LA Times News

LA Times News

Syrians vent rage in tent camps on border with Turkey

Posted: 14 Jun 2011 07:10 PM PDT

Ordinary people tell of seeing acquaintances killed and towns emptied as Assad's forces continue cracking down on pro-democracy protests in Syria.

They were once ordinary Syrians: farmers with fields to tend, doctors with patients to treat, students with exams to take and homemakers with children to nurture.

Ash from Chile's Puyehue volcano disrupts air travel

Posted: 14 Jun 2011 06:10 PM PDT

Peru's president-elect, Ollanta Humala, and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon are among those forced to take other modes of transport to reach Argentina. The ash cloud has also led Argentina to declare a state of emergency for farmers.

 

CIA plans drone strike campaign in Yemen

Posted: 14 Jun 2011 05:13 PM PDT

The CIA campaign of targeted killings against Al Qaeda militants will augment drone attacks by U.S. special operations forces, which also conduct airstrikes and raids. The campaign is to be patterned after the effort in Pakistan, officials say.

The CIA is planning a campaign of targeted killings by drone aircraft against Al Qaeda militants in Yemen modeled after a similar program in Pakistan, U.S. officials say.

Iraqi widow finds solace in school

Posted: 14 Jun 2011 03:56 PM PDT

Sarah, a former interpreter for U.S. forces in Iraq, found her life torn apart when her husband was slain. For her, picking up the pieces has meant raising two boys and completing her undergraduate degree.

Sarah cries less now. The tears lurk just beneath the surface and anything can prick the memories. It can be a word that tugs her back, a word that leads to another word and all kinds of memories. But she cries less.

Italian voters reject Berlusconi's measures

Posted: 14 Jun 2011 03:12 PM PDT

The prime minister's losses in four referendums will make it harder to keep his government intact.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi faced fresh political uncertainty Tuesday after suffering a crushing loss at the polls that will make it more difficult for the longtime leader to keep his fragile government intact.

Attack on Iraqi provincial government building kills 8

Posted: 14 Jun 2011 07:11 AM PDT

A car bomb blast allows five suicide bombers to storm the council offices in Diyala province, similar to an assault in Salahuddin province in March. Meanwhile, the U.S. announces that two American soldiers were killed in Iraq this week.

Gunmen stormed the local council offices in Diyala province Tuesday, killing at least eight people in the latest assault on government buildings in Sunni Muslim parts of Iraq.

Afghans fearful of push to negotiate with Taliban

Posted: 13 Jun 2011 09:02 PM PDT

Many Afghans fear that the Karzai government's U.S.-backed effort to reconcile with the Taliban may result in too many concessions to the militants, eroding freedoms and undercutting gains in women's and minority rights.

It was a peaceful afternoon in a rose-fragrant Kabul park set aside for women. But when girls and women strolling its pathways were asked about the Afghan government's overtures to the Taliban movement, faces that had been alight with pleasure grew tight with apprehension.

24 Libya rebels killed in fierce fighting in Port Brega

Posted: 13 Jun 2011 09:18 PM PDT

Moammar Kadafi's forces have managed to hold out in Port Brega, where clashes left 28 rebels wounded. Rebel officials say another Kadafi aide, Sassi Garada, has abandoned the regime and fled to Europe.

Clashes near the Libyan city of Port Brega left two dozen antigovernment fighters dead Monday in some of the fiercest battles in weeks along the front dividing rebels in the east and Moammar Kadafi's forces in the west.