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  • US troops return home from Afghanistan to a warm Indiana welcome

    Stephanie Dowell / AP

    Tears well in her eyes as Jalynn Krieger, 8, of New Troy, Mich. holds tight to her father Spc. Kerry Krieger as Krieger hugs his daughter and wife, Shawna, during a welcome home celebration at the VFW Post 9323, Wednesday, Aug. 24, in Lake Station, Ind. The 656th Transportation Company returned home after serving about a year in Afghanistan.

    Stephanie Dowell / AP

    Spc. Jesse Gonzalez of Gary, Ind., kisses his wife Amanda Warren-Gonzales after he stepped off the bus during the welcome home celebration.

    Stephanie Dowell / AP

    Spc. Felix Duron of Lake Station, with his wife Mindy, smiles at his 1-year-old daughter Lillian while holding his 2-month-old son Felix, Jr., whom he met for the first time after arriving at the post.

    See our Afghanistan: Nation at a crossroads slideshow here

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  • One photojournalist's surreal ride into Libya's war zone

    By Meredith Birkett

    Photojournalist Ben Lowy, working with Reportage by Getty Images, arrived in Tripoli today after a long journey from his home in New York. After connecting through Istanbul and Tunis, he landed in Djerba, Tunisia to start his overland route to Libya.

    Benjamin Lowy / Reportage by Getty Images for msnbc.com

    A Libyan man dances with a rebel Libyan flag in celebration over the perceived fall of Libyan Dictator Mommar Gaddafi on Aug. 24, in Zintan, Libya.

    While the distance between Djerba and Tripoli in Libya can be covered in only 200 miles, his vehicle traveled a longer, more southerly route to avoid dangerous areas, taking seven hours which included switching vehicles at the border between the two countries.

    Lowy spent most of the trip sleeping, except when a plane landed on the highway in front of their vehicle. This wasn't a small plane either -- it was a jet big enough to hold around 100 people.

    Benjamin Lowy / Reportage by Getty Images for msnbc.com

    A pair of Libyan passengers sit under the tail of an Air Libya plane that landed on a desert highway while on its way to Benghazi on Aug. 24, in Zintan, Libya.

    While most travelers usually find arriving at their hotel marks the end of a safe journey, not so for Lowy traveling into a war zone. Reuters is reporting about his hotel:

    A half dozen heavily armed rebels had arrived at the Corinthia Hotel in central Tripoli late on Wednesday, saying that they had heard Saadi Gadhafi was there and they intended to search every room for him. "The men ran into the hotel and blocked off access to the elevators as they prepared to search the building room by room," the news agency reported.

    A Reuters correspondent at the hotel said later that bursts of gunfire rang out near the hotel later "and a column of smoke rose from the direction of the shooting."

    Reuters added: "Foreign journalists who had been trapped for days in the Rixos hotel in the capital were taken to the Corinthia after their release on Wednesday."

    Benjamin Lowy / Reportage by Getty Images for msnbc.com

    A pair of Libyan rebels sit in a highway checkpoint shack on Aug. 24, in Zintan, Libya.

    Lowy transmitted these iPhone images before heading to bed in the only space he could find - on the floor of the lobby of the hotel. He used the Hipstamatic app for iPhone. In an essay he wrote for the Getty Images website following his last trip to Libya this spring, he described why he gravitates at times to a non-professional camera:

    While I worked to cover this story in a more traditional sense, I was also drawn to using my iPhone as I have in Afghanistan. Small mobile phone cameras are innocuous and enable a far greater intimacy with a subject. It was a liberating experience; to point and shoot with a small device, unhampered by camera bags full of gear and reacting to the world around me.

    …using my iPhone allowed me transmit images from the field, updating my blog like many of the Libyan revolutionaries around me. Embracing this new paradigm of journalism - no middleman, no publisher - I posted images from Libya and gained over 500 followers in a week, regular curious people - Libyans, Americans, Europeans - who bypassed traditional news sources.

    It is perhaps fitting that social media has enabled the Arab Spring movement across the Middle East and embraced mobile devices as content gatherers. Is this the future of journalism?

    In coming days, look for more of Ben's work from Tripoli as he covers the rebellion against dictator Col. Moammar Gadhafi. Read the latest news from Libya.

  • Steve Jobs resigns as CEO of Apple

    Kimberly White / Reuters

    Apple Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs (L) stands beneath a photograph of him and Apple-co founder Steve Wozniak from the early days of Apple during the launch of Apple's new "iPad" tablet computing device in San Francisco, California, in this January 27, 2010 file photograph. Jobs resigned as CEO of Apple, the company announced August 24. Tim Cook, the company's Chief Operating Officer, who has been standing in for Jobs during his medical leave, has been named the new CEO, with Jobs becoming Chairman.

    Reuters

    Apple Inc.'s Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs is shown in this combination of file photographs dating (top row L to R) 2000, 2003, 2005,(bottom row L to R) 2006, 2008 and 2009. Jobs has resigned his position as CEO of Apple,and recommended that COO Tim Cook replace him, the company announced August 24.

    Tom Munnecke / Getty Images

    American businessman and engineer Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Computer Inc, at the first West Coast Computer Faire, where the Apple II computer was debuted, in Brooks Hall, San Francisco, California, April 16th or 17th, 1977.

    Steve Jobs resigned today. Full story here.

  • Rebel fighters ransack Gadhafi's daughter's house in Tripoli, Libya

    Sergey Ponomarev / AP

    A rebel fighter poses for a photo as he sits on a two seater couch that framed by golden mermaid with the face of Aisha Gadhafi the daughter of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi in her house in Tripoli, Libya, Wednesday, Aug. 24. A defiant Moammar Gadhafi vowed Wednesday to fight on "until victory or martyrdom," as rebel fighters tried to end scattered attacks by regime loyalists in the nervous capital.

    Sergey Ponomarev / AP

    Rebel fighters search in the house of Aisha Gadhafi the daughter of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi in Tripoli, LIbya, Wednesday, Aug. 24.

    Sergey Ponomarev / AP

    Rebel fighters are seen inside the house of Aisha Gadhafi the daughter of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi in Tripoli, LIbya, Wednesday, Aug. 24.

    Sergey Ponomarev / AP

    Rebel fighters are seen inside the house of Aisha Gadhafi the daughter of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi in Tripoli, LIbya, Wednesday, Aug. 24.

    See our slideshow of pictures from the Libyan conflict: Tears, cheers, prayers as regime crumbles.

  • Keith Srakocic / AP

    Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman Garrett Jones (46) almost runs into third baseman Josh Harrison as he catches a pop fly by Milwaukee Brewers' Casey McGehee in the sixth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Aug. 24, in Pittsburgh. The Pirates managed a split of the four game series with a 2-0 win.

    Pirates fielders avoid collision on pop fly

    By Rich Shulman

    If you have ever played organized baseball, you've probably experienced this moment of terror.

    Previous PhotoBlog baseball posts.

  • Glenn Beck hosts rally in Old City of Jerusalem

    By Rich Shulman

    I guess it wouldn't be reasonable to expect Glenn Beck to go to the Holy Land without stirring the pot.

    As AP reported:

    Beck's unabashedly pro-Israel, anti-Muslim rhetoric has endeared him to some on Israel's far-right. But religious figures and left-wing politicians have come together in an unusual alliance appealing to Israelis to shun his embrace.

    Religious Jews are worried he is here to spread the Christian gospel, while dovish Israelis reject Beck's support for West Bank Jewish settlements and his criticism of peace efforts.

     Full story.

    Conservative Christian radio & television evangelist Glenn Beck hosts a rally near the Western Wall, on August 24 in Jerusalem's Old City, Israel. The event, under the slogan 'Restoring Courage', was attended by hundreds of his evangelical Christian supporters, whilst many who oppose his right-wing views protested outside.

    Ammar Awad / Reuters

    Protesters opposed to U.S. conservative broadcaster Glenn Beck's "Restoring Courage" rally, hold placards during a protest outside the venue of the rally in Jerusalem's Old City August 24. On the fringes of Jerusalem's most volatile holy sites, Beck declared his support for Israel on Wednesday at the rally showcasing fundamentalist Christian backing for the Jewish state. About 30 protesters from the anti-settler group Peace Now were opposed to the rally.

    Uriel Sinai / Getty Images

    Actor Jon Voight attends a rally near the Western Wall of Conservative Christian radio & television evangelist Glenn Beck, on August 24 in Jerusalem's Old City, Israel.

  • Landmarks inspected for damage a day after quake

    Full story.

    Jason Reed / Reuters

    Joe Alonso, Chief Mason at Washington's National Cathedral, attempts to piece together the fallen pieces from a stone spire that collapsed during an earthquake, August 24. A 5.8 magnitude quake rattled the U.S. East Coast on Tuesday, sending tremors as far as Canada, damaging well-known buildings in the nation's capital and sending scared office workers into the streets. Washington's National Cathedral, host to state funerals and memorial services for many U.S. presidents, suffered damage with three spires in the central tower breaking off.

  • Dozens of journalists freed from Tripoli hotel

    By Rich Shulman

    I was impressed yesterday how bored the journalists in the Rixos Hotel appeared to be. Today's photo of their rescue by the Red Cross gives some indication how scary it probably was. Full story.

    Paul Hackett / Reuters

    Jomana Karadsheh, a producer for CNN and Matthew Chance, Senior International Correspondent for CNN are evacuated by the International Red Cross from the Rixos hotel in Tripoli August 24.

    Western journalists held by Gadhafi loyalists in the Rixos hotel in Libya's capital, Tripoli, have been freed. Msnbc's Thomas Roberts reports.

  • Chile's two-day shutdown begins with flaming barricades

    Victor R. Caivano / AP

    Vehicles are blocked by a burning street barricade set up by protesters during a national strike in Santiago, Chile, Wednesday, Aug. 24. A nationwide strike shutting down Chile for two days has begun with people stoning buses and police clearing nearly two-dozen burning barricades around the capital of Santiago.

    Ivan Alvarado / Reuters

    Demonstrators block a main street with barricades during a 48-hour national strike in Santiago on Wednesday.

    The AP reports:

    SANTIAGO, Chile — Chilean students, opposition politicians and union workers are leading a two-day nationwide strike to fight for fundamental changes in government.

    Some people are stoning buses and burning barricades as Santiago's streets fill with tear gas. Protesters planned marches downtown, but the government has warned them to stay out, threatening to invoke Chile's severe state security law against people who "incite the subversion of public order." Continue reading.

  • Jae C. Hong / AP

    In this combination of three photos, former first lady Nancy Reagan is helped by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., as she stumbles at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., Tuesday, Aug. 23. Library spokeswoman Melissa Giller told KNBC that the 90-year-old former first lady wasn't hurt.

    Nancy Reagan falls at political event

    NBCBayArea.com reports:

    Nancy Reagan tripped and fell Tuesday night during an event at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley.

    As the former First Lady was escorted to her seat, she appeared to have lost her balance and fell down. The crowd gasped, but Marco Rubio (R.-Fla) and others helped her get to her seat.

    Reagan Library spokeswoman Melissa Giller told NBC4 Mrs. Reagan remained at the event and was not injured. Giller said the room was packed and Mrs. Reagan apparently tripped on a post used for crowd control.

    The widow of the 40th president of the United States is 90 years old.

  • Engineers inspect Washington monument for damage following earthquake

    Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

    Security guards and a U.S. Park ranger stand on the temporary fence circling the base of the Washington Monument on the National Mall on August 24 in Washington, DC. The Washington Monument will remain indefinitely closed after Tuesday's 5.8 magnitude East Coast earthquake left cracks near the top of the 555-foot-tall obelisk.

    Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

    Engineers take measurements at the base of the Washington Monument on the National Mall on August 24 in Washington, DC. The Washington Monument will remain indefinitely closed after Tuesday's 5.8 magnitude East Coast earthquake left cracks near the top of the 555-foot-tall obelisk.

     For more on the aftermath of the earthquake that shook parts of the east coast click here.

  • Gleb Garanich / Reuters

    Riot police block Ukrainian opposition supporters during a rally on the 20th anniversary of Ukraine's Independence in Kiev on August 24. Ukrainian police prevented thousands of opposition supporters marching to the presidential administration building on Wednesday during a protest against the trial of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

    Protesters clash with riot police in Kiev

    The AP reports:

    KIEV, Ukraine — Thousands of opposition activists on Wednesday protested the arrest of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, clouding official celebrations marking the 20th anniversary of Ukraine's independence declaration.

    Over 5,000 demonstrators, many of them clad in traditional Ukrainian white embroidered shirts, attempted to march on the president's office in Kiev, but were held back by police in riot gear who flooded the city's center. Smaller groups of protesters were later allowed onto the capital's main avenue. Continue reading.

  • Danish Ismail / Reuters

    A vendor with his head covered by a lotus leaf sells lotus buds at a street in Srinagar, in Indian-administered Kashmir, on August 24. Lotus buds are sold in threes for 10 rupees (22 cents) and are eaten raw as a fruit.

    Lotus buddy

    By David R Arnott, NBC News

    Nice hat.

  • Bebeto Matthews / AP

    People pass below a New York Police security camera, upper left, situated above a mosque on Fulton St., in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant in New York on Aug. 18. After the attacks of Sept. 11, the New York Police Department has dispatched teams of undercover officers into minority neighborhoods and used informants to monitor sermons at mosques, even when there's no evidence of wrongdoing.

    With CIA help, NYPD moves covertly in Muslim areas

    The AP reports from NEW YORK:

    In New Brunswick, N.J., a building superintendent opened the door to apartment No. 1076 one balmy Tuesday and discovered an alarming scene: terrorist literature strewn about the table and computer and surveillance equipment set up in the next room.

    The panicked superintendent dialed 911, sending police and the FBI rushing to the building near Rutgers University on the afternoon of June 2, 2009. What they found in that first-floor apartment, however, was not a terrorist hideout but a command center set up by a secret team of New York Police Department intelligence officers. Continue reading.

    Related content: msnbc.com's Allison Linn reports on the lasting boom in the surveillance industry that began after the 9/11 attacks.

  • Dmitry Astakhov / RIA Novosti via Reuters

    Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev points while North Korean leader Kim Jong-il looks on during their meeting at the Sosnovyi Bor military garrison in Siberia's Buryatia region on August 24.

    'Fun trip': N Korea's Kim Jong Il meets with Russia's Medvedev

    By David R Arnott, NBC News

    After a nice ride in his armored train, a friendly welcome from some Siberian ladies bearing bread and a spin around a military garrison with Dmitry Medvedev, is it any wonder that Kim Jong-il declared today that his journey to Russia had been a "fun trip"? He may not look all that enamored in this picture, but he even broke into a broad grin at one stage. If you don't believe me, click here.

    The AP reports:

    Kim arrived at the base in an armored Mercedes limousine and wore his trademark khaki leisure suit. He thanked Medvedev for flying from the Black Sea port of Sochi to meet him.

    "When it comes to meetings with our partners, neighbors, it's not that far," Medvedev said.

    "Thanks to your special attention and care, Mr. President, we're having a fun trip," Kim replied through a translator. Read the full story.

    See more images of Dmitry Medvedev and Kim Jong-il on PhotoBlog.

  • Libyan rebel pledges to give Gadhafi hat to his father

    Bryan Denton / The New York Times via Redux

    A rebel celebrates while wearing a hat, necklace and scepter thought to be taken from Col. Moammar Gadhafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound, in Tripoli, Libya, Aug. 23, 2011.

    Reuters reports:

    A Libyan rebel, wearing a flamboyant military peaked hat that he said he had seized from Moammar Gadhafi's bedroom in his Tripoli compound, said he planned to give the trophy to his father. Continue reading.

    Rachel Maddow shares the story of a man in Tripoli who claims to have looted some of Gadhafi's accessories and is now wearing them for all to see.

    P. De Poulpiquet / Maxppp via Zuma Press

    An armed rebel fighter kicks a soccer ball near Gadhafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound as it is engulfed in flames on Aug. 23.

    Sergey Ponomarev / AP

    Rebel fighters trample on a head of Moammar Gadhafi inside the main compound in Bab al-Aziziya on Aug. 23.

    See our slideshow of pictures from the Libyan conflict: Tears, cheers, prayers as regime crumbles.

    Bryan Denton, the photographer who made the top picture of the guy in the hat, is on assignment for The New York Times. Read about his trip into Tripoli, and see more pictures, on a Lens Blog post from Aug. 22. Denton’s web site is http://bryandenton.photoshelter.com/.

     

  • Millions of unseen species fill Earth, only a quarter of them are discovered

    Blair Hedges / AP

    This undated photo provided by Penn State University Prof. Blair Hedges shows a Caribbean gecko, Sphaerodactylus ariasae, one of the two smallest reptile species known to exist, curled up on a dime. Found in the Dominican Republic, the gecko is about 16 mm, and is also the smallest amniote vertebrate of 25,000 species (includes birds, mammals, and reptiles). Hedges described "I found it with a colleague, while crawling on my hands and knees among dead leaves, anticipating a small lizard, but that not that small!" He said.

    Blair Hedge / Penn State University via AP

    This undated photo provided by Penn State University Biology Prof. Blair Hedges shows a threadsnake, the smallest snake species currently known to exist, curled up on a quarter. The tiny snake, found in Barbados, is approximately 1000 mm long, lays one single long egg, and is the shortest of 3,000 species of snakes.

    Michel Segonzac, National Museum of National History in Paris, France/ AP

    This undated handout image provided by the National Museum of National History in Paris, France, shows a blind new species, distantly related to the squat lobster family, which was found in 2005 in hydrothermal vents where the East Pacific Rise meets Antarctica. We live in a much wilder world than it looks.

    NOAA / AP

    This image, taken in 2002, about one mile deep near a huge underwater volcano near Monterey Bay, provided by NOAA shows this strange marine animal, thought to be a new species that has yet to be described or named. It is a type of mollusk, called nudibranch, that sheds its shell early in life.

    From AP:

    A new study estimates that Earth has almost 8.8 million species, but we've only discovered about a quarter of them. And some of yet-to-be-seen ones could be in our own backyards, scientists say.

    So far, only 1.9 million species have been found. Recent discoveries have been small and weird: a psychedelic frogfish, a lizard the size of a dime and even a blind hairy mini-lobster at the bottom of the ocean. Continue reading.

     

    Related contents:

  • Joe Skipper / Reuters

    Job candidates Denise Spells (L) and Queenie Thomas (C) fill out applications for Marriott Corp. as they wait in line at a U.S. Congressional Black Caucus Jobs Fair in Miami, Florida August 23.

    Black lawmakers target high urban unemployment

    AP reports:

    The Congressional Black Caucus organized a town hall gathering in Miami to address black unemployment rates Monday evening, one of five taking place in August in distressed communities across the country. At issue is the stubbornly high unemployment rate in the black community, now at 16.8 percent nationwide, more than double that for whites and a figure that doesn't even include those who've stopped looking for work.

    Full story.

  • Journalists in Tripoli held in Rixos Hotel

    By Rich Shulman

    I really like these behind-the-scenes images that show how glamorous the job of an international journalist can be. Full story.

    Update: NBC's Richard Engel (video below) reports that these journalists are being held at the hotel by Gadhafi loyalists.

    Paul Hackett / Reuters

    Members of the media gather in a corridor at the Rixos Hotel in Tripoli August 23.

    In Libya, the rebels have broken through and taken control of Moammar Gadhafi's fortified compound, where they were both celebrating and looting. NBC's Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel reports from Tripoli.

  • D.C., N.Y. areas evacuate as quake felt across East

    Scott K. Brown/AP

    Christopher Hartman works on the roof installing a tarp after an earthquake tore down parts of the chimney on his dad's office in Mineral, Va., Tuesday Aug. 23, 2011. (AP Photo/Scott K. Brown)

    By Rich Shulman

    We'll continue to update this post as photos move. Full story.

    Steve Helber / AP

    Debris covers the isle at the Miller's mart food store in Mineral, Va., Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2011. A magnitude 5.8 earthquake hit the area which was felt up and down the east coast.

    Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP

    One of the spires, left, of the National Cathedral is seen missing following an earthquake in the Washington, Tuesday, Aug., 23.

    Josh Kiessling

    Cars are crushed under the debris that fell from a building complex near Old Courthouse Road in Vienna, Va.

    Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

    A helicopter flies closely to the Washington Monument to survey its exterior for damage after a 5.9 magnitude earthquake struck the east coast August 23 in Washington, DC. Police officers said that unidentified material had fallen off the Washington Monument as a result of the earthquake. All the monuments and buildings along the National Mall have been evacuated and closed.

    J. Scott Applewhite / AP

    Office workers gather on the sidewalk in downtown Washington, Tuesday, Aug. 23, moments after a 5.9 magnitude tremor shook the nation's capitol. The earthquake centered northwest of Richmond, Va., shook much of Washington, D.C., and was felt as far north as Rhode Island and New York City.

    Timothy A. Clary / AFP - Getty Images

    A bride in her wedding dress runs from the courthouse in Lower Manhattan in New York August 23.

    Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA

    Damage is seen on the street outside a library at Euclid and 15th Street NW where part of the roof crumbled during a 5.9 magnitude earthquake.

    Scott K. Brown / AP

    Christopher Hartman works on the roof installing a tarp after an earthquake tore down parts of the chimney on his dad's office in Mineral, Va., Tuesday Aug. 23, 2011.

    Michael Heiman / Getty Images

    Traffic sits stopped at the New Jersey bound entrance to the Holland tunnel after tremors from a 5.9 earthquake on August 23 in New York City.

    Mary Altaffer / AP

    Children are evacuated from the Jacob K. Javits Federal building in New York on Tuesday, Aug. 23 after an earthquake centered northwest of Richmond, Va. was felt.

    Patrick Semansky / AP

    Co-workers Susan Sproul, left, and Susan Davidson hug after evacuating from their building after an earthquake was felt in Baltimore, Tuesday, Aug. 23. Downtown office buildings were cleared and workers were waiting for clearance to re-enter. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

    Alex Brandon / AP

    People who came out on the street after an earthquake look up at a window that cracked during the quake on Market Street in Philadelphia, Tuesday, Aug. 23.

     

  • Matthew Healey, Pool / Getty Images

    U.S. President Barack Obama (R) and daughter Malia Obama, 13, bike together on a bike path through Manuel F. Correllus State Forest while vacationing on Martha's Vineyard on August 23, 2011 in West Tisbury, Massachusetts. This is the third year the president has taken his vacation on Martha's Vineyard.

    Obama, family bike and beach on Martha's Vineyard

    Full story.

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