NY appeals court takes up Cameron Douglas case

NEW YORK (AP) — The Douglas name — first with patriarch Kirk and later with son Michael — has always meant gold for Hollywood. But drama for the third generation of the Douglas family has occurred mostly off-screen, where Cameron Douglas has battled drug addiction and legal troubles.In papers submitted for appeals court arguments Wednesday, prosecutors and a lawyer for Cameron Douglas have retold...

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Church Officials Call on Filipinos to Campaign Against Birth Control Law

MANILA — After losing a battle to stop the passage of a contentious birth control law, Roman Catholic Church officials on Tuesday dug in and instructed their millions of followers to campaign against the measure in communities, schools and homes. “Let us intensify the moral spiritual education of our youth and children so that they can stand strong against the threats to their moral fiber,”...

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Adam Lanza's family had kept a watchful eye on him

STAMFORD, Conn. — When the parents of Adam Lanza divorced, the settlement left Nancy Lanza with $24,150 a month in alimony payments...

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A Google-a-Day Puzzle for Dec. 18

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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“Silver Linings Playbook” sweeps Satellite Awards

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – “Silver Linings Playbook” was the big winner at Sunday night’s Satellite Awards, a show produced by and voted on by the International Press Academy and held at the Intercontinental Hotel in Beverly Hills.The David O. Russell comedy, which has been overshadowed in the awards picture by more recent films like “Les Miserables” and “Zero Dark Thirty,” won five awards, including...

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Recipes for Health: Not-Too-Sweet Wok-Popped Coconut Kettle Corn

Andrew Scrivani for The New York TimesNot-too-sweet coconut kettle corn. I’m usually not a big fan of sweet kettle corn, but I wanted to make a moderately sweet version because some people love it and it is nice to be able to offer a sweet snack for the holidays. I realized after testing this recipe that I do like kettle corn if it isn’t too sweet. The trick to not burning the sugar when you make...

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Influx of Cash in Asia Raises Familiar Worries

HONG KONG — To all the concerns that cloud Asia’s growth prospects next year — the fiscal measures set to take effect in the United States, the euro zone debt crisis and the uncertain growth trajectories of China and Japan — add one more: a renewed flood of cash into some of the region’s more dynamic economies. Asia’s fast-growing economies have weathered a tough 2012 relatively well, and...

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A collection that identifies California as a world apart

PALO ALTO — Something was unusual about the 1663 map of the Western Hemisphere.Yes, much of the North and South American coasts...

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A Google-a-Day Puzzle for Dec. 17

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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Switzerland sends Salvation Army to Eurovision gig

GENEVA (AP) — Switzerland is putting its faith in the Salvation Army to win the Eurovision Song Contest when it is staged in Malmo, Sweden, next year.Television viewers chose one of the Christian missionary group‘s Swiss chapters, whose bass player is 94 years old, from among five national finalists late Saturday.The Eurovision contest is a kitschy fixture on the European cultural calendar watched...

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