LA Times News

LA Times News

Senate panel inquiry may shed light on hunt for Bin Laden

Posted: 13 May 2011 05:28 PM PDT

Democrats expect to release results of an 18-month investigation this summer that may help clarify whether harsh interrogation techniques helped lead the U.S. to Osama bin Laden. Meanwhile, U.S. officials have been granted access to Bin Laden's three widows.

Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee expect to release findings this summer from an 18-month investigation into the CIA's interrogation of terrorism suspects, a review that could provide some clarity on whether harsh techniques — or even torture — played a role in helping the CIA find Osama bin Laden.

In Kadafi's Libya, even soccer was ruthless

Posted: 13 May 2011 05:05 PM PDT

In Benghazi, the beloved soccer club ran afoul of Moammar Kadafi and his soccer enthusiast son, Saadi. The result was the destruction of the team and its facilities more than a decade ago.

It is one of Libya's oldest and most venerable institutions, predating not only Moammar Kadafi's rule but independence in 1951, and boasting what is perhaps the country's most fervent fan base.

U.S. Mideast envoy George Mitchell resigning

Posted: 13 May 2011 05:35 PM PDT

The former Senate majority leader, who helped seal a peace deal in Northern Ireland, spent two years trying to restart negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

Former Sen. George J. Mitchell is resigning as the Obama administration's special envoy for Middle East peace after a two-year effort failed to advance Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, White House officials said.

In Baghdad, weekly 'day of rage' is low-key event

Posted: 13 May 2011 05:05 PM PDT

Unlike the 'Arab Spring' protests roiling Iraq's neighbors, demonstrations at Tahrir Square draw a few hundred people, rather than thousands. Still, the rallies there offer a window into the nation's mind-set and history.

Maybe it's the sandstorm that puts a thin crust of brown dust on Baghdad's Tahrir Square. Or the silver-haired man in a matching suit, gripping a white rose as he tries to shout unsuccessfully through a distorted loudspeaker about politicians. Or the teenager wearing a "Let It Be" T-shirt, with the solemn faces of John, Paul, George and Ringo.

Syrian protests, expected to wane, grow stronger

Posted: 13 May 2011 03:55 PM PDT

The scale of the protests against President Bashar Assad appears to catch authorities and even some activists off guard.

In a striking show of strength, the popular movement opposing Syrian President Bashar Assad took to the streets in large numbers nationwide, defying a campaign of violence and mass detentions by security forces.

U.S.-Pakistani relations may suffer after brutal suicide attack

Posted: 13 May 2011 02:45 PM PDT

The twin bombings that killed 80 paramilitary recruits in Pakistan's northwest could deepen anti-U.S. sentiments in the country.

Twin suicide bombings Friday that killed at least 80 paramilitary recruits in northwest Pakistan, in an attack that Taliban militants said was to avenge the killing of Osama bin Laden by U.S. commandos, could trigger new doubts among Pakistanis about the value of Islamabad's already rocky relationship with Washington.

Egypt's former first lady hospitalized after detention order

Posted: 13 May 2011 03:14 PM PDT

Suzanne Mubarak, the wife of former President Hosni Mubarak, reportedly suffered a heart attack and will undergo tests, officials say. She had been ordered held for 15 days in a corruption inquiry.

Hours after Egypt's former first lady, Suzanne Mubarak, was ordered detained as part of the widening corruption investigation of her husband's regime, she was hospitalized after reportedly suffering a heart attack, officials said Friday.

Mexico military says drug lord's successor arrested

Posted: 13 May 2011 01:56 PM PDT

Martin Beltran Coronel, a nephew of Sinaloa cartel kingpin Ignacio Coronel, is captured outside Guadalajara, in the same suburb where his uncle was slain in July.

Mexican soldiers have arrested the man who authorities say replaced slain drug lord Ignacio Coronel as a ranking leader of the powerful Sinaloa cartel, the military said Friday.

India elections see West Bengal's longtime communist government fall

Posted: 13 May 2011 09:12 AM PDT

Ruling parties in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu are ousted as four states and one federal territory go to the polls in India's biggest political event of the year, with 115 million voters choosing among 6,500 candidates.

India wrapped up its biggest political event of the year Friday as results were announced in four state elections, including an end to the communist government in West Bengal after 34 years in power.

Anti-Assad protests erupt across Syria

Posted: 13 May 2011 05:04 AM PDT

'I am afraid that the regime will answer our calls with massive and unbridled violence,' says one participant.

Protests erupted throughout Syria, including in the capital and the suburbs of the second-largest city, after weekly Muslim prayers on Friday, as a peaceful popular uprising against the rule of President Bashar Assad and his family entered a second month.

Death toll in Pakistan bombing hits 80

Posted: 13 May 2011 05:25 AM PDT

The attack on a paramilitary training site was carried out to avenge Bin Laden's killing, a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban says. The dead include 66 recruits.

A pair of suicide bombers attacked recruits leaving a paramilitary training center in Pakistan on Friday, killing 80 people in the first retaliation for the killing of Osama bin Laden by American commandos. The Taliban claimed responsibility, blaming the Pakistani military for failing to stop the U.S. raid.

Pakistani bombings kill at least 69

Posted: 12 May 2011 10:30 PM PDT

The twin attacks outside a paramilitary base appear to be the first major militant strike in Pakistan since the slaying of Osama bin Laden.

Two bomb blasts outside a Pakistani paramilitary base killed at least 69 people near the city of Charsadda on Friday in what appeared to be the first major militant attack in the country since the killing of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

68 killed in explosions at Pakistan military site

Posted: 12 May 2011 08:39 PM PDT

It's the deadliest attack in the country since the U.S. strike on Bin Laden's compound.

Two explosions struck a paramilitary training center in northwestern Pakistan on Friday, killing at least 68 people -- nearly all recruits -- in the bloodiest attack in the country since a U.S. raid killed Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.

U.S. to limit Afghan troop expansion

Posted: 12 May 2011 08:09 PM PDT

The decision is intended to help curb the cost of the Afghan war as training and salaries are paid by the U.S. But experts say it may necessitate a smaller initial reduction in U.S. troops set to begin in July.

After months of internal deliberations, the Obama administration has decided to limit the expansion of Afghanistan's army and police forces over the next 18 months, largely to hold down the costs of training, equipping and paying them.