LA Times News

LA Times News

Author of report on Israel's Gaza offensive softens conclusions

Posted: 03 Apr 2011 01:30 PM PDT

Jurist Richard Goldstone says he now believes that Israeli policy during the clash with Hamas two years ago was not to intentionally target civilians. He originally said both sides should be investigated for war crimes.

Israel launched a vigorous diplomatic offensive Sunday after revelations by South African jurist Richard Goldstone that he now harbors doubts about one of the central findings of his controversial report examining the conduct of Israel and Hamas during fighting in the Gaza Strip two years ago.

Taliban exploits Afghan riots over Koran burning

Posted: 03 Apr 2011 11:24 AM PDT

Officials say insurgents have used the riots as cover for attacks against Western and government targets and have reaped propaganda benefits by allying themselves with popular fury over the incident led by Florida pastor Terry Jones.

One clear beneficiary has emerged from the wave of deadly riots that swept Afghanistan after members of a Florida evangelical church burned a copy of the Koran: the Taliban.

Bombs kill 42 at shrine in Pakistan

Posted: 03 Apr 2011 11:24 AM PDT

Sufi shrine Sakhi Sarwar is attacked by two suicide bombers as militants target places of worship in Pakistan belonging to sects they oppose. At least 80 are wounded.

Two suicide bombers killed at least 42 people at a shrine in central Pakistan on Sunday, the latest in a series of attacks on places of worship linked to sects opposed by militants.

Japanese nuclear plant continues its radioactive spill into ocean

Posted: 03 Apr 2011 07:51 AM PDT

For a second day, workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant were unable to plug a leak of radioactive water. Meanwhile, Japan's prime minister says it will take months to resolve the problems at the plant.

Workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant failed for a second day to stem the flow of radioactive water into the ocean as plastic injected into the leak Sunday failed to form a plug.

Red Cross aid hasn't reached Japan quake victims

Posted: 03 Apr 2011 05:26 AM PDT

The relief organization has distributed none of the $1 billion it has collected. The chief Cabinet secretary says the process must be streamlined.

Japan's Red Cross has collected more than $1 billion in the first three weeks after the massive earthquake and tsunami but has yet to distribute any funds directly to victims, prompting Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano to urge Sunday that the process be accelerated.

Judge reconsiders key point in report that accused Israel of war crimes

Posted: 02 Apr 2011 11:42 PM PDT

Richard Goldstone, head of a U.N. commission that issued a report criticizing Israel's actions during its 2008-09 assault on Gaza, says new evidence raises doubts that Israel deliberately targeted civilians, as the report concluded.

The head of a U.N. commission that accused Israel of committing war crimes during its military assault on the Gaza Strip two years ago expressed doubts Saturday about one of the inquiry's central allegations: that Israel deliberately killed civilians.

Islamists in Egypt seek change through politics

Posted: 02 Apr 2011 10:12 PM PDT

It may have been a secular revolution that toppled President Hosni Mubarak, but religious groups — some with violent pasts — have been building grass-roots networks for years. Now ultraconservative and moderate groups feel their time has arrived.

Nageh Ibrahim once spoke of slaying infidels and creating an Islamic state that would stretch from the Nile Delta to the vast deserts of Egypt's south. Today he lives in a high-rise with a view of the Mediterranean Sea and has the soothing voice of a man who could lead a 12-step program on rejecting radicalism.

Iceland seeks to become sanctuary for free speech

Posted: 02 Apr 2011 09:40 PM PDT

An ambitious media initiative aims to promote transparency not only in Iceland but across an increasingly interconnected world. But first, lawmakers have to work out how to address national security and terrorism concerns.

Got a hard-hitting investigative story but can't get it past government censors at home? Publish it in Iceland instead. What about a website featuring classified, inflammatory or potentially libelous material? Park it on an Internet server here, without fear of legal harassment or official pressure to reveal your sources.

Little headway made at Guantanamo

Posted: 02 Apr 2011 09:52 PM PDT

Lawyers fighting to free detainees thought they gained ground in 2008 when the Supreme Court gave prisoners the right to a trial and Obama was elected president. But nothing much has changed, and now a series of appeals may be doomed.

The lawyers who spent years fighting to free prisoners at Guantanamo Bay thought they had won in 2008, when the Supreme Court gave detainees a right to go to court and Barack Obama was elected president. But things haven't worked out as they had hoped.