When police stormed a cafe where hostages were being held by lone gunman Man Haron Monis in Sydney, Australia, the Iranian Muslim cleric shot two of the hostages and wounded three others before turning the gun on himself.

In protest of new rules prohibiting certain types of online pornography, demonstrators gathered outside of Parliament in the United Kingdom to simulate various banned sex acts, including a practice known as "face-sitting."

Among the 2.7 gigabytes of Sony files leaked by the hacker group Guardians of Peace were a series of emails containing heated exchanges between Sony Pictures co-chairman Amy Pascal and film producer Scott Rudin, who referred to actress Angelina Jolie as a "minimally talented spoiled brat."

After several discrepancies in a Rolling Stone article about an alleged sexual assault by fraternity brothers at the University of Virginia came to light this month, the magazine released an apology letter for publishing the story without properly fact checking the account.

On Sunday morning, a scene of mayhem unfolded in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois after an "intentional" chlorine gas leak prompted a building-wide evacuation at the Hyatt hotel, where thousands of furries were congregated for the weekend-long annual Midwest Furfest event.