Buildings

With office rents and occupancy rates stuck in neutral, only nine new office buildings were completed in Los Angeles County in the first quarter. The nine buildings contain a total of 140,000 square feet, a pittance by local standards. The U.S. Bank Tower in downtown Los Angeles, for instance, holds more than 1.4 million square feet. More properties came on line in the fourth quarter of 2012, when 15 buildings with nearly 710,000 square feet were completed, real estate data provider CoStar Group said.

With this app you can create a tasty, bite-sized primer you can sink your teeth into before - and during - your vacation. Name: Triposo.com What it does: It's a global destination database that lets you download maps, travel information and recommendations on more than 150,000 destinations in 200 countries and use them offline. What's hot: I've never experienced such a quick place-by-place download option from an app. Download your guide and then turn the pages like a magazine, or delve right into practical info in "Things to Do," where you'll find Yelp reviews, WikiTravel descriptions and practical info such as hospitals and grocery stores.

The 2013 Shelby GT350 takes a standard Mustang GT and adds more than $40,000 in performance upgrades - bringing the whole package to about $74,000. That's a lot for a Mustang. But any doubts about spending Corvette money on the juiced-up Ford are erased after only moments in the GT350. This is a talented car. Key upgrades in the Shelby package include Wilwood brakes, a Ford Racing suspension, a short-throw shifter, Shelby 19-inch rims wrapped in ultra-sticky Goodyear tires and Borla exhaust, along with new front and rear bumpers and a new hood with a functional scoop.

Morning light revealed pitched tents and scattered sleeping bags in front of the sales offices of luxury builder Woodbridge Pacific Group. Attracted by a dozen new Huntington Beach homes touted as "starting in the low 1,200,000s," about 15 hopefuls had camped out for days. They were waiting for a chance to get their names on a list to buy into the first phase of a new subdivision. One would-be buyer had flown in a friend from Las Vegas to hold his place in line. Another shopper had hired a pair of men to wait in 12-hour shifts.

It took a lot of muscle to build the Whole Earth Building in Claremont, not to mention mud balls, sandbags and dirty hands. Opening April 20, the new headquarters of the nonprofit organization Uncommon Good has an uncommon green pedigree. The 2,500-square-foot building is a marriage of the ancient and high-tech.  A series of domed rectangular structures, it was constructed by hand with dirt dug from the site. A passive solar design will help warm rooms. Photovoltaics will light them.

Will the Academy's big bubble pop before it has a chance to be built? Italian architect Renzo Piano, Los Angeles architect Zoltan Pali and officials from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences unveiled preliminary designs Thursday for a $300-million film museum at Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue. The architectural centerpiece of the 290,000-square-foot complex, just west of the campus of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, would be a giant glass-enclosed dome, which Piano refers to as the "sphere" and the "soap bubble.

Ford is headed to Mother Russia. The American automaker announced Thursday that the first Explorer SUV built from the ground up outside of the U.S. rolled off the assembly line in Elabuga, Russia. Previously, the Explorer was built in large chunks at Ford's plant in Chicago, and then shipped to Russia for final assembly. Ford said the Chicago facility will continue to build Explorers for the U.S. market and for export to 64 countries. The Russian-built Explorers are built by Ford Sollers, a joint venture between Ford and Sollers.

Pakistan is beset by a torrent of maladies. Its government is bankrupt. Its economy is mired in stagflation as the population booms. Terrorists strike all corners of the country. Civil conflict in its largest city, Karachi, has evolved from feuds between ethnic political parties into a Taliban war against them all, exacerbated by ever-powerful criminal mafias. The cancer of extremism is spreading deeper and the death toll mounts. But there is opportunity for change. Pakistan's political leaders have taken major steps toward institutionalizing civilian, democratic rule.

A day after winning the franchise's first Pacific Division title, the Clippers let it all soak in by resting Monday. The Clippers have a 51-26 record, the best in franchise history. They swept the four-game series from the Lakers, the first time that has been done since the 1974-75 season when the franchise was known as the Buffalo Braves. All in all, the Clippers, who resume practice Tuesday, feel upbeat about their play and where they are headed. "This is how it felt in the beginning of the season," Jamal Crawford said.

CYPRESS, Texas - A male student who fantasized about stabbing people was charged Tuesday in connection with an attack that injured 14 people, two critically, at a Houston-area community college, authorities said. Dylan Quick, 20, faces three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He is suspected of acting alone in what one official described as a "building-to-building" attack at the Lone Star College-CyFair campus about 30 miles northwest of Houston. "According to the statement the suspect voluntarily gave investigators, he has had fantasies of stabbing people to death since he was in elementary school," the Harris County Sheriff's Office said in a statement late Tuesday.