Laura Fattal rolls a piece of Scotch tape, attaching a picture of her son and his two friends to a cardboard box. Her calm demeanor doesn't give away the gravity of the situation and the reason why she's in a New York hotel room with two other mothers. Laura, Nora Shourd and Cindy Hickey have been brought together because their children have been held in Iran since July 31. They have had no contact with their families. The mothers have ...

Six-year-old Falcon Heene was cowering inside the attic above his family's garage. He had gotten in trouble several hours earlier for playing inside the family's homemade helium balloon and told his 10-year-old brother Bradford that he planned to sneak inside. Richard Heene, the boys' father, had walked away for just a minute when the tether became undone, causing the balloon to begin floating miles above the house, he told CNN's Wolf Blitzer as he sat next to his family on ...

At least eight people were killed Thursday morning when a suicide car bomber rammed a police station in northwest Pakistan, authorities said. Beauty queens, fashion models, actresses or regular girls made good are lovers of drug capos and above all lovers of the finest luxuries cocaine money can buy. Few are prepared to speak publicly and even less to appear on camera. Those who date mob bosses don't want to blow their cover. That could expose their boyfriends to ...

One of the first times I went on a date with a girl, she asked me, "Are you bi or gay?" "Well, I'm still figuring that out," I told her. Her response was: "I knew you were too good to be true." I then fell all over myself in an effort to explain to her that, although I was unsure about how to define my sexuality, I was definitely into girls, more so than I'm into guys. I am ...

Shortly after McDonald's' celebrated its 30-year presence in France, the fast-food chain is conquering one of the country's most valued cultural institutions --the Louvre. The restaurant will be serving its fast burgers in the Carrousel du Louvre, an underground shopping mall which lies under the main entrance of the museum and which still contains an ancient wall that was discovered during construction works. McDonald's plans seem to have caused more media attention abroad than in France, but for some ...

As the Los Angeles Angels head into the American League playoffs, they will be remembering a lost teammate: pitcher Nick Adenhart, 22, who died on April 9, only four days into the season, after pitching six scoreless innings in his season debut. He and two friends were killed after their car was hit by a van that ran a red light. The team paid tribute to Adenhart when they clinched their division championship last week. But the team was ...

Stewart Copeland and Sting get along great. Really. OK, the Police's drummer and bassist may have argued from time to time. Perhaps even ferociously. And Copeland finds Sting's attempts to be a drum arranger annoying. OK, maybe infuriating. But, as he writes in his new book, "Strange Things Happen" (HarperStudio), "We have discovered that we can be good friends -- as long as no one mentions music." Besides, Copeland adds in an interview, both Sting and guitarist Andy ...

After losing her beloved Maltipoo Daisy to a coyote attack, Jessica Simpson may be at the lowest point of her life, friends fear. "Daisy was her baby," one of them told PEOPLE. "It's going to put her into a tailspin. It will put her into the worst place ever." Daisy was snatched away by a coyote before Simpson's very eyes in Los Angeles last week, and, despite Simpson's refusal to quit searching and offer of a reward, no sign has ...

The organizers of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and Federal Express are issuing a nationwide "call for photos" to help document the stories of those lost in the war. The images will be compiled and displayed at an education center near the Vietnam Wall on the National Mall. To get the original snapshots converted to a digital image that can be stored, the retail chain FedEx Office is providing free electronic scanning service at its 1,600 stores across the country. Colleen ...

Friends and strangers across the country gathered on the streets and in schools, churches, bars and auditoriums to celebrate the inauguration of Barack Obama as the first African-American president of the United States. "It's a great day to be an American," iReporter Roger Germann said at Chicago's Shedd Aquarium, where revelers watched the inauguration on television monitors among exhibits of sharks and otters. Tuesday's inauguration brought together Americans from different walks of life, united in their hope that Obama ...