P4Z-0hy22ZRyqh5IUeLwjcY3L_M
MEAN STREETS MEDIA
Saturday, January 2, 2016
Friday, January 1, 2016
U.S. Jobless Claims Increase 20,000
WASHINGTON – Initial claims for unemployment benefits in the United States increased by 20,000 last week to 287,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
The figure surpassed analysts’ forecasts and represents the largest weekly jump since February, while total claims reached their highest level since the first week of July.
The rolling four-week average of claims, a more reliable indicator of trends in the labor market, increased last week by 4,500 to 277,000, the highest in more than five months.
The four-week average has been below or just slightly above 300,000 since last September.
The number of people receiving unemployment benefits increased by 3,000 to 2.21 million during the week that ended Dec. 19.
Unemployment remained unchanged in November at 5 percent as the economy created 211,000 jobs, the Labor Department said early this month in a report that also adjusted the numbers for September and October to show that 35,000 more jobs were created than initially estimated.
The Labor Department’s broader U6 measure of unemployment, which includes people working part-time who would prefer full-time and workers who have given up looking for a job, remained near double digits in November, at 9.9 percent.
The labor-force participation rate came in last month at 62.5 percent, the lowest since October 1977.
FBI Arrests Islamic State Sympathizer on Terror Charges
NEW YORK – A 25-year-old man was arrested in New York state for allegedly intending to commit a terrorist act on New Year’s Eve, inspired by the Islamic State jihadist group, authorities said Thursday.The man was identified as Emanuel L. Lutchman of Rochester, a convert to Islam with a criminal record and mental problems, and he said he was instructed by the IS to carry out a terrorist operation.
In a communique, federal prosecutors and the FBI said that Lutchman stands accused of intending to provide material support to the IS, including aiming to murder civilians on New Year’s Eve “in the name of that terrorist organization.”
According to the criminal complaint, Lutchman said that he received instructions from an IS member located outside the United States to carry out the attack as a first step in joining that group.
Since November, he had been in contact with an informant to whom he expressed “firm support” for the IS and his desire to join the jihadist group in Syria.
According to the court document, one of Lutchman’s contacts was located in Syria and he told him he wanted to leave the United States and join the IS fight to establish a Muslim caliphate.
Lutchman last weekend sent an audio tape to another police informant in which he swore loyalty to the IS and its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
He also said that he was intending to use a pressure cooker and a machete to harm people after taking them hostage in a restaurant.
Lutchman and one of the informants bought knives, a machete, latex gloves and other items and decided to tape a video before staging the attack.
He could face a maximum prison term of 20 years on the charges against him.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)