LA Times News

LA Times News

Europe acts to rein in its debt crisis

Posted: 06 Sep 2012 07:06 PM PDT

Central bank promises to buy the bonds of troubled countries, says there's no going back on the euro.

The European Central Bank unveiled an aggressive plan to buy the bonds of financially flailing countries such as Spain and Italy, its boldest step yet to stanch the continent's 3-year-old debt crisis and one that could lift the U.S. and the global economies.

Libyan says he was waterboarded in CIA custody

Posted: 06 Sep 2012 05:15 PM PDT

The allegation reported by Human Rights Watch would contradict the official position that only three detainees were subjected to waterboarding after 9/11.

WASHINGTON — A Libyan man says he was waterboarded while in CIA custody in Afghanistan, a new allegation that challenges the long-standing claim by U.S. officials that just three people since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, had been subjected to the simulated drowning technique many consider torture.

Vladimir Putin's latest animal trick: Flying with cranes

Posted: 06 Sep 2012 05:58 PM PDT

Russia's leader has tranquilized a tiger and tagged a whale. This week he played imprintee to endangered Siberian cranes learning a new migration route.

MOSCOW — Vladimir Putin, Russia's macho president, is at it again.

3 family members, cyclist found shot to death in French Alps

Posted: 06 Sep 2012 05:55 PM PDT

A badly beaten 7-year-old girl is hospitalized after the shooting near Lake Annecy. Her 4-year-old sister is later found hiding under two of the three bodies lying in a car.

CHEVALINE, France — Three members of a family and a passing cyclist were killed, and a 4-year-old girl discovered hours later cowering in terror under the bodies of her dead mother and grandmother in their car along a picturesque Alpine roadway, French police said Thursday.

Jordan feels the strain of Syria refugee influx

Posted: 06 Sep 2012 03:27 PM PDT

A riot recently erupted in the Zaatari refugee camp, where Syrians were angry over spartan conditions. More continue to flee the conflict at home.

ZAATARI, Jordan — The nearly 25,000 Syrians who have taken refuge here from the war in their homeland live in pervasive frustration: Penned in by a wire fence, many wear surgical masks against the swirling dust as officials scramble to provide enough shelter, food and water.

Israel to admit 3 Eritrean refugees stranded at border

Posted: 06 Sep 2012 05:52 PM PDT

Israel refuses to let in the rest of the group, saying to do so would encourage other African refugees to seek entry. The others would be taken to Cairo.

JERUSALEM — Under pressure from the United Nations and human rights groups, Israel agreed Thursday to allow into the country three Eritrean refugees from a group of more than 20 that had been stranded for a week along a new newly built border fence with Egypt in the Sinai desert.

Palestinian Authority faces cash crunch, raising risk of unrest

Posted: 06 Sep 2012 06:00 PM PDT

The Palestinian Authority may run out of money soon to pay bills and salaries as foreign aid drops. Officials blame the Israeli occupation.

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Grappling with a $100-million monthly budget deficit, the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority is struggling these days to keep the lights on.