Han Zhongping, a 38-year-old coal mine owner who has four luxury cars and is in the market for another, looked at BMW's latest sedans at this week's Beijing auto show and said what he wants is simple.
"The most expensive is the best," said Han, from the northwestern town of Yulin in China's coal fields. His stable of cars already includes models from BMW and Mercedes-Benz, all bought for cash.

Jose Mourinho pledged his future to Real Madrid on Wednesday despite failing to reach the Champions League final for the second straight season.
"If the club and the players want me to continue, I will," Mourinho said after Madrid bowed out 3-1 on penalties to Bayern Munich after the two-legged series closed 3-3 on aggregate.

A half dozen ominous new North Korean missiles showcased at a lavish military parade were clumsy fakes, analysts say, casting more doubt on the country's claims of military prowess after its recent rocket launch failure.
The weapons displayed April 15 appear to be a mishmash of liquid-fuel and solid-fuel components that could never fly together. Undulating casings on the missiles suggest the metal is too thin to withstand flight. Each missile was slightly different from the others, even though all were supposedly the same make. They don't even fit the launchers they were carried on.

Swiss scientists have demonstrated how a partially paralyzed person can control a robot using brain signals alone.
The team at Switzerland's Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne says the experiment takes them a step closer to enabling immobile patients to easily interact with their surroundings through a robot 'avatar.'

The number of measles deaths worldwide has apparently dropped by about three-quarters over a decade, according to a new study by the World Health Organization and others.
Most of the deaths were in India and Africa, where not enough children are being immunized.

Apple is set to report another record quarterly profit on Tuesday, continuing the relentless string of results that's made it the world's most valuable company. Those profits don't come out of thin air: A range of businesses —from the company's wireless carrier friends to its PC-making foes— are seeing their profits melt away and flow to Apple's bottom line.
Apple's success is good for the U.S. economy, and some businesses, like software developers and memory-chip makers, have benefited from the disruption Apple is causing. But its enormous gains have resulted in others' pains, sometimes in unexpected places.

Four thousand people are taking part in the biggest test run so far for the London Olympic games.
The nationwide three-day test starting Tuesday is going to involve Games organizers, the British government, emergency services, health providers and transport operators.

A U.S.-Lebanese man accused of placing a backpack he thought held a bomb near a major Chicago sports field pleaded guilty to weapons charges Monday and could face up to 30 years in federal prison.
Lebanese immigrant Sami Samir Hassoun, 24, admitted he took what he thought was a bomb and dropped it into a trash bin near Wrigley Field with the intent to harm many people.

For Jennifer Stella, it's a question of informed consent. Her son had a seizure after getting childhood vaccinations and her daughter suffered a "head-to-toe" eczema outbreak; she says parents should research the risks and benefits of immunizations and decide which ones are appropriate.
For Jill Olson, a mother of two, it's a matter of trusting the experts. "There's not really any way that as an individual I can do more scientific study and research than the American Academy of Pediatrics or the Centers for Disease Control."

Arsenal striker Robin van Persie was rewarded for his stunning goalscoring exploits in the Premier League by being voted the player of the season by his peers on Sunday.
The Netherlands international received the Professional Footballers' Association award after grabbing 27 goals to lead the scoring charts in England's top division with three rounds of fixtures remaining.
