LA Times News

LA Times News

China prepares for trial in sensational case of Neil Heywood slaying

Posted: 06 Aug 2012 12:00 AM PDT

Is it possible for the butler, who hasn't met with his lawyer yet, to get a fair trial in the poisoning of Neil Heywood, associate of political wife Gu Kailai?

BEIJING — The lawyer for one of the defendants inChina's most sensational murder case is emphatic: The butler did not do it.

Egyptian police killed in attack near border with Israel

Posted: 06 Aug 2012 12:00 AM PDT

As many as 16 Egyptian police officers are slain when militants rush a security outpost, hijack two armored vehicles and drive toward the border.

CAIRO — As many as 16 Egyptian police officers were killed Sunday when militants stormed a police post near the border with Israel and hijacked two armored vehicles in a brazen attack against security forces in the increasingly lawless north Sinai peninsula.

Professed Syrian rebel says Iranian hostages are militiamen

Posted: 06 Aug 2012 12:00 AM PDT

As Iran works with allies of the Syrian opposition to secure the release of nearly 50 Iranians, the rebel commander appears in an ominous video.

BEIRUT — Iran said Sunday that it was seeking the aid of Turkey and Qatar, nations with close ties to the Syrian opposition, in securing the release of dozens of Iranian citizens kidnapped the day before in Syria.

In Brazil's backlands, decades-old feud continues to claim lives

Posted: 05 Aug 2012 12:00 AM PDT

A long political rivalry between the Ferraz and Novaes families turned deadly in the 1990s. Revenge and counter-revenge have killed one man after another.

FLORESTA, Brazil — The little priest leans in, as though to make a confession. The subject is forbidden, but tonight he will talk. " A violencia ," he says.