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Employment probably shifted into a higher rate in January to post a fourth straight month of gains , offering more evidence of a broadening economic recovery in United States of America (USA), though the jobless rate likely rose. The government is expected to report on Friday that nonfarm payrolls grew 145,000 , according to a Reuters survey, after adding 103,000 in December. But severe snow storms that slammed large parts of the nation could result in a much lower figure. All of the anticipated job gains are expected to have been generated by the private sector and would add to other data suggesting that the manufacturing-driven recovery is now spreading to other sectors of the economy. The Labor Department will release its closely watched employment report at 8:30 a.m. ET. " All the signals are pointing to a much improved labor market compared with last year and a strong payrolls report would be a nice confirmation that things are certainly headed in the right directi

The US is hoping that the "example" of the Tunisian uprising will bring reform to other parts of the region, Jeffrey Feltman, the country's top-ranking envoy for the Middle East, has said on a visit to the capital Tunis. Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the Tunisian president, whom Washington considered one of its staunch allies, fled the country amid violent protests on 14 January 2011, after 23 years in power. "I certainly expect that we'll be using the Tunisian example" in talks with other Arab governments, Feltman told journalists in the Tunisian capital. "The challenges being faced in many parts of the world, particularly in the Arab world, are the same and we hope people will be addressing legitimate political, social, economic grievances," he said. Feltman said he would travel to France on Wednesday for talks on the situation in Tunisia and Lebanon following the visit to Tunis. Hundreds of people rallied for the first time in support of Tunisi

WikiLeaks has published some crucial issues form secret US diplomatic cables. The latest internationally significant releases from the Wikileaks are categorized here: 1. About Chinese economic expansion in Africa: The United States thinks China is a " pernicious economic competitor with no morals " whose booming investments in Africa are propping up unsavoury regimes , according to a February 23 cable by the US consul-general in Lagos. The US assistant secretary of state for African affairs, Johnnie Carson, was quoting as giving the frank assessment in a meeting with oil executives in Nigeria. "China is not in Africa for altruistic reasons," he said. " China is in Africa for China primarily. " 2. To free Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo: US officials pushed China to free dissident Liu Xiaobo, winner of the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize, in the weeks after he was first detained. In late 2008, only two weeks after Liu was first held, then ambassador to China Cl

American economy experiences strong position in its key indicators exposed recently. Among this, one of the major indicator is amount of applications for unemployment benefits in the United States of America which dropped last week to the second-lowest level this year, fresh evidence that companies are cutting fewer jobs. First-time claims for jobless aid fell by 17,000 to a seasonally-adjusted 421,000 in the week ending Dec. 4, the Labor Department of USA said Thursday. The four-week average of claims, a less-volatile measure, dropped for the fifth straight week to 427,500. That's the lowest since August 2008, just before the financial crisis intensified with the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Separately, the Commerce Department said businesses boosted wholesale inventories for the tenth straight month in October and sales rose by the largest amount in seven months. Strong demand from businesses restocking depleted store shelves has helped the economy grow after the recession

The US jobless rate surged to 9.8 percent in November, a hammer blow to the economic recovery and to President Barack Obama's hopes for a quick end to high unemployment. The world's largest economy created many fewer jobs than expected and the unemployment rate rose from 9.6 percent to its highest level since April, the Labor Department reported. A measly 39,000 jobs were created during the month, well short of the 130,000 predicted by economists and well beneath the levels needed to dent unemployment rates. Job losses in the retail and manufacturing sector led the decline as the employment market once again proved unable to untether itself from the long-ended recession. The jobless rate has remained above nine percent for the last 19 months, leaving more than 15 million jobseekers unemployed. The White House, under pressure to prove its economic policies are working, acknowledged the unemployment rate was "unacceptably high." Massive government stimulus p

The U.S. economy is going ahead on its path of growth in the third quarter with some positive indicators compare to the previous quarter, according to the government's initial reading published on October 29, 2010. The fear of double-dip recession in the U.S. economy has been over as depicted in the recent data which shows better growth and more household spending in the economy.   Gross domestic product (GDP), the broadest measure of the economy, grew at an annual rate of 2% in the three months ended in September 2010. While that's slightly better than 1.7% growth in the previous quarter, it is still considered too weak to create jobs. "The U.S. economic recovery is still stuck in second gear," said Paul Ashworth, senior U.S. economist for Capital Economics in a note Friday. "The economy isn't growing rapidly enough to reduce the unemployment rate,” he added. The average growth rate during U.S. economic expansions over the last 30 years is 3.6%, and

The United States of America has dropped out from the "top 20" in a global league table of least corrupt nations, tarnished by financial scandals and the influence of money in politics, Transparency International said on Tuesday. Somalia was judged the most corrupt country, followed by Myanmar and Afghanistan at joint second-worst and then by Iraq, in the Berlin-based watchdog TI's annual corruption perceptions index (CPI). The USA has fallen down to 22nd from 19th last year, with its CPI score dropping to 7.1 from 7.5 in the 178-nation index, which is based on independent surveys on corruption. This was the lowest score awarded to the USA in the index's 15-year history and also the first time it had fallen out of the top 20. In the Americas, this put the USA behind Canada in sixth place, Barbados at 17th and Chile in 21st place. Denmark, New Zealand and Singapore are jointly heading the index with 9.3 point.They were also at the top of the table last year. The t

Venezuela President Hugo Chavez accused the U.S of being behind the unrest in Ecuador, he made the allegation after emerging from a meeting of The Union of South American Nations today. The Union of South American Nations convened an emergency meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to discuss the situation. Presidents of many South American nations -- including Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, Bolivia's Evo Morales and Colombia's Juan Manuel Santos -- were in attendance. "The Yankee extreme right is trying right now, through arms and violence, to retake control of the continent," Chavez said. Earlier Thursday U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued a statement expressing support for Correa. "The United States deplores violence and lawlessness, and we express our full support for President Rafael Correa, and the institutions of democratic government in that country," she said. The group of South American leaders Friday condemned an "attempted coup&q

The economic outlook for nine U.S. Midwest and South-Central states slumped for a third consecutive month in August, pointing to slower growth as the potential for a double-dip recession rises, according to a survey of supply managers released on Wednesday.   Creighton University's Business Conditions Index fell to 55.8 in August from 60.8 in July. A reading of 50 is considered growth neutral, while readings above that signal expansion over the next three to six months.   Just over a third of the survey's respondents said it was likely or very likely the U.S. economy will slip back into a recession in 2011, while 44 percent said there was a 50 percent chance of that happening. Still, the Mid-America region looks stronger than the national economy, said Creighton University Economics Professor Ernie Goss. "Over the past several months, for example, the region has been adding jobs at a very healthy pace while U.S. job growth has been nil," he said in a statement.

Residential area submerged due to Hurricane Earl in USA U.S. residents urged to prepare for possible evacuations as powerful Hurricane Earl howled over open seas running toward the East Coast of the U.S.A. The Category 4 hurricane, with winds of 135 mph (215 kilometers), was expected to remain over the open ocean before turning north and running parallel to the U.S. coast, potentially reaching the North Carolina coastal region by late Thursday or early Friday. It was projected then to curve back out to sea, perhaps swiping New England or far-eastern Canada. "We can't totally rule out a very close approach to either of the Cape Hatteras areas or Cape Cod and southern New England as the storm progresses further," said Bill Read, director of the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami. Earl delivered a glancing blow to several small Caribbean islands Monday, tearing roofs off of homes and cutting electricity to people in Anguilla, Antigua, and St. Maarten. Cruise ships were

The US economy grew 1.6% in the second quarter, revised down from a first estimate of 2.4%.The figures were better than most analysts had expected. Recent data on the US economy had raised worries that the US was entering a double-dip recession, dragging the rest of the world with it. The revised figure was mostly due to the largest surge in imports in 26 years, and a slower build-up of stocks by companies. Economists had estimated the revision would be sharper for the April-to-June period, down to about 1.3%. Nevertheless, it still marks a big drop on the growth figure for the previous three months, which stood at 3.7%. The US economy has now grown for four straight quarters, although that annualised growth rate averaged only 2.9%. Experts say that the economy needs to grow at about 3% just to keep the unemployment rate, currently 9.5%, from rising. Business investment in new machinery, computers and software drove much of the growth last quarter, increasing nearly 25%. But much of th