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.
New Secretary of State John Kerry met with leaders of the Syria opposition today and pledged the United States to increased assistance for the rebels—but only the "nonlethal" kind.
On Wednesday night, one of the more obscure outposts of the CNN empire reported that Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez had died, citing a pretty sketchy Panamanian source.
Dana Milbank on Hagel's confirmation, Sheila Bair on why the GOP should care about income inequality, Richard Karlgaard on Wal-Mart's dipping sales, Simon Jenkins on Europe's resurgent populism, and Mathew Ingram on new anti-piracy rules.
He's on a mission with the Harlem Globetrotters for "basketball diplomacy," but North Korea claimed its nuclear weapons were "within the range" of the United States the morning after he arrived.
In statements made exclusively to The Atlantic Wire, Michael Moore and Emad Burnat say the Palestinian filmmaker's detainment by LAX customs officials on his way to the Oscars was anything but a "publicity stunt," as a deeply flawed BuzzFeed report based on a single anonymous source characterized the incident.
For an as-of-yet unnamed price, you too can board a massive luxury ocean liner much like the Titanic for its maiden voyage in 2016. And just as it was on that fateful journey, you too could go down with the ship, according to designs unveiled today.
American and Iranian diplomats took a controversial nuclear-proliferation summit as an opportunity to bond the Olympic committee's decision to pull greco-roman and freestyle wrestling from future Olympic Games. Yeah, the nuclear talks ended pretty quickly.
B16, who plans to resign on February 28, will trade the red, shiny, and expensive-looking slippers for a pair of pedestrian brown loafers presented to him by a Mexican shoemaker. Can we quit it with the Prada Pope rumors now?
Joanne Bamberger on Silicon Valley's working moms, Jonathan Cohn on the inevitable sequester, Jeffrey Toobin on Pistorius' likely plea bargain, Hussein Banai on Iran's refusal to talk, and Arthur Levitt on an SEC failure.
An analysis of satellite images suggests that at least one North Korean prison camp has been significantly expanded over the past decade, including since the death of former premier Kim Jong-Il.
At least 75 prominent Republicans, including two sitting members of Congress, will file a brief with the Supreme Court this week defending the idea that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry.
A steady stream of weapons from the Balkan has been flowing across the border and into Syrian rebels hands since December, thanks to some clandestine assistance from Saudi Arabia.
The results will not only decide who controls a new government but how the country will continue to deal with economic crisis at home and across Europe. And depending on which way things swing, Rome could end up even more divided than Washington.
Paul Krugman on elections in austere Italy, Mathew Ingram on Google re-upping a nasty Nascar video, Tom Gross on the UN and modern-day slavery, Gordon Chang on Foxconn's exit from China, and Timothy Lee on Comcast as a threat.
Ikea stores in Europe have halted the sale of their iconic cafeteria dish after it was discovered that stores in the Czech Republic were serving some their famous Swedish Meatballs that had been tainted by horse meat.
The Archbishop of Edinburgh, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, has been forced to resign just days before the Pope Benedict XVI steps down, leaving Great Britain without a representative at the upcoming papal conclave.
The New York Times is the latest media outlet to liken the quiet standoff between the United States and China over cyber security to "a new Cold War."
Afghanistan's National Security Council ordered all NATO and American troops out of the Wardak province on Sunday, following allegations that American Special Operations forces tortured and murdered locals.
Raul Castro announced in a speech on Sunday that he plans to step down as Cuba's president when his second five-year term ends in 2018.
The Pistorius family are going to be court room regulars before the year is through. Besides little brother Oscar's murder case, another Pistorius sibling is facing murder charges in South Africa. Oscar's big brother Carl is being charged with culpable homicide, too.
It's rare that our friends from North Korea actually pick up the phone and give the ol' U.S. a call. But according to reports in their local media that's exactly what they did. Oh, and did we mention it was to warn the U.S. they would meet a "miserable destruction"?
It didn't take long for the Oscar Pistorius case to be compared to the story of another famous athlete who went on trial for murdering a loved one. Naturally, that was the news media's cue to call up the old gang from the O.J. Simpson trial and see what they think about it.
The day after 16 people were killed by a pair of bombs in the city of Hyderabad, Indian officials admitted they had received a warning about terrorist activity from British intelligence just two days earlier, but weren't able stop the attack, which may have a connection to the Mumbai massacres.
According to the Italian paper La Repubblica, the real reason Pope Benedict XVI resigned lies in a 300-page Vatican dossier that allegedly found an underground network of high-ranking gay clergy, complete with sex parties and shady dealings with the Vatican bank. Here's what we know.
Paul Krugman on sequestration shenanigans, Heather McRobie on urging Obama to shut down Keystone XL, Michael Daly on cyberwarfare preparedness, Steve Hess on the elusive Chinese Spring, and Ryan Avent on the inflation we need.
Guatemalan officials are still trying to confirm if Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzman, one of the world's most powerful drug lords, died during a gunfight in Peten, Guatemala near the Mexican border, but there's a curious Wikileaks wrinkle to this case.
After a four-day hearing laying out the evidence, the judge in the Oscar Pistorius murder case has agreed to let the accused be released on bail.
An internal disciplinary report obtained by CNN shows how the FBI has had to either suspend or fire numerous employees for things like sexting, spying on their bosses, and getting "happy endings" at a massage parlor.
The trial of a clandestine Hezbollah operative in Cyprus is shedding light on the inner workings of what many believe to be the organization's terrorist activities. But even being a terrorist has its perks.
Police hesitated after three sisters aged five, nine and 11 went missing on Valentine's Day in a remote Indian village. Two days later, the girls were found raped, murdered and dumped in a well.
More than a week after President Obama demanded that gun violence victims "deserve a vote" on new legislation, members of Congress across the country don't appear to be budging, from Connecticut to Colorado.
A week after being sent home from Tehran empty-handed, U.N. nuclear inspectors have revealed that Iran has being installing new centrifuges at their main nuclear plant, a clear act of defiance ahead of an upcoming round of talks.
Reports say that as many as 15 people have been killed, though the number of dead and injured could rise considerably as rescuers and first responders sort through the chaotic scene.
Ezra Klein on Simpson-Bowles redux, Jonathan Cohn on the inevitably growing budget, Richard Weitz on Obama's second turn toward Asia, George Will on solitary confinement as torture, and Meghan Daum on Vassar's Westboro deflection.
Just one day after Russia and the Arab League proposed to facilitate talks between President Bashar al Assad's government and Syrian opposition forces, a massive car bomb has detonated in the heart of Damascus—right where the Russian embassy is located.
The already bizarre case of Oscar Pistorius took another unbelievable turn when it was revealed that the lead police investigator is facing his own criminal charges for attempted murder.
So this is pretty gross. Egypt's long struggled with ways to block a series of tunnels that bring some 30 percent of all goods, including guns, into Gaza so they got creative. They're using raw sewage.
New satellite images of the nuclear test site in North Korea shows an uptick in activity for the first time since the country's third nuclear test on February 12, stirring fears that a fourth test is imminent.
In today's tour of state-sponsored propaganda: the link between video games and Korea's propaganda factory, how the end of Olympic wrestling brought Iran and the U.S. together, and China cracks down on food — not hackers.
In court, Oscar Pistorius remains innocent until proven guilty, but in the world of corporate branding the Olympic sprinter has already lost his case.
Those with an eye on President Obama's targeted killing program say that the U.S. Justice Department's recently leaked "white paper" justifying drone targets would have allowed for China, if it used America's new legal boundaries with its own killer technology, to execute a wanted kingpin from the sky.
Palestinian director Emad Burnat has gone through a lot to get to Hollywood. Even now, with an Oscar nomination under his belt, he's still reportedly being held up by airport immigrations officers while trying to get to Los Angeles for the awards ceremony.
The Vatican admitted on Wednesday that Pope Benedict XVI may issue a decree to speed up the process to select his successor, to prevent the Catholic Church from being leaderless at an important time of the year.
Greg Austin on China's hackers, Matthew Yglesias on an expensive airline merger, Jamelle Bouie on sequestration backfiring on the GOP, George Packer on Walmart and the payroll tax, and Hadley Freeman on Hilary Mantel and the media's royal-industrial complex.
Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart returned last night to grasp for the true meaning of the Russian Meteor of 2013 — the 10,000-ton, 17-meter rock from outer space that exploded over the sky last Friday in Chelyabinsk, Russia.
The bail hearing for Oscar Pistorius's murder case continued into a second day today, with lawyers for both sides ramping up the arguments they will likely be making during the actual trial.
The NPR senior strategist plays "online news anchor" by weaving together tweets and social-media footage, all while engaging his followers to take an active role in helping him cover the news. Here are some of his must-follows.
A new SARS-like virus claimed its sixth victim today, raising further concern about an outbreak that emerged last year in the Middle East. But new research suggests that the pathogen — while well-adapted to infecting humans — may be treatable.
Tourism in North Korea has "steadily increased" over the last decade, according to a report from North Korea's propaganda machine — a report that came on the same day that a North Korean diplomat called for the "final destruction" of South Korea.
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