If there is anything in the world of high fashion more vulnerable to whim than clothes, it is the models who wear them. They seem to emerge from nowhere, sparkle brilliantly, then plunge into Stygian darkness,* the victims of too much deja vu. Now rising into ascendancy is a new heavenly body who, because of her striking singularity, promises to remain on high for many a season.Donyale Luna, as she calls herself, is unquestionably the hottest model in Europe at the moment. She is only 20, ...

Given their nation's long reign as the world's most visited country, you'd expect the French to know a thing or two about insufferable tourists. It turns out they do — and are proving it to the rest of the world. In a poll carried out by online travel site Expedia and released on Thursday, July 9, French tourists were viewed as the orneriest for the third year running. Affirmation-starved France usually loves global titles of any kind

"Sushi tastes amazing. A great steak is just amazing." Those are not the words you expect to hear from a leader of the vegetarian movement. But that's how Graham Hill, founder of the sustainability website TreeHugger, feels about the fleshier components of his diet. He is a self-described "weekday vegetarian," a compromise that came about after years of trying--and failing--to adhere to a strictly vegetarian diet. For the past year, Hill has preached the cause of partial vegetarianism to help ...

FASHION Pieced in PlasticThe effect was breathtaking. Out strode the model, clothed in nothing but wafer-thin plastic disks, each glinting with dazzling sun colors and hung together with fine wires. Next came a coat of mail in glistening silver that let a generous amount of skin go unprotected. Then came sun visors shaped like welders' helmets and oversized plastic earrings that dangled weightlessly at shoulder level. It was the U.S. debut at Manhattan's Lord & Taylor of Jewelry Designer ...

IN the pantheon of virtues that made the U.S. great, none stands higher than the work ethic. As Richard Nixon defined it in a nationwide radio address: "The work ethic holds that labor is good in itself; that a man or woman at work not only makes a contribution to his fellow man but becomes a better person by virtue of the act of working." Lately the President has so often mentioned the work ethic—and so often suggested that it ...

Smart phones do many things these days: surf the Internet, send e-mail, take photos and video . But one thing they can do that phone companies don't advertise is spy on you. As long as you don't leave home without your phone, that handy gadget keeps a record of everywhere you go — a record the government can then get from your telephone company. The law is unclear about how easy it should be for the government to ...

Not even a tropical storm and flooded streets could dampen the fiesta in Mexico State, which lies in the south-central part of the country, by the nation's former ruling party. Oblivious to the pelting rain, revelers dressed in the red of the Institutional Revolutionary Party danced into Monday morning among balloons, banners and the beat of tropical music. "Yes, we could do it," they screamed, echoing a chant normally used in Mexican soccer stadiums. The PRI ...

The Church of Scientology is a notoriously difficult subject for a journalist. The press has long been considered an enemy of the Church, which was founded half a century ago by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard.

What does it mean to be 13, backstage adults, watching on tiptoe, waiting to go onstage? Some things about this age of change are unchanging. If childhood is about magic, 13 introduces mystery: Joan of Arc began hearing celestial voices when she was 13. Into the age of innocence, 13 brings sexuality: early versions of the Little Red Riding Hood story were tales of seduction in which her cape was a symbol of menstruation. Shakespeare's Juliet was 13, unready for ...

It's never been hard to blame Richard Nixon for stuff. Communist witch hunts? Nixon. Illegal war in Cambodia? Nixon. Massive corruption and the decades of political cynicism that followed? Nixon and Nixon. That's a little glib, of course. Bad wars, crooked pols and red-baiting were all around before the 37th president. And give the man his props too — for the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the EPA, the opening to China, all of which ...