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Can't Have Too Much of a Good Thing

With its stock price down sharply from a year ago, Starbucks has fired its CEO. Howard Schultz, the company's founder and chairman, will take over as chief executive. Starbucks executives say it's time to refocus on the customer experience. The company also plans to slow its domestic growth and shift resources to foreign expansion.

The devastating earthquake in Haiti has left the country in ruins, and untold numbers dead. People all over the world want to make contributions via text, websites, or hotlines. But there's still confusion about exactly which charities are the most reliable.

The opening of a formal criminal investigation into the CIA's destruction of interrogation videotapes raises uncertainty over the future of the congressional investigation into the same issue. The House Intelligence Committee plans a hearing on Jan. 16.

In recent years, some lawmakers and gun control groups have pushed for a national database that would record the ballistics signature of every gun sold in the United States. But a new report from the National Research Council says the database would return too many potential matches to be practical.

When one thinks of the usual stepping stones to political advancement, the office of State Insurance Commissioner doesnt immediately come to mind. But in California, that may all be changing, thanks in part to two savvy, ambitious men taking full political advantage of tragedy. For a quick parallel, consider how Rudy Guiliani promoted his response to Sept. 11 into his current run for president of the United States.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has surprised U.S. military and diplomatic leaders with his more assertive position. After successful military offensives against militants in Basra and Sadr City, he has become an increasingly confident leader.

The IRS recommends that taxpayers file electronically — e-filing saves the government time and money, and is more accurate than IRS employees who type in the data from paper returns. But the IRS refuses to set up its own Web portal to receive the filings. Critics call it the work of tax-industry lobbyists.

Two former health ministry officials accused of helping Shiite death squads capture and kill Sunnis were acquitted Monday of all charges for lack of evidence. The case was seen as a test of whether the Iraqi government would hold senior officials responsible for sectarian violence.

A Mexican businessman who was kidnapped for ransom in Chula Vista in June testified in court yesterday in a second day of preliminary hearings. Eduardo Gonzalez Tostado was held for nine days before t