People in the '70s knew two things about Marilyn Chambers: that she had appeared as a model on an Ivory Snow box, fondly holding an infant under the corporate slogan "99 and 44/100% Pure"; and that she starred in Behind the Green Door, one of the first, weirdest and most popular hard-core movies in that brief period of the '70s known as Porno Chic. These two factettes, with their colliding irony, made the blond, willowy Chambers the pin-up princess ...

The U.N. Security Council on Monday adopted a declaration condemning North Korea for launching a rocket earlier this month. The 15-member council voted unanimously for a statement by the president of the Security Council which also demands that North Korea make no more launches. The Security Council has been discussing the matter since North Korea's April 5 launch of what it said was a communications satellite. The United States has said that the satellite did not reach orbit. U.S. Ambassador ...

The "Land of Smiles" is growing grim as the political maelstrom in Thailand threatens to further erode the southeast Asian nation's battered tourism industry. Thailand has been a popular destination since its spectacular beaches were discovered four decades ago by backpacking travelers and U.S. troops on leave from Vietnam. But visits and tourism dollars have dwindled in recent months on the heels of the global economic crisis and December protests that blocked access to Bangkok's airports. A current round of ...

Is anyone else besides Michelle Obama leaving the house these days? Because for the last week, you would have thought that Anne Hathaway, Gwyneth Paltrow and Halle Berry had gone into the Witness Protection Program. During first lady Michelle Obama's whirlwind visit to Europe this past week, her refreshing take on American style has emerged. It is elegant, smart, appropriate and shows the first lady to be comfortable in her own skin. Coverage surrounding the first lady's wardrobe in ...

Regular programming has just been interrupted by a news conference. A slender black man in a suit steps up to a podium, flanked by American flags and a White House logo. "I wish I could announce such an economic package," he says, "but there is a bank in Turkey that did it. It is Garanti. I wish we had Garanti in America." Don't be fooled. This is a commercial on Turkish TV. The actor is a 44-year-old Barack Obama look-alike ...

North Korea, formally called the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, is also known as the Hermit Kingdom for a good reason. For decades, it has been shrouded by a veil of secrecy that has prevented us from better understanding this important nation. As journalists we seek out the realities of life there, beyond the myths and hype, but that is difficult because the DPRK is generally inaccessible to journalists. The gap between reality and illusion remains profound. Journalists, ...

David Bill isn't annoyed when Twitter gets so bogged down with traffic that he can't post a message. That's because in the moment when frustration would hit, he's greeted on the popular Web site by a cartoonish image he loves: a giant whale being lifted out of an ocean by a small flock of tweeting birds. The icon -- which Twitter users call it the "fail whale" because the creature appears only when the site has failed to load -- ...

The figure peers down silently from an upper floor of the ruins of a Scottish castle, wearing what looks like an outfit from the Middle Ages. Could this be a long-dead Scottish earl, or just a random, modern-day visitor? The eerie image is captured in a photograph taken by tourist Christopher Aitchison in May 2008 at Tantallon Castle, which sits on a rocky outcrop along the Scottish coast, east of Edinburgh. The "person" appears to be wearing an old-style greenish ...

The nation's economic outlook continues to be bleak. Unemployment is up, a mortgage meltdown has left homeowners in trouble, and many businesses are hurting. But amid the bad news, McDonald's is pulling ahead. Just a few years ago, the company was lagging in sales, and share prices were much lower. Now, its profits and stock price are up, and business is booming. How has McDonald's been able to thrive To answer that question, a company executive spoke Wednesday with anchor ...

David Beckham is a man who knows his own mind and has the courage of his convictions. And that's why, instead of heading back to LA to help revive the struggling Galaxy, he's fought tooth and nail to stay in Italy to pursue la dolce vita with AC Milan. The fact that his Italian swan song will be temporarily interrupted by a mandatory half season back in LA, starting in June, in no way disguising the fact that he is ...