WORLD
May 10, 2013 | By Ned Parker, Los Angeles Times
BAGHDAD - Less than a year and a half after the last U.S. troops left, Iraq's political leaders are openly debating the prospect of two dangerous paths for their country: de facto division or civil war. Perhaps both. Tension between the Shiite majority, now in control of the levers of power, and the Sunni Arab minority, which dominated under Saddam Hussein, has been building for months. But politicians on all sides agree that the country has entered a perilous new phase, highlighted in late April by an attack on a Sunni protest camp by security forces that killed at least 45 people.
WORLD
May 2, 2013 | By Ned Parker, Los Angeles Times
BAGHDAD - Iraqi security used disproportionate force, including shooting unarmed civilians, during a raid on an encampment of Sunni Arab protesters last week that left 45 people dead, according to two government investigations and foreign diplomats. The predawn raid in the city of Hawija in Kirkuk province April 23 involved security forces demanding that protesters hand over demonstrators suspected of killing an Iraqi soldier four days earlier, officials said. Shooting erupted during the raid, enraging Sunnis and leading to violence in other parts of the country.
WORLD
April 23, 2013 | By Ned Parker, Los Angeles Times
BEIRUT - Security forces for the Shiite-led Iraqi government raided a Sunni protest camp in northern Iraq on Tuesday, igniting violence around the country that left at least 36 people dead. The unrest led two Sunni officials to resign from the government and risked pushing the country's Sunni provinces into an open revolt against Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, a Shiite. The situation looked to be the gravest moment for Iraq since the last U.S. combat troops left in December 2011. The violence Tuesday started in the Sunni town of Hawija, where shooting erupted during the raid.
WORLD
April 22, 2013 | By Aminu Abubakar and Robyn Dixon, Los Angeles Times
KANO, Nigeria - Local government officials and a military spokesman in Nigeria agreed that security forces and Islamist militants had battled in recent days in the country's far northeast. But they offered widely varying accounts Monday of how many people, including civilians, had been killed. Some officials said about 185 people were slain in the clashes, with some residents blaming government troops in part for the deaths. Security officials put the number lower. The fighting began Friday in Baga, a fishing community near Lake Chad, but news of the violence reached Abuja, the capital, only late Sunday.
WORLD
April 22, 2013 | By Robyn Dixon
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- Dozens of people, including many civilians, died in gun battles between Nigerian security forces and Islamist militants in recent days, according to Nigerian officials. However, reports of the number of casualties varied, with some government officials saying about 185 people were slain while security officials put the death toll lower. The fighting began Friday in Baga, a fishing community near Lake Chad in northeastern Nigeria, but news of the violence only reached Abuja, the capital, late Sunday.
NATIONAL
April 19, 2013 | By Neela Banerjee
Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov released a statement Friday denying any link between his nation and the actions of the suspected Boston Marathon bombers. The "roots of evil," he said, were in America. In a message written in Russian and posted to the photo-sharing website Instagram, Kadyrov expressed condolences to all Americans, but said his country had nothing to do with the suspects' actions. "The whole world needs to do battle with terrorism," the statement read. "We know this better than anybody else.