Evening Edition

Nineteen people, five of them suspects, were killed in two separate incidents in the ancient Silk Road city of Kashgar at the weekend in the latest wave of violence to hit the Xinjiang region, home to a mainly Muslim Uighur minority.

Two more suspects, both of them Uighurs, were “executed on the spot by police who were in the process of capturing them” on Monday, the Kashgar local government said in a statement.

Activists said it was one of the deadliest days in Syria since demonstrators first took to the streets on March 15 demanding democratic reforms before turning their wrath on the regime and calling for its ouster.

As reports of the brutal pre-Ramadan crackdown on Hama unfurled, US President Barack Obama and European leaders condemned the crackdown as Germany and Italy called for an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council.

“This morning we caught about 38 and later today more than 25,” Mustafa al-Sagazly said.

The arrests come hot on the heels of a five-hour raid on a roadside factory, which rebels said was the base of operations of an armed group taking orders from Kadhafi’s regime and suspected in the assassination of their army chief.

The WFP last week begun airlifting peanut-based paste for malnourished children in the Mogadishu and widened the distribution to Doolow in the south of Somalia.

“Another aircraft arrived today, the sixth flight since the airlift began last Wednesday — the airlift is an ongoing operation and will continue,” said WFP spokesman David Orr, speaking from the war-torn Somali capital.

Arab governments are bracing for increased tensions in the region which has been rocked by unprecedented pro-democracy uprisings that have brought down autocratic regimes in Tunisia and Egypt.

In Syria, where a bloody crackdown on dissent nears its fifth month, authorities fear that protesters will rally against the regime when they emerge from mosques after nightly “taraweeh” prayers.

“With our inaction we are risking the ability of refinancing the state and the consequences will be instant and serious,” a statement from the commercial bank said.

“There is an immediate threat of the country entering the European Union’s support mechanism with everything bad that entails.”

Europe’s biggest lender said in a statement that it was cutting 5,000 workers in Latin America, the United States, Britain, France and the Middle East while new boss Stuart Gulliver revealed that the cost-cutting plans would go deeper.

“There will be further job cuts,” he told a conference call after the group announced a 35-percent jump in net profits.

Dealers said the turnaround was brutal in European trade after solid gains in Asia on President Barack Obama’s announcement that he had reached an accord with his Republican rivals on raising the debt ceiling and spending cuts.

The deal, agreed after weeks of high-stakes wrangling to save the United States from an unprecedented and dangerous default initially sent the Asian, then Europe and the US markets all higher in a strong relief rally.

England’s winning margin was a record in terms of runs in the 101-match history of Tests between the two sides.

India, set a record victory target of 478, were bowled out for 158 with Sachin Tendulkar top-scoring with 56 but still left searching for an unprecedented and elusive 100th international hundred.

Earlier Monday, residents said at least four civilians were killed by tank fire on the second day of attacks on the city, where memories are still vivid of the brutal suppression of an uprising in 1982.

Intense shelling began again after Ramadan evening prayers, concentrating on districts near the al-Bilal roundabout in the northwest of the city, the Jarajmeh district in the east and northern neighborhoods near the Omar bin al-Khattab mosque.

The Institute for Supply Management said on Monday its index of national factory activity fell to 50.9, the lowest level since July 2009, from 55.3 in June.

Economists had expected a reading of 54.9. A reading below 50 indicates contraction in manufacturing.

The bankruptcy filing — a risky and potentially expensive move that could freeze the city out of the U.S. municipal bond market — marks a symbolic blow as state and local governments struggle to pull themselves out of the recession.

The smallest city in the smallest U.S. state made the filing as it grappled with an $80 million unfunded pension and retiree health benefit liability that is nearly quadruple its annual budget of $17 million.

The plan for $2.4 trillion in spending cuts over a decade, if backed by lawmakers, would help lift some of the uncertainty that has weighed on investors, businesses and consumers unsettled by talk about a possible new and deep U.S. financial meltdown.

Still, it does not decisively remove the threat that the nation’s AAA credit rating could be downgraded, an action that would raise borrowing costs across the board, and the prospect of further cuts ahead will cut short any celebrating.

The protesters vowed not to allow a repeat of 1982, when thousands of people were killed in Hama after President Bashar Assad’s father ordered a massacre.

As evening fell, residents said Syrian tanks resumed intense shelling of the restive city and troops fired machine guns at worshippers about to head to mosques for special nighttime prayers on the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Residents had just broken their daily dawn-to-dusk fast and the shelling appeared aimed at preventing the mosque gatherings, fearing they would trigger large anti-government protests.

Muslims around the world mark sundown during the holy month of Ramadan that began Monday with extravagant dinners after not eating from sunrise to sundown. That kind of nighttime celebration is unthinkable this year for most Somalis, who already are suffering empty stomachs during the worst famine in a generation.

Despite the lack of food, for Somalis like Aden it’s a matter of faith to participate in Ramadan’s fast, even though Islam allows the ailing to eat. Others, though, are ashamed they don’t have enough food for the sundown dinner.

Services ranging from breast pumps for new mothers to counseling on domestic violence were also included in the broad expansion of women’s preventive care under President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul.

Since birth control is the most common drug prescribed to women, health plans should make sure it’s readily available, said Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. “Not doing it would be like not covering flu shots,” she said.

The head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints filed a motion purporting to quote God as saying state District Judge Barbara Walther should “step away from this abuse of power against a religious and pure faith in the Lord.”

After a short recess, Walther ruled the trial would continue under new Texas Supreme Court rules that went into effect Monday. They no longer require an immediate hearing to recuse a judge after evidence in a case has been heard. A hearing will eventually be held on Jeffs’ motion, but it’s unclear when.

The robotic explorer Juno is set to become the most distant probe ever powered by the sun.

Juno is equipped with three tractor-trailer-size solar panels for its 2 billion-mile (3.2 billion kilometer) journey into the outer solar system. It will be launched Friday morning aboard an unmanned Atlas V rocket – barely two weeks after NASA’s final space shuttle flight.