North Korea defied a United Nations warning Tuesday when the Asian country conducted its third nuclear test. North Korea’s goal is to eventually be able to build a bomb small enough to fit on a missile that can strike the United States. The North Korean government said this is in response to U.S. threats and hostility. The Obama administration said a U.S. military strike on North Korea is “unlikely.”

Syrian rebels who are fighting against President Bashar Assad’s regime captured a military base near the city of Aleppo on Tuesday. The rebels are trying to push their way into Damascus, the Syrian capital.

The mother of the 6-year-old Alabama boy whom was held hostage in an underground bunker for almost a week said her son witnessed the police fatally shoot his kidnapper. The FBI entered the bunker on the sixth day of the standoff and shot the gunman, Jimmy Lee Dykes, multiple times. The six-year-old boy was not injured.

France’s lower house of parliament approved a bill on Tuesday that legalized gay marriage and allows same-sex couples to adopt children. President Francois Hollande is a supporter of gay marriage. The bill passed in the National Assembly with a 329-229 vote. Polls indicate the majority of French support the legalization of gay marriage; however, the support decreases when it come to adoption.

Contact Maura Zurick at [email protected].