Fighting

When the White House sent a last-minute invitation for Asif Ali Zardari to attend the two-day NATO summit, they were taking a highly public gamble. Would sharing the spotlight with President Obama and other global leaders induce the Pakistani president to allow vital supplies to reach alliance troops fighting in Afghanistan? But long before the summit ended Monday, the answer was clear: No deal. Zardari's refusal to reopen the supply routes left a diplomatic blot on a summit that NATO sought to cast as the beginning of the end of the conflict in Afghanistan.

Dolores Huerta runs on righteous ferocity the way cars run on gasoline. The woman who co-founded the United Farm Workers union 50 years ago with Cesar Chavez has harried, prodded, hectored, rallied and protested. She's been arrested more than a score of times, and once, picketing in San Francisco, she was beaten so badly by a police officer that her spleen was ruptured. You'd be hard-pressed to tell, the way she bounces around the Central Valley, a woman on many missions. So, can she stand still next week in Washington long enough for President Obama to present her with the Medal of Freedom, along with honorees such as Toni Morrison, John Glenn and Bob Dylan?

Bob Brickman spent months fighting a ticket he got last fall from a red-light traffic camera at Wilshire and Sepulveda boulevards in West Los Angeles. The 61-year-old from Playa Vista eventually decided to give up the fight and fork over the $476 fine. Now he's regretting paying every penny. City officials this week spotlighted a surprising revelation involving red-light camera tickets: Authorities cannot force violators who simply don't respond to pay them. For a variety of reasons, including the way the law was written, Los Angeles officials say the fines for ticketed motorists are essentially "voluntary" and there are virtually no tangible consequences for those who refuse to pay. The disclosure comes as the city is considering whether to drop the controversial photo enforcement program, with the City Council scheduled to vote on the matter Wednesday.

LAS VEGAS -- Dana White was upset and wanted to make something clear. Last Friday night, as White attempted to lounge inside his office building where cable network FX films live fights for the Ultimate Fighting Championship's reality show, "The Ultimate Fighter," he wanted to return to the topic of mixed-martial-arts journalism. As president and chief promoter of the UFC, White seeks as much attention as possible for his organization, but occasionally — if not often — he is chafed by the accuracy of online reporting by MMA writers.

A heavyweight fight between Fedor Emelianenko and Brock Lesnar is the bout most mixed martial arts fans want to see, but contractual obligations and medical problems are likely to prevent a showdown between the two for another year, Emelianenko's camp said Monday. Emelianenko survived a cut nose Saturday to retain his unofficial standing as the top MMA heavyweight in the world by defeating Brett Rogers in a second-round technical knockout. He closed the victory with a stand-up, right-handed punch, then pounced on Rogers to deliver a left-right combination on the canvas before the referee ended the fight.

For years, Donna Lozano badgered the Desert Hot Springs Police, public officials and anyone else who would listen, trying to get information about her son's killer. Henry Lozano, a popular 20-year-old ex-Marine, had been shot dead by a suspected gang member in December 2001 while driving near his home. He was dating the man's former girlfriend and had received threats to stay away. "I wanted answers. The police never called. The officer in charge of the case had never done a murder investigation," said Lozano, 65. "I said my son is dead, and I have no information."

Ethnic fighting in southern Sudan claimed 76 lives over the weekend as tribal militias attacked the village of Duk Padiet, burning more than 2,000 homes, officials said Monday. Among the dead were about two dozen government security officers who were defending the village, according to Maj. Gen. Kuol Diem Kuol, spokesman for the southern Sudan army. At least 46 people were injured and 1,800 were left homeless, he said. The raid was part of a surge in violence in southern Sudan that has killed more than 2,000 people this year and displaced 250,000, according to the United Nations.

Majoring in biology at UC Irvine may not have been the most obvious preparation for a career as a fight coordinator for films, including "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse." Still, Jonathan Eusebio sees value in his studies of mitochondria and cytoskeletons. "Biology doesn't relate to film but school teaches you how to interact with different types of people, be disciplined and turn things in on a deadline," he said. "School gives you those necessary skills to get things done." The Canadian-born son of two nurses, Eusebio moved to California as a third-grader and took up taekwondo, boxing, judo and several other martial arts a few years later.

Helene Elliott's celebration of a fight in a WNBA game is sad commentary on one of the uglier aspects of professional sports. Elliott says the added exposure is "priceless" publicity -- evidence of the emotion and drive in women's basketball. Actually, it shows that the WNBA has taken a step away from sport and moved toward hockey-like stupidity where violence is allowed because it sells tickets. Contrary to Elliott's belief, fighting is not necessarily an indicator of sports competitiveness.

It's wrong to say that Bob Iritano is fighting for his life; he knows he's lost that battle. What he's fighting for is time. You wouldn't know it to look at him, but Iritano, 50, has terminal cancer. It's not a question of whether he's going to die. The only question is when, and how much longer he'll be with his family. Iritano, understandably, wants all the time he can get -- many years, if possible. His health insurer, he believes, has a different time frame in mind. "My best guess is that they want me dead as soon as possible," he said matter-of-factly as we spoke at the dining room table of his Westlake Village home.

Reacting to Eric J. Segall's Op-Ed article on Tuesday warning of a gay rights backlash if theU.S. Supreme Court overturns Proposition 8, reader Sara Wan of Malibu wrote: "It is wrong to suggest that pushing for civil liberties should be left to Congress and not include the judicial system. As long as discrimination is legal, it is harder to fight it. "Segall's analogy to past laws banning interracial marriage is incorrect. While there was not a specific push to legalize interracial marriage, the 1967 Supreme Court decision was the direct result of the civil rights movement.

Re "It's time to serve up some big incentives to reduce obesity," Column, May 15 Americans seem to be bipolar when it comes to weight. We are bombarded with conflicting messages in the media. We are told to strive for the hard bodies featured in the Nautilus ads, but no sooner has that commercial faded than a triple-bacon cheeseburger splats onto the screen, being consumed by a bikini model who likely subsists on tofu and kale. We are constantly faced with choosing between need and want.

SACRAMENTO - Twenty-two years after California became one of the first states to limit legislators' terms in office, voters are about to decide whether the rules should be changed. In 1990, voters limited lawmakers to three two-year terms in the Assembly and two four-year stints in the Senate, for a total of 14 years in the Legislature. Proposition 28, on the June 5 ballot, would limit lawmakers to 12 years in the Legislature but allow all of those to be served in one house. Proponents contend that existing law doesn't give people enough time in one office to fully master complex issues and the lawmaking process.

OK, so I recognize that guy. Of course, absolutely, that's him. Still clutch, still fearless, still talented enough to throw his aging body in front of a defeat and almost single-handedly stop it, spin it on its axis, and turn it into a victory. Yeah, Kobe Bryant is still the one. Two days after giving away a second-round playoff game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Bryant grabbed one back for the Lakers on Friday night, controlling the momentum and creating the magic that gave the Lakers a 99-96 home victory in Game 3. With memories of Bryant's fourth-quarter collapse Wednesday still fresh, Bryant scored 14 points in this fourth quarter to give the Lakers new life, if only for 24 hours.

In March, when I wrote that the tax increase proposals by Gov. Jerry Brown and civil rights attorney Molly Munger were unimaginative if not doomed, I got an email from Munger. She did not agree, at least with regard to her initiative. "Unimaginative?" she wrote, inviting me to meet with her. This week, I decided to take her up on her offer after watching Brown admit that the financial mess he told us about in January was nothing compared to the mess we're in now. Frankly, I don't know how the January estimates were so far off the mark, with a $9-billion hole turning into a $16-billion hole in less time than it takes to grow tomatoes.

WASHINGTON — As President Obama welcomed congressional leaders for a White House chat over hoagies about setting aside differences to improve the economy, a far different scenario was unfolding at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue. Republicans in the House and Senate were conducting a series of partisan maneuvers Wednesday on legislation that has no chance of reaching the president's desk. The votes in the Senate on budget measures, which would slash social programs and revamp Medicare, were designed to underscore the GOP's alternatives to Obama's policies in advance of the November election.

Robert Hughes scored on a one-yard run in overtime, safeties Harrison Smith and Kyle McCarthy jarred the ball loose from Washington receiver D'Andre Goodwin near the goal line on fourth and 19, and Notre Dame defeated Washington, 37-30, Saturday. It was the fourth consecutive game decided in the last 60 seconds for the Fighting Irish, the last three of which were victories. The Irish (4-1) stayed in it with two goal-line stands in the second half. The first was late in the third quarter when the Irish stopped the Huskies (2-3)

A championship belt changes everything. Lyoto Machida was once viewed as a skilled but boring mixed martial arts fighter from Brazil. In becoming the new king of the Ultimate Fighting Championship's light-heavyweight division -- its most talented division -- with several impressive knockouts on his record, Machida's mystique is being saluted by UFC executives as something resembling a revival of Bruce Lee. "He's interesting, calm, powerful," UFC...

OKLAHOMA CITY - Is it over? It's just the first game in two weeks' worth of them, the earliest hours in a brawl that could last all day, but I know what everyone is thinking, so we might as well ask it. Is this first punch a knockout punch? How on earth can the Lakers peel themselves off the floor to win four of the next six games against an Oklahoma City team that just beat them by 29 points, two dozen sprints, a dozen floor burns, six dunks, five tongue-wagging celebrations, and one glaring Derek Fisher?

President Obama's fundraiser Thursday night at George Clooney's house was marked by the glitz of celebrity attendees and jokes about the president's graying hair and wrinkled visage. But the tone of the president, less defiant than prior visits, more sober, was a reflection of the headwinds he faces going into the general election. Obama highlighted the challenge of wooing an electorate that is still struggling in the nation's slowly recovering economy. “This is going to be harder than it was the last time -- not only because I'm older and grayer and your "Hope" posters are dog-eared,” Obama said to laughter.