Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari finished his five-year term today, making him the first democratically elected leader in the country to complete a full term.

AP reports that rebels linked to al-Qaeda have taken control of Maaloula, a Christian community 26 miles northeast of Damascus, earlier today. This development is increasing concerns among Syrians and religious minorities about the presence of Islamic extremists in the Syrian rebel movement.

Many people identified with Cheryl Strayed after reading her fantastic memoir, Wild. The author told NPR that one woman felt particularly connected to her; this reader "was just halfway into chapter one when she said she sat bolt upright in bed and realized that we had the same father."

A SWAT team killed one of the oldest men in America yesterday after the 107-year-old man wouldn't stop shooting at police officers who were responding to a domestic disturbance call.

Intimidating bob of hair Anna Wintour may have canceled Miley Cyrus's upcoming Vogue cover after the young chanteuse's performance at the Video Music Awards. The 20-year-old, who only wanted the world to google "twerk" on a Monday morning in August, was photographed for the cover of the December issue of Vogue.

Hours after New York magazine published its interview with Michael Bloomberg — in which the sitting mayor of New York City called Democratic mayoral front-runner Bill de Blasio “racist” for campaigning with his family — de Blasio appeared at a Brooklyn rally to dismiss Bloomberg’s bizarre accusation: “I hope he’ll realize that it was inappropriate.” De Blasio’s wife Chirlane McCray later tweeted at the mayor, “I am not property or a tool to be used or controlled.” Indeed, it turns out the real racist — under Bloomberg’s terms — is Bloomberg himself.

After four MDMA-related deaths and scores of overdose in New York, Boston, and DC last weekend, investigators are now trying to figure out whether the adverse reactions were all tied to a single bad batch.

Tokyo will host the 2020 Summer Olympics (just in case you were looking for something to do in 2020).

A new proposal by the D.C. Department of Health will make people who want a tattoo or piercing wait 24 hours before they are allowed to do so.

Today CNN'S Jake Tapper aired video showing convulsing Syrians in the aftermath of last month's chemical weapon attack. While these videos have previously been available online, CNN reports that the Obama administration has been showing them to select senators in closed-door briefings, in essence authenticating them.

There is no justice in Egypt these days.

Could a simple meal of a skinny person's fecal matter be the key to slimming down? New research is looking, as crazy as this sounds, incredibly promising that special food made with the microbes from a skinny person's poop will actually be a miracle obesity cure. Just try to focus on the everyone becoming healthy part and less on the poop part.

Another US-based adult film actor tested positive for HIV this week, making the unidentified performer the third porn actor to test positive in the last month. Adult film actress Cameron Bay tested positive at the end of August, and her boyfriend, actor Rod Daily, announced on Tuesday via Twitter that he also tested positive.

It looks like Bruno Mars is going to play the Super Bowl halftime show. Get ready for some stupid hats.

In yesterday's Washington Post, retired United States Army major general Robert H. Scales offered a startling and revealing assessment of the military's mindset as the country contemplates war against Syria:

Celine Dion sat on Jimmy Kimmel's couch for two (two!) whole segments last night (and then later performed her new single). She wasn't as goofy as one might expect, though sometimes hilarious regardless — Kimmel pointed out that the titular command of her new song "Love Me Back to Life" is technically impossible to pull off, but Dion vehemently disagreed, citing the scenario of a bunch of people praying around a hospital bed while someone was in a coma as an example of loving someone back to life. For Celine, all drama is melodrama. Life is but a soap opera.

In an interview with New York Magazine, lame duck Mayor Michael Bloomberg describes the mayoral campaign run by NYC Public Advocate Bill de Blasio as "class-warfare and racist."

New Jersey can now add the mumps to the list of diseases that the Jersey Shore is synonymous with.