LA Times News

LA Times News

On Egyptian tour guides' itinerary today? Nothing

Posted: 07 Jun 2011 07:43 PM PDT

Tourism was the industry hit hardest by the revolution that ousted Hosni Mubarak.

A dozen tour guides lounged in the shade of the Egyptian Museum's sculpture garden, coalescing around the few tourists. Scores more waited at home, chatting on Facebook about how long the crisis will last.

Families in Action pays mothers to improve health

Posted: 07 Jun 2011 07:48 PM PDT

Latin American women must meet conditions such as attending nutrition classes and taking their children for medical checkups in order to receive payments. So far, the results are encouraging.

An innovative social program taking hold in Latin America may have left Luz Dary Lopez a single mother, but it has helped her and hundreds of other poor women in this central Colombian city gain a measure of financial independence, self-respect and better living standards for their families.

U.S. presses crown prince to ease Bahrain crackdown

Posted: 07 Jun 2011 06:42 PM PDT

President Obama, meeting with Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Khalifa at the White House, welcomes the kingdom's decision to lift emergency security measures imposed after protests and to hold talks with the opposition.

President Obama pressed Bahrain's crown prince to ease the Persian Gulf state's brutal crackdown on its political opposition and urged him to "hold accountable" those responsible for human-rights abuses against unarmed demonstrators.

Autism diagnoses take South Korea by surprise

Posted: 07 Jun 2011 04:44 PM PDT

Some families are in denial after U.S. and Korean researchers discover in a Seoul suburb the highest rate of autism ever measured in a general population. The disorder is considered shameful there.

Some simply viewed their children as late bloomers. Others refused to discuss or accept the diagnosis.

Yemen president more seriously injured than reported, U.S. says

Posted: 07 Jun 2011 05:14 PM PDT

President Ali Abdullah Saleh has burns and bleeding in his skull, U.S. officials say. Saleh, who is being treated in Saudi Arabia, will have a long recovery, an official says. A Yemeni official calls such reports baseless.

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh's injuries from an attack on his palace mosque last week are more serious than first reported, a U.S. official said Tuesday, casting doubt on whether the embattled ruler can return to power anytime soon.

Violence at Palestinian camp funerals in Syria leaves 20 dead

Posted: 07 Jun 2011 03:48 PM PDT

Mourners clash with members of a Syrian-backed militant faction at the Yarmouk refugee camp. The faction is accused of persuading the Palestinians' relatives to join protests at the Golan Heights border that turned deadly.

Funerals in the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp near the Syrian capital of Damascus turned violent late Monday as clashes erupted between camp residents and a Syrian-backed Palestinian faction, leading to the deaths of as many as 20 people, according to Palestinian sources and amateur video posted on the Internet.

Beheading of Afghanistan politician seen as message from insurgents

Posted: 07 Jun 2011 12:45 PM PDT

The beheaded remains are those of an official in Bamian, perhaps the most peaceful of Afghanistan's 34 provinces. The intelligence service condemns the slaying as part of a campaign to try to show that Afghan security forces don't have the capability to take over in areas slated for security transition.

The message could hardly have been clearer, or more brutally delivered: the beheaded corpse of a respected provincial politician, dumped by the roadside.

Bombing of Libyan capital is one of the largest yet

Posted: 07 Jun 2011 10:59 AM PDT

Waves of fighter planes hit Tripoli, Libya, with an unusual daytime bombardment targeting what NATO calls 'command and control' centers. There was no report of casualties, though the body of a man was seen by journalists given a tour of the damage.

Waves of NATO fighter planes hit the Libyan capital Tuesday with one of the largest bombardments of the city since the Western-led alliance began airstrikes almost three months ago.

Gates insists it's too early to end combat in Afghanistan

Posted: 06 Jun 2011 08:19 PM PDT

Touring bases as he prepares to retire, the Pentagon chief is asked repeatedly by troops whether Osama bin Laden's death means the U.S. can end the war in Afghanistan. Not yet, is his response.

Over and over again, soldiers and Marines on the punishing front lines across Afghanistan had the same question for Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates: Does Osama bin Laden's death mean the U.S. can finally wind down a nearly decade-long war?