Five years ago, on the night of June 1, 2003, a Phoenix housewife named Stephenie Meyer had a dream: a young woman was talking to a beautiful, sparkling man in a sunlit meadow. The man was a vampire. They were in love, and he was telling the girl how hard it was for him to keep from killing her. Meyer had not written anything much before then. Her main creative outlets were scrapbooking and making elaborate Halloween costumes. ...

Lars and Jens Rasmussen were broke and jobless -- with only $16 between them -- when they made it big in the Web world by selling their idea for Google Maps.

Filmmaker Roman Polanski has been arrested in Switzerland on an arrest warrant issued 31 years ago in connection with a rape charge. The Academy Award-winning director pleaded guilty in 1977 to having sex with a 13-year-old girl in the United States, but fled the country before he could be sentenced. Authorities in the United States issued a warrant for his arrest in 1978. He was taken into custody on Saturday, Zurich police said. Polanski has lived in France for decades ...

Hollywood celebrated television's best and brightest at the 61st Emmy Awards on Sunday night. While many actresses played it safe in classic cuts and neutral colors, there were a few standouts, mostly young stars who brought excitement to an otherwise ordinary red carpet. "Gossip Girl" Blake Lively was the night's best dressed in a pailette-encrusted Versace gown with a plunging neckline and thigh-high slit. With this bold choice, Lively secured her place as Hollywood's sexiest young star -- a ...

Why does the U.S. carrier known for the best network have the worst smartphones? Verizon gets plaudits for its coverage and call quality, but consistently loses out to AT&T, T-Mobile and even Sprint when it comes to getting the newest high-end handsets. "They lack the star products that their competitors have," says Avi Greengart, research director, consumer devices for Current Analysis. "They recognize they don't have compelling devices right now but feel they can make up for it with network ...

Monday marks the end of August, a month with both good and bad news out of Afghanistan — and the approach of a key turning point. Civilian casualties caused by Western attacks have fallen dramatically under a new edict from General Stanley McChrystal barring air strikes that risk innocent deaths . That's designed to show the Afghan people that the U.S. military is a force for good in their country. But at the same time, U.S. troop deaths ...

Jorge Lorenzo kept the MotoGP title race alive with victory at the Indianapolis Grand Prix on Sunday as world champion Valentino Rossi crashed out. Rossi saw his lead halved to 25 points with five races remaining as the Italian failed to finish for the first time since 2007. He went down on lap nine of 28 when battling for the lead with Yamaha teammate Lorenzo, and was able to remount -- but then had to retire two laps later due ...

There comes a moment in almost every movie romance when words no longer suffice and the music must rise to the occasion. From the initial meet-cutes to the heated arguments and all those third-act sprints to win back the girl, a movie's soundtrack often does the heavy lifting, providing all the needed passion, heartache and poetry. The romantic comedy Days of Summer, with a soundtrack ranging from Wolfmother to Carla Bruni, hits all the right notes, with a ...

A zombie movie made using a camcorder for less then the price of a DVD box set is set to be distributed in cinemas across the UK. "Colin," made by budding British director, Marc Price, will now get its own DVD as well as hitting the big screen in time for Halloween alongside Hollywood blockbusters like "Zombieland." "It's kind of scary in a cool way," says Price of his success on a shoestring. Price wrote, directed, shot and edited ...

Alberto Contador has been crowned Tour de France champion for the second time in three years, as Mark Cavendish won his sixth stage of this year's race with victory in the 21st and final stage, finishing in the center of Paris. Briton Cavendish again proved he has no equal in the bunch sprints by powering away from his rivals, after being giving a perfect lead-out by Columbia teammate Mark Renshaw, to add the 'blue riband' sprinters stage on the Champs-Elysees ...