LA Times News

LA Times News

Venezuela grants Chavez discretionary powers

Posted: 18 Dec 2010 12:00 AM PST

Congress allows him to govern by decree for the next 18 months. He says it's necessary to deal with widespread flooding, but critics say it's a way to get around the new Congress, in which his party's majority is reduced.

Venezuela's National Assembly on Friday overwhelmingly approved a law giving President Hugo Chavez broad discretionary powers for 18 months, a measure that opponents claim is meant to undercut their strength in the upcoming assembly session starting next month.

Scientists drill beneath Dead Sea in search of priceless data

Posted: 18 Dec 2010 12:00 AM PST

Rock samples underwater for eons are likely to be better preserved, researchers say. Expectations are high that the lowest place on Earth can answer questions on climate change and other key matters.

If you thought you couldn't get any lower than the Dead Sea, think again. You can go under it.

French ski resort abuzz over $6.6-million birthday bash

Posted: 18 Dec 2010 12:00 AM PST

Some welcome the boost from Ukrainian billionaire Victor Pinchuk's party in Courchevel; others see the lavish plans, which include a performance by Cirque du Soleil, as unseemly amid an economic crisis.

As a winter playground for the well-heeled, the chic French ski resort of Courchevel is used to the extravagant demands and excesses of its wealthy clientele.

CIA recalls Pakistan station chief after his name becomes public

Posted: 18 Dec 2010 12:00 AM PST

The CIA officer, who remains undercover, is returning to the U.S. because of threats to his safety, a U.S. official says. The officer's name was used in a police complaint by a Pakistani who says relatives were killed in a U.S. Predator drone strike.

The CIA station chief in Pakistan has been called home, a U.S. official said, after a lawyer for a local journalist publicly revealed the officer's name and said he should be held accountable for the deaths of the client's relatives in a U.S. drone strike.

Mother shot dead at anti-crime vigil in Chihuahua

Posted: 18 Dec 2010 12:00 AM PST

Video shows the brazen killing outside the Chihuahua governor's office of a woman who had been protesting the freeing of the confessed killer in her daughter's 2008 slaying.  

Outraged when judges freed the main suspect in her daughter's killing, Marisela Escobedo Ortiz launched a one-woman protest across the street from government offices in northern Mexico.

CIA's top Pakistan spy forced to leave after lawsuit names him

Posted: 17 Dec 2010 05:54 AM PST

Threats were made against his life, U.S. officials say, after he was accused of killing civilians in missile strikes.

The CIA has pulled its top spy out of Pakistan after threats were made against his life, current and former U.S. officials said, an unusual move for the U.S. and a complication on the front lines of the fight against al-Qaida.

North Korea threatens another attack on island

Posted: 18 Dec 2010 12:00 AM PST

South Korea plans another live-ammunition drill on Yeonpyeong Island, where an artillery strike by the North killed four people last month.

Tempers flared Friday as North Korea warned South Korea to cancel artillery drills planned for the same island the North shelled in November, pledging it would answer any provocation with a strike even harsher than last month's deadly attack.

Chickens pay the price for Russian farm's financial woes

Posted: 17 Dec 2010 12:00 AM PST

Hundreds of thousands of chicks have been put to death and millions more chickens face an uncertain future in what the farm operator says is the result of a ploy by his political foes.

In what some claim is the result of a lethal mixture of poultry and politics, 400,000 baby chicks have been put to death this week at a central Russian farm, an additional 600,000 have died of malnutrition and the lives of 3 million more chickens remain imperiled.

New Zealand reconsiders laws liberalizing sale of alcoholic drinks

Posted: 17 Dec 2010 12:00 AM PST

In a country where deregulation has left booze at times cheaper than bread or milk, alcohol occupies the center of public debate, with near-daily media and police focus on its effect on public safety.

The brightly colored poster for the annual fundraiser at an elementary school in this quaint town tucked into Tasman Bay advertised face painting, a bouncy castle — and a fully licensed bar.