Violence

Re "Search for a lasting good," Column, Dec. 18 Sandy Banks' piece on the Newtown, Conn., shootings was thoughtful. I agree that it will be a worthwhile struggle to get some sensible gun control laws put in place. And even though we will never be able to burn all the spindles in the kingdom, we can considerably reduce the opportunity for harm. But what about motive? Our kids' brains are marinating in violence because of the toys we buy them, the ads they see and the media they use. This is true for all kids - bright and average, well adjusted and troubled.

Every day, we wake up to headlines and images of devastating and seemingly endless violence in hot spots around the globe. In Pakistan, for example, a series of attacks over the last few weeks has killed scores and seriously injured many more. But beneath the headlines, there is another great challenge that is often the root cause of violence or its unintended consequences: increasing rates of hunger and an alarming lack of food. One of the recent attacks in Pakistan struck the United Nations World Food Program office in Islamabad.

CAIRO -- Egypt's young revolutionaries organized a rare gathering Thursday for deeply divided Islamist and liberal political parties to denounce the violence and unrest that have threatened the nation's stability and economy. The meeting came after days of bloody clashes between protesters and security forces that have left at least 54 people dead and hundreds injured across the country. Egypt has become increasingly volatile since President Mohamed Morsi took office in June and his party linked to the Muslim Brotherhood rose to power.

In one of the most infamous scenes in modern drama, a group of young men in a London park stone a baby to death in its carriage. What begins as roughhousing escalates to all-out sadism until a rock is thrown at point blank range, ending the child's pitiful cries for good. Edward Bond's "Saved" provoked outrage when it was produced in 1965 by the Royal Court Theatre as a private club offering, a designation used to slip past the Lord Chamberlain's Office. Although "Saved" isn't revived often, it's considered a modern classic, and not just because it was instrumental in overturning Britain's strict theater censorship laws.

Plunk the kids down in the den and turn on the tube. Hello, "WWF Smackdown," and goodbye juvenile delinquency! That, anyway, is the marvelously counterintuitive notion of Jib Fowles, a communications professor at the University of Houston's Clear Lake campus.

As the Myanmar government urged calm, Muslim shops reportedly sat shuttered Monday in the capital of Yangon, a sign of continued unease after the re-eruption of deadly religious violence in the country. Riots in the central city of Meiktila, reportedly triggered by an argument between Buddhists and a Muslim shop owner, are estimated to have killed at least 32 people last week. Mosques were burned and homes destroyed as mobs attacked Muslims. The violence spread beyond Meiktila through the week and into the weekend, displacing thousands of people.

A fundraiser being hosted by Los Angeles County sheriff's officials Thursday night ended in violence, with one guest arrested and more arrests possible, a spokesman confirmed. Sheriff's deputies were hosting a party at Cities, a bar and restaurant in East Los Angeles, to raise money for an annual law enforcement relay race. About 2 a.m. Friday, there was an altercation that involved off-duty deputies and guests. One woman invited to the party was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer.

A lethal rash of violence that marred the opening of "Boyz N the Hood," a movie depicting the struggles of growing up in South-Central Los Angeles, prompted several theaters Saturday to cancel the feature and many others to increase security amid fears of a repeat of Friday night's bloodshed. Eleven people were wounded, one critically, as gunfire erupted in and around three Southern California theaters.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Attackers swept into a village in southeastern Kenya involved in longstanding ethnic disputes and killed at least 30 residents early Friday, police and the Kenyan Red Cross told local media. Nine of the assailants also died in the violence. The assault on the village of Kipao reflected long-held tensions over land and access to river water between rival communities of Pokomo farmers and Orma cattle herders in the region. Friday's attack was carried out by about 150 Pokomo, Kenyan police spokesman Anthony Kamitu told journalists.

With drug-related violence growing along the Mexico border, the U.S. is willing to consider deploying troops to the Southwest -- but only as a last resort -- a Department of Homeland Security official told members of Congress on Thursday. Help might come from the National Guard or even the Army if the deadly threat from Mexico's powerful cartels gets so bad that Homeland Security officials cannot secure border towns, Roger Rufe, the department's director of operations, told a House subcommittee.