Yahoo knew it had been a target of sophisticated Chinese cyber attacks on U.S. firms before Google alerted the company to them, but remained silent while its bigger rival went public, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters.

Microsoft has admitted that its Internet Explorer browser was the weak link used by hackers to attack Google's systems in China.

The Obama administration quietly announced Friday the appointment of John McLaughlin, former deputy CIA director, to head the internal investigation of the intelligence failures that led to the Christmas Day attempted bombing of a Delta airliner headed for Detroit as well as the events leading to the shootings at Fort Hood in November.

Articles and blogs are flooding the Web, summarizing and dissecting the opening Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission's chat with the four CEOs presiding over the strongest (read: luckiest recipients of federal generosity during their most troubled times) banks in the country: Lloyd Blankfein from Goldman Sachs, Jamie Dimon from JPM Chase, John Mack from Morgan Stanley and Brian Moynihan from Bank of America. (Citigroup didn't make the cut.)

Makers of generic biotech drugs, backed by President Barack Obama and a well-placed congressional ally, are waging an eleventh-hour battle to reduce the competitive protection that the emerging health overhaul bill would give to brand-name producers of the expensive pharmaceuticals.

Israel is once again complaining that its "security" is being threatened by new eruptions of violence along the border with Gaza. About two dozen Qassam rockets were fired at Israel from Gaza in recent days. Although they fell in (and may have been deliberately targeted at) open areas, causing no damage or injuries, Israel took revenge with destructive air raids that did cause damage and killed several people, including a 15-year-old boy.

On 13 January 2010, Mohammad Othman and Jamal Juma, Palestinian human rights defenders active in the campaign against the annexation wall unlawfully constructed by Israel in occupied Palestinian territory, were finally released from Israeli detention. Addameer and Stop the Wall contend that both were arrested in an effort to curb the success of their peaceful activities in defense of Palestinian human rights.

On December 28, The Christian Science Monitor published an op-ed that was misleading - so misleading it was pure Pentagon propaganda.

The U.S. military's intelligence chief in Afghanistan sharply criticized the work of U.S. spy agencies there on Monday, calling them ignorant and out of touch with the Afghan people.

China's state-owned banks have become a main engine of the global recovery, financing the construction of copper mines, purchase of airplanes, expansion of retail stores and other projects even as their U.S. and European counterparts scale back lending.