When the Russian Parliament in its infinite pettiness decided to use orphans to settle a score or two with the United States and ban the adoption of Russian children by American families, most people registered a level of indignation somewhere between, "Sigh, the world can be cruel" and, "Jesus, Russian Parliament —…

Well, that's one way to cut down on child brides.

If we're going to tackle the wild and woolly world of online shopping, first things first: what do all those different sizes mean?

During this story on a replica of The Central Perk opening in Beijing the reporter masterfully twists it into a commentary on U.S.-China relations. Obama should definitely just cancel tonight's state dinner and watch Friends DVDs with the Chinese president.

First question on BigThink's female leadership style quiz: you're "heading up a task force to re-evaluate U.S. military plans along the Afghan-Pakistan border, and you've got to make an urgent decision about whether to recommend more diplomacy or military action."

Last week, the first-ever issue of Turkish Vogue hit newsstands. While many of the editors of the new mag are Turkish, the cover features Canadian model Jessica Stam… in keeping with Vogue's habit of using white models on international editions.

Veronica Lario, wife of famous cad and Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi, recently said: "In these weeks I have watched in silence, without responding in the media, the brutal muddying of my person, my dignity and my marital history." [Reuters, Time]

By now you've seen the picture of Hillary Clinton and Mutassim Qadhafi. Perhaps you're asking: So who is this guy in the chocolate suit?

Some of what is going on at the G20 Summit is really freaking amazing. [World Of Wonder]

U.S.: One kiss. France: Two. Netherlands: 3. In today's "Freakonomics," Daniel Hamermesh asks, who makes the kissing rules? Who changes them? How do we learn them? And we'd better! [New York Times]

In Japan, the Gothic Lolita trend is pretty huge. In fact, they have a magazine dedicated to the darkly cute (or is it cutely dark?) fashion fad, called Gothic & Lolita. This special issue, the Gothic & Lolita Bible, has everything you need to perfect your look — freaky contact lenses, skirts with stiff crinolines,…

Over on Guanabee, writer Gabriel Caro has created something called "The International Fuckability Hierarchy Index: Latin Countries." Basically, where you're from dictates how much you get laid, and Caro has created a useful bar graph (as seen here) in which penises illustrate Spain's superior allure over Guatemala,…

We're a bit puritanical when it comes to infidelity — stone them! String them up by their balls! Banish them to a remote island where humans are prey! But regardless, Columbian Senator Edgar Espindola might be taking the policing of marital infraction a wee bit too far. He's proposed a bill that would induce fines and…

"I want to marry a footballer, get pregnant and then shop and have fun." These words came out of the mouth of a woman named Abigail Clancy, who is the on-again, off-again girlfriend of a UK footballer named Peter Crouch. The Washington Post has a story on women like Clancy, the wives and girlfriends of England's…