Evening Edition

A flood of terrible numbers on gross domestic product (GDP) growth from the Commerce Department initially sent US stocks into a tailspin. The Dow index plunged more than 100 points in early trade but later pared losses.

Second-quarter GDP grew only 1.3 percent, down a hefty 0.4 points from market expectations, as consumer spending, which accounts for the majority of US output, stalled amid high unemployment and inflation-eroded incomes.

“With all sadness, I inform you of the passing of Abdel Fatah Younes, the commander-in-chief of our rebel forces,” NTC chief Mustafa Abdel Jalil said as fresh explosions shook the centre of the capital, Tripoli.

“The person who carried out the assassination was captured,” Abdel Jalil said without elaborating.

This will be the second time that police interrogate the far-right extremist since Saturday, the morning after his shooting rampage on Utoeya island and the bomb blast in downtown Oslo that killed 76 people altogether.

Police official Paal-Fredrik Hjort Kraby said officers will question Behring Breivik on “information received over the last few days — which is a lot,” although he did not elaborate.

After posting bumper underlying annual profits, BSkyB said it planned a share buyback of £750 million and dividend of £253 million — moves seen as calming the waters after a recent share price collapse.

News Corp., which owns 39.1 percent of BSkyB, will earn nearly £400 million from the payouts, with the US-based media empire announcing that it planned to sell shares back to the broadcaster to keep the level of its stake.

The broadly neutralizing antibody, called FI6, could help vaccinate people against the flu without scientists struggling to piece together a new cocktail each season to match the often-changing strains.

Antonio Lanzavecchia, lead author of the study published this week in the US journal Science, described the finding as “significant,” but noted it may be five years before it can be made into a widely available treatment.

But she and other senior citizens are not optimistic about the near future — they say their loved ones could suffer, and they are angry at lawmakers on Capitol Hill for allowing politics to endanger their livelihoods.

“I’m fine. I live well, not beyond my means. It just frightens me to think what all those people on Social Security are going to do without money. What’s going to happen if they don’t receive a check?” Washington, 83, told AFP.

Casting himself as above the angry fray in Congress, Obama urged a compromise blending rival approaches in the Democratic-held Senate and Republican-led House of Representatives for raising the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling.

“There are plenty of ways out of this mess. But we are almost out of time. We need to reach a compromise by Tuesday so that our country will have the ability to pay its bills on time, as we always have,” he said.

The 26-year-old Briton, who won the world title in 2008, clocked a best lap time of one minute and 21.018 seconds, to top the speed charts and endorse the impression that he has regained top form after winning last weekend’s race at the Nurburgring.

Hamilton wound up fastest ahead of two-times champion Fernando Alonso of Ferrari with his McLaren team-mate Jenson Button, the 2009 champion, third fastest.

England slumped to 88 for six after losing the toss in overcast, swing-friendly, conditions.

But Broad, batting at number nine on his Nottinghamshire home ground, top-scored with 64 in a total of 221.

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.

“The economy essentially came to a grinding halt in the first half of this year,” said Ryan Sweet, a senior economist at Moody’s Analytics in West Chester Pennsylvania. “We did get side-swiped by some temporary factors which are fading, but it raises some concerns about the sustainability the recovery.”

Rebels said Abdel Fattah Younes, long a member of the veteran leader’s inner circle before defecting in February, was shot by assailants on Thursday after he had been summoned from the battlefield for unspecified talks with other rebel leaders.

The killing of such a senior figure is an embarrassment and a setback for the rebels regardless of who was responsible — Gaddafi agents apparently able to strike deep in rebel inner circles, or his own side. There are known to be stark divisions between Gaddafi defectors and those who never worked with him.

Moody’s move to place the Aa2 government bond rating on review cited concerns over growth and said funding costs would continue to be high in the wake of euro zone leaders’ bolder moves to curb the Greek crisis last week.

That added to a sense that Spain – and Italy – are still firmly in the firing line, and the euro and Spanish bond prices fell in response.

Parliament’s Culture, Media and Sport Committee said it would write to Murdoch to ask for more details about evidence he gave earlier this month about hacking allegations at the News of the World tabloid that has shaken his father Rupert’s media empire.

The two Murdochs, along with former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks, appeared before the committee on July 19 when they were pressed about phone-hacking and payments to police by News of the World reporters.

The proposal, which is the result of months of negotiations between the Obama administration and automakers, would require automakers to reach an average fuel efficiency across their fleets of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025.

“This agreement on fuel standards represents the single most important step we’ve ever taken as a nation to reduce our dependence on foreign oil,” Obama said at an event announcing the new standards.

The numbers out on Friday were the latest in a string of huge profits from the industry, which got a boost from the highest oil prices in nearly three years. Exxon Mobil Corp and Royal Dutch Shell Plc also benefited from acquisitions and shifts into new projects.

Chevron’s better-than-expected second-quarter performance was largely due to the strength of its U.S. and international refineries, according to Oppenheimer & Co analyst Fadel Gheit.

Republicans in the House of Representatives said they expected to vote on Friday on a retooled deficit-reduction measure that would raise the debt ceiling.

The bill is opposed by Democrats and the White House, but Republicans insist it clear the House before they will start talks toward a compromise measure.

The combined growth for the first six months of the year was the weakest since the recession ended two years ago. The government revised the January-March figures to show just 0.4 percent growth, down sharply from its previous estimate of 1.9 percent.

The data was much worse than economists expected and caused many of them to lower their growth forecasts for the rest of this year.

The killing of Abdel-Fattah Younis under still mysterious circumstances raised fear and uncertainty in Benghazi, the de facto rebel capital, and worries among Western allies who have backed the rebels controlling most of the eastern Libya.

The National Transitional Council, the rebels’ leadership body, has said it is investigating the killing. It blamed unidentified “gunmen” and has made no confirmation that Younis had been arrested. It has said only that Younis was gunned down on route to Benghazi, where he had been summoned to discuss “a military matter.”

Zapatero set the election date for Nov. 20 even though he was not required to call elections until March and had resisted repeated calls by the conservative opposition for early polling.

“I want a new government to take control of the economy from January 1st next year,” said Zapatero, who announced earlier this year he would not seek a third term.

Over the next 17 days, as they made their escape, a gang of gunmen robbed them of the little food they had, Abdi’s pregnant wife was raped in front of him, and his 7-year-old son died of starvation and disease. They were even attacked by a lion.

When they finally made it to the Dagahaley refugee camp in neighboring Kenya, their struggles were far from over. Food rations in the overcrowded camp are “just enough to survive on,” Abdi said. And the future is uncertain.

South of the capital, gunmen fired on a car carrying Christians, killing two. While the motive was unknown, similar events have sparked religious violence in the past.

In one of the largest crowds to fill the square since the popular uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak in February, Salafis chanted for the implementation of strict Islamic law – spurring accusations that they violated an agreement to keep the rally free from divisive issues.

The agreement pledges to double overall fuel economy to 54.5 mpg by 2025, bringing even greater under-the-hood changes to the nation’s autos starting in model year 2017 and introduce more electric and hybrid technology to pickup trucks. Cars and trucks on the road today average 27 mpg.

“This agreement on fuel standards represents the single most important step we have taken as a nation to reduce our dependence on foreign oil,” Obama said, sharing the stage with top executives of 11 major automakers and a top automobile workers union official, before a backdrop of some of the most cutting-edge cars and pickup trucks on the road.

But the 297 pages of testimony won’t be available immediately, because the government gets time to decide whether to appeal.

The Obama administration opposed the transcript’s release, chiefly to protect the privacy of people discussed during the ex-president’s testimony who are still alive.

At one end of the Capitol, Speaker John Boehner and House Republicans pushed toward a vote on veto-threatened legislation rewritten overnight to win the support of conservative holdouts demanding action on a constitutional balanced-budget amendment.

At the same time, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid worked on an alternative bill to cut spending by $2.2 trillion and raise the debt limit by $2.7 trillion. That would be enough to meet Obama’s terms that it tide the Treasury over until 2013.

At one end of the Capitol, Speaker John Boehner and House Republicans pushed toward a vote on veto-threatened legislation rewritten overnight to win the support of conservative holdouts. The conservatives wanted a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution, and it was added to Boehner’s bill.

At the same time, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid worked on an alternative bill to cut spending by $2.2 trillion and raise the debt limit by $2.7 trillion. That would be enough to meet Obama’s terms that it tide the Treasury over until 2013.

The Indianapolis Colts expect to begin training camp practices Monday without their star quarterback, who not only is coming off neck surgery, but doesn’t have a contract.

Coach Jim Caldwell said Friday that Manning is “not ready right now” and that the team will “turn him loose” when he is ready to play.