WORLD
May 7, 2012 | By Ken Dilanian and Brian Bennett, Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON - The FBI is analyzing a sophisticated explosive device, similar to the underwear bomb used in an attempt to blow up a passenger jet over Detroit in 2009, that U.S. officials believe was built by Al Qaeda's affiliate in Yemen in an effort to target Western aircraft. U.S. officials said Monday that no one was captured by U.S. agencies as part of the operation. The officials emphasized that they found no sign of an active plot to use the new bomb design against U.S. aviation or U.S.-bound jetliners.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
May 6, 2012 | By Andrew Blankstein, Los Angeles Times
In a second-grade homework assignment, Stephen J. Dunning wrote about his future in a passage that would be as brief as it was portentous. He wanted to go to college and he wanted to become a United States Marine. His father, Robert, who flew helicopters in the Marine Corps, hadn't stopped to consider its meaning. But after his son's death at age 31 on Oct. 27 in Afghanistan's Helmand province, the elder Dunning said those words, accompanied by a crayon self-portrait on the faded page, took on new, touching significance.
BUSINESS
May 5, 2012 | By Susan Carpenter, Los Angeles Times
The superhero extravaganza "The Avengers"marks the first of many movies that will feature motorcycles racing onto the big screen this summer. Not only will Captain America helm a Harley-Davidsonin the big-budget Marvel movie, but one of the leads of "Men in Black" will time-travel to 1969 on board an "Easy Rider"-esque chopper. A circus bear will even throw a furry leg over a Ducati in the animated feature "Madagascar 3. " Motorcycles have long played a part in the movies, but as summer films become more explosive and adventure oriented, two wheels are playing a larger role.
NATIONAL
May 1, 2012 | By Michael Muskal, Los Angeles Times
Five men who called themselves anarchists were preparing to commemorate May Day, the international workers holiday, by taking violent political action. They planted what they thought were demolition charges on a bridge crossing the Cuyahoga Valley National Park south of downtown Cleveland and drove to a spot several miles away. There, they punched in the code that they thought would detonate the explosives, federal officials allege. But nothing happened. Instead, law enforcement officers from a variety of agencies including the FBI arrested the five Monday night, charging them with conspiracy and trying to bomb property used in interstate commerce.
WORLD
April 28, 2012 | By Laura King, Los Angeles Times
KABUL, Afghanistan - Turban bombs had become too obvious. So the two men who apparently set out Saturday to assassinate Kandahar's governor looked to their footwear instead. The assailants used the unusual tactic of concealing weapons and explosives in their boots to make their way past police checkpoints and into the governor's heavily guarded compound in the city of Kandahar, leading to a gun battle that left them and two Afghan police officers dead, a provincial spokesman said.
WORLD
April 27, 2012 | By Alexandra Sandels, Los Angeles Times
BEIRUT - United Nations monitors on Thursday visited the scene of an explosion in the Syrian city of Hama that antigovernment activists said had killed 70 people, many of them women and children. Homes in the Mashaa al-Tayyar neighborhood were targeted Wednesday, they said, by rockets or shells fired by forces loyal to President Bashar Assad. State media blamed the explosion on a "terrorist group" that accidentally set off an explosive in a house used to make bombs. Sixteen people died and 12 were injured, the report said.