LA Times News

LA Times News

Egypt cotton mills whir again after army, workers reach pact

Posted: 23 Feb 2011 02:53 PM PST

Alarmed by a sit-down protest in a town with a history of labor defiance, army leaders threatened force to stop the strike in the state-owned factory. But they quickly agreed to some worker demands.

The groaning industrial looms are cranking again inside the massive Misr Spinning & Weaving Co. factory in this gritty Nile Delta city famous for its textiles. Workers are streaming past army tanks and concertina wire to resume production of cotton and wool fabrics after a four-day wildcat strike.

FBI investigates 4 U.S. hostages' deaths in Somali pirate hijacking

Posted: 23 Feb 2011 02:06 PM PST

Fifteen Somalis were captured in the hijacking of the Americans' yacht, and U.S. officials are considering whether to extradite them to face justice. The FBI is trying to determine why the hostages were shot.

As FBI agents on Wednesday began investigating the deaths of four Americans whose yacht was hijacked by Somali pirates in the Arabian Sea, U.S. officials were mulling whether to bring captured suspects to America to face justice.

Egypt's 'Day of Rage' not inspired by Chicago rampage

Posted: 23 Feb 2011 02:03 PM PST

Egypt's 'Day of Rage' has a familiar ring in Chicago. But the phrase has Arab, not American, roots and the outcomes of the protests are worlds apart.

When the young Egyptian activists plotting President Hosni Mubarak's downfall summoned people to revolt on Jan. 25, they announced a Youm al Ghadad , a "Day of Rage," in which the masses would pour into the streets and tell authorities they'd had enough.

Libyan city no longer ruled by Kadafi, but protests continue

Posted: 23 Feb 2011 12:56 PM PST

Residents -- not Moammar Kadafi's regime -- now rule the eastern city of Derna, but they're still demonstrating against the Libyan leader.

Days after the police were run out of town or joined the revolution, the police station was burned down and its files strewn on charred ground, residents of this coastal Libyan city still are on the streets protesting Moammar Kadafi's regime.

Libyan opposition reportedly seizes key western city

Posted: 23 Feb 2011 10:02 AM PST

Opponents of Moammar Kadafi are said to have taken control of Misurata, Libya's third largest city and where Kadafi traditionally has maintained strong tribal support.

The popular uprising against Moammar Kadafi expanded into an oil-rich area of western Libya long considered one of his strongholds, leaving the long-time leader increasingly isolated and in danger of encirclement as he fights for survival.

Hope for quake survivors fading as New Zealand rescuers sift through rubble

Posted: 23 Feb 2011 05:32 AM PST

Two people are pulled alive from the wreckage, and the official toll remains at 75, with scores missing. Tourists crowd Christchurch's airport to get out, having abandoned their belongings.

Workers continued to sift through the rubble for survivors of Tuesday's 6.3-magnitude earthquake here, but officials said hopes had dimmed that those buried would be found alive.

Israel: Iranian naval vessels are provocation

Posted: 22 Feb 2011 03:03 PM PST

Two Iranian warships sailed from the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean on Tuesday, the first such trip in at least three decades, eliciting Israeli charges that Tehran is seeking to dominate the Middle East.

Four Americans, including Southern California couple, are killed by Somali pirates, U.S. officials say

Posted: 22 Feb 2011 09:36 PM PST

Jean and Scott Adam were on a voyage with two friends from Seattle when pirates boarded their yacht on Friday. Naval officials negotiated without success for their release.

Jean and Scott Adam traipsed the globe the way Georges Seurat painted an afternoon at the park — point by point or, in their case, port by port.