Technology Top Stories from Associated Press (AP)

LOS ANGELES (AP) , The New York Times is getting into the business of selling bite-sized digital books based on its reporters' work, giving it entree into a growing market for inexpensive "e-singles" that can be read in a couple of hours.

BRUSSELS (AP) , The European Union's competition watchdog has accepted proposals by four publishers and Apple to end agreements that set retail prices for e-books , a practice the EU feared violated competition rules. The decision reached Thursday is legally binding on Hachette Livre; Harper Collins; Simon and Schuster; and Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck, which owns Macmillan.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) , Yahoo is adding a new director and parting ways with two other board members in the latest shake-up of the Internet company's hierarchy. PayPal co-founder Max Levchin joins Yahoo's board while Intuit Inc. CEO Brad Smith and Weather Channel CEO David Kenny step down.

LOS ANGELES (AP) , The world's attention wavered between the tragic and the silly in 2012, and along the way, millions of people searched the Web to find out about a royal princess, the latest iPad, and a record-breaking skydiver.

NEW YORK (AP) , From the tragic to the downright silly, millions of people searched the Web in 2012 to find out about a royal princess, the latest iPad, a record-breaking skydiver and the death of a pop star. Google released its 12th annual "zeitgeist" report on Wednesday.

ANALYSIS/OPINION: Only four days remain for Hanukkah, which ends on the evening of Dec. 16. After that, it's only nine days until Christmas (except for many Orthodox Christians, who will celebrate on Jan. 7). Kwanzaa begins Dec. 26. However you look at it, there's not much time left for shopping. Here, then, are the first of some last-minute gift ideas, suggestions and strategies.

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) , Anti-virus software founder John McAfee has been released from detention in Guatemala and is heading to the United States. Guatemalan immigration officials have escorted Mr. McAfee to the Guatemala City airport. Mr. McAfee says he's going to catch a flight to Miami.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) , Facebook is trying to make its privacy controls easier to find and understand in an effort to turn the world's largest social network in to a more discreet place. The fine-tuning announced Wednesday will include several revisions that will start rolling out to Facebook's more than 1 billion users during the next few weeks and continue into early next year.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) , Negotiators at a conference on U.N. telecommunications regulations say they've found one bit of common ground , how to call for help. Envoys from 193 nations will decide between 911 or 112 as a standard global emergency number for new generations of mobile phones and other devices.

LOS ANGELES , The world's attention wavered between the tragic and the silly in 2012, and along the way, Web surfers searched in huge numbers to find out about a royal princess, the latest iPad, and a record-breaking skydiver.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) , Iran is now capable of manufacturing its own copies of an advanced CIA spy drone captured last year, a senior Iranian lawmaker said Wednesday. Avaz Heidarpour, a member of the parliament's national security committee, said experts have reverse-engineered the RQ-170 Sentinel drone, and Iran now is capable of launching a production line for the unmanned aircraft.

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) , Soldiers arrested Mali's prime minister and forced him to resign before dawn on Tuesday, showing that the military remains the real power in this troubled West African nation despite handing back authority to civilians after a coup in March.

NEW YORK (AP) , Microsoft says it's increasing production of its Surface tablets and will sell them in more stores. Staples says it will start carrying them starting Wednesday. The Surface is the first tablet Microsoft Corp. is selling under its own brand, and the company is promoting it heavily after its late-October launch.

WASHINGTON (AP) , North Korea's planned launch of a long-range rocket could be delayed for 10 days or more after it reported technical delays, a U.S. academic institute said Tuesday. Satellite photos from Monday indicate activity at the Sohae site on the northwestern coast probably related to removal of the rocket from the launch pad for repairs.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) , The military's small, top-secret version of the space shuttle rocketed into orbit Tuesday for a repeat mystery mission, two years after making the first flight of its kind. The Air Force launched the unmanned spacecraft Tuesday hidden on top of an Atlas V rocket. As if on cue, clouds quickly swallowed up the rocket as it disappeared out over the ocean.