From the Wires

BBC: US car giant General Motors (GM) has promoted product development chief Mary Barra to the post of chief executive.

CNN: U.S. and U.K. spies spent time undercover looking for terrorists in online video games like “World of Warcraft.”

BBC: Leading global technology firms have called for “wide-scale changes” to US government surveillance.

CNN: A rare icy weather pattern is walloping virtually the entire United States at once.

New York Times: News that the unemployment rate fell to a five-year low increases the likelihood that the Federal Reserve will ease stimulus efforts soon.

USA Today: The U.S. is experiencing a spike in measles, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

BBC: South Africans have gathered in Johannesburg and Soweto to mourn their former leader, Nelson Mandela, who died on Thursday aged 95.

Bloomberg Businessweek: A bitter software patent case that has split the high-tech industry will be heard by the Supreme Court and its ruling could have major implications for the U.S. economy.

NPR: In just 48 hours, more than 20,000 people applied for 400 jobs at an Ikea opening on Spain’s Mediterranean coast.

Reuters: Twitter Inc named Marjorie Scardino, former chief executive of publishing company Pearson, to its board on Thursday.