LA Times News

LA Times News

Israel's draft reform debate and the 'people's army'

Posted: 12 Jul 2012 12:00 AM PDT

An Israeli expert on the intersection of army and society says the push on drafting Arabs and ultra-Orthodox Jews is not about saving the 'people's army' but the draft itself.

JERUSALEM — Israelis take pride in calling their military the "people's army," a unifying institution that helps smooth over religious differences and instills nationalist values.

DNA study bolsters disputed view of migration into North America

Posted: 12 Jul 2012 12:00 AM PDT

Geneticists examining the origins of Native Americans and other indigenous groups conclude that their ancestors migrated from Asia in at least three waves, not in a single wave.

Supporting a controversial view of how humans might have populated the Western Hemisphere, geneticists have found that groups from Asia traveled over the Bering Strait into North America in at least three separate migrations beginning more than 15,000 years ago — not in a single wave, as has been widely thought.

U.S. deploys sea drones to Persian Gulf to clear Iranian mines

Posted: 12 Jul 2012 12:00 AM PDT

The U.S. Navy is sending the drones, known as the SeaFox, to destroy sea mines as part of an operation aimed at preventing any closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

WASHINGTON — The Navy is rushing tiny underwater drones to the Persian Gulf to help find and destroy sea mines as part of an American military buildup aimed at stopping Iran from closing the strategic Strait of Hormuz in the event of a crisis, U.S. officials said.

Bride abductions 'a distortion' of South Africa's culture

Posted: 12 Jul 2012 12:00 AM PDT

When cows are traded for an unwilling bride, rural Zulu women lose their freedom, and more. Called thwala , the practice is often abused, activists say.

— She was named Democracy in Zulu, at a time when her country had none.

France, Germany tax evasion inquiries target Swiss bank clients

Posted: 11 Jul 2012 04:49 PM PDT

French and German authorities raid the offices and homes of Credit Suisse and UBS bank officials and their wealthy customers as part of an investigation.

PARIS — France and Germany have launched a series of raids on the offices and homes of bank officials and their wealthy customers in an ongoing inquiry aimed at cracking down on those who evade taxes by using Swiss banks.

South Korea broadcasters keep up strike for media independence

Posted: 10 Jul 2012 04:48 PM PDT

The hundreds of South Korean broadcast workers who walked out in January demand editorial independence and the resignation of government appointees.

SEOUL— More than five months into a bitter strike, hundreds of employees at leading South Korean broadcasters are still off the job, not because of bread-and-butter issues such as pay or job security, but what they regard as heavy-handed government efforts to silence them.

Egypt parliament reconvenes, escalating power struggle

Posted: 11 Jul 2012 12:00 AM PDT

The session is a symbolic victory for President Mohamed Morsi in his battle with Egypt's military. Morsi had ordered lawmakers to meet, defying a court ruling.

CAIRO — The power struggle between Egypt's newly elected Islamist president and the military has escalated, with lawmakers defying a court order and reconvening the dissolved parliament, marking another disturbing political twist over the future of a nation still tangled in the legacy of Hosni Mubarak.

In Britain, effort to reform House of Lords founders

Posted: 10 Jul 2012 04:58 PM PDT

The British government is forced to cancel a vote to expedite legislation to make the tradition-bound House of Lords more modern and democratic, as Labor lawmakers join Conservatives in opposition.

LONDON — The British government was dealt an embarrassing setback Tuesday in its attempt to turn the unelected tradition-bound House of Lords into a more modern, more democratic chamber better suited to the 21st century.