LA Times News

LA Times News

In Misurata, residents live with death and dread

Posted: 22 Apr 2011 06:42 PM PDT

In the largest opposition-held city in western Libya, a father wonders when his luck will run out, a rebel braces himself to relay bad news, and a doctor reflects on the deaths of his four young children.

The roar of machine guns and the boom of artillery fill the city, but no one flinches anymore, from the hospital orderlies who wash the blood off the streets to the families who have fled their bombarded homes.

John McCain, in Libya, calls for more airstrikes and weapons aid for rebels

Posted: 22 Apr 2011 04:59 PM PDT

John McCain, the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, urges official U.S. recognition of the opposition leadership in Benghazi 'as the legitimate voice of the Libyan people.'

Sen. John McCain, on a visit to rebel-controlled eastern Libya on Friday, urged the U.S. and its allies to increase airstrikes and facilitate weapons deliveries to bolster the insurgent cause, a call for stepped-up intervention that clashes with the Obama administration's more cautious approach to the conflict.

China feeds pirated DVDs to the chipper to make a point

Posted: 22 Apr 2011 06:35 PM PDT

China demonstrates its commitment to international laws protecting intellectual property by destroying stacks of pirated DVDs, books and other material.

Soft piano music piped in through loudspeakers and colorful banners greeted guests Friday in eastern Beijing as they filed into the courtyard of an industrial park where thousands of DVDs and books were piled high.

6 soldiers killed in Thailand-Cambodia border clash

Posted: 22 Apr 2011 10:12 AM PDT

Thailand and Cambodia blame each other for the latest in a series of conflicts involving a contested temple. Officers of the two militaries meet to calm the situation.

Six soldiers were killed Friday, three from each side, in a dawn shootout between Thai and Cambodian troops along their nations' tense border, officials from both sides said.

Protesters fill streets of Syria; security forces unleash deadly violence

Posted: 22 Apr 2011 04:51 PM PDT

Tens of thousands of demonstrators march after Friday prayers in cities across Syria to demand the overthrow of the Assad regime. Dozens are reported killed.

Violent mass demonstrations across Syria's cities, towns and villages were met with indiscriminate gunfire by security forces loyal to President Bashar Assad, killing dozens of people and hardening the divide between a regime determined to keep power and increasingly fearless protesters demanding the overthrow of the government.

U.S. drone attack kills 25 in Pakistan

Posted: 22 Apr 2011 07:56 AM PDT

The strike, which killed three women and four children as well as 18 suspected militants, comes only two days after a contentious meeting between the U.S. and Pakistan over the drone campaign.

A U.S. missile strike killed at least 25 people Friday in Pakistan's North Waziristan region, signaling that Washington's use of drones against militants along the Afghan border will continue despite intensifying opposition from Pakistani leaders.