As the price of U.S. rice soars, experts urge a return to corn and other homegrown staples. But farmers say there are too many obstacles.

Experts see telltale markings of personality in penmanship samples from the presidential candidates.

Officials on board urge the military government to permit an international relief operation, but are told only that it will be considered.

Pro-Western parties seek diplomatic or even military intervention amid Hezbollah's military onslaught, but the West appears unwilling to respond.

Fighting climate change and winning the war on terrorism are not for the squeamish.

President Evo Morales and eight governors will be judged. Few expect the election will oust the leftist leader or unite the polarized country.

The agreement clears the way for Iraqi soldiers to operate in the Baghdad slum largely controlled by a radical cleric. But will all groups adhere to the accord?

Iraq has shown the limits of U.S. power. We must change America, not the world.

Clinton is heavily favored to win today's Democratic primary there. Obama turns his attention to the five remaining nominating contests and to November.

The new Assembly speaker wants an independent look at the state's revenue.

The Republican presidential candidate wants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 60%. He also pledges to press India and China to make cuts.

Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif says his Pakistan Muslim League-N party will relinquish its Cabinet posts but continue to negotiate with the Pakistan People's Party.

With the weekend devastation in Missouri, Oklahoma and Georgia, this year to date has seen the most deaths in a decade. The nation has had 654 twisters so far in 2008.

Monterey Park, Alhambra and San Gabriel are home to many immigrants from the affected area in Sichuan province. Talk there focuses on the fate of loved ones in China.

Teens are letting emoticons and other forms of chat-speak slip into their essays and homework.

The onetime lawmaker from Georgia says he wants to end out-of-control government spending. Some political analysts see his campaign as a threat to John McCain.

A state bill wants to create CalPERS-managed portable retirement plans for private-sector employees.

U.S. soldiers hurt in Iraq and Afghanistan are surviving at high rates -- but more have neglected brain injuries.

To survive, Santa Ana's Libreria Martinez needs more than good intentions.

Inspired partly by the 50-shot killing of groom Sean Bell, it considers nationwide changes.

Gov. Charlie Crist declares a state of emergency. Arson is suspected in as many as nine fires in Palm Bay.

Hamas contends the captive is a separate case. Militants kill one in a rocket attack.

Herbert Hoover: A caption in Sunday's California section with the L.A. Then and Now column about the Bixby Park Bandshell said the photo showed President Hoover in 1928. Hoover was not president when the photo was taken; he became president in 1929.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin named his new Cabinet on Monday, bringing in loyalists from the Kremlin in what was seen as an effort to shift the center of power to his new place of work.

These are some of the charities accepting donations to help victims of Monday's earthquake in China:

Hunger: A May 9 editorial on donating to relief groups referred to Mercy Corps as a religious charity. It is a secular organization.

Kennedy legacy: In Tim Rutten's May 10 column, poet Arthur Hugh Clough was identified as an American. He was British.