Attack

KABUL, Afghanistan - At a pivotal moment when U.S. forces are winding down combat operations in Afghanistan and handing over the lead security role to the Afghan government, Taliban insurgents announced Saturday the launch of their annual spring offensive. In an elaborately worded statement, the Taliban proclaimed that a "monumental spring operation" would begin Sunday with the goal of "defeating this era's Western invaders. " The Islamist insurgent group, tossed from power by U.S.-led forces in late 2001, is threatening a new round of mass suicide bombings and "insider" attacks on American and coalition forces.

A top advisor to Los Angeles mayoral hopeful Eric Garcetti accused the city councilman's rival Wendy Greuel on Thursday of concealing her role behind a TV attack ad in violation of federal disclosure laws. Garcetti's chief campaign strategist, Bill Carrick, said Greuel, the city controller, saved her campaign as much as $300,000 by deceiving eight TV stations into believing that her most recent attack ad qualified for their lowest rates under a federal law that mandates discounts for candidates running spots before an election.

Beverly Hills police are seeking the public's help in tracking down the driver of a BMW who is captured on video steering his car into a bicyclist, pinning him against a metal trash bin. Police said they consider the hit-and-run to be a road rage incident and are seeking the driver on suspicion of attempted murder. Since April 3, police have been looking for the driver of a newer model, white BMW 328i that was captured on video hitting a bicyclist in an alley in the 9000 block of Wilshire Boulevard.

An adult school student was stabbed Wednesday afternoon in an altercation at Cleveland High School in Reseda and later died of his wounds, law enforcement authorities said. The victim was a student at West Valley Occupational Center in Woodland Hills, according to Los Angeles Police Department Cmdr. Sharon Papa. He was believed to be 18. The student was attacked on one of the school's handball courts about 4 p.m. after an argument with two men who were described as being between 18 and 20, authorities said.

JERUSALEM - Israel's accusation that Syria used chemical weapons against rebels raises the prospect that Damascus crossed what President Obama has termed a "red line," but appears unlikely to overcome deep resistance of the U.S. and its allies to military involvement in the country's civil war. Brig. Gen. Itai Brun, Israel's top military intelligence analyst, said at a security conference in Tel Aviv on Tuesday that Syria used chemical weapons, probably a sarin-based nerve agent, in attacks March 19 near Aleppo and Damascus.

Los Angeles mayoral hopeful Wendy Greuel stepped up attacks on rival Eric Garcetti on Tuesday, repeating ethical accusations brought up at Monday night's televised debate and adding a new one - that Garcetti accepted thousands in donations at a fundraiser hosted by an ex-felon. Greuel, the city's controller, called the media to her Boyle Heights campaign office to reiterate recent attacks against Garcetti that she says call into question his ability to lead a city as large and complex as Los Angeles.

BOSTON - Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has told investigators that he and his older brother planned the Boston Marathon bombings only a week or so before the race, that they were operating alone, and that they received no training or support from outside terrorist groups, officials said Tuesday. His comments appear to support investigators' theory that the attack was hastily conceived by two siblings who were self-radicalized. Writing answers from his hospital bed because he was shot in the throat, the 19-year-old accused bomber also said that his slain older brother, Tamerlan, was "upset" by the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and that anger was the motivation to plant two crude homemade bombs along the crowded race route.

BOSTON - As the investigation into the Boston Marathon bombing continued Sunday, family members prepared to bury the victims, and hundreds of stunned and sorrowful residents prayed together for the dead and wounded and worked to reclaim the streets where the violence occurred a week ago. Federal officials had yet to file charges against 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who was captured Friday and remains in serious condition under heavy guard at...

As details have begun to flow about the lives of the Tsarnaev brothers, the media and the public have seized on some obvious bullet points: that the perpetrators were Muslims; that they were of Chechen descent; that they seemed alienated (one of the brothers allegedly said he "didn't understand America. ") There's one detail about the life of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, though, that I hope doesn't get blamed for his later actions. Tamerlan, who died in a gun battle with police Friday morning, trained as a boxer, sometimes at a local fight gym called Wai Kru, which has two locations in the Boston area.

ISTANBUL, Turkey - Divisions between Syrian rebels and their foreign supporters came into focus Saturday as a leading opposition group demanded international military action - including drone strikes - to halt missile attacks and alleged chemical-weapons use against Syrian civilians. At a meeting intended to smooth differences between the rebels and supporters, the Syrian National Coalition criticized its Western and Middle Eastern backers for failing to stop attacks by President Bashar Assad's forces that it said are imperiling thousands.