Australian DJ Mel Grieg of the radio program Today FM broke her silence on the journalistic prank call that delivered a scoop confirming that royal Kate Middleton was pregnant with an heir to the British Crown. But the call is also being connected to a tragedy. Miranda Devine, a columnist with Sydney's Daily Telegraph, explains.

Paul Harris has spent the last 15 years issuing marriage licenses in the Clark County Office in Vancouver, Washington, never able to apply for one himself. But now that the state has passed a new law legalizing gay marriage, he will finally be able to wed his partner of 40 years, James Griener, this Wednesday.

What do Pittsburgh, Dallas, and Knoxville have in common? Recent findings from the Brookings Institution show that these three cities are the only major metropolitan areas in the United States that are experiencing an economic recovery since the recession ended in 2009. Knoxville's Mayor Madeline Rogero tells us more about her city's recovery.

Just last year, Silvio Berlusconi officially submitted his resignation as Italy's prime minister, but Berlusconi has announced that he'll be seeking a return to power. Rachel Donadio, Rome bureau chief for our partner The New York Times, discusses Italy's newest challenges and Berlusconi's continued influence

When Markus Dohle, the chief executive of Random House, announced at the company holiday party that each and every employee who had been with the company for a year — from top executives to their secretaries — would be receiving a $5,000 bonus, the room erupted in cheers. Dan Ariely, professor of behavioral economics at Duke University, explains the effects of bonuses like these.

George Takai is kicking off our annual series "Remixing the Holidays." We learned that in the Buddhist household of his youth, Christmas songs were a perfect holiday accompaniment to sunny Southern california.

For 58 years, BBC radio host Alistair Cooke hosted "Letter from America" on the BBC, and the show became a singular and unique source of information for Britons on their neighbors across the pond. The BBC and Boston University recently compiled an archive of Cooke's shows and scripts, and broadcaster Alvin Hall explored "Letter from America" in a series of programs, looking at American culture (through British eyes) in the 1940s, '50s and '60s.