LA Times News

LA Times News

Karachi siege exposes Pakistan military's vulnerabilities

Posted: 23 May 2011 07:10 PM PDT

That a small group of Pakistani Taliban militants could find and exploit a weak spot to enter the Mehran Naval Station in Karachi, and then fight off troops for 17 hours, raises new questions about the military's preparedness.

The team of Islamist militants knew exactly where the naval base's weak spot was.

Body of Chilean President Salvador Allende is exhumed

Posted: 23 May 2011 06:09 PM PDT

A forensic team will try to determine whether the leader, who was overthrown in 1973, actually committed suicide, as is believed, or was killed.

Nearly four decades after a bloody coup overthrew Chilean President Salvador Allende, the remains of the socialist leader were exhumed Monday to try to determine whether he was killed or committed suicide.

Yemen security forces, tribal fighters clash in Sana

Posted: 23 May 2011 03:57 PM PDT

The government battles a tribal leader a day after President Ali Abdullah Saleh refused to sign an exit agreement.

Gun battles raged across the capital Monday between government forces and fighters from Yemen's most powerful tribe, prompting fears of civil war after President Ali Abdullah Saleh balked over the weekend at signing a transfer-of-power agreement.

Syrians take to night protests to outwit security forces

Posted: 23 May 2011 03:57 PM PDT

In a cat-and-mouse game with Syrian security forces, young protesters, helped by residents, are staging demonstrations at night that move from neighborhood to neighborhood as troops move in.

Protesters challenging the rule of Syrian President Bashar Assad are increasingly turning nocturnal, taking their uprising to the streets after dark to wear down security forces and stay one step ahead of the law.

U.S. insurer faces criminal investigation over Iraqis' unpaid death benefits

Posted: 23 May 2011 10:55 AM PDT

A judge calls for a criminal investigation of CNA Financial Corp., which he says withheld information and failed to pay benefits to survivors of Iraqi translators killed while working for the U.S. government in 2006.

An administrative law judge has referred a U.S. insurance company for criminal investigation after the firm failed to pay benefits to survivors of nine Iraqi translators killed while working for the American government.

Mullah Omar dead? Widespread sources skeptical

Posted: 23 May 2011 08:05 AM PDT

The Taliban says its spiritual leader, Mullah Omar, is alive and well. Western diplomats, as well as Pakistani tribal and intelligence sources, also downplay reports that Omar — who gave shelter to Osama bin Laden after 9/11 — is dead.

If the latest reports of Mullah Mohammed Omar's demise are greatly exaggerated, they nonetheless show the strength of rumor and media frenzy in Afghanistan and Pakistan after the death of Osama bin Laden.

Pakistan retakes control of naval base raided by militants

Posted: 23 May 2011 04:40 AM PDT

A military spokesman says 12 troops were killed. The attack renews questions about the nuclear power's ability to defend its weapons installations.

Pakistani security forces on Monday retook control of a naval base in Karachi that had been under siege by militants for 17 hours, but the brazen, commando-style attack renewed disturbing questions about the military's ability to defend sensitive installations, including its nuclear arsenal.

Taliban denies reports of Mullah Omar's death

Posted: 23 May 2011 04:21 AM PDT

A spokesman says the fugitive Taliban leader is alive in Afghanistan. There is no confirmation of reports that he died, but Afghanistan's intelligence agency says he has disappeared.

A Taliban spokesman on Monday vehemently denied a swirl of rumors that the movement's spiritual leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, had died or been killed, but Afghanistan's main intelligence service said he had disappeared from his alleged Pakistan hideout.

Thai police arrest suspected tiger trafficker

Posted: 22 May 2011 05:23 AM PDT

Police in Thailand have arrested a man suspected of being a key player in one of the country's largest tiger trafficking rings, police and a wildlife conservation group said Sunday.

Militants storm naval base in Pakistan

Posted: 22 May 2011 10:06 PM PDT

Pakistani troops fight militants who have holed up in the Mehran Naval Station in Karachi. The attack may be part of militants' revenge campaign over Osama Bin Laden's killing.

Militants late Sunday stormed a naval base in Pakistan's largest city, Karachi, triggering a battle with government commandos that stretched into Monday morning in what was believed to be a revenge attack for the killing of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Obama begins tough trip with family time in Ireland

Posted: 22 May 2011 09:03 PM PDT

Continuing somewhat of a presidential tradition of reconnecting with roots in Ireland, Obama will visit Moneygall, a small village near Dublin from which his great-great-great-grandfather left for America in 1850.

President Obama lands Monday in Ireland to begin a weeklong visit to Europe, trying to forge a common way forward with allies facing two wars, turmoil in the Middle East, and economies still struggling to recover from the 2008 collapse.

Obama stresses urgency of peace talks in speech to pro-Israel group

Posted: 22 May 2011 09:03 PM PDT

In remarks to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the president says U.S. support for Israel is 'ironclad' but says international impatience is growing. He clarifies his assertion last week about Mideast borders as a basis for negotiations.

President Obama reassured a powerful pro-Israel group that America's support for the Jewish state's security is "ironclad" but insisted on a sense of urgency about reviving peace talks that he said would require both Israelis and Palestinians to make "hard choices."

Japan's orderly Shibuya Scramble

Posted: 22 May 2011 08:07 PM PDT

The 10-lane traffic interchange in the Shibuya district is flooded at rush hour by 2,500 pedestrians, and then completely emptied, with each change of a traffic signal. 'It's an unrehearsed choreography,' says one observer. 'It's a dance.'

Everyone waited, the pressure building, potential energy set to become kinetic.

17 Iraqis, 2 U.S. soldiers killed in wave of bombings

Posted: 22 May 2011 08:07 PM PDT

Attacks in central Iraq, most of them in the Baghdad area, highlight the tenuous security situation as militant groups continue to strike ahead of the planned U.S. withdrawal by year's end.

At least 17 Iraqis and two U.S. soldiers were killed Sunday in a wave of explosions, mostly in Baghdad, including a suicide bombing attack against police, security sources and the U.S. military said.

Sudan's north solidifies hold on oil-rich Abyei region

Posted: 22 May 2011 08:07 PM PDT

President Bashir dissolves a joint governing council, and thousands are forced to flee the area claimed by both north and south.

Sudan's northern army seized control of a disputed, oil-rich region of central Sudan on Sunday, officials said, forcing thousands to flee and bringing the country to the brink of civil war.