* Extreme weather events increasing in intensity as well as frequency around the world. * Pictures of play and rescue during recent wintry weather in the Middle East. * Iran pledges to produce its own version of Argo, "which lacks a proper view of historical events." * In case you missed it:
* In a rebuke of the steroid era, no one is elected to baseball's Hall of Fame—the second time in 43 years. * Kevin Guilfoile exposes the rampant use of performance-enhancing drugs among famous playwrights. * A new report finds as much as half of all the world'
* Profiles of five senators who will play key roles in determining the fate of any gun legislation * As the guns debate heats up, it's useful to remember Godwin's Law of Nazi Analogies. * Studies show the rise and fall in crime follows a rise and fall in
* Virginia's governor wants to remove the state's gas tax and begin taxing alternative-fuel cars. * The world's largest scale model of the solar system actually covers all of Sweden. * Map of the best and worst countries to be born into today. * Writer calls Richard
* This past year was the hottest ever recorded in the U.S., and the second-worst on the Climate Extremes Index. * Australia's Bureau of Meteorology adds an extra color code at the top end of the temperature scale. * Tennis players protest being forced to play in Australia'
* Photojournalist captures images of modern slavery. * If emancipation did in fact begin long before...Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, what changed on that day? * Venezuelan police raid the home of a Twitter user suspected of spreading rumors about Chávez's health. * Kuwaiti court sentences man to two years in
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* White House photographer Pete Souza releases a year of pictures with the First Family. * Dozens of environmental and health groups urge Obama to finally and firmly address climate change. * Forced to resign by a financial scandal, Berlusconi is running for office again, this time for finance minister, or even prime
* The White House is plotting a surprisingly broad and aggressive gun control agenda. * A society that is relying on guys with guns to stop violence is a sign of a society where institutions have broken down. * How weapon technology like biometrics and grip detection could help prevent future massacres. * Math-
* Obama to nominate counter-terrorism advisor John Brennan as next director of the CIA. * First CIA officer faces prison for a press leak—"one of an unprecedented string of six prosecutions under President Obama." * Ethical questions appear when patients with dementia find romance in nursing homes, and spouses
