French Socialist Party candidate François Hollande swept Nicolas Sarkozy from office Sunday in an election that many have said could change the political face of France and Europe. Accoring to the French exit-poll numbers, Hollande won with 52 percent of the vote to Sarkozy’s 48 percent. Polls had shown for months that Hollande had a healthy lead on the incumbent, but Sarkozy, who has been called the least-popular French president to ever try for a second term, remained defiant to the end. Crowds gathered at the Socialist Party headqurters in Paris as results came in. Sarkozy conceded defeat as the day moved on, saying, "I carry the entire responsibility for this defeat ... I'm not a man who does not accept his responsibilities," He added, "I'm ready to become a French person amongst French people."

In an appearance on Meet the Press Sunday, Vice President Joe Biden signaled his changing views and quasi-endorsed same-sex marriage. Responding to a question about what social policies a second Obama White House may push,  Biden said that he is “absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women, and heterosexual men and women marrying one another are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties.” Biden said that he was expressing his own views on the subject and that “the president sets the policy.” The vice president’s quasi endorsement of gay marriage makes him one of the highest-ranking elected officials to take an affirmative stance on the issue.

Yemeni authorities say the man responsible for the deaths of 17 soldiers in the 2000 bombing of American warship U.S.S. Cole at a port in Yemen was killed in an airstrike Saturday. Fahd Mohammed Ahmed al-Quso was a leader of the group “Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula,” which, according to Obama's chief counterterrorism adviser, "continues to be al Qaeda’s most active affiliate, and it continues to seek the opportunity to strike our homeland." Al-Quso had escaped from a jail in Yemen in 2003 and was on the FBI's Most Wanted list. American officials have yet to confirm the killing.

Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng says he expects to be allowed to take a fellowship abroad without government interference. Chen, who is still in the hospital recovering from an intestinal infection, left the American Embassy where he was taking refuge on Friday, telling reporters he wanted to travel to the U.S. New York University offered the dissident a fellowship, and China’s Foreign Ministry said it would allow the trip, but it was unclear whether it would honor the arrangement after Hillary Clinton left the country. “I still don’t know when I’ll leave, but it shouldn’t be too long,” he told Reuters during a phone interview Sunday.

Police have identified the body of a man found dead a day after the Kentucky Derby in a barn at Churchill Downs. Adan Fabian Perez, a 48-year-old from Guatemala, had been working for a horse groomer since 2008. A Louisville police spokeswoman says there is evidence of foul play, though it's unknown if there is a connection to the race. "We are still trying to determine what led to the incident. At this point we don't have anything pointing to the fact that this had any association with Churchill Downs or the Derby itself," she said.

Riot police used tear gas against protesters who had gathered in Moscow Sunday to protest Vladimir Putin’s inauguration, which is scheduled for Monday. One estimate put the crowd at more than 70,000 for a procession that ended in Bolotnaya Square across a bridge from the Kremlin. Violence erupted when police declined to let people in and out of the square or let opposition leaders speak on the stage. There were dozens of injuries, including 20 police officers. More than 450 people were arrested. One protester said, "The whole point of the protest was to not allow a thief to enter the Kremlin, to try to stop the inauguration.” It was the largest anti-Putin gathering since December, when disapproval of the polarizing politician swelled.

Voters made themselves heard across Europe on Sunday as French President Nicolas Sarkozy lost his reelection bid and the majority parties in Greece failed to beat out far-left and far-right fringe options. Socialist candidate François Hollande won over Sarkozy in a victory that was seen as more of a vote against the incumbent than for the anti-austerity liberal. German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party also suffered defeat in a closely watched state election Sunday. All three winners—in France, Greece, and Germany—are known for their stances against the austerity plan largely adopted by European countries as a way out of the financial crisis.

Despite Mitt Romney's unofficial position as the GOP’s nominee for president, underdog Ron Paul won the majority of delegates at the Maine Republican Convention, it was ruled Sunday. The voters elected 21 of Paul's supporters to the 24 delegate positions. Paul is the last remaining GOP candidate to face Romney, whose aides say they're not worried about the latecomer's victory in Romney securing the nomination. Paul finished second to Romney in a non-binding caucus in Maine in February in a result that was debated because of weather that stopped some constituents from participating.

If there was ever a case of “happily ever after,” this would be it. Sarah Shourd and Shane Bauer, two of the three Americans who were held by Iranian authorities beginning in 2009 for suspected spying, were married at an undisclosed location in the San Francisco area over the weekend. Bauer’s best man was Josh Fattal, the third American who was held captive along with Shourd and Bauer. The trio of U.C.-Berkeley graduates were captured on the Iraq-Iran border in July 2009 and were sentenced to eight years in prison. But Shourd was freed 14 months later and Fattal and Bauer let free in September 2011. Bauer proposed while they were being held, using a shirt thread as a ring.

Avengers smash! Box-office records, that is. The Marvel film featuring superheroes Captain America, the Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, and Hawkeye—or, as any fanboy would say, “Oh, my God, this is pure awesomeness”—earned a record-setting whopping $200.3 million in its opening weekend. The record had been held by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, which opened with $169.2 million. The Kevin Hart romantic comedy Think Like a Man was dethroned—and grossed only $8 million.

Newt’s his own man, he’s a wild card. He knows it, and so does Mitt Romney. Speaking with Face the Nation’s Bob Schieffer on Sunday, Newt discussed the possibility of splitting a ticket with Romney as his running mate, but dismissed the idea as absurd. “Would you pick me?” Gingrich asked. “I am so much my own agent, it would be—it’s inconceivable.” Evading the question of whether he had an endorsement in his jacket pocket for the Republican candidate, Gingrich said, “I’m going to campaign for him ... I’ll do everything I can to help elect Romney. I’m not sure what ‘endorsement’ means beyond that.” After being pressed by the host, Gingrich said, “As far as I’m concerned, I have endorsed him.”

How much longer? Blind human-rights activist Chen Guangcheng ticked off the hours Sunday from a Beijing hospital as Chinese and American diplomats continued to talk about when the dissident could leave for America. The 40-year-old activist has been mostly out of touch over the weekend and last spoke to Reuters Friday though his friends, and U.S. officials visited Chen Saturday. Journalists have been prevented from entering the Chaoyang Hospital building where Chen has been kept for treatment of a foot injury sustained in his dramatic escape from his home April 22. On Friday China’s Foreign Ministry said it would allow Chen to travel to the United States to study.

A handful of deeply purple states—including Colorado, Florida, Ohio, and Wisconsin—that have been transformed by the economic turmoil of recent years will be key to this year’s presidential election, according to an analysis done by The New York Times. President Obama officially kicked off his campaign with stops in two of those states, Ohio and Virginia, with rallies Saturday. All 9 of the states supported Obama in the 2008 election, but voters may take out their financial frustrations at the polls. Romney’s campaign will likely try to capitalize on these anxieties, taking aim at slow growth even in states that have seen an uptick in employment.

A city 40 miles from Tokyo was struck by a tornado Sunday that destroyed dozens of houses and killed a 14-year-old boy. Emergency responders rushed through the city of Tsukuba after the tornado injured about 30 people and damaged 200 houses. The area around Tokyo, which has scientific-research centers and residential neighborhoods, rarely sees tornadoes. Twenty-four thousand people were left without electricity Sunday, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said.

Exit polls show that Greek voters have steered away from the two major parties pushing austerity measures and chose to support right and left fringe groups opposing the bailout instead. The socialist PASOK and the conservative New Democracy, the historical frontrunners, each only garnered about 20 percent of the vote as an estimated 6 of 10 voters changed party allegiances. New Democracy currently has a shaky lead, with Syriza, the Coalition of the Radical Left, coming in behind it. The incoming government will face the difficult task of cutting $15.5 billion from the budget over the next two years in a country with a 21 percent unemployment rate.

"If you don't like Berkshire, don't buy it," Howard Buffett advised shareholders during an interview at Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholder meeting in Omaha. Buffett, the director and potential successor to his father Warren Buffett's company, says he hated talking with irate shareholders when he was head of investor relations at a different company. After one investor called him 15 times, Buffett says he offered to buy his shares at 5 percent above value if he promised to stop calling. He also addressed questions regarding his father's support of President Obama and a higher tax rate, views he says have not hurt the company. Warren Buffett spoke to the issue as well, saying his duties don't force him to put his "citizenship in a blind trust."

Grinning Goober Pyle made his way into American living rooms as a character on The Andy Griffith Show, Mayberry R.F.D., and Hee Haw. On Sunday, George Lindsey, the Alabama-born actor who played Pyle for more than 30 years, passed away at age 83 after a brief illness. Lindsey first took up the role he became known for in 1964, but played other characters as well, and his credits included appearances on M*A*S*H, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, and Twilight Zone. “There’s a residual effect of knowing I’ve made American laugh,” Lindsey said in 1985 of his career. “I’m not the only one, but I’ve contributed something.”

Police found what seems to be a man’s body at Churchill Downs, the track where the Kentucky Derby was held Saturday. Authorities were sent to a barn on the back side of the track. A coroner has been called to the scene, and police are investigating. The body was found at barn eight, four barns down from where winner I’ll Have Another is kept. Last year, the body of a jockey was found in a car near the track about a week after the Kentucky Derby; he had died from an accidental overdose.

‘Tis not the season—to be moving Christmas trees, that is. The National Christmas Tree succumbed to “transplant shock” after being moved from the White House lawn, the National Park Service reported Saturday. The Park Service says it already has a replacement in mind for the Colorado blue spruce that occupied a spot on the White House’s South Lawn, and it will be in place by the time the holiday season rolls around next winter. The new tree reportedly will not be planted until October.

A federal appeals court in Texas said the state could not enforce a rule that would prevent taxpayer funds from going to groups connected to abortion services. The Texas rule was intended to block Planned Parenthood or similar organizations from involvement in a women’s-health program funded by the state, but Planned Parenthood sued. The federal judge ruled to block the regulation Saturday, citing the “potential for immediate loss of access to necessary medical services by several thousand Texas women.” Last month, a spokeswoman for Texas Gov. Rick Perry told reporters that the governor stands by the rule blocking money to Planned Parenthood.

Self-proclaimed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his codefendants disrupted the first day of their trial Saturday, refusing to answer questions. The five alleged conspirators—charged with 2,976 counts of murder—also refused to enter pleas on the charges. During the nine-hour hearing, one of the defendants said that he thought Americans may attempt to kill him before the trial is completed. Another spent several minutes praying while kneeling on the courtroom floor, and a third had to be temporarily retrained in his chair.  A handful of people whose family members died in the terrorist strikes in 2001 attended the proceedings at Guantanamo Bay.

In one of the toughest bouts of his career, Floyd Mayweather Jr. defeated Miguel Cotto Saturday night in Las Vegas. “You’re a hell of a champion,” the victorious pugilist told Cotto after the match. “You’re the toughest guy I ever fought.” Mayweather, who was guaranteed a record $32 million minimum pot for the fight, will report to a county jail in a few weeks to serve a three-month domestic-abuse sentence. “He’s a tough competitor,” Mayweather told reporters of the Puerto Rican Cotto, who stuck with Mayweather through 12 rounds. “He came to fight, he didn’t just come to survive. I dug down and fought him back.”

Roger Ailes’s Fox News is the “most toxic legacy” the Murdoch media empire has bequeathed to America, Bill Keller writes in an opinion column for The New York Times. Stepping aside from arguments that Fox is partisan, biased, and reactionary and operates under dubious journalistic standards, Keller argues that the news channel has betrayed American public by deluding itself: some folks at Fox actually believe they’re doing serious journalism. Keller goes on to say that Fox and two new biographies of Ailes demonstrate how the company aims to do the same things to “the story of the day: control it, spin it for his segmented audience of believers, and demonize anyone who sees things differently.”

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is traveling through Bangladesh after a three-day visit to Beijing that was largely overshadowed by the plight of activist Chen Guangcheng. The South Asian country is on edge after the disappearance of opposition leader Ilyas Ali. Clinton said the country’s political parties should take any violation of basic rights seriously. “Everybody [should] take seriously any disappearance, any violence against activist, any oppression against civil society, any intimidation of the press,” Clinton said Saturday. “That is just what is required in the 21st century if democracy is sustainable.” Opposition groups decided to suspend protests during Clinton’s 24-hour visit.