The United Nations has given us another finger-wagging over our ratio of legislation to policing capacity and intent — as if it was needed. It confirmed again that our enthusiasm for making laws, but not enforcing them, is a well-established principle in our careless culture and public life.

An eight-year-old boy has been mauled to death by his father’s four pit bulls, and prosecutors are considering charges against the father ranging from child neglect to murder.

French judges today ended an eight-year probe into an alleged kickback scheme at former state-owned oil giant Elf Aquitaine, implicating more than 40 people in a web of corruption that reached into Africa.