US jobless rate at 16-year high as payrolls plunge

WASHINGTON: The U.S. unemployment rate surged to the highest in nearly 16 years last month as a deepening year-long recession forced companies to axe more than half a million jobs, government data showed on Friday.The U.S. economy lost an astonishing 1.9 million jobs in the past four months alone, an acceleration in layoffs toward the end of a year that brought the biggest drop in employment in more than a half century.In all of 2008, 2.6 million people lost their jobs, the largest slump in employment since a 2.75 million drop in 1945.The December data pointed to a bleak start for 2009 and increased chances the economic downturn could become the longest since the 1930s"This is a very dismal report. This paints a much worse picture in 2008 than we had thought," said Lindsey Piegza, market analyst at FTN Financial in New York. "This is one of the most significant downward quarters for jobs in post World War (Two) history."The Labor Department said the unemployment rate jumped to 7.2 percent last month, the highest since January 1993, from 6.8 percent in November. The rise was driven by massive layoffs in all major sectors except government, education and health. link....

Cheney still hopes to catch bin Laden

WASHINGTON: Outgoing U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney Friday did not give up hope of capturing or killing Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, with only 11 days left before Barack Obama moves into the White House."We've got a few days left yet," Cheney told media when asked why bin Laden or Al-Qaeda number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri continue to elude U.S. capture.Cheney was quick to say he was unaware of any impending strike on bin Laden, but suggested the Islamist leader was not effectively in control of his organization."We would like very much to capture or kill Osama bin Laden, but my guess is at this point, he's operating in an area that's very difficult, very hard to get to, that he's not an effective leader at this stage," he said.It was hard to target Al-Qaeda without bin Laden "coming out of whatever hole he's hiding in," Cheney said.The US military operation in the "war on terror" had other big priorities, he added."A much more important problem is keeping the country safe. And we've done that now for seven and a half years," he said.After Obama's inauguration to the US presidency on January 20, Cheney was also confident the mission to capture bin Laden will continue. "I'm sure the hunt will go on after we leave," he said.Cheney also defended the controversial terror surveillance and interrogation programs in the US-led "war on terror." link....

Afghans given a week-deadline to leave Khyber

JAMRUD: Afghan refugees living in Khyber Agency have been told to leave the agency within one week, failing which action would taken against them, Khyber Agency Political Agent Tariq Hayat Khan said. Khan told reporters the Afghan refugees were involved in 60 percent crime in the agency and said unregistered Afghans should register themselves and shift to camps, or leave the agency. He said security forces had arrested at least 200 Taliban and other anti-social elements during the ongoing military operation in Jamrud tehsil and demolished 55 houses. Khan said the security forces arrested seven would-be suicide bombers and seized two vehicles loaded with at least 1,200 kilogrammes of explosives from Jamrud and Bara tehsils of Khyber Agency. Media reported Khan as saying curfew along the Khyber Pass had been lifted from 8am until 7pm. “Now there is a free flow of traffic for every type of vehicle” including NATO supply trucks, he said. “The active operation is over. Now we are engaged in the mopping-up phase of the operation against anti-social and anti-state elements,” he said, referring to the Taliban. link...

40 killed in fresh Israeli strikes, death toll reaches 801

GAZA CITY: Israeli airstrikes and tanks shells continued on Gaza on Friday night, killing forty more people, which rose the death toll to 801 since the beginning of the Israeli military offensive on Dec. 27, a senior Gaza official said. Gaza emergency chief Mo'aweya Hassanein released the figures to reporters, saying that now 801 Palestinians were killed and 3300 were injured. The dead included 230 children and 92 women, he added.
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