Got a few grand to spare for a $3,000 phone? Yeah, we didn't think so. Nobody does -- and that's a problem for the makers of luxury phones, such as Motorola, Bang & Olufson, LG and Vertu. After years of chasing the ultra-wealthy with exclusive devices that carry designer logos and promise craftsmanship from materials such as sapphire and stainless steel, luxury phone makers are now pulling back. "The culture has shifted away from conspicuous consumption, so if you are ...

At least 20 people were killed and 40 injured Friday as a result of a major road accident in southern Russia, officials said. Winehouse was accused of assaulting a woman at a London charity ball last year. She had pleaded not guilty to the charge of common assault. "Amy would like to thank her family, friends, and her legal team for their support during this difficult time," said a statement issued by her spokesman. "She has always maintained her innocence ...

You have a degree in astrophysics and you know how to fly a jet. You've endured years of preparation and training, logged thousands of hours of flight time and even survived NASA's terrifying "vomit comet" weightlessness test. Now you're up in space for the very first time, floating around the shuttle's cabin, and as you look out of the window, you realize something: you're hungry. What are you going to eat? Initial voyages into space introduced questions scientists ...

In the Mongolian capital Ulan Bator, "Shoot the Chinese" is spray-painted on a brick wall near a movie theater. A pair of swastikas and the words "Killer Boys ...! Danger!" can be read on a fence in an outlying neighborhood of yurt dwellings. Graffiti like this, which can be found all over the city, is the work of Mongolia's neo-Nazis, an admittedly implausible but often intimidating, and occasionally violent, movement. Ulan Bator is home to three ultra-nationalist groups claiming ...

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised India's efforts to reduce carbon emissions Sunday, but India's environment minister said the country won't agree to "legally binding" limits on greenhouse gases. Clinton toured the ITC Green Center in Gurgaon, outside the Indian capital, with Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, and she praised India's efforts to boost cleaner energy. She called the center a "monument to the future" and said the United States and India can work together to reduce industrial emissions blamed ...

A helicopter crashed during takeoff from Kandahar airfield in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, killing 16 people, NATO said. The aircraft was a "civilian contracted" helicopter, not a military one, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said in a statement. The helicopter was not shot down, ISAF said, adding that the exact cause of the crash was not known. All the dead were civilians, ISAF said. There were an additional five casualties whose condition was not known, according to the military statement. ...

The head of a leading Russian human rights group accused the presidents of Russia and Chechnya of complicity in murdering their top activist in Chechnya. "I am confident about who killed Natalya Estemirova. We all know this person. His name is Ramzan Kadyrov, President of the Chechen republic," Oleg Orlov, the chairman of the Russian human rights group Memorial said on the group's Web site Thursday. "Ramzan was intimidating and insulting Natalya, and considered her his personal enemy. We don't ...

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivers a major foreign policy speech and some Washington political observers ask: "Is she trying to get back in the spotlight?" Since she slipped and broke her elbow last month, the secretary has had to cancel an international trip, and some inside-the-Beltway types are reading the tea leaves. Is it another step in the process of keeping Secretary Clinton from the real foreign policy decision-making in the Obama administration "The Daily Beast's" Tina Brown ...

A chemical plant explosion early Wednesday in Luoyang, China, killed a factory worker and hospitalized 108 others, seven of them seriously, state-run media said. The U.S. Navy tailed a North Korean ship that was believed to have been carrying weapons bound for Myanmar. Diplomats bemoaned the state's reluctance to return to the negotiating table even as the regime in Pyongyang celebrated American Independence Day by lobbing seven short-range missiles into the Sea of Japan. But a worldwide network of amateur ...

The world's richest people are spending millions arming their super-yachts with military-style technology and trained personnel to fight off potential attackers. The threat of pirates and growing fears that yachts may be their next target have led many owners to equip their vessels with the latest James Bond-like technology. Hidden chambers, escape pods, tracking devices and ex-marines employed as security guards have all risen in popularity. "It is only a matter of time before pirates move from cargo ...