LA Times News

LA Times News

Diplomat Richard Holbrooke dies at 69

Posted: 13 Dec 2010 05:27 PM PST

President Obama's emissary to Afghanistan and Pakistan began his career as a junior Foreign Service officer during the Vietnam War.

Richard C. Holbrooke, the Obama administration's emissary to Afghanistan and Pakistan and one of the most celebrated American diplomats of the last half-century, died Monday. He was 69.

Stockholm suicide attacker carried three bombs

Posted: 14 Dec 2010 12:00 AM PST

The bomber is believed to have been an Iraqi-born Swede who maintained a home in Britain and once stormed out of a mosque there after being warned about his extremist views.

Swedish authorities said Monday that the would-be suicide attacker who blew himself up in Stockholm over the weekend was carrying at least three bombs and may have had accomplices.

An Iraqi girl's thinly veiled teenage rebellion

Posted: 13 Dec 2010 01:57 PM PST

Fifteen-year-old Ban, a fan of an American goth band and 'Twilight,' accessorizes her school-mandated head scarf and gown with skull pendants, black fingernails and a matching attitude.

In the sacred Shiite city of Najaf, where women hide themselves behind dark robes and head scarves, 15-year-old Ban wears the wrong kind of black.

Berlusconi's fate may rest on lawmaker pregnancies

Posted: 13 Dec 2010 04:10 PM PST

Italy's premier faces a no confidence motion in Parliament, and the count is so tight it may hinge on whether any one of three pregnant lawmakers likely to vote against him goes into labor beforehand.

Perhaps it's only fitting during this holiday season that a child about to be born could be the agent of Silvio Berlusconi's political salvation.

Iran fires Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki

Posted: 14 Dec 2010 12:00 AM PST

No reason was given for the dismissal of the relative moderate, but the career diplomat had long clashed with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday announced the firing of Iran's foreign minister as the longtime diplomat was abroad on assignment, pro-government news agencies reported.

Iran's president fires foreign minister, names nuclear chief to serve as acting top diplomat

Posted: 13 Dec 2010 12:26 AM PST

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's president abruptly fired his foreign minister Monday and named the nuclear chief as acting top diplomat, the latest sign of a rift at the top levels of the Islamic theocracy as the country faces intense pressure from the West over its nuclear program.

Six NATO troops killed in Afghanistan

Posted: 13 Dec 2010 12:00 AM PST

NATO officials say the troops were killed in the south, but give no details. A news report says all six were Americans, killed in a suicide attack on a remote outpost in Kandahar.

Taliban insurgents killed six members of the American-dominated international military force in southern Afghanistan in a single attack Sunday, Western officials announced.

Egypt democracy advocate: Opposition will unite

Posted: 13 Dec 2010 12:00 AM PST

Leading Egyptian democracy advocate Mohamed ElBaradei said he is pushing to unify the country's opposition groups to build enough numbers for pro-reform protests after parliamentary elections marred by widespread allegations of fraud.

Egypt's Mubarak says elections were fine

Posted: 13 Dec 2010 12:00 AM PST

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said Sunday that Egypt's recent parliamentary elections in which his party won a smashing victory were largely lawful despite a few irregularities.

4 dead, 18 missing as South Korean fishing boat sinks in Antarctic Ocean

Posted: 12 Dec 2010 07:12 PM PST

A South Korean fishing boat sank Monday in the Antarctic Ocean, leaving four sailors dead and 18 missing, officials said. Twenty sailors were rescued.