Rob Walker | @YahooTech Google may have set out to "organize the world's information," but thanks to the creativity of a huge variety of artists, designers, hackers and other tinkerers it s become something else: an art museum hidden within a search engine. Because a slew of people have found...

NEW YORK (AP) Paula Deen dissolved into tears during a "Today" show interview Wednesday about her admission that she used a racial slur in the past, saying anyone in the audience who's never said anything they've regretted should pick up a rock and throw it at her head. The celebrity chef, who...

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) Ecuador's foreign minister said Monday his country will act not on its interests but on its principles as it considers an asylum request from National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, wanted for revealing classified U.S. secrets. Speaking to reporters through a translator...

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africans appeared resigned on Monday to the inevitability of one day saying goodbye to former president Nelson Mandela after the 94-year-old anti-apartheid leader's condition in hospital deteriorated to critical. Madiba, as he is affectionately known, is revered...

By Gerry Shih SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc has inadvertently exposed 6 million users' phone numbers and email addresses to unauthorized viewers over the past year, the world's largest social networking company disclosed late Friday. Facebook blamed the data leaks, which began in 2012,...

By Ed Cropley JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Former South African president Nelson Mandela's condition deteriorated to "critical" on Sunday, the government said, two weeks after the 94-year-old anti-apartheid leader was admitted to hospital with a lung infection. The worsening of his condition is...

REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) An Icelandic business executive said Friday that a private plane is on standby to transport National Security Agency secrets leaker Edward Snowden from Hong Kong to Iceland. Olafur Vignir Sigurvinsson said he has not spoken directly with Snowden but has been in touch with...

by Rob Walker | @YahooTech Last week, Business Insider published its picks for the 15 companies that are dominating mobile design right now . Perusing that list, I was struck that four of the examples involved weather apps. Weather apps! Remembering too that Apple s recent demo of its forthcoming...

NEW YORK (AP) Paula Deen should hope for more fans like Jennifer Everett of Tyler, Texas, who carried a shopping bag filled with $53 worth of merchandise from the celebrity chef's Georgia store on Thursday. A day earlier, it was revealed that Deen admitted during questioning in a lawsuit that...

HIGHWOOD RIVER, Calgary (AP) As many as 100,000 people could be forced from their homes by heavy flooding in western Canada, Calgary city officials said, while mudslides forced the closure of the Trans-Canada Highway, isolating the mountain resort towns of Banff and Canmore. Torrential rains...

ROME (AP) A friend of "Sopranos" star James Gandolfini said Thursday the actor was discovered by a family member in his hotel room in Rome before he was pronounced dead of cardiac arrest at a hospital. Michael Kobold, who described himself as a close family friend, read a short statement to reporters,...

NEW YORK (AP) Breaking up is hard to do. That is, unless you're "Mad Men," which this season has been free-and-easy in its fragmentation. By now Peggy Olson and her radical beau are splitsville. So are Pete Campbell and wife Trudy, who caught him philandering one too many times. Twice-wed Roger...

NEW YORK (AP) James Gandolfini would have hated all this fuss. He was an actor who shrank from attention for anything but the roles he brought to life. No false modesty. He simply did his best to remain a private citizen behind his public characters. These included, of course, Tony Soprano, the...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) The Afghan Taliban are ready to free a U.S. soldier held captive since 2009 in exchange for five of their senior operatives imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay as a conciliatory gesture, a senior spokesman for the group said Thursday. The offer follows this week's official opening...

EVERGREEN, Colo. (AP) A new wildfire in the foothills southwest of Denver forced the evacuation of dozens of homes Wednesday as hot and windy conditions in the West made it easy for fires to start and spread. The Lime Gulch Fire in Pike National Forest was small but devouring trees about 30 miles...

PARIS (Reuters) - One of the world's most visited cities but also famous for its rudeness, Paris has embarked on a campaign to improve its reputation and better cater to the needs of tourists. Waiters, taxi drivers and sales staff in the French capital all too often come off as impolite, unhelpful...

WASHINGTON (AP) Already reeling from a pair of scandals, the Internal Revenue Service is drawing new criticism over plans to hand out millions of dollars in employee bonuses. The Obama administration has ordered agencies to cancel discretionary bonuses because of automatic spending cuts, but...

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) The Taliban and the U.S. said Tuesday they will hold talks on finding a political solution to ending nearly 12 years of war in Afghanistan, as the international coalition formally handed over control of the country's security to the Afghan army and police. The Taliban...

By Belinda Goldsmith LONDON (Reuters) - Art collector Charles Saatchi has been cautioned by police for assaulting his wife, the celebrity chef Nigella Lawson, after being photographed grabbing her by the throat in an incident that has fueled a debate in Britain about domestic violence. Photographs...

WASHINGTON (AP) The director of the National Security Agency said Tuesday the government's sweeping surveillance programs have foiled some 50 terrorist plots worldwide, including one directed at the New York Stock Exchange, in a forceful defense of spy operations that was echoed by the leaders...