Evening Edition

Between 2,000 and 3,000 Kadhafi troops attacked the Mediterranean port city from the south, west and east, killing 10 rebel fighters and wounding 26, the spokesman Hassan al-Galai, told AFP by telephone from the city.

Despite the deployment of tanks, Grad rocket launchers and heavy artillery, there had been no intervention by NATO led aircraft by 6:00 pm (1600 GMT) when the fighting was still raging, Galai said.

Spain, meanwhile, joined the growing list of countries which recognise the rebels seeking to topple Kadhafi as the sole representative of Libya’s people, leaving the strongman more isolated than ever.

NATO allies meeting in Brussels pledged to stay in Libya “for as long as necessary” and commit the “necessary means” to the military campaign against Kadhafi’s forces.

Loud blasts were heard near Kadhafi’s residential complex Bab al-Aziziya at around 1:45 am (2345 GMT Tuesday), an AFP correspondent said. A little later the city was shaken by more powerful explosions.

On Tuesday, in one of the heaviest bombardments of the air war so far NATO-led warplanes carried out some 60 strikes on Tripoli, killing 31 people, Libyan government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim said.

Fears that the regime of President Bashar al-Assad could be about to exact brutal revenge for what it said was a “massacre” on Monday by “armed terrorists” appeared to galvanize efforts at the United Nations.

Western powers pressed the UN Security Council to demand an end to Syria’s brutal protest crackdown, although the draft resolution was said to contain no mention of tougher sanctions against either Assad or his regime.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters ahead of a Security Council meeting on Syria that Washington was “trying to convince others in the council” to back the measure condemning actions by Assad’s regime.

“We believe that such a resolution will bring added pressure on Assad’s regime and advance the international community’s efforts to end the brutal repression on Syrian people,” Toner said.

The number of new infections from a highly virulent strain of E. coli bacteria which has left at least 25 people dead and more than 2,600 ill was falling, German Health Minister Daniel Bahr said after the meeting.

“We cannot give the all-clear but based on the evaluation of the data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI, the national health centre), there is reason for justified optimism that we have the worst behind us at the national level,” he told reporters.

The Vienna meeting broke up without agreement even as traders had speculated that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries would boost production quotas to help calm markets and in help revive flagging economic growth.

“Unfortunately we are unable to reach a consensus this time to reduce or raise our production,” OPEC Secretary General Abdullah El-Badri said after the meeting.

Kohli struck six fours and one six in 81 from 103 balls to earn the Man-of-the-Match award, and Patel made 56 from 64 deliveries, as the Indians, chasing a revised target of 183 from 37 overs due to rain, reached their target with 20 balls remaining.

India captain Suresh Raina clinched victory, when he steered a delivery from Ravi Rampaul wide of point for two runs.

The potent blast from the Sun unleashed a firestorm of radiation on a level not witnessed since 2006, and will likely lead to moderate geomagnetic storm activity by Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service.

“This one was rather dramatic,” said Bill Murtagh, program coordinator at the NWS’s Space Weather Prediction Center, describing the M-2 (medium-sized) solar flare that peaked at 1:41 am Eastern time in the United States, or 0541 GMT.

Yoga star Swami Ramdev, who was evicted from the capital along with thousands of followers at the weekend in a police crackdown, warned of violence if he was targeted again.

The activist, who is watched by millions of Indians every day on a religious television channel, called for men and women to join his “army”.

Ecclestone had been in favour of moving the race to October 30 after the season opener had originally been postponed because of unrest in the country.

But he agrees that the race cannot be held after 11 of the 12 Formula One teams voiced objections because the civil unrest was continuing in the Gulf country.

Forward Shawn Marion scored 16 points and Tyson Chandler finished with 13 points and 16 rebounds for the Mavericks, who came back from a nine-point deficit in the fourth in another tight-scoring contest in which the lead changed hands 12 times on Tuesday.

Nowitzki, who also had 11 rebounds, had been carrying the load for the Mavericks in the series and for a change he got some help from his teammates down the stretch in front of a crowd of 20,430 at the American Airlines Center.

St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard told Reuters on Wednesday “the U.S. fiscal situation, if not handled correctly, could turn into a global macro shock.

“The idea that the U.S. could threaten to default is a dangerous one,” he said in an interview.

The idea of a technical default — essentially delaying interest payments for a few days — has gained backing from a growing number of mainstream Republicans who see it as a price worth paying if it forces the White House to slash spending, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

But any form of default could destabilize the global economy and sour already tense relations with big U.S. creditors such as China, government officials and investors warn.

Senior administration lawyer Neal Katyal argued that the Affordable Care Act does not violate the constitution, as 26 states seeking repeal of the law have argued. They contend that individuals cannot be required to buy health insurance as the law requires.

Katyal defended the 2010 law before the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta and said it is grounded in three separate constit

“We were unable to reach an agreement — this is one of the worst meetings we have ever had,” said Ali al-Naimi, oil minister for Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s biggest producer.

The failure to do a deal is a blow for consumer nations hoping the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries would take action to stem fuel inflation.

With Western public opinion startled by the bloodshed that has met Syrians’ efforts to emulate other Arabs in casting off autocratic rule, Britain and France asked the U.N. Security Council to condemn President Bashar al-Assad — though there seemed to be no appetite for Libya-style military intervention.

Assad’s government has accused armed bands of killing scores of its security men in the northwestern town of Jisr al-Shughour and vowed to send in the army to carry out their “national duty to restore security” there. Troops with tanks have deployed near the town, prompting many of its 50,000 people to flee.

NATO air strikes resumed in Tripoli on Wednesday night after a lull that followed the heaviest day of bombings since March. Thousands of Gaddafi troops advanced on Misrata on Wednesday, shelling it from three sides and killing at least 12 rebels.

Ministers from the so-called Libya contact group, including the United States, France and Britain, as well as Arab allies Qatar, Kuwait and Jordan, agreed in May to set up a fund to help the rebels in the civil war.

Europe and the United States have been reluctant to develop a robust post-Gaddafi plan for Libya, wary of nation building after costly and unpopular efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But the West’s apparent lack of a concrete plan unsettles development experts, who want to see quicker action to help Libyan rebels prepare a security and governing strategy.

That has given companies that sell alternatives to RSA’s SecurIDs, such as Symantec Corp and Vasco Data Security International, more room to try to win customers from EMC.

SecurIDs are widely used electronic keys to computer systems, designed to thwart hackers by requiring two passcodes: one that is fixed and another that is automatically generated every few seconds by the security system.

The German government has been criticized at home and around Europe for failing so far to pin down the cause of the outbreak that has stricken more than 2,700 people in 12 countries. All cases have been traced back to near Hamburg in northern Germany.

About a quarter of E.coli patients in the latest outbreak have developed a severe complication called hemolytic uremic syndrome affecting the blood, kidneys and nervous system.

The 66-year-old chain smokes in the grounds of a Hamburg hospital as she waits to learn if an apparently healthy salad has given her a rare and deadly disease.

“I had prepared a salad with cucumbers and tomatoes,” recalls Erika, whose husband died late last year and who asked not to be identified by her full name because the symptoms she has developed are embarrassing. “I peeled the cucumbers but I did not wash them first.”

Three judges will meet on Friday to discuss whether the case brought against her by opposition deputies merits a formal probe, and a judicial source said they will likely seek extra time before deciding.

“It’s likely there won’t be a decision on Friday,” the source at the Court of Justice of the Republic, a special tribunal qualified to judge ministers, told Reuters.

The U.N. ambassadors of the four European Union countries told reporters they presented the draft at a council meeting at which the 15-nation body was briefed by a senior U.N. official on the unrest in Syria.

There was no vote on the latest draft resolution, which may be amended further. British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said the text had been revised to respond to developments in Syria and concerns raised by some council members.

Obama, whose political prospects have suffered from persistently high unemployment and ballooning U.S. debt, has pinpointed the euro zone crisis as one foreign “headwind” hitting the U.S. economy.

After a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, he stressed the importance of German “leadership” on the issue — a hint that he expects Berlin to help — while expressing sympathy for the political difficulties European Union countries face in helping a struggling member state.

“It was very strategically important to have a long relationship and have four more Games and not just two. It was a big part of our strategy,” Brian Roberts, Chairman and CEO of Comcast told a conference call.

“The depth of coverage and accessibility to U.S. consumers will never be greater,” he said.