Carnivals

For years, my husband and I had wanted to take our children to London before the magic of "Peter Pan" and "Mary Poppins" wore off, before the older two became too jaded for the Changing of the Guard and double-decker buses, before they would rather hang out with their friends than go anywhere with their family. But the pound, at $2 a pop, was just too strong. Then last year the pound fell, our frequent-flier miles covered three of our five tickets, and we could proudly announce to our kids that we were going to London for Christmas.

AGA, Egypt - After an unfriendly journalist was tossed off, Amr Moussa's campaign bus headed north to the Nile Delta, where barefoot boys and peasants greeted him with horns, drums and two dancing horses. Moussa arrived as both novelty and sensation, a front-runner in Egypt's first freely contested presidential election. The former diplomat who once negotiated with world leaders walked roads strewn with hay and spotted with manure, giving speeches on dignity and chatting with elders near herds of sheep and sheds full of broken farm equipment.

George Boyington of Portland, Ore., was fiddling around in his kitchen when he created a staple of modern day carnival cuisine: the hot dog on a stick. The Pronto Pup, as Boyington named his creation, made its public debut in 1942 during a horse exposition at the Portland fairgrounds. Since then, the deep-fried, batter-covered hot dogs--which are also known as corn dogs--have become a common sight at fairgrounds and carnivals across the country. Alex Sulmonetti, who bought the Pronto Pup Co.

Twenty-two guests on the Carnival Splendor cruise ship out of Long Beach were robbed at gunpoint in Mexico last week as they traveled by bus from a nature hike in the jungle to the Mexican port city of Puerto Vallarta, according to cruise ship officials and local media reports. Hooded gunmen intercepted the tourists' bus about 5 p.m. Thursday as it returned from the pueblo of El Nogalito, known for its trail through the jungle, according to the Mexican newspapers El Norte and La Jornada.

Thwarted in its first attempt at a carnival by a downpour last spring, Pierce College bided its time until Labor Day to reach for the brass ring again. This time, under sunny skies, the five-day event drew healthy crowds and raised about $16,000 for the cash-strapped school, said athletic director Robert Lyons, whose department sponsored the fair.

To say that Temple Kol Tikvah's celebration of Purim had a carnival atmosphere Sunday would be an understatement. In celebration of the Jewish holiday, which commemorates the biblical tale of the deliverance of Persian Jews from destruction by King Haman, the upper- and lower-level parking lots of the Woodland Hills-based temple were converted into a place for family fun. Kol Tikvah's second annual Purim carnival featured just about everything for everyone.

The September Carnival underway at Ritchie Valens Recreation Center will raise money for children's activities at the Pacoima park. The three-day event, which concludes Sunday, features rides, games, food and a special concert tonight with performances of Latino music and dance groups, said Chuck Chavoor, senior director at the park.

City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky agreed Friday to extend the hours of a carnival in Sherman Oaks that would shut down Ventura Boulevard after organizers presented a petition showing neighbors supported the event. In a random sample of 56 residents who live near the fair site, 50 said they would not object if the three-day carnival ran until 10 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 19, two hours later than the City Council had approved.

Hoping to bring a little bit of Disneyland to central Santa Ana, the Boys and Girls Club will sponsor its first-ever carnival beginning today. The club hopes to raise up to $3,000 from the four-day event, which runs through Sunday. Admission is $1, and rides will cost $1.50 to $2.25. Food and drink also will be available. John Brewster, the club's executive director, said the carnival is designed to boost the club's profile in the community and attract more members.

A bomb ripped through a village in northern Bangladesh during a carnival, killing seven people, police said. No one claimed responsibility for the blast Friday in Dariapur, 40 miles north of the capital, Dhaka. Ten people were held for questioning, and a team of army experts was investigating, police said. The blast went off as several hundred people gathered for the carnival, an annual event that includes concerts and a handicraft show.

It was an offer that turned out to be pretty easy to refuse. A cache of 6,000 U.S. Treasury bonds — each with a face value of $1 billion — available for a limited time only. And if you acted quickly on the $6-trillion offer, you'd get a signed copy of the Treaty of Versailles, the 1919 document that ended World War I. But there were a couple of problems with the documents seized by Italian police in Switzerland as part of an international fraud investigation. Despite the soaring federal budget deficit, the U.S. government does not sell a $1-billion Treasury bond.

In an attempt to stop the spread of chaos throughout the country one week before Carnival, Brazil on Friday arrested leaders of a police strike in Rio de Janeiro before it got fully underway in that city. Police officers demanding higher pay had already walked off the job in the northeastern state of Bahia, whose capital is Salvador, for 10 days, and about 150 people died in the ensuing criminal violence. Authorities in both cities now claim the situation is under control, but the earlier turmoil in Salvador — and the decision of some Rio police and firefighters to join the strike late Thursday night — has led to questions about the country's ability to safely put on this year's Carnival festivities, as well as play host to the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympic Games two years later.

The Costa Concordia disaster, in which at least 11 lives were lost and 21 people are missing, has spurred Carnival Corp.to conduct a fleet-wide review of its cruise ships' safety and emergency response procedures. While expressing "every confidence" in the safety of its 100 ships - which include the fleets of Costa Cruises, Cunard, Holland America, Princess and Seabourn - Micky Arison, chairman and CEO of Miami-based Carnival, said the company wants “to make sure that this kind of accident doesn't happen again.” Passengers described a scene of chaos, with the crew unprepared and overwhelmed, after the Concordia ran aground and capsized last Friday off the Italian island of Giglio.

Stung by criticism over its performance during recent riots, Scotland Yard plans to flood the British capital with officers this weekend during a popular street festival that will pose the agency's first major test after the outbreak of violence and disorder across England. The Metropolitan Police Service, as Scotland Yard is formally known, has canceled all staff vacations and called in reinforcements from other police forces around the country to provide security during the Notting Hill carnival, a celebration of Caribbean culture that draws up to 1 million revelers to West London each year.

Kids will be kids Re "Why does Electric Daisy draw fire?," Opinion, Aug. 22 My son has been attending the Electric Daisy concerts for several years. Like many attendees, I'm sure, my kid isn't your typical juvenile delinquent: He's on his high school's honor roll and is a hospital volunteer, among other things. Why he likes Electric Daisy is a mystery to me. But I doubt my parents understood why my generation liked Jefferson Airplane, the Doors or, for that matter, love-ins at Griffith Park.

A former carnival worker has been arrested in connection with the 1978 cold case murder of an executive found stabbed to death in his Palms home, Los Angeles police said Monday. Walter Randolph Peartree, 62, was arrested on the L.A. County murder warrant at 10:30 a.m. at his residence in Delaware, Ohio, according to a statement from the LAPD Robbery-Homicide Division's cold case unit. Peartree was taken into custody without incident and could be in an Ohio courtroom as early as Tuesday for an extradition hearing.

A three-day carnival in Sherman Oaks that will raise money for local schools and the Chamber of Commerce is scheduled to start tonight and culminate Sunday in a street fair that will shut down a stretch of Ventura Boulevard for 15 hours. The second annual Sherman Oaks Street Fair and Carnival will close off the major thoroughfare to cars between Van Nuys Boulevard and Cedros Avenue from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.

State occupational safety officials are investigating the death of a carnival worker who was struck and killed by an amusement ride late Sunday in Reseda, authorities said. Walter Vofrei, 43, of Colton died of massive head injuries when he was struck by machinery at 9:42 p.m. at a street fair on Reseda and Victory boulevards, according to the Los Angeles County coroner's office, the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Fire Department.

Two major theater chains have decided not to show the documentary "Electric Daisy Carnival Experience" in the wake of a near-riot outside the film's Hollywood premiere earlier this week. In canceling the screenings Friday, Regal and AMC theaters cited "the incident in Los Angeles. " Violence erupted after a popular DJ known as Kaskade, who was attending the invitation-only premiere, tweeted about a block party. The Los Angeles Police Department had to be called in when some fans became unruly, throwing rocks and bottles and damaging three police cruisers.

A roundup of entertainment headlines for Thursday. The Electric Daisy Carnival documentary had its premiere in Hollywood last night, and a near-riot broke out. ( Los Angeles Times ) The cast of the 25th anniversary touring company of "Les Miserables" mashed up its musical with Jay-Z and Alicia Keys' "Empire State of Mind" for a video. ( Los Angeles Times ) A woman tried to burgle Alex Trebek's hotel room in San Francisco, but the "Jeopardy!" host gave chase.