Horizon

Call it retirement anxiety, or maybe recession obsession. For all of their married life, Patrick Webster, 63, and Susie Martin, 54, have been extremely frugal. Webster and Martin, who both work at Marymount College in Rancho Palos Verdes, have been stashing away their combined income at an enviable rate - more than 25% - for retirement. Together they have more than $1 million in investments and no debt. But rather than feeling reasonably secure about their financial future, they dread a return of hard times.

Sequestration is starting to frustrate air travelers. About 400 flights were delayed Sunday because of air traffic controller furloughs, the Federal Aviation Administration said, and a few more interruptions were reported Monday at Los Angeles International Airport and several East Coast airports. But because of light traffic and good weather, the nation's air travel system operated without serious problems. The FAA warned Monday that more delays are on the horizon when air traffic is heavier and severe weather puts pressure on understaffed air traffic control facilities.

Re "Bush agrees to 'horizon' for pullout," July 19 Horizon -- what an appropriate term for the Bush administration to use to describe a pullout from Iraq. Reaching a horizon is never attainable. It keeps its same distance even as we think we are moving closer to it. This fits in with the man's inability to admit that there might be a better way. Michael Flynn Encino

WASHINGTON - Over the years, when asked whether he had done enough to build relationships with his Republican adversaries, President Obama typically replied with stock answers and dry political analysis. But on Monday, in his final news conference of his first term, a different Obama came up with a different answer. In 700 off-the-cuff words, he showed a little snarky defensiveness about his social aptitude. Yes, he said, he socializes. Of course, he continued, he "likes a good party.

With the season's halfway point less than a week away the Angels' pitching situation remains unsettled in the rotation and the bullpen. But General Manager Tony Reagins said Thursday he won't make a trade simply to look busy. "Never would we make a decision anxiously or make a decision just to make a decision or make a move or trade just to make a trade," he said. "At the end of the day you have to find pieces that really make your club better."

U2 album: Irish rockers U2 have named their new album "No Line on the Horizon" and will release it in North America on March 3, Interscope Records said.

Regarding "A Trick of the Eye or a Real Flash in the Sky" [May 10], it is possible to see the green flash in the morning. It requires a flat, sea-level horizon to the east. If one is careful, it's possible to stare east at exactly the spot where the sun first peaks above the horizon. To eliminate the luck factor, one can note on day one where, from a given viewing location, the sun first appears above the horizon. Then on day two, from the same viewing location, start staring at that same spot on the horizon, just before the sun rises.

The British-owned LLoyds Bank PLC is withdrawing as a dealer of U.S. government securities, sending a signal to Wall Street that more defections may be in store as market forces take their toll on the exclusive group. Lloyds' withdrawal is the third by a primary dealer since September, 1988, leaving 43 members . . . Horizon Corp. said its board will meet "in the near future" to consider a $2.50-a-share merger proposal from Los Angeles-based Maxxam Group Inc., which already owns about 62% of Horizon's outstanding shares.

WASHINGTON - Offshore oil and gas drilling company Transocean has agreed to a $1.4-billion settlement with the Justice Department to resolve civil and criminal claims against the company for its role in the April 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Transocean owned the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig leased by BP that exploded and sank after the Macondo well blew out, killing 11 workers and spewing nearly 5 million barrels of oil into the gulf. In a statement, Transocean said that as part of the settlement, a "subsidiary has agreed to plead guilty to one misdemeanor violation of the Clean Water Act for negligent discharge of oil into the Gulf of Mexico and pay $1.4 billion in fines, recoveries and penalties, excluding interest.

We've passed the 100-day point of the NHL lockout, and there's still no end in sight as the window of opportunity narrows for a labor settlement to be reached in time to play a 48-game season, the shortest that Commissioner Gary Bettman said would constitute a season with “integrity.” At this point, though, the word “integrity” seems to have very little meaning in this dispute, which has alienated fans and taken money out of the paychecks of...

Laying the blame for the deaths of 11 oil rig workers in the Deepwater Horizon explosion and Gulf of Mexico spill on BP, federal prosecutors announced Thursday that two BP supervisors had been charged with manslaughter and the company would pay a $4-billion criminal fine, the largest in U.S. history. "Those deaths were in fact unnecessary," Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. said in New Orleans, adding that the federal investigation continued into the 2010 disaster and the nation's biggest offshore oil spill.

Airbnb is looking to friend travelers -- and the travel industry should take notice. The young turk of the short-term rental market unveiled two new services on Tuesday to make people feel at home when they travel. One is its first guide of neighborhoods in seven large cities - - Berlin, London, New York, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. -- that with colorful photographs and detailed information from locals aim to make it easier to find the best place to stay.

- With power slowly returning to New York and New Jersey and emergency fuel being rushed into the region, authorities turned Sunday to a potentially bigger problem since super storm Sandy: where to house the tens of thousands of people whose homes are no longer habitable. With a freeze expected in some areas Monday and another, smaller storm on the horizon, the housing problem took on urgency. Even with power and fuel restored, many houses no longer have functioning heating systems, since flooding saltwater ruined many basement heaters and electrical systems.

ATMA, Syria - The rows of olive groves that line the hillsides like silent sentinels are bursting with life, both on the laden branches and the fruit-scattered ground below, where families camp out on mattresses and in tents. The trees appear healthy. The people are desperate. "We don't have enough food, we don't have proper shelter," a mother said as she spoon-fed donated lentil soup to her infant son the other day. "What will we do with winter coming?" The hundreds living amid the olive groves on the edges of this rebel-held town hugging the Turkish-Syrian border are among the 1.5 million Syrians left homeless in the conflict but still living in Syria.

U2: A review in Tuesday's Calendar section of the new single by Irish rock band U2 said the group's upcoming album, "No Line on the Horizon," would be released Feb. 15. The album is due out March 3.

Re "Pun Intended" (June 29): I can see it now: As the rider gazes at the display and pecks away, the rest of the pack sees a canyon set and starts scratching toward the horizon. The Web surfer reads "Surf sets overhead to double overhead with ... " only to be blindsided by a cleanup set. Matt Tarka Carlsbad

Real estate website Zillow has a provocative data point for every renter thinking about buying these days: That move pays off after just three years on average nationwide. The company, which lists for-sale and for-rent information on its site, has released a new analysis of what it calls the "break-even horizon," comparing what it would cost to buy or rent the same home in a number of U.S. markets over time. The rent-or-buy calculus varies widely depending on where you live. In the combined Los Angeles and Orange counties, the magic number is 4.3 years, assuming the buyer has made a 20% down payment.

WASHINGTON - Before the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, BP and drilling rig owner Transocean focused their safety efforts on curtailing worker injury rather than preventing catastrophic well blowouts, all but ignoring critical lessons from two near-misses just before the Deepwater Horizon explosion, according to a new federal investigation of the disaster. The report issued Tuesday by the Chemical Safety Board is the latest in a string of federal and independent inquiries into the blowout of BP's Macondo well, which killed 11 workers in the ensuing blast and spewed nearly 5 million barrels of oil into the sea, making it the country's worst offshore environmental accident.