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The House of Representatives approved legislation Wednesday loosening gun regulations and allowing those with permits to carry concealed weapons to legally travel with those firearms to other states, a top priority of the National Rifle Association. The bill passed mostly along party lines, 231-198, with six Democrats supporting it. Fourteen Republicans opposed the legislation, the first major firearms-related bill Congress has voted on since the massacres in Las Vegas and Texas earlier this year. Republicans argued that Americans' Second Amendment rights to bear arms should not end when they cross state lines. "The Bill of Rights is not a philosophical exercise," Georgia GOP Rep. Doug Collins, who personally had a concealed carry permit for what described as self-defense reasons. "I don't think that right should be undermined simply because I travel to another state." Democrats angrily denounced the legislation, known as "concealed ...

Australian lawmakers on Thursday vowed to push through laws legalizing same-sex marriage by early December, after a national survey found the majority of Australians favored the move. Both Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s Liberal-National coalition government and the main opposition Labor Party said they were aiming to pass the law through parliament by Dec. 7. That timeline was even earlier than the Christmas deadline named by Turnbull on Wednesday after the country’s statistics agency reported that 61.6 percent of voters surveyed favored marriage equality, with 38.4 percent against. Legislation was rushed into the national parliament’s upper house Senate late on Wednesday, even as colorful celebrations in the major cities continued and congratulations rolled in from international supporters. If the legislation passes as expected, Australia will become the 26th nation to legalize same-sex marriage.