LA Times News

LA Times News

Hillary Clinton praises Mexico for its battle against drug cartels

Posted: 24 Jan 2011 07:24 PM PST

The secretary of State says President Felipe Calderon has been 'courageous' and she vows continued U.S. support.

During a one-day trip south of the border, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday lauded Mexico for battling drug cartels she once compared to an insurgency.

Hariri supporters call for protests in Lebanon

Posted: 24 Jan 2011 07:24 PM PST

The political crisis deepens with a call for a 'day of popular anger' over Hezbollah's bid to have businessman Najib Mikati head a new coalition government to replace that of Saad Hariri.

Lebanon's long-standing political crisis deepened Monday when supporters of the country's Sunni Muslim leadership called for protests over the apparently imminent appointment of a Hezbollah-backed candidate as the prime minister of a new government.

Tunisia on verge of new crisis over regime holdovers

Posted: 24 Jan 2011 07:03 PM PST

The interim government grapples with opposition to the inclusion of politicians linked to ousted President Zine el Abidine ben Ali. Tunisia risks sliding back into dictatorship, the army chief warns.

As Tunisia's top general warned that the country's revolution "risks being lost," the fragile transitional government was on the verge of a fresh crisis Monday over an issue that has dogged it from the start: the inclusion of politicians associated with the regime ousted this month.

Ex-Pakistani spy Colonel Imam dies in captivity

Posted: 24 Jan 2011 10:48 AM PST

Sultan Amir Tarar, a.k.a. Colonel Imam, was kidnapped by militants last spring along with another former Pakistani agent and a British journalist. Tarar was considered the architect behind the Taliban's rise in Afghanistan.

A retired Pakistani intelligence agent regarded as an architect behind the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan died after being held hostage by militants for 10 months, though officials in northwestern Pakistan said they had yet to determine whether his captors killed him or he died of natural causes.

Iraq car bombings kill at least 22

Posted: 24 Jan 2011 10:15 AM PST

Two car bombs go off as thousands of pilgrims march into Karbala to mark Arbaeen, a religious holiday. At least 151 Iraqis have died in bombings in the last week.

Two car bombs exploded Monday near Karbala as Iraq's Shiite Muslim majority visited the shrine city for a major religious holiday, security and medical officials said. The blasts killed at least 22 people.

Moscow airport bombing kills 35, injures more than 130

Posted: 24 Jan 2011 05:37 PM PST

The bomb at Domodedovo airport was packed "full of metal pieces" and was the equivalent of between 15 and 22 pounds of TNT, an official says.

The bomb at Domodedovo airport was packed "full of metal pieces" and was the equivalent of between 15 and 22 pounds of TNT, an official says.

Explosion kills 31 at Moscow airport

Posted: 24 Jan 2011 08:12 AM PST

An explosion ripped through the international arrivals hall at Moscow's busiest airport on Monday, killing 31 people and wounding about 130, officials said. The Russian president called it a terror attack.

2 car bombs aimed at Shiite pilgrims kill 18 in Iraq

Posted: 24 Jan 2011 04:02 AM PST

In the past week, a series of attacks have killed at least 159 people.

Two car bombs struck Shiite pilgrims Monday in an Iraqi holy city, killing at least 18 people as crowds massed for religious rituals marking the end of a 40-day mourning period for the Islamic sect's most beloved saint.

Former Pakistani spy who aided U.S., Taliban reported dead in militant custody

Posted: 24 Jan 2011 03:31 AM PST

Sultan Amir Tarar was seized 10 months ago. He reportedly received a plaque from the Reagan administration after helping to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan. Later, he was close to Mullah Omar.

A former Pakistani spy who helped the Taliban rise to power in Afghanistan has died in militant captivity 10 months after he was seized in northwest Pakistan, a top official said Monday.

Palestinian leaders deny offering major concessions to Israel

Posted: 23 Jan 2011 10:08 PM PST

They reject an Al Jazeera report that cites leaked memos suggesting Palestinian leaders were ready to cede most of East Jerusalem and limit the right of return for refugees to make a peace deal.

Palestinian leaders Sunday rejected a report by Al Jazeera television network that they had agreed in 2008 to cede most of disputed East Jerusalem and to make other major concessions in an unsuccessful bid to win statehood.

In Beijing, car ownership rules drive auto sales

Posted: 23 Jan 2011 08:24 PM PST

As the Chinese capital limits the number of cars to ease pollution and gridlock, people who had been putting off buying a car are taking the plunge and entering the license plate lottery.

Nothing like being told you can't to make you want.

Alleged abuse at Iraqi detention center prompts oversight concerns

Posted: 23 Jan 2011 08:09 PM PST

Detainees are reportedly held without trial and are subject to abuse at a Green Zone jail run by an elite unit that falls under Prime Minister Maliki's office. Promises of reform have not been met, even as he appears to consolidate more power.

An elite security force affiliated with Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's office is holding detainees in miserable conditions for months at a time without access to lawyers or families despite Maliki's pledge last year to rein in the unit, Iraqi officials and diplomatic sources say.

Illegal religious structures spread through India

Posted: 23 Jan 2011 08:13 PM PST

Mosques and temples encroach on sidewalks, schools and roads, despite court orders to stop them. Devotees help ensure the structures are hard to tear down once they are built.

They struck shortly after dawn on a weekday morning this month, taking bulldozers, backhoes and sledgehammers to the Noor Masjid mosque. But the stealth tactics by municipal workers fell short: Well before they finished razing the building, 1,000 Muslim protesters had gathered, and things got ugly.