LA Times News

LA Times News

Libyan rebel volunteers pour in

Posted: 02 Mar 2011 06:08 PM PST

The ragtag groups of fighters, many untrained and some not as young as others, have proved surprisingly effective so far. And Kadafi's army isn't exactly a crack force.

The new recruit has a middle-aged paunch and a silver beard.

Kadafi said to be hurting from loss of oil revenue

Posted: 02 Mar 2011 06:08 PM PST

The attack on Port Brega shows he wants to regain control of Libya's oil fields and refineries, which have been crucial to his 41-year hold on power. But it is unclear whether he has amassed enough wealth to keep his patronage system going.

A battle in which Libyan rebels repelled government-backed militias from the strategic Mediterranean city of Port Brega marked the first attempt by forces loyal to Moammar Kadafi to recover lucrative oil-rich territory that has been stripped from his grasp.

Yemen leader reportedly reaches tentative pact with opposition

Posted: 02 Mar 2011 04:57 PM PST

President Ali Abdullah Saleh tentatively OKs a plan from opposition leaders that includes the demand he step down by the end of the year after more than three decades in office, a spokesman says.

Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh has tentatively agreed to a five-point plan from opposition leaders that includes the demand that the man who has ruled the troubled Arabian Peninsula nation for more than three decades step down by the end of the year, according to the president's office.

Israel closes Gaza commercial crossing, leaving just one

Posted: 02 Mar 2011 06:08 PM PST

Military officials cite unspecified security concerns for the closure of the Karni crossing and say all goods would now go through the Kerem Shalom checkpoint.

After agreeing last year to relax its blockade around the Gaza Strip, Israel moved Wednesday to tighten the security cordon by permanently closing what was once its largest commercial crossing point.

Indian entrepreneur turns pachyderm poop into paper

Posted: 02 Mar 2011 03:01 PM PST

A struggling maker of handmade paper finds success by recycling elephant dung. He plans to move his workshop to provide jobs to village women.

A thousand-mile journey begins with a single step. Sometimes that step leaves a little something on your shoe.

Gunman kills 2 U.S. airmen at Frankfurt airport

Posted: 02 Mar 2011 11:34 AM PST

The gunman opened fire on a U.S. military bus waiting at a terminal at the airport in Frankfurt, Germany, killing the airmen and injuring two, officials say. Police arrest a 21-year-old man from Kosovo.

Two United States airmen were killed and another two injured Wednesday when a lone gunman opened fire on an American military bus outside a terminal at the international airport in Frankfurt, Germany.

Kadafi loyalists, rebels fight for control of Libyan oil facility

Posted: 02 Mar 2011 07:12 AM PST

Government forces attack a key oil facility and air base in rebel-controlled Port Brega, their first offensive in eastern Libya since rebel fighters took control.

Libyan government forces launched a counterattack against a key oil facility and air base in rebel-controlled eastern Libya on Wednesday morning as Moammar Kadafi vowed to "fight until the last man and woman."

Kadafi forces reportedly moving against rebels in Libya's east

Posted: 02 Mar 2011 04:43 AM PST

It's unclear whether loyalists or opponents hold the key city of Port Brega. Kadafi, meanwhile, broadcasts a speech saying he holds no power anyway, unlike "the presidents of other countries."

Forces loyal to embattled Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi were reported to be moving Wednesday against areas held by the opposition in the country's east.

Gen. David Petraeus apologizes for deaths of 9 Afghan children

Posted: 02 Mar 2011 04:58 AM PST

After a public burst of outrage by Afghan officials, NATO swiftly accepts responsibility for the deaths of the children killed in a bombardment.

Gen. David H. Petraeus, the American commander of Western forces in Afghanistan, apologized Wednesday for the accidental deaths of nine civilians, identified by Afghan officials as children killed as they gathered firewood in a mountainous area of eastern Afghanistan. A 10th child was injured in the bombardment, Afghan officials said.

Pakistan's only Christian Cabinet member assassinated

Posted: 02 Mar 2011 03:49 AM PST

Shahbaz Bhatti, the minority affairs minister, is the second top Pakistani official to be killed over his opposition to a blasphemy law that critics say is often misused to persecute minorities.

Gunmen killed the only Christian member of Pakistan's Cabinet on Wednesday in Islamabad, the second assassination this year of a top official who had opposed the country's controversial blasphemy law and championed the rights of its beleaguered minorities.

Kadafi marshals show of strength in Libyan capital

Posted: 01 Mar 2011 07:32 PM PST

Moammar Kadafi and the opposition offer conflicting claims on who is gaining the upper hand in the Libyan uprising. The claims and choreographed displays of control shed little light on the balance of power.

Embattled Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi marshaled cheering supporters and convoys of trucks said to be headed for rebel territory. His foes boasted of sending 500 men down the coastal highway for a showdown in Tripoli, the capital.

Kadafi's son loses long-held reformist mantle

Posted: 01 Mar 2011 09:43 PM PST

Seif Islam Kadafi, once seen as a beacon of change, now is his family's public face against the revolt. Associates say he's caught between his Western-educated outlook and loyalty to his father.

He was for years Libya's greatest hope for a peaceful, orderly transition away from his erratic father's autocratic rule. As such, the seemingly open-minded son of Col. Moammar Kadafi was feted by world leaders and greeted with approval by international human rights groups and even some opposition activists as a beacon of reform in a politically ossified North Africa.

Sanctions on Libya send strong message, officials say

Posted: 01 Mar 2011 09:43 PM PST

The U.S. and its allies are counting on the punishing measures to have a crucial indirect effect by convincing those around Moammar Kadafi that they face a bleak future if they decide to stick by him.

International sanctions imposed on Moammar Kadafi and his regime will have little direct effect on his ability to raise money or rally his army against a rising insurgency, U.S. officials acknowledged Tuesday.

Assault rifle used in U.S. agent's killing in Mexico traced to Texas

Posted: 01 Mar 2011 09:43 PM PST

U.S. authorities say one of three men they arrested this week purchased an AK-47 at a Texas gun shop that was used in the attack last month that killed a Border Patrol agent and wounded his partner.

A gun used in a fatal attack on a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Mexico last month has been traced to a Texas man suspected of attempting to deliver at least 40 firearms to a Mexican drug cartel, federal authorities said Tuesday.