Los Angeles Times - Print Edition

All aboard the Baghdad Metro

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

The Iraqi capital's first commuter train is slow but steady through streets often tied up by checkpoints and bombings. Just beware the crossing cars, stone-throwing youths and meandering cows.

Don't be put off by the sign, which reads "Cent al B ghd d Stat on."

Pirates seize oil tanker off East Africa coast

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

A brazen attack far out at sea, on a huge tanker with a capacity of 2 million barrels, raises concerns about the regional menace. The pirates appeared to be steering the ship to Somalia.

In their most brazen raid yet, suspected Somali pirates operating deep in open waters have seized an oil tanker as long as an aircraft carrier, the U.S. military in the Middle East said Monday.

Political temperature may be just right for healthcare overhaul

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Experts say the nation's hard times may paradoxically quicken a sweeping reform of the healthcare system.

When Barack Obama steps into the Oval Office in January, healthcare reform will join a list of priorities crowded with two wars, a ballooning budget deficit and an economy mired in one of the worst slowdowns since the Great Depression.

Small spark can mean disaster for home

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

A wind-blown ember can be opportunistic, slipping through breaches in a structure.

The Haroutounians set off for their home on Big Horn Mountain Way confident it had survived the firestorm.

FDIC chief Sheila Bair could have role on Obama team

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Her proposal for mortgage aid puts her at odds with the Bush administration. But it might earn her a place in the next regime.

Sheila Bair, chairwoman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., is one of the few government officials whose reputation has actually improved during the financial crisis.

CSU may cut future enrollment by 10,000

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

For the first time, the system might turn away qualified students. Minority and low-income groups would probably be hardest hit by the cuts, which could amount to a 10% drop in freshman enrollment.

The California State University system for the first time in its history is proposing to turn away qualified students due to a worsening state budget crisis.

California death row dysfunction

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

For two decades, Thomas Francis Edwards has sat on death row for the murder of 12-year-old Vanessa Iberri. The wait is emotional torture for her father.

Vanessa Iberri and Kelly Cartier noticed the balding man in the red Datsun pickup as he drove past them into the Blue Jay Campground of Cleveland National Forest. The 12-year-old girls were leaving the campground ahead of Vanessa's mother, heading for a creek-side picnic spot where they all planned to eat lunch.

Automakers' pain felt far beyond Detroit

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

The Big Three's fortunes steer thousands of suppliers nationally. One report puts 2.5 million jobs at risk if a carmaker fails.

Ford Motor Co.'s F-150 pickup is the top-selling vehicle in America with more than 436,000 purchased through October. But when people stop buying the F-150 -- and 26% fewer have been sold this year than last -- it's not just Ford and its workers that suffer.

Winds relent, but fires persist

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Santa Anas subside and humidity rises at three major blazes in Southern California. Agencies line up aid for displaced families, and most schools plan to open Monday.

A lull in the fierce, desert-born Santa Ana winds that pushed three devastating wildfires through Southern California delivered the first major break in days to fire crews from Anaheim Hills to Santa Barbara on Sunday, although authorities warned that shifting winds could splinter off erratic blazes and threaten homes for at least another day.

Cellphones in Yellowstone?

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

A proposal to expand cellphone towers in the park and install wireless Internet service in its hotels -- where TVs are banned -- has environmentalists furious.

Natural forces over millennia created the geysers, peaks and canyons that fascinate visitors here. But a newer feature is emerging on this stunning landscape -- cellphone towers.