Ethnic Groups

They first appeared about 18 months ago: masked gunmen in speeding cars and scooters that kick up the mud along the canals weaving through lonely villages here. The invaders pinned notices on the walls of mosques informing residents that they now lived in the Islamic State of Iraq. For the last year, U.S.-led forces have pursued the militants from one stronghold to the next in Diyala, a province of winding waterways and abundant farms stretching north and east from Baghdad to the Iranian border.

"Police, police, police!" Young recruits cradling make-believe machine guns lined up in front of a building, identified themselves three times in Arabic, then burst through the door. The drill may have been standard, but the class at the police training center here was not: For the first time, the class -- 1,830 cadets who graduated Jan. 21 -- included as many Sunni as Shiite Muslims.

Mathew Garcia of Boyle Heights goes to the movies about once a week, ignoring theaters in his Eastside Latino neighborhood and heading straight for the suburbs. His favorite destination: nearby Alhambra, where he says he prefers the more up-to-date and comfortable multiplexes, often featuring big screens, surround sound and stadium seating. The theaters in his neighborhood are "smaller and louder," he said.

With clarinets, trumpets and tubas, the Oaxacan Echo youth band blasted its raucous music into the ceiling of St. Cecilia Catholic Church in South Los Angeles on a recent Sunday afternoon. Hector Mata, a Oaxacan immigrant, watched from the wings. St. Cecilia's was packed. That's the way it's been ever since the church began holding monthly Masses honoring the Virgin of Soledad, patron saint of the Mexican state of Oaxaca.

The leader of one of the biggest ethnic groups fighting Myanmar's military government was killed at his home in this border town Thursday, police said. Karen National Union General Secretary Mahn Sha, 64, was shot by two men, possibly as the result of differences within the rebel group, Thai police Col. Pasawat Tangjui said. No one has claimed responsibility.

Far from the volatile Shiite rivalries that have shaken Baghdad and Basra, this city has been devastated by an epic struggle for land and power between Sunni Arabs and Kurds that has shattered the social fabric and could very well shape the future boundaries of northern Iraq. Kurds say that they have been driven out of the city by Sunni Arab militants and criminal gangs, who have set off car bombs and kidnapped and killed members of their ethnic group.

Every Sunday, on a chewed-up soccer field in Pasadena, Mexican immigrants play a game they learned barefoot in the dusty pueblos along a remote stretch of the Pacific coast. The Costa Chica team -- named for the picturesque coastline south of Acapulco -- has cut a winning path through the heart of an immigrant-dominated league in Pasadena, capturing three championships in two years. Its players are agile and swift.

In Mexico, the story of the country's black population has been largely ignored in favor of an ideology that declares that all Mexicans are "mixed race." But it's the mixture of indigenous and European heritage that most Mexicans embrace; the African legacy is overlooked.

Deng Rufu sits on a rock watching the exodus of his people from their ravaged homeland. A young Qiang man with a sweating brow carries his 82-year-old grandmother on a wooden contraption strapped to his back. Another elderly woman climbs painfully with a hand-carved walking stick. A little girl in pink sneakers lags behind the rest. "At this point, we don't know how many we've lost," Deng said as he tapped on one of the few items he'd salvaged, a traditional sheepskin drum.

Long before merchants from India, El Salvador, Hong Kong and elsewhere hawked their wares in the Toy District of downtown Los Angeles, the neighborhood was filled with the colorful sights and fragrant smells of old Greece. There were Mediterranean delicacies at the city's first Greek restaurant, Marathon Cafe on 4th Street, and fine olive oil from the Kalamata Importing Co. a few doors down. A block away, Dan Stathatos Sr.