LA Times News

LA Times News

In Ghana's witch camps, the accused are never safe

Posted: 09 Sep 2012 12:00 AM PDT

Ghana has pledged to close its camps where women accused of witchcraft are detained for years. But the women might not be safe back in their communities.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — In the witch camps of Ghana, the dying contortions of a slaughtered chicken determine the guilt of an accused woman: witch, or not.

In India, Bengalis seek to recapture their glory as intellectuals

Posted: 08 Sep 2012 07:00 PM PDT

Bengalis have long enjoyed a reputation as India's intellectuals. Now West Bengal state wants to spark a renaissance, after years of stagnation and brain drain.

KOLKATA, India — The dusty files, manual typewriter, aging books and film reels in metal tins languish in Satyajit Ray's study, largely the way the filmmaker left them on his death two decades ago.

China trainers boost Mexico Olympic diving to another level

Posted: 08 Sep 2012 07:02 PM PDT

A decade ago, Mexico decided to import 50 Chinese coaches to teach athletes about 'giving 100%.' Diving is just one example of China making inroads in Mexico.

MEXICO CITY — The first time Mexico's star Olympic diver Paola Espinosa met her Chinese coach, it was more than language that put them on opposite sides of the springboard.

Pakistan frees Christian girl accused of blasphemy

Posted: 08 Sep 2012 07:46 AM PDT

A young Christian girl accused of burning pages of Islam's holy book was freed Saturday from a jail near the capital where she had been held for three weeks, a Pakistani jail official said.

China earthquakes prompt massive evacuation

Posted: 08 Sep 2012 12:00 AM PDT

At least 80 people were killed in the pair of quakes that hit a rural area in the border region of Yunnan and Guizhou provinces, in the southwest.

BEIJING — At least 80 people were killed Friday when a pair of earthquakes jolted a mountainous region of southwestern China, triggering landslides, damaging thousands of buildings and forcing thousands of residents from their homes, the official New China News Agency said.