LA Times News

LA Times News

Guatemala police arrest suspect in slayings of 27 farmworkers

Posted: 18 May 2011 07:55 PM PDT

The suspect is believed to be a top leader in the Zetas gang in Guatemala and is accused of taking part in the beheadings at a ranch in Peten province.

Guatemalan authorities have arrested a man they say is a top leader of the drug gang blamed for last weekend's massacre of 27 farmworkers, President Alvaro Colom said Wednesday.

Al Jazeera journalist, missing in Syria, returned to Qatar from Iran

Posted: 18 May 2011 07:55 PM PDT

Al Jazeera's Dorothy Parvaz, who went missing on arriving in Damascus to cover the Syrian protests, is returned to Qatar by Iran, where she had been held for most of the 19 days.

The mysterious 19-day detention and release of a Seattle journalist in Syria and Iran has underscored the murky security ties that bind those staunch Middle East allies at a time when both are under international pressure over alleged human rights violations and pursuit of nuclear technology.

Cheese-makers chase huge new market in China

Posted: 18 May 2011 07:55 PM PDT

Business owners may have a tough time in China, where many are still wary about milk after the melamine debacle and an estimated 90% of the population is lactose intolerant.

In her two years working at a French specialty foods shop in Beijing, Li Mengling has had an opportunity to taste imported goods that people in her village in rural Hubei province have never heard of, let alone dreamed about.

Gates sees no evidence top Pakistani officials knew of Bin Laden's hide-out

Posted: 18 May 2011 06:50 PM PDT

Defense Secretary Robert Gates says there are some indications that senior officials were not aware that Osama bin Laden was living in Pakistan before he was killed. But his whereabouts may have been known by a lower-ranking official.

Osama bin Laden's hide-out was probably known to "somebody" in Pakistan before the U.S. raid that killed him, but there is no sign that senior Pakistani officials were aware of the Al Qaeda leader's location, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Wednesday.

U.S. puts sanctions on Syrian president, top aides

Posted: 18 May 2011 05:25 PM PDT

The White House, stopping short of calling for Bashar Assad's ouster, freezes his and top aides' assets. The move is more symbolic, since the regime is believed to have few assets in the U.S.

Ratcheting up pressure to halt a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, the Obama administration for the first time slapped economic sanctions on Syrian President Bashar Assad and his top aides.

Israel's Barak says Netanyahu must take 'daring' steps toward peace

Posted: 18 May 2011 05:54 PM PDT

Despite the current stalemate, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak says in an interview he believes a peace deal is closer than it was when he was prime minister during the Camp David talks in 2000.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Wednesday that a "daring" peace initiative by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is vital to his country's security and international standing, and that without one, Israel could face increased isolation and mass popular protests.

Abbas taking greater risks as he tries again to unify Palestinians

Posted: 18 May 2011 03:11 PM PDT

Four years after he failed to forge a unity government between his Fatah faction and Hamas, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is trying again. This time, however, he appears willing to alienate the U.S. and Israel, if necessary.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is back on the tightrope.

Syrian protesters clash with security forces

Posted: 18 May 2011 01:09 PM PDT

Protests break out again in Homs and Aleppo, where students clashed with Syrian security forces, as well as in the suburbs of Damascus. A nationwide strike called by activists went into effect.

Political unrest again rattled Syria on Wednesday as antigovernment protesters and security forces clashed, sometimes violently, ahead of another anticipated day of demonstrations Friday.

25 killed in Afghanistan protest, car bombing

Posted: 18 May 2011 07:00 AM PDT

Twelve die in a clash between security forces and demonstrators angry about a NATO raid. Elsewhere, an explosives-laden car is rammed into a bus carrying police recruits, claiming at least 13 lives.

Furious anti-American protesters poured into the streets of a city in northern Afghanistan on Wednesday, shouting out objections to an overnight U.S.-led military raid that killed four people, including two women. Subsequent clashes with security forces trying to quell the demonstration killed 12 people, provincial officials said.

11 Afghans killed as anti-U.S. protest turns violent

Posted: 18 May 2011 03:34 AM PDT

They were demonstrating after a NATO raid that killed four people. The Afghans say they were civilians, but NATO describes them as insurgents.

Some 1,500 protesters poured into the streets of a northern Afghan city Wednesday, shouting "Death to America!" and calling for justice as they clashed with security forces following an overnight NATO raid they claim killed four civilians.

Journalist who vanished in Syria shows up in Qatar

Posted: 18 May 2011 01:28 AM PDT

Dorothy Parvaz, who holds U.S., Canadian and Iranian citizenship, was detained in Syria and then in Iran. She was trying to cover the uprising against Bashar Assad when she disappeared in Damascus.

A former Seattle journalist, who disappeared 19 days ago after traveling to Syria on an assignment for Al Jazeera television, arrived safely in Qatar on Wednesday, the news channel said.

Obama's upcoming speech will spell out his Mideast rationale

Posted: 17 May 2011 08:36 PM PDT

Aides say the president wants to clarify the U.S. stance as facilitator, not instigator, of political change in the Arab world.

President Obama will seek to define his administration's stance toward the rapid changes in the Middle East and North Africa in a major address Thursday in which he will cast the U.S. as a facilitator rather than the instigator of political change in the Arab world.

Afghanistan female journalist has notebook, will report

Posted: 17 May 2011 08:36 PM PDT

Mina Habib is one of a small but growing cadre of female reporters in the Kabul press corps, women who brave death threats and family disapproval to expose corruption and strengthen Afghan democracy.

Mina Habib has been waiting for half an hour at police headquarters, preparing for a showdown with the chief of criminal investigations.

IMF chief's arrest stirs up anti-Americanism in France

Posted: 17 May 2011 08:36 PM PDT

Many French object to the handling of Dominique Strauss-Kahn's arrest on sexual assault charges. But their reaction may be based less on loathing and more on a vast cultural divide.

It was only a matter of time after the arrest in New York of Dominique Strauss-Kahn on sexual assault charges before the America-bashing would begin in France.