Kids at the Jirasartwitthaya elementary school in Ayutthaya, Thailand, are paid a visit by an elephant dressed as Santa Claus earlier today. [Image via AP]

City lawyers say the 2008 tasering of a naked, mentally ill Brooklyn man, Iman Morales, by the NYPD was "reasonable," even though he fell to his death from a 10-foot ledge. Reasonable would be, say, pulling the man down. [NYDN]

Royal wedding mania is reaching a fever pitch, with Britain's Royal Mint yesterday unveiling its new gold coin to commemorate the engagement of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Too bad Kate's "likeness" looks nothing like her. Nice try, though!

What are Rudy Giuliani and several major Bush administration officials doing in Paris this week? Addressing a militant Iranian exile group that the U.S. government has designated a terrorist organization, of course.

Rainstorms have caused 14 Hawaiian sewer pipes to overflow, at least four of which spilled into the waterway where the Obamas are vacationing. Hawaii has issued a "brown water warning." Will Barack Obama "man up" and swim in this poopwater?

David House, a computer researcher from Boston, is one of few people permitted to visit accused Wikileaker Bradley Manning at a military prison in Quantico, Va. He's relayed a message from Manning: My blankets hurt.

Election officials have determined that ex-White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel did maintain his Chicago residency during his two years in Washington, after seeing his crawlspace. Now Emanuel is free to win that Chicago mayor's race that he's winning.

The Senate: It actually functioned in the past week! But that was only after election pressure on moderate Republicans died down. Endless Republican obstruction will continue next year, more painfully. Will Democrats dare to change the "sacrosanct" Senate rules?

There's always something crazy happening in former Eastern Bloc states' houses of government. Ukraine's parliament is prone to rioting and today, a public television employee jumped from the balcony of Romania's parliament to protest austerity measures. He survived.

Just after South Korea's military finished playing with its big weapons today near the border, North Korea's military chief said his country was ready to wage a nuclear "holy war" against the South if they don't chill out. [Reuters]

Sen. Tom Coburn has dropped his objections to the 9/11 first responders bill, allowing Dems to circumvent procedural roadblocks and pass it quickly this afternoon.

Wikileaks' crown jewels—the 250,000 classified diplomatic cables that it is releasing in a slow drip, with just under 2,000 out so far—have been leaked to a Norwegian newspaper.

Well, it seems like we're not the only ones who think the new Spider-Man musical needs to be put down before it hurts anyone else. Two Broadway stars have weighed in, in dramatic fashion, against the show. As have investors.

President Obama signed the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" repeal today, without any problems. But it was close! Some Republicans tried to sneak a legislative poison pill into the mix last night, until Mitch McConnell stopped them. Is Mitch getting soft?

Gay rights activist Mike Rogers, the professional outer of closeted, hypocritical gay politicians, claims to have "pictures of a man who spent the night" with Sen. Lindsey Graham. He's supposedly meeting with his lawyer today before releasing them.

Presidential hopeful Haley Barbour has clarified his fond remembrance of the White Citizens Councils of the Civil Rights-era South, whose members weren't community heroes so much as they were Klansmen in suits. Barbour added today that the Councils were "indefensible."

The first major findings from the 2010 census are in, and America has a population of 308,745,538, give or take a few. That's a 9.7% increase over the last decade. What else does the data tell us?

In light of the most recent accident at the Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, we just cannot stay silent any longer! This is a terrible and, evidently, dangerous show that they need to pull the plug on.

[A skunk, Stinktier Lavendel, finds its way out of a gift box at the Hanover Zoo in Germany today. Image via AP]

[You missed last night's full lunar eclipse? And now your coworkers want to talk about it? Don't worry—this is what it looked like in Florida. Which is more or less what it looked like everywhere. Photo via AP.]