Pope Benedict XVI will resign on Febraury 28 at 8pm Rome time.
Year of the Snake: Scenes from Chinese Lunar New Year
Dragon dances, fireworks and festive decorations usher in Chinese Lunar New Year, the Year of the Snake. Here are scenes from celebrations in China and elsewhere in the world.
Pilgrims Killed in Crush to Get Home from Indian Festival
On the holiest of the 55 days of the Maha Kumbh Mela festival — expected to draw a total of 100 million people — a footbridge collapses and the ensuing panic results in multiple deaths
A Gang Rape Reinforces Acapulco’s Decline, but What of Mexico’s Other Resorts?
The once iconic tourist mecca no longer attracts the huge numbers it once did, but tourism is till booming in the rest of Mexico
Chinese Relatives Pressuring You to Marry? Try a Rent-a-Boyfriend
With the Chinese New Year coming up many young Chinese men and women are choosing to rent a partner for the holdiays
The E.U. Budget: Champions of Austerity Win a Big Battle–for the Most Part
Sleep-deprived EU leaders adopt a vastly reduced 2014-2020 budget that leading European parliamentarians vow to send back.
Will Chinese New Year Fireworks Make Beijing’s ‘Crazy Bad’ Air Worse?
As celebratory diversions go, the fireworks used to mark China’s Spring Festival wreak a huge amount of carnage. On Feb. 1 a truck delivering fireworks in central Henan province exploded, causing a bridge collapse that killed …
The Debate on Drones: Away from the Politics, the Nameless Dead Remain
The Obama Administration’s use of drones in its war against al-Qaeda and its affiliates has finally garnered real attention in the U.S., dominating front pages of late and appearing on TIME’s cover last week. At Thursday’s …
One Year Out, Russia Is Already Stockpiling Snow for the Sochi Olympics
The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi are just 365 days away, and President Vladimir Putin is ensuring everything is under control. Even the weather.
India Must Do More to Prevent Child Sex Abuse, Report Says
The Indian government must combat the “conspiracy of silence” around child sex abuse, Human Rights Watch says.
Must-Reads from Around the World
North Korean traders introduce the outside world to the country’s repressed citizens, the Indian government falls short of protecting its children from sex abuse and members of the band Pussy Riot appeal to the European Court of Human Rights
The White Stuff: Mining Giant Rio Tinto Unearths Unrest in Madagascar
In the wake of aggressive protests, the British-Australian company is scaling back plans to develop the world’s biggest titanium white-pigment supply
Movie, Books Push Indonesia to Confront Its Bloody Past
Three new works ask Indonesians to take another look at the killings of 1965-66.