Layoffs

Layoffs slow to 539K in April; jobless rate rises

By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer Jeannine Aversa, Ap Economics Writer – 20 mins ago

WASHINGTON – The pace of layoffs slowed in April when employers cut 539,000 jobs, the fewest in six months. But the unemployment rate climbed to 8.9 percent, the highest since late 1983, as many businesses remain wary of hiring given all the economic uncertainties.

The Labor Department tally released Friday wasn't nearly as deep as the 620,000 job cuts that economists were expecting, and was helped by a burst of federal government hiring of temporary workers to prepare for the 2010 Census. The rise in the unemployment rate from 8.5 percent in March matched economists' forecasts.

The new report underscored the toll the longest recession since World War II has taken on America's workers and companies. However, the slowdown in layoffs may bolster expectations that the worst of the downturn's hefty job losses are past.

"There are glimmers of hope. We are moving in the right direction in terms of layoffs. They are measurably less bad than what we've been through," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com.

On Wall Street, the employment news gave stocks a lift. The Dow Jones industrials gained more than 90 points in morning trading.

Still, companies will remain cautious in hiring, making it harder for laid-off workers to find new jobs.

If laid-off workers who have given up looking for new jobs or have settled for part-time work are included, the unemployment rate would have been 15.8 percent in April, the highest on records dating back to 1994. The total number of unemployed now stands at 13.7 million, up from 13.2 million in March.

Companies also kept a tight rein on workers hours. The average work week in April stayed at 33.2 hours, matching the record low set in March.

Since the recession began in December 2007, the economy has lost a net total of 5.7 million jobs.

As the recession eats into sales and profits, companies have turned to layoffs and other cost-cutting measures to survive the storm. Those including holding down workers' hours, and freezing or cutting pay.

Job losses in February and March turned out to be deeper, according to revised figures. Employers cut 681,000 positions in February, 30,000 more than previously reported. They cut 699,000 jobs in March, more than the 663,000 first reported.

The deepest job cuts of the recession — 741,000 came in January. That was the most since the fall of 1949.

Employers last month cut the fewest jobs since 380,000 in October. Nonetheless, the April job losses were widespread.

Construction companies axed 110,000 jobs, down from 135,000 in March. Factories got rid of 149,000 jobs, down form 167,000 the month before. Retailers cut payrolls by nearly 47,000, less than the nearly 64,000 cut in March. And job losses in financial activities dropped by 40,000, down from 43,000 in the previous month.

The slower pace of job losses — along with 66,000 more federal jobs — helped to temper the overall payroll reductions in April. The pick up in federal employment was mainly due to hiring of temporary census workers.

Looking ahead, economists expect monthly job losses continuing for most — if not all — of this year. However, they are hoping the reductions won't be as deep.

Fallout from housing, credit and financial crises — the worst since the 1930s — has hurt America's workers and companies, and the pain will continue. The jobs market traditionally doesn't rebound until well after an economic recovery starts.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke earlier this week gave his most optimistic prediction yet about the end of the recession, saying he expects the economy to start growing again this year — although the comeback could be weak and more jobs will disappear even after a recovery takes hold.

Companies will have little appetite to ramp up hiring until they feel the economy is truly out of the woods and a recovery is firmly rooted.

Against that backdrop, many economists predict the unemployment rate will hit 10 percent by the end of this year. Bernanke stopped short of that figure, saying it will be somewhere in the 9 percent range. Regardless, both private economists and Bernanke agree the unemployment rate will keep climbing into next year.

The Fed says unemployment will remain elevated into 2011. Economists say the job market may not get back to normal — meaning a 5 percent unemployment rate — until 2013.

And the job cuts have continued this week. Steelmaker Severstal International said it's idling plants in Wheeling, W.Va., and Warren, Ohio, resulting in 3,100 layoffs due to the continuing deterioration of the steel industry. Microsoft Corp. said it was starting thousands of the 5,000 job cuts it announced in earlier this year and left the door open to even more layoffs.

The Commerce Department on Friday said wholesale inventories dropped 1.6 percent in March, much larger than the 1 percent fall that analysts had expected. That followed a 1.7 percent drop in February, the largest monthly decline on records that go back 17 years.

It was the seventh straight month that wholesale inventories fell as businesses struggled to get stockpiles in line with plunging sales. Wholesalers saw sales drop 2.4 percent in March, the fifth decline in six months.

Still, glimmers of hope have emerged that the recession may be losing its grip on the country.

The Labor Department on Thursday said the number of newly laid-off workers filing applications for jobless benefits plunged to the lowest level in 14 weeks, a possible sign that the wave of layoffs has peaked. Still, the number of unemployed workers drawing benefits climbed to a new record — 6.35 million.

Other reports showed sales at many retailers fared better in April, with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. leading the way.

However, Friday's employment report showed that workers' wages barely budged in April, meaning consumers will probably stay somewhat cautious in the months ahead. Average hourly earnings nudged up to $18.51 in April, a 0.1 percent rise from the previous month.

In the U.S., the economy shrank at faster than a 6 percent annual rate late last year and early this year, the worst six-month performance since the late 1950s. Analysts think it is still shrinking now — but probably at about half that pace. Many predict the economy could start growing in the third or fourth quarter as tax cuts and government spending on big public works projects included in President Barack Obama's $787 billion stimulus package take hold.

Kiefer Sutherland arrested on assault charge-24 Hours Actor

Kiefer Sutherland arrested on assault charge

AFP/Getty Images – Actor Kiefer Sutherland turns himself in to the NYPD at the 1st Precinct in New York City. Sutherland, …

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NEW YORK (AFP) – Actor Kiefer Sutherland, best known for his television role as a special agent, was arrested on charges that he head-butted a fashion designer at a Manhattan party.

"He was arrested on a misdemeanor assault charge," the duty officer at the New York Police Department told AFP.

Sutherland, famous as the fearless agent Jack Bauer in the blockbuster television series "24," surrendered to police at a Manhattan station.

The 42-year-old actor was not jailed and remains free prior to a court appearance, the duty officer said. The date of that hearing was not immediately known.

Sutherland allegedly head-butted Jack McCullough, a fashion designer, at a nightclub on Monday, following a glamorous event at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute. McCullough alleges the blow cut his face.

According to unconfirmed newspaper accounts, Sutherland assaulted the designer after McCullough bumped into actress and model Brooke Shields.

Sutherland's legal situation may be complicated by the fact that he is currently on probation for drunk driving. He spent 48 days in jail after that arrest in 2007.

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Wildfire raging near Calif. city;

Wildfire raging near Calif. city; 30,000 evacuated

U.S. Forest Service firefighter Mike Espinoza is surrounded by flying embers as AP – U.S. Forest Service firefighter Mike Espinoza is surrounded by flying embers as erratic winds blow the …

By RAQUEL MARIA DILLON, Associated Press Writer Raquel Maria Dillon, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 1 min ago

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Firefighters struggled Friday to get ahead of a raging wildfire that was moving dangerously close to heavily populated areas in this idyllic coastal city and had forced the evacuation of an estimated 30,000 residents.

Neighborhoods of multimillion dollar mansions stood like ghost towns, bathed in the eerie orange glow cast by the nearby blaze.

Santa Barbara County spokeswoman Jodi Dyck said Friday morning that the fire had grown since the night before, when it measured roughly 2,700 acres, or 4 square miles. She did not have an updated estimates of the fire's size or burned acreage.

"It really got going during the night. Some areas have 45-year fuel. The wind is all over the place," Santa Barbara city fire Capt. Mike De Pont said. "For this time of year this activity is unusual."

Roughly 12,000 more residents have been ordered to leave their homes, including those living in a densely populated area north of U.S. 101 that's home to several mobile home parks. An estimated 18,000 previously were ordered to leave.

A second evacuation shelter was opened Thursday to accommodate 900 additional evacuees. All 190 beds were filled at the first shelter at a high school.

The blaze was approaching homes in the city's more populated, flat area below its steep canyons. Santa Barbara city fire spokesman Gary Pitney said flames jumped a road dividing the hilly terrain from the flatlands below and ignited spot fires in brush surrounding houses.

Pitney said the fire also pushed west across state Route 134, the key thoroughfare between Santa Barbara and wine country to the north.

Kelley Gouette, a deputy incident commander with the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, likened the fire to "a blowtorch."

Santa Barbara County Fire Chief Tom Franklin said the blaze was particularly tough to fight as it spread into rugged terrain with thick brush that served as fuel and limited firefighting aircraft.

Firefighters are "running pretty thin on equipment," he said.

Officials said 11 firefighters were injured, including three who were burned when they sheltered in a house during a firestorm. They were reported in good condition at a Los Angeles burn center but two will need skin grafts and surgery. Other injuries ranged from smoke inhalation to sprained ankles.

About 2,300 firefighters from many departments were on the lines, aided by aircraft. The fire was just 10 percent contained.

The seasonal wildfires that menace this idyllic coastal city — home to screen stars, former presidents and Oprah Winfrey — roared to life earlier in the year than usual but their ferocity is familiar.

Firefighters have been wary of "sundowners" — fierce winds that late in the day can sweep down from the Santa Ynez Mountains towering close behind Santa Barbara.

The benignly named Jesusita Fire was a slumbering day-old brush fire on rugged slopes above the city when a sundowner hit at midafternoon Wednesday, hurling towering flames into homes and spitting embers into more distant neighborhoods.

The city's location on the state's central coast gives it some of the best weather in the world, with temperatures routinely topping out in the 70s, and views of the Pacific Ocean. Now with a population of about 90,000, it dates to the Spanish colonial era of California and a Roman Catholic mission established in the 1780s is a major tourist attraction.

But the geography that gives it beauty and a serene atmosphere also brings danger.

In November, a wind-driven fire burned 200 houses in Santa Barbara and Montecito, including the home of actor Christopher Lloyd. Winfrey's estate escaped, along with the home of actor Rob Lowe, among many celebrities who have area homes.

Gregg Patronyk, a lifelong Santa Barbara resident whose parents' home was destroyed by a 1990 wildfire and who had to evacuate his home in November, said he began soaking his roof when he saw other houses burning Wednesday.

"It started firestorming dramatically," he said. "The fire got within 200 to 300 feet of my house. There was a lot of pressure to leave. Police wanted me out and I got a frantic call from my sister, who was walking up the hill to get me. So I packed up the car and left, picking her up on the way."

State Assemblyman Pedro Nava said he and his wife fled their home for a friend's, bringing along their pets, some clothes, photos and documents.

"I've learned how important preparation is in an emergency," he said. "The public has to be prepared to move, and in Santa Barbara they are prepared. When the police squad car came through with loudspeakers telling us to leave, there was no arguing. And they will all be back."

Find Time For God

Illinois ex-cop indicted in death of 3rd wife

By KAREN HAWKINS, Associated Press Writer Karen Hawkins, Associated Press Writer –
LOCKPORT, Ill. – Drew Peterson, the former police sergeant who went on a high-profile media blitz after his fourth wife's disappearance more than 1 1/2 years ago, is facing murder charges in the death of a previous wife.
Peterson, 55, was scheduled to be arraigned Friday on charges of first-degree murder in the 2004 death of his third wife, Kathleen Savio, who was found in an empty bathtub at home.

He was arrested during an evening traffic stop Thursday near his Bolingbrook home and held on $20 million bond, Illinois State Police Capt. Carl Dobrich said.

"We are very confident in our case," Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow said.

Savio's body was found with her hair soaked in blood from a head wound, just before the couple's divorce settlement was finalized. Her death originally was ruled an accidental drowning but authorities later said it was a homicide staged to look like an accident.

The indictment alleges that "Peterson on or about Feb. 29, 2004 ... caused Kathleen Savio to inhale fluid," causing her death.

Savio's family has long voiced suspicions, saying she feared Peterson and told relatives if she died it would not be an accident. Their fears resurfaced after the October 2007 disappearance of Stacy Peterson, then 23.

Drew Peterson, 55, is a suspect in the disappearance, which police have called a possible homicide. But he has not been charged and has repeatedly said he thinks Stacy Peterson ran off with another man.

"I guess I should have returned those library books," a handcuffed Peterson said as state police led him into headquarters following his arrest, according to The (Joliet) Herald-News.

Despite the flip comment, "Drew takes these charges very seriously," defense lawyer Joel Brodsky said Friday in an interview on ABC's Good Morning America. Brodsky said "wisecracks and comedy" are just Peterson's way of dealing with stress.

In an interview on Chicago's WGN-TV, Brodsky said he will argue that statements about Peterson made by Savio before her death can't be used by prosecutors in court.

"It's going to have to face a constitutional challenge," he said. "We're now involving rumor and innuendo and unreliable evidence in a homicide case."

Brodsky questioned whether Savio's death was a homicide and said Peterson's $20 million bail is unreasonable.

Another defense attorney, Andrew Abood, said the indictment was not a complete surprise.

"There was tremendous pressure for the government to do something in this case," Abood said Thursday evening. But Abood said one of Peterson's sons with Savio has "provided a lock-tight alibi" for his father, who faces up to 60 years in prison if convicted.

In an appearance on CBS' "The Early Show" last month, 16-year-old Thomas Peterson appeared alongside his father and defended him.

"I highly do not believe that my dad had murdered my mom. Because, first off, he wasn't there, he was with us during that period of time," Thomas Peterson said on the show.

Peterson has seemed to relish the spotlight since Stacy Peterson's disappearance, appearing in a People magazine cover story and on multiple national talk shows — most recently to tout his new engagement to a 24-year-old woman.

From the day Stacy Peterson was reported missing, her husband, a cop of nearly 30 years, knew if investigators weren't focused on him, they soon would be. And it wasn't two weeks before the Illinois State Police made it official, calling Peterson a suspect and her disappearance a possible homicide.

When at the same time authorities announced they believed Savio's death looked like it was a homicide, Peterson knew authorities were looking closely at him as well.

"The husband is always a suspect, whether you declare him so or not," defense attorney Brodsky said when authorities revealed an autopsy on Savio's exhumed body showed she was murdered.

Savio's body was found by a friend of Peterson after the police sergeant called him to say he was worried because he had not talked to or seen Savio for a few days. The couple had recently divorced.

The friend, Steve Carcerano, has said he went to the house and went upstairs while Peterson waited downstairs. When he found Savio's body in the bathtub, he called downstairs to Peterson, who has said he then ran upstairs, took Savio's pulse, but found none.

Peterson's next wife was Stacy, who was 30 years younger. They had two children, who lived with the couple along with Peterson's two children from his marriage to Savio.

On the morning of Oct. 28, 2007, Stacy Peterson talked to a friend. Stacy's sister, Cassandra Cales, tried to call her in the middle of the afternoon, and did not get through. Late that night, Cales went to Peterson's home, but neither Drew nor Stacy was there. A few minutes later, she reached Peterson on his cell phone, with Peterson telling her that Stacy had left him.

Cales didn't believe it and reported her sister missing the next day.

Pamela Bosco, a friend of Stacy's family who has acted as an unofficial family spokeswoman, said "we're just happy for the Savio family."

"We always said that Stacy and Kathleen had one thing in common ... Drew Peterson," Bosco said.

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Associated Press writers Tammy Webber and Don Babwin contributed to this report from Chicago.


Do you find time in the morning to commit your ways unto the Lord with your household?
......and you question God -'why me?'..
always look at the bigger picture... .
A day without the Lord- Is a day wasted.
God is going to shift things around for you today
and let things work in your favor.

Women Affairs

Federal Ministry for Women’s Affairs and Social Development (FMWASD) - Nigeria
In 1989, a National Commission for Women was established by the National Commission for Women Act 1989 (later repealed by the National Commission for Women Decree 1992). According to section 2 of the Decree, the objectives of the Commission are to:
a. promote the welfare of women in general;
b. Carry out the aims and objectives of the Better Life Programme for Rural Women (see the Chapter on Government Programmes);
c. Promote the welfare of the child and initiate actions for the development of the child within the meaning of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child and the National Policy on the Rights of the Child;
d. Promote the full utilisation of women in the development of human resources and bring about their acceptance as full participants in every phase of national development, with equal rights and corresponding obligations;
e. Promote responsible motherhood and the maternal health of women;
f. Stimulate actions to improve women’s civic, political, cultural, social and economic education;
g. Support the work of NGOs and play a coordinating role between government and Nigerian women’s organizations;
h. Encourage the sense and essence of cooperative societies and activities amongst women both in urban and rural areas and stimulate in them creative entrepreneurship in the field of cottage industries and small-scale industries;
i. formulate and propagate moral values within the family unit and in the public generally and establish programmes with institutions and organisations to inculcate moral education in women and children; and
j. work towards total elimination of all social and cultural practices tending to discriminate against and de-humanise womanhood.
The concrete functions of this Commission were defined in s. 6 as to:
a. formulate policies and programmes, within the framework of National Development Plans, aimed at enhancing the position and development of women in the social, economic and political context;
b. promote, develop and implement income generation and employment schemes through the grant of loans, establishment of home and cottage industries and, in particular the acquisition of skills for the improvement of arts, crafts, food processing and such other vocational training of women within the context of their assessed needs and potentials;
c. monitor and liaise with appropriate government ministries, departments, bodies, NGOs and international bodies, including United Nations organs, on matters concerning women and development;
d. monitor and submit reports to the National Council of Ministers on:
i. women’s education and counselling;
ii. the health of women and children; and
iii. existing legislation concerning the status of women.
e. devise ways and means of encouraging self-reliance in women;
f. coordinate, structure and monitor the activities of women’s voluntary organisations, grant appropriate aid to such voluntary organisations and evaluate their performance;
g. conduct research and formulate plans aimed at improving the status of women and the attainment of policy objectives generally in relation to women; and,
h. carry out all other functions as are conducive to the objectives of the National Commission.
The National Commission for Women was upgraded to a full fledged ministry known as the Federal Ministry for Women’s Affairs and Social Development. In 1996 gender units were established in federal and state ministries with a view to promoting gender equality in all aspects of social life. In 1997, State Ministries of Women’s Affairs and Social Development were established.
FMWASD is responsible for the coordination of the welfare of women, children and the family as a whole.
It has undertaken various actions. For instance, in June 1997, a project harmonization meeting to streamline the implementation of the Gender and Development (GAD), Women and Children Rights (CRC) and Children in Especially Difficult Circumstances (CEDC) projects was held in Kaduna. It was a collaborative effort of the Federal Ministry and UNICEF during which participants deliberated on strategies for ensuring that those three projects achieved their maximum impact on target beneficiaries. In July 1999, again with UNICEF, the Ministry organized a workshop on gender mainstreaming and gender sensitization.

Two gunmen kidnapped a boy in his home

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. – A 3-year-old boy was kidnapped by two gunmen who broke into his family's home, tied up his mother and her five children, robbed the house and left with the child, authorities said.
The California Highway Patrol issued an Amber Alert late Sunday for 3-year-old Briant Rodriguez, about nine hours after he was taken from his San Bernardino home.
The men, each carrying a handgun, burst through the front door of the home, tied up the family, then ransacked the house and stole money and property, Sheriff's spokeswoman Cindy Beavers said.
The men then left with Briant, telling the still-bound mother and four other children not to call police.
One of the children freed himself then untied the rest of the family, Beavers said. Beavers did not know the ages of the rest of the children but said she believed Briant was the youngest.
The mother told investigators she did not know the two men, one estimated to be 18 years old, the other 24.
"We have no idea why they took the child," Beavers said. "They were strangers to the whole family."
No witnesses saw the men's vehicle.
Briant is a Hispanic boy 3 feet tall and weighs 40 pounds, with brown eyes and long, curly brown hair. He was wearing a yellow shirt, blue-striped shorts and black sandals when he was taken.
San Bernardino is about 60 miles east of downtown Los Angeles.