Business

The issue: Your smartphone or desktop computer is not built from scratch by Apple or Dell. It includes parts made by subcontractors. But one sole subcontractor does not make every chip inside; that task is handled by yet another subcontractor, who may buy the needed tantalum from still another supplier who may have purchased the tantalum ore from a militia leader who forces children to work in dangerous mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Media organizations routinely make crucial editorial and business decisions based on Web usage and traffic. Yet precisely measuring the size of Internet audiences can be difficult, and it is often fraught with conflicting data. Interpreting such fractured online metrics affects how news organizations understand their audiences, evaluate their competitors and sell advertising.

Across the country, public restrooms have become the subject of heated debate as school district officials, state legislators, federal authorities and business leaders argue over the appropriateness of unisex bathrooms and whether transgender individuals should be able to use facilities that match the gender with which they identify.