Jan. 14, 2014 7:07 a.m. ET  The economics of the Affordable Care Act have always been simple. If insurers are to keep prices in check, younger, healthier people must balance out the bills that could be racked up by sicker, older people. The early enrollment numbers are not encouraging. Our story analyzes data recently released by the U.S. government, finding that the health law's pool skews older. While total enrollment picked up in December, one-third of health-plan enrollees are 55 or older—a ratio that insurers have said is too high to maintain coverage at current premiums. We note that the numbers highlight a fundamental challenge: How do you convince a young person who may not have an urgent need for health coverage to sign up for a policy that can cost about $200 a month before subsidies?  As some rebel groups in Syria battle al Qaeda-linked forces in the seemingly futile hope of gaining international support, we find that infighting between opposition groups is just bolstering the Assad regime. Our story reports that pro-regime forces have solidified recent gains in and around the northern city of Aleppo as they gear up to capture more territory. "Regaining Aleppo city will set in stone the reality that rebel groups can no longer achieve a decisive military victory over the regime," said an analyst with the Eurasia Group. We note that these recent developments have potential implications for peace talks scheduled to open in Geneva next week: With military gains under its belt, the Syrian regime might be less willing to compromise.  The world is taking a liking to Kentucky bourbon. As the popularity of this quintessential American spirit grows, Suntory, one of Japan's biggest beverage companies by revenue, has agreed to buy Beam, the second-largest maker of American whiskey and owner of Jim Beam, Maker's Mark and Knob Creek bourbons, for $13.6 billion. Our story highlights two thirsts in one deal: corporate Japan's for acquisitions abroad and the overseas markets' for U.S. bourbon. We find that the planned purchase of Beam would push Suntory from No. 15 in global liquor dollar sales to No. 3. We also analyze the deal's winners and consider the implications of the acquisition from an investor's standpoint. "The fact that 20-somethings are already drinking bourbon bodes well for the continued growth of the industry," writes Heard on the Street reporter Miriam Gottfried.  Our smartphones are regular Benedict Arnolds, secretly passing information about our whereabouts to companies interested in tracking our every movement. We report on Turnstyle Solutions, a startup that has placed sensors in about 200 businesses within a 0.7-mile radius in downtown Toronto to track signals emitted from Wi-Fi-enabled smartphones. That allows the company to sell location data on people's habits—without their knowledge. Clients of Turnstyle seem to take comfort in not having to share these monitoring practices. "It would probably be better not to use this tracking system at all if we had to let people know about it," said a clothing store owner who buys location data about her customers. "It's not invasive. It might raise alarms for no reason."  “ The focus should be on the cars. This is the International Auto Show, and again, it's the cars and trucks that are the stars. ”  What do you think will be the biggest challenge for Ms. Barra in her new position as CEO? Send your response to 10point@wsj.com and follow @GerardTBaker on Twitter.  Most of you wrote in to say that retailers, rather than banks or credit unions, should bear the costs in situations like the Target cybersecurity breach. But Steve Thomas of Pennsylvania wrote, "Catch and charge the people who breached the security, they are the only ones that will not pass the costs on to the people who were victimized." And Ben Saren of Massachusetts wrote that in assessing responsibility, "there are a lot of variables…Where was the credit card information stored, was there tokenization in the transfer of the information, or were the hacks at the point-of-sale themselves (e.g. the terminals)?" Mel Srybnik of Florida wrote that he "cannot understand why Americans don't demand cards with chips, card readers brought to the table and other security measures which have been in place in Europe for years."  This daily briefing is named "The 10-Point" after the nickname conferred by the editors of The Wall Street Journal on the lead column of the legendary "What's News" digest of top stories. Technically, "10-point" referred to the size of the typeface. The type is smaller now but the name lives on.  CLICK HERE to sign up for this briefing by email.
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