Search results for

Democrats and Republicans are going to the brink over tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans in a showdown that threatens to send the U.S. over a year-end "fiscal cliff." So what's at the heart of the impasse?

A dispossessed Indian princess and her large-footed servant unravel a mystery among a crowd of classic British eccentrics in Julia Stuart's charming new novel, The Pigeon Pie Mystery. Who poisoned the unpleasant Major-General Bagshot? The answer may surprise you.

British authorities have charged Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson, former editors of Rupert Murdoch's now-defunct News of the World tabloid, with conspiring to intercept the communications of more than 600 people. It's the latest development in the News Corp. phone-hacking scandal.

Iain Sinclair wishes London had never won the bid for the 2012 Olympic Games. In his new book, Ghost Milk, the longtime East London resident writes about the toll that the massive and pricey development is taking on locals.

In 2010, writer Don Winslow hit it big with his crime novel, Savages. Although he'd already written 12 novels, Savages was the book that really launched his career. It made it to the top of The New York Times best-sellers list. His new book, The Kings of Cool, is a prequel to Savages.

Civil rights groups and the families of three Americans killed in drone strikes in Yemen filed a lawsuit against top Obama administration officials Wednesday. The suit claims U.S. authorities executed their sons without charge or trial — outside the law and the Constitution.

Set in the Rocky Mountains after an epidemic has killed off most of society, The Dog Stars, by adventure writer Peter Heller, casts an unusual mood as it alternates between elegiac reflection, lyrical nature writing and intense, high-caliber action. The Dog Stars will be published on Aug. 7.

A Senate committee looked at the failure of HSBC bank to police money laundering.

There's a lot of unusual equipment being schlepped on airplanes en route to London for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games like kayaks, bows and arrows, rifles. But maybe the oddest in terms of baggage and handling are the poles used by pole vaulters. Ranging in size from 15 to 17 feet, the poles cannot be broken down, and present an interesting exercise in patience at the check-in counter. Robert Siegel talks with former Olympian Jeff Hartwig about how pole vaulters manage their equipment.

"Moderate to extreme" drought conditions already exist in about 55 percent of the continental U.S. No relief is in sight. There are warnings this could be one of the 10-most expensive weather disasters in U.S. history.