NATIONAL
April 26, 2013 | By Kim Murphy, Los Angeles Times
COLSTRIP, Mont. - Out in these windy stretches of cottonwood and prairie grass, not far from where Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer ran into problems at Little Bighorn, a new battle is unfolding over what future energy development in the West will look like. Here, rancher Wallace McRae and his son, Clint, run cattle on 31,000 acres along Rosebud Creek, land their family has patrolled with horses and tamed with fences for 125 years. They could probably go on undisturbed for 100 years more if the earth under the pastures weren't laced with coal.
WORLD
April 17, 2013 | By Alex Rodriguez and Mark Magnier, Los Angeles Times
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - On Sunday, a local politician named Mukarram Shah was in his car in the remote Pakistani village of Banjot when a bomb was detonated by remote control. He was instantly killed. The bomb was made out of a pressure cooker, a common appliance in Pakistani kitchens and an increasingly common tool of terrorism in South Asia. It is the same sort of device that is believed to have been used in the Boston Marathon bombings, although authorities caution that it does not necessarily point to South Asian perpetrators; anyone could have taken advantage of easy-to-find online plans that have been posted by Al Qaeda, among others.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
April 11, 2013 | By Cindy Chang, Los Angeles Times
Following a flurry of complaints, Los Angeles County inspectors have cited 16 "maternity hotel" owners for illegally operating boardinghouses in residential zones. The facilities, all in Rowland Heights or Hacienda Heights, will ultimately be shut down, county officials said. No major health or safety issues were found at the hotels, where women from Asia stay to give birth to U.S. citizen babies. Some were cited for building and fire code violations, according to a report released Thursday.
ENTERTAINMENT
March 31, 2013 | By Scarlet Cheng
A picture may be worth a thousand words, but this one has inspired many more, because it has become a departure point for how Europeans became acquainted with Asia. When the Getty acquired an 17th century drawing by Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens, "Man in Korean Costume," at a 1983 auction, it was already well known among the cognoscenti. Then six years ago Getty curator Stephanie Schrader learned that it had inspired two books in Korea - a bestselling novel in 1993 and a nonfiction volume by a Jesuit historian in 2004.
NEWS
March 21, 2013 | By Rosemary McClure
Cherry blossom season sprang to life earlier than usual this year in Tokyo and is now in full swing, according to Japan's weather agency. An official rite of spring, the blooming of cherry trees is a beloved natural spectacle in Japan, involving nationwide parties and celebrations to take in the flowers' short-lived beauty. The first blossoms were spotted this year on March 16, the earliest date on record. Among the festivities are special events at the Peninsula Tokyo , which got into the act early by importing cherry blossoms and setting 14 florists to work to create seven huge arrangements.
BUSINESS
March 15, 2013 | By Don Lee
WASHINGTON -- Japan intends to join the talks for an ambitious free-trade pact with the U.S. and 10 other countries, raising the economic stakes of the negotiations but also potentially delaying agreement as American and Japanese interests tangle over protecting their respective car and farm markets. The decision, announced Friday by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, was expected after his White House meeting three weeks ago with President Obama, who sees the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, as a way to strengthen the U.S. economy and influence in the Asia-Pacific region.