Challengers

Aereo, a media company that distributes broadcast programming via the Internet, survived a major legal challenge to its business from CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox and other broadcasters. In a 2-1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York ruled that Aereo's transmissions and recordings of broadcast programming are not "public performances" of copyrighted material and added that the broadcasters "have not demonstrated that they are likely to prevail on the merits on this claim in their copyright infringement action.

New attacks on the storied city of Timbuktu are a sign of the continued uneasiness in the African nation of Mali, months after French and Malian forces pushed back militants trying to extend their reach southward. An Al Qaeda affiliate claimed responsibility Monday for the assault on Timbuktu, which started with a weekend suicide bombing on the outskirts of the city before rebel fighters moved in closer on scooters and foot, according to the Associated Press. Clashes continued Monday.

Assume you are the chief executive of a multinational company confronted with the challenge of doing business in China, India and other emerging markets - and with competing against emerging market-based rivals. How do you respond? Do you reorganize your company from the top to bottom? Or do you take a gradual approach, focusing more resources on the developing world to reshape the company without upheaval? In his latest book published by Crown Business, "Global Tilt: Leading Your Business Through the Great Economic Power Shift," business guru Ram Charan recommends the gradual route.

Major African-American leaders announced their choices in the mayoral race, with Magic Johnson backing City Controller Wendy Greuel and Jan Perry endorsing City Councilman Eric Garcetti. Black voters in the city, many of whom supported Councilwoman Perry in her unsuccessful mayoral bid, could be pivotal in the May 21 runoff. Both endorsers on Thursday displayed some raw emotion in their moves, with Perry castigating Greuel's attacks on her personal financial history in the primary campaign's closing days and Johnson bristling  at suggestions that he was a celebrity rather than a businessman with a long-time vested interest in South Los Angeles.

Theater has always been enamored with actors in multiple roles, whether it's "Twelfth Night's" Viola/Cesario or Jeremy Irons' creepy "Dead Ringers. " And ever since Toni Collette won an Emmy for her identity dissociative suburban housewife, TV writers have been dutifully churning out plus-sized characters - most recently "Do No Harm," "Ringer," "My Own Worst Enemy" - for performers looking to expand their repertoire. Most bomb with alarming rapidity because no matter how splendid the actor, doubling down is a big risk - the contrast between two characters often reveals the tics of performance, keeping us at arm's length from the story.

CBS Corp. this week acquired 50% of TV Guide Network for a relative bargain - a little more than $100 million. Consider that Al Jazeera, the Qatar-based media company, paid roughly five times more - a reported $500 million - to buy Current TV, the channel co-founded by Al Gore. Current was available in about 50 million homes in the U.S., and Al Jazeera saw the purchase as an efficient way to increase its distribution after struggling for years to gain carriage on U.S. cable systems.

WASHINGTON - The fate of gun control proposals in Congress this year may depend on who is more potent: Michael R. Bloomberg the billionaire or Michael R. Bloomberg the boogeyman. With signs that momentum for stiffer gun laws has begun to flag on Capitol Hill, the White House and gun control proponents are increasingly turning to the mogul mayor of New York to carry the fight into key congressional districts. He has bankrolled a high-profile campaign to counter the political might of the National Rifle Assn.

RANTHAMBORE, India - The operating rooms are dark and gloomy, the power outages far too frequent; the layout is chaotic, and the recruitment of good doctors difficult. Running a rural hospital in India is a labor of love marked by shortages, budget deficits and stiff competition from witch doctors and superstition - a tiny slice of the challenge India faces as it tries to lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. Rupinder Kaur, executive director of Ranthambore Sevika Hospital in Rajasthan state, strides past villagers huddled on rickety benches into one of the four wards, her yellow scarf racing to keep up. The hospital is at the end of a steep, bad road beside Ranthambore National Park, one of India's most famous tiger reserves.

The final vote tally from the primary election is in, and the percentage of Los Angeles residents who cast ballots ticked up slightly to 20.8%. The final count, still low compared with recent contested mayoral primaries, did not change the results in any of the city contests on the February ballot. Tuesday provided a fresh reminder of the challenges that the next mayor will face. The City Council agreed to study a controversial set of budget-slashing proposals, including eliminating the shortened workweek for police officers and getting rid of proposed worker raises.

A 30-year-old Santa Ana man who is challenging an aggressive Orange County law barring sex offenders from county parks and beaches has been sentenced to jail for violating probation in a separate case. Hugo Godinez, of Santa Ana, was sentenced to 197 days in jail as a result of multiple probation violations, including attempting to shake a boy's hand at a fast-food restaurant and a failing to participate in counseling, according to the Orange County district attorney's office. Godinez is on probation for a sexual battery conviction from 2010 in which he was required to register as a sex offender.