It's been a Monty Python world lately -- and we're not even talking about the absurdity and silliness of current events, such as balloon boys and confessional celebrities. No, it's a Python world on TV, with the lads being showcased in an multipart IFC documentary -- which started this week -- and re-airing of their classic TV episodes and movies. Last week, the paparazzi were out in New York to see the group, a bunch of self-confessed silly old ...

The Colorado couple accused of carrying out a bizarre hoax involving their son and a huge balloon is "not running from the law" and deserves the presumption of innocence, their attorney said Monday. "The sheriff having a press conference saying that they're guilty does not make them so," David Lane told CNN's "American Morning." Authorities say the event -- in which the tearful couple claimed their 6-year-old may have been trapped in the flying-saucer-like contraption floating through the air -- ...

"Late Show With David Letterman" bandleader Paul Shaffer is a walking Wikipedia of rock 'n' roll history -- and now he's added his own story to the mix. Shaffer's new memoir, "We'll Be Here for the Rest of Our Lives: A Swingin' Showbiz Saga" (Flying Dolphin Press) offers his take on a colorful career, from piano lessons in his native Canada to a "Saturday Night Live" stint to the gig he's had, and relished, for 27 years -- Letterman's sidekick. ...

Hurricane Bill skipped Bermuda and set its sights on the Massachusetts coast Saturday morning, with forecasters warning people from New England to Newfoundland to be on alert. The storm is expected to pass off the coast of New England late Saturday or Saturday night and approach Nova Scotia on Sunday, the National Hurricane Center said. The Bermuda Weather Service discontinued a hurricane watch early Saturday. A tropical storm warning remained in effect, and the weather service warned that strong winds, ...

On the surface, the news that Yemenia Airways, whose jet crashed off the coast of the Comoros Islands on Tuesday, was not on the European Union's blacklist of airlines deemed lax on safety seems like a good argument for not only maintaining the blacklist, but extending it further. Some families of the 152 victims, 66 of them French nationals, claim their relatives died as a result of sub-standard practices the airline uses once it's beyond the view of ...

The last time Terry Williams can remember being headache-free was in December. A chronic migraine has plagued her ever since. So have balance and vision problems, a tremor in her left arm, a prickly sensation in her feet and a loss of childhood memories. The ailments, she says, began on April 11, 2007. Williams, then a 17-year flight attendant on American Airlines, noticed a "misty haze type of smoke" on flight No. 843 as it taxied toward a gate in ...

Raoul Felder still remembers stepping off the Concorde without a trace of jet lag after it whisked him across the Atlantic at twice the speed of sound and wonders why there's been nothing like it since. The high-profile New York divorce attorney was a Concorde frequent flier, relishing each time he arrived at London's Heathrow Airport a mere three hours or so after taking off from the Big Apple. The journey takes at least twice as long on a conventional ...

Cars have global position systems to pinpoint where drivers are when they get lost, so why can't GPS be used to locate the exact position of planes when the worst happens? It took search and rescue teams over 30 hours to locate the wreckage of the Air France plane that crashed in the Atlantic on Monday, the onboard GPS system proving no aid to rescuers in the mission. Although details of flight AF447's fate remain uncertain, in some ...

World record holder and Olympic champion Usain Bolt added yet another title to his tally after racing to victory in the Bupa Great CityGames 150 meter sprint in a new best time in Manchester on Sunday. The Jamaican, who broke both the 100m and 200m records before anchoring his country to the 4x100m relay title in Beijing, clocked 14.36 seconds -- smashing the previous world's best by 0.39 seconds. Bolt, in his first competitive outing of the season, finished ...

So, what's harder, steering a space shuttle or out-machoing Tom Cruise on the set of "Top Gun"? Scott Altman laughs when he answers the question. "Flying a space shuttle is a little more challenging than what we did in the movie, although the flying was a lot of fun," said Altman, who knows more than a little about both. The retired Navy F-14 fighter pilot is the commander of the current space shuttle Atlantis mission to ...