The travel experts predict that this will be a staycation summer, with gas prices over $4 and the economy melting like an Eskimo pie. It's always been a luxury to be able to hop a plane to Paris, to Venice, to the Grand Canyon. But as I read the welcome letter sent to my daughter from her camp director, I decided that she is luckier still. The real luxury travel of the modern age is not through space; it's through ...

There is a certain four-letter word that evokes much emotion, is often uttered by mothers giving birth, and whose usage by humans is thought to be evolutionarily adaptive: f___! According to a new study by British researchers, saying the F word or any other commonly used expletive can work to reduce physical pain — and it seems that people may use curse words by instinct. Indeed, as any owner of a banged shin, whacked funny bone or stubbed toe ...

The FBI has seized a two-page, handwritten letter of condolence sent by Jacqueline Kennedy to the widow of Robert F. Kennedy shortly after he was assassinated in 1968. The family contends the letter was stolen. "We're trying to determine who the legal owner is," said Mark White, a spokesman for the FBI. "There's still an ongoing investigation." The letter's path from the Virginia home of Robert Kennedy's widow, Ethel Kennedy, to a locked evidence vault in the Dallas field office ...

Police are searching for a Yale University graduate student and bride-to-be who disappeared and was last seen outside a school of medicine building. Co-worker Debbie Apuzzo told CNN affiliate WTNH-TV that Annie Le, 24, is scheduled to be married Sunday, and "her fiance hasn't heard from her." "Annie Le's purse containing her cell phone, credit cards and money were left in her office," a Yale University Police Department news release said, adding that friends, family members and co-workers had ...

In an unusual move, Myanmar's military government will allow diplomats to meet with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday at the end of the day's proceeding in her continuing trial. Russian, Singaporean and Thai officials are expected to meet with the Nobel Peace Prize laureate later Wednesday, said a diplomatic source in Yangon, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Also Wednesday, the government allowed some media inside the courtroom to cover the third day of the trial. The ...

The trial of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi -- a proceeding that nine Nobel laureates have called "a mockery" -- entered its second day Tuesday. Prosecutors continued their questioning of the 22 witnesses they have called. Two of Suu Kyi's maids and an American man who recently swam to her lakeside home also are on trial. At the end of the first day, Monday, the court had heard from only two of the witnesses. Diplomatic sources say ...

Dating advice books take a tech-addicted turn with the release of "Flirtexting: How To Text Your Way To His Heart." The book's co-authors, Olivia Baniuszewicz and Debra Goldstein, seek to explain the dating scene based on the premise that men understand text messages while women need to catch up. "It's official. Boys text, therefore girls must learn how to flirtext!" they say on their Web site, flirtexting.com. Baniuszewicz and Goldstein offer up a new etiquette for what they call the "A.C." ...

The Defense Department will release "a substantial number" of photographs showing abuse of prisoners at prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. The release will be in response to an open-records lawsuit filed by the ACLU, the group said in a written statement. The statement released late Thursday said the photos were taken at facilities other than Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. "These photographs provide visual proof that prisoner abuse by U.S. personnel ...

Prominent scholars and experts are urging President Obama to adopt strong policies backing democracy in the Middle East. More than 140 people signed an open letter to the president. Its message will be the topic of a news conference Tuesday at the National Press Club in Washington. "We urge you to elevate democratic reform and respect for human rights as key considerations in your engagement with both Arab regimes and Arab publics," the letter said. "We are writing ...

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has submitted his letter of resignation, an act that would help create a Palestinian national consensus government, the prime minister's office told CNN on Saturday.