China's new communist leaders are increasing already tight controls on Internet use and electronic publishing following a spate of embarrassing online reports about official abuses.
The measures suggest China's new leader, Xi Jinping, and others who took power in November share their predecessors' anxiety about the Internet's potential to spread opposition to one-party rule and their insistence on controlling information despite promises of more economic reforms.

Even Mark Zuckerberg's family can get tripped up by Facebook's privacy settings.
A picture that Zuckerberg's sister posted on her personal Facebook profile was seen by a marketing director, who then posted the picture to Twitter and her more than 40,000 followers Wednesday.

Long lines of cars and people formed Wednesday to take advantage of a guns-for-groceries exchange program that was moved up in the wake of the Connecticut school shooting.
Police officers filled bins with more than 1,500 rifles and handguns outside the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena and the Van Nuys Masonic Temple, according to the Los Angeles Daily News.

Taiwan's pop king Jay Chou has played roles as varied as superhero, vampire and cowboy. So his latest album about an influential but corrupt court eunuch may not sound all that odd to his fans.
In "Gong Gong with A Headache" released Thursday, Chou raps about the eunuch who has a secret passion for women but "must not touch them." ''Gong Gong" is a name for court eunuchs in China.

At Egypt's Pyramids, the desperation of vendors to sell can be a little frightening for some tourists.
Young men descend on any car with foreigners in it blocks before it reaches the more than 4,500 year-old Wonder of the World. They bang on car doors and hoods, some waving the sticks and whips they use for driving camels, demanding the tourists come to their shop or ride their camel or just give money.

Syrian Interior Minister Mohammed al-Shaar, who was wounded in a bombing and was brought to Beirut for treatment a week ago, flew home after Lebanese authorities received information that international arrest warrants could be issued against him, a top security official said.
Al-Shaar left to Damascus on a private jet, officials at Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport said Tuesday.

Javier Hernandez sent Manchester United seven points clear at the Premier League summit by pouncing in the 90th minute to clinch a 4-3 victory over Newcastle as second-place Manchester City lost at Sunderland on Wednesday.
United had to come from behind three times at Old Trafford before Hernandez buried the decisive goal.

A U.S. judge will soon decide whether your next tank of gas or bottle of soda comes with a free apology from the Marlboro man and Joe Camel.
A recent ruling ordering a multimedia blitz stating that the nation's largest tobacco companies lied about the dangers of smoking left open the possibility that retailers could be required to post large displays with the mea culpas.

Angela Ahrendts may be CEO of Burberry, but one of her favorite accessories is an Apple iPhone5 that she's used to oversee a mobile makeover at the 150-year-old company best known for trenchcoats and tartan plaids.
"This is the biggest flagship store in the world," Ahrendts says, holding up her iPhone during an interview in Chicago where Burberry just last month opened a new store. The Michigan Avenue site immerses customers in all things digital — from iPads for children to play with to video screens streaming Burberry fashion shows.

UEFA has responded to widespread outrage against the racism sanctions imposed on Serbia for the abuse directed at England players during an under-21s match in October by deciding to appeal against its own disciplinary panel's verdict.
Serbian fans directed monkey chants at black England players throughout an ill-tempered match in Krusevac that ended in an on-pitch brawl between players and coaches from both teams.
