Do airport scanners help the economy?

The Christmas Day attempted attack by would-be “underwear bomber” Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab provoked the U.S. government to plan to spend $1 billion for full body scanners and other bomb-detecting devices at airports.

A Chinese court has sentenced four people to death for their roles in last year’s deadly riots in the western city of Urumqi, state media said Tuesday.

Pakistani Defense Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, above, is among 280 officials blocked from leaving the country after a court invalidates an amnesty protecting them from corruption charges, state media reports.

China’s economy grew by 8.7 percent in 2009, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Visitors shuttle in and out of a state-of-the-art hospital in an Indonesian town once devastated by towering tsunami waves five years ago, while in nearby Thailand backpackers dance to music in bars and tourists lodge in a hotel that had been demolished in the Boxing Day disaster.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates ended a two-day trip to Afghanistan on Thursday, telling a group of Afghan soldiers that America will maintain a presence beyond the troop pullout set to begin in 2011.

Studio execs should give plenty of thanks to female moviegoers: “Twilight: New Moon” and “The Blind Side” led the best-ever Thanksgiving weekend at the box office by drawing women and families into theaters, while male-centric newcomers “Old Dogs” and “Ninja Assassin” only earned so-so numbers.

The Dominican Republic has some of the finest stretches of sand on the planet. But don’t miss out on seeing the 16th-century buildings, quaint colonial streets and romantic ruins in the capital city.

Users of BlackBerry phones in North America reported widespread interruptions in sending and receiving e-mail Thursday.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has unveiled the iPad, a tablet computer that he called “a truly magical and revolutionary product.”

Once the world’s online search leader, Yahoo’s share has sharply declined, putting it in danger of losing its relevance in a market increasingly dominated by Google.

The challenges inherent in getting a 162,000-pound aircraft off the ground and landing it safely are pretty obvious to most observers. But at cruising altitude, above 10,000 feet, pilots face a different critical challenge: staying focused.

The U.S. State Department has sold its London embassy building to a Qatari real estate company, the embassy announced Tuesday.

Justine Henin continued her return from retirement in dramatic winning fashion on Friday to defeat Alisa Kleybanova and advance to the fourth round of the Australian Open.

President Obama pressed Wall Street bankers at the White House on Monday, urging them to make more loans and modify mortgages to help taxpayers who propped their banks up with federal bailouts.

A pair of bombings in Pakistan killed at least 17 people, including security officials, and wounded dozens of others Friday, officials said.