LA Times News

LA Times News

NATO to take over enforcing of Libyan no-fly zone

Posted: 24 Mar 2011 07:15 PM PDT

The U.S. and NATO reach a tentative agreement on dividing duties in the Libyan military operation; the U.S. will continue to take the lead in airstrikes on Kadafi's ground forces.

The Obama administration will transfer the lead role in enforcing the no-fly zone over Libya to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, but the deal exposed sharp divisions in NATO and means U.S. warplanes will continue flying combat missions against Libyan ground forces, officials said.

Ivory Coast rage grows over Laurent Gbagbo's refusal to cede power

Posted: 24 Mar 2011 05:29 PM PDT

A dangerous postelection power struggle has evolved into a series of escalating atrocities by the military and by rival militias, some loyal to President Laurent Gbagbo and some opposed. Uncertainty reigns, and a peaceful resolution seems all but impossible.

Traore Oumou selected her clothing carefully. She chose black, the cursing color, pulling on tight pants and a T-shirt.

Lack of data from Japan distresses nuclear experts

Posted: 24 Mar 2011 05:24 PM PDT

Nuclear scientists and policy experts say the quality and quantity of information coming out of Fukushima has left gaping holes in their understanding of the nuclear disaster nearly two weeks after it began.

How did Japanese workers at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant jury-rig fire hoses to cool damaged reactors? Is contaminated water from waste pools overflowing into the Pacific Ocean? Exactly who is the national incident commander?

Libya's rebel leaders struggle to get a grip

Posted: 24 Mar 2011 04:51 PM PDT

The Benghazi lawyers, professors and others who lead the rebellion against Moammar Kadafi acknowledge that they and their fighters are hindered by disarray.

They work 18-hour days inside two dingy courthouse buildings streaked with graffiti that ridicules Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi. When they enter, they wipe their shoes on a portrait of him.

Thousands continue protests in Syria

Posted: 24 Mar 2011 04:36 PM PDT

The demonstrations are largely peaceful in Dara, a day after security forces fired on protesters, killing as many as 25. The government promises reforms but rights groups say the pledges are nonbinding.

Thousands of people took to the streets in the southern city of Dara, chanting "Syria, Freedom," a day after a deadly crackdown on protests there, human rights activists said.

NATO to enforce Libya no-fly zone, but U.S. will still be in charge of targeting ground units

Posted: 24 Mar 2011 06:59 PM PDT

The deal to split authority over the Libyan mission exposes sharp divisions within NATO about how aggressively to enforce the U.N. resolution authorizing force to protect civilians in Libya. North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen discloses the arrangement to CNN.

WASHINGTON — Enforcement of the no-fly zone over Libya will be transferred to the command of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, but any action against Libyan ground units advancing on civilians will remain under U.S. leadership for now, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told CNN Thursday.

Nuclear crisis forces Japan to rethink energy needs

Posted: 24 Mar 2011 03:28 PM PDT

The March 11 quake and tsunami left much of Japan with a shortage of electricity and fuel. But the dark age has inspired creative ways to make do and save energy.

The first pitch of Japan's baseball season has been pushed back so that people don't waste gasoline driving to games. When the season does start, most night games will be switched to daytime so as not to squander electricity. There'll be no extra innings.

Protests planned for Bahrain despite ban

Posted: 24 Mar 2011 03:28 PM PDT

The protests are aimed at defying emergency rule invoked by Bahrain's monarch, including the cordoning off Shiite neighborhoods and villages, a ban on marches and a curfew, a human rights worker says.

Critics of the Bahrain government have called for widespread rallies Friday in defiance of the country's recent imposition of martial law, raising the possibility of further violence nine days after a bloody crackdown on protesters and opposition leaders.

2 Japanese nuclear workers hospitalized for radiation exposure

Posted: 24 Mar 2011 01:11 PM PDT

Two men working at reactor No. 3 of Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant are hospitalized after radiation-contaminated water seeps into their boots.

As Japan marked two weeks since the giant earthquake and tsunami, the number of people dead or missing grew to more than 27,000, with at least 200,000 others in shelters and radioactivity from a stricken nuclear plant continuing to cast a pall over daily life.

In Latin America, Obama shows tough, humble sides

Posted: 24 Mar 2011 06:23 PM PDT

President Obama turned on the charm in Latin America, with an eye to ousting China as Brazil's top trade partner in order for the U.S. to cash in on the 2016 Olympics building boom.

Barack Obama returned home this week from his trip to Latin America having showcased two distinctly different faces of presidential power: one humble, the other resolute.

Libyan rebels show signs of life

Posted: 24 Mar 2011 07:40 PM PDT

Aided by Western airstrikes, the opposition appears to regain some momentum against Moammar Kadafi's forces.

After losing ground to government forces for weeks, Libyan rebels based in the eastern city of Benghazi showed signs Thursday of regaining the momentum against Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi, whose brutal crackdown on protesters opposed to his four-decade rule has sparked civil warfare.

2 Japanese nuclear workers hospitalized for radiation exposure

Posted: 24 Mar 2011 10:42 AM PDT

Two men are hospitalized after radiation-contaminated water seeps into their boots at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Two workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant were hospitalized for radiation exposure Thursday after they stepped into radioactively contaminated water while laying electrical cables in the basement of the building housing reactor No. 3.

Japanese face radiation risks on two fronts

Posted: 24 Mar 2011 02:05 AM PDT

Two workers at the Fukushima plant are hospitalized after exposure, and consumers buy up bottled water amid concern over tap water.

Two workers at Japan's stricken nuclear facility were hospitalized Thursday after being exposed to high levels of radiation, officials at the nation's nuclear safety agency said. A third worker was also exposed but did not require hospitalization.

Libya rebels show off prize prisoner

Posted: 23 Mar 2011 10:06 PM PDT

In a surreal spectacle, they display Omar Ahmed Sodani, who was named as a suspect in the 1984 shooting of a London policewoman. He calls it a case of mistaken identity.

In a surreal spectacle, they bring out Omar Ahmed Sodani, a former employee of the Libyan Embassy in London who was named as a suspect in the 1984 shooting of British policewoman Yvonne Fletcher in 1984. The man calls it a case of mistaken identity.

UCLA pediatrician returns Japan's favor

Posted: 23 Mar 2011 10:03 PM PDT

A Japanese scholarship enabled Okinawa native Kozue Shimabukuro to study medicine. When disaster struck, she immediately signed up to join a medical relief effort. It's 'my turn to believe in Japan,' she says.

Amid chaos that has become Yamada city — acres of snow-dusted debris, dusty relief trucks and a man who threw himself off a bridge the other day — Kozue Shimabukuro can't stop thinking about the cubbyhole lockers.

Tokyo issues warning on tainted tap water

Posted: 23 Mar 2011 09:22 PM PDT

Tokyo officials warn that infants should not drink tap water because of elevated levels of radioactive iodine. Bottled water will be distributed.

Parents in Tokyo and five surrounding cities scrambled for bottled water Thursday after the government warned that infants should not be allowed to consume tap water because elevated levels of radioactive iodine from a crippled nuclear plant were detected at a water treatment plant.