LA Times News

LA Times News

Starving North Korea faces suspicious donors

Posted: 07 Jul 2011 03:14 PM PDT

Humanitarian groups warn that about 6 million North Koreans face severe food shortages but international donors say they want better oversight before giving more, alleging that most aid is diverted by the regime.

As humanitarian groups warn of increasing food shortages in North Korea, the authoritarian government faces diminishing prospects for international aid, with allegations from both the United States and South Korea that donations rarely reach the poor and starving.

Syrian activists and security forces brace for protests

Posted: 08 Jul 2011 12:00 AM PDT

Democracy activists, rejecting a government call for talks as a sham, plan another Friday of huge protests, this one dubbed a day of 'no dialogue.' Security forces continue their siege of Hama.

Syrian authorities have intensified a campaign to detain the same opposition activists with whom they recently vowed to begin a dialogue, as the nation braced for another potentially bloody weekend of violence against those opposed to the autocratic rule of President Bashar Assad.

Four men found guilty in 2010 killing of 15 at Mexico teen party

Posted: 07 Jul 2011 02:14 PM PDT

President Felipe Calderon set off outrage when he referred to the victims of the Ciudad Juarez massacre as gang members. He backpedaled after it turned out they were promising students and athletes.

Four men were convicted Thursday in last year's killing of 15 people at a teen party in the border city of Ciudad Juarez.

News of the World shuts down amid hacking scandal

Posted: 08 Jul 2011 12:00 AM PDT

The British tabloid, owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., had been rocked by allegations that it hacked into the cellphones of celebrities, politicians and crime and military combat victims.

Facing a tide of outrage over rampant phone-hacking, Rupert Murdoch jettisoned the notorious News of the World tabloid in an effort to protect his media empire, but the dramatic step may prove insufficient to contain the growing scandal or secure his bid to expand an already massive presence in Britain.

Egyptians race to capture the spirit of Tahrir Square

Posted: 06 Jul 2011 04:14 PM PDT

Several universities and archives have rushed to record interviews with protesters and collect artifacts, digital and otherwise, of the revolution that ousted Hosni Mubarak. With the future still uncertain, the effort is fraught with tension and risk for participants.

The questioner reads evenly from a script.