LA Times News

LA Times News

Sudanese candidate wanted on war crimes charges wins governor's seat

Posted: 15 May 2011 07:22 PM PDT

The opposition party says the election in Southern Kordofan was rigged.

Ahmed Haroun, a Sudanese ruling National Congress Party candidate wanted by the International Criminal Court on war crimes charges, was elected governor of a central Sudanese state Sunday in an election opponents say was rigged.

In China, gauging happiness is all the rage

Posted: 15 May 2011 05:00 PM PDT

Suddenly, happiness is on the tip of every Chinese politician's tongue. At the local level, municipalities are drawing up happiness indexes and competing for the title of 'China's happiest city.'

In general, do you feel happy?

At least 12 killed in Palestinian protests on Israeli borders

Posted: 15 May 2011 08:34 AM PDT

Israeli soldiers open fire on crowds of Palestinian refugees and protesters as they attempt to cross from Syria, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip to mark Nakba Day, in remembrance of the Palestinians' displacement with the founding of Israel.

The surging tide of popular unrest in the Arab world reached Israel's borders Sunday for the first time as thousands of Palestinian refugees and fellow Arab protesters attempted to cross tightly secured frontiers from Syria, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.

In northeast India coal towns, many miners are children

Posted: 14 May 2011 09:29 PM PDT

Perhaps thousands of underage workers as young as 8, lured by the wages, leave school to work in coal mines under perilous conditions. The country officially upholds mining safety standards and forbids child labor, but loopholes in state laws allow widespread abuses.

Reporting from Ladrymbai, India

Tackling mental health problems in Afghanistan

Posted: 14 May 2011 09:29 PM PDT

A Kabul psychiatric center tries to help patients through medications and therapy. With limited funds and ingrained views about mental health, it is a challenge.

The group therapy session at Afghanistan's flagship mental health hospital began, as many do, with sharing.

Four killed in Syrian crackdown

Posted: 14 May 2011 08:20 PM PDT

As hundreds flee to Lebanon, Syrian activists say three people were killed by snipers and one died after crossing the border into the neighboring country. President Bashar Assad is reportedly arranging talks with the opposition.

Hundreds of Syrians fled to Lebanon and three people were killed by snipers in the western border town of Tall Kalakh on Saturday, activists said, as President Bashar Assad claimed to have begun arranging talks with opposition figures in the face of protests that have shaken his regime.