Thousands Stranded After Storm -- Senator To Stall Nominations -- Drones To Be Used By LAPD -- Apple's Latest Invention -- Gen. Dunford Becomes US Commander -- Phillipine Town Mourns Crocodile -- Tornado Strikes Southern Mississipi -- Obama Girds For State Of The Union -- Budget Cuts Certain -- CISPA Returns
THOUSANDS STRANDED AND IN DARK AFTER 'NEMO'
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| Associated Press |
Grabbing shovels large and small, residents and emergency workers across the Northeast struggled to dig out on Sunday after a gigantic midwinter storm left much of the region buried under drifting snow.
City streets resembled ski slopes or mountain passes, with cars and even some houses obscured by a thick blanket of white. More than three feet of snow fell in parts of Connecticut, and more than two feet accumulated on Long Island and in Massachusetts, where the storm caused coastal flooding that forced evacuations.
SENATOR GRAHAM VOWS TO STALL NOMINATIONS UNTIL MORE INFORMATION COMES ON BENGHAZI
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| Associated Press |
WASHINGTON -- A leading Republican senator said Sunday that he will hold up Senate confirmation of President Barack Obama's nominees to head the Pentagon and the CIA until the White House provides more answers about the Sept. 11 attack against a U.S. installation in Benghazi, Libya.
Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina accused the White House of "stonewalling" requests to release more information about the attack, which killed four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya. "We're going to get to the bottom of Benghazi," he told CBS' Face the Nation.
US TO USE DRONES IN CHRIS DORNER MANHUNT
Yesterday, as a task force of 125 officers, some riding Snowcats in the rugged terrain, continued their search, it was revealed that Dorner has become the first human target for remotely-controlled airborne drones on US soil.
A senior police source said: “The thermal imaging cameras the drones use may be our only hope of finding him. On the ground, it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack.”
Asked directly if drones have already been deployed, Riverside Police Chief Sergio Diaz, who is jointly leading the task force, said: “We are using all the tools at our disposal.”
APPLE WORKING ON 'SMART' WATCH
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| Apple Insider |
Dick Tracy had one. As did Inspector Gadget and James Bond. A watch that doubled as a computer, two-way radio, mapping device or television.
Though such a device has been lost to science fiction comics and spy movies of the era before smartphones, the smart watch might soon become a reality, in the form of a curved glass device made by Apple.
In its headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., Apple is experimenting with wristwatch-like devices made of curved glass, according to people familiar with the company’s explorations, who spoke on the condition that they not be named because they are not allowed to publicly discuss unreleased products. Such a watch would operate on Apple’s iOS platform, two people said, and stand apart from competitors based on the company’s understanding of how such glass can curve around the human body.
GEN. JOSEPH DUNFORD BECOMES U.S. COMMANDER IN AFGHANISTAN
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| Getty Images |
KABUL, Afghanistan — Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr. took over Sunday as the newest and probably last U.S. commander in Afghanistan, charged with ending America's longest war even as insurgents continue to challenge the U.S.-backed Afghan government.
Dunford, a four-star Marine officer, arrives as the U.S.-ledNATO coalition has closed three-quarters of its 800 bases and as it watches to see whether the Afghan security forces it trained can keep the Taliban insurgency at bay.
PHILLIPINE TOWN MOURNS DEATH OF LARGEST CAPTIVE CROCODILE
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| Associated Press |
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The world's largest saltwater crocodile in captivity has died, sending villagers to tears in the backwater southern Philippine town that had started to draw tourists, revenue and development because of the immense reptile.
The crocodile had been blamed for deadly attacks on people before it was captured in 2011 and sent to live at an eco-tourism park that was built to house the giant. The reptile quickly became a star attraction of marshy Bunawan, a far-flung town of 37,000 people in Agusan del Sur province about 515 miles southeast of Manila.
TORNADO RAKES ACROSS SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI
| Reuters |
(Reuters) - A swarm of tornadoes tore through several counties in southern Mississippi and Alabama on Sunday, injuring at least 10 people and ripping apart hundreds of homes and other buildings, including parts of the University of Southern Mississippi, authorities said.
The Forrest County seat of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and the adjacent town of Petal, both about 100 miles southeast of Jackson, the state capital, bore the brunt of storms that struck less than an hour before dark.
OBAMA GIRDS FOR STATE OF THE UNION, REPUBLICANS DO TOO
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| Associated Press |
It’s unlikely that anybody will shout “You lie!” at President Obama as he delivers his State of the Union speech this week (unless it’s at home in front of the TV). Rep. Joe Wilson (R) of South Carolina had to apologize and he was formally reprimanded by the House of Representativeswhen he did that during a joint session of Congress the President was addressing in 2009.
But Mr. Obama will face a tough crowd Tuesday night – at least among Republicans, who still control the House and have filibuster power in the Senate – as he lays out his plans for job creation and economic growth at a time when unemployment remains high.
AUTOMATIC BUDGET CUTS ARE ALMOST CERTAIN
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| Associated Press |
WASHINGTON — In less than a month, a budget ax is set to fall on the federal government, indiscriminately chopping funding for the military and slicing money for various programs, including preschools and national parks.
The $85 billion in cuts that would take effect from March 1 through September — the first installment of $1.2 trillion in reductions over the next decade — would strike just about every agency and service in an attempt to ease the budget deficit.
PRESIDENT OBAMA SET TO ENACT CYBER SECURITY ORDER AS CONGRESS REVIVES CISPA
Bloomberg is reporting that the White House plans to introduce an executive order on cybersecurity sometime after next week's State of the Union address. The order, which has been in the works for months at this point, would arrive after several high-profile attacks have highlighted the danger posed by online threats. Just last week, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times revealed they'd been the victims of attacks — thought to have originated in China — while Twitter announced it could have had as many as 250,000 user accounts compromised.
According to the report, the order will set up a set of voluntary cybersecurity standards that companies operating important US infrastructure will be able to participate in. Federal agencies will be encouraged to adopt the new protocols into existing regulations, and as expected, the order will instruct the government itself to share information about potential threats with companies in the private sector.
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