Award-season hopefuls stop in Palm Springs

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (AP) — The Award Season Express made its first stop of the new year in the middle of the desert a couple hours east of Hollywood at the annual Palm Springs International Film Festival gala.A blast of Golden Globe nominees and Oscar hopefuls walked the press gauntlet Saturday night, including Naomi Watts (“The Impossible”), Helen Hunt and John Hawkes (“The Sessions”), Ben Affleck...

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Tehran Is Choked by Annual Buildup of Air Pollution

TEHRAN — Already battered by international threats against their nation’s nuclear program, sanctions and a broken economy, Iranians living here in the capital are now trying to cope with what has become an annual pollution peril: a yellowish haze that engulfs Tehran this time of year. For nearly a week, officials here and in other large cities have been calling on residents to remain indoors...

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Looking Ahead: Economic Reports for the Week of Jan. 7

ECONOMIC REPORTS Data to be released this week includes consumer credit for November (Tuesday); weekly jobless claims and wholesale trade inventories for November (Thursday); and the trade deficit for November and import prices for December (Friday). CORPORATE EARNINGS Companies scheduled to release quarterly earnings reports include Monsanto and Alcoa (Tuesday); Constellation Brands...

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Alleged maternity hotel now appears to be vacant

An alleged maternity hotel operating out of a hilltop mansion in Chino Hills has apparently shut down after city officials obtained...

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Looney Gas and Lead Poisoning: A Short, Sad History

Author’s note: Most people don’t realize that we knew in the 1920s that leaded gasoline was extremely dangerous. And in light of a Mother Jones story this week that looks at the connection between leaded gasoline and crime rates in the United States, I thought it might be worth reviewing that history. The following is an updated version of an earlier post based on information from my book...

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“Amour” takes U.S. film critics’ top prize as best film

NEW YORK (Reuters) – “Amour,” European director Michael Haneke‘s sensitive depiction of an aging couple’s battle with declining health, was named the year’s best film by the National Society of Film Critics on Saturday, with star Emmanuelle Riva winning best actress and Haneke taking the prize for best director.The group, made up of 60 prominent movie critics from newspapers, magazines and other media...

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Despite New Health Law, Some See Sharp Rise in Premiums

Health insurance companies across the country are seeking and winning double-digit increases in premiums for some customers, even though one of the biggest objectives of the Obama administration’s health care law was to stem the rapid rise in insurance costs for consumers. Bob Chamberlin/Los Angeles TimesDave Jones, the California insurance commissioner, said some insurance companies...

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Preoccupations: Teaching Meditation Techniques to Organizations

IN 1972, I was a 30-year-old American traveling in India, with the smell of incense in my hair and mantras repeating in my ears. Back then, if you had told me that I would someday be training employees of corporate America to apply contemplative practices to help them become more successful, I would have said you’d been standing too long in India’s hot noonday sun. Nancy Palmieri for...

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Legislators vow to change law on rape by impersonation

California legislators and the state's top prosecutor said Friday that they would work to overhaul a law that makes it a crime...

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A Google-a-Day Puzzle for Jan. 5

Our good friends at Google run a daily puzzle challenge and asked us to help get them out to the geeky masses. Each day’s puzzle will task your googling skills a little more, leading you to Google mastery. Each morning at 12:01 a.m. Eastern time you’ll see a new puzzle posted here.SPOILER WARNING:We leave the comments on so people can work together to find the answer....

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