Celebrations

The candlelight in the foyer of the Italian Embassy glittered like stars on the glass domed ceiling. Below, many of the nation's brightest Democratic political lights and their friends and supporters gathered to celebrate Nancy Pelosi's ascent this week to House speaker. The guests sat at round tables that were covered in crisp white linens and decorated with peach-colored roses and lilies, ringed with tea lights.

Concerts, exhibitions and movie showings are among the events planned worldwide to remember Arturo Toscanini, 50 years after the death of the celebrated Italian conductor. Commemorations will take place throughout 2007, mostly organized by countries and musical institutions that were touched by Toscanini's work as an artist and by his political stance as a staunch opponent of fascism and Nazism. Key events are to take place on Jan.

Some boogied, sang or cheered in the streets. Some lounged on lawn chairs or waved from their home balconies. Some quietly rocked on porches, baby on knee. In all, an estimated 120,000 people turned out for the 22nd annual Martin Luther King Jr. Kingdom Day parade Monday morning in South Los Angeles, the largest in Southern California celebrating the life of the slain civil rights leader. The parade, which traveled a 1.5-mile route headed west from Western Avenue down West Martin Luther King Jr.

Tucked away in the foothills of the eastern San Gabriel Mountains is the small town of Sierra Madre, which residents say they treasure for lots of reasons. Sure, there are one-of-a-kind beautiful homes. Neighbors know each other. Kids are safe to walk downtown. But what they beam most about is the way so many in the community give something back. "This is a town run on volunteers," said Bud Switzer, 78, who moved to Sierra Madre 68 years ago and was voted Citizen of the Year in 2006.

East Los Angeles has long fought for its share of services and its place among the communities around it. On Wednesday, hundreds of its residents and leaders turned out to celebrate a victory in that campaign with emotional as well as practical implications.

This Brazilian city entered its famously joyous Carnival weekend Friday as a surge of violence has raised questions about the effectiveness of police officers and troops drafted to curb the mayhem. The slayings in recent days of a samba leader and a 6-year-old boy, coming amid a homicidal spree of drug violence in the city's poor hillside neighborhoods, have shaken the confidence of the self-proclaimed Marvelous City.

The Chinese New Year begins Sunday, and several Southern California festivities are planned through the end of February to celebrate the Year of the Boar. "With nearly 1.5 million persons of Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese descent living in the Los Angeles area, we should see big celebrations like the ones back in Asia," said Steven Lee, vice president of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce. In the U.S.

The Los Angeles Unified School District broke ground Wednesday on a new high school on the Eastside, the first to be built in the area in 85 years. About 500 Boyle Heights-area parents, students, school district and civic leaders celebrated construction of the school with a Mexican breakfast, trumpets and balloons.

Six-year-old Ishika Muchhal trembles with excitement as she hides near the park's picnic benches, her face smeared with powdered paints: green, pink and red, with a splotch of blue on her forehead and a hint of yellow on her nose. Earlier, she had been hit directly between the shoulders by a boy she calls "an enemy of mine." There's even a yellow and green drenched spot as proof. She tells her tale gleefully, reenacting the scene with a smile and a hint of the dramatic.

George Foreman is paying a one-night party rate of nearly $10,000 at a 102-year-old neoclassical building in downtown Houston tonight to celebrate. He has flown in the Vienna Boys Choir and country music legend Glen Campbell to perform.