LA Times News

LA Times News

Libyan rebels accused of targeting blacks

Posted: 04 Mar 2011 05:46 PM PST

Rights groups say African migrant workers and black Libyans face beatings and detention by rebel fighters who suspect them of being mercenaries hired by Moammar Kadafi to put down the rebellion.

About a dozen African men stood lined along a hallway of the courthouse in the eastern city of Benghazi. The men were suspected of being mercenaries fighting on behalf of Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi and had been rousted from their homes in the morning, turned in by residents responding to a rebel campaign urging them to report "suspicious people."

Back in Libya after decades in exile, a dissident takes on Kadafi

Posted: 04 Mar 2011 04:28 PM PST

Since his return in late December, a longtime opposition group leader has become more vocal in his denunciation of Moammar Kadafi. But some experts say such groups have been gone too long to be of much help to the rebels in the streets.

He remembers the desperate pleas of the men at the gallows as they were about to be hanged. Their faces were hidden by black hoods.

Yemen protesters share one goal but have divergent visions

Posted: 04 Mar 2011 04:00 PM PST

Everyone wants President Ali Abdullah Saleh out, but youths are calling for a democracy and Islamist tribesmen are seeking to hold on to their power.

The radical Yemeni feminist has almost nothing in common with the Islamic tribal sheik, except for a willingness to die for the same cause.

Calls for subtle protests have China security forces in tizzy

Posted: 04 Mar 2011 03:19 PM PST

Tweets calling for Sunday 'strolls' around China are an effective psychological weapon, sending security forces chasing at shadows.

Whoever is sending out the mysterious tweets calling for regular Sunday afternoon "strolls" around China has come up with a highly effective psychological operation against the government, sending a paranoid security apparatus chasing at shadows.

New Iraq protests smaller, less violent amid tight security

Posted: 04 Mar 2011 01:28 PM PST

A week after more than a dozen were killed in clashes with security forces, smaller rallies are held in Iraq demanding better services and a more accountable government. Some say would-be protesters were deterred by roadblocks or fear.

Stifled by tight security but met with far less bloodshed than the week before, thousands of people swarmed to protests Friday across Iraq to call for better public services and more accountable politicians.

Kadafi's forces pound Libyan rebel stronghold

Posted: 04 Mar 2011 10:23 AM PST

Forces under the command of one of Moammar Kadafi's sons are using machine guns and mortars to try to retake Zawiya. Witnesses say rebels still hold the city near the capital, but one of their leaders has reportedly been killed. Elsewhere, unrest continues in Yemen and Iraq.

Embattled Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi's security forces launched a sustained assault against a rebel-controlled city near the capital Friday, and scores of civilians were killed in the fighting, witnesses said.