World/nation briefs

Home searched of man whose head was in park Police removed more evidence from the Los Angeles apartment of a man whose head, hands and feet were found last week in a park near the "Hollywood" sign. Detectives spent several hours at the Hollywood apartment of Hervey Medellin, 66, a retired Mexicana Airlines employee. A dog walker found Medellin's head last Tuesday at Bronson Canyon Park. The hands and feet were found later. Police have announced no arrests and named no suspects.

Catholic hospital system breaks from church Catholic Healthcare West, one of the nation's largest hospital systems, is ending its affiliation with the Catholic Church and changing its name to Dignity Health, two steps intended to help the system expand throughout the states in which it operates -- California, Arizona and Nevada -- and beyond. There are 25 Catholic and 15 secular hospitals in the system. Executives hope the changes will make it easier to merge or affiliate with other hospitals, doctors' practices and other providers. In the past few years, proposed mergers between Catholic and secular hospitals have collapsed in part because of concerns about the church's bans on abortion, in vitro fertilization and sterilization.

Perhaps world's oldest dog dies Uncle Chichi, a toy poodle whose longevity led to fame, died after a yearlong battle with cancer. He was 26. Or 24. Or maybe 25. He was remarkably old; that much was agreed upon by veterinarians, his owners and the animal shelter in Charleston, S.C., that offered him for adoption more than two decades ago. But when his owners in New York considered seeking a place for him in the Guinness World Records in 2010, the proof required -- like puppy photos and veterinarian records -- turned out to have been lost to the ages.

Sarkozy challenger opens campaign Presidential candidate Francois Hollande opened his Socialist Party campaign with a passionate speech calling for change, equality and justice. "We are here ... to change the destiny of our country," Hollande told an estimated 20,000 supporters and officials in Le Bourget, just outside Paris, in a speech lasting nearly 90 minutes. Hollande, who calls himself "a normal man," has been criticized for being bland and vague. Nevertheless, the 57-year-old leads in the polls over incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy with three months to go before the first round of voting on April 22.

Former dictator is told to appear in court A Guatemalan judge has ordered a former military dictator, Efrain Rios Montt, to appear in court on Thursday, the first step in a process that could lead to his being tried on genocide charges and to a reopening of the darkest chapter in Guatemala's brutal 36-year civil war. During Rios Montt's 17-month rule in 1982 and 1983, the Guatemalan army pursued a scorched-earth campaign in the Mayan highlands that included massacres that are regarded as among the most horrific in the war. A lawyer for Rios Montt told the Guatemalan newspaper Prensa Libre that his client would appear to hear the prosecutor's charges.