LA Times News

LA Times News

Southern Sudanese prepare for nationhood

Posted: 08 Jul 2011 06:46 PM PDT

The southern capital, Juba, is bustling with jubilant citizens and dignitaries as well as maintenance crews preparing for the independence day ceremony Saturday. 'Our long suffering is ending and we're becoming a nation,' says a former 'Lost Boy.'

Garang Yai was 7 when government soldiers burned down his village, forcing him to flee to Ethiopia, a three-month walk that many of his fellow refugees didn't survive.

Thousands of Syrians protest in Hama against Assad

Posted: 09 Jul 2011 12:00 AM PDT

Despite a crackdown by security forces after a large protest last week, tens of thousands of people take to the streets of Hama, where the U.S. and French ambassadors visit in a show of solidarity with protesters.

Syrian protesters tossed roses onto the vehicle of a surprise visitor to Hama: the American ambassador, who could be seen driving through the symbolically loaded central Syrian city as a massive antigovernment rally got underway Friday.

At least 80 dead in Karachi bloodshed

Posted: 09 Jul 2011 12:00 AM PDT

Pakistani authorities give police orders to shoot on sight gunmen after a wave of violence over the week that has trapped residents in their homes and left parts of the city deserted. The violence is blamed on political and economic battles involving rival parties and organized-crime gangs.

Police in Pakistan's largest city, Karachi, struggled Friday to quell a wave of violence that has claimed at least 80 lives in the last four days and left sections of the fear-ridden city largely deserted.

Tens of thousands protest in Egypt for reforms, speedier trials

Posted: 09 Jul 2011 12:00 AM PDT

Fears that the gains of the revolution are slipping away drive angry Egyptians into the streets nationwide to demand political reforms and speedier trials of those charged with killing protesters during the uprising.

Tens of thousands of Egyptians protested across the nation Friday to demand political reforms and swifter trials for police and former government officials charged with killing hundreds of demonstrators during the revolution that toppled President Hosni Mubarak.

Throngs of Syrian protesters call for regime's demise

Posted: 08 Jul 2011 05:23 AM PDT

Tens of thousands of Syrians demanding the downfall of the nation's autocratic regime poured into the streets of the central city of Hama on Friday in a powerful rebuttal to both President Bashar Assad's much-doubted entreaties to dialogue and his use of extreme force to suppress a popular revolt against his rule.

Brazil president faces corruption scandals

Posted: 08 Jul 2011 12:00 AM PDT

President Dilma Rousseff's ruling coalition suffers a setback as her chief of staff and another minister resign amid allegations of corruption.

Two of President Dilma Rousseff's ministers have resigned recently amid accusations of corruption, complicating her efforts to run Latin America's largest country after taking over from Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in January.

China says rumors of former President Jiang Zemin's death are false

Posted: 08 Jul 2011 12:00 AM PDT

Beijing finally releases a statement after unsuccessful attempts to quell intense speculation on the Internet.

After a week filled with rumor and intrigue, the official New China News Agency had the following message Thursday to relay to the world: Former President Jiang Zemin is not dead.

U.S. has verified Al Qaeda operative's death, official says

Posted: 08 Jul 2011 12:00 AM PDT

The U.S. only recently became certain Ilyas Kashmiri, a key Al Qaeda planner and trainer, was killed in a June 3 strike in South Waziristan, Pakistan.

The U.S. has confirmed that a key Al Qaeda planner and trainer was killed in a drone strike in the tribal areas of Pakistan in June, a U.S. intelligence official said Thursday.