New York, NY, United States (AHN) – Men are at it again. They are buying more–for themselves.

The male shopper, who laid low at the onset of the recession, is back. He is buying more and spending more, and retailers are delighted.

Men are not just purchasing suits, dress shirts, ties and shoes. They are rivaling their female counterparts by loading up on accessories. They are buying bracelets, bags, hats, umbrella, belts, scarves, pocket squares, caps, metal cuffs –you name it.

Some industry forecasters predict sales growth for men’s clothing and accessories during the first three months of 2012 will set a 20-year high.

In a move to make traditional women’s accessories more appealing to men, some designers are giving them manly monikers. A bracelet is dubbed wristwear, and a purse is called a holdall.

Men were well represented at last week’s New York Fashion Week, and male adornments took center stage.

Spending on accessories is driving the men’s category. In the last half of 2011, sales grew 14 percent to about $6 billion, according to market research firm NPD Group. The trend is expected to continue.

The return of the male shopper could help pick up retail sales. And, the rebound in male shopping may also bode well for the unemployment rate. It may reflect an improved jobs pictures for men.

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Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – Congress Friday swiftly passed a deal to extend the payroll-tax cut through the end of 2012, continue paying unemployment benefits and avoid a steep cut in Medicare doctors’s fee, moving forward from a lengthy fight that had tied up legislators for months.

The House voted 293-132 to pass the measure. The Senate quickly followed with a 60-36 vote.

The move averts a tax increase on millions of Americas and the end of this month.

Under the deal, the tax paid by workers to Social Security will remain at 4.2 percent instead of reverting to 6.2 percent on March 1.

The deal also avoids a 27 percent cut in payments to doctors who serve Medicare patients, and extends through year’s end payment rates for Medicare doctors. The costs will be offset in part by taking $5 billion from a prevention and public health program established under President Obama’s signature and hotly debated health-overhaul bill.

Both parties are claiming victory.

Lawmakers now head out of town for a week-long recess.

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New York, NY, United States (AHN) – New claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week to the lowest level in nearly four years.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 13,000 to a seasonally adjusted 348,000, the lowest since March 2008. Economists had forecast claims rising to 365,000.

The four-week moving average for new claims, a better measure of the labor market, fell 1,750 to 365,250, the lowest since April 2008.

The number of people still receiving benefits under regular state programs after an initial week of aid fell 100,000 to 3.43 million in the week ending Feb.4.

While the numbers are welcome and encouraging, and signal renewed strength in the labor market, things are still not so rosy.

Some 23.8 million Americans are currently either out of work or underemployed. There are no job openings for nearly three out of every four unemployed.

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Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – Chances of getting a work-related visa to the United States are slimmer for anyone with an Indian passport, according to a recent report that found immigration authorities increased the denial rate in the last four years.

The increase resulted in many employers being unable to transfer their employees into the U.S. to work on research projects or serve customers, the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) said in its report entitled “Data Reveal High Denial Rates for L-1 and H-1 Petitions at USCIS.”

The denial rate for India-born applicants for new L-1B petitions rose from 2.8 percent in fiscal year 2008 to 22.5 percent in FY 2009, the report said.

“USCIS [United States Citizens and Immigration Services] adjudicators have demonstrated a capacity to keep skilled foreign nationals out of the U.S. by significantly increasing denials, along with often time-consuming Requests for Evidence, despite no change in the law or relevant regulations,” said Stuart Anderson, NFAP’s executive director and former head of policy and counselor to the commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

According to the report, denial rates for L-1B petitions filed with USCIS, which are used to transfer employees with “specialized knowledge” into the U.S., rose from 7 percent in 2007 to 22 percent in 2008, despite no change in the law or relevant regulation.

Immigration authorities denied more L-1B petitions for new petitions for Indians in FY 2009 (1,640) than in the previous nine fiscal years combined (1,341 denials between FY 2000 and FY 2008), the report found.

The report noted, “If one considers that in FY 2011 63 percent of all L-1B petitions received a Request for Evidence and 27 percent were issued a denial, that means U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services adjudicators denied or delayed between 63 percent to 90 percent of all L-1B petitions in 2011.”

Denial rates for H-1B petitions, which are similar to L-1B visas, increased from 11 percent in 2007 to 29 percent in 2009, and remained higher than in the past for H-1Bs at 21 percent in 2010 and 17 percent in 2011, it noted.

“The dramatic increase in denial rates and Requests for Evidence for employment petitions without any change in the law or regulations raises questions about the training, supervision and procedures of the career bureaucracy that adjudicates petitions and the U.S. government’s commitment to maintaining a stable business climate for companies competing in the global economy,” the report said.

NFAP, an Arlington, VA-based policy research group, noted that its report used official data from USCIS.

“The data indicate much of the increase in denials involves Indian-born professionals and researchers,” the report said.

Anderson added, “The high denial rates belie the notion adjudications have become more lenient.”

The U.S. State Department, which controls the visa process, commented that the report “only covers adjudications made via USCIS,” and did not use “any State Department data.”

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Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – A congressional committee took on part of the nation’s illegal immigration problem Thursday during a hearing on guest worker programs.

A House Judiciary subcommittee heard from witnesses from state agricultural programs in California, Georgia and North Carolina who support the idea of using foreign workers to harvest their crops.

However, almost no one wants them to stay in the United States after they complete their work, which would add to a problem that has created about 12 million illegal immigrants.

“There is no numerical limit to H-2A temporary agricultural work visas, yet half of farm workers remain illegal immigrants,” Lamar Smith, chairman of the subcommittee on immigration policy enforcement, said at the hearing. “Why don’t more growers who have heavy demands for seasonal agricultural labor make use of the program? Well, in 2008, the Department of Labor concluded that the vast majority of growers find the H-2A program so plagued with problems that they avoid using it altogether.”

Farmers’ complaints about the guest worker program include the bureaucratic obstacles to obtaining the visas and the high cost of providing workers with housing, which is required.

A bill pending in Congress would allow states to administer their own version of a visa program that brings in foreign workers for seasonal farm work. The bill also would give permission for some foreigners to work year-round in the United States, but only for limited periods of time, such as two years.

State programs would reduce regulatory barriers and allow more workers to qualify for the visas, according to supporters of the proposal.

The U.S. Labor Department now administers the H-2A program of short-term visas for guest workers.

However, the Labor Department has been criticized for not administering it properly.

About 1 million guest workers reside in the United States while millions of others live in the country illegally.

Critics of the program say it should be expanded so there would not be much need for illegal immigrant workers.

The government could then monitor their presence and get them to leave the United States peacefully when their visas expire.

The alternative requires turning the borders into armed camps and forcibly deporting illegal immigrants who return within a few weeks.

“America needs an agricultural guest worker program that is fair to everyone it impacts – American growers, farm workers, consumers and guest workers,” Smith said. “The program must provide growers who want to do the right thing with a reliable source of legal labor. It must protect the livelihoods of American workers and the rights of guest workers. And it must keep in mind the pocketbooks of American families.”

The current guest worker program does not meet those goals, according to witnesses at the hearing Thursday.

Gary W. Black, a Georgia Department of Agriculture commissioner, said Georgia’s farmers who did not hire illegal immigrants experienced a labor shortage under the Labor Department’s guest worker program.

The Georgia Agriculture Department did a study last year that showed 26 percent of its farmers suffered a loss of income because of a labor shortage despite a high unemployment rate nationwide. The problems were most severe in the fruit and vegetable industries.

“Even with unemployment rates hovering around 10 percent, this task was not as easy as it would seem,” Black said.

He mentioned the case of a Georgia farmer who “had one employee that worked half a day one week and two half days the next week. This employee earned a total of $119. The employee walked off the job and did not return though plenty of work was available. In addition, the employee filed an unemployment claim, and the producer received notification that the employee was eligible for $235 weekly benefits for 17 weeks.”

Foreign workers, such as illegal immigrants, would not be entitled to unemployment insurance benefits.

During his 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama said he would make immigration reform a priority of his administration. He mentioned it again during his 2012 State of the Union address.

More recently, Obama admitted during an interview with the Spanish language television station Univision that he has not accomplished his immigration reform goals, which he blamed on obstruction by Republicans in Congress.

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Paris, France (AHN) – French aviation workers continued their strike for a third consecutive day Wednesday, forcing carrier Air France to cancel 30 percent of its domestic flights and 40 percent of long-haul flights.

The strike has not only affected Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport and regional airports but also thousands of passengers.

Aviation workers organized the four-day strike in protest of a proposed law that would require them to individually give at least 48 hours notice before they go on strike.

The French Lower House approved the bill last month and is in the Senate for approval.

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Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – The United States this week expanded cooperation with India on labor and employment issues with the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that was hailed by both as a tool to enhance strong bonds between the two democracies.

Calling the MoU “an essential part of our bilateral relationship,” Mark Toner, the State Department spokesman, told journalists on Friday, “When you look at our relationship and the strategic dialogue that we have with India, there’s many baskets of issues that fall under that rubric, and certainly labor laws are one of those.”

Earlier on Thursday, Mallikarjun Kharge, visiting Indian minister for labor and employment, and U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis inked a bilateral MoU for cooperation in the areas of skill development, youth employment, occupational safety and health and mines safety and health.

Kharge emphasized that, “the road map laid down in the Memorandum of Understanding will facilitate very close cooperation and interaction between our two countries and bring about improvements in the life of workers and their working conditions.”

Welcoming the structured bilateral engagement, Solis said, “Our governments share a firm commitment to workers and their rights. Today marks the launch of a new program to share valuable information that will ensure that workers’ rights are respected.”

Kharge said that India was interested in increasing its know-how in the areas of accreditation systems, self-regulation and auditing through collaboration, exchange and sharing of ideas, among other initiatives with the U.S.

During a press conference with Washington-based Indian media, the minister said, “This is the first time India and the U.S. is signing such an important document and naturally it is going to help both of us–more to us and they will be also very anxious to help us.”

Citing a vision by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of teaching skills to 500 million persons by 2022, the visiting minister stated that collaboration with U.S. would “enrich us in the areas of training delivery methods, certification, preparation of instructional material, curriculum development and expanding outreach.”

The latest cooperation move would help in further developing “an appropriate employment strategy for inclusive growth in India and strong bonds between the people of our two great nations,” Kharge emphasized.

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Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – The United States this week expanded cooperation with India on labor and employment issues with the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that was hailed by both as a tool to enhance strong bonds between the two democracies.

Calling the MoU “an essential part of our bilateral relationship,” Mark Toner, the State Department spokesman, told journalists on Friday, “When you look at our relationship and the strategic dialogue that we have with India, there’s many baskets of issues that fall under that rubric, and certainly labor laws are one of those.”

Earlier on Thursday, Mallikarjun Kharge, visiting Indian minister for labor and employment, and U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis inked a bilateral MoU for cooperation in the areas of skill development, youth employment, occupational safety and health and mines safety and health.

Kharge emphasized that, “the road map laid down in the Memorandum of Understanding will facilitate very close cooperation and interaction between our two countries and bring about improvements in the life of workers and their working conditions.”

Welcoming the structured bilateral engagement, Solis said, “Our governments share a firm commitment to workers and their rights. Today marks the launch of a new program to share valuable information that will ensure that workers’ rights are respected.”

Kharge said that India was interested in increasing its know-how in the areas of accreditation systems, self-regulation and auditing through collaboration, exchange and sharing of ideas, among other initiatives with the U.S.

During a press conference with Washington-based Indian media, the minister said, “This is the first time India and the U.S. is signing such an important document and naturally it is going to help both of us–more to us and they will be also very anxious to help us.”

Citing a vision by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of teaching skills to 500 million persons by 2022, the visiting minister stated that collaboration with U.S. would “enrich us in the areas of training delivery methods, certification, preparation of instructional material, curriculum development and expanding outreach.”

The latest cooperation move would help in further developing “an appropriate employment strategy for inclusive growth in India and strong bonds between the people of our two great nations,” Kharge emphasized.

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New York, NY, United States (AHN) – The pink skips are flying at ailing American Airlines.

The nation’s number three airline told its unions Wednesday it plans to cut some 13,000 jobs from its staff of 88,000.

The cuts will be felt hardest in the airlines’s maintenance operations, where 4,600 jobs will be slashed. More than 4,000 ground worker positions will be lost and 2,300 flight attendants will be axed. Management will be reduced by 1,400.

In a letter to employees, CEO Thomas Horton said, “We will end this journey with many fewer people. But we will also preserve tens of thousands of jobs that would have been lost if we had not embarked on this path.”

Horton said the company needs to save more than $1.25 billion annually in labor costs and reduce costs in each work group as its tries to dig itself out from bankruptcy.

Other savings will come from restructuring debt and leases, grounding older planes and improving supplier contracts. According to Horton, AA wants to cut $2 billion a year in total costs.

AMR, the airline’s parent company, filed for bankruptcy protection on Nov. 29. Over the past several weeks, rumors have swirled that Delta, US Airways and private capital firms are interested in doing a deal with AMR, but to date, they remain just rumors.

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Khartoum, Sudan (AHN) – Sudan’s army on Monday was pursuing rebels who kidnapped 29 Chinese workers in the restive South Kordofan region.

Fighters of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, which is trying to overthrow Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, seized the workers in the compound of a Chinese construction company involved in a local road project on Saturday during a clash with government troops.

Fourteen Chinese workers were rescued by soldiers while another 15 were missing, according to Khartoum government spokesman Rabie Abdelaty. The state-owned Chinese news agency Xinhua reported that 18 Chinese workers who fled the compound when rebels raided it were found in a neighboring area and secured.

The Chinese construction company’s security personnel were working with Sudanese authorities in the rescue of the workers.

The rebels claimed the Chinese workers were unharmed and they were just protecting the foreigners from harm during the fighting with government troops. They denied any link with the South Sudan government, which is ruled by a party having the same name as the rebels’ group.

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