LA Times News

LA Times News

In eastern oil city, Libyan rebels brace for attack

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 07:01 PM PST

Armed men at a checkpoint in Port Brega, which provides fuel to much of the country, expect the pro-Kadafi army to be heading their way soon. 'If there is going to be a confrontation, it will be here,' one says.

At the westernmost checkpoint in liberated eastern Libya, a white car pulled up quickly and a man in a bulky black jacket jumped out.

A no-fly zone over Libya would be a complex operation

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 05:57 PM PST

To establish a no-fly zone, the U.S. and its allies would need to bomb Libya's air defense system and devote hundreds of aircraft to patrol the country, military officers say.

Although White House and European leaders have repeatedly threatened to establish a no-fly zone over Libya, such a complex operation could require hundreds of aircraft and a bombing campaign to neutralize the country's air defense system, current and retired U.S. military officers say.

Aristide keeps Haiti waiting

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 06:09 PM PST

The country has been abuzz with expectation of the former leader's return since he announced he planned to come back and work on education issues. But no one knows when, or even if, he'll show up.

At the empty home of former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, they've added a new coat of white paint and put fresh sheets on the bed.

Henry Morgan's cannons found in Panama, archaeologists say

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 07:01 PM PST

A team unearths six cannons under layers of sedimentary rock that it says are from the ships of the 17th century privateer.

Archaeologists have recovered six cannons from the ships of Welsh privateer Henry Morgan, the first artifacts found in Panama to be linked to the man who remains a legend there, the team said Monday.

A damper on Israeli school's Oscar celebration

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 05:52 PM PST

Bialik-Rogozin School, which serves migrants and refugees, was featured in the Oscar-winning documentary 'Strangers No More.' But about 120 students face deportation under a controversial Israeli policy to curb illegal immigration.

Students and teachers at an innovative Tel Aviv school profiled in this year's Oscar-winning short documentary, "Strangers No More," celebrated Monday with balloons and gold-foil-wrapped chocolates, far away from the glitz of Hollywood.

Beleaguered Yemeni leader has shown staying power

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 03:48 PM PST

Over the decades, President Ali Abdullah Saleh has managed to manipulate the shifting alliances among tribes and outflank his enemies to stay on top. But the pressure on him now is enormous.

Having endured wars, rebellions and an ongoing battle with Al Qaeda, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh may not be easily toppled from power by the bloodshed and protests inspired by the unrest that brought down the leaders of Egypt and Tunisia.

Pirates kidnap 3 Danish children, 4 adults in Indian Ocean

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 01:57 PM PST

The Danish Foreign Ministry says the youths, ages 12 to 16, were seized along with their parents and two others on board a sailing vessel. It's believed to be the first time that children have been victims of pirates in the recent spate of hostage-taking off eastern Africa.

Three children are among seven Danes who have been kidnapped by pirates in the Indian Ocean, Danish officials said Monday.

Egypt didn't catch Obama by surprise, official says

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 09:50 AM PST

President Obama had been preparing for possible unrest in the Middle East and North Africa since August, says Dennis Ross, a top foreign policy official. But the speed of Egypt's regime collapse was unexpected, he says.

WASHINGTON — A top White House foreign policy official rejected the notion that President Obama was caught flat-footed by the protests coursing through the Middle East, though he conceded that the speed with which old regimes collapsed came as a surprise.

Refugees flee Libya amid bloodshed

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 07:07 AM PST

More than 100,000 Libya refugees have flooded Tunisia and Egypt, the U.N. says. Meanwhile, the EU places a weapons embargo on Moammar Kadafi's regime, and the U.S. freezes assets.

Moammar Kadafi's loyalists appeared to have strengthened their grip on the Libyan capital, while chaos roiled much of the country and spilled over its borders in a wave of frightened refugees.

British contractor in Iraq gets 20 years for 2 killings

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 01:48 AM PST

Danny Fitzsimons, first Westerner convicted in an Iraqi court since the war began, had been facing the death penalty.

An Iraqi court Monday convicted a British man and sentenced him to 20 years in prison over the shooting deaths of two contractors, making him the first Westerner convicted in an Iraqi court since the 2003 U.S. invasion.

Russia aims to reform corrupt police

Posted: 27 Feb 2011 09:16 PM PST

'People are more afraid of the cops than they are afraid of criminals,' says one man who was badly beaten and left for dead at two officers' hands.

He recalls sinking into the darkness of the Volga River, and the icy water in his nostrils, eyes and ears shocking him into one last push for the surface. Above, a jagged hole traced 10 feet of open water, the only such patch in a vast, white expanse.

Kadafi loses another city to Libyan opposition

Posted: 27 Feb 2011 08:21 PM PST

A possible standoff shapes up as protesters with tanks and antiaircraft guns mass in Zawiya, the city just west of Tripoli that Moammar Kadafi's forces have surrounded with armor and military checkpoints.

Moammar Kadafi's tenuous grip on Libya was further loosened when the city closest to the capital fell under the control of rebel forces, leaving Tripoli encircled by opponents determined to topple the dictator's 41-year regime.