Children

A woman stabbed her two young daughters, critically wounding one, before trying to kill herself Wednesday morning while staying at a relative's Westminster home, police said. Thuy Le, 38, and her 3- and 5-year-old daughters were spending the night at her cousin's quaint, one-story home on Starsia Street, police said. Le and the girls slept on a spare mattress in the living room, said her cousin, Toan Pham, 51. Shortly before 6:30 a.m. Wednesday, Pham said he was awoken by children screaming.

Even in a country that has endured so much suffering, few images could more tragically convey the senseless violence gripping Somalia today than the expressionless stare of a 5-year-old boy named Omar. As he slept next to his mother one recent morning, a stray bullet from a nearby gun battle struck him in the back of the head. He made no movement or sound, so his family members didn't even notice at first. Later they saw blood oozing from a small hole in his head and thought it was a snakebite.

Although many children are preparing to go back to school next week, 70 disadvantaged youths are being treated to a healthy dose of summer fun at a Griffith Park camp this weekend that offers first-time experiences such as archery and camping. The three days at Camp Wesson are the highlight of Adrian Guzman's summer, he said. "It's a lot of fun," said Adrian, a seventh-grader at Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. Middle School in Los Angeles. "I don't get to do things like this at home."

As many as 13% of children receive sexual solicitations online, but very few are from adults over age 21, according to a report released Tuesday by a Harvard University task force. The findings led the task force to conclude that parents may worry too much about their children's exposure to adult sexual predators, and too little about how to teach kids to resist advances from other kids or the type of seductions that could lead to statutory rape.

The police in Greenfield, a Monterey County farm town, had heard the rumors before: Migrant workers from rural Mexico were marrying off daughters as young as 12 and receiving sizable dowries. But no such cases were ever prosecuted -- until this week. Marcelino de Jesus Martinez, 36, is in Monterey County Jail, charged with crimes related to an alleged attempt to set up a marriage for his 14-year-old daughter.

Recent graduates of "Sesame Street" (and their parents) rejoice -- on Jan. 19 a revamped version of "The Electric Company" premieres on PBS Kids Go. And, you should know, there's lots of beat-boxing. The original "Electric Company" premiered in 1971 -- two years after "Sesame Street" launched and became an instant (and unexpected) success. Joan Ganz Cooney, the visionary behind both shows, created "The Electric Company" as a follow-up with a focus on phonics.

A 4-year-old boy walking with his sister was shot and killed Tuesday afternoon in a neighborhood south of Angelino Heights, Los Angeles police officials said. LAPD Deputy Chief Sergio Diaz said that at least one person opened fire on a red car driving down the street, and one of the shots apparently struck the boy in the chest. The shooting occurred in the 1200 block of Court Street about 4:25 p.m.

The same driveway that played host to so many family parties -- including 4-year-old Roberto Lopez Jr.'s birthday celebration last month -- turned into a scene of sorrow Wednesday, a day after the boy was killed by shots fired at a red car driving through the neighborhood south of Echo Park. Under a blue tarp suspended over the driveway, dozens of relatives, friends and neighbors formed a circle on the pavement, weeping and praying on the same spot where just a month ago Roberto Jr.

Slain Florida toddler Caylee Anthony's mouth was covered with silver duct tape that had been adorned with a heart-shaped sticker, according to reports released Wednesday. The reports released by the state attorney's office also said that duct tape was attached to her hair, and that the girl's remains were placed in a laundry-hamper bag and then secured in a plastic garbage bag before being left in the woods. When investigators processed the duct tape at an FBI lab in Quantico, Va.

A young man with a gruesomely painted black-and-white face went on a rampage Friday at a day-care center, stabbing two babies and a worker to death and seriously wounding 12 people. Sobbing, frantic parents rushed to the scene and to nearby hospitals. Shocked rescue workers spoke of finding crying, bleeding toddlers in the center. The seriously injured -- 10 children and two adults -- were taken to six hospitals, where they underwent emergency surgery.