El Segundo

Environmentalists have launched a global campaign against Mattel Inc., the world's largest toy company, as part of a decade-long effort to force multinational corporations to purge their operations of any links to rain forest destruction. On Tuesday, Greenpeace activists in turquoise vests rappelled down the face of the company's 15-story headquarters in El Segundo and hung a giant banner depicting a frowning Ken doll with the message: "Barbie: it's over. I don't date girls that are into deforestation.

A Hawthorne police officer died Thursday and another officer was critically injured after a motorcycle collision during a funeral procession for an officer who had passed away from cancer. Officer Andrew Garton was escorting the procession for the deceased Manhattan Beach officer when he collided with the other motorcycle officer and was thrown into oncoming traffic in Torrance, authorities said. Garton's death stunned and saddened fellow officers and officials in the tight-knit South Bay city.

After years of cutbacks and shrinking orders, Boeing Co.'s sprawling satellite-making operation in El Segundo got a major lift Monday with a $1-billion contract for three satellites for the Mexican government. The deal, which also includes supplying ground-based communications equipment, was the second big satellite contract for Boeing this year and should help keep the production line humming at a time when the state is facing a 12.4% unemployment rate. The large order could help preserve high-paying engineering jobs in Southern California and throws a lifeline to hundreds of smaller firms that supply parts for the massive satellites.

In what could be a harbinger of a protracted retrenchment in Southern California's defense industry, Northrop Grumman Corp. said Monday that it would eliminate 500 jobs in its aerospace division, with most of the cuts expected to hit its sprawling facilities in El Segundo and Redondo Beach. Century City-based Northrop cited anticipated slowing in Pentagon spending for the cutback, and analysts said further job losses were likely in coming years as the federal government grapples with rising budget deficits.

Boeing Co.'s sprawling satellite-making operation in El Segundo got a major lift Friday when it won a contract worth about $600 million to build satellites for British telecommunications giant Inmarsat. The deal to build three communications satellites marks the second big commercial contract in as many years for the company, which has been beset by layoffs amid a dearth of orders. "It's good news for Boeing, which has hit a rough patch in the satellite business in recent years," said Jay Gullish, a space and telecommunications analyst at Futron Corp.

After reviewing incoming USC President Nikias' letter to the Trojans' community, the new motto of the reshaped USC athletic department can aptly be summed as "be more like Stanford." USC has been trying to emulate Stanford's elite academic reputation for years. If USC also wants to run a squeaky clean program adherent to the highest standards in Division 1, simply look at the tape from last year's football game to see you can have your cake and eat it too. Dean Paulsen Manhattan Beach :: I am ecstatic with the dismissal of Mike "The Ostrich" Garrett and hiring of Pat Haden as athletic director at my alma mater.

Ilya Kovalchuk toured the Kings' El Segundo practice facility Monday and his agent met with General Manager Dean Lombardi much of the day, but club executives were mum about their talks and gave no indication they were near an agreement that would put the two-time 50-goal scorer in a Kings uniform next season. Kovalchuk, the prize of this summer's NHL free-agent class, flew from his Florida home to Los Angeles on Sunday night for his first face-to-face meeting with the Kings' brass since they began pursuing him July 1. He was expected to take a look around the area and try to decide whether he would feel comfortable living here with his wife and three young children — and whether the Kings' up-and-coming status might be enough reason to back off his 10-year, $100-million asking price.

• More than 1 billion GPS receivers are used by consumers and businesses to get around. • ATMs and Wall Street traders use super-accurate atomic clocks on the GPS satellites to time-stamp transactions. • GPS signals can direct "smart bombs" to within a few yards of the target. • Two dozen satellites orbiting in formation constitute GPS. • Los Angeles Air Force Base in El Segundo developed GPS and is overseeing the upgrade.

Without it, ATMs would stop spitting out cash, Wall Street could blunder billions of dollars in stock trades and clueless drivers would get lost. It's GPS, and it's everywhere. Although most people may associate the Global Positioning System with the navigation devices that are becoming standard equipment on new cars, GPS has become a nerve center for the 21st century rivaling the Internet — enabling cargo companies to track shipments, guiding firefighters to hot spots and even helping people find lost dogs.