LA Times News

LA Times News

A formerly persecuted minority gains clout in Afghanistan

Posted: 16 Dec 2010 12:00 AM PST

Hazaras, a Shiite Muslim ethnic group once oppressed by the Taliban, welcome and work with Westerners, alienating Sunni Pashtuns.

Along rutted streets in newly revitalized neighborhoods hang green, red, yellow and black banners commemorating Imam Hussein, the prophet Muhammad's grandson, whose death more than 1,300 years ago continues to forge the identity and fuel the grievances of Afghanistan's Shiite Muslims.

U.N. Security Council ends key Iraq sanctions

Posted: 15 Dec 2010 04:15 PM PST

The country is now free to develop a civilian nuclear program, and it regains control of its oil revenue.

The U.N. Security Council voted Wednesday to lift key sanctions on Iraq, in a major step to restore the nation to the international standing it had before Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

Tokyo bans sales of sexually explicit comics to minors

Posted: 16 Dec 2010 12:00 AM PST

The ordinance also outlaws certain images, stirring a debate about freedom of expression.

The titles in one corner of Kinokuniya bookstore in Tokyo's Shinjuku district suggest the kind of themes that manga comics fans crave: romance, feudal-era adventure, betrayal.

Heavy rains continue as Colombia seeks to aid flood victims

Posted: 15 Dec 2010 05:32 PM PST

Weeks of rain has caused flooding that has claimed more than 250 lives and affected more than 1.9 million people. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is to offer advice on how to repair a breached levee.

Even as the government struggled to get emergency relief to thousands of flood victims, torrential rains continued to batter northern Colombia on Wednesday, adding to the misery caused by one of the worst natural disasters in this nation's modern history.

EU seeks proof that Kosovo military group harvested organs

Posted: 16 Dec 2010 12:00 AM PST

A European investigator alleges that the Kosovo Liberation Army sold detainees' kidneys and that Prime Minister Hashim Thaci was once the boss of a criminal underworld behind such grisly trade.

— European Union police in Kosovo on Wednesday asked for "hard facts" to back up claims made by an investigator that civilian detainees of the Kosovo Liberation Army were shot to death and their kidneys sold on the black market.

Afghanistan Red Cross sees grim outlook for civilians

Posted: 16 Dec 2010 12:00 AM PST

The spreading conflict is increasing casualties among the country's people, with Taliban roadside bombs the biggest culprit, says the head of the international aid group's Afghan mission.

A spreading conflict is causing increased civilian casualties and displacement across Afghanistan, the head of a major humanitarian organization said Wednesday in a grim year-end assessment .

Suicide bombers attack worshipers in Iran

Posted: 15 Dec 2010 05:18 AM PST

Details are conflicted in the aftermath of the attack, with the number of deaths estimated between 21 and 50. A militant Sunni group reportedly claims responsibility.

Dozens of Iranians were feared dead or injured after a coordinated suicide bombing Wednesday morning in the southeastern port of Chabahar targeted a procession of worshipers observing an important Shiite Muslim holiday, state media reported.

Islanders can do little as waves destroy refugee boat off Australia

Posted: 15 Dec 2010 07:00 AM PST

Twenty-seven bodies are recovered from the churning waters off tiny Christmas Island. Another 41 people are rescued and one person makes it to shore of an estimated 70 on the boat. Authorities believe the asylum-seekers are from Iraq and Iran.

Shortly after dawn Wednesday, residents of an isolated Australian island community heard the screams of children just offshore.

Boat filled with asylum seekers wrecks off Australia

Posted: 15 Dec 2010 12:00 AM PST

It's unclear how many were killed in the wreck off remote Christmas Island, but dozens were aboard. Island residents watch, horrified and helpless.

A wooden boat packed with dozens of asylum seekers smashed apart on cliffside rocks in heavy seas off Australia's remote Christmas Island on Wednesday, sending some to their deaths in churning water as horrified islanders watched helplessly from above.

U.S. intelligence reports cast doubt on war progress in Afghanistan

Posted: 15 Dec 2010 12:00 AM PST

The assessments contradict defense officials' optimistic outlook. They contend that large swaths of the country remain at risk of falling to the Taliban and that Pakistan is still supporting militants, officials say.

Two new assessments by the U.S. intelligence community present a gloomy picture of the Afghanistan war, contradicting a more upbeat view expressed by military officials as the White House prepares to release a progress report on the 9-year-old conflict.

Sweden appeals British decision to grant bail to WikiLeaks' Assange

Posted: 15 Dec 2010 12:00 AM PST

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who faces rape allegations in Sweden, will be held for at least two more days. Britain's high court will hear the appeal, but it isn't clear when.

— A British judge ordered Julian Assange released on $316,000 bail Tuesday, but the WikiLeaks founder will remain in custody for at least two more days after Swedish prosecutors challenged that decision.