LA Times News

LA Times News

For seniors in Japan's tsunami zone, a full circle of hardship

Posted: 21 Mar 2011 09:26 PM PDT

Many of the elderly grew up during WWII and are facing large-scale tragedy once again.

Chiya Yamane shuffles down the hall of the evacuation center, an old lady seeking refuge in a children's school.

Pentagon says Libya no-fly zone to be extended soon

Posted: 21 Mar 2011 08:40 PM PDT

The move would pave the way for the U.S. to hand off command of the mission to allies. Gen. Carter Ham, who oversees the military operation, says the U.S. has already begun scaling back its role.

As the American-led air attack pounded Libya for a third day and Moammar Kadafi's embattled forces retreated south from the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, the Pentagon said the no-fly zone soon would be extended, paving the way for the United States to eventually hand off command of the mission to its allies.

Obama faces growing criticism for Libya campaign

Posted: 21 Mar 2011 06:48 PM PDT

Some U.S. lawmakers complain that President Obama failed to consult Congress before launching military action. The Arab League and Russia also criticize the U.S.-led airstrikes.

President Obama is facing growing criticism at home and abroad over whether the military campaign in Libya is the wrong policy — or the right policy at the wrong time.

Latin America increasingly important to the U.S., Obama says

Posted: 21 Mar 2011 08:42 PM PDT

In Chile, Obama seeks to dispel views of the U.S. as an overbearing neighbor of Latin America, calling the region 'ready to assume a greater role in world affairs.'

President Obama said Monday that the United States has sometimes taken Latin America for granted, but that he sees the region as an increasingly important player on the world stage.

Smoke plumes set back Japan's efforts to contain nuclear crisis

Posted: 21 Mar 2011 07:25 PM PDT

The evacuation of repair crews at the damaged Fukushima plant stalls efforts to restore cooling systems. Four prefectures are ordered to halt milk and spinach and other vegetable shipments after radiation is detected.

Japan's battle to control the damaged nuclear power plant in Fukushima suffered a setback Monday after plumes of smoke rising from two of the six reactor buildings forced an evacuation of repair crews and stalled operations to restore vital cooling systems.

Along a Libya highway, smoldering tanks draw crowds

Posted: 21 Mar 2011 06:34 PM PDT

Thousands of onlookers, cars packed with snacks and children, drive into the desert south of Benghazi to view the wreckage of Kadafi's forces.

Ahmed Mogarby lifted his 4-year-old son, Muhammed, so that the boy might touch a charred tank cannon and remember the day that Moammar Kadafi sent tanks to crush his city — but instead was thwarted by foreign air power.

El Salvador becomes drug traffickers' 'little pathway'

Posted: 21 Mar 2011 06:52 PM PDT

The country finds itself enmeshed in an expanding narcotics trade, a shift brought on by better enforcement of sea routes; a new, U.S.-funded highway; and gangs with roots in Los Angeles.

The Mexican drug gangs rapidly infiltrating Central America call El Salvador "El Caminito," the little pathway.

Disasters push Japan's rites of spring aside

Posted: 21 Mar 2011 06:03 PM PDT

Monday's national holiday marking the vernal equinox is traditionally associated with family reunions and visits to graves of ancestors, conventions now too painful to contemplate for many just after the earthquake and tsunami.

This year in Japan, the rites of spring have transformed themselves into the rituals of sorrow.

Head of U.N.'s atomic energy agency says 'lessons will need to be learned'

Posted: 21 Mar 2011 01:19 PM PDT

Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, says officials around the world need to reassess the international nuclear framework. He says 'arrangements for putting international nuclear experts in touch with each other quickly during a crisis need to be improved.'

The head of the U.N.'s atomic agency said Monday that the brewing crisis at Japan's reactors in the wake of the country's devastating earthquake and tsunami should lead officials around the world to reassess the international nuclear framework.

Food contamination fears spread beyond Japan's borders

Posted: 21 Mar 2011 11:09 AM PDT

World health officials warn of the dangerous cumulative effects from eating food contaminated by radiation leaking from Japan's crippled nuclear plant. One Japanese restaurant in Taiwan is serving up radiation gauges alongside its meals.

Concern over food contaminated by radiation from areas surrounding the troubled nuclear plant in Fukushima spread beyond Japan's borders Monday morning with world health officials warning of the potential dangers posed by the tainted food and one Japanese restaurant in Taiwan serving up radiation gauges alongside its meals.

Japan damage could reach $235 billion, World Bank estimates

Posted: 21 Mar 2011 10:27 AM PDT

Economic consequences of the earthquake and tsunami will be felt across East Asia but will be 'short-lived,' the World Bank predicts. Japan's GDP growth could be slowed by as much as half a percentage point this year.

The World Bank on Monday issued a report saying the damage from Japan's earthquake and tsunami could amount to as much as $235 billion and that limited effects from the disaster will be felt in economies across East Asia.

Libyan rebels vow to press west, emboldened by airstrikes

Posted: 21 Mar 2011 10:13 AM PDT

Rebels advance down the coastal highway as Western-led airstrikes send Kadafi's forces into retreat. But fighting continues on the ground, with clashes on the new front line near Ajdabiya and witnesses reporting intense combat in Misurata.

A mud-streaked gun truck careened to a stop on Libya's coastal highway here after speeding away from clashes with Moammar Kadafi's forces a dozen miles to the south.

Japan disaster: UCLA doctor talks about medical mission

Posted: 21 Mar 2011 08:30 AM PDT

When the earthquake struck Japan, Dr. Kozue Shimabukuro, a pediatric critical care doctor at Mattel Children's Hospital UCLA in Westwood, had a radical change of plans. A visit to family near Tokyo was scrubbed for a medical mission. Shimabukuro has joined a pediatric disaster relief team.

Yemen military appears to split as 5 generals join opposition

Posted: 21 Mar 2011 06:07 AM PDT

Rumors of a coup against President Ali Abdullah Saleh circulate as one of the defecting commanders sends troops loyal to him to join protesters in Sana.

Yemen's political crisis spiraled further toward chaos Monday, as five key generals defected to join anti-government protesters, further weakening longtime President Ali Abdullah Saleh's tenuous hold on power.

After panic buying, Chinese seek refunds on salt

Posted: 21 Mar 2011 05:06 AM PDT

Misguided shoppers cleared stores of the seasoning in the midst of a panic about radiation from Japan, some paying 10 times the normal prices. But few are allowed to return it for refunds.

The panic buying of salt that swept China last week amid fears of radiation from Japan has been replaced with a new frenzy: how to get a refund.

Major general, 2 brigadiers defect to opposition in Yemen

Posted: 21 Mar 2011 03:24 AM PDT

The most senior of the three has been a close confidant to the president, and all three are members of his tribe.

Three army commanders, including a top general, defected Monday to the opposition calling for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down, as army tanks and armored vehicles deployed in the streets of the Yemeni capital.

U.S., French, British forces expand Libya bombing campaign

Posted: 20 Mar 2011 06:07 PM PDT

Smoke billows from Moammar Kadafi's massive residential compound in Tripoli. The U.S. scoffs at Libyan cease-fire announcement.

U.S., French and British forces blasted Libyan air defenses and ground forces, drawing intense volleys of tracer and antiaircraft fire over Tripoli on Sunday on the second day of a military campaign that will severely test Moammar Kadafi's powers of survival.

Pakistan mine blast kills 21, traps 31 more

Posted: 20 Mar 2011 11:54 PM PDT

Officials say they have little hope of finding any of the miners alive.

The death toll from an early Sunday mine explosion in Pakistan rose to 21 Monday, and there was little chance of survival for the 31 men still trapped, a senior mining official said.

80-year-old Japanese woman and grandson rescued from rubble

Posted: 20 Mar 2011 06:58 PM PDT

The two were trapped for nine days in the kitchen of their home in Ishinomaki, in Miyagi prefecture, but eventually Jin Abe, 16, was able to dig out and get to the roof of the house and alert rescuers.

An 80-year-old woman and her 16-year-old grandson were rescued Sunday after being buried under rubble for nine days after the worst recorded earthquake in Japanese history and a massive tsunami toppled their home.

Progress at nuclear plant tempered by tainted food concerns

Posted: 20 Mar 2011 09:45 PM PDT

A top U.S. official says radiation levels are still high at the Fukushima Daiichi plant but appear to be falling. However, the list of tainted food grows, with contaminated samples found about 43 miles from the plant.

Japanese and U.S. officials gave additional indications of progress in efforts to stabilize the Fukushima nuclear plant , but the list of tainted agricultural products grew Monday to include canola and chrysanthemum greens, a day after milk and spinach showed traces of radioactive isotopes.