Father And Son

Behind an unassuming storefront in Orange County's Little Saigon, prosecutors say, was the driving force behind an illicit international trade in rhinoceros horns. Vinh Chuong "Jimmy" Kha and Felix Kha may never have journeyed to the savannas of Africa, but by trafficking in hundreds of pounds of the prized horns that some Vietnamese and Chinese believe can cure cancer, the father and son were responsible for the hundreds of rhinos targeted by poachers, prosecutors said. "Their fingers might as well have been on the triggers of poachers' guns," Assistant U.S. Atty.

A man and his son have been arrested after allegedly kidnapping his ex-wife and forcing her to undergo an exorcism in Stockton. Jose Magana-Farias, 42 and his son, Victor Farias, 20, arranged to meet with his ex-wife and mother of the son at a Wal-Mart in north Stockton on Saturday under the pretense of trying to make the marriage work, San Joaquin sheriff's Lt. Mike Jones told KCRA-TV. But after getting into the car, the men allegedly picked up two priests before forcing the woman to undergo an exorcism, Jones said.

NEW ORLEANS — Everyone knows that Super Bowl XLVII pits coaching brothers John and Jim Harbaugh. But few people are aware the game is also father versus son. Jay Harbaugh, 23, whose father coaches the San Francisco 49ers, is a coaching intern for Baltimore. He works for his uncle, John, head coach of the Ravens, and he agreed to an extensive interview with The Times, provided the story run after the teams' last media availability of the week. That media window closed Friday morning with a joint press conference featuring the Harbaugh brothers.

A father and son from  Orange County  have both died after their hunting trip to New Mexico went tragically awry last month. The son, Steve Lockhart, 43, of Costa Mesa was separated from the hunting party in Gila National Forest about midnight Oct. 20, according to New Mexico law enforcement officials. Lockhart died Sunday, shortly after he was found alive a week after he disappeared, according to the Daily Pilot . Officials had suspended rescue efforts for Lockhart days earlier, calling off the air and ground searches, which involved dozens of personnel, according to New Mexico State Police.

The masterminds of an international rhinoceros horn smuggling ring pleaded guilty in a Los Angeles federal court to illegal wildlife trafficking, money laundering and tax evasion. The pleas Friday wrapped up the first phase of a nationwide crackdown on the lucrative horn trade to Asia. Vinh Chuong "Jimmy" Kha and Felix Kha, who have been jailed since their homes and import-export business in Garden Grove and Westminster were raided in February, probably face about five more years in prison under a plea agreement with federal prosecutors.

Martin Sheen was a struggling 21-year-old stage actor when his first son Emilio was born. Sheen, seventh of 10 children in a family that knew him as Ramon Antonio Gerardo Estevez instead of his stage name, was more accustomed to having siblings than being a father. He felt more like a brother to Emilio, and that dynamic has defined their relationship to this day. In their new memoir, "Along the Way: The Journey of a Father and Son," the two examine the nature of their relationship and the ways it formed and has informed both of their lives.

They'd been a father and son estranged -- going long periods barely speaking -- but who in recent months had begun the path to reconciliation on late-night walks to a nearby Fullerton train yard. Late Wednesday, however, Virgil Lamphier, 56, and his son, David, 23, were struck and killed by a Burlington Northern Santa Fe freight train as the pair walked the tracks about 11:15 p.m. What the two were doing on the tracks is still unclear. Authorities initially speculated that they had been train-spotting.

Police have arrested three people, including a father and his teenage son, suspected of robbing several liquor stores and markets during a three-week crime rampage, San Fernando Police Chief Dominick Rivetti said Friday. Louis Reyes Murillo, 44, of San Fernando and his 15-year-old son also are expected to be charged with shooting a customer who tried to stop one of the robberies, Rivetti said.

When my father ran, he looked like he was in bad need of the Tin Man's oil can. He scrunched up his shoulders tightly, pinching the blades together just below the base of his neck and forcing his chin up at a slightly unnatural angle. From behind, this brought much more of his bald spot into view. His upper arms — from shoulders to elbows — stayed glued to his torso. At the bottom of his rib cage, each forearm stiffly jutted up and away from his body at a 45-degree angle. Whenever I picture him running, it's always from behind.

Like many sons of illustrious men, the Rev. Michael M. Bruner wishes people would stop comparing him to his father, theologian F. Dale Bruner. "Being your twin," Pastor Michael likes to tell Professor Dale, "isn't exactly my aspiration, with all due respect." But comparisons seem unavoidable with these two wiry, bespectacled graduates of Princeton Theological Seminary. Both are admired Bible expositors who love teaching and believe passionately the power of God's redeeming grace.

A shooting in Venice's Oakwood neighborhood started as a road rage incident involving possible gang members, police said. The shooting occurred about 8:15 p.m. Tuesday in the 800 block of Indiana Avenue, but Los Angeles police said Wednesday the confrontation that preceded the incident actually started much earlier. A man in his 50s was riding his motorcycle when he was cut off by up to five suspected gang members, who exchanged words with the man, NBC4 reported. The group followed the man home where the confrontation continued, said LAPD Sgt. Gregory Probst.

One of two teens arrested in connection with the fatal shooting of a father who was responding to a Craigslist ad may be involved in a string of similar robberies, authorities said. Ryan Roth, 17, and Markell Thomas, 18, are suspected in the killing, and Thomas has been implicated in similar robberies in the area, Police Det. Chris Barling said at a news conference Monday afternoon.  They were both charged with murder and attempted murder, along with two counts each of second-degree robbery with gang enhancements, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney's office.

MEXICO CITY -- "Gravity" director Alfonso Cuaron says he had gotten blasé about filmmaking when his son Jonas revived him. "Jonas injected an energy into the movie that I had lost," Cuaron told the Mexico daily Reforma. "I had become distant from a certain enjoyment of the film experience and the entertainment. " Cuaron is in his native Mexico this week promoting the film, which opens here Friday. He has been joined by Jonas, who co-wrote the screenplay with his father. PHOTOS: Scenes from 'Gravity' That energy is a good thing, many fans would say. "Gravity" broke records as it soared to be the top-grossing film in the U.S. in its first couple of weeks, marking the strongest October opening ever.

Tony Danza and Joseph Gordon-Levitt got to know each other 20 years ago on the set of the Disney baseball fantasy "Angels in the Outfield," in which Danza played an aging pitcher and Gordon-Levitt, then 12, a foster kid. "I always had a paternal thing about him," said Danza, 62, who came to fame 35 years ago as the hapless boxer/cabbie Tony Banta on the Emmy Award-winning comedy series "Taxi. " "When he was in 'Angels in the Outfield,' you could tell he was a very talented kid," noted the former professional boxer, on the phone from New York.

Oy, camping! My backpack is the size of a Honda Fit. It has 54 pockets, 27 zippers and a functioning spleen. It weighs as much as a 9-by-12 rug with a dead Soprano rolled up inside. To shed it at the end of a long hike is the sweetest thing imaginable. We have backpacked eight miles into the wilderness, no world record but nothing to sneeze at either, eight miles straight up a broken escalator. Eight miles from the nearest bucket of ice or cheeseburger, medium rare. Me, I get too far from cheeseburgers and I start to panic a little, my breath coming in short, troubled bursts.

CAMP PENDLETON - After writing scores of condolence letters, Marine Gen. John Kelly thought he knew something about the pain of having a son killed during war. Then his own son was killed in combat in Afghanistan in 2010 and Kelly found the pain more scorching and paralyzing than he had ever imagined. But it also gave him an unbreakable bond with other family members of the fallen. And so on Thursday, near the end of his speech at the unveiling of a memorial to 89 Marines and sailors from the 5th Marine Regiment killed in Afghanistan, Kelly made a personal offer of regret to the Gold Star family members in attendance - regret from someone who has suffered the same loss.

"Papa," Aurelio told me, "I want to touch the moon!" This was more than the fanciful thinking of a 5-year-old. On a father-son trip last month to watch the launch of the space shuttle, Aurelio did touch the moon — a small piece displayed at the Kennedy Space Center. On our seven-day trip to Florida, the goal was to watch the second-to-the-last shuttle launch. Aurelio is crazy about airplanes. In August, when I took him to the air show in Point Mugu, he watched the jet-powered stunts with pure amazement.

Robert L. Holton is happiest in the paint-spattered studio behind his One Day Signs shop in Anaheim, making the paint-dribbled pop art that is his true passion. If he could, Holton says, he'd devote all his time to Drizzle Studios, his fledgling side venture. But Holton feels a duty to stick with the sign business until his son, Trevor, decides whether he wants to take over the family operation. Trevor, 27, runs the office and owns a 5% share.

CORTINA D' AMPEZZO, Italy - Hiking up a road should be simple, right? It's relatively wide, so you're not apt to step off and tumble down the mountain. It's relatively smooth, so you're not likely to stumble. So why am I stopping for a breather every couple of hundred yards while I just saw a guy pushing a baby buggy down the road and my "baby" is by this time somewhere near the top? Well, there is that little matter of grade - or steepness - and Italy's Dolomites, though not of the dizzying height as the Rockies, do make the grade.

Filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan is known for surprise twists in his movies such as "The Sixth Sense," "Unbreakable" and "The Village" - show-stopping reveals that make you fundamentally rethink what you've been watching all along. Sony Pictures, the studio releasing the sci-fi thriller "After Earth," which arrives in more than 3,000 theaters Friday, may surprise moviegoers with a couple of twists of its own. Chief among them: that Shyamalan co-wrote and directed "After Earth. " After all, Shyamalan receives not so much as a mention in the movie's trailers, television commercials or billboards, which feature Will Smith and his son Jaden.