Lifestyle & Features

By Vijay Joshi / The Associated Press Burhanpur, India—It is no secret that the Taj Mahal is a monument of love, built by a Mogul emperor as the final resting place for his beloved empress who died giving birth to their 14th child in 1631.

LIVE WELL / CJ Rodriguez In our last two columns, we learned how starting a mindfulness practice at work might help us become more effective in carrying our our respective roles for the jobs required of us. In his book Full Catastrophe Living, Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, the leading expert on the topic, offers concrete ways to practice mindfulness in the …

Story and photo by Alvin I. Dacanay After the island of Corregidor in Bataan province fell to the Japanese Imperial Army on April 9, 1942, 90,000 to 100,000 Filipino and American prisoners of war were forced to march 88 kilometers (55 miles) from Bataan’s Mariveles town to San Fernando municipality in Pampanga province. From there, the prisoners were loaded into …

Kim Cook / The Associated Press New York—With 13,000 international buyers, Toy Fair 2015 looks and sounds like the best-behaved children’s party ever—without the young ones in attendance, of course, because this party is serious business. Buyers come to see new products and place orders for stores, family restaurants and schools around the globe.

LIVE WELL / CJ Rodriguez Last part Getting started in the practice There are a variety of sources to learn from to begin the journey toward increased mindfulness. You can get excellent advice and coaching from subject-matter experts/trainers, as well as from books, compact discs (CDs) and even magazines.

Jocelyn Noveck / The Associated Press New York—Here’s the thing about holding Fashion Week in February: No one really talks about the clothes—they’re too busy talking about the weather. This year, it was even colder than usual, which meant even more painful moments slip-sliding along icy streets and shivering one’s you-know-what off waiting for someone to decide to open the …

By Alvin I. Dacanay They’re undeniably Filipino, yet they’re not. Their slanted eyes and pale skin show how different they are, but their accent and speech also show how they are not that different. Their surnames may sound foreign, but everything else about them are not.

Leanne Italie / The Associated Press Grammy newcomer Sam Smith looked dapper in a white bow tie and Madonna rocked one of the awards season’s most eclectic red carpets last February 8 (last February 9 in Manila) in a bedazzled two-corner black hat and burlesque-esque corset with matching thigh-high boots.

By Cherie Mercado Santos Last part At other lookout points—seemingly within an arm’s reach, but in reality, hundreds of feet away—on rugged rocks and, at times, the seemingly smooth walls of steep mountains, you would see black dots, which I mistook for trees, but upon squinting and wearing my correction glasses, I realized they were rock climbers, conquering these steep …

LIVE WELL / CJ Rodriguez First part In today’s fast-paced, digital environment, it is a constant challenge to stay focused on one thing at any given time. Nowhere is this truer than in the workplace. When you sit in for a meeting, your attention may waver with the barrage of text messages and e-mail alerts from one or more devices. …