LA Times News

LA Times News

Many ghosts haunt Peru's presidential election

Posted: 03 Jun 2011 07:33 PM PDT

Right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori faces suspicions that she will bring back the corruption and abuses seen in her father's government, while leftist Ollanta Humala conjures fears of a Chavez-style socialist regime. Either, some say, could be a setback to Peru's fragile democracy.

Phantasms stalk Peru's presidential runoff election.

'Red song' campaign in China strikes some false notes

Posted: 03 Jun 2011 06:25 PM PDT

Before the Communist Party's 90th birthday, people are singing in homage. The 'red song' campaign began in Chongqing, launched by an ambitious party figure. Some see shades of the Cultural Revolution.

Although her musical tastes run to Mariah Carey and Norah Jones, Vicy Zhang didn't hesitate when she received an instant message inviting her to sing paeans to Mao Tse-tung at a celebration of the 90th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party.

Two years after fire killed 49 Mexico preschoolers, parents don't see justice done

Posted: 03 Jun 2011 06:28 PM PDT

But the parents of the children who died in Hermosillo have done something remarkable in Mexico by not fading away. Instead, they have used marches and mock trials to shame government officials.

Two years after the awful blaze, indignation hangs over Hermosillo like a sooty cloud.

Attacks in Iraq town kill 23

Posted: 03 Jun 2011 05:38 PM PDT

In Tikrit, 18 are killed when a bomb explodes as people are finishing afternoon prayers, and five more die in a suicide bombing at a hospital.

At least 23 people were killed in a pair of bombings Friday in Saddam Hussein's hometown, Tikrit.

Yemen president injured in attack on residential compound

Posted: 03 Jun 2011 04:58 PM PDT

President Ali Abdullah Saleh is slightly wounded when a rocket is fired into his compound during a prayer service. Four others are a killed, and hope for a peaceful resolution to a tribal conflict appear to be lost.

A rocket fired into his residential compound during a prayer service Friday slightly wounded Yemen's president, killed four others and appeared to end hopes for a peaceful resolution to a tribal conflict that is plunging the capital into chaos and pushing the country toward civil war.

Mladic won't enter pleas to war crimes charges

Posted: 03 Jun 2011 04:15 AM PDT

At his arraignment in The Hague, the former Bosnian Serb military leader calls the charges "obnoxious." The judge sets a new hearing for July 4.

Ratko Mladic defiantly refused Friday to enter pleas to what he called "obnoxious" allegations that as the Serb military chief during the Bosnian war he orchestrated the worst atrocities of a conflict that claimed 100,000 lives. He claimed he was defending "my people and my country."

In Iraq, families of 4 jailed protesters seek answers

Posted: 02 Jun 2011 10:07 PM PDT

The families of the four young pro-democracy activists who had been active in organizing weekly protests say they are being held without access to lawyers or relatives.

Families of four young pro-democracy protesters jailed in Baghdad said Thursday that their loved ones continued to be denied access to lawyers or relatives despite repeated requests.

Japan leader Naoto Kan makes deal, survives no-confidence vote

Posted: 02 Jun 2011 10:07 PM PDT

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan made a political deal before the vote and said he needed the time in office to help rebuild the nation after the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

Vowing to stay in office only a few more months to guide the response to the nation's ongoing nuclear crisis, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Thursday survived a parliamentary no-confidence vote aimed at driving him from power.