LA Times News

LA Times News

Gates wants combat units in Afghanistan until end

Posted: 05 Jun 2011 04:05 PM PDT

The Defense secretary suggests first pulling out as many support troops as possible when the U.S. drawdown begins next month.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates argued Sunday for keeping combat units in place and removing as many support troops as possible when the U.S. begins its promised drawdown of forces in Afghanistan next month.

Peru chooses between two flawed presidential candidates

Posted: 05 Jun 2011 02:15 PM PDT

Keiko Fujimori and Ollanta Humala, neither of whom will have a strong mandate if elected, squared off in Sunday's runoff in Peru. Both have had to fight multiple negatives from their past in courting a skeptical and dispirited public.

Divided and tense, Peruvians voted for president Sunday in a neck-and-neck election between two controversial candidates, either of whom will be forced to lead a weak, troubled government.

2 explosions kill 24 people in Pakistan

Posted: 05 Jun 2011 02:06 PM PDT

The more deadly blast kills 18 in a military bakery in Nowshera. Army officers were among the dead. An earlier bombing killed six on the outskirts of Peshawar.

A powerful suicide bomb ripped through a packed bakery in the Pakistani military town of Nowshera late Sunday, killing at least 18 people. The attack came just hours after an explosion in nearby Peshawar left six dead.

Popular Indian guru's anticorruption fast turns violent

Posted: 05 Jun 2011 12:09 PM PDT

Delhi police forcibly disperse followers of Baba Ramdev, who had called for a mass hunger strike against government corruption. Some have questioned his motives and the police crackdown.

A popular yoga guru retreated to his plush ashram Sunday claiming the Indian government was out to kill him after police forcibly removed the televangelist from a "fast-unto-death" hunger strike against corruption and scattered tens of thousands of his followers.

Yemeni protesters to Saleh: Don't come back

Posted: 05 Jun 2011 11:12 AM PDT

Opposition parties vow to keep President Ali Abdullah Saleh from returning to Yemen. He left for Saudi Arabia to seek treatment for wounds he suffered in a rocket attack Friday.

Yemeni protesters on Sunday cheered the surprise exit of President Ali Abdullah Saleh to Saudi Arabia for medical treatment and swore the man who has ruled their country for almost 33 years was finished.

Israel fires on pro-Palestinian protesters; 20 reported killed

Posted: 05 Jun 2011 10:18 AM PDT

Hundreds of demonstrators marking the anniversary of Israel's seizure of the Golan Heights in 1967 rush over Syria's border. Scores remain camped out in the mine-laden buffer zone, refusing to leave.

Israeli security forces opened fire Sunday on throngs of pro-Palestinian protesters who were attempting to breach the border by crossing from Syria into the Golan Heights, the second such deadly incident in less than a month.

Israel fires on pro-Palestinian protesters at Syrian border; at least three dead

Posted: 05 Jun 2011 06:32 AM PDT

Protesters were attempting to breach the border from Syria to the Golan Heights on the 44th anniversary of Israel's capture of the region during the 1967 Mideast War.

Israeli security forces opened fire Sunday on pro-Palestinian protesters who were attempting to breach the border from Syria to the Golan Heights, killing at least three people and wounding several dozen others, according to Syrian state television.

NATO chopper crash in eastern Afghanistan kills 2

Posted: 05 Jun 2011 05:28 AM PDT

Identities of the dead haven't been released, but most of the troops serving in the east are Americans.

A NATO helicopter crashed Sunday in eastern Afghanistan, killing two service members in the third such fatal incident in the past three weeks, Western military officials said.

Israeli troops fire on Palestinian protesters in Syria

Posted: 05 Jun 2011 04:51 AM PDT

The military accuses Syria of sparking the violence to divert attention from its crackdown on demonstrators back home.

Israeli troops opened fire across the Syrian frontier Sunday to disperse hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters who stormed the border of the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, reportedly killing four people in unrest marking the anniversary of the Arab defeat in the 1967 Mideast war.

Alabama lawmakers approve Arizona-style immigration bill

Posted: 05 Jun 2011 12:33 AM PDT

The legislation would require business to verify the legal status of new hires and allow law enforcement to detain motorists suspected of being in the country illegally.

The Alabama Legislature has passed an Arizona-style law to crack down on illegal immigration, including a requirement that all businesses verify new employees are legal residents.

Ex-mayor of Tijuana Jorge Hank Rhon arrested

Posted: 04 Jun 2011 09:43 PM PDT

The flamboyant casino mogul is detained after a raid resulted in the seizure of 88 weapons and more than 9,000 rounds of ammunition, military officials say. A spokesman says the weapons were properly registered.

Mexican military forces on Saturday arrested the former mayor of Tijuana, Jorge Hank Rhon, after an early-morning raid at his compound resulted in the seizure of 88 weapons and more than 9,000 rounds of ammunition, military officials said.

China cheers Li Na, an unlikely tennis champ

Posted: 04 Jun 2011 08:43 PM PDT

She is first Chinese player to win one of tennis' Grand Slam singles tournaments in a victory that is especially sweet for Chinese because they are relative newbies at the game.

The bar was Irish, the sport originally French, but the zeitgeist on this night in Beijing was all about China.