WORLD
April 19, 2014 | By Julie Makinen
BEIJING - On the first Sunday of March, China awoke to sickening news: Black-clad attackers with knives had hacked through crowds at the train station in the southern city of Kunming, killing 29 and injuring more than 140. Reporters leaped into action, gathering details from victims in their hospital beds. President Xi Jinping urged all-out efforts to investigate the slaughter. The incident was quickly dubbed "China's 9/11. " But by nightfall Monday, the state-run New China News Agency signaled that it was time to move on. "Kunming railway station serious violent terror case is successfully solved," its headline said.
WORLD
April 19, 2014 | By Maher Abukhater, This post has been corrected. See the note at the bottom for details.
JERUSALEM - Thousands of people gathered at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem's Old City on Saturday for the lighting of the “holy fire,” an annual ritual marking the Christian belief in the resurrection of Jesus Christ after his crucifixion. The Greek Orthodox patriarch of Jerusalem battled his way through crowds shortly after midday to enter the church's small chapel, where what is believed to be Jesus' tomb is located. Minutes later, the pilgrims inside the small basilica cheered as he emerged carrying two lit bundles of 33 candles each symbolizing the age of Jesus at the time of his death.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
April 17, 2014 | By Los Angeles Times staff, This post has been corrected; see note below for details.
A Korean Airlines plane struck some light poles at Los Angeles International Airport, causing slight damage to one of its wings, authorities said Thursday. The incident occurred about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, airport officials said, according to L.A. Airspace, a Daily Breeze news blog. The Associated Press reported: The plane's right wing was scratched, but no one was injured. Two 30-foot light poles were bent. The A380 is the world's largest commercial airliner, carrying passengers in a double-deck configuration.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
April 16, 2014 | By Alicia Banks, Ruben Vives and Kate Mather
Officials said two fire trucks had their lights and sirens running when they collided Wednesday afternoon in Monterey Park, sending one careening into a restaurant. Monterey Park Fire Chief Jim Birrell said the trucks -- one from Monterey Park, the other from Alhambra -- were responding to a house fire in south Monterey Park when they crashed at the intersection of Emerson and Garfield avenues about 3:15 p.m. Officials now...
SPORTS
April 15, 2014 | By Chuck Schilken
Shawne Merriman once knocked four opposing players unconscious during a single high school football game. Can Nike make such a claim? Doubt it. Yet, the company is using "Lights Out" -- the nickname Merriman says he earned after that game -- as the name of one of its athletic apparel lines. That strikes a nerve with the former NFL star, who used the nickname throughout his career and performed a celebratory dance of the same name after sacks. And he's doing something about it. On Monday a lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court on behalf of Merriman's Lights Out Holdings LLC against Nike for trademark infringement and unfair competition.
ENTERTAINMENT
April 14, 2014 | By Christie D'Zurilla
If you never ask the question, you'll never know the answer. That truism worked two times over for "Breaking Bad" fan Stefan Montana, who last week asked Bryan Cranston - a.k.a. Walter White - to help him ask his friend Maddie to the junior prom. The answer to both questions was, happily, yes! When approached outside the theater where he's onstage as President Lyndon B. Johnson in "All the Way," Cranston obliged Montana by delivering a version of a classic "Breaking Bad" line: "Maddie, if you don't go to the prom with Stefan," he said, "then maybe your best course of action would be to tread lightly.