The Morning Report -- Thursday February 7, 2013

Solomon Islands Tsunami -- Tunisian Government Dissolved -- North Korea Makes New Threats -- Delayed Decision On Gay Ban -- 17yr Old Locked In Basement -- Dell Goes Private -- Free Wifi In Every US City? -- Obama To Justify  Drones

SOLOMON ISLANDS TSUNAMI DEATHS CONFIRMED

AP

Aid workers struggled to reach remote villages in the Solomon Islands on Thursday as the death toll rose from a tsunami triggered by a powerful undersea earthquake.

At least nine people were killed when an earthquake set off a small but powerful tsunami that sent 1.5-metre (4ft 11in) waves roaring inland on Santa Cruz Island, in the south Pacific, on Wednesday. Around 100 homes across five villages were damaged or destroyed.

Elderly people and at least one child were among those who died after being sucked under the rushing water, said George Herming, a spokesman for the prime minister.

Dozens of strong aftershocks were keeping frightened residents from returning to the coast, Herming said.

TUNISIAN GOVERNMENT DISOLVES

Reuters

(Reuters) - Tunisia's ruling Islamists dissolved the government and promised rapid elections in a bid to restore calm after the killing of an opposition leader sparked the biggest street protests since the revolution two years ago.

The prime minister's announcement late on Wednesday that an interim cabinet of technocrats would replace his Islamist-led coalition came at the end of a day which had begun with the gunning down of Chokri Belaid, a left-wing lawyer with a modest political following but who spoke for many who fear religious radicals are stifling freedoms won in the first of the Arab Spring uprisings.

During the day, protesters battled police in the streets of the capital and other cities, including Sidi Bouzid, the birthplace of the Jasmine Revolution that toppled Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011.

NORTH KOREA THREATENS TO TURN BORDER FACTORY INTO MILITARY ZONE

Reuters

Rising tensions on the Korean peninsula are jeopardizing a joint industrial project that has served as one of the few remaining symbols of reconciliation between Seoul and Pyongyang.

North Korea has warned the South it will abandon the Kaesong Industrial Complex and turn the border area back into a military zone if Seoul follows through on its pledge to tighten inspections there.

Earlier this week, Seoul's Unification Ministry said it would more closely monitor industrial parts and other cargo shipped into the facility, as a result of expanded U.N. sanctions against Pyongyang following a banned November rocket launch.

DECISION ON BAN OF GAYS IN BOY SCOUTS DELAYED

Rotary Club

It was disappointing Wednesday when the executive board of the Boy Scouts of America delayed a decision to let local troops make their own decisions on whether to allow openly gay participants. Still, the delay also came with a commitment to hold a definitive vote on the policy at the BSA’s national meeting in May. So the 103-year-old organization has forced a choice upon itself: Either it will emerge from this debate with a commitment to diversity, or behave like an intolerant relic of the past.

POLICE SAY TEENAGER WAS HANDCUFFED IN BASEMENT SINCE LAST SEPTEMBER

KANSAS CITY, Missouri — Kansas City police are investigating a 17-year-old boy's report that his father and stepmother kept him handcuffed and barely fed in the basement of his home since September of last year.

Police reports say an officer and a social worker found the teenager Monday handcuffed to a steel pole, cold and "very thin for his height." They went to the home after receiving a call about the boy. The report does not say who made the call.

The teenager told police that he had been kept in the basement since being removed from school by his father. He said his father generally brought him only instant oatmeal, Ramen noodles and two bologna sandwiches every day.

The police report does not indicate any reason for the boy's treatment.

DELL GOES PRIVATE

Dell has officially closed a buyout of the company, taking the company off the publicly-traded stock market and into private hands. The deal is being financed by cash and equity from CEO Michael Dell, funds from investment firms Silver Lake and MSD Capital, a $2 billion loan from Microsoft, plus debt financing from a number of banks as well as Dell's cash on hand. Dell's shareholders will receive $13.65 for each share of common Dell stock they hold, up about 25 percent from Dell's closing share price of $10.88 back on January 11th, which Dell says is the last day prior to rumors of the buying starting to circulate. Those rumors have escalated in the last week, when Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal reported that discussions to bring Dell private were serious, and that a deal could be reached in the following six weeks.

Bloomberg also reports that board members met last night to vote on the move, while the Wall Street Journal cites top execs as saying company founder Michael Dell is a man "increasingly worried about his legacy." Michael Dell has reportedly lost enthusiasm for the day-to-day running of the company since reclaiming his position as CEO of the company in 2007.

NO, FREE WIFI ISN'T COMING TO EVERY US CITY 

An amazing story circulated today through much of the mainstream media and tech press. The US government is going to build gigantic Wi-Fi networks across the country, giving free Internet access to everyone.

Or perhaps the US would somehow force wireless providers to build these networks—in which case, it's not clear why this amazing new Internet service would be free, unless the goal was to destroy the entire business model of both cellular carriers and Internet service providers in one fell swoop.

The headlines were literally too good to be true, and so outlandish no one should have written them in the first place. "FCC Proposes Free Wi-Fi For Everyone In The US," Popular Science reported. "FCC wants free Wi-Fi for all," said The Daily Caller. On Mashable, it was "Government Wants to Create Free Public 'Super Wi-Fi'," and Business Insider breathlessly reported, "Telecom Corporations Are Trying To Stop The Government From Offering Free 'Super Wi-Fi'"

OBAMA TO RELEASE DOCUMENT ON TARGETED KILLINGS USING DRONES TO CONGRESS

Washington (CNN) -- The Senate Intelligence Committee will receive a classified document Thursday that seeks to justify the administration's policy of targeting Americans overseas via drone attacks, chairwoman Dianne Feinstein said.

"I am pleased that the president has agreed to provide the Intelligence Committee with access to the OLC (Office of Legal Counsel) opinion regarding the use of lethal force in counterterrorism operations," the California Democrat said in a statement Wednesday.

"It is critical for the committee's oversight function to fully understand the legal basis for all intelligence and counterterrorism operations."

The announcement came shortly after an administration official said President Barack Obama had yielded to demands that he turn over to Congress the classified Justice Department legal advice that seeks to justify the policy.

The Morning Report -- Wednesday February 6, 2013

Earthquake, Tsunami Strikes Solomon Islands -- North Korea Shows US In Flames -- Gay Marriage in UK -- Obama Pushes On Congress -- AL Kidnapper Killed In Shootout -- Obama Administration Drone Powers -- Americans Buying Guns -- 2nd Grader Suspended

TSUNAMI DAMAGES HOMES ON SOLOMON ISLANDS

SYDNEY (AP) — A powerful earthquake off the Solomon Islands generated a tsunami of up to 1.5 meters (about 5 feet) that damaged dozens of homes and likely killed several people in the South Pacific island chain on Wednesday.

Authorities canceled warnings for tsunamis on more distant coasts.

Solomons officials reported two 1.5-meter (4 foot, 11-inch) waves hit the western side of Santa Cruz Island, damaging around 50 homes and properties, said George Herming, a spokesman for the prime minister. Many villagers had headed to higher ground as a precaution, Herming said.

NORTH KOREA VIDEO SHOWS US CITY IN FLAMES

It begins benignly enough, with an image of a sleeping young North Korean man, and a genteel piano version of the US feel-good pop anthem We Are the World providing the musical backdrop.

But the YouTube video recently posted by Uriminzokkiri, North Korea's official website, quickly takes a more sinister turn as the man's dream continues into the realms of Stalinist fantasy.

Within seconds he is aboard a space shuttle, launched into orbit by the same type of rocket the North successfully launched in December. The shuttle orbits Earth, at one point passing over a jubilant and reunified Korean peninsula, before the focus switches to an unidentified city draped in the Stars and Stripes.

What appear to be missiles rain down on the city, setting fire to high-rise buildings in scenes reminiscent of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York.

"Somewhere in the United States, black clouds of smoke are billowing," the Korean-language caption says. "It seems that the nest of wickedness is ablaze."

GAY MARRIAGE: PARTY LEADERS HAIL VOTE

Party leaders at Westminster have hailed the significance of the backing for same-sex marriage in England and Wales in a key Commons vote.

Prime Minister David Cameron said Tuesday's vote had been "an important step forward" and Labour leader Ed Miliband called it a "proud day".

MPs voted in favour of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill by 400 to 175, a majority of 225.

But 136 Tory MPs opposed the bill and have continued to voice their concerns.

MPs were given a free vote on the bill, meaning they were not ordered to vote a particular way by party whips.

OBAMA URGES CONGRESS TO STOP CUTS

New York Times

WASHINGTON — President Obama on Tuesday called on Congress to quickly pass a new package of limited spending cuts and tax increases to head off substantial across-the-board reductions to domestic and military spending set to begin on March 1, but his appeal for more revenue was dismissed by Republicans.

Trying to gain the upper hand in the latest fiscal clash, Mr. Obama said Congress should delay the reductions for at least a few months to give lawmakers a chance to negotiate a full deficit reduction package that permanently resolves the threat of a so-called sequester.

“They should at least pass a smaller package of spending cuts and tax reforms that would delay the economically damaging effects of the sequester for a few more months,” Mr. Obama said Tuesday afternoon in the White House briefing room. He said there was no reason to put at risk “the jobs of thousands of Americans.”

FBI SAYS ALABAMA KIDNAPPER WAS KILLED IN SHOOTOUT

AP

MIDLAND CITY, Ala. -- The Alabama man who held a 5-year-old boy captive for nearly a week engaged in a firefight with SWAT agents storming his underground bunker before he was killed during the rescue, the FBI said Tuesday night.

Bomb technicians scouring his rural property also found two explosive devices, one in the bunker and one in a plastic pipe that negotiators used to communicate with the man.

Officers killed 65-year-old Jimmy Lee Dykes on Monday, said an official in Midland City, speaking on condition of anonymity. The bunker raid came six days after Dykes boarded a school bus, fatally shot the driver and abducted the boy, identified by only his first name, Ethan. By all accounts, the boy was unharmed.

MEMO GIVES U.S. BROAD POWER TO KILL AL QAEDA TARGETS

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — In a newly revealed memo, the Obama administration claims authority to target and kill overseas Al Qaeda members, even American citizens, in broad terms that go beyond previous statements by the president and his top aides.

The administration's position has brought objections from some longtime critics. However, the response from Congress has been muted, reflecting the degree to which once-controversial practices in drone warfare have become mainstream after more than a decade of conflict.

The administration's legal justification for drone strikes, outlined in a Justice Departmentpaper that became public Monday night, states that an "informed, high-level official" can approve a strike against an Al Qaeda official, including an American citizen, even without evidence that the targeted person is planning a specific operation."

FBI SHOWS RECORD NUMBER OF AMERICANS BUYING GUNS

AP

Americans are lining up to buy guns in unprecedented numbers in the wake of the Newtown school shooting and the debate around tightening gun controls, with federal background checks on prospective buyers running at record levels.

New figures released by the FBI show that 2,495,440 gun background checks were initiated in January. That is the second highest number since records began in 1998, and is exceeded only by the entry for December 2012, which reached a peak of 2,783,765.

The Newtown shooting, in which 20 young children and six of their school carers were killed in Connecticut, took place on 14 December.

Since 1998, anyone wanting to buy a firearm from a licensed dealer such as a gun shop must undergo a federal background check to ensure that they are not a criminal, mentally ill or otherwise disqualified from ownership. The check is carried out in reference to a national database, the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS, operated by the FBI.

7 YEAR OLD PLAYING IMAGINARY GAME GETS SUSPENDED

LOVELAND, Colo. — A 2nd grader has been suspended from school in Loveland for a make believe game he was playing.

The 7-year-old says he was trying to save the world. But school administrators say he broke a key rule during his pretend play.

“I was trying to save people and I just can’t believe I got dispended,” says Alex Evans, who doesn’t understand his suspension any better than he can pronounce it.

“It’s called ‘rescue the world,’” he says.

He was playing a game during recess at Loveland’s Mary Blair Elementary School and threw an imaginary grenade into a box with pretend evil forces inside.

“I pretended the box, there’s something shaking in it, and I go ‘pshhh.’”

The boy didn’t throw anything real or make any threats against anyone. He explains he was pretending to be the hero. “So nothing can get out and destroy the world.”