LA Times News

LA Times News

Libyan general joins rebels in Zawiya

Posted: 08 Mar 2011 06:31 PM PST

State TV reports that Maj. Gen. Khalid Shahmah has switched sides. Meanwhile, government officials deny rumors that Moammar Kadafi will resign.

A Libyan general has switched sides in one of two fiercely contested western cities that remain strongholds of the opposition to Moammar Kadafi, state television said Tuesday.

Air attacks put Libya town on edge

Posted: 08 Mar 2011 06:48 PM PST

The sustained strikes on Ras Lanuf create an impasse on the eastern front. Combined with tanks and artillery backing government forces 30 miles west, the warplanes halt the rebels' advance.

The day dawned with the shrill whine of a warplane. Then there was a rough growl as a jet fighter, heard but not seen, swooped low on another bombing run.

Dust washers in India sweep streets for flecks of gold

Posted: 08 Mar 2011 05:42 PM PST

In Ahmadabad, a city famous for its jewelry, dhul dhoyas , or dust washers, eke out a living by collecting precious dirt outside gold shops.

Like her mother and grandmother before her, Ganga Gohel, 80, crouches in a narrow alley, carefully working an 8-inch brush over the cracked concrete with gnarled hands, her back permanently bent after a lifetime on the job.

Libya keeps foreign journalists on tight leash

Posted: 08 Mar 2011 04:48 PM PST

Foreign journalists seeking to visit neighborhoods in Tripoli at the urging of Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi are in for a rude awakening. They are going nowhere unless government minders say it is OK.

A burst of gunfire and squealing tires kicked off what was scheduled to be a day of anti-government protests in Tripoli, Libya's capital. The foreign journalists in town, all watched by minders, struggled to find out what was happening.

Carnival returns to Haiti, with some darker themes

Posted: 08 Mar 2011 04:48 PM PST

The much-smaller-than-usual parade symbolizes for some a return to normality the year after the devastating quake. Others say it's not time yet for a celebration.

Across Haiti's rubble-strewn capital, rara drums, trumpets and bamboo horns blared the music of revival, an exultant cacophony in a place that hasn't been in much of a mood to party.

Obama seeks to mollify U.S. Jewish groups uneasy about Mideast turmoil

Posted: 08 Mar 2011 04:48 PM PST

The administration's willingness to accept a political role for the Muslim Brotherhood in the new Egypt has troubled Jewish leaders at home. How the president handles the issue could have crucial ramifications for his reelection hopes.

As Egypt's government hurtled toward collapse, a senior White House official got on the phone with American Jewish leaders who were worried what it might mean for the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty.

Taliban fighters moving back into former Afghanistan stronghold

Posted: 08 Mar 2011 01:16 PM PST

The return of Taliban leaders who had been driven from Sangin in southern Afghanistan raises concern that fragile security gains achieved by U.S. Marines could be reversed.

Insurgents who were driven out of the Taliban stronghold of Sangin in southern Afghanistan are flowing back in as winter lifts, threatening fragile gains achieved by U.S. Marines over the last five months, according to American commanders.

Security forces fire on Yemen demonstrators; dozens hurt

Posted: 08 Mar 2011 01:16 PM PST

Earlier, police clashed with inmates of Yemen's largest prison, where anti-government rioting erupted, reflecting tension across the nation after talks broke down between opposition leaders and President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Dozens of people were injured Tuesday when Yemen's security forces opened fire on demonstrators demanding that President Ali Abdullah Saleh step down after more than three decades in power, witnesses said.

Colombian troops free 21 kidnapped oil workers

Posted: 08 Mar 2011 10:43 AM PST

A jungle combat force and information from an escaped hostage are credited for the rescue in remote Vichada state. Officials say one worker remains in the hands of the FARC rebel group.

Colombian officials said Tuesday that government troops rescued 21 of 23 oil field workers who were kidnapped the day before by suspected leftist rebels in remote Vichada state.

Car bomb kills 24 at Pakistan fuel station

Posted: 08 Mar 2011 05:39 AM PST

The explosion appears to have targeted offices of the nation's intelligence agency. More than 90 people are injured.

A car bomb at a fuel station killed at least 24 people Tuesday in the eastern city of Faisalabad in what authorities said appeared to be an attempt to attack nearby regional offices of Pakistan's main intelligence agency.

Ayatollah Rafsanjani, Iranian opposition backer, loses clerical post

Posted: 08 Mar 2011 04:37 AM PST

Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former president, is replaced as head of Iran's Assembly of Experts in what is viewed as a victory for his conservative rivals, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

The Iranian opposition's most powerful sympathizer lost his post Tuesday as chief of an important clerical council that oversees the country's supreme leader.

Likely GOP presidential candidates praise God, criticize Obama in Iowa

Posted: 07 Mar 2011 09:24 PM PST

Five Republicans take turns wooing social conservatives at an event hosted by the Faith and Freedom Coalition.

Sharing an audience for the first time in Iowa, five prospective Republican candidates for president spoke of godliness and chorused their opposition to legal abortion and all things Obama in an audition Monday night before a capacity crowd of social conservatives.

Banks drag feet on short sales, survey finds

Posted: 07 Mar 2011 10:09 PM PST

Response times are long and many of the offers don't end with a sale, says the California Assn. of Realtors poll.

Banks are dragging their feet when considering so-called short sales, an increasingly prevalent type of real estate transaction in which lenders allow homes to be sold for less than what is owed on them, according to a survey of California real estate agents.

23 Colombian oil workers kidnapped

Posted: 07 Mar 2011 10:06 PM PST

Officials say FARC rebels are responsible for the abductions in Vichada state.

Colombian officials reported that 23 oil field workers were kidnapped Monday in the eastern state of Vichada, and said they believed leftist rebels were responsible.