Last year, California added 28 inmates to the state’s death row, eight of whom were sentenced in Los Angeles County. They aren’t in much danger of an early demise, however, thanks largely to legal delays, including a decision Tuesday by state officials not to pursue executions in 2011. The seemingly never-ending court battles mean that convicts in capital cases are far more likely to die of natura

Although the Americans have been gloatingly bandying about the death of Osama bin Laden since their “successful” operation at Abbottabad on Monday (May 2), doubts have continued to persist about the man whom they had identified as al-Qaida’s chief before taking his life. In fact, the burial of the body at sea tends to reinforce the suspicion of a questionable identity of the murdered person; if pr

In evaluating Osama bin Laden’s dubious legacy, it is important to note that there was nothing new about religiously inspired terrorism when this rich Saudi exile convened a small group of jihadists in his Peshawar, Pakistan, home in 1988 to found al-Qaida ― an organization designed to carry on the war waged so successfully against the Red Army in Afghanistan.Two of the earliest known terrorist gr

“Al-Qaida. Bin Laden. Old news. This is the time to move forward.”So said President Obama’s counterterrorism adviser John Brennan last week, and his words couldn’t be more true.For Americans, for President Obama, for the landscape of security threats we face, for the war in Afghanistan, bin Laden’s death is a game changer. Yes, there is still a terrorist threat, but the death of this killer change

SINGAPORE (AP) ― Singapore’s long-time ruling party won an overwhelming parliamentary majority in elections in the Southeast Asian city-state, but the opposition made historic gains after mounting its biggest challenge since independence in 1965, according to returns released early Sunday.The ruling People’s Action Party won 81 of the 87 parliament seats as it captured 60 percent of the 2 million

Residents form human chains in desperate bid to halt military operationDAMASCUS (AFP) ― Syrian forces rained gunfire on Banias Saturday as they pushed ahead with an assault on the restive port, killing six people, activists said, as President Bashar al-Assad’s opponents called for elections to end the crisis.Activists said dozens of tanks and armored vehicles entered Banias, on the Mediterranean c