Witnesses

WASHINGTON - The British and French governments have asked the United Nations to investigate what they believe is credible evidence that the Syrian regime has used small amounts of chemical weapons in recent months, officials said Thursday. The evidence, including soil samples and witness testimony, is not definitive. But the indications are such that "we are pressing the United Nations to investigate further and raising our concerns with international partners," said a British diplomat who requested anonymity in addressing a sensitive matter.

MEXICO CITY - Operation Cleanup was a showcase effort to stamp out corruption within Mexico's elite organized-crime bureau. Twenty-five top law-enforcement officials were arrested in the weeks after the operation was launched in 2008, most accused of acting as highly paid moles for a leading drug cartel, the very villains the officials were supposed to be chasing. Today, the cases against them are a shambles, yet another example of Mexico's systemic corruption and a weak judiciary unable to fix it. The operation is also the most high-profile prosecution among the many that fell apart under the government of President Felipe Calderon, which ended nearly five months ago. This week, a federal judge freed the highest-ranking of those ensnared by Operation Cleanup.

The headline on this post has been corrected, as noted below. Would-be jurors in the Michael Jackson wrongful death case were asked to review the extensive list of witnesses who might be called to testify, and to let the court know if they recognize any of the names. Selecting a panel in what's expected to be a lengthy and potentially sensational trial  has been a laborious and time-consuming process  since scores of potential jurors were first brought to the downtown Los Angeles courtroom last week to see whether they had the time to even commit to a months-long case.

Long Beach police Monday night were looking for at least three people who witnessed a 63-year-old man being set on fire last week as he sat inside his sport utility vehicle. Jerry Payne was trapped inside his green SUV as flames quickly devoured the vehicle Friday evening. Payne died Monday morning , the Long Beach Police Department said. Payne was alone in the SUV outside a 7-Eleven store in the 5100 block of Pacific Coast Highway when a man walked up to the driver's side and threw a flammable substance into the vehicle, which exploded into flames, police said.  Some people rushed to help Payne, who lived in Long Beach.

Frank Bank, who as Clarence "Lumpy" Rutherford served as the dim-witted foil to "Beaver" Cleaver and brother Wally on the classic TV comedy "Leave It to Beaver," died Saturday. He was 71. A spokesman for Hillside Memorial Park in Los Angeles confirmed Bank's death but did not disclose where he died or the cause. Bank had a number of illnesses and was hospitalized recently in Rancho Mirage, said Jerry Mathers who played Beaver Cleaver in the popular series that ran from 1957 to 1963.

The large child known as Jonathan Winters died Friday at age 87. Accompanying him into the now-noisier hereafter were the multitudes he contained, a cast of men, women, children of every race and nationality, rich and poor, city and country. Some were characters with names to whom the comedian would return - Maude Frickert, the go-go granny - but more of them existed for a minute or less, brought into focus, played with and then sent on their way, as another appeared in their place.

Witnesses said they watched in horror as a homeless man allegedly set a 62-year-old man on fire in his sport utility vehicle. Raymond Sean Clark, 38, is accused of dousing the victim with a flammable substance while he was parked in front of a 7-Eleven store about 5 p.m. Friday, Long Beach Police Sgt. Aaron Eaton told The Times. Eaton said that the attack happened at the intersection of Clark Avenue and Pacific Coast Highway, and that witnesses to rushed to the victim's aid, but not before he was critically injured with burns over most of his body.

A candlelight vigil has been planned for next week to honor Audrie Pott, the Saratoga High School sophomore who committed suicide after three boys allegedly sexually assaulted her. The vigil, announced on the Facebook page set up by a foundation named in her honor, comes amid growing outrage over the case. "We would appreciate it if potential attendees would wear teal. Thank you for your continued support," organizers said about the April 19 event. The foundation also urged anyone with information about the case to come forward: "If students have information about this crime, if they saw pictures or know anything that will assist in bringing these young men to justice, please come forward.

Comic great Jonathan Winters was struggling to make a name for himself in the early 1950s when a man at the nightclub where he was performing offered some life-changing advice. Winters had a talent for channeling the voices of celebrities like Gary Cooper and Boris Karloff but, the man observed, "All you're doing is shining their shoes. You'd best think up your own characters. " That, Winters told TV Guide many years later, was "the best hunk of criticism I ever got. " With his rubbery, moon-shaped face and pitch-perfect ear for speech patterns, Winters began to unleash a cavalcade of charmingly twisted characters, including a redneck ballplayer, a lisping child and a prissy schoolmarm.

The civil trial in which Michael Jackson's mother and three children have blamed entertainment powerhouse AEG for the music legend's 2009 death is expected to include a string of witnesses -- a list both lengthy and celebrity-studded. Attorneys for the plaintiffs have listed 97 possible witnesses and the defense 113, many of which overlap. Among those who could testify are Jackson's mother, Katherine' two of his children; his ex-wives Lisa Marie Presley and Debbie Rowe; and nearly all of his siblings.