painful costs: the decline of Americans' trust in government bodies and the support of the United States among traditional allies and sharp decline in respect across the Muslim world. 

Hence the Obama pullout plan is imperative for the new administration.View

Obama has 'Plan B' on Iraq withdrawal

President Barack Obama has told Congress he may extend the US forces' presence in Iraq if the security situation worsens, says a lawmaker. 

"He assured me that he will revisit his plan if the situation on the ground deteriorates and violence increases," Representative John McHugh, the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, said in a statement. 

With a budget deficit of more than a trillion dollars, the Obama administration has signaled that it hopes to scale back military spending partly through a planned reduction of troops in Iraq and by taking the axe to big ticket weapons programs. 

Obama was expected to announce on Friday that the US would end operations in Iraq by August 2010. However, McHugh said the president had assured him that there was a 'Plan B' as Washington was faced with 'significant challenges' in Iraq in 2009. 

"Iraq faces significant challenges in 2009, including the national parliamentary election in December. Our commanders must have the flexibility they need in order to respond to these challenges, and President Obama assured me that there is a 'Plan B'," said McHugh. 

Obama's withdrawal timetable is three months longer than the 16-month withdrawal schedule promised during his campaign for the presidency. 

"The president's objective to withdraw US combat troops from Iraq is one that we should pray for, plan for, and work toward," the New York Republican added. 

"However, I remain concerned that the security situation in Iraq is fragile, and we should work to mitigate any risks to our troops and their mission. I specifically raised these points with the president this evening."View

No job for most Bush ex-officials: WSJ

Nearly 70% to 75% of ex-president George W. Bush's officials looking for full-time work have not found new jobs in the US flagging economy. The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday that "the jobless rate is hanging high -- for many of the roughly 3,000 political appointees" who served Bush. A Washington recruiter at Russell Reynolds Associates Inc. Eric Vautour estimated that only 25% to 30% of Bush ex-officials seeking full-time jobs have succeeded. That "is much, much worse" than when Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton left the White House, he said. At least half those presidents' senior staffers landed employment within a month after the administration ended, Vautour recalled. "This is not a great time for anyone to be job hunting, including numerous former political appointees," Carlos M. Gutierrez, Bush's commerce secretary, told the paper. At least 3.6 million jobs have been wiped out throughout the US since the recession began in December 2007. The jobless rate officially reached a 16-year high of 7.6% (11.6 million people) last month. Some of Bush cabinet officers have accepted academic appointments like former treasury secretary Henry Paulson and former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, said the Journal. Senior Bush aides keen to work again "have to look broader than Washington," said Nels B. Olson, a recruiter for Korn/Ferry International. A number of former officials are now saying, "'I'll look anywhere'" because they realize the Washington job market "is very tough," Vautour said. Washington think tanks, charities and trade associations long provided fertile ground for ex-political appointees. But many lack interest in hiring high-profile Republicans when Democrats control the White House and Congress. Bush's low approval ratings at the end of his term don't help, said Leonard Pfeiffer IV, a Washington recruiter for nonprofits, according to the Journal. Meanwhile, former US national security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski warned of riots in the United States should the economy continue to hurt Americans. Earlier this week, a new Federal Reserve report said that US unemployment could increase to 8.8%, causing the economy to contract for a full calendar year for the first time since 1991, when a contraction of 0.2% was registered.

US Attorney General to visit Gitmo

US Attorney General Eric Holder is scheduled to visit the controversial US military detention center at Guantanamo Bay next week. 

The announcement comes after President Barack Obama signed a presidential order to close the prison, which illegally detains 245 individuals, by January next year. 

Holder and Defense Secretary Robert Gates have been charged with carrying out a review to determine the fate of the installation's detainees, a task which presents major legal and political headaches for the Obama administration. 

Holder said that the administration will determine who will be released, those prisoners to be prosecuted, and those who will remain in detention. 

The members of the European Union and the Organization of American States, as well as non-governmental organizations such as Amnesty International, have protested the detention and conditions of captivity the individuals must endure at Guantanamo. 

The Human Rights Watch has also criticized the Bush administration over this designation in its 2003 world report, stating: "Washington has ignored human rights standards in its own treatment of terrorism suspects.

Security Council's reform on UN agenda

United Nations members are to begin the first round of intergovernmental negotiations to reform the UN Security Council's structure. 

The UN Security Council currently holds authority over issues of peace and security around the world. 

The council has been strongly criticized for monopolizing the peace and security issues and for the lack of transparency in its decision-making process. 

A majority of UN members resent the veto power of the five permanent members, which are the victors of World War II: the United States, Russia, France, Britain and China, referred to in UN parlance as the 5Ps. 

Developing countries have been demanding more say in matters of global peace and security, rejecting the political dominance of the P5. They have called for enlarging the council from the current 15 to 21 or 25 members, to include the emerging nations. 

The negotiations will be held behind closed doors among government envoys at the UN headquarters in New York on Thursday, marking the first step at reforming the 15-nation council following 16 years of on-and-off discussions.

Obama unveils massive mortgage plan

US President Barack Obama unveils a $275 billion plan which will help both at-risk homeowners and troubled mortgage finance firms. 

Obama said the measures would help between seven to nine million middle-class families restructure or refinance their mortgages and avoid foreclosure. 

The US Treasury's aid to troubled mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will also be doubled to $200 billion each to help stabilize the real estate sector. 

Falling house prices have been at the heart of the financial sector's problems. More than one million people in the US have lost their homes in the housing crisis. 

The plan aims to help 4 to 5 million 'responsible homeowners' to refinance their mortgages. 

It also includes a $75 billion 'homeowner stability initiative' to help another 3 to 4 million homeowners who cannot afford to pay their mortgages but have seen the price of their properties plunge. 

"The effects of this crisis have also reverberated across the financial markets," Obama said, in an advance copy of the speech he will later make in Arizona. 

"When the housing market collapsed, so did the availability of credit on which our economy depends. 

"As that credit has dried up, it has been harder for families to find affordable loans to purchase a car or pay tuition and harder for businesses to secure the capital they need to expand and create jobs." 

Obama said the plan would help up to 9 million homeowners refinance their mortgages.

Obama said the plan had far-reaching effects as it also prevented the decline of home prices and the loss of jobs. 

The initiative comes a week after two US banks, JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup, along with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac agreed last week to suspend home foreclosures. 

The Treasury said it was increasing its preferred stock purchase agreements with the two government-controlled companies to $200 billion each from $100 billion. 

"The Treasury Department is increasing its funding commitment to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to ensure the strength and security of the mortgage market, to help maintain mortgage affordability, and to help keep interest rates low," Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in a statement.

Ex-Envoy: Netanyahu-Lieberman Is Bad Combination for U.S.

Daniel Kurtzer, the former U.S. ambassador to the Zionist entity, said on Tuesday that a government led by Benjamin Netanyahu that also included Yisrael Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Lieberman would be a "bad combination for American interests." 
"It would be much more difficult for the right-wing even with determined American leadership to advance the peace process," Kurtzer said. "Not impossible, but very difficult." 
The U.S. official position is that it looks forward to "working with any government," but in back-channel messages the Obama administration has made it clear it would like to see a Likud-Kadima unity government in Tel Aviv over a narrow right-wing government which would in all likelihood result in a freeze in peace talks with the Palestinians. 
The former envoy added that the Obama administration would find it politically risky to embrace a government that included Lieberman, who has voiced controversial views about Arabs. 
"There will be an image problem for an American administration to support a government that includes a politician who was defined as racist," Kurtzer said during an appearance at Georgetown University. "But the Israeli system doesn't respond well to perceptions of outside parties," he said. 
Kurtzer, who was speaking at an event examining the U.S. perspective on the Gaza conflict, said the peace process will be on hold as Israel spends the next five weeks attempting to cobble together a stable coalition. 
He added that the recent Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip had tacit support from Arab regimes that are fearful of growing “Iranian influence”. "Israel was in a fact an instrument, a tool of the moderate Sunni majority in the Middle East that sought to push back Shia [influence]," Kurtzer said. "There was great anger at Hamas's means of governance in Gaza. To be sure, there was as well a great split in the Arab world between the Arab street and the governing circles. About week three of the war the pressure from the street was too much even for those regimes. But it'll be interesting over time to see over time if what we saw in the first two weeks of the war to characterize Arab government behavior." 
Meanwhile, two Massachusetts professors, Dennis Gaitsgory, a mathematician from Harvard University, and MIT Professor Josh Tenenbaum this week launched an online petition entitled >a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1064949.html">"No government with Lieberman," calling on the next Israeli prime minister to cease courting the Yisrael Beiteinu leader. 
The petition is addressed to the leaders of Kadima and Likud, the two factions with the best chance to cobble together a coalition. "As friends of Israel and supporters of Israeli democracy, we say: Don't do it!" the petition reads. "Through his platform and his rhetoric, Mr. Lieberman threatens Israeli society with the darkness of race-baiting, demagoguery and ultra-nationalism. We respect the right of Israeli citizens to elect their own political leaders. Yet as supporters of a democratic state, we cannot remain silent at this crucial time."

California to lay off 20,000 state workers

California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger says pink slips will be sent out to workers on Tuesday if lawmakers fail to reach a budget deal. 

The worldwide recession, which originated in the United States, has for the first time in American history driven an entire state into bankruptcy. 

In late December, California's chief financial officer warned that the 'The Golden State' would run out of money within two months. 

State controller John Chiang explained that California had been forced to spend billions of dollars more each month without collecting enough taxes due to its budget crisis and would thus have an empty kitty in late February. 

The crisis had prompted California to seek job cuts, but Gov. Schwarzenegger had been postponing layoffs, hoping that lawmakers would approve a package to close the projected $42-billion budget gap. 

Three days of negotiations in a legislative session on Capitol Hill failed to provide the state with a new budget. 

A single Republican vote is holding the budget from passing with a two-thirds majority, Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear told CNN late Monday. 

The office of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has announced that it would send pink slips out to 20,000 state workers on Tuesday if the budget package fails to gain approval. 

"The governor has a responsibility to do everything he can to cut government spending," McLear said. 

The spokesman also called lawmakers to action, saying he "understands how difficult these decisions are, which is why the legislators need to pass a budget as quickly as possible." 

According to McLear, layoffs can take about six months to implement -- due to union contracts and other required steps -- but would save the state $750 million a year.

Bush rated at the bottom of US presidents

American historians have ranked former president George W. Bush as the US 36th commander in chief out of the 42 men, a new survey says.

According to a survey conducted by the cable channel C-SPAN, 65 historians also ranked Abraham Lincoln as the nation's best president just days after the 200th anniversary of his birth. 

After Lincoln, the academics rated George Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt and Harry Truman as the best leaders overall. 

Leaving the White House last month, Bush scored lowest in international relations, where he was ranked 41st, and in economic management, where he was ranked 40th. 

The unpopular president's highest ranking was 24th in the category of pursuing equal justice for all. He was ranked 25th in crisis leadership and vision and agenda setting. 

Last November, in a poll conducted by CNN some 76% of respondents disapproved Bush's job in the Oval Office. 

"No other president's disapproval rating has gone higher than 70%. Bush has managed to do that three times so far this year," according to CNN polling director Keating Holland. 

After eight years of his presidency, Bush left a legacy of two costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and a disastrous financial crisis to his successor President Barack Obama.

US drone attack kills 10 Pakistanis

At least ten people have been killed in a suspected US missile strike on Pakistan's tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.

The missiles destroyed a building in Bhagan region of Kurram on Monday.

NY crash black box found

The black box of a commercial airliner that nose-dived into a Buffalo house in New York has been retrieved, about 15 hours after the incident. 

The flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder "have been found and they are on their way back here," said Ted Lopatkiewicz a spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), AFP reported on Friday. 

The body said it did not know how much information could be retrieved from the devices. "That depends on what condition they are in," Lopatkiewicz said. 

All the 48 people aboard died in the incident earlier in the day which involved a Continental Airlines' Dash 8 Q400 aircraft. 

The victims included Beverly Eckert, a woman who had lost his husband Sean Rooney during the September 11, 2001 attacks on the city. 

The crash also killed one person who was in the house in the Clarence Center on which the plane came down before skimming over a couple of residences, media reports. 

The aircraft had departed from Newark, New Jersey and crashed at about 10:20 p.m. local time. 

US President Barack Obama has offered his condolences to the survivors.

Congress passes Obama's stimulus plan

The US House of Representatives has passed a USD 787b stimulus package that President Barack Obama has called for. 

Obama's Democratic allies powered the bill to a 246-183 victory but not one of the president's Republican critics broke ranks to support the measure, as attention shifted to a likely Senate vote late in the day. 

Supporters and opponents of the package alike predicted full passage of the package -- a blend of tax cuts, aid to the least well off, and investment in infrastructure, education and energy -- by Obama's February 16 target date. 

The president was expected to sign the measure soon and savor what would be his biggest political win since taking office January 20 and suffering a series of setbacks, notably a number of cabinet nominees withdrawing from contention. 

The victory was also bittersweet, as lawmakers were voting on a compromise stimulus plan that was smaller than Obama had requested and Republicans rebuffed his appeals to join Democrats in approving the bill. 

The vote came one day after Republican Senator Judd Gregg announced he was withdrawing his nomination to be Obama's commerce secretary, citing "irresolvable conflicts" on issues like the stimulus plan.

US plane crashes in NY, all aboard dead

A US airplane has crashed into a residential area a few kilometers from the airport in Buffalo, New York, killing all 48 people aboard. 

The Continental Airlines plane was arriving from Newark, New Jersey before crashing some eight km (five miles) from the airport, US media reported. 

The commercial plane hit a house late Thursday, police official John Manthey told the Associated Press. 

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Thursday that the 44 passengers and four crew aboard the plane were killed. 

Local emergency officials said earlier there were multiple fatalities. CNN said one person was killed on the ground.

Economy primary threat to US security

The top US intelligence official has warned that the global economic crisis evolved into a major threat to US interests in the world. 

Dennis Blair, director of national intelligence, told a Senate committee that the economic crisis threatens to destabilize governments in less developed countries friendly to the United States and could curtail NATO support for the conflict in Afghanistan. 

"The primary near-term security concern of the United States is the global economic crisis and its geopolitical implications," the new intelligence chief said. "The crisis has been ongoing for over a year, and economists are divided over whether and when we could hit bottom." 

Suffering in key regions like Latin America and Africa could undermine US influence in the regions, and place blame on the United States, the world's largest economy, for the financial crisis could jeopardize America's leadership in the world economy. 

"This crisis presents challenges for the United States," the retired admiral told the Senate Intelligence Committee. "We're generally held responsible for it." 

Blair, however, said that lower oil prices could help dampen the ambitions of two leaders, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who oppose US polices in their regions. 

Blair maintained that al-Qaeda, the terrorist network responsible for the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, remains the single most dangerous security threat to the United States.

US plane crashes in New York

A US airplane with 48 people aboard has crashed into a residential area a few kilometers from the airport in Buffalo, New York, officials say. 

The commercial plane hit a house, police official John Manthey told the Associated Press on Thursday. 

The Continental Airlines plane was arriving from Newark, New Jersey before crashing some eight km (five miles) from the airport.

Israeli polls bear no good news for Obama

The rightward change following Israel's elections is viewed as an obstacle to Obama who has pinned his hopes on the Middle East peace. 

The polls gave Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's center-left Kadima party a narrow lead in the parliamentary elections over the right-wing Likud party, led by former prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who is known for his nonconformity with a peace process. 

This is while the Likud leader has reportedly met with the chairman of the third-largest party in elections, Yisrael Beiteinu, Avigdor Lieberman and Shas leader Eli Yishai to discuss forming a coalition with the right wing parties. 

Analysts say Livni's side, though apparently more inclined towards a settlement, would not be able to avoid influence by the Likud leader who has openly expressed opposition to Palestinian rights. 

The overall result would translate to a hurdle to the US President Barack Obama who has pledged to prioritize the Middle East affairs. 

"This is like hanging a 'closed for the season' sign on any peacemaking for the next year or so," former US peace negotiator Aaron David Miller was quoted by Washington Post as saying. 

Miller added that "you may get a (Israeli) government good at war-making, not peacemaking." "It's really going to create a major headache for the administration." 

The daily also reminded of the hard time Netanyahu used to give the former US president Bill Clinton during the then administration's peace efforts. 

"Bill Clinton must be hoping, on behalf of his wife, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, that the next prime minister of Israel is not Benjamin Netanyahu," said Washington-based non-partisan grassroots organization, AFP reported. 

"He had several bitter experiences in negotiations with him 11 years ago. The Obama team could have similar experiences with the American-born Netanyahu." 

"The election results are bad news for the region's security and stability," said Ori Nir, spokesman for Americans for Peace Now. 

"They are very bad news for the Obama administration, which seems determined to push for Israeli-Palestinian and Israeli-Arab peace," he added. 

"Netanyahu revels in his reputation as a right-wing warmonger, who has made no secret of his refusal to negotiate a Palestinian state west of the Jordan River," said the Council for the National Interest Foundation. 

The former premier has, however, been speculated not to risk losing the US support by showing cooperation.