ELECTIONS

The former Egyptian leader said he was innocent at a Cairo court on Wednesday

Moody's Investors Service on Tuesday confirmed its Aaa rating of the United States, citing the decision to raise the debt limit, but assigned a negative outlook that could pressure lawmakers to cut the U.S. deficit.

A Gallup poll revealed that American Muslims generally feel integrated into American culture and confident in its political institutions, challenging a perception that Muslims feel marginalized or detached from society.

Elections to recall Wisconsin state senators who supported a controversial collective bargaining law have generated $4.2 million in fundraising, underscoring the far-reaching implications of the elections.

The analysts expect ?mild appreciation pressure on the ruble? in the next few months.

Tea Party conservatives scored their biggest political triumph with a debt-ceiling deal that cuts federal spending, but their hardline tactics could risk a voter backlash in the 2012 elections.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell displayed his skills as a dealmaker to avert an unprecedented debt default that could have blown a hole in the U.S. economy and stung his party in next year's elections.

The debt-ceiling deal hammered out by the Republicans and the Democrats in the Capitol has averted the risk of calamitous cuts in federal spending, while ensuring failure to service debt will not arise. However, analysts say some big questions remain to be answered.

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg urged Parliament Monday to preserve the democratic values of Norway as public pressure grew for stiffer sentences for serious crimes after an anti-immigration zealot's bloody rampage.

Observers say President Barack Obama should have pushed Republicans harder in debt deal negotiations. But the big mistake of Obama and Democrats wasn't raising the debt ceiling when they still controlled Congress in 2010.

Opinion polls have provided the Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) with enormous levels of support, just one week after Breivik murdered scores of Labour members on Utøya island, outside of Oslo.

"The leaders of both parties, in both chambers, have reached an agreement that will reduce the deficit and avoid default," President Obama announced Sunday night. The long-awaited and momentous agreement would cut 1 trillion dollars from a 10-year budget and raise the debt ceiling to beyond the 2012 elections.

It was John Lennon who said there are no problems, only solutions, and on Sunday Congressional Democrats and Republicans continued to work on a bill that would avert a dreaded U.S. Government default. If the two sides continue to make progress, a vote on the bill could occur as early as Sunday night.

Top congressional Republicans said on Saturday they were in serious talks with President Barack Obama to break a U.S. debt limit deadlock and were confident the risk of default by the world's largest economy could be avoided.

A bitter mood prevailed on Capitol Hill as lawmakers struggled on Saturday to find a compromise measure to lift the nation's $14.3 trillion debt limit three days before the deadline to avert a ruinous default.

Following the sudden resignations of Turkey?s four most senior military commanders, the president of the country insisted the government is not facing a crisis, although he conceded that this has created an ?extraordinary? situation.

Facing a deadline to avoid a ruinous default, congressional leaders on Saturday braced for a tense weekend of negotiations to try to reach a compromise on a measure to increase in the country's $14.3 trillion debt limit.

Senate Democrats aimed to seize the initiative in efforts to head off a ruinous debt default by pushing their deficit-cutting plan on Saturday toward a possible compromise with a divided Republican Party.

The mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party has castigated the United States' handling of its debt crisis as "irresponsible" and "immoral," saying in a Saturday editorial that the U.S. democratic system was to blame for the "farce."

The latest poll conducted by Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, from July 20-24 among 1,501 adults and 1,205 registered voters, shows that 41 percent of registered voters would like to see Barack Obama reelected, while 40 percent would prefer to see a generic Republican candidate.

They have been accused of holding Washington hostage by pushing the United States to the brink of a damaging debt default. The world is watching anxiously as the debt impasse drags on.