Gay-marriage proponents celebrated another win in Maryland on Thursday after the state Senate approved a measure that would legalize same-sex unions. Gov. Martin O’Malley has vowed to sign the bill, which will make Maryland the eighth state to adopt gay marriage. Even though Maryland’s legislation has a large Democratic majority, there was still quite a bit of opposition. Factions of lawmakers with Catholic and evangelical ties tried to block the bill. The Maryland House of Delegates voted last week to approve gay marriage by a thin margin—71 to 67. Despite one of the largest Democratic majorities in any state legislature, backers of gay marriage in Maryland had to overcome fierce opposition from blocks of African-American lawmakers and those with strong Catholic and evangelical views to cobble together coalitions big enough to pass both chambers.

Tens of thousands have taken to the streets of Moscow to call for democratic reforms in past weeks, but on Thursday supporters of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin gathered in a packed soccer stadium to hear the candidate speak before the March 4 presidential election. A win will guarantee Putin a six-year term as president. It was a rare appearance for Putin, who has declined to debate his opponents in the presidential race. He addressed the estimated 100,000 people gathered, saying that he would win the election. “We are a nation of victors,” said Putin, who’s received a reported 70 percent of airtime on state-sponsored television. “The battle for Russia is raging on. We’ll be victorious.”

Despite fervent anti-contraception rhetoric and a steadfast opposition to abortion, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum appears to be doing better with the fairer sex. A new poll from The Washington Post and ABC reveals that his popularity has spiked among Republican women by 13 points since January. Fifty-seven percent now hold a favorable view of the candidate, who is getting close to Mitt Romney’s level of support among women. Romney has a 61 percent favorability rating among GOP women, but he has higher unfavorability ratings.

The Obama administration is working with international leaders to bring about a ceasefire in Syria. They are in particular seeking an end to the siege of Homs, a city that has endured more than two weeks of shelling as forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have sought to crush dissident groups. The more than 70 Arab and European countries that are seeking the ceasefire along with the United States, known as the "Friends of Syria," will demand immediate access to the city for badly needed medical aid and humanitarian attention. According to sources, in the talks, which will take place Friday in Tunisia, they are asking for a response from Assad “within days.” The leaders, including U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, are also asking for increased recognition of the Syrian National Council and stricter sanctions against Assad’s regime. More than 50 were reported dead in the nation on Thursday.

With gas prices up around 29 cents per gallon over the last two months, President Obama is responding to critics who say he’s not doing enough to keep fuel costs down. At an appearance at the University of Miami on Thursday, Obama laid out an energy plan that denies the existence of any quick fix, a petroleum panacea. Rather, he reiterated a plan that emphasizes more domestic production and greater investment in sources of green energy. The White House has said in the past that gas prices rise and fall in cycles that are for the most part not within the president’s control.

A new pro-Romney ad by the super PAC Restore Our Future is almost exactly the same as an ad aired on behalf of the candidate in 2008. The spot details the search for a former colleague’s lost daughter, which Romney helped. The only difference between this advertisement and the one aired when Romney ran for president in 2008 is the title and some of the photos. The ad gives Romney credit for organizing the search for 14-year-old girl, who went missing after a rave on New York City’s Randall’s Island in 1996. Her father’s firm, Bain Capital—run by Mitt Romney at the time—was shut down so that the employees could search. 

The fallout from the burning of Qurans at a U.S. base in Afghanistan has claimed the lives of two U.S. troops. An Afghan official tells CBS that an Afghan soldier shot the soldiers out of anger over the burning of the holy books. Protests over the incident have raged for three days in Afghanistan. Afghan police fired shots to disperse a mob of protesters who tried to break into a U.S. military base in eastern Afghanistan. President Obama has issued a formal apology for the handling of the Quran: "We will take the appropriate steps to avoid any recurrence, including holding accountable those responsible," he wrote in a letter to President Hamid Karzai.

Milwaukee Brewer’s outfielder Ryan Braun is one lucky guy. Major League Baseball announced Thursday that Braun, who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs, would not have to serve a 50-game suspension. Braun, last year’s National League MVP, denies that he used synthetic testosterone during the playoffs and is believed to be the first player to successfully appeal a suspension. He is now expected to join his teammates for the start of spring training in Arizona.

Three days after police say 9-year-old Savannah Hardin was made to run for three hours as punishment for eating a candy bar, authorities in Alabama are saying her death Monday was a homicide. The girl’s grandmother and stepmother are in custody for the punishment that allegedly led the girl to become dehydrated and have a seizure—and now police are saying that the stepmother, 27-year-old Jessica Mae Hardin, gave birth hours after her arrest. She is being held with her mother-in-law on bail of $500,000 each. The Etowah County District Attorney has told reporters that Jessica suffered from a bladder condition that prohibited her from eating chocolate, but that there is not any evidence the condition contributed to her death.

Oops. New Year’s Eve star Zac Efron may have had a red-carpet gaffe of epic proportions: when removing his hand from his pocket, what appeared to be a condom fell out, prompting the young heartthrob to quickly pick it up and stash it away. The premiere was for the children’s animated flick Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax. Message to the children of the world: even famous people make mistakes.

Now that Harry Potter is all grown up, J.K. Rowling will write for people his age. The British author announced Thursday that she is coming out with a new novel, and it’ll be her first for adults. There are few details yet and no word on a title, subject matter, or publication date. But she will get a new publisher in Little, Brown. “My next book will be very different to the Harry Potter series,” Rowling said in a press release. “The freedom to explore new territory is a gift that Harry’s success has brought me.”

Sacha Baron Cohen may have been disinvited from the Oscars, reports Deadline, unless he promises not to come dressed as a character from his forthcoming movie The Dictator. Cohen is supposed to come with the other members of the cast of Hugo, which is nominated for 11 awards. But word reached the Academy that Cohen was planning to walk the red carpet dressed in full dictator regalia. “Unless they’re assured that nothing entertaining is going to happen on the red carpet, the Academy is not admitting Sacha Baron Cohen to the show,” Paramount tells Deadline.

An 8-year-old girl was shot at a Seattle-area elementary school Wednesday afternoon and is in critical condition following what was said to be an accident. The girl, Amina Kocer-Bowman, a third grader, is said to be just two weeks from her ninth birthday. The shooting happened at Armin Jahr Elementary in Bremerton, Wash., a small town west of Seattle. The shooting was said to have occurred when a gun being carried in the backpack of a male classmate went off, sending the bullet through her abdomen. The boy, also 8, was taken to juvenile detention for investigation of unlawful possession of a gun, bringing a dangerous weapon to school, and third-degree assault.

So much for time travel. The experiments that seemed to detect particles moving faster than the speed of light were faulty. A source close to the CERN experiment, which would have upended Einstein’s theory of special relativity, tells the journal Science that “a bad connection between a GPS unit and a computer may be to blame.” CERN scientists claimed that they recorded neutrinos arriving 60 nanoseconds earlier than light, but Science says that gap appears to come from a faulty fiber-optic cable. “After tightening the connection and then measuring the time it takes data to travel the length of the fiber, researchers found that the data arrive 60 nanoseconds earlier than assumed,” reads the report.

Somehow the two-headed trout in the appendix of a mining company’s report didn't get the attention of the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA seemed poised to support the company’s findings that selenium, a metal byproduct of mining, was safer than current regulations indicate. But other federal scientists and environmentalists learned of the deformed trout and objected. Now selenium is back in the spotlight, and lawmakers, the EPA, and the Fish and Wildlife Service are fighting over what level should be prohibited. The trout was found in Idaho, but selenium is a pollutant at 200 Superfund sites around the country.

The FDA may be close to approving a new drug to fight obesity. An outside panel of experts voted 20–2 on Wednesday to recommend approval of the drug Qnexa even though the FDA had already rejected it because of safety concerns, saying the benefits outweigh the heart risks. The committee also recommended that the drug manufacturer, Vivus, conduct a study on potential side effects and suggested that pregnant women not take the drug. If the FDA approves the drug, it would be the first new prescription weight-loss drug in 13 years. The FDA, which is not bound by the panel's recommendation, will make a decision by April 17.

Jurors have found former University of Virginia lacrosse player George Huguely guilty of second-degree murder in the 2010 death of his former girlfriend, Yeardley Love. After a two-week trial, the jury reached a verdict that sentences Huguely to up to 40 years in prison. An expert testifying in the trial last Tuesday said blunt-force trauma killed 22-year-old Love. She was found dead hours after Huguely kicked through her locked bedroom door to confront her about cheating and their deteriorating relationship. Huguely himself did not testify in the trial, though the jury heard from him through a videotaped statement he gave to police on the night of Love’s death.

Several Internet giants, including Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and AOL, are expected to adopt “do not track” buttons for their browsers. The button enables users to browse without their information being tracked. It’s a move they’ve been resisting for more than a year, and their reversal is being announced as part of the White House’s call for Congress to pass a “privacy bill of rights.” Critics, however, have urged the government to adopt a “do not track” mandate, rather than the voluntary guidelines the buttons follow. Furthermore, the buttons won’t stop all Web tracking. The companies have agreed to stop using data to customize ads, but say the data can still be used for “market research” and “product development.”

The United Nations may be stymied by Russia and China, but it’s drawn up a list of Syrian officials who could be charged with crimes against humanity, according to a U.N. panel. A report by the U.N.-appointed Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria says that “a reliable body of evidence exists” that could be used to charge “commanding officers and officials at the highest levels of government” with crimes against humanity. The U.N. Human Rights Council is expected to hold a meeting on Syria next week. President Bashar al-Assad, meanwhile, continued his assault on the city of Homs a day after two journalists were killed there. The city has been under siege since Feb. 4.

Florida House Rep. Richard Steinberg is reportedly under investigation for stalking a U.S. attorney, court documents recently released have revealed. The assistant U.S. attorney, Marlene Fernandez-Karavetsos, said she began receiving texts from a Yahoo account known as itsjustme24680,which has been traced by Steinberg, a 39-year-old lawyer living in Miami Beach. According to the search-warrant affidavit, Fernandez-Karavetsos said she knows Steinberg in a “professional, non-intimate way” and messages have caused her “substantial emotional distress.” She has saved some of the messages to prove to the court about the repeated incidents, and Miami Beach detectives have now requested access to Steinberg’s Yahoo account. The investigation is ongoing.

French journalist Edith Bouvier, who was wounded in the same attack that killed Marie Colvin and Rémi Ochlik, on Thursday requested evacuation from Syria to receive a life-saving operation. In a video posted online by a opposition activist, Bouvier said that Syrian doctors are trying to treat her but that she needs an “urgent operation,” and asks to be evacuated to Lebanon. In a separate video, the British photographer Paul Conroy, who was also injured in the attack, said he is being taken care of by the medical staff of the Free Syrian Army. He said he is “absolutely OK” despite having three large wounds on his leg. French President Nicolas Sarkozy called the attack on the journalists “murder,” while some intelligence has suggested that the Syrian Army targeted their location.

Rick Santorum got the frontrunner treatment at last night’s Republican debate in Arizona, struggling to defend himself against attacks from Mitt Romney and Ron Paul. (Newt Gingrich mostly quarreled with the moderator, John King.) Romney hit Santorum on earmarks, saying, “While I was fighting to save the Olympics, you were fighting to save the Bridge to Nowhere.” Romney also went after Santorum for voting in favor of a bill that funded Planned Parenthood and for No Child Left Behind. Santorum’s statement that he voted for the Bush-era education program even though “it was against the principles I believed in” drew boos from the audience. He followed by saying, “Sometimes you gotta take one for the team.”

Iraq saw another round of sectarian violence, with bombs going off simultaneously at Shiite targets across the country. At least 60 people were killed and dozens wounded in one of the deadliest days since U.S. troops withdrew in December. In Baghdad, 10 explosions hit Shiite neighborhoods during rush hour, killing at least 32, and more than a dozen blasts hit cities elsewhere in the country. There has been a string of attacks in Iraq since December, when Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki sought to arrest Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi for alleged assassination plots.

A helicopter collision has tragically claimed the lives of seven Marines. The crash occurred Wednesday night near Yuma, Ariz., NBC News reported. The Marines were conducting a training exercise when their aircraft collided in midair. While the cause of the crash is under investigation, military officials have yet to release the names of the dead, but said there were no survivors. The Marines hailed from the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing based at Miramar in Southern California. The crash occurred around 8 p.m. local time.

Chris Christie is no stranger to arguing, as he proved Thursday on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. The New Jersey governor, who recently vetoed a bill that would have allowed gay marriage in his state, argued that his position on the issue is no different from President Obama’s. Christie said that when people criticize his stance on gay marriage, he feels that his “feet are firmly planted right next to President Obama.” Things got heated when Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capeheart, who is openly gay, confronted Christie, saying that Christie’s idea for a referendum is different from Obama’s—to which Christie responded that the president is “silent on this issue like he’s silent on every issue that’s difficult for him.” Christie insisted he was “not going to get cross-examined” by Capeheart, and when Capeheart said “I’m having fun trying,” Christie responded, “You’re going to lose.”

Singer Charlotte Church has settled her damages claim against Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. after reporters allegedly hacked into her phone and printed information from her private conversations, London’s High Court revealed Thursday. Church said her mother attempted suicide after finding out that the now-defunct tabloid News of the World was planning on printing articles about her husband’s affair. The Sun tabloid also printed details of Church’s pregnancy before she told her family. Church is the latest to settle damage claims against News Corp., which shut down News of the World after the scope of the phone-hacking scandal became public. On Wednesday, Cherie Blair, the wife of former prime minister Tony Blair, filed a lawsuit against News International, the British wing of News Corp., for allegedly hacking into her phone.

It may be small, but President Barack Obama has a lead over both Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum in 12 swing states, according to a new Purple Strategies poll. “These results may bring into question Mitt Romney’s continued claim of electability,” the pollsters analyzed. In total, when hypothetically matched against the president, Romney loses, 47 percent to 43 percent, while Obama leads Santorum only 46 percent to 44 percent.

Before Marco Rubio received his first communion in the Catholic Church, he was a Mormon. The Florida senator, considered the top choice for GOP presidential candidate's running mate, was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when he was 8 years old, a recent revelation that could potentially hinder the popular Senate freshman's political career. "Mitt Romney's Mormonism and Rubio's Catholic faith would already mean the first two members of minority traditions on a Republican ticket in American history," BuzzFeed points out. "Rubio's Mormon roots could further complicate that calculation."