LA Times News

LA Times News

Lebanon protesters, troops clash at funeral for slain official

Posted: 21 Oct 2012 05:18 PM PDT

Mourners trying to storm the prime minister's hilltop palace in Beirut are turned back by troops. Authorities revise the death toll in Friday's attack to three.

BEIRUT — Government forces and angry mourners clashed Sunday in a raging street brawl that dramatized how the conflict in neighboring Syria has inflamed Lebanon's sectarian tensions and threatens to destabilize this nation's delicate political balance.

Brazil's evangelical churches rewrite the rules of politics

Posted: 21 Oct 2012 04:36 PM PDT

The Catholic nation's evangelical Christians are gaining influence — and using it to sway elections. The trend has others uneasy over the blatant mixing of church and state.

SAO PAULO, Brazil — As euphoric rock music played, dozens of men in suits swarmed the aisles with hand-held credit card machines to take donations from the faithful.

Pope canonizes 7 saints, including 2 Americans

Posted: 21 Oct 2012 02:32 AM PDT

Several of the new saints were missionaries, making clear the pope hopes their example will be relevant today as the Church is challenged by evangelical movements, growing secularization and disenchantment over the abuse scandal.

Pope Benedict XVI added seven more saints onto the roster of Catholic role models on Sunday, saying their example would strengthen the church as it tries to rekindle the faith in places where it's lagging. Two of them were Americans: Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Native American saint from the U.S. and Mother Marianne Cope, a 19th century Franciscan nun who cared for leprosy patients in Hawaii.

China's incoming first lady a challenge for the image makers

Posted: 21 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

Peng Liyuan, wife of soon-to-be President Xi Jinping, is already famous and popular. How the Communist Party handles her may be a clue to its willingness to modernize.

BEIJING — She has a resume that would make U.S. political consultants drool: A renowned soprano who's performed for troops serving the motherland, opera fans at Lincoln Center and ordinary Chinese watching annual TV variety galas, she's also a World Health Organization goodwill ambassador in the fight against tuberculosis and HIV.

Syria activists adapt to new roles as relief volunteers

Posted: 21 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

Onetime demonstrators seeking the government's ouster now risk their lives to aid the displaced and wounded civilians and rebels as Syria's humanitarian crisis grows.

DAMASCUS, Syria — When Hytham was released from a Syrian prison in the spring after his third incarceration for being an opposition member, he expected to return to the streets with thousands of other activists to call for the fall of the government.

Iran open to nuclear talks after U.S. election, diplomats say

Posted: 20 Oct 2012 09:28 PM PDT

The White House denies a report that it has agreed to one-on-one talks, but suggests Iran may be interested in such talks soon after the presidential election, regardless of who wins.

WASHINGTON — Iran is preparing for a new round of negotiations about its disputed nuclear program after the U.S. presidential election determines whether Tehran will face a Republican administration that may have less patience than President Obama's for long-running efforts to reach a deal, according to diplomats close to the discussions.