VOLUME No: 60 Issue No:1
Washington, D.C. - April 16, 2004
Number of Americans Filing for Unemployment Jumps
American worker's unemployment claims jumped up last week by some 30,000 new claims in the largest increase since late 2002. Before last week, unemployment claims were at their lowest in four years.
Since last week was the first week in a new quarter, analysists at the Labor Department are taking into consideration that unemployment claims are usually volatile and can fluctuate a great deal. The total number of unemployed American workers is about 360,000, and that figure is adjusted to accommodate seasonal workers.
President Bush foresees that the strong economic trend will continue, and ultimately hopes it will convince businesses to re-hire workers that have been laid off. Economists have been concerned that a combination of a stronger economy and inflation could encourage the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates.
Last month, over 308,000 payroll jobs were created, but the unemployment
rate was at 5.7 percent.
Qatari - American Fourth Annual Conference on Democracy and Free Trade
The Fourth Annual Qatar Conference on Democracy and Free Trade took place this year at the Ritz-Carlton in Doha , Qatar . There were over 460 delegates in attendance this year, including economists, businessmen, academics, and media from all over the world. In addition, there were a significant number of British Members of Parliament and French National Assembly members (more so than have been present at the previous three conferences) as well as two U.S. Congressmen, James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and Paul Ryan (R-WI).
The conference, held on the 5-6 of April, was co-sponsored by the Islamic Free Market Institute Foundation, the Council on Foreign Relations, the University of Qatar , and the Qatar Chamber of Commerce. The opening ceremony included a keynote speech by Qatar's Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, as well as addresses by Qatar's First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, His Excellency Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabor Al Thani, included the French National Assembly Deputy Pierre Joxe, Pakistani information minister Mushahad Hussein Sayed, MP (House of Lords) Robert Redesdale, and U.S. Congressman James Sensenbrenner (R-WI).
More information about the conference will be posted on our web site
soon.
Week in Review…
Some schools around the country are turning to computer software to detect plagiarism in student's papers. The volumes of material available on the Internet render it hard for teachers to determine if a student's work is not original, but this new software, Turnitin, enters the paper into a database of thousands of millions of websites, journals, and other student's term papers.
A new type of smallpox vaccination has become available on the market, and government officials are considering buying the vaccine to stockpile it in the event of a bioterrorist attack. The experimental vaccine, Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA), could potentially replace our current front-line vaccination, Dryvax.
Congressman Sensenbrenner (R-WI), Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has asked 9/11 Commissioner Jamie Gorelick to resign, citing that he (Rep. Sensenbrenner) believes that Gorelick has a conflict of interest. Gorelick, the former deputy attourney general, wrote a memo in 1995 that put an even greater barrier up for sharing intelligence and criminal information.
Air America Radio, the Liberal radio network, has been pulled from two critical markets, Chicago and Los Angeles . Arthur Liu, the owner of Multicultural Radio Broadcasting, says that he pulled the network after some of Air America Radio's checks bounced, leaving an unpaid bill in excess of 1 million dollars. The network is less than two weeks old.
