LA Times News

LA Times News

Pictures of the dead rise in Egypt's Tahrir Square

Posted: 06 Feb 2011 05:58 PM PST

Loved ones carry posters of the deceased to gain strength from their sacrifices and to keep memories of them alive. Some estimates put the death toll at about 300.

They carry posters with photos of young men killed in the last two weeks in demonstrations around their country. Appearing daily in Tahrir Square, those commemorating the deaths blame President Hosni Mubarak's government, and they demand justice.

U.S. mends frosty relations with Al Jazeera

Posted: 06 Feb 2011 04:54 PM PST

The Obama administration is making an effort to ease tensions, getting its officials on the network, which has an audience of about 60 million and is seen as widely influential in the Middle East.

The Obama administration is courting the pan-Arab television network Al Jazeera in an attempt to improve a history of testy relations with one of the most influential news outlets in the Middle East.

How long can Egyptian military navigate middle ground?

Posted: 06 Feb 2011 04:39 PM PST

The army has managed to keep the public trust while remaining loyal to Hosni Mubarak, one of its own. But a history of crushing dissent indicates that its tolerance for protesters may not hold if its interests are threatened.

When bread shortages swept Egypt in 2008, the government didn't rely on the free market or its own warehouses, but turned instead to army bakeries to churn out millions of flat loaves to calm the angry masses. A few months later, as fire raced through the upper house of parliament, soldiers helped put out the flames.

Tunisian official orders shutdown of former ruling party's offices

Posted: 06 Feb 2011 03:11 PM PST

The new interior minister blames the party of ousted President Zine el Abidine ben Ali for a fresh outbreak of violence in the provinces. Members of the Constitutional Democratic Rally are told to suspend all activities.

Tunisia's new interior minister on Sunday ordered the party of ousted President Zine el Abidine ben Ali to shut its offices and suspend all activities pending its formal dissolution as part of the purge of all vestiges of the former regime, state television reported.

2 American hikers in Iranian prison plead not guilty

Posted: 06 Feb 2011 02:07 PM PST

In their first official court hearing, the hikers plead not guilty to espionage and trespassing. A third hiker was released on bail in September and allowed to return to the United States.

Two Americans imprisoned in Iran for 18 months had their first official court hearing Sunday and pleaded not guilty to charges including espionage and trespassing, their lawyer said.

Muslim Brotherhood joins talks on Egypt crisis; departure of Hosni Mubarak remains sticking point

Posted: 06 Feb 2011 05:15 PM PST

The inclusion of the banned Muslim Brotherhood in negotiations between Vice President Omar Suleiman and regime opponents is seen as significant. The government offers new concessions, but demonstrators stand by their demand for Mubarak's quick exit.

Opposition groups including the banned Muslim Brotherhood held landmark talks Sunday with Egypt's vice president, but the two sides remained at apparent loggerheads over opponents' principal demand: that President Hosni Mubarak step aside now.

U.S. reaction: Applause for negotiations in Egypt

Posted: 06 Feb 2011 11:51 AM PST

As John Kerry, head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, calls the talks 'extraordinary,' Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reinforces President Obama's push for political reform in the Middle East.

WASHINGTON — U.S. political officials and diplomatic experts applauded Sunday's talks between Egyptian officials and protest leaders as an "extraordinary" moment that may represent a turning point in the crisis.

Egypt's talks with opposition are 'extraordinary,' a possible turning point, John Kerry says

Posted: 06 Feb 2011 09:50 AM PST

John Kerry, the head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is optimistic and hopeful about concessions by the Cairo government to protesters' demands -- particularly an agreement to lift the decades-old emergency law.

The head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Sunday applauded the Egyptian vice president's potentially breakthrough meetings with demonstration leaders. Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) said he was heartened by the dialogue and reports that the ruling Cairo government had agreed to a number of the protesters' demands, including the lifting of a decades-old emergency law that had been used to repress opposition forces.

Muslim Brotherhood joins talks on Egypt's new government

Posted: 06 Feb 2011 04:52 AM PST

Participation of the formerly banned group shows the nation is on a new political course. Thousands enter Tahrir Square for a 13th day of protests.

The outlawed Muslim Brotherhood joined talks Sunday with Egyptian officials in efforts to calm days of street protests and negotiate the possibility of a transitional government to run the country until September elections.

Teachers in Japan fight being forced to sing national anthem

Posted: 06 Feb 2011 12:03 AM PST

Scores of public school teachers unite to battle the Tokyo government and its school board over the enforced patriotism.

Japanese public high school teacher Sawa Kawamura used to smile on her way to work. But in recent years, this quiet woman has come to dread the classroom.

Artist exacts revenge on North Korea regime

Posted: 05 Feb 2011 10:06 PM PST

Song Byeok once did the soulless work of drawing idyllic North Korean propaganda posters for Kim Jong Il's totalitarian regime. Since defecting, he has turned his creative talents to skewering it.

For seven long years, Song Byeok performed the soulless work of drawing idyllic North Korean propaganda posters for Kim Jong Il's totalitarian regime.

Extremists have easy time infiltrating Pakistan security services

Posted: 05 Feb 2011 10:06 PM PST

Security agencies lack money and manpower to carry out psychological evaluations of applicants, experts say. And the law enforcement community doesn't have a national computerized criminal database.

Zahid Manzoor Bajwa wasn't exactly cop material.

Egypt ruling party leadership resigns

Posted: 05 Feb 2011 06:09 PM PST

The dismantling of the National Democratic Party's power structure is a dramatic sign of the pressures to remove vestiges of President Hosni Mubarak's power and snip the ambitions of his son Gamal.

The leadership of Egypt's ruling party resigned Saturday, a purge that would have been beyond Egyptians' imaginations a few short weeks ago but was unlikely to placate a hard-core opposition frustrated by what it sees as costume changes in the government of President Hosni Mubarak.