Dec. 1, 2010 (United Press International) -- U.N. foresees tepid world economy UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- The global economy won't be taking off any time soon, a gloomy United Nations report issued Wednesday projected.
The report -- prepared by the U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development and the five U.N. economic commissions-- forecasts 3.1 percent growth worldwide in 2011 and a 3.5 percent rise in 2012. That won't be enough to put people back to work, the report said.
The U.N. report notes at least 30 million jobs evaporated worldwide between 2007 and the end of 2009. It says fiscal austerity moves being pressed by many nations will further hinder job growth going forward.
"We are not out of the woods yet and still major risks are looming," Rob Vos, director of the Development Policy and Analysis Division at the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, who led the team of economists who prepared the report, said at a news conference in New York. "The road to recovery -- we expect to be long and bumpy still. The speed of the recovery as we have seen starting in the middle of 2009 has started to decelerate in the middle of this year, particularly owing to weaknesses in the major developed economies, but we also expect that to drag down the growth in developing countries."
The report laments what it calls a waning cooperative spirit among major economies that it says has weakened the effectiveness of responses to the world situation. It said uncoordinated monetary responses have contributed to turbulence and uncertainty in financial markets.
The report says developing countries continue to drive the global recovery, but their output growth is also expected to shrink to 6 percent during 2011-2012, down from 7 percent in 2010, because of the slowdown in the advanced countries and the phasing out of stimulus measures.
The report recommends more fiscal stimulus, geared to support job growth, reducing income disparities and strengthening sustainable production capacity. It also suggests finding greater synergy between fiscal and monetary stimulus while counteracting increased currency tensions and volatile short-term capital flows.
Efforts should be made to ensure sufficient and stable development finance is made available for developing countries, the report says.
Fed provides further bailout details WASHINGTON, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- The U.S. Federal Reserve revealed Wednesday the extent to which it was stabilizing financial markets at the height of the credit crunch.
The central bank opened a variety of lending facilities when the financial sector went quickly from wobbly to vertigo in the fall of 2008. At that point, banks clung to their cash, forcing corporations that use quick market loans to scramble for an alternative.
While banks were granted cash infusions through the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, the Fed's list shows the extent to which it was covering the financial industry's lending expectations.
The list includes 21,000 emergency loans the Fed granted to U.S. and foreign firms, The New York Times reported. Loans such as commercial paper lending are unsecured loans, available only for firms with high credit ratings.
The Fed said General Electric Co. (NYSE:GE) , Harley-Davidson Motor Co., Verizon (NYSE:VZ) Wireless and Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE:TM) all turned to the Fed for loans that generally last from a week to a month and are often used to meet payroll obligations.
The Fed also listed McDonald's Corp. (NYSE:MCD) as a borrower, but McDonald's issued a quick disclaimer.
"McDonald's Corp. was erroneously listed by the Federal Reserve Bank as a recipient of federal funds during the financial crisis of 2008," the firm said in a statement. "We believe the reason for the error is that McDonald's Corp. is inaccurately listed as the parent/sponsor company of Golden Funding Corporation, an independently-owned company which did receive federal funding during this period," the restaurant chain said.
The data show the Fed continued short-term lending to firms into the summer of 2009, even after the recession had officially ended.
Amazon.com boots Wikileaks SEATTLE, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Amazon.com has kicked Internet whistle-blower WikiLeaks off its servers, WikiLeaks said Wednesday.
"WikiLeaks servers at Amazon ousted," WikiLeaks said about 3 p.m. EST on its Twitter account. "Free speech the land of the free ... fine our $ are now spent to employ people in Europe."
Computerworld magazine reported it had learned WikiLeaks is now being hosted by Bahnof Internet AB, a Swedish firm with headquarters in Uppsala.
WikiLeaks had moved to Amazon's hosting service Monday, apparently to protect itself from denial-of-service attacks that took the site offline for several hours that day. The attacks continued Wednesday, Craig Labovitz, chief scientists of Arbor Networks told Computerworld.
Labovitz said the DoS attacks continued throughout Wednesday morning.
Amazon, under its terms of service, can legally pull the plug on customers at its will and pleasure, Computerworld said. The Seattle company didn't respond to queries about its WikiLeaks relationship, the magazine said.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which advocates for Internet freedom of speech, said although Amazon.com's move does not violate the First Amendment but foundation attorney Kevin Bankston told the Web site Talking Points Memo the decision was disappointing because it may have been made under pressure from the office of U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, Ind.-Conn.
"This certainly implicates First Amendment rights to the extent that web hosts may, based on direct or informal pressure, limit the materials the American public has a First Amendment right to access," Bankston said.
Obama talks START with Powell WASHINGTON, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama met with former Secretary of State Colin Powell Wednesday to discuss the new START nuclear weapons treaty with Russia.
Obama also told reporters at the White House he's confident a tax cut deal will be worked out with congressional Republicans, despite a letter issued by Senate Republicans vowing to stonewall all other legislative initiatives until the tax cut issue is resolved.
The president said "some lingering politics" could be expected as he attempts to forge bipartisan support for a tax cut package.
"There are going to be some ups and downs in this process," Obama said.
Following the meeting with Powell, Obama told reporters he and the former Republican administration Cabinet member not only discussed the new strategic arms treaty, which needs Senate approval, but also went over other national security issues such as North Korea, Iran and Afghanistan.
"He and I discussed why START is so important," Obama said.
Powell voiced his support for the treaty, saying it will revive a verification system within Russia without affecting U.S. missile defense plans. He said legitimate questions raised about modernization of the U.S. system have been addressed.
Powell said he and other Republican ex-secretaries of state have written an op-ed article urging passage of the treaty, which will appear in The Washington Post.
"I hope that the Senate will move quickly," Powell said.
