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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Serbia Serbia arrests Goran Hadzic, the last Yugoslav war fugitive, Posted by Meosha Eaton

Serbia arrests Goran Hadzic, the last Yugoslav war fugitive

Former leader of Krajina enclave inside Croatia is wanted by war crimes tribunal in The Hague for 'ethnic cleansing'

Goran Hadzic, the last war crimes fugitive from the Yugoslav wars, has been arrested, according to Serb officials.

They gave no details but confirmed a report by B92 television news in Belgrade that Hadzic had been caught after spending eight years on the run. Serbia's president, Boris Tadic, has called a press conference at which he is

Nigerian oil minister returns, doubters circle, Posted by Meosha Eaton

* Stalled oil reforms hold key to unlocking investment

* Refining, gas, Niger Delta are major challenges

* Nigeria has vast latent petroleum potential

By Joe Brock

ABUJA, July 7 - Nigeria's returning oil minister may have the support of the president but with Africa's largest energy industry stalling she will need to show swift progress to prove her critics wrong and attract much-needed investment.

President Goodluck Jonathan showed his faith in Deziani Alison-Madueke, Nigeria's first female oil minister by re-appointing her on Saturday after she spent less than a year in his cabinet prior to April's elections.

Protests across Syria demand end of Assad's rule, Posted by Meosha Eaton

AMMAN, June 24 - Tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the street across Syria on Friday to denounce attacks by the military designed to crush a 13-week pro-democracy uprising that has demanded the president's departure, witnesses and activists said.

Israel sees Syrian hand in Golan clashes, 23 dead, Posted by Meosha Eaton

By Ari Rabinovitch

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel accused Syria Monday of orchestrating lethal confrontations on the once-quiet cease-fire line between the two countries as a distraction from Damascus's bloody crackdown on an 11-week-old revolt.

Syria said 23 people, including a woman and a child, were killed and 350 wounded Sunday when Israeli troops fired on pro-Palestinian protestors who surged against the fortified boundary fence on Syria's Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

S.Africa union may call for a strike at Kumba, Posted by Meosha Eaton

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said on Monday it may call for a strike at Kumba Iron Ore's operations over failure to implement parts of a wage agreement.

The NUM said that Kumba had failed to assist its employees who live outside a 30 km radius of its mines with decent accommodation as laid out in the 2010-12 wage deal signed between Kumba and the union.