France finally became the 14th country to legalize gay marriage on Saturday when President Francois Hollande signed the bill that legalizes same sex marriage into law. But ugly protests that have marked the legal process will continue even now that the bill is passed.
Jeffrey Rosen on Robert Bork's legacy, Ezra Klein on what would make a good fiscal cliff deal, Adam Gopnik on gun control, Andres Oppenheimer on Latin America and the Senate, and Timothy Garton Ash on Britain and the EU.
Russian President Vladimir Putin took questions from the media in a marathon press conference today that covered everything from Gerard Depardieu to the end of the world, and even a few things that actually matter.
Today the country has blessed us with Pyongyang Racer, the first video game ever to come out of North Korea, and just like their satellite, it's not very good.
The Israeli Defense Forces have been accused of violating international law when they targeted media offices during the recent military campaign in Gaza.
The Ikea monkey's mom is mad. First, animal control officials took away her precious Darwin. Now, they won't give him back. So she decided to stage a protest with 15 friends.
The world was briefly fascinated by a video that purported to show a Golden Eagle snatching a baby right in the middle of a Montreal park. But, as with most wonderful things on the Internet, it was only a matter of time before it was revealed to be fake.
Just hours after the release of a report criticizing the State Department for its security failures, the Assistant Secretary of State in charge of security has resigned. So have two others.
In response to U.S. criticism of Russia's human rights record, parliament in Moscow is considering a bill that would prohibit American citizens from adopting Russian children.
What Engel and NBC didn't tell us about was missing technical support staffer Ian Rivers. We didn't know about him until NBC released a statement Wednesday morning.
Michael Bloomberg on gun control, Matt Miller on gun buyback programs, Lydia DePillis on Instagram, Chris McDermott on the Keystone XL pipeline, and Scott A. Snyder on South Korea's first female president.
President Barack Obama has won Time's Person of the Year for the second time.
Attacks on United Nations health workers in Pakistan continued for a third straight day, even though their polio vaccination program had been suspended due to the violence.
An appeals court in France refused to drop prostitution-related claims against former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, which means his legal troubles are not yet finished after more than a year of sexual scandals.
So, you thought you had a traumatic childhood. Were you ever abducted by one of the world's deadliest birds of prey? This tiny toddler from Montréal just was.
A heist that threatened to devastate the Canadian economy (sort of) has been solved (for the most part).
The rogue country's successful launch last week of a "space object" quickly tumbled out of control and, well, it's spiraling somewhere over your head right now — and it might not stop floating around up there for the next several years.
Jonathan Cohn on the emerging fiscal cliff deal, Frank Bruni on a shooting's aftermath, Jeffrey Toobin on the Second Amendment, Haytham Manna on Syria, and Josh Kraushaar on Tim Scott.
Gunmen in Pakistan have killed six people and wounded several others who were working on an anti-polio vaccination program, amid accusations that the campaign is part of a Western conspiracy against Muslims.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani is in a Baghdad hospital after apparently suffering a stroke.
The official inquiry into a garment factory fire that killed more than 100 workers in Bangladesh last month has concluded that the fire was deliberately set, though it can't say who did it or why.
Patrick Radden Keefe on gun control, Molly Redden on Michigan Republicans, Paul Krugman on the deficit, L. Gordon Crovitz on Internet freedom, and Hannah Beech on Japanese elections.
Kate Middleton may have some competition in the dynastic pregnancy game as new pictures out of North Korea appear to show Kim Jong-un's wife sporting a very important baby bump.
Farouk Al-Sharaa is technically still the vice-president of Syria, but is quick to remind everyone that he doesn't make any decisions on behalf of the regime.
It's scary enough to think of what the Assad regime could do with the several hundred tons of chemical weapons that are scattered across Syria. It's simply horrifying to think of what terrorists would do.
Mohamed Morsi's controversial constitution went to a public referendum on Saturday, and despite being up against a very large, vocal opposition, it appears the bill will survive.
Greece is planning to crack down on its tax evasion problem with a committee of wise guys. No, seriously, that's their plan.
The United Nations and Iran ended their latest negotiations over the country's nuclear program with an agreement to hold more negotiations, which is what amounts to a breakthrough in this ongoing stalemate.
Max Fisher on Chuck Hagel, Roger Cohen on oil, Simon Jenkins on North Korea, Jeffrey Goldberg on Australia, and Palav Babaria on Obamacare.
Liu Qiyuan refuses to die on December 21 — the day of this alleged Mayan apocalypse — which is why he's spent around $350,000 constructing seven gigantic survival pods strong enough, he claims, to withstand fires, tsunamis, and earthquakes.
The United States has agreed to send two Patriot missile batteries to defend Turkey's border against Syria missiles, and that also means 400 more American troops will be on the ground and closer than ever to the ongoing fight in Syria.
This chart from Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project looks at social media's global reach, but as an interesting aside it also reveals how many people say they don't use the Internet.
Though Russians are panicking about the upcoming doomsday and Gail Collins is writing her column about zombies, it's important to note this new survey from the Public Religion Research Institute and the Religion News Service.
The British government is still trying to solve the bizarre 2006 poisoning death of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko, who was apparently not only working for MI6 but also with Spanish intelligence and his ex-KGB pals.
Michael Bloomberg on the fiscal cliff, Ezra Klein on conservative fiscal policies, Amy Davidson on Antonin Scalia, Michael Mazza on North Korea, and Xu Zhiyong on Tibet.
A high ranking Russian minister has publicly admitted that the Syrian government might lose its civil war, but doesn't seem excited about the possibility of a future without Bashar al-Assad.
China once again challenged Japanese claims to a disputed set of islands in the East China Sea, this time by sending a plane to patrol the area, which prompted Japan to scramble its own air force.
It's the first time Assad's forced have used the weapons inside their own country. A senior official says that Obama administration considers this "a significant escalation" — especially given the possibility that SCUDs could be used to deliver chemical weapons.
The headlines all say that North Korea's successful missile launch today brings them one step closer to a nuclear missile, but there are plenty — plenty — more steps to take before they get there.
If you're looking for some good news out of this whole diplomatic nightmare, may we introduce you to the over-enthusiastic North Korean newswoman who first announced it?
The sitar maestro died from respiratory and heart problems. Shankar had received heart-valve replacement surgery last week, just after being nominated for another Grammy.
Harold Meyerson on the downside of right-to-work, Adam Ozimek on the upside of right-to-work, Maureen Dowd on Zero Dark Thirty, Francisco Toro on Venezuela after Chavez, and Soner Cagaptay on Turkey.
A new crisis is falling upon the war-torn city of Damascus as reports say that food is running dangerously short, just as a long, cold winter is about hit the region.
The long wait is over and we've finally got the first words of Twitter wisdom from Pope Benedict XVI.
Imagine going Christmas shopping at your local mall, and someone starts shooting. That's exactly what happened in Portland, Oregon on Tuesday, when a lone gunman killed three, including himself.
The Syrian rebel government scored a major victory on Tuesday night when the Obama administration threw its support behind the coalition. This doesn't mean we'll be sending them weapons anytime soon, though.
After weeks of warnings and several stops and starts, North Korea launched its long range rocket on Tuesday night. It crashed into the waters off the Philipines just a few moments later.
There's a custody battle brewing between the owner of the Ikea monkey that went viral this weekend and the authorities that seized him after he went looking for cheap Swedish furniture.
Two alleged spottings on opposite coasts this week captured the attention of semi-local news sources and now people are actually talking about them.
That said, The Guardian points out that the number of official Jedi Knights has actually decreased in the last decade.
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