Los Angeles  - Nine people were killed Thursday when a van packed with as many as 18 people overturned on a quiet desert road in Arizona, police said.

The incident occurred close to the town of Florence just outside Phoenix and the occupants were believed to have been undocumented immigrants, according to the state's Department of Public Safety.

Nine survivors were rushed to area hospitals. Television pictures showed a crumpled white vehicle next to a desert road that was lined with a row of body bags.

Los Angeles  - The world's largest computer c

Los Angeles  - The Los Angeles city council has unanimously approved a ban on plastic shopping bags in stores throughout the city, hoping to reduce plastic waste by encouraging shoppers to bring their own bags in one of the capitals of American consumerism.

The ban will go into effect in 2010, unless the state imposes a mandatory 25-cent fee on shoppers requesting plastic bags. The city council passed the ban Tuesday night.

Los Angeles  - BMW is to produce 500 electric-

Los Angel

Los Angeles - Throughout the nearly eight years of George W Bush's presidency, his demure and perfectly mannered wife Laura has acted as a counterweight to his bumbling, rash and often thoughtless