War to go on even if NATO bombing ends: Gaddafi camp, Posted by Meosha Eaton

(Reuters) - Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's camp has vowed to push on with its war against rebels whether or not NATO stops its bombing campaign, leaving little room for diplomacy to end the five-month conflict.

The rebels and their Western backers kept up the pressure on the veteran leader as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan began, with NATO bombing military targets and dropping leaflets over the capital calling on loyalists to give up.

Ovation on shot lawmaker's DC return, Posted by Meosha Eaton

Mubarak trial may scare Arab rulers, placate Egyptians, Posted by Meosha Eaton

(Reuters) - Egypt's fallen leader, Hosni Mubarak, goes on trial Wednesday over his role in killing protesters, in a stark message to Arab rulers elsewhere that they too may one day be held to account.

In domestic politics, putting the former president in the dock may help quell criticism of the generals now running Egypt, suspected by protesters of protecting their former commander.

Lawmakers to vote on last-minute debt deal, Posted by Meosha Eaton

(Reuters) - After months of vitriolic discord, Republican and Democratic lawmakers were expected to vote on Monday on a White House-backed deal to raise the U.S. borrowing limit and avert an unprecedented debt default.

The Democratic-led Senate is expected to pass the deal, which raises the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling and cuts about $2.4 trillion from the deficit over the next decade.

HSBC sheds 30,000 jobs, posts surprise profit rise, Posted by Meosha Eaton

(Reuters) - HSBC will shed 30,000 jobs as it retreats from countries where it is struggling to compete, Europe's biggest bank said on Monday after it reported a surprise rise in first-half profit.

Shares in HSBC rose over 4 percent after it unveiled first-half pretax profits of $11.5 billion, up from $11.1 billion a year ago and better than the $10.8 billion average in a Reuters poll of analysts.

Mexico captures Juarez cartel hitmen leader: report, Posted by Meosha Eaton

(Reuters) - Mexican police have arrested an alleged leader of the Juarez drug cartel's armed wing linked to a deadly car bomb last year, local media said on Saturday.

El Universal daily, quoting government sources, said Jose Antonio Acosta Hernandez -- also known as "El Diego" and reputed to be one of the bosses of the La Linea hitmen -- was captured in Ciudad Juarez on Friday.

The media reports said Acosta Hernandez was behind a cell phone-detonated car bomb that killed four people in Ciudad Juarez in July of 2010, the first attack of its kind in Mexico's drug war, and ordered the killing of at least a dozen more.

No death "miracle" in Guyana airliner crash, Posted by Meosha Eaton

(Reuters) - A packed Caribbean Airlines passenger jet skidded off a runway as it landed in Guyana at night on Saturday, then broke in two at the edge of a ravine. There were no casualties.

The Boeing 737-800 overshot the runway and burst through a perimeter fence after arriving at Georgetown's Cheddi Jagan airport just past midnight from New York. The front of the plane snapped off and it stopped meters from a jungle gorge.

No fire appears to have broken out and only three people were hospitalized, one for a broken leg.

Blast in China's Kashgar kills at least 3: reports, Posted by Meosha Eaton

(Reuters) - An explosion rocked the far-west Chinese city of Kashgar Sunday, killing at least three people including a policeman in the latest in a series of attacks in the region this month, the state-run news agency Xinhua reported.

The explosion came about 16 hours after two other blasts were reported in Kashgar and eight people were killed in a knife attack in the city, in the restive Xinjiang region near Tajikistan.

Rebels clash with Gaddafi loyalists near Benghazi, Posted by Mosha Eaton

(Reuters) - Libyan rebels clashed in the early hours of Sunday with an armed gang they said was loyal to Muammar Gaddafi, the latest sign of growing lawlessness in the rebel-held east.

Rebel spokesman Mahmoud Shammam told reporters in the opposition capital of Benghazi that the clashes broke out when rebel forces attacked a militia that had helped some 300 Gaddafi loyalists break out of jail Friday.

All south Somalia slipping into famine - U.N., Posted by Meosha Eaton

LIBOI, Kenya, July 29 - The whole of drought- and conflict-wracked southern Somalia is heading into famine as the Horn of Africa food crisis deepens, the United Nations said on Friday.

In a report for countries sending aid, the U.N.'s umbrella humanitarian agency OCHA said the "crisis in southern Somalia is expected to continue to worsen through 2011, with all areas of the south slipping into famine."

Democrats try to break U.S. debt impasse, Posted by Meosha Eaton

(Reuters) - Senate Democrats aimed to seize the initiative in efforts to head off a ruinous U.S. debt default by pushing their deficit-cutting plan on Saturday towards a possible compromise with a divided Republican Party.

Entrenched differences were still hampering a compromise as Democratic leaders accused their Republican counterparts of obstructionism, less than 100 hours before the government says it will run out of money to pay all its bills.

U.S. growth anaemic, debt row poses recession risk, Posted by Meosha Eaton

(Reuters) - The U.S. economy stumbled badly in the first half of 2011 and came dangerously close to contracting in the January-March period, raising the risk of a recession if a standoff over the nation's debt does not end quickly.

Output increased at a 1.3 percent annual pace in the second quarter as consumer spending barely rose, the Commerce Department said on Friday. In the first three months of the year, the economy advanced just 0.4 percent, a sharp downward revision from the previously reported 1.9 percent gain.

One Day in Port-au-Prince: The Sex Worker, Posted by Meosha Eaton

One Day in Port-au-Prince: The Gas Man, Posted by Meosha Eaton

One Day in Port-au-Prince: The Schoolgirl, Posted by Meosha Eaton

Israel stops suspected gunrunners in Dead Sea, Posted by Meosha Eaton

July 25, 2011 (Reuters) - Israeli security forces on Monday stopped a small motor boat in the Dead Sea carrying assault rifles and ammunition from Jordan and arrested two Palestinians suspected of smuggling, police said.

The salty desert lake also abuts the occupied West Bank but is generally quiet due to long-standing Israeli-Jordan security cooperation.

Bahrain commission to investigate army, torture claims, Posted by Meosha Eaton

(Reuters) - A commission tasked by Bahrain to investigate weeks of protests that rocked the Gulf island kingdom said Sunday it would look at the role of the security forces in the unrest and examine charges of torture.

At a news conference marking the launch of the five-member panel's investigation, chairman Cherif Bassiouni said his team would look at 30 police officers being investigated by the Interior Ministry for allegedly not following procedures.

He said the army would also be investigated.

Iran blamed U.S., Israel for killing of scientist, Posted by Meosha Eaton

(Reuters) - A senior Iranian official on Sunday blamed the United States and Israel for the killing of an Iranian scientist, who the deputy interior minister said was not linked to Iran's nuclear program as reported by media.

Darioush Rezaie, 35, a university lecturer, was shot dead by gunmen in eastern Tehran Saturday. Some media reports said Rezaie was a nuclear scientist but Deputy Interior Minister Safarali Baratlou said this was not true.

Blasts rock Tripoli as NATO targets Gaddafi compound, Posted by Meosha Eaton

July 24, 2011 (Reuters) - Explosions rocked central Tripoli for the second night in a row and Britain said weeks of NATO bombardment had inflicted extensive damage on Muammar Gaddafi's heavily-fortified compound.

Libya's leader is clinging to power despite a four-month-old NATO air campaign and a lengthening conflict with rebels seeking an end to his 41-year rule and who have seized large swathes of the North African country.

Libya's Gaddafi urges Misrata notables to fight rebels, Posted by Meosha Eaton

TUNIS, Jul 22, 2011 - Muammar Gaddafi urged families and tribal leaders from Misrata to fight to take back Libya's third-largest city from rebels who have pushed his troops away after more than four months of bitter fighting.

Libyan TV showed footage of Gaddafi meeting at a conference center in Tripoli with dozens of notables from Misrata and residents of the capital with relatives in the town, chastising them for their inaction.