LA Times News

LA Times News

At U.N., Obama urges Muslim world to support free speech

Posted: 25 Sep 2012 05:45 PM PDT

President Obama condemns an anti-Islam video made in the U.S. but urges Muslims to end anti-America violence and embrace free speech.

UNITED NATIONS — Warning of a deepening rift between the West and the Muslim world after two weeks of anti-American violence, President Obama used his annual U.N. address to urge Arab states to continue difficult political reforms without tolerating violence or curtailing free speech.

Can matchmaking websites help Iran with 'marriage crisis'?

Posted: 25 Sep 2012 06:12 PM PDT

The average age for marriage is rising in Iran, where authorities fear that young adults will slip into a moral abyss if they aren't hitched.

TEHRAN — Iranian ministers have fretted for years about a "marriage crisis" in the country.

CIA's exit from Benghazi, Libya, draws criticism from ex-officers

Posted: 25 Sep 2012 05:20 PM PDT

A dozen operatives were withdrawn from a key post after the attack on the U.S. Consulate. Former officers describe the move as overly cautious.

WASHINGTON —- About a dozen CIA personnel were evacuated from eastern Libya after heavily armed men stormed the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi and killed four Americans, setting back an important intelligence operation and prompting a debate about how much risk CIA officers should assume in dangerous overseas posts.

Russia rights activists decry sentences in police abuse case

Posted: 26 Sep 2012 12:00 AM PDT

Two officers will serve less than three years for the illegal detention and death of a man in Kazan, Russia. Human rights activists say that won't discourage police abuse.

MOSCOW — Two police officers in Kazan, Russia, were sentenced to less than three years in prison Tuesday after the first convictions in a high-profile case that involved the illegal detention and death of a resident.

Drone strikes in Pakistan have killed many civilians, study says

Posted: 24 Sep 2012 09:01 PM PDT

The strikes have not made the U.S. safer, researchers from Stanford and New York University say in the report 'Living Under Drones.'

Far more civilians have been killed by U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan's tribal areas than U.S. counter-terrorism officials have acknowledged, a new study by human rights researchers at Stanford University and New York University contends.

Disappearance of Yo Soy 132 activist raises stakes in Mexico

Posted: 25 Sep 2012 12:00 AM PDT

The legitimacy of the Yo Soy 132 student movement or the PRI political party could be badly affected, depending on what happened to the Ensenada activist.

MEXICO CITY — No one knows exactly why Aleph Jimenez Dominguez, an Ensenada activist, disappeared last week. In Mexico, people disappear all the time, for all sorts of reasons. Sometimes it's difficult to get anyone to pay attention.