Violence

Often film sequels are slam dunks at the box office, a seamless continuation from where a previous hit left off. But as the new installment of the 15-year-old franchise "Men in Black" proves, getting to the big screen isn't always a cakewalk. One of the most troubled productions in recent Hollywood memory, Sony Pictures' latest movie in the Will Smith-Tommy Lee Jones sci-fi-comedy franchise encountered multiple script rewrites, a discontented star and a three-month production shutdown as writers and studio executives scrambled to fix a project that nearly fell apart . By the time it was over, the studio had run up a tab of nearly $250 million - making "Men in Black 3" one of the most expensive releases of the summer.

Hours after accused serial killer Itzcoatl Ocampo allegedly stabbed a homeless man to death in an Anaheim parking lot, he was interviewed by a veteran detective. When Ocampo was asked what sort of consequences he deserved, the 23-year-old answered without hesitation: the death penalty - lethal injection - or "whatever is quickest," the detective, Daron Wyatt, later told a grand jury panel. On Monday, Orange County Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas said his office had come to the same conclusion and announced that he would seek the death penalty against the former Marine.

On summer nights in the mid-1960s, while black-and-white television crackled elsewhere in his Staten Island home with news of Southern violence and Vietnam, Bobby Lasnik would stretch out in his bedroom to let the righteous soundtrack of the civil rights movement waft into his impressionable teenage soul. Tuned in to WBAI-FM, coming across the water from Manhattan, he heard baleful laments about injustice that he would carry with him for a lifetime. "Suddenly there was someone speaking a certain kind of truth to you. You'd say, 'Wow!

WASHINGTON -- The debate over updating a law that protects victims of domestic abuse has become the latest battleground over immigration policy. Republicans in Congress are proposing to strip away existing protections for immigrants who are the victims of domestic violence. The Republican-drafted version of the Violence Against Women Act, originally passed in 1994, is scheduled to be debated on the House floor on Wednesday and could be brought to a vote this week. Currently the law offers anonymity to victims of domestic abuse who are applying for residency visas so that their applications cannot be sabotaged by their abusers.

An overnight spasm of homicidal violence in the District of Columbia ended near dawn with seven men dead and three wounded, including a triple slaying after a street argument, a drive-by shooting near an elementary school, a deadly domestic dispute and a craps game that ended in a fusillade of bullets, police said. All the killings, including the slaying of a man found with his throat cut in his car near his home, occurred within about a two-mile radius in sections of northeast and southeast Washington.

Israeli forces killed three Palestinian militants on the Gaza Strip border, the military and Israeli media said. Israel said the three were planting explosives. There was no immediate Palestinian comment. Despite the violence, Israel's Defense Ministry said it had decided to open three border crossings to allow some supplies into Gaza.

The call came on a Friday afternoon: Underground girl fight. Tomorrow morning. Eleven a.m. A hangar downtown on Santa Fe Avenue. The call was from a PR firm. That was all the information there was. It seemed like a Hollywood fantasy of "edgy." But it was real. Sort of. The address was a shuttered brick storefront. Razor wire coiled atop chain-link fences. Nearby was a strip joint and a seafood plant. Parking was not a problem. Around back, the circus began. Vans crammed into a tiny alley.

In the South Los Angeles streets where Stanley Tookie Williams once roamed, a few still speak admiringly of how the young co-founder of the Crips used to stroll down the avenues with one strap of his overalls undone to expose his bare 22-inch arms and 55-inch chest, just daring someone to take a shot at him.

The kids are angry. "I've never seen such rage," said Sue, the mother of a 15-year-old boy. "I remember being mad at my parents, thinking I hated them, but not every day, not every minute." The parents are fed up. "He calls our house a hellhole and says he can't wait to get out," Sue went on. "Some days I can't wait for him to get out, either." For teenagers and the adults they live with, these are confusing--even critical--times, and they are receiving precious little help getting through it.

Children who are exposed to violence experience wear and tear to their DNA that is similar to that seen in aging, according to a new study that may help explain why they face a heightened risk of mental and physical disorders as adults. In a long-term study of 118 pairs of identical twins, researchers at Duke University found that boys and girls who had experienced violence had shorter genetic structures called telomeres than youngsters who had more peaceful upbringings. The children in the former group had been physically abused by an adult or bullied frequently, or had witnessed domestic violence between the ages of 5 and 10. And the more types of violence a child had experienced, the faster his or her telomeres eroded, said study leader Idan Shalev, who published the findings Tuesday in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.

The political climate in Congress is so noxious these days that even a law that originally passed with overwhelming bipartisan support because it provided much-needed help to abused women is now a partisan issue. That's shameful. Republicans in the House should drop their attempts to undermine the Violence Against Women Act and instead move swiftly to reauthorize and strengthen the existing program, as the Senate has already done. First enacted in 1994, the law has been renewed twice without a fight.

Two retired Los Angeles County sheriff's supervisors painted a violent picture of life inside Men's Central Jail on Monday, recounting tales of deputies beating prisoners, ignoring bosses, forming cliques and engaging in off-duty misconduct. The former sergeant and lieutenant, who both retired in 2007, told a county jail commission that they felt their efforts to discipline wayward deputies were undermined by a top manager they accused of ordering supervisors to "coddle" young deputies in the jail.

'After Dark Action' "Dragon Eyes" MPAA rating: R for brutal violence, pervasive language, some sexuality/nudity and drug use Running time: 1 hour, 31 minutes "El Gringo" MPAA rating: R for bloody violence, language and some sexuality Running time: 1 hour, 38 minutes "The Philly Kid" MPAA rating: R for violence and language Running time: 1hour, 33 minutes "Stash House" ...

The folks who brought you the After Dark Horrorfest - a collection of eight scary movies playing as a collective - turn their sights to the gritty no-nonsense action picture with five films bundled under the banner "After Dark Action. " The movies aren't connected in any way except that they're being released together, yet taken as a whole, patterns do emerge - mysterious strangers new to town, bags of mislaid cash, the unexpected cameo by a slightly tarnished star, punches thrown, shots fired and feisty, capable women dressed in tank tops relegated to supporting roles.

Several violent incidents, including the shooting of a 13-year-old boy, have sparked worries of renewed gang activity in a northeast Los Angeles neighborhood where city authorities have invested many resources to combat a notorious gang. Years after a largely successful effort to clear a subgroup of the Avenues gang from Drew Street in Glassell Park, authorities say it appears that rival gangs are looking to exact revenge on, or humiliate, a once powerful and predatory enemy. "I think there's payback a little bit there," said LAPD Lt. David Kowalski, supervisor of the Northeast Division's gang unit.

BEIRUT — Violence in Syria has continued amid a cease-fire, increasing concern that the country is descending into a civil war that could have frightening implications beyond its border, United Nations envoy Kofi Annan told the Security Council on Tuesday. The U.N.-backed peace plan, meant to end the bloodshed of a 14-month antigovernment uprising, remains the only chance to stabilize the country, Annan said. "If it fails … and it were to lead into a civil war, it will not affect only Syria, it will have an impact on the whole region," he said at a news conference in Geneva after his briefing.

It's a hot, sticky Friday night in one of Tel Aviv's swankiest neighborhoods and a battle over the community's soul is about to erupt. On one side is a group of ultra-Orthodox Jews, in black coats and hats, celebrating the Sabbath by singing, praying and drinking wine in a public courtyard. Attracted by the revelry, and the wine, about two dozen teenagers and young men join in.

A Superior Court judge Wednesday approved a preliminary injunction against two street gangs accused of terrorizing and intimidating residents in the Harbor City area. Under the temporary order approved by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge James L. Wright in Long Beach, 32 alleged members of the Harbor City Crips and another Harbor City gang are barred from associating in public with their reputed cohorts.

It's been more than 31/2 politically and culturally eventful decades since the BBC debuted "I, Claudius," the now iconic political drama set in ancient Rome that shocked and amazed audiences, first in the United Kingdom and then the United States. The recent release of an anniversary-edition DVD reminded many that no matter how many naked breasts, bloody beheadings or incestuous liaisons"Game of Thrones" or"The Borgias" serve up, no matter how much spiritual and political rot is examined by"Breaking Bad" or "Homeland," there is no topping the vicious intrigues, vindictive violence and general depravity of Rome as depicted first by novelist and historian Robert Graves and then by screenwriter Jack Pullman and director Herbert Wise.

BEIRUT - More than a year after the uprising began, only 50 people were still around to protest in a Syrian town of burned buildings and pockmarked storefronts. But for the residents of Anadan who came together to call for freedom and dignity on the morningSyria'scease-fire began last month, it was as though the revolution had begun again. "We were willing to come out like it was our first day," said Abu Ghaith, an activist in the town near Aleppo that rebels seized and lost again to government forces.