LA Times News

LA Times News

U.S. officials defend strategy in talks with pirates

Posted: 24 Feb 2011 05:00 PM PST

They say there is no indication that telling the Somali pirates they wouldn't be allowed to take four U.S. hostages ashore escalated the situation. It is unclear why the hostages were shot.

U.S. negotiators told pirates holding four American hostages off the coast of Somalia that they would not be allowed to go ashore with their captives, U.S. officials said, one of several moves that increased pressure on the pirates before the hostages were killed Tuesday.

U.S. military to examine alleged misuse of 'psy-ops' in Afghanistan

Posted: 24 Feb 2011 05:43 PM PST

Gen. David Petraeus calls for an inquiry into findings in a Rolling Stone magazine article that a U.S. general in Afghanistan pressured troops trained in psychological operations to persuade visiting lawmakers to provide more funding and support.

Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, called Thursday for an investigation into allegations that an Army general ordered military personnel trained in psychological operations to manipulate visiting U.S. lawmakers into providing additional funding and support.

In Bahrain, Sunni activist's plight seen as a cautionary tale

Posted: 24 Feb 2011 05:47 PM PST

The activist was detained for speaking at a Shiite rally calling for government reform and has not been seen since. He had sought to promote unity among the nation's majority Shiites and Sunnis.

Mohamed Albuflasa was different from everyone else taking the stage on the second day of Bahrain's protests. He was a Sunni Muslim.

Opposition forces close in around Libyan capital

Posted: 24 Feb 2011 02:24 PM PST

Another western town, Zawiya, about 30 miles from Tripoli, rises up against Moammar Kadafi, who gives a rambling interview blaming Al Qaeda for the popular uprising. Protesters plan a huge rally in Tripoli after Friday prayers.

Smoldering unrest drew tighter around Tripoli and areas of western Libya previously under government control Thursday, the day before a planned rally in the capital against Moammar Kadafi's rule.

In freed Benghazi, Libya's second city, strong calls for Kadafi's overthrow

Posted: 24 Feb 2011 05:22 PM PST

Days after protesters took control of Benghazi after attacks by Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi's militia and alleged mercenaries left many dead and injured, rallies continue at the courthouse.

On walls across Libya's second-largest city are the same scrawled graffiti: Game Over.

British court rules Assange should be extradited to Sweden

Posted: 24 Feb 2011 03:15 PM PST

A judge says the Swedish extradition request for questioning on sexual assault charges is valid and rejected arguments that if charged, the WikiLeaks founder wouldn't get a fair trial.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange should be extradited to Sweden to face questioning and possible charges that he sexually assaulted two women, a British judge ruled Thursday.

In Jordan, King Abdullah II getting earful from tribal leaders

Posted: 24 Feb 2011 02:34 PM PST

At the heart of the discontent is Jordan's growing Palestinian population, which threatens to erode the tribes' hold on money and power. The king also faces pressure to end corruption and his grip on political power.

Faris Fayez grew up hearing about the day in 1970 when his father and other Jordanian tribal leaders summoned the late King Hussein to complain about entrenched Palestinian fighters who were virtually occupying the country.

Egyptians abused by police now struggle for justice

Posted: 24 Feb 2011 03:26 PM PST

Whispered or told in tears, tales of abuse, brutality, corruption and sins committed over three decades of Hosni Mubarak's police state seep through a Cairo courthouse's stone corridors.

A tear rolled down Eweis Abdullah's cheek, but his voice didn't crack or waver. He had told his story of injustice often over the years; a cadence settled over it.

Afghan intelligence official killed in suicide bombing

Posted: 24 Feb 2011 12:26 PM PST

The Taliban claims responsibility for the attack in Kandahar province, near Afghanistan's border with Pakistan, which also injured about two dozen people, officials say.

An Afghan intelligence official was killed and about two dozen other people were injured in a suicide bombing Thursday near the border with Pakistan in a confrontation authorities believe averted a potentially larger strike by the bomber and a companion.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange loses round in extradition fight

Posted: 24 Feb 2011 07:08 AM PST

A British judge approves Swedish prosecutors' request to extradite Julian Assange in a sexual-assault case. His lawyers say they will appeal, and the WikiLeaks founder condemns the decision as 'a rubber-stamping process.'

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange should be extradited to Sweden for questioning and possible trial on charges of sexual assault, a British judge ruled Thursday.

New Zealanders dazed and exhausted by second big quake

Posted: 24 Feb 2011 05:03 AM PST

'Will it ever stop?' one Christchurch woman wonders in the wake of Tuesday's earthquake, an aftershock to a quake in September. About 200 people remain missing, with the confirmed death toll at 98.

Hannah Trusttun sat on a jagged stack of loose bricks Thursday, staring vacantly across a deserted downtown street in her devastated city.

Bahrain prisoner release might actually intensify demands

Posted: 24 Feb 2011 05:03 AM PST

Bahraini king has avoided the public eye, mindful that he is blamed for troops' opening fire. Still, he frees 308 thought to be political prisoners, including 23 jailed last summer on charges of rebellion.

At least 300 people were freed early Wednesday from Bahrain's jails, but rather than calming the waters, the releases could very well intensify the nation's already charged atmosphere.

Zimbabwe activists face treason charges for discussing Middle East upheaval

Posted: 24 Feb 2011 05:03 AM PST

Police arrest 45 people at a meeting in Harare analyzing the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia and comparing it with the situation in Zimbabwe. They are charged with treason, which could result in the death penalty.

Forty-five Zimbabwean activists who attended a meeting to discuss the successful uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia were charged Wednesday with treason, which could result in the death penalty, and subverting an elected government.

Obama calls Kadafi's crackdown in Libya 'outrageous'

Posted: 23 Feb 2011 10:02 PM PST

Officials say the administration had avoided direct criticism out of fear for the safety of Americans in Libya and not wanting to give the dictator a chance to cast himself as a patriot resisting the U.S.

President Obama on Wednesday condemned Moammar Kadafi's bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Libya, saying he had ordered his administration to prepare "a full range of options" to handle the crisis as the death toll rose into the hundreds.

Protests in Greece over austerity measures

Posted: 24 Feb 2011 05:03 AM PST

Unions call a nationwide strike and tens of thousands demonstrate in Athens over the measures intended to shore up the economy. About 20 protesters are held as clashes break out with police.

Wielding wooden batons, rocks and gas bombs, protesters clashed with police Wednesday in demonstrations across Greece against austerity measures.