LA Times News

LA Times News

13 killed in clashes between Copts and Muslims in Egypt

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 06:09 PM PST

The bloodshed — on the edge of a Cairo slum — renews worry about the government's willingness to protect minority Christians. The army intervened only after Muslims set fire to homes and businesses.

Egypt suffered the deadliest unrest since President Hosni Mubarak's ouster when clashes Wednesday between Muslims and Coptic Christians left 13 dead and 140 injured.

Playground fence symbolizes Jewish split in Israel

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 05:05 PM PST

Two nursery schools share a play area, but ultra-Orthodox parents don't want their children exposed to secular ways and immodestly dressed mothers.The barrier has been torn down, but the division remains.

A new front in the struggle between Jerusalem's secular and ultra-Orthodox communities has opened in a tiny nursery school playground, where city officials have drawn what might be called a line in the sandbox.

Wary but hopeful, Saudi dissidents gather weekly

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 03:00 PM PST

Sixty lawyers, doctors, academics and clerics are Saudi Arabia's leading opposition voices and many have been jailed, often for seemingly mild acts of protest.

The men trickled into the gravel-filled courtyard in twos and threes, walked past the junked whirlpool tub and yellow toddler slide in the corner and entered a wide shed with a red carpet to welcome home one of their own.

U.N.: 2010 deadliest year for Afghan civilians

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 07:47 AM PST

A report by the United Nations shows 2,777 Afghan civilians were killed in 2010, the highest annual total in a decade of war. Deaths included double the number of assassinations of high officials and prominent figures.

Last year was the deadliest yet for Afghan civilians in nearly a decade of warfare, the United Nations said Wednesday in a report that painted a picture of growing insecurity in cities and towns across the country.

Kadafi's regime places a bounty on Libyan opposition leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 01:03 PM PST

Moammar Kadafi, in a defiant speech that seems to refute rumors of him stepping down, derides his opponents as 'traitors.' State television announces a reward of up to $400,000 for the capture of Mustafa Abdul Jalil, a former justice minister who now leads a self-styled transitional government

Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi's regime on Wednesday offered a $400,000 bounty on the head of Mustafa Abdul Jalil, opposition leader and chief of a self-styled transitional government based in the east, as Kadafi loyalists continued to wage a merciless military and propaganda campaign against the rebellion.

34 slain in bombing at funeral in Pakistan

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 05:47 AM PST

A suicide bomber detonates his explosives among mourners at a funeral held by an anti-Taliban militia in the northwest, near Peshawar. Local militias fighting militants complain of inadequate aid from the government.

A suicide bombing killed at least 34 people and injured more than 40 at a funeral held by an anti-Taliban tribal militia Wednesday in northwest Pakistan, prompting militia leaders to angrily rebuke the government for failing to provide enough support for their battle against insurgents.

Gates doesn't rule out no-fly zone for Libya

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 04:24 AM PST

Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell says it's one of the options still on the table. But the defense secretary also wants to examine the possible consequences of such a move.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates is not opposed to military action to protect rebels in Libya, including a no-fly zone, but he wants to explore the possible consequences of intervening in the crisis, his spokesman said Wednesday.

Obama administration taking cautious approach on Libya

Posted: 08 Mar 2011 09:46 PM PST

The U.S. has downplayed prospects for military intervention against Moammar Kadafi's forces, which could deepen its rift with the Muslim world and tax an already overextended American military.

The Obama administration is drawing careful limits on its potential military involvement in the increasingly bloody struggle between the Libyan government and rebel forces, despite growing calls for Western intervention.