'Right-to-work' measure passes in Michigan Legislature

Controversial "right-to-work" legislation covering public-sector employees passed the Michigan House of Representatives on Tuesday,...

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Our Favorite Tweets Highlight Our 'Second Screen' Culture, Twitter Survey Shows

Twitter released its annual look back at the year’s most popular tweets, biggest trends and most notable moments as seen through the lens of 140-character updates. There was a lot going on, from Hurricane Sandy to Whitney Houston, but the clear standout trend: We love to talk about things on TV.Almost all of the year’s major conversations were about sports, politics or entertainment. Twitter...

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‘Lincoln’ leads Critics’ Choice Awards nominees

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Film critics love “Lincoln.” The historical drama earned a record-breaking 13 nominations for the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards.The Broadcast Film Critics Association announced the nominees for its 18th annual awards ceremony Tuesday in Los Angeles.“Lincoln” beat the 12 nods earned by 2010′s “Black Swan” with bids for director Steven Spielberg, star Daniel Day-Lewis and supporting...

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Global Update: Hand-Held Device Locates Hot Spots of Lead Contamination

Using a hand-held scanner to map hot spots where the soil is full of lead could protect children in mining towns against brain damage, scientists at Columbia University concluded in a new study. Touched to the ground, the device, an X-ray fluorescence scanner,can measure the soil’s lead content in less than a minute, said Alexander van Geen, a geochemist at Columbia’s Lamont-Doherty Earth...

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Barry Diller Sells TripAdvisor Shares

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — Barry Diller is stepping down as chairman of TripAdvisor after selling his stake in the travel website to Liberty Interactive. Liberty Interactive bought 4.8 million shares of TripAdvisor Inc.'s common stock from Diller and The Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation for a total of about $300 million, making it the travel website's new majority shareholder. ...

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Latin music star Jenni Rivera believed dead in plane crash

Fans of Mexican-American singing star Jenni Rivera held a vigil Sunday night in Lynwood MEXICO CITY — Mexican American singer...

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PlayStation-Controlled DIY Tank May Be the Wildest Weapon Yet in the Syria War

Syria’s rebels may have taken the concept of a videogame a tad too far. A homemade rebel tank has recently been seen rolling down the road like a post-apocalyptic battle wagon — and armed with a machine gun controlled like it’s a PlayStation.The Sham II — reportedly so named after ancient Syria — is also ready to be added to the rebels’ growing arsenal of DIY weapons. According to the AFP,...

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Black women battle obesity with dialogue, action

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nicole Ari Parker was motivated by frustration. For Star Jones, it was a matter of life or death. Toni Carey wanted a fresh start after a bad breakup.All three have launched individual campaigns that reflect an emerging priority for African-American women: finding creative ways to combat the obesity epidemic that threatens their longevity.African-American women have the highest obesity...

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Doping at U.S. Tracks Affects Europe’s Taste for Horse Meat

PARIS — For decades, American horses, many of them retired or damaged racehorses, have been shipped to Canada and Mexico, where it is legal to slaughter horses, and then processed and sold for consumption in Europe and beyond. Christinne Muschi for The New York TimesA slaughterhouse in Saint-André-Avellin, Quebec, where meat is processed for sale in Europe. ...

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The Media Equation: For Wall Street Journal, Leadership at a Crossroads

Betting against Rupert Murdoch hasn’t gone very well for many people, including me. When he bought The Wall Street Journal in 2007 and brought in a trusted associate, Robert Thomson from The Times of London, I said that he might ruin one of the country’s most important newspapers. That did not happen. Mr. Thomson’s version of The Journal, with a stronger focus on general news, a beefed-up...

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