LA Times News

LA Times News

Romney takes hard line on Iran in Israel speech

Posted: 29 Jul 2012 06:34 PM PDT

The Republican challenger to Obama also refers to Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and visits the Western Wall.

JERUSALEM — On a day that mixed religious symbolism, courtship of financial donors and tough rhetoric, Mitt Romney on Sunday declared in his most aggressive tones to date that the U.S. should stand firmly behind Israel if it chooses military action to thwart Iran's progression toward a nuclear weapon.

Romney camp hopes Israel trip secures evangelical, Jewish votes

Posted: 29 Jul 2012 12:00 AM PDT

Mitt Romney has insisted he'd be a better friend to Israel than President Obama. His campaign wants that message and his weekend visit to translate into support in November.

JERUSALEM — Mitt Romney has rarely missed an opportunity to argue that he would be a better friend to Israel than President Obama.

Iran seethes with discontent during Ramadan

Posted: 30 Jul 2012 12:00 AM PDT

Jobs and wages have been cut and prices have shot up. People are especially angry about the skyrocketing cost of chicken.

TEHRAN — NearIran's parliament building here, groups of men and women gathered Sunday to protest what they called injustice.

In Brazil, a billionaire's reality check

Posted: 29 Jul 2012 05:40 PM PDT

Eike Batista, who aims to be the world's richest man, has become a potent symbol of Brazil's economic slowdown as investors have dwindled down his fortune.

SAO PAULO, Brazil — For a man who had just lost $6 billion in less than 24 hours, Eike Batista was curiously upbeat. Brazil's richest man took to Twitter, as he is wont to do, to send a message to his almost 1 million followers.

Romney respects Israel's right to attack Iran, aide says

Posted: 29 Jul 2012 02:52 AM PDT

It's unclear what role Romney envisions for the U.S. military if Israel were to preemptively strike Iran to cripple its nuclear capability.

One of Mitt Romney's top foreign policy advisors said Sunday that as president, Romney would respect Israel's right to strike Iran  to unilaterally prevent that nation from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

Romney would back an Israeli strike at Iran, aide says

Posted: 29 Jul 2012 01:17 AM PDT

Romney 'would respect' a decision to attack Tehran's nuclear capability, says a foreign policy adviser while giving a preview of the Republican candidate's speech later today.

Mitt Romney would back an Israeli military strike against Iran aimed at preventing Tehran from obtaining nuclear capability, a top foreign policy adviser said early Sunday, outlining the aggressive posture the Republican presidential candidate will take toward Iran in a speech in Israel later in the day.

U.S. is the driving force behind the fighting in Somalia

Posted: 29 Jul 2012 12:00 AM PDT

Washington has been quietly equipping and training thousands of African soldiers to wage a widening proxy war against the Shabab, the Al Qaeda ally that has sparked alarm as foreign militants join its ranks.

The soldiers stood at attention, rifles at their sides, as U.S. Army Maj. Gen. David Hogg walked down the ranks, eyeing the men heading off to fight in Somalia.

Heavy shelling reported in Aleppo, Syria

Posted: 29 Jul 2012 12:00 AM PDT

An opposition activist in a suburb of Aleppo tells of street battles and helicopter gunship attacks but says a full government onslaught has not yet begun.

BEIRUT — Fierce clashes and hours of bombardment were reported Saturday in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, where rebels and government forces have been bracing for a critical battle in the nation's commercial hub.

Egypt unnerved by rising religious fervor

Posted: 29 Jul 2012 12:00 AM PDT

Scattered violent incidents of 'moral vigilantism' break out in Egypt, which is trying to come to terms with Islam's place in public and private life.

CAIRO — An engineering student is killed for walking with his fiancee by men reportedly linked to a group called the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. Women are harassed for not wearing veils, owners of liquor stores say they're being threatened, and fundamentalists are calling for sex segregation on buses and in workplaces.

Cuba dissident movement suffers blow with leaders' deaths

Posted: 29 Jul 2012 12:00 AM PDT

Two of the country's top government critics have died nine months apart, leaving a depleted opposition that was already being eclipsed by a new generation.

MEXICO CITY — The abrupt deaths of two ofCuba'stop dissidents barely nine months apart represent a demoralizing blow to a movement already weakened by time and government-sponsored harassment.