The Morning Report - Friday January 25, 2013

Al Qaeda Operative Killed -- Mentally Ill Man 'Tortured' -- Microsoft Surprises -- VA  & The Electoral College -- Senate To Vote On Sandy Aid -- Gun Ban Measure Introduced -- Brown Signals Historical CA -- 

KEY AL QAEDA FIGURE KILLED BY DRONE

AP

SANAA, Yemen — Al-Qaida's No. 2 in Yemen died in a U.S. drone attack last year in southern Yemen, the country's official news agency and a security official said Thursday.

Saeed al-Shihri, a Saudi national who fought in Afghanistan and spent six years in the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, was wounded in a missile attack in the southern city of Saada on Oct. 28, according to SABA news agency.

MOM PLANS PROTEST OVER 'TORTURE' OF MENTALLY ILL SON

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A mother whose adult son is being detained in a criminal psychiatric hospital for a crime six years ago is planning to live in a box at the Vancouver Art Gallery for nine days and nights to draw attention to what she calls the “torture” he endures there.

Chahna Verney said her son, Ben, (she doesn’t want his last name published) has been held for almost four years at B.C.’s Forensic Psychiatric Hospital, where he has spent “the vast majority of his time locked up in an isolation cell.”

MICROSOFT REPORTS RECORD REVENUE IN 2ND QUARTER

REDMOND, Wash. — Jan. 24, 2013 — Microsoft Corp. today announced quarterly revenue of $21.46 billion for the quarter ended December 31, 2012. Operating income, net income, and diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $7.77 billion, $6.38 billion, and $0.76 per share.

These financial results reflect the net deferral of revenue for the Windows Upgrade Offer, Office Upgrade Offer and Pre-sales, and the Entertainment and Devices Division Video Game Deferral, partially offset by the recognition of previously deferred revenue for Windows 8 Pre-sales. The following table reconciles these financial results reported in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) to non-GAAP financial results. We have provided this non-GAAP financial information to aid investors in better understanding the company’s performance.

VIRGINIA STATE SENATE MOVES AHEAD WITH ELECTORAL-COLLEGE RIGGING BILL

Getty Images

These guys are swiftly becoming my favorite state legislative body. From the AP:

Virginia's Republican-ruled legislature has taken the first steps toward ending the state's winner-takes-all system of apportioning its 13 presidential electoral votes. A Senate subcommittee recommended Sen. Bill Carrico's bill on Wednesday on a 3-3 party line vote.

SENATE SETS SANDY AID RELIEF VOTE FOR MONDAY

AP

WASHINGTON — The Senate is set to vote Monday on a $50.5 billion emergency relief bill to help victims of Superstorm Sandy.

Northeast lawmakers from both parties hope to win Senate approval of the measure and send it to President Barack Obama, who has said he would sign it. The House passed it last week.

SENATOR FEINSTEIN ROLLS OUT GUN BAN MEASURE

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Washington -- - Nearly two decades after she championed a nationwide ban on assault weapons, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein and other Democratic lawmakers rolled out a new ban on military-style rifles Thursday in the wake of the mass shooting last month at a Connecticut elementary school.

The measure, proposed more than eight years after the 1994 ban expired, would prohibit 157 rifles, including the Bushmaster XM-15 that Adam Lanza used in the attack on Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., that killed 20 children and six adults. It also would outlaw ammunition magazines with a capacity above 10 rounds.

BROWN DELIVERS UPBEAT STATE OF THE STATE

Sacramento -- - Gov. Jerry Brown, riding a wave of remarkable political success from the first two years of his term in office, delivered a State of the State speech Thursday that cast California as being on the cusp of an era akin to the grand times of state history.

It was the kind of optimistic and enthusiastic address to the people of California that was not possible when Brown came into office two years ago facing a nearly $26 billion deficit.