Leon

The wait for tables is getting longer at Buck's, a popular breakfast spot for the tech elite and a weather vane for the Silicon Valley economy. Here, like everywhere else, Facebook is the talk of the town. "Charles Schwab was in the restaurant the other day, and I asked him to hook me up with some Facebook shares," said Jamis MacNiven, owner of Buck's, in the wealthy suburban enclave of Woodside. "He told me even he can't get Facebook shares. " The new tech boom officially gets underway Friday when Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg rings Nasdaq's opening bell remotely from the company's Menlo Park, Calif., headquarters, launching the largest initial public offering of stock in Silicon Valley history.

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta heads to this weekend's NATO summit prepared to confront Pakistan over what he considers price-gouging for transport of supplies to Afghanistan and hoping for a "consensus" among allies over the war effort. In an interview before his arrival in Chicago, where the summit is scheduled to begin Sunday, Panetta all but ruled out paying Pakistan $5,000 for each truck carrying supplies across its territory for NATO troops waging the Afghanistan war. Pakistani officials have demanded that amount as a condition for reopening supply routes that have been closed to the alliance since fall.

Rating: TV-MA (may be unsuitable for children under the age of 17 with advisories for coarse language 'Talihina Sky: The Story of Kings of Leon' Where: Showtime When: 10 p.m. Sunday

Concerns about the Air Force's problem-plagued fleet of F-22 Raptor fighter jets led Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta to restrict flights of the aircraft because of problems with its oxygen systems that can cause its pilots to become disoriented mid-flight. In addition, Panetta wants a monthly progress report on the investigation into the root cause of the F-22's oxygen problems and ordered the Air Force to speed up the installation of an automatic backup oxygen system. Panetta also called on Navy and NASA personnel to find a solution.

A roundup of entertainment headlines for Tuesday. Kings of Leon has canceled the rest of its U.S. tour after singer Caleb Followill was deemed "unfit" to finish. ( Los Angeles Times ) Now that this debt-ceiling mess is getting cleared up, can we please focus on the tense talks between AMC and Sony over the fifth (and possibly) final season of "Breaking Bad"? ( Los Angeles Times ) BET has said "No more Mo' " to "The Mo'Nique Show. " ( Los Angeles Times )

Caleb Followill will be trembling in his black leather ankle boots when the Record of the Year prize is announced tonight at the Grammy Awards. "Use Somebody," the hugely popular power ballad by Kings of Leon, is nominated in that category and three others. That gives the 28-year-old singer, songwriter and guitarist four chances to get up on stage and choke. "Our family gets to see it. That's the only reason I go to the Grammys," said Followill during a wine-soaked interview at Giovanni Ristorante, across the street from his recently purchased Nashville luxury apartment, a week before the awards ceremony.

Oooh, baby, baby. Leon, who plays the womanizing singer J.T. in Robert Townsend's new film, "The Five Heartbeats," is something of a singing Romeo himself. As a teen-ager in the Bronx, he discovered a song was the quickest way to a woman's heart. "I would say my major influence would be Smokey Robinson," he says. "The guys would rap different lines to girls. But what could I say that hadn't already been said? So I used to change around the lyrics of Smokey Robinson songs.

There's only one Hollywood trapping hidden among the pieces of significant furniture in actor Leon's Beverly Hills bachelor flat: a green Jamaican Bobsled Team deck chair from last fall's hit movie "Cool Runnings." Leon carried that film as the affable Derice Bannock, the real-life thwarted Jamaican sprinter who became captain of the Caribbean island's first bobsled team in 1988; the late John Candy also starred as a burned-out athlete turned team coach.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon has blocked the federal government's plan to require cigarette manufacturers to cover half of each package sold with a graphic health warning. In his ruling, issued late Wednesday, Leon said the government mandate amounted to an "impermissible expropriation of a company's advertising space for government advocacy. " That decision confirms a temporary stay issued by Leon in November - a move that signaled his view that a suit brought last August by several tobacco manufacturers against the Department of Health and Human Services would likely prevail.

Kevin McHale's trouble is that he didn't go far enough. He had his hands around the guy's throat, but forgot to squeeze. He forgot to get his money's worth. McHale is the latest victim in a public conspiracy to say, or yell, anything you want about, or at, anybody you want, and get away with it. Possibly even get away with some serious money in the bargain. Or at least make the victim pay.

WASHINGTON - In a pointed response to images of Marines urinating on corpses and soldiers posing with body parts, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta appealed to American troops to refrain from misconduct that has complicated the war effort in Afghanistan. Panetta, speaking Friday to an Army brigade at Ft. Benning, Ga., was blunt in his assessment of the breakdown of discipline within the ranks, saying these incidents "show a lack of judgment, a lack of professionalism and a lack of leadership.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon has blocked the federal government's plan to require cigarette manufacturers to cover half of each package sold with a graphic health warning. In his ruling, issued late Wednesday, Leon said the government mandate amounted to an "impermissible expropriation of a company's advertising space for government advocacy. " That decision confirms a temporary stay issued by Leon in November - a move that signaled his view that a suit brought last August by several tobacco manufacturers against the Department of Health and Human Services would likely prevail.

All politics is local, a wise man once said. And you can't get much more local than your own aunt. State Sen. Kevin De Leon's 74-year-old aunt Francisca still cleans homes in San Diego, as she has for nearly half a century, since migrating from Mexico with her sister, the lawmaker's late mother, seeking the American dream. Both cleaned up for rich people, barely squeezing by from one check to the next, never with enough money to sock some away for old age. Now De Leon (D-Los Angeles)

'Once Upon a Time: The Films of Sergio Leone' at American Cinematheque Where: Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, and Aero Theatre, 1328 Montana Ave., Santa Monica When: Fri. and Sat., Thu. and Feb. 24 Fri., 7:30 p.m., Aero: "A Fistful of Dollars" (1964) and "For a Few Dollars More" (1965) Sat., 7:30 p.m., Aero: "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" (1966) Feb. 23, 7:30 p.m., Egyptian: "Duck, You Sucker" (1971) Feb. 24, 7:30 p.m., Egyptian: "Once Upon a Time in the West" (1968)

The best way to find a good guy in the westerns of director Sergio Leone is to look for a worse guy. The Italian director's penchant for blurring the lines between heroes and villains stood in stark contrast with the clear distinctions found in traditional Hollywood westerns and helped modernize and revitalize the genre, two facts readily apparent in "Once Upon a Time: The Films of Sergio Leone" at the American Cinematheque beginning Friday....

The U.S. and its military allies in Afghanistan intend to hand the lead combat role to Afghan forces next year, according to Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta, shifting to a training and advising mission as they press ahead with their withdrawal after more than a decade of fighting. By announcing a specific timetable, U.S. officials are hoping to head off a push by allies to pull out their forces more quickly. Public support for the war is falling in many countries, and with their economies struggling, governments are under pressure to trim their defense budgets.

When the White House sent a last-minute invitation for Asif Ali Zardari to attend the two-day NATO summit, they were taking a highly public gamble. Would sharing the spotlight with President Obama and other global leaders induce the Pakistani president to allow vital supplies to reach alliance troops fighting in Afghanistan? But long before the summit ended Monday, the answer was clear: No deal. Zardari's refusal to reopen the supply routes left a diplomatic blot on a summit that NATO sought to cast as the beginning of the end of the conflict in Afghanistan.

Two longtime trend setters in women's swimwear--Catalina and Cole of California--are up for sale amid widespread reports they are struggling financially, The Times has learned. Cole and Catalina--which also makes sportswear--are part of Taren Holdings, a privately held company in Los Angeles that's controlled by Odyssey Partners, an investment partnership in New York.

Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said Wednesday that security gains seen in parts of Afghanistan over the last year represented a "turning point" in the decade-old conflict. "We're moving in the right direction and we're winning this very tough conflict in Afghanistan," he told troops of the U.S. Army's 172nd Infantry Brigade at Forward Operating Base Sharana, about 30 miles from the Afghan-Pakistani border. U.S. officials generally have not explicitly claimed to be winning the conflict, mindful of insurgent attacks that continue to exact a heavy civilian toll, the stubborn resilience of the Taliban and other militant groups, Washington's deteriorating relations with Pakistan and the political woes of the administration of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

A British documentary film producer provided Conrad Murray and his defense team with free lunches, rides to court and even accompanied the doctor on a shopping trip to upgrade his wardrobe, according to the man who drove the doctor during his six-week trial for manslaughter in the death of Michael Jackson. The unusual arrangement gave a London-based production company a close-up view unobtainable by any of the news outlets that swarmed around the high-publicity trial, which ended this week with Murray's conviction.