BAGHDAD - The fires raging in Saudi Arabia's Abqaiq oil processing plant could portend a larger, regionwide conflagration between Iran and Saudi Arabia, analysts worry. What first appeared on Saturday to be a series of contained fires caused by drone

It was no parody when "Saturday Night Live" announced last week that the cast for its 45th season would include Bowen Yang, an openly gay Asian American comedian, and Shane Gillis, a comedian whose portfolio includes bigoted jokes about Asians and ga

LOS ANGELES - The New Orleans Saints are trying to come to grips with the thought Drew Brees could be gone for a while. Visit the Los Angeles Times at www.latimes.com

The musician and producer Ric Ocasek, whose singing, songwriting, style and demeanor as leader of Boston rock band the Cars helped define the American new wave movement of the late 1970s and early '80s, has died. He was 75. Ocasek's death was confirm

For the past five years, I've spent my late-summer birthday making plum jam. Parties are fun. Cake is good. But all I want is the quiet pleasure of standing over the stove, stirring and staring as the violet fruit transforms from thin, bursting bubbl

A few questions for the spineless school bureaucrats who just fired tennis coach Aaron Persky because of a controversial sentence he handed down when he was a judge: You do realize, don't you, that Persky was the judge in the 2015 sex assault case ag

LOS ANGELES - California's bullet train project confronts an array of political and financial challenges, but its biggest problem involves mismanagement of land acquisitions, which has contributed to construction delays, cost increases, litigation an

Cathy Birker-Hake tripped over a hose in her Valley Village backyard not long ago, dislocated her shoulder and made a beeline for the emergency room. "It was one of those really stupid accidents," she told me, still embarrassed to have needed urgent

At the outset of the presidential campaign, Democratic Party elders worried about an epidemic sweeping from one primary state to the next: a sudden plague of litmus tests. At coffee klatches and town halls, activists pushed candidates to embrace prog

Someone asks you to bring a dessert to a block party, birthday or barbecue. Or you're heading out of town for a weekend getaway. Or you just need something to keep all the kids happy on a Saturday night. There's really only one answer and it's a thin

Nearly two-thirds of California students say their biggest obstacle to succeeding in college are costs, including tuition and living expenses, and juggling work with school, according to a survey released Sept. 12 by the California Student Aid Commis

I'm completely obsessed with the green beans at Hippo. I know it has beans and nuts and serrano chiles, but I suspect that the "Frenchie dressing" is what puts these beans over the top. My attempts at reverse engineering this dish have been futile. P

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Poco después de asumir el cargo de director médico del Centro de Cirugía y Atención de Urgencias en el este de Tennessee en 2012, el doctor Marc Valley se dio cuenta de que estaba supervisando a traficantes de drogas ilegales en ba

Desperate for jobs and revenue, cities have long offered tax breaks to lure companies to set up shop inside their borders or to stop employers from leaving. But in recent years, municipalities have increasingly been getting caught in tax-break biddin

LOS ANGELES - Brian Wilson fans had several reasons to breathe a sigh of relief after the hometown performance the Beach Boys' creative leader delivered Thursday at the Greek Theatre. First and foremost, Wilson was in solid voice and mood after givin

LOS ANGELES - As construction continues on the NFL's most expensive stadium by far, the $5 billion Inglewood venue has reached a major milestone. The place now has a name: SoFi Stadium. LA Stadium and Entertainment District at Hollywood Park has part

Early last week there were murmurings of meetings between President Trump and members of Congress interested in some limited gun reforms, with a whisper that there might be an announcement Thursday. Well, Thursday came and went. Still nada on gun ref

LOS ANGELES - The sizzle in the highly anticipated matchup between the Rams and the New Orleans Saints lasted less than one quarter Sunday at the Coliseum. Saints quarterback Drew Brees was forced to leave the game because of a hand injury suffered d

WASHINGTON - As Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh prepares for his second year on the Supreme Court, new reporting has detailed how the limits ordered by the White House and Senate Republicans last year constrained the FBI investigation into allegations of

NEW YORK - The Los Angeles Dodgers were reeling when Jedd Gyorko stepped into the batter's box to pinch-hit in the eighth inning of their 3-2 win Sunday night. They had spent seven innings wasting prime scoring opportunities against New York Mets rig

ANAHEIM, Calif. - Brad Ausmus' pregame media session Saturday afternoon quickly turned into a glorified injury update. On an Angels team that seems to get more banged up by the day, there was plenty for the first-year manager to cover. Asked whether

PASADENA, Calif. - At some point Saturday during another wilting night at the Rose Bowl, somebody involved in the UCLA athletic department surely asked the question. Maybe it occurred as quickly as the game's first play, in which Oklahoma quarterback

The numbers say we shouldn't care all that much about Shaun Livingston. But the numbers aren't a complete representation of the truth. Basketball isn't just points - it has soul, it reveals character and requires sacrifice and perseverance. Those are

LOS ANGELES - Smoke is still rising from the Amazon as fires smolder in the world's largest rain forest. The blazes triggered a wave of global outrage over the loss of precious trees. But California says it has a plan to keep tropical forests standin