LA Times News

LA Times News

Tunisia protests and deaths continue amid government moves

Posted: 13 Jan 2011 12:00 AM PST

Resentment in Tunisia over rising unemployment has turned into rage against the government of President Zine el Abidine ben Ali after a crackdown that has reportedly left as many as 50 people dead.

Security forces and tanks streamed into the center of the capital, and 11 people were reported killed in clashes across Tunisia on Wednesday as authorities scrambled to quell mounting anti-government protests.

In New Delhi, anger rising violently to the surface

Posted: 13 Jan 2011 12:00 AM PST

New Delhi has outpaced other major Indian cities in the number of acts of random violence, social analysts say. 'There's something increasingly desperate in people.'

A pair of seemingly senseless killings this week in New Delhi has highlighted the dark side of India's fast-growing economy: rising frustration, urban alienation and a coveting of the wealth many feel is passing them by.

Cuba spy's trial seen as U.S. maneuver

Posted: 12 Jan 2011 04:04 PM PST

The U.S. chose not to deport Luis Posada Carriles for fear the former CIA operative may reveal secrets, Havana says. Nonetheless, Cuba has provided the U.S. with data on attacks in which Posada allegedly had a role.

Befitting a lifelong intelligence operative, Luis Posada Carriles is a name unknown to most in the United States.

Chinese students' high scores in international tests come at a cost

Posted: 13 Jan 2011 12:00 AM PST

Teens are under great pressure to do well on exams, with no time for friends or sports. Educators fear the students will become expert test-takers lacking creativity and imagination.

Chinese adolescence is known as a time of scant whimsy: Students rise at dawn, disappear into school until dinnertime and toil into the late night over homework in preparation for university entrance exams that can make or break their future.

Biden seeks to reassure Pakistan

Posted: 12 Jan 2011 05:12 PM PST

On a visit to Islamabad, he defends the U.S. pursuit of terrorists and says America has no designs on the Pakistani government or Islam.

Targeting extremists is the best way to strengthen Pakistan, Vice President Joe Biden said Wednesday as he defended an aggressive pursuit of terrorists while also offering assurances to the Pakistani people that the U.S. has no wish to take over their government or wipe out Islam.

Haitians turn out for one-year anniversary of quake

Posted: 12 Jan 2011 04:23 PM PST

The trauma remains fresh for survivors of the magnitude 7.0 earthquake. Nearly a million remain in tents and other temporary housing.

Hundreds of white balloons were released into the air, buglers played taps and Haitians sang their national anthem a capella Wednesday afternoon to mark the moment when exactly one year ago a ferocious earthquake destroyed much of the nation's capital and killed more than 300,000 people.

East Jerusalem housing project will stay Jewish-only

Posted: 12 Jan 2011 02:00 PM PST

An offer by a Palestinian American entrepreneur to buy a company building Jewish housing in the Arab-dominated portion of Jerusalem is rejected. He intended to sell 300-plus units to Palestinians.

Bondholders of a troubled Israeli real estate company that is building Jewish housing in Arab-dominated East Jerusalem have rejected an offer from a Palestinian American entrepreneur to buy the firm, officials said Wednesday.

Lebanon government collapses

Posted: 13 Jan 2011 12:00 AM PST

Eleven ministers close to Lebanon's Hezbollah-led opposition withdraw from the Cabinet because of a dispute over the investigation of the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

The U.S. offered strong support for Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri as his fragile government collapsed Wednesday over an investigation of the assassination of the former prime minister, his father.

Third-largest Australia city a ghost town amid flooding

Posted: 13 Jan 2011 12:00 AM PST

In Brisbane, a city of 2 million in the Australia state of Queensland, thousands of homes and businesses are swamped by water from overflowing river. A man dies after being swept into a storm drain.

Major portions of Brisbane resembled a watery ghost town Thursday as muddy waters from the overflowing Brisbane River inundated Australia's third-largest city, part of massive flooding throughout Queensland state that has left officials and residents reeling.

Afghanistan bombings strike intelligence officials

Posted: 13 Jan 2011 12:00 AM PST

In Kabul, a suicide bomber hits a minibus carrying members of Afghanistan s main intelligence service, killing at least two people. In Kunar province, a bomb kills the deputy intelligence chief and his driver. Meanwhile, six NATO military personnel are killed.

A suicide bomber on a motorbike blew himself up Wednesday next to a minibus carrying members of Afghanistan's main intelligence service, killing at least two other people and injuring more than 30 others. It was the second bombing in the capital in eight days, a slight but worrying uptick in attacks in Kabul.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton presses Yemen on terrorism fight

Posted: 12 Jan 2011 12:00 AM PST

Hillary Rodham Clinton meets with President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Yemen, who says he is 'fully committed' to helping the U.S. destroy an Al Qaeda offshoot.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived in Yemen on Tuesday to press its government for greater cooperation in combating terrorism, promising in return that the United States would do more for the impoverished country.

Joe Biden backtracks on Afghanistan troop pullout date

Posted: 12 Jan 2011 12:00 AM PST

Vice President Joe Biden says U.S. forces may stay in Afghanistan beyond 2014. But the U.S. remains committed to handing off responsibility for security to the Afghans, he says.

Normally, the White House cleans up the occasional gaffe by Vice President Joe Biden. But in an appearance Tuesday with Afghanistan's president, Biden himself backed away from his recent statement that the U.S. would pull out of the country "come hell or high water" by 2014.