The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business

DETROIT—The head of self-driving cars for Google expects real people to be using them on public roads in two to five years. Chris Urmson says the cars would still be test vehicles, and Google would collect data on how they interact with other vehicles and pedestrians.

BRUSSELS — With Europe on edge, soldiers fanned out to guard possible terror targets in Belgium Saturday while police in Greece detained at least two suspects as part of a widening counterterrorism dragnet across the continent.

WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama will call for increasing taxes on the wealthiest Americans then using the revenue to fund new tax credits and other cost-saving measures for the middle class in his first address before a Republican-led Congress.

SINGAPORE—US academics and former senior officials met with North Korea’s chief nuclear negotiator in Singapore on Sunday to get a feel for each other’s positions amid a yearslong standoff over the North’s nuclear weapons buildup.

Leanne Italie / The Associated Press New York—With lots of easy breezy makeup, minimal jewelry and loose hair, the 72nd Annual Golden Globe Awards opened the awards season with a red carpet chock-full of sparkly metallics, bright whites and dramatic reds.

Brandon Bailey / The Associated Press San Francisco—Despite some glimmers of recovery, the personal-computer (PC) industry is still struggling with declining sales, according to two recent market reports showing that global PC shipments fell in 2014 for the third year in a row.

By Cherie Mercado Santos Last part The moment the sun rose on that lovely Sunday morning, my husband Mike and I were halfway through our breakfast at our charming hotel in Aix en Provence and ready to explore what’s said to be two of the most beautiful villages in France.

Jocelyn Noveck / The Associated Press The actor’s recent success doesn’t surprise the dean of his former acting school; That would be James Lipton, host of Bravo’s Inside the Actors Studio, who auditioned Cooper when he was a student at Georgetown.

In the country’s largest-ever security preparations, Philippines authorities will deploy more than 37,000 military and police personnel, and ban backpacks and umbrellas at the Rizal Park during an open-air Mass as Filipinos eagerly await the arrival of Pope Francis, the third Vatican prelate to visit Asia’s largest Catholic nation.

For 19 hours last Friday, a throng of 5.5 million painfully wound through the streets of Manila in what has become an annual massive show of veneration for – some say fanaticism over – a 300-year old burnt wooden figure of Jesus Christ called the Black Nazarene. This year’s toll of the centuries-old ritual: Two dead and hundreds seeking medical …