LA Times News

LA Times News

As many as 1,000 killed in Ivory Coast town, Red Cross says

Posted: 02 Apr 2011 05:38 PM PDT

The massacre of an estimated 800 to 1,000 people reportedly occurred last week in the nation, which is in turmoil over dueling leaders. It's not yet clear who is responsible for the killings.

As forces loyal to Ivory Coast's rival presidents fought pitched battles in the country's biggest city, the Red Cross reported an ominous development in the increasingly brutal struggle for control: the massacre of up to 1,000 civilians in a western town.

After Japan disaster, disposing of waste creates dilemmas

Posted: 02 Apr 2011 05:22 PM PDT

After the quake and tsunami, Japan faces legal, financial, logistical, environmental and ethical questions on dealing with debris — from ships and smashed cars to waterlogged heirlooms and soiled family photos.

For days on end, 23-year-old Hiraku Sato and a co-worker toiled in their pharmacy in Tagajo City, picking through hundreds of small containers of vitamin drinks, aspirin and other medicines that were flung to the four corners of their shop when ocean waters from nearly a mile away rushed in.

Concrete fails to plug leak at Fukushima nuclear plant

Posted: 02 Apr 2011 05:22 PM PDT

The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says highly radioactive water from a pit near a reactor continues to leak into the ocean. Officials plan to explore using a polymer in another attempt to stop the flow.

The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex said Saturday that highly radioactive water was leaking from a pit near a reactor into the ocean, which may partially explain the high levels of radioactivity that have been found in seawater off the coast.

9 more killed in Afghan protests over Koran-burning

Posted: 02 Apr 2011 05:31 PM PDT

The deaths occur in Kandahar, where 80 others are injured as mobs burn cars, smash windows and otherwise rampage over the Koran-burning at an obscure Florida church.

Violent repercussions of a Koran-burning at an obscure Florida evangelical church shook Afghanistan again Saturday, with authorities in the southern city of Kandahar reporting nine people killed in furious street protests.

NATO airstrike reportedly kills 13 Libya rebels

Posted: 02 Apr 2011 03:26 PM PDT

Western warplanes targeting the positions of forces loyal to Moammar Kadafi accidentally hit rebels on the edges of Port Brega, the fighters say, but draw little anger from the opposition, which is relying on NATO air power.

Thirteen rebel fighters were killed in a NATO airstrike, the opposition's chief spokesman said Saturday, but the attack drew little anger against the West as fighters continued to rely on the alliance's warplanes to hold off Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi.

Japan's prime minister visits earthquake, tsunami zone

Posted: 02 Apr 2011 10:05 AM PDT

Prime minister Naoto Kan promises 'that the government will fully assist survivors' and thanks Tokyo Electric Power Co. workers as the company continues to try and contain radiation at the Fukushima nuclear complex.

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Saturday visited tsunami survivors and workers trying to bring the Fukushima nuclear facility under control as the plant's operator said highly radioactive water was leaking from a pit near a reactor into the ocean.

Fury in Afghanistan over Koran-burning continues as protests leave nine dead

Posted: 02 Apr 2011 08:42 AM PDT

In Kandahar, nine die and 80 are injured in a rampage by demonstrators sparked by a Florida pastor's burning of the Koran. An attack on a U.S.-run military installation near Kabul is repelled and three assailants are killed. Many humanitarian organizations are in lockdown mode.

Violent repercussions of a Koran-burning at an obscure Florida evangelical church shook Afghanistan again Saturday, with authorities in the southern city of Kandahar reporting nine people killed in furious street protests a day after an attack on the U.N. headquarters in a northern city left seven foreigners dead.

800 people reportedly massacred in Ivory Coast

Posted: 02 Apr 2011 08:24 AM PDT

More than 800 civilians have been killed in a western Ivory Coast town where hundreds of U.N. peacekeepers are based, the International Federation of the Red Cross said Saturday, but the U.N. military spokesman said he had no information about mass killings there.

New leak found at Japan nuclear plant

Posted: 02 Apr 2011 06:39 AM PDT

At the damaged Fukushima complex, officials say radioactive water is leaking into the ocean, but it is expected to be quickly diluted. Japan's Kan visits a tsunami-stricken town.

Highly radioactive water spilled into the ocean from a tsunami-damaged nuclear power plant Saturday as Japan's prime minister surveyed the damage in a town gutted by the wave.

Koran burning sparks more violence in Afghanistan

Posted: 02 Apr 2011 02:49 AM PDT

A street protest in Kandahar leaves up to 8 dead, and gunmen attack a U.S.-run military installation. The bloodshed comes a day after 7 were killed at a U.N. compound by a mob angered by the Florida Koran burning.

Violent repercussions of a Koran-burning at an obscure Florida evangelical church shook Afghanistan again Saturday, with authorities in the southern city of Kandahar reporting up to eight deaths in an angry street protest a day after an attack on the U.N. headquarters in a northern city left seven foreigners dead.

FDA proposes calorie labels for fast food chains, restaurants nationwide

Posted: 02 Apr 2011 12:15 AM PDT

In the latest attempt to gain ground against the nation's epidemic of obesity, the Food and Drug Administration proposed rules Friday that require restaurant and fast food chains to post the calorie content of standard items on their menus.