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In historic moves, Colorado and Washington state voted to legalize recreational use of marijuana on Tuesday. Its sale will be regulated and taxed, with some of the money going for drug education.

With the election over, attention in Washington has turned to the nation's debt and deficit challenges — most immediately $600 billion worth of expiring tax breaks and automatic spending cuts. Both the president and congressional leaders are signaling a willingness to work together to avoid a fiscal disaster.

Cold rain, heavy winds and crowded conditions at a camp for Syrian refugees in Jordan led to a riot on Tuesday. Several aid workers were injured at the Zaatari camp — as Dale Gavlak of the Associated Press tells Melissa Block.

Maps do more than help us get around, Simon Garfield makes evident in his tour through the history and science of map-making. They can unlock vast wealth, solve mysteries of science, project political power — even trace the outlines of the divine.

The Magnificent Century, which explores the Ottoman Empire in all its 16th-century glory, is a big hit in Turkey. But the country's prime minister, an Islamist, is angry that the program focuses on palace intrigue involving the sultan and his harem.

In Afghanistan, governors are not elected, they are selected — and more often than not due to family or political connections. But in an attempt to curb graft, the country has just sworn in a batch of governors — including the first female district governor — selected through a new merit-based program.

President Obama announced his nomination of Jack Lew as the new secretary of Treasury. Lew has been the president's third and — by some accounts — most successful chief of staff.

A major overhaul of Spain's banking system is in full swing. Felled by the housing crunch, Spanish banks are getting billions in rescue loans from Europe, but they'll have to lay off about 55,000 workers in exchange.

As religious as this country may be, many Americans are not religious at all. The group of religiously unaffiliated – dubbed "nones"-- has been growing. One-fifth of Americans say they're nones, as are one in three under 30. They're socially liberal and aren't looking for an organized religion.

China has indicated that it will stop handing down sentences to its "re-education through labor" camps, which allow detention without trial for up to four years. Many questions remain about what will happen to those currently detained and what might become of these labor camps.