LA Times News

LA Times News

Obama faces a challenge in defining his aims in Libya

Posted: 26 Mar 2011 07:17 PM PDT

The president who in the past has espoused antiwar principles must justify his reasons for U.S. military involvement and specify its goals. He will discuss Libya in a speech to the nation Monday night.

Barack Obama entered the White House as a reluctant warrior, a dovish Democrat who espoused his principles at a 2002 antiwar rally: "What I am opposed to is … a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war. … A war based not on reason, but on passion."

Protesters march again in Syria

Posted: 26 Mar 2011 04:39 PM PDT

Demonstrators in several cities call for greater political freedom. President Bashar Assad's forces fire on a crowd, killing several.

Syria's long-entrenched government remained under threat Saturday as protesters marched again in several cities for greater political freedom. Setting fire to buildings in at least two cities, they rejected conciliatory words from spokespeople for President Bashar Assad as his forces continued to shoot unarmed civilians.

Mexico City an unlikely draw for those fleeing drug war violence

Posted: 26 Mar 2011 04:39 PM PDT

Traffickers are aware of the risks of major provocations in Mexico City, home to the federal police, army, navy and intelligence services, not to mention many of the cartel leaders' families.

When the highway shootouts and roadblocks by gunmen in her hometown finally became too much, Karla Garza found sanctuary in the unlikeliest of places: the big, bad capital, Mexico City.

In Japan, sifting through the rubble

Posted: 26 Mar 2011 04:39 PM PDT

One family searches through the remains of their seaside home, hunting with calm resolve for any surviving possessions. It's an experience shared by countless others.

Megumi Sasaki was looking for the white bicycle helmet.

Bruised and bloodied, Libyan woman bursts in on journalists to tell of her ordeal

Posted: 26 Mar 2011 02:05 PM PDT

A woman eludes security to reach a roomful of journalists at a hotel to tell of her abduction and rape at the hands of Moammar Kadafi's forces. The reporters take notes and document her injuries before she is taken away.

She was panting from her scuffle with staff members when she burst into the breakfast room at the hotel where the foreign journalists were staying. Crying, she struggled to tell a story of abduction and rape at the hands of Moammar Kadafi's security forces.

Japan utility admits it failed to warn Fukushima workers about radioactive water

Posted: 26 Mar 2011 01:14 PM PDT

A Japanese government official urges the company that operates the Fukushima nuclear plant to be more forthcoming. Meanwhile, radioactive isotope levels as much as 1,250 times that considered safe are detected in seawater near the complex.

Tensions between the Japanese government and the company that runs the devastated Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex surfaced again Saturday after the utility admitted that it had failed to adequately warn workers about dangerous radioactive water at the plant.

London marchers protest massive spending cuts in Britain

Posted: 26 Mar 2011 12:23 PM PDT

Tens of thousands of demonstrators throng the streets of London to protest $130 billion in spending cuts the Conservative-led government says are needed to tame a runaway deficit. It is one of the biggest demonstrations since rallies in 2003 against the Iraq war.

Tens of thousands of demonstrators whistled, chanted, drummed and marched their way through the heart of London on Saturday to protest massive government spending cuts that threaten to leave almost no part of British society untouched.

Libyan rebels take Ajdabiya after allied airstrikes

Posted: 26 Mar 2011 10:33 AM PDT

Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi's troops flee the strategic crossroads city of Ajdabiya after a series of attacks by coalition forces. Rebel fighters entering the city celebrate amid destroyed government tanks and rocket systems.

Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi suffered a significant defeat as his forces fled the strategic crossroads city of Ajdabiya, leaving behind a charred trail of smoking tanks and rocket systems destroyed by seven days of punishing allied airstrikes.

NATO airstrike targeting militant commander kills Afghan civilians

Posted: 26 Mar 2011 09:37 AM PDT

In an air attack on two vehicles in Helmand province, an undetermined number of civilians are killed and wounded along with the suspected militant, NATO says. Helmand officials reportedly say seven civilians died.

A NATO airstrike in southern Afghanistan targeting Taliban militants accidentally killed civilians, NATO said Saturday, the latest in a string of deaths this month that have inflamed tensions between Washington and the Afghan government.

Obama says Libya mission averted 'blood bath'

Posted: 26 Mar 2011 07:16 AM PDT

In his weekly radio address, President Obama says U.S. military force in Libya has saved countless lives. He stresses that American involvement in the international coalition is limited and denies that it will draw the nation into a wider war.

President Obama said Saturday that he sent U.S. warplanes into Libya a week ago to avert a "humanitarian catastrophe" and a "blood bath," and he denied that the U.S. is being drawn into a wider war there.

Radioactivity levels high in the sea off Japan nuclear plant

Posted: 26 Mar 2011 04:51 AM PDT

Officials say the offshore contamination will be dispersed and poses little risk to aquatic life.

Radioactivity levels are soaring in seawater near the crippled Fukushima Daiichi plant, Japan's nuclear safety agency said Saturday, two weeks after the nuclear power plant was hit by a massive earthquake and tsunami.

Libyan rebels retake key eastern city

Posted: 26 Mar 2011 05:27 AM PDT

In Ajdabiya, drivers honk in celebration; others fire guns into the air. A government official in Tripoli describes the retreat of Kadafi forces as a "tactical pullback" and blames the bombing of coalition forces.

Rebels fighting the regime of Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi have retaken the strategic city of Ajdabiya in the country's east, officials in the capital acknowledged.

In Florida, teacher pay now tied to performance

Posted: 26 Mar 2011 12:47 AM PDT

Florida Gov. Rick Scott signs a far-reaching bill that has raised the ire of state and national unions.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott has signed a far-reaching teacher merit-pay bill that will overhaul how teachers across the state will be evaluated and paid.

Libyan rebels' representatives to meet with world leaders

Posted: 25 Mar 2011 09:24 PM PDT

Treated increasingly as Libya's legitimate authority, senior members of the rebel leadership have been invited to a conference in London to boost support for the coalition military campaign.

Despite lingering questions about the rebels in Libya, the coalition of countries battling Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi is increasingly treating them as the country's legitimate rulers.