LA Times News

LA Times News

Syria rebels seek weapons, money on Turkish border

Posted: 15 Jul 2012 07:18 PM PDT

Some fighters make their own weapons as prices have skyrocketed. The only well-stocked militias are those affiliated with Islamist factions.

ALONG THE SYRIA-TURKEY BORDER — The bomb maker was displaying his homemade mortar launcher, crafted from a tube and bits of metal. "Whatever we need to produce, we Google it," said the factory worker turned rebel commander and arms procurer in a border village where goats and insurgents walk along steep mountain paths.

Syrian townspeople describe government shelling

Posted: 15 Jul 2012 05:02 PM PDT

Residents of Treimseh tell U.N. investigators that their town was shelled and suspected rebels were apparently executed, contradicting the official account.

ANTAKYA, Turkey — Residents of a Syrian town that was the site of a disputed massacre told United Nations investigators that Syrian forces first shelled the community and then occupied it, apparently executing suspected rebels after checking their identifications, the U.N. said Sunday.

In Egypt, Hillary Clinton offers support for Islamist president

Posted: 15 Jul 2012 12:00 AM PDT

The secretary of State, seeking a delicate balance as the U.S. recalibrates its Egypt policy, visits new President Mohamed Morsi and plans to talk with the top ruling general Sunday.

CAIRO — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met for the first time Saturday with new President Mohamed Morsi in a fresh push to strengthen U.S.-Egyptian relations as the country enters an era of unpredictability in which an Islamist leader is clashing with a secular military over control of the nation.

Poland dreams of energy independence — through fracking

Posted: 15 Jul 2012 12:00 AM PDT

Eager to end reliance on Russian natural gas, and largely untroubled by environmentalists, Polish officials are embracing hydraulic fracturing to unlock potentially huge deposits beneath their soil.

GDANSK, Poland — Dreams of freedom from Soviet oppression were nurtured and realized in the shipyards of this seaside city, where the Solidarity movement that helped tear down the Iron Curtain was born.

Haiti earthquake camps clearing out; problems now become hidden

Posted: 15 Jul 2012 12:00 AM PDT

Many Haitians displaced by the 2010 earthquake are moving to crowded homes or slums. Others fare better with a rental subsidy, but it's temporary.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Facing the crumpled remnants of the national palace, an expansive plaza is punctuated by trees, benches and statues of Haitian heroes. Students read in the shade, women gossip, children play soccer.