LA Times News

LA Times News

Drumming up support for Tasmanian devils

Posted: 27 Mar 2011 09:15 PM PDT

Wildlife officials in Australia are working hard to stave off extinction of the much-reviled animals, which are succumbing in large numbers to a rare communicable form of cancer.

It would appear to be one heck of a public relations challenge: Persuade the Australian public to care about a seldom-seen animal the size of a cocker spaniel, beady-eyed, standoffish and fond of displaying a mouthful of pointy teeth. Picture a skunk, with the jaws of an alligator and the charm of a weasel.

German chancellor's party defeated in state election

Posted: 27 Mar 2011 07:02 PM PDT

Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats go down in Baden-Wuerttemberg, which bodes ill for her national standing.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was dealt a humiliating defeat Sunday when voters booted her party from power in a state election that could bode ill for her leadership on the national stage.

In Syria, a test for Bashar Assad

Posted: 27 Mar 2011 06:34 PM PDT

The beleaguered president sends troops to protest areas and promises to repeal a controversial law. But there are signs that the unrest is a strain on his regime.

Syrian President Bashar Assad tried to retain control of his protest-roiled nation on Sunday, sending troops to the site of recent clashes and promising through subordinates to remove a controversial emergency law used to detain dissidents without trial.

Libyan regime could collapse from within, U.S. officials say

Posted: 27 Mar 2011 05:37 PM PDT

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton say they have received hints that some officials close to Moammar Kadafi may be ready to abandon him.

Top Obama administration officials predicted that Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi's regime may crack from within, as allied warplanes, resurgent rebels and the international community put more pressure on Tripoli.

Power company retracts report of extremely high radiation at Japanese nuclear plant

Posted: 27 Mar 2011 01:36 PM PDT

Officials had announced earlier that water contamination was 10 million times higher than normal. Progress in restoring power to the stricken Fukushima reactors appears minimal.

Officials at Japan's stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant late Sunday retracted their announcement that they had found puddles at the facility's No. 2 reactor containing 10 million times more radioactivity than would be found in water in a normally functioning nuclear reactor.

NATO to assume command of Libya air operations

Posted: 27 Mar 2011 12:12 PM PDT

NATO will assume command of all aerial operations -- including ground attacks -- in Libya from the U.S.-led force that has been conducting air strikes against Moammar Kadafi s forces, officials said Sunday.

Libyan rebels reclaim lost ground; NATO to expand its role

Posted: 27 Mar 2011 12:02 PM PDT

Western airstrikes drive back government soldiers in eastern Libya, while NATO countries agree to take on the entire U.S.-led military operation.

Rebel gun trucks rolled into this abandoned oil city unopposed, their pickup beds piled high with weapons and ammunition after a breakneck sprint down Libya's coastal highway that signaled a remarkable one-day shift made possible by punishing airstrikes against government forces.

Libyan rebels reclaim two oil centers in sweep west

Posted: 27 Mar 2011 09:58 AM PDT

Rebels regain Ras Lanouf and Brega after international airstrikes push Kadafi's military out. "There was no resistance. Kadafi's forces just melted away," one witness said.

Libyan rebels seized back two key oil complexes and pushed west toward Tripoli on Sunday, gaining momentum after international airstrikes that tipped the balance away from Moammar Kadafi's military. The U.S. defense secretary said the air campaign could last months.

Officials retract reports of extremely high radiation at Fukushima plant

Posted: 27 Mar 2011 08:15 AM PDT

Earlier reports said that contamination had reached 10 million times higher than normal. The reversal highlights the sometimes overwhelming cascade of information the Japanese are now receiving about the nuclear crisis.

Officials at Japan's stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant late Sunday retracted their announcement that they had found puddles at the facility's No. 2 reactor containing 10 million times more radioactivity than would be found in water in a normally functioning nuclear reactor.

Libya rebels push west, take key oil town

Posted: 27 Mar 2011 03:06 AM PDT

A rebel leader says Kadafi forces have given up Brega, a main oil export terminal.

Libyan rebels took back a key oil town on Sunday in their westward push toward the capital, seizing momentum from the international airstrikes that tipped the balance away from Moammar Kadafi's military.

Radioactivity in Fukushima plant water hits new high

Posted: 27 Mar 2011 12:56 AM PDT

Contamination is 10 million times higher than normal. Tokyo Electric Power Co. says it's trying to find the source of the radiation.

Puddles with 10 million times more radioactivity than would be found in water in a normally functioning nuclear reactor have been discovered at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi facility, Japanese officials said Sunday, raising new questions about the extent of damage to reactor No. 2 and the threat to workers there.

Marines from Camp Pendleton relinquish command of key Afghan territory

Posted: 27 Mar 2011 11:32 AM PDT

A ceremony marks the turnover of responsibility for Helmand province to a force from Camp Lejeune, N.C. Since March 1, 2010, 61 Pendleton Marines have died in Helmand.

Amid praise for a job well done, the Marines from Camp Pendleton on Saturday formally relinquished responsibility for leading the fight against the Taliban in the insurgency's longtime Afghanistan stronghold of Helmand province.