Featured Articles From the Los Angeles Times

The six-story tan brick building on H Street houses one of the most secret museums in Washington. It is not listed in visitor guides, and if any camera-toting tourists in shorts and sneakers should show up, they wouldn't get past the front door or the reception desk behind the bullet-proof glass. This is the headquarters of the Secret Service, the federal law enforcement agency charged with protecting the life of the president and battling financial fraud. On the first floor, not far from the front lobby, is the agency's small museum.

The MTV Movie Awards are typically an exercise in frothy Hollywood film promotion but on Sunday night they were a ritual of redemption for two of Hollywood's biggest stars, Tom Cruise and Sandra Bullock. The show was jammed pack with popcorn commercials but if you paid attention there were also surprisingly emotional moments, none more than the 21 Century survivor declarations by the stars of "Top Gun" and "Speed." Cruise opened the show in the hairy-chested, Tinseltown mercenary persona of Les Grosssman from "Tropic Thunder" and by channeling his inner Fly Girl with his dance moves.

Interest rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages fell this week to their lowest level this year and were just barely above their all-time low, Freddie Mac reported Thursday. But demand for loans to purchase houses remains sluggish more than a month after the end of a federal program to stimulate the economy through tax credits for home buyers. Applications for loans to buy homes has fallen by 35% over the last month, according to the Mortgage Bankers Assn., causing some to conclude that the fundamental demand for housing is just plain depressed despite signs of a reviving economy elsewhere.

BOSTON -- Home-court advantage? What's that? For the second time in three games, the visitor walked into unfriendly confines and walked out with a win. Tuesday night it was the Lakers stealing back the advantage they lost on Sunday with a 91-84 win over the Boston Celtics in Game 3 of the NBA Finals. The Lakers lead the best-of-seven series 2-1. Games 4 and 5 will be Thursday and Sunday in the TD (Boston) Garden. It was clear from the start that Kobe Bryant was here to play.

Alex, the African grey parrot who knew more than 100 words, could count to six, and recognized shapes and colors, has died. The bird was 31 and appeared to have died of natural causes, said Irene Pepperberg, the scientist who trained and studied him for three decades. Alex's feats, which Pepperberg documented in dozens of scientific journals, challenged the notion that only apes and dolphins were smart enough to understand human language.

A legal battle over who gets to control California's massive spending on prisons — judges or corrections officials — may be headed to the U.S. Supreme Court, with overcrowding at the state's 33 prisons at the center of the debate. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state officials have challenged an edict from three federal judges that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation must cut the prison population by 40,000, or about a quarter of its 165,000 inmates.

Twenty days before his planned storybook wedding in Yosemite National Park, Aaron Vargas got drunk on beer and vodka and pocketed a loaded revolver. Then he drove to a remote trailer and shot Darrell McNeill to death in front of the man's horrified wife. McNeill's death shocked residents of this small city on the rugged Northern California coast, and so did Vargas' motive. But what came next might have been the biggest surprise of all. Assistant Dist. Atty. Elizabeth Norman describes McNeill, who was unarmed when he was killed, as "a little old man with Parkinson's disease, who was in his little trailer home in his stockings, pants and T-shirt."

There's an adage that finding the perfect wedding dress is like finding a perfect partner: You want one that hugs your body, offers support, lifts you up and makes you feel beautiful. So wouldn't it be great to get a dress from a brand that, like your future spouse, you trust to give you these things on an average Wednesday as well as on what's supposed to be the most memorable day of your life? That seems to be the philosophy behind the slew of major mass-market retailers now offering bridal gowns.

Reporting from Johannesburg -- Forget South Africa's talented midfielder Steven Pienaar, hulking defender Matthew Booth or strapping goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune. The man who may give Mexico the most trouble in Friday's World Cup opener is a frail 91-year-old great-grandfather. Former South African President Nelson Mandela is expected to make a brief appearance at Johannesburg's Soccer City Stadium, where he will greet players and fans before South Africa and Mexico kick off the first World Cup to be played on African soil.

BOSTON -- Isn't this the way it's supposed to happen? The defending NBA champions with their superstar guard heading home for two elimination games. Or, the underdog team looking to pull off the ultimate trifecta of upsetting two teams seeded No. 1 and another seeded No. 2 to bring the championship banner to their parquet home for the second time in three years. Such are the things that make for big TV ratings. Sunday, the Boston Celtics wove those storylines to reality with a 92-86 win over the Lakers to take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series.

The U.S. House of Representatives approved another extension of unemployment benefits on Friday. But this widening of the safety net could be the last as lawmakers grow uneasy over the costs of what is looking to some like an unfunded welfare benefit. In a 215-204 vote, House members approved extending benefits through Nov. 30, which would help nearly 350,000 long-term unemployed people nationwide from falling off the unemployment rolls by next month. But the measure still must be approved by the Senate, which has already left for a weeklong Memorial Day break.

Reporting from Irene, South Africa -- The scene on Tuesday was a South African dairy farm an hour or so outside Johannesburg — about as incongruous a place as possible to be talking about the World Cup. But Jay DeMerit was undeterred. Neither the distinct aroma of cows nor the fact that there were chickens milling about outside the media tent would sway the U.S. defender from his appointed remarks. "I think, being Americans, we always have something to prove as far as far as soccer is concerned," he said.

The Deepwater Horizon oil rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico was built in South Korea. It was operated by a Swiss company under contract to a British oil firm. Primary responsibility for safety and other inspections rested not with the U.S. government but with the Republic of the Marshall Islands — a tiny, impoverished nation in the Pacific Ocean. And the Marshall Islands, a maze of tiny atolls, many smaller than the ill-fated oil rig, outsourced many of its responsibilities to private companies.