LA Times News

LA Times News

Kadafi regime reports success but rebels say they still hold Zawiya, Misurata

Posted: 06 Mar 2011 06:28 PM PST

Government attacks on Zawiya and Misurata continue to kill scores of civilians, but witnesses report that the rebels are holding their ground using light guns, Molotov cocktails and knives.

Libyan strongman Moammar Kadafi renewed attacks against strategic cities near the capital Sunday, and though his deputies insisted they were overwhelmingly successful, the reality appeared to be very different.

In Japan, women challenging burial traditions

Posted: 06 Mar 2011 07:16 PM PST

They are resisting the ancient tradition of being buried with their husbands' families. One supporter calls it 'the last stand against traditional family confinement' in a male-dominated society.

Snow had fallen at dawn one recent morning and the tombstones were dressed in white when Masako Hiraiwa took her daily stroll through Aoyama cemetery. A stray cat slipped daintily past a row of old stone markers.

Mexico's drug war disappearances leave families in anguish

Posted: 06 Mar 2011 06:14 PM PST

Thousands of people have vanished without a trace – some caught up in violence, others for no reason anyone can fathom. Relatives remain in agonized limbo.

They had scraped together money for a vacation in the port city of Veracruz. Four couples, owners of small fruit and taco shops, from the quiet state of Guanajuato.

Ireland opposition groups agree on forming coalition government

Posted: 06 Mar 2011 01:12 PM PST

After an inconclusive parliamentary vote that saw long-ruling Fianna Fail routed, Fine Gael and Labor will join in a coalition government.

Ireland's two longtime opposition parties agreed Sunday to rule the country together after a historic election that saw the previous government suffer a crushing defeat over the country's economic collapse.

Five children among victims of roadside bombing in Afghanistan

Posted: 06 Mar 2011 10:14 AM PST

Twelve civilians are killed in the explosion set off by insurgents in Paktika province while resentment continues to simmer over the deaths of nine boys last week in a NATO airstrike.

Five children were among the 12 people killed Sunday when their car hit a roadside bomb planted by insurgents in eastern Afghanistan, provincial officials said.

Setback for Libyan rebels advancing against Kadafi

Posted: 06 Mar 2011 08:16 AM PST

Opposition forces trying to reach Surt, the hometown of Moammar Kadafi, retreat from Bin Jawwad to the desert outpost of Ras Lanuf after a ground and air assault.

Rebels seeking to advance toward the hometown of Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi and open a new front against the capital were battered from the ground and air, forcing them to retreat along a vital stretch of Mediterranean coast.

Kadafi forces backed by warplanes push rebels back

Posted: 06 Mar 2011 05:49 AM PST

The opposition is pushed away from the coastal town of Bin Jawwad, and its advance on Kadafi's hometown of Sirte is halted.

Ground forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi, backed up by warplanes, pushed rebels away from the coastal town of Bin Jawwad on Sunday to stop their advance on Kadafi's hometown of Sirte.

Colombia assuming instructor role for other militaries

Posted: 05 Mar 2011 10:02 PM PST

As part of a regional counter-narcotics push, Colombia is helping train the armed forces of Mexico and 13 other Latin American and Caribbean nations, many of which get U.S. financial assistance.

Before his helicopter training run, Mexican air force Lt. Isaac Garcia got some pointers from battle-hardened chopper jockey Col. Donall Tascon of Colombia.

Libya rebels revel in recent victory

Posted: 05 Mar 2011 05:53 PM PST

A honking, cheering, flag-waving convoy of rebel gunmen in dusty pickup trucks and battered sedans screeches to a halt in Bin Jawwad, a flyspecked hamlet. They had advanced 110 miles in 18 hours.

The Libyan jet fighter circled once, twice, and then dipped, low and ominous.

China is on a cinema-building binge

Posted: 05 Mar 2011 08:53 PM PST

The growth in movie theaters is frenetic, with plenty of room for expansion, but it's not clear how much that might help Hollywood.

Not long ago when Zhang Guomiao wanted to see a film, he'd head for the village square. There, itinerant cinema operators would unfurl a canvas screen, set up some static-filled speakers and show a grainy movie in the open air.