Lawmakers in the House passed the Cut, Cap and Balance Act Tuesday. The measure conditions a higher debt ceiling on a constitutional amendment to balance the budget. The largely symbolic vote was seen as a chance for the most conservative elements of the Republican majority to flex their muscles and show their commitment to a "no new taxes solution" to the federal deficit issue.

Despite Greece's economic crisis, tourist visits have actually increased by 10 percent this year. That's due in large part to continued unrest in Egypt and other parts of North Africa. But Athens is not feeling the love. Reports of anti-austerity riots outside Parliament and rising crime in the Greek capital are scaring tourists and investors away.

With no signs that the NBA lockout will be resolved anytime soon, the players union is encouraging its members to take their talents overseas. New Jersey Nets Point Guard Deron Williams recently announced that he will play for a team in Turkey. Steve Inskeep talks with Sports Illustrated's Pablo Torre about the possibility more players will follow suit.

Steve Inskeep has business news.

Same-sex marriage becomes legal in New York on Sunday. New York City officials have been overwhelmed with more than 1,700 applications, and they fear they will not be able to handle all those requests on one day.

As News Corp. executives Rupert and James Murdoch gave testimony to members of a parliamentary panel in London on Tuesday, they were also speaking to a different audience: The people who own their company's shares and sit on its board.

From the opening moments, Rupert Murdoch made clear even in crisis that News Corp., while a publicly traded company, is very much propelled by the vision of one man. He interrupted his son James to make the point.

"I'd just like to say one sentence: This is the most humble day in my life," he said.

The House spent all day Wednesday debating GOP legislation requiring a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution before the debt ceiling could be raised. Republicans passed the bill knowing it has little chance of going anywhere in the Democratic-run Senate and also faces a veto threat.

The final space shuttle mission means that the 30-year-old shuttle program is about to enter the history books alongside the famous Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs.

And as the end of the shuttle era looms, NASA leaders say they're about to build a new vehicle, one that will let astronauts go exploring deep into space. But some experts doubt that plan will ever get off the ground.

To understand the big question mark hanging over NASA's future, it helps to first turn the clock back to 2004 — the year after the space shuttle Columbia disaster.

There has been a lot for supporters of gay marriage to celebrate this year, including a new law that permits same-sex nuptials in New York.

Back in February, the Justice Department said it would no longer defend the federal law that restricts marriage to heterosexual couples, citing doubts about its constitutionality. This week, the White House said President Obama wants to overturn the law. On Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee will consider a bill that would do that and — for the first time — give federal benefits to same-sex couples who marry.

Nearly every Friday, there's a small Arab uprising in Baghdad. The location is Tahrir Square, a plaza marked by a renowned modernist sculpture that depicts Iraqis in a lifelong struggle for freedom. Alongside young protesters calling for an end to corruption and better services is a distinctive and resolute group: women in black robes holding photographs of their male relatives — the mothers, wives and sisters of the missing.