LA Times News

LA Times News

Obama begins Africa tour, visits Senegal slave house

Posted: 27 Jun 2013 05:44 PM PDT

President Obama visits Goree Island, which he described as a powerful, meaningful experience, and calls for vigilance in the defense of human rights.

DAKAR, Senegal — President Obama arrived in this corner of West Africa to deliver messages about civil society and good governance, democracy and development. Senegal's message to him was simpler: Welcome home.

In India, ethnic Chinese still waiting for apology

Posted: 27 Jun 2013 04:32 PM PDT

Thousands were rounded up as suspected spies and sent to an internment camp after India lost a 1962 border war with China. India never filed any charges.

KOLKATA, India — India-born Monica Liu was 9 in 1962 when her family was loaded into box cars for an eight-day rail trip to an internment camp in the western Indian desert.

Obama doesn't want Snowden hunt to damage ties with Russia, China

Posted: 27 Jun 2013 04:25 PM PDT

President Obama tones down the volume on Snowden extradition, saying he won't be 'scrambling jets' to capture the NSA leaker.

WASHINGTON — President Obama's declaration Thursday that he wouldn't be "scrambling jets" to capture Edward Snowden provided the clearest public signal of how much the administration wants to shield key diplomatic relationships from damage over the case of the fugitive national security leaker.

Ecuador quits U.S. trade deal to avoid 'blackmail' over Snowden

Posted: 27 Jun 2013 08:55 AM PDT

QUITO, Ecuador -- Ecuador on Thursday announced it was withdrawing from a 2-decade-old trade pact with the United States, saying the agreement left the South American nation vulnerable to "blackmail" as U.S. officials seek the return of fugitive Edward Snowden.

'Not going to be scrambling jets' to get Snowden, Obama says

Posted: 27 Jun 2013 05:39 AM PDT

DAKAR, Senegal -- "I'm not going to be scrambling jets to get a 29-year-old hacker," President Obama said Thursday as he sought to downplay the nearly weeklong hunt for Edward Snowden, the fugitive leaker of national security secrets.

South Africans hold their breath as Nelson Mandela's health worsens

Posted: 27 Jun 2013 12:21 AM PDT

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- The health of former President Nelson Mandela, already critical, has deteriorated further in the past two days, according to a government official Thursday, as the nation prepared for his death.

Global Voices: Top British diplomat touts UK 'soft power'

Posted: 27 Jun 2013 05:00 AM PDT

Long past the days of empire and the divisive superpower era, Britain is turning a fresh face to the outside world.