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The U.S. economy actually shrank a bit in the fourth quarter. It was a tiny decline at one tenth of a percent, but it goes down as the first negative quarter in three and a half years. A sharp decline in government spending and a fall in business inventories were big factors.

The White House has emphasized that incoming Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense Secretary nominee Chuck Hagel — both Vietnam veterans — understand the full cost of war. President Obama says that makes them the right choice for their jobs, as the U.S. moves away from big wars to a targeted approach.

Boeing is scrambling to figure out why two batteries malfunctioned on its 787, causing officials to ground the airplane this month. And at a time when Boeing most needs its skilled engineers, they're weighing a possible strike. Union leaders are considering the company's final contract offer Thursday.

Most states require car owners to have liability insurance to cover damages their vehicles cause to others; some economists think we should require the same of gun owners.

Israel's air force bombed a military facility in western Syria, according to Syrian media. It's a development that could further complicate the already volatile conditions in the region.

Facebook says its mobile advertising business nearly doubled from the third to fourth quarter of 2012. As a whole, the company's ad business grew at its fastest rate since it went public last May. Some analysts felt the social network had initially been too slow to get into the mobile market.

The economy shrank a bit in the fourth quarter and analysts are trying to figure out why. It's clear that declines in business inventories and government spending played a role, but was the real problem the narrowly averted fiscal cliff?

BlackBerry has unveiled a new smarthphone that it hopes will woo back the many customers it lost in the past few years. Among its strategies, the company appointed singer Alicia Keys as its global creative director. But in the last few days Keys was found to be tweeting from an iPhone, one of BlackBerry's big rivals.

When a psychic tells her that her biological father is still alive, Portland, Ore., comic-book artist Nicole Georges begins a quest of self discovery. Critic Carmen Gimenez Smith calls Georges' graphic memoir "a beautiful and innovative portrait" of an artist's journey.

Western news outlets that have been reporting on alleged corruption among China's leadership appear to be targeted. The Times says it has been under attack for four months.