Searching

The most ballyhooed name change of the year became official Friday morning when a Los Angeles County Superior Court commissioner approved the former Ron Artest's request to become Metta World Peace. Amid labor discord that threatens to delay, if not wipe out, the NBA season, there is World Peace. Photos: Famous name-changers He is 6 feet 7, wears No. 15 for the Lakers and once participated in the infamous "Palace brawl. " Anyone now making his acquaintance will be meeting Metta World Peace.

In the end, the mountain lion was probably looking for a place to call his own. Scientists believe the male mountain lion roamed his way down the Santa Monica Mountains early Tuesday, likely following a runoff channel. When daylight broke, he found himself in the middle of the city and scared. The lion was 3, and experts said that was the age to carve out his own territory. "These young guys are looking for a home of their own," said Jeff Sikich, a biologist with the National Park Service.

Ron Artest 's poor shooting against the Oklahoma City Thunder has overshadowed his stellar defense on Kevin Durant .… Artest shot better than Trevor Ariza this season.… Kobe Bryant , lauded as a facilitator against the Thunder, has averaged 4.6 assists, slightly below his all-time playoff mark.… Michael Jordan won the first of his six championships with the Chicago Bulls in his seventh NBA season.… This is season No. 7 for LeBron James .… Shaquille O'Neal dubbed a recent spin move "Diesel Truck With No Brakes," perhaps sparking interest from Toyota.

Yahoo's latest entry into mobile search hopes to find the Axis of easy with its new iPhone and iPad app plus a desktop plug-in. Yahoo's Axis aims to make search easier, director of product Ethan Batraski told The Times. Search is an inefficient process that has remain unchanged, involving the same three-step process it always has for the last 15 years: Launch a query, get results and then explore results, he said. Axis removes the middle step of a returning search results page of links, instead returning a snapshot of the actual Web page and "turns search into a companion, not a destination," Batraski said.

It was an unfinished slice of pizza that led to the identification of Lonnie David Franklin Jr. as the prime suspect in the Grim Sleeper murder investigation. But the pizza was just the final clue leading to his arrest. The key break in the investigation, intermittently conducted over 25 years, came when investigators found a close — but not perfect — match between the DNA recovered at multiple crime scenes and a man being held in a California prison. Such a near-match strongly indicated that the person wanted by police was a close relative of the man in prison, and police soon focused on the man's father, Lonnie Franklin.

Frustrated by their inability to find the notorious killer known as the Grim Sleeper, whose DNA was not in a law enforcement database, Los Angeles police this spring asked the state to look for a DNA profile similar enough to be a possible relative of the killer. In April, state computers produced a list of 200 genetic profiles of people in the database who might be related to the alleged serial killer. Among the top five ranked as the most likely relatives was a profile that shared a common genetic marker with the crime-scene DNA at each of 15 locations that the crime lab examined.

International and Afghan forces were searching today for two members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization force who went missing during a resupply mission in western Afghanistan, military officials said. The disappearances were reported Wednesday, the NATO force said in a statement. The military did not release the nationalities of the service members, or provide details of where and how they went missing. "We are doing everything we can to find them," said Navy Capt. Jane Campbell, spokeswoman for the international force.

"Firms Cut 21,000 Jobs in State" [Nov. 10] left me curious as to interviewee Deyanira Garcia's statements in describing her quandary. She is quoted as saying she needs at least $14 an hour, the rate of pay she received at her last job, to make ends meet. She now struggles along on $844 monthly unemployment benefits. She goes on to say that she would be unable to make it on what appears to be a rejected job offer paying her $10 an hour and continues drawing unemployment benefits while searching for that elusive $14-plus-an-hour job. With four small children to care for, she faces a daunting challenge to be sure.

David M. Kennedy's article "America Searches for Content in Heroes, in Values" (Opinion, July 8) echoed similar feelings in me. How is it we take our feelings for granted while foreigners tend to speak "with unabashed reverence about things like freedom and democracy?" They have "the discomforting habit of invoking our national icons and quoting our national heroes in defense of liberty." Is it so unsophisticated and simple-minded for us Americans to pay homage and worship our own native American heroes while we "lionize the visitors and not the locals"?

It's only fitting that Tombstone, Ariz., which gained fame for a shootout, has a rough-and-tough gunslinger grave site. Check out the political commentary on the epitaphs of Billy Clanton, Frank McLaury and Tom McLaury, killed as they battled Wyatt Earp and his posse at the O.K. Corral. Want a taste of headstone humor? Try this: "Here lies Lester Moore / Four slugs from a .44 / No Les / No more." And this one recalls George Johnson (wrongly sentenced to hang for buying a stolen horse)

KABUL, Afghanistan — Two foreign women working for a Swiss-based aid group have been kidnapped in the remote northeastern province of Badakhshan, Afghan officials said Wednesday. Three male Afghan colleagues were abducted as well, but one apparently escaped and then alerted the authorities, according to officials in Faizabad, the provincial capital. The medical team was captured by a group of gunmen Tuesday while traveling by donkey or horseback in an isolated district where floods have washed out roads, and an intensive search was underway, said Abdul Mahrouf Rasikh, a spokesman for the provincial governor.

Lolo Jones is an Olympic track and field star gunning for gold at the London Games this summer. But you know what's really hard for Jones? Keeping her virginity intact for her future husband, whoever he may be. Interest in Jones, 29, has gone nuclear in the last 12 hours, after HBO's "Real Sports" aired an interview with Jones on Tuesday night.

Google Search for iPhone has gotten a complete overhaul that makes the app much cleaner, speedier and a bit user-friendlier, if you will. The updated app, complete with the day's Google Doodle, now automatically fills the screen in both portrait and landscape orientations with search results. You scroll down, and the controls are hidden. You scroll up to reveal them again. Across the bottom of the screen, you find the categories of search areas including images, videos, news and blogs.

WASHINGTON - Europe's top antitrust official said that Google Inc. may have abused its dominance to squelch online competition and urged the company to settle allegations to avoid formal charges that could carry a hefty fine. A quick resolution to the investigation that began in 2010 would benefit the fast-moving online marketplace, Joaquin Almunia, head of competition policy for the European Commission, said in a rare public call to end the case quickly. A settlement "at an early stage is always preferable to lengthy proceedings," Almunia said.

Had enough of life in the fast lane and looking to take it down a notch or two? You might seek guidance from a colony of deep-sea microbes harvested from the barren depths of the Pacific Ocean that are progressing so slowly, they almost appear to be dead. Just how plodding are these ancient creatures, who are buried about 100 feet deep in the seabed? Some of them haven't received any new food for 86 million years, when dinosaurs still walked the Earth. And they are using up oxygen at rates 10,000 times slower than their counterparts on the surface of the ocean floor.

As a young Lakers fan growing up in Los Angeles, Russell Westbrook had a prime spot for those slow-rolling celebrations down Figueroa. As point guard for the Oklahoma City Thunder, Westbrook has presided over a parade of Figueroa playoff defeats to his onetime favorite team. "Ever since coming back to play in my rookie year, it's been weird playing here," said Westbrook, a former UCLA standout, whose team entered Friday's game against the Lakers with a 0-3 playoff record against them at Staples Center.

Authorities were searching Friday for a woman who they believe intends to kill her two children and herself. Lisa Ruelas took her sons, ages 5 and 10, from their Altadena home Thursday, leaving a note telling of her murder-suicide plan, sheriff's officials said. Ruelas' husband died about 18 months ago and she could be depressed, Sheriff's Lt. Greg Sisneros told KABC-TV Channel 7. He said authorities began searching for the family after friends found the home empty and the note inside.

Kelly Hildebrandt is about to marry the man of her dreams: Kelly Hildebrandt. Like many couples, the two lovebirds have a lot in common; they both love fishing, scuba diving and hunting. But they might never have met if they didn't have a first and last name in common. "If we introduce each other, [people] have to think about it for a second," said Kelly Katrina Hildebrandt, of Coral Springs, Fla. "They say, 'Wait, you guys have the same name?' " They met online last year after Kelly Katrina Hildebrandt, 20, a student at Palm Beach Community College majoring in education, searched for her own name on Facebook.

WASHINGTON -- A group behind a costly endeavor to field an independent presidential ticket this fall acknowledged Thursday that its efforts to nominate a candidate had failed. Americans Elect succeeded in getting on the ballot in 29 states, but none of its prospective candidates received the minimum support needed to participate in a Web-based series of primaries that were to be held this month. After its board met Wednesday to discuss its options, the group released a statement Thursday indicating that it would not change its rules, effectively disqualifying all the candidates from participating in an online nominating convention that was scheduled next month.

Authorities launched Burbank's largest manhunt in 20 years in search of a missing FBI agent who was believed to be suicidal and possibly carrying a handgun, officials said Saturday. More than 150 law enforcement personnel joined in a search that began Friday and fanned through the rugged Verdugo Mountains and other parts of Los Angeles County looking for Stephen Ivens, 35, a Los Angeles-based agent specializing in national security affairs. He was last seen Friday at his home in the 1700 block of Scott Road in Burbank.