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The once sleepy role of secretary of state is rising in profile and controversy as the business of conducting elections has become more and more contentious over the past decade. From Maine to New Mexico, secretaries of state are making activism their trademark.

With a 35-hour work week, many in France have accumulated vast quantities of overtime that they are now required to use this year. It poses a big problem for hospitals.

California Gov. Jerry Brown gives his State of the State address Wednesday, and things aren't going well in the state financially speaking. Brown has already made huge cuts in government, and faces even more if voters do not back his tax increase ballot measure.

The Taliban has announced it is setting up an office in the Gulf state of Qatar as part of a process that might lead to peace talks in Afghanistan. Michael Semple, a fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard's Kennedy School, talks to Renee Montagne about an article he's written for Foreign Affairs magazine called "How to Talk to the Taliban."

Jerry Yang has resigned from Yahoo's board and severed all ties with the company that he co-founded 17 years ago. Yang is leaving at a time when the Internet behemoth has struggled to remain relevant.

The Costa Concordia shifted slightly earlier today, forcing searchers to back off at least temporarily. So far, 11 people are known to have died. Another two dozen are still missing. The ship's captain is under house arrest.

Republican candidates are actually spending less money on TV ads than they did four years ago. But outside groups have more than made up the difference. By one analysis, the average viewer in at least one South Carolina market will see political ads 182 times before Saturday's presidential primary.

The Wall Street Journal picked up on the device, which was advertised briefly in China's state media. It offered web content for the party faithful. The device however was apparently priced at more than $1,500. China's online community launched scathing attacks about the Red Pad, saying only corrupt bureaucrats using public funds could afford such a thing.

While the site's English pages have been "blacked out," it's offering a workaround — including access via mobile devices. Wikipedia and other sites are protesting pending anti-online piracy legislation that they say goes too far.

Though forecasters have scaled back from earlier ominous predictions, it's still going to be a mess in much of western Washington State today.