Rumors

Emma Watson will strip down to raise environmental awareness, even though she won't do it for the "Fifty Shades of Grey" movie. "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" star tweeted her support for James Houston's book of celebrities posing nude to raise environmental awareness. The book's proceeds will go to Global Green USA, a nonprofit focused on sustainability. PHOTOS: Hermione Granger through the years "My friend is supporting GlobalGreenUSA with his book Natural Beauty.

The leadership of the Los Angeles teachers union is roiled over whether its officials made a private deal with a Board of Education candidate whom critics view as an ally of anti-labor forces. The dispute centers on an alleged understanding worked out between candidate Antonio Sanchez and Gregg Solkovits, a union vice president. According to people with knowledge of the matter, Solkovits has said that Sanchez, if he wins, would let United Teachers Los Angeles choose his chief of staff.

The news accounts, now 70 years old, offer only fragments of the "ghastly drama" that surrounded the marriage of Mary Kenan Flagler Bingham, "the richest woman in America." She was the widow of Standard Oil co-founder Henry Flagler and her estate was worth between $60 million and $100 million. Her bridegroom was Judge Robert Worth Bingham, a Kentucky lawyer without independent means. Their wedding in 1916 made headlines, even in New York. And so did her mysterious death eight months later.

Money can't buy you love or, apparently, runs. The Los Angeles Dodgers, the most expensive team in baseball history, cannot score. Cannot manufacture runs, unveil a power game, rally or do much of anything that actually leads to this strange phenomenon called scoring . The Dodgers were handcuffed Saturday in the second game of their split doubleheader by Baltimore's Wei-Yin Chin, who apparently was really dealing, in a 6-1 loss that left...

May May Ali, Muhammad Ali's daughter, said that contrary to reports, her father is not near death and that he watched the Super Bowl on Sunday. "He's fine; in fact, he was talking well this morning," she said in a telephone interview with the Associated Press on Sunday. "These rumors pop up every once in a while but there's nothing to them. " The rumors were started by a report in a British tabloid quoting Ali's brother, Rahman, as saying the former heavyweight champion was near death.

Sophia Stewart didn't attend her June 13 hearing at the U.S. federal court building in downtown Los Angeles. She saw the proceeding as a minor hurdle on the way to an anticipated July 12 trial in her copyright infringement suit against directors Andy and Larry Wachowski, James Cameron and other defendants--a trial she imagined would be "one of the largest suits for damages in the history of the film industry."

This post has been updated. See below for details. On Sunday night, fans of the pioneering U.K. electro-pop dup Pet Shop Boys went into panic mode after some shady online reports suggested the group's singer Neil Tennant had died in a car crash. The rumors seem to have begun with a story from Global Associated News, a prank page where users can plug in a public figure's name and info and the site will generate a convincing enough-to-casual-observers news report about their death.

Could Apple be working on a device with a 5-inch or 7-inch screen? This question continues to get stirred up with other speculation, like the leaves at the bottom of a tea cup -- and everyone tries to read them. In today's edition of "As the Apple Turns," momentum appears to be coming out of China with stories attributed to "reliable sources" about the company developing Retina display screens for a smaller tablet. Macotakara is reporting that 2013 is the year of the pocket-sized tablet and feature resolution of 1,600 by 960 pixels or 1,280 by 960 pixels.

Scenes from a trade deadline The cellphone of Cincinnati Reds reliever David Weathers rang repeatedly Tuesday, with five friends calling to congratulate him on his trade to the Texas Rangers. Didn't happen. Weathers, 39, who has been involved in four midseason trades in his 19-year career, employs a veteran strategy in coping with the incessant rumors in advance of the July 31 trading deadline. "I don't read," he said. "I don't Twitter. I don't blog. "It's not worth the effort.

Last month the Rolling Stones set off speculation that they're scheduled to play this year's Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival after a fan noticed that the venerable English band's mobile app included a listing for a mid-April concert date in Indio. Now the festival has added weight to those rumors with a photo posted Thursday on its Facebook page . As seen at the top of this post, the photo depicts what appears to be a large round rock -- a rolling stone, in other words -- in the middle of Indio's Empire Polo Club, where Coachella takes place.

Rumors recently swirled that Miranda Kerr wasn't going to continue under contract with Victoria's Secret. Kerr now confirms it is true, but says she has agreed to walk in this year's Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. She just didn't want to remain under a contract that took so much of her time, because she has other priorities now, she told the Sydney Morning Herald. [SMH] Actor Ian Ziering, who came to fame playing Steve Sanders on the original "Beverly Hills 90120" in the 1990s, plans to spend the month of June dancing with the Chippendales  -- the famed male strippers -- at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

Jada Pinkett Smith, wife of Will Smith, is addressing those open-marriage rumors again - less than two weeks after chatting about it on HuffPost Live. Now, the Ministry heard a "no" the first time around when Pinkett Smith was asked flat-out, "Is it true?" but we appear to have been in the minority. So much so that Jada took to Facebook over the weekend to try to explain herself, framing her comments as a discussion of trust and love. Or, as she put it, TRUST and LOVE. Can you hear her now?

If the Los Angeles Lakers flop in the NBA playoffs after avoiding the embarrassment of failing to qualify for the postseason for the first time since the 2004-05 season, many fans know exactly where they will place a load of the blame and how to fix the problem. “I think our coach needs to get it together,” said Liz Meres, 29, a longtime Lakers fan. “We don't rebound, get back on defense or hustle. Phil needs to get back with the Lakers so we can get another ring.” On the last day of the NBA's regular season, ESPN's Marc Stein and Ramona Shelburne report that sources say former Lakers coach Phil Jackson is 'itching' for a return to the NBA. Now, it seems to fans, the Lakers are fighting for their coach's job. “If the Lakers lose tonight, I hope [Mike D'Antoni]

Ozzy Osbourne has denied those split rumors, but he appears to have taken a ride on the crazy train once again - at least for a little while. The rocker took to Facebook on Monday night with his side of the story. "For the last year and a half I have been drinking and taking drugs," he wrote. "I was in a very dark place and was [a jerk] to the people I love most, my family. However, I am happy to say that I am now 44 days sober. " PHOTOS: Celebrities by The Times Ozzy, 64, infamously used drugs heavily for decades but got sober in his early 50s. "Just to set the record straight, Sharon and I are not divorcing.

Apple probably won't release its next iPhone until this summer or fall, but that isn't stopping tech blogs and news sites from speculating about what we could expect in the next Apple smartphone. There are plenty of rumors on the Web about the next iPhone, which many believe will be called the iPhone 5S, but you should trust only a few of them. Most rumors online turn out to be nothing but wishful thinking, but a few do get it right sometimes. Here is what we think about these rumors.

The Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne split rumors that bubbled up over the weekend and on Monday were painting anything but a clear picture of this nearly 31-year-old marriage. Son Jack Osbourne, however, was doing his part to unmuddy the waters. First, the rumors ... Sharon was caught on camera "moving into a new home" recently, according to the Daily Mail, which noted the activity took place just days before "The Talk" host was photographed sans wedding ring at a lunch date with daughter Kelly.

It hasn't even been three months since the iPhone 5 released and already rumors about an iPhone 5S, or even an iPhone 6, are starting to spread on the Internet. Apple comes out with a new version of its smartphone each year, so these rumors are expected on an annual basis. But typically the off-season for iPhone rumors feels like it lasts longer than this -- I mean, the iPhone 5 hasn't even come out in most countries yet .  Regardless, they have begun, and there's nothing we can do about it. So what exactly is all the buzz about the seventh-generation iPhone?

Poor Brian Williams: Even though his “NBC Nightly News” broadcast continues to lead in the ratings, on Tuesday night he had the thankless task of responding to David Letterman's relentless interrogation about the flurry of gossip surrounding his network's more troubled franchises, “Today” and “Tonight.” Letterman pressed the anchor about the upheaval at NBC, starting with “Today.” Last year's messy replacement of Ann Curry...

Twenty years ago, veteran caver Chris Nicola received an offer from a Ukrainian friend to explore the well-known gypsum giant caves in the western part of the European country. Nicola quickly accepted the invitation. "My family on my mother's side had Cossack roots and they were known to come from the Ukraine," the New Yorker said over the phone this week. "I thought in the back of my mind I could do some family research. " But his main reason was to visit the 77-mile long Priest's Grotto cave, which is part of an extensive gypsum cave system.

Don't worry, Carson Daly -- NBC isn't done with you yet. The network announced Wednesday that it will renew "Last Call with Carson Daly," the 1:35 a.m. talk show that rounds out its late-night offerings, for a 13th season. Funny timing, that. The renewal came on the very same day that media were digesting a report that NBC is in talks with former "30 Rock" star Alec Baldwin about possibly taking over Daly's slot. PHOTOS: Hollywood Backlot moments Only cynics would assume that giving Daly the thumbs-up now has something to do with trying to smooth things over after the Baldwin thing leaked out. Because NBC clearly has no problem with seamlessly transitioning its late-night TV hosts.