North Korean citizens are apparently "happy with pride and honor that they have one of the best systems for promotion and protection of human rights in the world," according to the country's envoy to the U.N. That, apparently, was not enough to convince the U.N., which wants to establish a commission to look into the way the country treats its people.
This week delivered a familiar narrative from Syria. Allegations of a chemical weapons attack bubbled up to the international stage, eliciting shock and awe across the board, only to be disproven a couple days later.
A leading Sunni imam with close ties to Bashar al-Assad was killed today, when a suicide bomber blew himself up inside his mosque — a potential turning point that risks pushing the conflict from a war to unseat Assad into a Sunni vs. Shia grudge match.
On the same Barack Obama made his first visit to the West Bank as President and held talks with Mahmoud Abbas, militants in Gaza fired rockets into southern Israel, underlining the divisions still faced between not just Israelis and Palestinian, but within the two factions.
It seems like every day now that North Korea has some sort of threat, warning, accusation, or other message to send about the "flames of justice" they are ready to hand out to anyone who messes with them. Today brings two potential targets.
A lot of people like to talk about how Israel's becoming a prison. But when it comes from a veteran war correspondent who was recently taken prisoner in Syria, the analogy is somehow more lucid.
The President of the United States is in Israel, in case you hadn't heard. How did he spend his first presidential afternoon in the Holy Land? Let's take a visual tour, with vacation slides!
Did Syria use chemical weapons on its own people? If the verdict comes back "yes," then what? Will U.S. troops invade or bomb the country, as Republicans have suggested? Give the rebels all the guns they need? Welcome to the land of no consequences.
Dominic Elliott, the 23-year-old personal assistant to David Hockney — arguably Britain's greatest living artist — is dead. Authorities have suddenly out natural causes, and so this is the stuff of British tabloid fodder, to be sure.
The web servers of three television networks and three major banks in South Korea were brought down by cyber attacks earlier today and, naturally, the first suspected culprit is North Korean hackers.
On Tuesday, the Supremes ruled that textbooks sold inexpensively overseas could be legally resold in America. So how rich are you about to get shipping Chinese copies of DVDs stateside? We do the math.
Barack Obama climbs aboard Air Force One tonight for what is, in some circles, the most anticipated trip of his precedency: a two-day visit to Israel and the West Bank.
A British tourist took drastic measures to avoid the unwanted advance of a hotel owner offering her a "massage" at 4 a.m. Tuesday morning, in just the latest public signal that the Indian rape epidemic has spiraled even more out of control than even previously imagined.
D.J. Hoek on the price of public libraries, Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry on the narrow worldview of economists, Geoff Mulgan on the upside of financial crises, Max Boot on (not) apologizing for the Iraq War, and Kyle Wiens on the necessity of digital ownership.
Apparently, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un is a new father, according to America's foremost expert on North Korean politics, Dennis Rodman. Before reading the rest of this post, we recommend seeking out a large grain of salt.
After widespread anger over the plan to tax regular people's bank accounts to pay for a big bank bailout, Cyprus's government reworked to the deal to protect small savers. Unfortunately, the new tax plan is unlikely to change anyone's mind about the fairness of having their savings taken away.
The Syrian regime blamed rebel forces for a chemical-weapons attack in the dangerous Aleppo province that killed around 16 people and wounded around 86 on Tuesday. The opposition denied the report, and said all talks would be cut off, because, really, these two sides can't agree on anything anymore.
In a giant inaugural mass before more than 100,000 worshipers in St. Peter's Square, Pope Francis was officially installed as then new head of the Catholic Church.
Thanks to a few ill-advised cable news broadcasts the world now knows the name of the Steubenville rape victim, but don't even think about sending her any intimidating messages — unless you want to go to jail.
It's hard to decide how Ghassan Hitto's recent election as interim prime minister of the Syrian opposition will play out in the near future, but the United States must be a little bit pumped. Or at least optimistic.
In February 2002, Wall Street Journal corespondent Daniel Pearl was killed after spending a month in captivity with Pakistani terrorists. In March 2013, someone was finally arrested in connection with his death.
As expected, the Internet lit up after the judge announced the guilty verdict in the Steubenville rape trial. As expected, some reactions were just awful. Unexpectedly, one of them came from CNN.
While most of the world is either face down or bleary-eyed by now, the rest of us are still stone cold sober and sitting straight up. Which is to say that some are celebrating St. Patrick's Day on Sunday and some are not. For the rest of us, this is what the holiday really looks like.
Your social media mess is blessed again. Amid a tour of firsts, the newly installed Pope Francis has finally fired up the Pontifex Twitter account since it was scrubbed and reset after Benedict stepped down.
Pope Francis I held his first audience with reporters Saturday morning since surprising everyone Wednesday as the choice to succeed departing Benedict as new Pope. He seemed to dazzle reporters with his humility and humor. Oh, one other thing: he really wants the church to go broke.
Three months after the death of a 23-year-old gang rape victim shocked India, a Swiss tourist who was brutally attacked and gang-raped in front of her husband is the latest in a long line of terrible attacks contributing to the country's "rape problem."
Just when you thought News International chief Rupert "Teflon Don" Murdoch might be powerful enough to beat the case, a suspect turned snitch is lighting a new fire under Murdoch's 2011 nightmares.
The land once governed by Sarah Palin may yet yield more riches: protection from North Korea's likely nonexistent nuclear missiles. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced on Friday that the Pentagon is adding 14 missile-interceptors to Alaska's Fort Greely base at the cost of about $1 billion, pending Congressional approval.
The world is still learning much about the life and history of Pope Francis, and now the Vatican finds itself having to directly confront the most troubling story from his early life in Argentina.
Sky News' Mark Stone was in the middle of discussing efforts to ensure as little controversy as possible when he referred to the June 1989 protests. Then police stepped in, loaded him into a van, and transported him into the Forbidden City.
At a time of heightened awareness — and with U.S. and South Korean militaries in the middle of war games — North Korea has apparently decided that now would be the perfect time to start testing missiles.
In the ongoing international spat over which country deploys the most evil cyber hackers, North Korea is lobbing accusations that the United States and South Korea took down the nation's webservers.
A woman in Argentina says that her rejection of a young male suitor more than 60 years ago, drove the heartsick boy to join the priesthood. Oh, and his name just happened to be Jorge Bergoglio.
There's a sad lesson about urban planning in the trend of major archaeological finds turning up under parking lots in the United Kingdom. Or maybe it's a happy lesson. It's hard to tell.
While Europe and the U.S. hem-and-haw about finding ways to support Syria's rebel army — and get threatened for even considering it — Iran appears to have no reservations about funneling money to their enemies.
Catholics are learning all kinds of fun new tidbits about the new Holy Father, and we're also starting to notice a pattern developing.
As you are aware, the 1.2 billion members of the Catholic Church on Wednesday identified a new leader. You may not have heard, however, that the 1.3 billion citizens of China did as well, and just a few hours later.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was accused of rigging plenty of elections in his day, but his successor thinks he might have also decided one very important vote from beyond the grave.
The Argentine Chamber of Deputies got into a little scuffle on Wednesday afternoon after Jorge Mario Bergoglio was named Pope Francis. Weird, right? You'd think they'd be celebrating.
Today's election of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio to the papacy is notable for two big reasons: he's the first non-European, and the first ordained member of the Society of Jesus, to occupy the highest seat of the Roman Catholic Church, both of which upend millennia of precedent.
As Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio emerged Wednesday at a joyous Vatican and took the papal name Francis, there was no joy on Facebook for guys with the name Francis Pope — or Frank Pope, for that matter. We got in touch with one, and he's used to it.
As the world began to meet Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the 76-year-old virgin and Argentine Jesuit Cardinal with one lung who will be known as Pope Francis I, Catholics everywhere jumped and cried for joy. Here's the tale of celebration in St. Peter's Square, from smoke to wave.
After five ballots and just over a day, the 115 cardinal electors have selected Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio as the new successor to the Apostle Peter and head of the Catholic Church. He will assume the papal name Francis. Here's what you need to know.
The papal conclave has concluded and Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina is now the first Latin American pope in the history of the Catholic Church.
As threatened, Dennis Rodman has arrived in Rome, on a mission to promote world peace endorse a candidate for the papacy plug a website.
The government of the Netherlands raised its terror threat level to "substantial" today, amid fears that terrorists trained in Syria will try to disrupt the coronation of their new king.
The country's propaganda campaign against its neighbors and America continues to ratchet up — it's now calling the brand-new president of South Korea a nagging "prostitute," and it may have released another anti-U.S. video — but that's actually a mild improvement.
Some 3,000 more decomposing pigs have been found in the river near Shanghai since Monday, bringing the number to about 6,000 dead hogs, but authorities claim that water is just fine.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense is denying the report that they've restarted their Cold War-era dolphin-training program and that three of their prized "killer" dolphins have escaped in search of sex.
The spotlight returns to Ohio on Wednesday, and there's a new judge as hackers have returned, the 16-year-old alleged victim might testify after all, her friends can now testify against her, and the suspects are already speaking out.
There was no new pope on Day One of the conclave at the Vatican, although there should be one soon. So what will his name be? Here's a look at the frontrunners, based on popularity over time.
Have a story we missed? A link we have to click? A sharp opinion about the news? Instead of waiting for us to post it, tell us on the Open Wire.
Submit your news and ideas | See all reader postsThe Atlantic Wire is your authoritative guide to the news and ideas that matter most right now. Our team tracks newsmakers and opinions across the entire media spectrum: newspapers, web sites, television, radio and magazines.
But we do more than just collect information. By synthesizing, analyzing and summarizing what’s out there, and adding new information when we can, we are a news engine that gives you a quick and valuable account of the issues of the day.
Have a hot tip? A story we missed? Tell us on the Open Wire
How to send us editorial or technical feedback
Get Five Best Columns in your inbox each morning (preview)
