LA Times News

LA Times News

Denmark terrorism suspects plead not guilty

Posted: 30 Dec 2010 02:16 PM PST

Three are charged in Denmark with attempted terrorism for an alleged plot against a newspaper office and another is held in Sweden. A fifth man, an Iraqi national seeking asylum in Denmark, is released for lack of evidence.

Three men suspected of plotting to attack a Danish newspaper that published cartoons caricaturing the prophet Muhammad pleaded not guilty Thursday in Copenhagen to charges of attempted terrorism and illegal weapons possession, and a fourth suspect was released for lack of evidence.

Former Russian oligarch gets 14-year sentence

Posted: 31 Dec 2010 12:00 AM PST

Mikhail Khodorkovsky, convicted on new embezzlement and money-laundering charges, will remain behind bars until at least 2017. Western officials and human rights activists have condemned the case as politically motivated.

A former tycoon who challenged the rule of Russian leader Vladimir Putin was sentenced to remain in prison until at least 2017 after his conviction this week on embezzlement and money-laundering charges in a politically charged case widely condemned in the West.

Former Israeli President Moshe Katsav convicted of rape

Posted: 31 Dec 2010 12:00 AM PST

Women's rights groups outside court hail the verdict. Sentencing for Katsav, who was also convicted of the sexual harassment of two other women, is pending.

Former Israeli President Moshe Katsav was convicted Thursday of raping an aide and sexually harassing two other women, a verdict hailed as evidence of the nation's independent judiciary and a reminder that no one is above the law.

Roadside bomb kills 14 civilians aboard minibus in Afghanistan

Posted: 31 Dec 2010 12:00 AM PST

An IED along the highway to Kandahar in Helmand province incinerates a minibus packed with men, women and children. Militants have been planting larger and larger bombs targeting Western troops, but more often the victims are civilians.

Every day across Afghanistan, rural people crowd aboard rickety communal taxis that ply the roads linking remote towns and villages. And every day, they run the risk of what happened Thursday morning in Helmand province.

Former Israeli President Moshe Katsav convicted of rape

Posted: 30 Dec 2010 01:25 AM PST

The verdict means a prison term of at least four years. The case stemmed from charges filed by four women who worked from Katsav when he was tourism minister.

An Israeli court Thursday convicted former President Moshe Katsav of rape, in the most serious charges ever to be leveled against a high-ranking Israeli official.

American aid worker freed from Haitian prison

Posted: 29 Dec 2010 11:37 PM PST

Paul Waggoner is apparently cleared of allegations that he kidnapped an infant. A lawyer says the judge was shown evidence that the allegedly kidnapped child had died.

An American aid worker has been released from a notoriously overcrowded Haitian prison after a judge apparently cleared him of allegations that he kidnapped an infant from a hospital where he worked as a volunteer.

U.S. revokes Venezuelan ambassador's visa

Posted: 30 Dec 2010 12:00 AM PST

The move is seen as retaliation for Venezuela's rejection of President Obama's choice of Larry Palmer as the U.S. envoy to Caracas. Palmer had criticized President Hugo Chavez's leftist government.

— The Obama administration revoked the visa of the Venezuelan ambassador to the United States on Wednesday in a tit-for-tat diplomatic response to Venezuela's rejection of the U.S. choice to be the next envoy to the South American country.