L.A. Times - World News

Hungary zigzags when it comes to Russia

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Some in the former Soviet satellite now part of NATO and the EU warn that Moscow is intent on reasserting influence, but others see Russia as a useful investor and lucrative market.

There's a museum in Budapest called the House of Terror. It has a metal awning with the word "terror" carved out of it, and when the sun is high, the people below step on terror, pass through terror, because the shadow of the word hangs in the air before it hits the ground.

Golf courses suffer as recession deals a bogey

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Hundreds of courses have closed, and once-exclusive country clubs have slashed fees or let in the public. Often linked to housing tracts, the greens and fairways have slumped along with real estate.

From his backyard, Joseph Leggett used to look out over the green, manicured fairways of the Palm Desert Country Club golf course.

Rising sea levels threaten Caribbean region

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:09:00 -0800

The Colombian city of Cartagena is trying to plan ahead as scientists say cities nearer the equator, where temperatures are already higher, are at greater risk if global warming isn't checked.

The effect of climate change is anything but hypothetical to retired Colombian naval officer German Alfonso. Just ask him about the time his neighborhood in this historic coastal city became an island.

A climate change dust-up

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

One side sees hacked e-mail as a sign of a 'Warmist Conspiracy.' The other says it's being taken out of context. Analysts don't expect it to have much effect on the Senate greenhouse gas bill.

Is it a "Warmist Conspiracy," or a case of an e-mail being "taken completely out of context"?

Large Hadron Collider is back online

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The restart of the Large Hadron Collider is hailed as a significant leap forward in efforts to launch new experiments on the makeup of matter and the universe.

Scientists are preparing the world's largest atom smasher to explore the depths of matter after successfully restarting the $10-billion machine following more than a year of repairs.

O.C. Marine is called a hero at Afghanistan memorial service

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Lance Cpl. Justin Swanson was killed Nov. 10 when a bomb exploded under his Humvee. He was 'full of love for his family and home and dedicated to the protection of others,' his commander says.

Reporting from Forward Operating Base Geronimo, Afghanistan -- Lance Cpl. Justin Swanson's battalion commander thought of his own sons as he remembered the young Marine from Orange County in a solemn memorial service Saturday at this outpost in Afghanistan.

Sabbath protest in Jerusalem

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Thousands of the city's ultra-Orthodox Jews demonstrate at a new Intel chip factory that operates on Saturdays.

About 3,000 ultra-Orthodox Jews demonstrated Saturday outside an Intel plant in Jerusalem to protest its operating on the Jewish Sabbath, an action they view as a desecration of the sanctity of the holy city.

Rocket is fired at Afghan hotel housing foreign humanitarian workers

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The rocket lands near the perimeter wall of the Serena Hotel, injuring two people.

Suspected insurgents fired a rocket Saturday at a luxury hotel that had previously come under attack, injuring two people and rekindling fears that foreigners are being targeted in the capital.

China mine death toll mounts

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

87 confirmed dead; hopes dim for 21 after a huge underground gas explosion.

Rescuers worked in frigid cold to reach 21 miners trapped underground today as the death toll from a huge gas explosion in a northern Chinese mine jumped to 87 -- the deadliest blast to hit the beleaguered industry in nearly two years. Hope of saving those trapped underground, however, was fading.

Israeli airstrikes hit Gaza Strip

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The strikes targeted two weapons factories in central and northern Gaza and a smuggling tunnel under the border with Egypt, an Israeli army spokesman said.

Israeli planes carried out airstrikes against targets in the Gaza Strip today, injuring seven people, Palestinian medical workers said.