The United Kingdom moved closer to being the latest nation to legislate in favor of same-sex "marriage" this week when it passed a bill allowing such ceremonies to take place in England and Wales.

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The marriage debate in France has been watched closely around the world. The huge rallies in favour of traditional marraige have been particularly noteworthy. Following the redefinition of marriage in France last week, MercatorNet’s Blaise Joseph caught up with young French marriage activist Maxime Lagorce, from La Manif Pour Tous Sydney, who recently spoke at the World Congress of Families.

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A man has been killed in a machete attack and two suspects shot and wounded by police in Woolwich, south-east London.

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A vicious tornado tore across central Oklahoma, killing at least 51 people - with about 40 more bodies expected to arrive. At least 20 of those killed were children, including seven from Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore -- the site of a frantic search early Tuesday morning.

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The Egyptian Coptic community faces a new escalation of attacks by Islamists. On 17 May, two churches were attacked with Molotov cocktails in the district of Dakhela, west of Alexandria, Egypt, and Menpal in Upper Egypt.

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THE board of Yahoo! has agreed to a deal to purchase the popular blogging platform Tumblr for $1.1 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.The sale is set to make Tumblr founder David Karp, 26, instantly once of the wealthiest tech businessmen in the world.

Cardinal Péter Erdo is the President of the European Bishops' Conferences. Recently, he along with vice Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, met with the Pope to analyze the situation of Catholics in Europe. Right now preparations are underway for the coming plenary assembly from October 3rd to the 6th which will be held in Bratislva, Slovakia. The theme translates to 'God and the State: Secular vs. Secularism.' Among the topics is the discrimination some Europeans face when they profess their faith.

When the Rana Plaza garment factory building collapsed on April 24, crushing hundreds of workers under a pile of concrete and machinery that used to be an eight-story factory building, it was like lifting a rock in your garden and finding a snake’s nest full of baby rattlers. Something that most of the world preferred to keep out of sight was exposed to full view. The latest body count as of this writing is 640, but that is sure to rise as more bodies are pulled from the wreckage. (Ed: It is now more than 1,100.)

After the collapse of a garment factory in Bangladesh which killed at least 1,127 workers, demands for better oversight from Western retailers as well as local manufacturers have been widespread. “The question is whether U.S. importers have an obligation to do something about working conditions in other countries,” Edward J. O'Boyle, senior research associate with Mayo Research Institute, told CNA May 14.

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Following his conviction for the murder of three babies born alive, abortionist Kermit Gosnell was sentenced Tuesday to two life sentences without parole for two of those murder charges. By agreeing not to appeal his conviction, Gosnell was able to avoid the death penalty for two of the convictions of first-degree murder. Visit this report from CNA to read more.