LA Times News

LA Times News

Obama makes last Asia-trip pitch for U.S. exports

Posted: 13 Nov 2010 07:09 PM PST

In Japan and fresh from a disappointing summit of key economies in Seoul, Obama warns that other nations should not assume the road to prosperity will be 'simply paved with exports to America.'

President Obama made a final push Saturday on selling more U.S. goods to the rest of the world as he closed out a 10-day tour of Asia in the land where the continent's "economic miracle" was born.

In western Afghan city, Iran makes itself felt

Posted: 13 Nov 2010 07:11 PM PST

In Herat, the tie to Iran is hard to miss. Iranian money builds roads and industrial parks, store goods are likely to be from Iran, and Iranian cash buoys new mosques and opulent homes.

Call it a case of dueling consulates.

U.S. officials applaud release of Suu Kyi

Posted: 13 Nov 2010 07:09 PM PST

But the Obama administration says it wants to see the release of more political prisoners and other positive steps before easing pressure on the isolated Burmese regime.

Obama administration officials cheered the release of activist Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar on Saturday but said they needed to see more positive steps before easing pressure on the isolated Burmese regime.

Myanmar democracy activist Suu Kyi is free

Posted: 13 Nov 2010 04:28 PM PST

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate makes a brief appearance before a cheering crowd and promises to speak at greater length Sunday. Her future is uncertain in the repressive nation.

At 5:15 p.m., soldiers armed with rifles and tear-gas launchers pushed aside the barbed-wire barriers blocking University Avenue, and a swarm of supporters dashed the final 100 yards to the villa's gate. Twenty minutes later, a slight 65-year-old woman popped her head over her red spiked fence.

The Lady would not be broken

Posted: 14 Nov 2010 12:00 AM PST

Suu Kyi, Myanmar's just-freed pro-democracy activist, spent 15 of the last 21 years in confinement, separated from her family and largely cut off from the world. But she would not give up her struggle.

For years in her native Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi has been known simply as The Lady.

Cholera continues to worsen in Haiti

Posted: 13 Nov 2010 03:52 PM PST

The official death count is around 800, but many fatalities are likely going unrecorded in mountainous areas that are far from hospitals. The U.N. asks for help.

In the Haitian city of Gonaives, freshly dug pits at the back of the main cemetery are filling up with dozens of victims. In the capital, Port-au-Prince, hospitals are fast becoming emergency clinics. And in remote villages across much of the country, no one knows how many are dying.

Sunni lawmakers return to Iraq parliament, apologize for walkout

Posted: 14 Nov 2010 12:00 AM PST

Members of the Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc return for a final vote on an accord that lets Shiite Prime Minister Nouri Maliki maintain his hold on power, ending, for now, a debilitating eight-month deadlock.

Iraqi lawmakers buried the hatchet Saturday, with public displays of goodwill and apologies over "misunderstandings," as parliament approved a broad agreement that will usher in a new government after a debilitating eight-month deadlock.

Insurgent attacks ripple across Afghanistan

Posted: 14 Nov 2010 12:00 AM PST

A suicide bomber kills 10 in the north while gunmen launch an assault on a coalition base in the east, before a NATO summit to plot its future mission in the country.

Violence hopscotched across Afghanistan on Saturday, as a bombing killed 10 people in a northern province and coalition troops repelled an assault by a squad of gunmen and suicide bombers on a base in the country's eastern region.

Myanmar frees opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi

Posted: 13 Nov 2010 08:00 AM PST

The Nobel laureate greets a jubilant crowd outside her home after being held in detention for 15 years by the country's military rulers. She promises to speak at greater length Sunday. The conditions of her release are not immediately clear.

Opposition leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi was freed Saturday in Myanmar after years in detention as a huge crowd presented flowers and chanted "Long Live Suu Kyi."

Myanmar democracy leader freed

Posted: 13 Nov 2010 06:47 AM PST

Supporters stream to the home of Aung San Suu Kyi to celebrate. The 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner, one of the world's most prominent political prisoners, was jailed or under house arrest for more than 15 of the last 21 years.

Myanmar's military government freed its archrival, democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, on Saturday after her latest term of detention expired. Several thousand jubilant supporters streamed to her residence.

In Japan, Obama says U.S. aims to boost exports

Posted: 13 Nov 2010 01:21 AM PST

President Obama pledged Saturday that the U.S. is "here to stay" among the most rapidly growing economies of the world and wants to share in the benefits of expanding global trade.

In Myanmar, supporters await Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's release

Posted: 13 Nov 2010 12:00 AM PST

A sharply stepped-up security presence in Yangon adds to the expectant atmosphere. Aung San Suu Kyi has spent 15 of the last 21 years in detention.

Supporters of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi gathered near her home and at her party's headquarters Saturday, hoping to see the Nobel Peace Prize laureate taste freedom after seven years of detention by Myanmar's ruling generals.