LA Times News

LA Times News

U.S. appears ready to acknowledge a long haul in Afghanistan

Posted: 17 Nov 2010 07:34 PM PST

As NATO leaders meet in Lisbon this weekend, the U.S. is expected to endorse a plan for slow withdrawal and gradually handing over security responsibility by 2014.

President Obama built his Afghanistan strategy around the bet that he could quickly turn around a "must win" war by narrowing his goals and sending more troops. This weekend he will make his clearest acknowledgement yet that doing so will actually take years.

Dissident Egyptian blogger freed after 4 years

Posted: 18 Nov 2010 12:00 AM PST

The blogger, known as Kareem Amer, had been jailed on charges of insulting Islam and defaming President Hosni Mubarak. He had written harshly about religious fanaticism and Egypt's authoritarian government.

An Egyptian blogger whose case epitomized the struggle for freedom of expression in cyberspace has been freed after serving four years in prison on charges of insulting Islam and defaming President Hosni Mubarak.

A village torn three ways braces for Israel's withdrawal

Posted: 17 Nov 2010 06:47 PM PST

Ghajar was in Syria until Israel seized the land in 1967, and has since crept upward into Lebanon. As Israeli troops prepare to pull out from Ghajar's northern half, the village is growing anxious.

The Israeli government Wednesday approved the withdrawal of troops from the northern part of an Arab village in a long-disputed region along the border with Lebanon.

EU leaders implore Ireland to accept bailout

Posted: 18 Nov 2010 12:00 AM PST

At a meeting in Brussels, European finance ministers who fear for the euro try to sway Dublin, which is drowning in public debt but insists that it's holding its own.

Pressure on Ireland to accept a financial bailout intensified Wednesday as European officials prepared for urgent talks in Dublin to try to beat back the crisis of confidence engulfing the euro.

Israel to withdraw from captured half of town on Lebanese border

Posted: 17 Nov 2010 03:05 AM PST

Israel has approved a withdrawal from the northern side of a divided town along the volatile Lebanese border.

Key GOP figure rejects quick vote on New START nuclear treaty

Posted: 17 Nov 2010 12:00 AM PST

Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) says there isn't time to weigh the complicated issues in this lame-duck Senate session. The decision is a blow to Obama.

The Republican point man on nuclear arms issues said Tuesday that he would not support a quick Senate vote on the New START treaty with Russia, dealing a major blow to the Obama administration's hopes for the weapons agreement and potentially improved relations with Moscow.

Russia protests extradition of Viktor Bout

Posted: 17 Nov 2010 12:00 AM PST

Moscow insists he is an innocent businessman, not an arms dealer. The so-called merchant of death arrives in New York from Bangkok to face four terrorism charges.

The extradition of alleged Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout from Thailand to the United States on Tuesday drew sharp protests from Russian officials, who insist the so-called merchant of death is an innocent businessman.