Los Angeles International Airport

President Obama recently groused that no U.S. airport ranked among the world's top 25 airports. If you're a regular traveler to or from Los Angeles, you may be even more disappointed to learn that Los Angeles International Airport didn't even make the top 100. Obama was referring to a ranking released in April - the Skytrax World Airport Awards - that is based on a survey of 12.1 million travelers around the world. Out of 395 airports worldwide, LAX ranked 109th. It came in at 24th among 50 airports in North America.

Justin Bieber didn't get to slide right through a U.S. Customs  and Border Control checkpoint at LAX upon his return from Japan, according to reports out Thursday.  After his arrival at approximately 1 p.m., the pop star was held up for hours by a secondary customs search while his entourage, luggage and ride home were seen waiting for him outside Los Angeles International Airport's Tom Bradley International terminal, TMZ  reported.  ...

Los Angeles International Airport is among the five most "problematic or dangerous" airports in the nation, according to the 200 pilots who answered a questionnaire in Professional Pilot magazine this spring. Why? Some pilots cited the airport's design, but crowded airspace was the primary problem. There were 665,000 takeoffs and landings at LAX, the nation's third-busiest airport, last year.

Bomb squad investigators cleared a suspicious package Wednesday at Los Angeles International Airport after the buzzing object turned out be an electric toothbrush. Workers were loading baggage onto a flight at Gate 26 in Terminal 2 when they noticed an object vibrating, said LAX spokeswoman Mary Grady. Airport police responded to the reports about 11:25 a.m., LAX police Sgt. Belinda Nettles said. No evacuations were ordered, but the area around the gate was cleared so officials could investigate.

Saying that it comes down to who runs Los Angeles International Airport--the airlines or the city--airport commissioners Sunday committed $250,000 to fight a lawsuit filed Friday by 40 airlines against an increase in airport landing fees. "We will prevail," said Ted Stein, acting chairman of the Airport Commission. "Litigation is expensive, but the city's overriding interest in controlling its own airport is more important than anything else," Stein said.

The city of Los Angeles has announced that three major airlines and a commuter carrier will lose their rights to use Los Angeles International Airport early next month--and that dozens of other air carriers will follow--unless they pay disputed landing fees.

Every President from Dwight Eisenhower to George Bush has walked all over Joe Mack's work. So have the Pope, King Hussein of Jordan and the Emperor of Japan. So did Nelson Mandela, who even stopped to shake hands with Mack. Mack is part of the select custodial team at Los Angeles International Airport charged with rolling out the red carpet for visiting dignitaries.

Scientists have discovered four new species of legless lizards in California, including one species that lives beneath the sand dunes near Los Angeles International Airport. But before we go on, let's get one thing straight: Yes, a snake is a legless lizard, but not all legless lizards are snakes. Throughout the history of lizard evolution, several lizard lineages have lost their legs, James Parham of Cal State Fullerton said. Snakes are the best-known and most diverse of these lineages, but more than 200 other types of limbless lizards exist throughout the world.

Retired Rear Adm. David M. Stone, who once headed the Transportation Security Administration and was the first federal security director at Los Angeles International Airport in the critical months after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, has died. He was 57. Stone's untimely death occurred over the weekend, several days after attending an awards ceremony for TSA employees in Arlington, Va., agency officials said. He had traveled to the event from his home in Bangalore, India, where he worked for Cisco Systems Inc. as a senior executive in charge of safety and security.

LAX shooting: The latest A composed, solitary gunman shot his way into Los Angeles International Airport on Friday morning, killing a transit security screener and injuring at least one more before being wounded by police and taken into custody. The incident was over in less than 10 minutes, but caused chaos at the world's sixth-busiest airport and disrupted thousands of flights across the nation. The gunman was identified as Paul Anthony Ciancia, a 23-year-old New Jersey native who lived most recently in Los Angeles.

Finn, a large Irish wolfhound, spends some of his time cheering up travelers at Los Angeles International Airport. One day after a gunman opened fire at Terminal 3 and left a Transportation Security Administration officer dead last November, Finn was on the job. A member of LAX's Pets Unstressing Passengers, or PUPS program , Finn moved in and out of boarding gates, stopping for some petting and love from passengers. "I think after the shooting, Finn attracted attention because he represented something comforting," owner Brian Valente said in an airport statement.

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.

San Francisco 49ers linebacker Aldon Smith was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport on Sunday after he allegedly became argumentative with a screening agent and made comments suggesting he had a bomb, police said. Aldon Jacarus Ramon Smith, 24, was transported to Los Angeles Police Department's Pacific Division on the Westside, where he was booked on suspicion of making a false report of a bomb threat. Smith was randomly selected for a secondary screening about 2 p.m. at Terminal 1 when he “became belligerent and uncooperative with the process,” said airport police Sgt. Karla Ortiz.

Striking a "back to basics" theme, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti concluded his first State of the City address by challenging residents to help build "the Los Angeles of tomorrow. " "I stand before you today to say that the state of our city is strong, but is in need of fundamental reform," he said.  In a 45-minute appearance at the California Science Center, Garcetti said he would keep the Department of Water and Power from raising rates this year, foster jobs by starting to phase out the city's business tax, reform the Fire Department and make "great streets" out of 15 city byways from the San Fernando Valley to San Pedro.

Significant holes in record keeping at Los Angeles International Airport and inadequate oversight by the Federal Aviation Administration has made it difficult to ensure that millions of dollars in airport revenue are being spent properly for law enforcement, a new government audit has found. The review by the U.S. Department of Transportation's inspector general revealed that Los Angeles World Airports, the operator of LAX, has paid at least $7.9 million in the last few years to the Los Angeles Police Department without documentation showing that the services provided were airport-related.

Los Angeles airport officials on Tuesday told a City Council committee that improvements in training, communications and emergency management are on the way in the aftermath of November's deadly shooting at Los Angeles International Airport. The measures include better communication and coordination between airport and public safety command centers as well as an expanded emergency notification system for airlines, LAX concessionaires, hotels and ground transportation companies. Among the other improvements are a new wireless communications system to send emergency information to all cellphones at the airport, a special team of officials to help stranded travelers and more evacuation training for all workers at LAX. Airport Director Gina Marie Lindsey, airport Police Chief Patrick Gannon and two high-ranking emergency managers for Los Angeles World Airports appeared at a special meeting of the council's Trade, Commerce and Tourism Committee.

One thing you may not be able to do this year: Grab a bite at Encounter restaurant at the free-standing Theme Building inside Los Angeles International Airport. It has closed. Whatever new restaurant concepts are being considered and when those ideas might be presented to airport officials is unknown, an airport spokeswoman said Tuesday. Westfield Concession Management , which brought tony eateries such as Umami Burger and 800 Degrees to LAX's expanded Tom Bradley International Terminal amid a splashy rollout last year, is in charge of coming up with those concepts and ideas.

Looking to photograph the light trails of planes, Timo Saarelma set up a camera and tripod on a picnic table in Vista Del Mark Park near Los Angeles International Airport in January. Luckily, the sky was clear, and Saarelma managed to capture a couple of shots before the marine layer settled in for the evening, he said. He used a Canon EOS 7D.  Each week, we're featuring photos of Southern California submitted by readers. Share your photos on our  Flickr page  or  reader submission gallery .  Follow us on Twitter  or visit  latimes.com/socalmoments  for more on this photo series.

As the sea of luggage twists and turns down rollers from terminals at Los Angeles International Airport, the bags stop briefly at large platforms where workers separate them for flights across the world. It is there, police said, that a group of baggage handlers pulled off one of the largest property heists in airport history. For months, detectives said, workers rifled through bags looking for items to steal. "Basically everything of value -- be it electronics, jewelry and items -- that could be stolen in seconds would be removed from bags," LAX Police Chief Pat Gannon said.