Evening Edition

A day after a silent “rose march”, which saw more than 100,000 people gather in central Oslo, a rose in their hands, the city’s streets, lamp posts and traffic lights were bedecked with flowers on Tuesday.

A mass of flowers and candles laid in front of the city’s cathedral formed a carpet that stretches onto the road, blocking traffic.

An estimated 3.7 million people in Somalia — around a third of the population — are on the brink of starvation and millions more in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda have been struck by the worst drought in the region in 60 years.

WFP chief Josette Sheeran said her organisation would begin food airlifts to the Somali capital Mogadishu, as well as aid flights to Dolo in Ethiopia on the border with Somalia and to Wajir in northern Kenya, which has been badly hit by drought.

As the dollar slid to new lows and stock markets wobbled, the White House raised the stakes as Obama’s Democratic allies and his Republican foes remained deadlocked in a bitter battle to raise the $14.3 trillion debt limit.

With a week to go before the United States hits an August 2 deadline and runs out of funds, Republican House Speaker John Boehner insisted his plan to raise the ceiling in two stages was the only “reasonable approach.”

Earnings after taxation hit $5.62 billion (3.87 billion euros) in the three months to June, BP said in a results statement. That compared with a vast loss of $17.15 billion in the second quarter of 2010.

But BP shares sank 2.45 percent to 463.75 pence in midday trade on London’s falling FTSE 100 index, as investors focused on adjusted earnings which dashed analysts’ expectations.

Button will mark his 200th Grand Prix at the site of his first GP victory five years ago, while Hamilton will be looking to keep the momentum going from his German Grand Prix victory on Sunday.

“It’s always fun coming back to Hungary as this is the track at which I won my first Grand Prix, in 2006, and I’ll be celebrating another milestone on Sunday because this is my 200th Grand Prix,” said Button.

For five years to 2008, the Fukushima plant was rated the most hazardous nuclear facility in Japan for worker exposure to radiation and one of the five worst nuclear plants in the world on that basis. The next rankings, compiled as a three-year average, are due this year.

Reuters uncovered these rankings, privately tracked by Fukushima’s operator Tokyo Electric Power, in a review of documents and presentations made at nuclear safety conferences over the past seven years.

Friday’s attacks by Anders Behring Breivik killed 76 and traumatized normally peaceful Norway, which has been struggling to come to terms with his cold-blooded shooting of young people and bomb attack in the heart of Oslo’s government district.

Administration and Church Affairs Minister Rigmor Aasrud will be the first cabinet member displaced by the attack to return to her normal office after the bomb blew a hole through the prime minister’s office and badly damaged other buildings.

Warren will return to Harvard Law School and will be succeeded by a close aide and former banker, Rajeev Date.

The agency officially opened its doors for business on July 21 but still does not have a confirmed leader.

The Commerce Department said on Tuesday the median sales price for a new home increased 5.8 percent last month to $235,200. Compared to June of last year, prices rose 7.2 percent.

Indications that home prices were starting to stabilize were also evident in the S&P/Case Shiller survey, whose composite index of prices in 20 metropolitan areas was flat in May after a 0.4 percent gain in April.

Ford, the only U.S. automaker that did not accept a government bailout in 2009, has posted a net profit for eight straight quarters. It racked up net losses of $30 billion from 2006 through 2008 when it cut jobs, sold unprofitable brands and reshaped a lineup laden with large SUVs and pickup trucks.

“These results are pretty good considering some of the stumbling blocks in the economy,” said Mirko Mikelic, senior portfolio manager with Fifth Third Asset Management, which owns Ford shares.

Not likely, according to analysts, who say that even without the ability to borrow more money, the government could avoid a devastating default for another week or so. That raises the question of how urgently action is needed to increase the nation’s borrowing limit.

For weeks, President Barack Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner have stressed that the U.S. Treasury will run out of room to borrow funds next Tuesday and have warned of dire consequences if Congress does not raise the nation’s $14.3 trillion debt ceiling in time.

Even with time running out, the speaker promised to quickly rewrite his debt-ceiling legislation after budget officials said it would cut spending less than advertised. Meanwhile, public head-butting between Democratic President Barack Obama and the Republicans showed no sign of easing. The White House declared Obama would veto the Boehner bill, even if it somehow got through the House and the Democratic-controlled Senate.

For all that, it was the tea party-backed members of Boehner’s own party who continued to vex him, and heavily influence the debt and deficit negotiating terms – not to mention his chances of holding on to the speakership.

After weeks of acrimony between Republican and Democratic leaders, similarities between rival deficit reduction plans appeared to offer some chance of a deal before an August 2 deadline for Congress to raise the government’s $14.3 trillion borrowing limit.

While most expect a last-minute accord to avert the first default by the United States, the bitter partisan squabbling and absence of a political consensus on long-term deficit reduction has increased the likelihood of an unprecedented downgrade in the gold-plated U.S. credit rating.

Showing an intensity of interest among Americans who often ignore the intricacies of policy in Washington, 83 percent of those polled said they were either very or somewhat concerned about the potential for a U.S. debt default on August 2.

The poll found that 56 percent of Americans want to see a combination of government spending cuts and tax increases included in a deal to bring down the U.S. budget deficit and permit a vote to raise the country’s $14.3 trillion debt ceiling.

Instead, Delta Force police officers made the 25-mile journey by car – they have no helicopter – then had to be rescued by a civilian craft when their boat broke down as it tried to navigate a one-minute hop to the island.

It took police more than 90 minutes to reach the gunman, who by then had mortally wounded 68 people. Breivik immediately dropped his guns and surrendered, having exceeded his wildest murderous expectations.

That makes it difficult to hire knowledgeable and independent regulators in a region where oil and gas interests are deeply intertwined in the economy and culture, and where expertise and training needed to do the job often is found in the private sector.

Documents obtained by The Associated Press show that about 1 of every 5 employees of 109 involved in inspections in the Gulf has been recused from some duties because of the risk of coming into contact with a family member or friend working for a company the inspector regulates. Ten people hired since mid-August 2008 were barred for two years from performing work where they could be in a position of policing their previous employer – a company or contractor operating offshore.

Secretary of State Jon Husted determined that supporters of the amendment, which would prohibit Ohio from participating in the federal Affordable Care Act, had gathered 427,000 valid signatures. They had submitted more than 546,000 and needed roughly 358,000 of them validated to make it on to the ballot.

The amendment will find itself on the ballot alongside a measure to repeal a contentious new collective bargaining law. Advocates expect that the two measures will drive people to the polls, which are typically under-visited in off-year elections.

“This just in,” begin the radio spots, which started airing in June, “Texas Gov. Rick Perry is urging Vernon’s 1,800 employers to move their 55,000-plus jobs from California to Texas.” Beneath the voiceover, an emergency siren wails.

When it comes to attracting jobs, are Perry and Texas really such a force to be reckoned with?

Market analysts and investors increasingly say yes. The outcome won’t be quite as scary as a default, but financial markets would still take a blow. Mortgage rates could rise. States and cities, already strapped, could find it more difficult to borrow. Stocks could lose their gains for the year.

“At this point, we’re more concerned about the risk of a downgrade than a default,” said Terry Belton, global head of fixed income strategy at JPMorgan Chase. In a conference call with reporters Tuesday, Belton said the loss of the country’s AAA rating may rattle markets, but it’s “better than missing an interest payment.”

It will get wilder.

Contract negotiations for free agents and draft picks started Tuesday, with draftees able to sign right away. The big names among veterans – Nnamdi Asomugha, Santonio Holmes, Matt Hasselbeck – can’t sign until Thursday, but their agents are negotiating deals right now.