LA Times News

LA Times News

Ratko Mladic's arrest a milestone for Serbia

Posted: 26 May 2011 07:09 PM PDT

Capture of the Bosnian war crimes suspect removes the last obstacle to Serbia's bid to join the EU. But it also revives disturbing questions.

The arrest of Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb general accused of overseeing Europe's worst massacre since World War II, is a milestone in Serbia's effort to end long years as a pariah, even as it renews disturbing questions about how he evaded capture for more than 15 years.

Anti-U.S. cleric's followers turn out in force in Baghdad

Posted: 26 May 2011 07:09 PM PDT

Tens of thousands of followers of Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr stage a huge rally to send a message to Iraq's leaders: Don't delay the U.S. troop withdrawal.

Wave after wave of Iraqi men stamped their feet and their hands swung high as they marched in time, dressed in the red, black and white of their nation's flag. Each group of 100 goose-stepped, carrying a white placard that read "God is great" and gave their unit's number.

Ratko Mladic is viewed as a world-class war criminal

Posted: 26 May 2011 07:09 PM PDT

The former Bosnian Serb army commander is hailed as a hero among his supporters. Many others describe him as a ruthless leader who orchestrated some of Europe's worst horrors in decades.

Shortly before the slaughter, Gen. Ratko Mladic patted the boys on their heads and offered them candy. He told the adults being herded in the city of Srebrenica that everything would be all right.

Yemen forces rout opposition fighters from capital district

Posted: 26 May 2011 05:14 PM PDT

Forty people are killed and scores of residents flee Yemen's capital, Sana. Fighting between supporters of President Ali Abdullah Saleh and his onetime ally, tribal leader Sadiq Ahmar, has raised the specter of more bloodshed.

Yemeni government forces pushed fighters opposed to President Ali Abdullah Saleh's regime from Sana's northern district Thursday, and at least 40 people were killed and scores of residents fled the capital in fear.

Passage of time may be in Ratko Mladic's favor

Posted: 26 May 2011 03:54 PM PDT

In the nearly two decades since the Balkan war crimes attributed the Bosnian Serb general, witnesses have died and some victims have moved on. But people familiar with the atrocities say Ratko Mladic's conviction is assured.

Witnesses die. Memories fade. Victims move on with their lives, leaving no forwarding addresses.

Tanker sale to Iranian company a sore spot for Israel

Posted: 26 May 2011 12:34 PM PDT

Israel's government, which has long attempted to isolate Iran, declines to defend an Israeli conglomerate accused of selling an oil tanker to an Iranian firm in violation of U.S. sanctions.

The Israeli government moved Thursday to distance itself from one of the country's largest private conglomerates after embarrassing allegations emerged that the company violated U.S. sanctions against Iran by selling an oil tanker to an Iranian firm through an intermediary.

Bombings in China rattle officials' nerves

Posted: 26 May 2011 12:34 PM PDT

Chinese authorities fearful of unrest try to smother reports of three bomb blasts set off by a farmer who was apparently upset about his house being demolished. The bomber and one other person are killed.

A farmer who said his house had been demolished set off three bombs at government buildings in the eastern Chinese city of Fuzhou on Thursday, killing himself and one other person and putting nerves on edge at a time when authorities are increasingly anxious about social unrest.

8 U.S. troops killed in blast in southern Afghanistan

Posted: 26 May 2011 04:48 PM PDT

The toll is unusually high for a single attack. Another service member is killed in a helicopter crash in eastern Afghanistan.

An explosion in southern Afghanistan on Thursday killed eight U.S. troops, officials said, an unusually large toll for a single incident.

Serb war crimes suspect Mladic arrested

Posted: 26 May 2011 05:12 AM PDT

The former general is wanted for his alleged role in the 1995 slaughter of 8,000 Bosnian Muslims in the enclave of Srebrenica. He will face genocide charges in The Hague.

Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb general accused of overseeing the worst massacre in Europe since the end of World War II, has been arrested, Serbian authorities said Thursday.

Bombings leave 2 dead, 6 injured in Fuzhou, China

Posted: 26 May 2011 08:10 AM PDT

The attack, apparently by a disgruntled farmer, targets local government offices. Authorities try to cover it up.

Synchronized explosions that Chinese authorities initially tried to cover up killed at least two people and injured six Thursday in the southeastern Chinese city of Fuzhou. The unusual attack was apparently set off by a disgruntled farmer outside local government offices.

Arms depot blast kills 28, Yemen says

Posted: 26 May 2011 03:42 AM PDT

The opposition blames the deaths on shelling of a residential area by loyalist forces.

Yemen's defense ministry claimed Thursday that 28 people were killed overnight in an explosion at a weapons storage facility in western Sanaa.

Deadly tornadoes continue to plague Midwest

Posted: 25 May 2011 12:18 PM PDT

Tornadoes hit Oklahoma and Arkansas, resulting in 14 deaths and hampering cleanup and rescue efforts. Severe storms are brewing over eastern Kansas and are expected to roll across Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky. The storm season's death toll nears 500 in the South and Midwest.

Tornadoes roared through the Midwest on Wednesday, further spreading death and damage and threatening rescue and cleanup efforts in some already hard-hit areas.

In Russia-U.S. legal dispute, LACMA stands to lose

Posted: 26 May 2011 12:14 AM PDT

Russia has banned loans to U.S. museums in retaliation for a U.S. judge's ruling it must return items to the Jewish group Chabad. The ban could put a big dent in an upcoming major LACMA exhibition.

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is caught in the middle of a legal and diplomatic dispute that has prompted Russian authorities to ban art loans to U.S. museums because of an American court decision in favor of the Jewish religious group Chabad.

Joplin is wary, weary as more deadly storms hit region

Posted: 25 May 2011 08:42 AM PDT

Residents of Joplin, Mo., already shaken by Sunday's horrific tornado that took 122 lives, are spared further damage in a new round of violent weather. But at least 15 people die in Arkansas, Kansas and Oklahoma.

Tense after days of high stress in the wake of a deadly tornado that stormed through Joplin, Mo., residents on Wednesday returned to cleaning up, insisting their efforts were still focused more on rescue than recovery.

U.S. presses Lebanon to distance itself from Syria

Posted: 25 May 2011 04:54 PM PDT

The move is part of U.S. efforts to isolate Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime and force him to end his violent crackdown on protesters.

The United States is upping pressure on Lebanon to reduce its ties to neighboring Syria in an effort to further isolate President Bashar Assad as his security forces violently suppress a pro-democracy movement, according to diplomats and officials.

Fierce fighting continues in Yemen capital

Posted: 25 May 2011 08:18 PM PDT

President Ali Abdullah Saleh appears determined to stay in power, as the toll reaches at least 40 dead in three days of fighting between his forces and opposition tribesmen.

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh blamed his foes for raging street battles in the nation's capital even as President Obama called for him to honor a deal to step down and his country teetered on the brink of collapse.

India courts Africa, long wooed by China

Posted: 25 May 2011 09:21 PM PDT

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh takes a six-day trip to the continent, in an effort to boost business ties and drum up support for New Delhi in its bid for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrives Thursday in Tanzania on the last stop of a six-day Africa trip designed to underscore his nation's growing stature on the global stage, lobby for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council and signal to China that the South Asian giant is also a player on the resource-rich continent.