Why Facebook may want to track your location

Facebook may be working on an app that will let your friends, or even complete strangers, know where you are at all times.

If that sounds unpleasant, even creepy, you're not alone. But it sounds an awful lot like a small but growing mobile sector in which users knowingly sacrifice some privacy in exchange for "social discovery."

And, as Facebook works to make money off its constantly growing list of mobile users, such a feature raises questions about how the company will use the personal info it would collect.

On Tuesday, Bloomberg reported that Facebook is developing a smartphone app that would track the location of users. The app would run in the background of smartphones even when not opened and is designed to help users find nearby friends, according to one of two unnamed sources cited in the article.

A Facebook spokeswoman told CNN that the company has no comment about the report.

Social discovery, or stalking?

Some observers have expected such a move by Facebook since last year when the social networking giant bought Glancee, a mobile app designed to help users find nearby friends.That's similar to a handful of other mobile apps, such as Highlight, Banjo and Sonar. These services seem pitched mostly to a young, outgoing user base seeking existing or new pals for drinks, dancing, sipping coffee or sexual hookups. But, when applied to Facebook's purported 1 billion-strong membership, which includes everyone from teens to grandparents, it gives some privacy advocates pause.

"We've already seen some of the mishaps that can occur when location is used in unexpected ways," said Jules Polonetsky, director of the Future of Privacy Forum, a Washington-based think tank. "I think the challenge is that aggregating by location clearly might provide some really useful information. But there are a whole lot of social norms that can be stressed, by even public information."

Polonetsky cited Girls Around Me, an app that rounded up check-ins by women on Foursquare and Facebook to let users, presumably guys on the prowl, know which bars, clubs or other spots currently had lots of women in them. Girls Around Me raised concerns about stalking and eventually got booted from Apple's App Store.

"It didn't clearly violate any of the specific rules that the App Store lays out, other than extreme creepiness," Polonetsky said. "But creepy is sometimes in the eye of the beholder. One person's creepy is another tech enthusiast's tool."

The key, he said, would be whether Facebook clearly sets out guidelines for how such an app would be used. He said members should be allowed to opt in to the service, not automatically be enrolled in it unless they opt out.

"You don't want people ever sharing information without knowing, and I don't think Facebook is going to be in a position to do that," he said.

The future of social sharingHeralded briefly as the next wave of social sharing, a handful of these location-based "social discovery" apps launched last year amid some degree of hoopla. But a year later, none have gained much traction among mainstream audiences in the way Twitter, Foursquare and some other apps did before them.

Paul Davison, CEO of discovery app Highlight, acknowledges it's been a slow burn for a service such as his. A year after launching, Highlight still won't release how many active users it has (though he said membership has tripled in six months).

Privacy concerns, he said, are part of the challenge.

"That's not surprising," Davison said. "I think that any time a technology comes out that allows us to share in a way we haven't been able to share before, you see this really familiar pattern.

"Most of us look at it and think, 'That's weird. That's creepy and I don't like it.' What you normally see is a subset of people saying 'That is kind of crazy, but I'll try it out.' And they see it's pretty rewarding and fun."

Davison considers apps such as his no less than the future of social sharing.

"If you look at what's happened on the Web over the last 5 to 10 years with Facebook and other services, we love to share," he said. "We love to talk about ourselves ... and we're obsessed with learning about other people."

But for some, he said, the real world can be like "some bizarre social network where every profile is a single photo." On Highlight and similar apps, profiles are meant to let users know if someone around them shares their interests and might be a fun person to meet."It's a big change in how the world works," he said. "It's hard for me to think of a bigger shift in how the world works, but it's not going to happen overnight."

How Facebook might use app

Facebook-owned Glancee was somewhat more limited, pinging users when people already in their other social networks, such as Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, are around.

But for the folks from Mark Zuckerberg's company, such an app could have another payoff. Literally.

It would provide Facebook with reams of new data about not just where its users frequently go, but where they are right now.

Facebook said it doesn't sell its data to advertisers. But it definitely leverages the data to help those advertisers target potential customers. It's not hard to envision ads showing up letting users know that there's a 2-for-1 drink special right around the corner, or that the restaurant next door has the best burger in town.

"They need to make money on mobile, and that's what they've been pushing for since the IPO," said Justin Lafferty, co-editor of AllFacebook, an unofficial Facebook blog. "They're trying to build the technology first, then maybe find out how to build ads into it, too."

Lafferty, who wrote about this week's Bloomberg report, said Facebook could launch a social discovery app separate from its main mobile app -- at least at first.

"That's sort of how Facebook usually works," he said. "They'll test features, then they'll implement them all in the native app."

How will users react to such an app, were Facebook to launch one? Privacy advocate Polonetsky said that remains to be seen.

"The reality is that, for most people, even if things are broadcast to all their friends and the public, they still have some expectation about the way that it's used," he said. "I totally get that my neighbor knows when I come and go and may even say, 'We haven't seen you in a while -- is everything OK?'

"But if someone else seemed to know about my comings and goings and offered me a product or service based on it? I don't know."

Obama to release document on targeted killings to Congress

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."Today, as part of the president's ongoing commitment to consult with Congress on national security matters, the president directed the Department of Justice to provide the congressional Intelligence committees access to classified Office of Legal Counsel advice related to the subject of the Department of Justice White Paper," an administration official said Wednesday.

The 16-page white paper -- titled "Lawfulness of a Lethal Operation Directed Against a U.S. Citizen who is a Senior Operational Leader of Al Qaida or an Associated Force" -- is a policy paper rather than an official legal document.

The president, the official said, was turning over the information because he believes the scrutiny and debate is healthy.

The Senate Intelligence Committee is expected to receive the document the same day Obama's pick for CIA director, John Brennan, faces a confirmation hearing.

Brennan's hearing Thursday comes amid complaints from senators, including several Democrats, about secrecy surrounding the drone policy.

Amnesty International also weighed in on the debate, saying Congress should grill Brennan on his claim that the Obama administration's drone strikes are "conducted in full compliance with the law."

Iran says it has footage from downed U.S. drone

"Furthermore, Congress should immediately hold public hearings with independent experts to examine the administration's legal reasoning and ensure that the administration is following the 'rule book' for the use of lethal force that already exists: international human rights law and, in the very narrow circumstances to which it applies, international humanitarian law," the group said.

In a 2012 speech at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, Brennan asserted that the drone strikes are legal under the Authorization for Use of Military Force resolution passed by Congress after the 9/11 attacks.

In addition, "There is nothing in international law that bans the use of remotely piloted aircraft for this purpose or that prohibits us from using lethal force against our enemies outside of an active battlefield, at least when the country involved consents or is unable or unwilling to take action against the threat," Brennan said at the time.

This does not appear to be the view of Ben Emmerson, United Nations special rapporteur on counterterrorism and human rights, who announced plans in October to investigate U.S. drone attacks and the extent to which they cause civilian casualties.

The drone campaign against al Qaeda and its allies has been one of Brennan's biggest legacies in the four years he was the president's principal adviser on terrorism.

According to a count by the public policy group New America Foundation, at least 28 of al Qaeda's leading members have been killed in drone strikes, including the U.S. citizen Anwar al-Awlaki, who played an operational role in al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

Al-Awlaki's teenage son died in a separate strike.

On Wednesday, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said the attack that killed al-Awlaki was justified.

"This is somebody who had said that he didn't want his U.S. citizenship anymore," Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Michigan, told MSNBC's "Andrea Mitchell Reports."

He said al-Awlaki had officially joined al Qaeda, and al Qaeda had declared war on the United States."

"The legal basis of this goes back many, many years when U.S. citizens would go and fight for foreign nations that were engaging in combat with the United States," Rogers said. "So what they were saying is, once you've made that choice, you no longer get the protections that you would. I mean, if you join the enemy overseas, you join the enemy overseas. And we're going to fight the enemy overseas."

In his speech at the Wilson Center, Brennan said drone strikes are "ethical" because of "the unprecedented ability of remotely piloted aircraft to precisely target a military objective while minimizing collateral damage; one could argue that never before has there been a weapon that allows us to distinguish more effectively between an al Qaeda terrorist and innocent civilians."

And Obama himself defended it in an appearance last October on "The Daily Show."

"There are times where there are bad folks somewhere on the other side of the world, and you've got to make a call and it's not optimal," he said. "And sometimes you've got to make some tough calls. But you can do so in a way that's consistent with international law and with American law."

White House warns Syria over 'weapons to Hezbollah'

The White House has warned Syria not to transfer weapons to Hezbollah in neighbouring Lebanon.

The warning came amid contradictory claims of an Israeli strike in Syria.

Syria says Israeli war planes bombed a military research centre north-west of Damascus, but the US and others say lorries carrying weapons bound for Lebanon were hit.

Israel has maintained silence about the incident, but Syria has made a formal complaint to the UN.

Damascus says it reserves the right to defend itself, while its allies Russia and Iran have strongly denounced the attack.The Syrian army statement about the incident, carried on state media, said Israeli fighter jets had carried out a direct strike on a scientific research centre in Jamraya, killing two people and wounding five.

But a US official told the BBC the target was a convoy carrying SA-17 surface-to-air missiles. Some rebel groups have said they targeted the Jamraya centre.

Israel has declined to comment.

The latest developments have struck a country in turmoil. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad continues to cling to power despite a 22-month conflict that has killed more than 60,000 people.

Syria protest

White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes did not confirm details of Israel's raid itself, but had a warning to issue to Syria.

"Syria should not further destabilise the region by transferring weaponry to Hezbollah," he said.News of the attack does not appear to have generated much alarm in Washington, says the BBC's Paul Adams.

Indeed, he says, the presence in Washington of Israel's military intelligence chief suggests the Obama administration may have been told about the raid beforehand.

But Syria's foreign ministry summoned the UN commander in the Golan to deliver a formal protest, saying Israel's action violated the 1974 disengagement agreement between the two sides, who remain technically at war.

A UN observer force has been in place in the Golan since 1974, with the task of providing "an area of separation and for two equal zones of limited forces and armaments on both sides of the area".

"Syria holds Israel and those who are protecting it at the Security Council responsible for the results of the attack and confirms its right to defend its land and sovereignty," Syria said in a letter to the UN, reported by state media.

But Syria itself is hardly in a position to do much, says the BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut.

'Unprovoked attacks'

Both Hezbollah and Iran are also under pressure at the moment, and Israel's calculation must be that none of those hostile parties has an interest in triggering a regional conflagration right now, our correspondent says.

Later, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed "grave concern" over reports of Israel's action, and called on all concerned to respect international law.

Syria's allies denounced Israel's action, while Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi condemned the alleged air strike as an "overt assault based on the West's policy" to undermine stability in Syria.

Russia - a stalwart defender of Syria on the international diplomatic scene despite its warming trade and economic ties with Israel - also took a strong stance.

"If this information is confirmed," said the foreign ministry, "then we are dealing with unprovoked attacks on targets on the territory of a sovereign country, which blatantly violates the UN Charter and is unacceptable, no matter the motives to justify it."

Earlier Syria's ambassador to Lebanon warned Damascus could take a "surprise" decision to retaliate.US Vice-President Joe Biden is travelling to Germany, where he is expected to discuss the situation in Syria with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and the Syrian opposition leader, Moaz al-Khatib.

Weapons facility

The Syrian army statement said the Jamraya centre - which was focused on "raising our level of resistance and self-defence" - was damaged in the attack, and specifically denied reports that an arms convoy had been hit.

It said "armed terrorist gangs" - a term the government uses to describe rebel groups - had tried and failed repeatedly to capture the same facility in recent months.

But an opposition activist told the Washington Post that, although there had been two attacks on the centre early on Wednesday, "we did not hear any airplanes... Unless the airplanes were silenced by some technology."

"I mean, is it possible for an air fighter to attack at night, and we don't even hear its sound?"

Some reports suggest the facility could be Syria's Scientific Studies and Research Centre, known by its French acronym CERS, believed to be the state organisation responsible for developing biological and chemical weapons.

Lebanese military and internal security forces say there has been increased activity by Israeli warplanes over Lebanon in the past week, and particularly on Tuesday and the early hours of Wednesday morning.

There is increasing concern in Israel that Syria's chemical weapons could fall into Hezbollah's hands.

Correspondents say Israel is also concerned the Shia militant group could obtain anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, thus strengthening its ability to respond to Israeli air strikes.

Israel believes Syria received a battery of SA-17s from Russia after an alleged Israeli air strike in 2007 that destroyed a Syrian nuclear reactor near Deir Ezzor in eastern Syria, analysts say.

Wednesday's reported attack came days after Israel moved its Iron Dome defence system to the north of the country.

Gun control advocates march as nation reels from school shootings

Washington -- Thousands of demonstrators rallied Saturday in Washington to demand tougher gun control laws, many describing themselves as first-time capital marchers who've had enough of gun violence.

On a cold day, a vanguard led a blocks-long procession with a big blue banner, declaring "March on Washington for Gun Control: When we stand together, we stand a chance."

The demonstrators want reinstatement of the federal ban on the sale of military-style semi-automatic rifles such as the one used in the recent Newtown, Connecticut, school shooting that left 20 children and six adults dead, plus the gunman and his mother. The protestors also want a ban on the sale of high-capacity ammunition magazines and universal background checks.

Many marchers just carried black-and-white placards bearing the names of victims of gun violence, such as Veronica Soto, a Newtown teacher who was killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre.Co-organizer Molly Smith highlighted how many demonstrators were ordinary citizens, the organization of whom was assisted by a webpage and Facebook page.

"It's been a remarkable learning experience," Smith told CNN, "the realization that we're citizens and this is an active citizenship, and being a citizen isn't just sitting around and gassing about it."

The march was the first major demonstration since the Newtown mass shooting last month, and it comes two days after Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, introduced a bill that would ban some assault rifles, semi-automatic weapons and high-capacity magazines.

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan told an assembly of marchers, after they reached their rallying area midway between the White House and the Capitol, that Saturday's demonstration wasn't about the Second Amendment.

"This is about gun responsibility; this is about gun safety; this is about fewer dead Americans, fewer dead children," Duncan told the crowd.

Opinion: In gun control debate, logic goes out the window

He recalled that as the former chief of Chicago Public Schools, he oversaw a system in a city where a student was killed by gun violence every two weeks.

"Far too many of our children are growing up in climates where they are scared," Duncan said. "That has to change."

He added, "This march is a starting point. It's not an ending point. We must act, we must act, we must act."

U.S. Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-District of Columbia, asked residents of Newtown, Connecticut, to make themselves known in the crowd.

'We came to stand with you and bear witness with you until we vindicate your children and those who died with them," Norton said.

She urged the assembly to press for gun reform.

The demonstrators started chanting: "Yes, we can! Yes, we can! Yes, we can!"

Without mentioning the National Rifle Association, Norton made a reference to the powerful gun lobby, saying, "It comes down to us because we are immune to their lobbying.

NRA chief: Obama makes 'mockery' of American freedoms

"Only an outraged public can end the gun violence that has enveloped our country," she added. "We the people who did not act before, we the people this time will step forward.

"And this time we will not step back."

Colin Goddard survived being shot four times during the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007, the deadliest shooting in U.S. history, one that left 33 people dead, including the gunman, who took his own life.

Goddard, one of the rally speakers, said he was shot above the knee, twice in the hip and once in the shoulder.

"I consider myself one of the lucky ones," he told the gathering.

Then, speaking of subsequent school shootings across the nation, he added: "I kept seeing what happened to me happen to other people."

Goddard now works for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence as assistant director for victims advocacy and federal litigation.

One marcher, Lori Bennett, said she wants to make a difference.

"My two older children, of course, are very aware of what's going on and I said, 'I'm going down there, you know, for you, for us, and to make a difference," she said. "Without sounding corny, but I mean, it's just piggybacking on the sentiment of the politicians that are in favor of all this change.

"People as a country, like, we can't keep waiting for all the politicians to make a move," she added.

A small opposing demonstration was held across the street from the gun control advocates' staging area near the Capitol. One gun rights advocate said he thinks people in schools should be armed -- a viewpoint he developed after the Newtown shooting.

"I could not figure out why government employees have armed guards, banks have armed guards to protect the money, but the government, for some reason, thought we don't need armed guards to protect our children," Dick Heller said. "Maybe they're less worthy. I don't know. I don't know what their thinking was. All I can't understand is why didn't they protect their children like the government protects itself?"

The gun control march organizers are also calling on Congress and state legislatures to prohibit the sale of bullets that shatter inside the body and to require gun-safety training for all firearms purchasers.

Among the other placards that demonstrators raised above their heads were: "More guns? More violence" and, in a reference to NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre (who has said "the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun"): "Hey LaPierre. How about this? Keep the Bad guy from even getting a gun!"

Obama finally meets Machiavelli

U.S. President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama attend the Commander-in-Chief's Ball, honoring U.S. service members and their families, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center on Monday, January 21, in Washington after Obama's second Inauguration as the 44th U.S. president.

It's a good bet that millions of Americans on Monday greeted President Barack Obama's magnificent second inaugural address not just with applause and cheers of approval but with loud sighs of relief.

Gone were his first inaugural speech's bizarre equal division of blame for the wreckage of real lives between the "greed of some" and the so-called "collective failure" of the rest of us. Instead, Obama rang out his commitment to equality for all, not the "shrinking few and lucky" who call the rest of us simply "takers."

Nor did our president chide us to put away ''childish things" by seeming to describe deep differences over "perpetual war," climate change, immigration, equal rights, voting rights, rights to decent wages for honest labor and rights to "basic measures of security and dignity" as "petty grievances."This time around, Obama offered us not song and dance morals from an old Depression musical comedy to "pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and start all over again," but solid, specific support for the serious New Deal pillars of Social Security and Medicare.Almost for the first time as president, he dared to utter the word "poverty" in a major address, and declared ''we must be a source of hope to the poor, the sick, the marginalized, the victims of prejudice."

These moments and more earned his speech the warm response and respect it deserves. Now it will receive the careful analysis it cannot escape. This will reveal even more profound differences between Obama's second inaugural speech and his historic appearance on the steps of the U.S. Capitol as the president of color few believed they would see elected in their lifetimes

.

1. His first inaugural address was a puzzling disappointment after the passionate convictions he expressed so powerfully in both his primary and general election campaigns. Some suggested that his finest moment was Election Night in Chicago's Grant Park. No one who followed his campaign, including his opponents, could have been surprised by his second inaugural speech.

2. Monday's words were those of a leader who has chosen to fight for the change he believes in over flailing attempts to placate that only produced astounding charges that he was unwilling to compromise when in fact he had given so much in doomed efforts to do just that.

3. His repeated calls for "We the People" to work together were not-so-subtle warnings of who would be responsible if the U.S. government is unable to do so. No blame-splitting this time.

4. Even Obama's delivery and demeanor conveyed conviction, not the sense that a press aide might soon emerge from Caesar's tent beside the Rubicon to explain that his thinking is still "evolving."In this second inaugural address, Obama the Candidate became Obama the President without a trace of the bait and switch to which too many citizens have become so accustomed that in their cynicism they cease to vote at all. He spoke as a leader who has stopped splitting differences and is prepared to make choices and fight for them -- together as We the People if possible, alone as Obama the President if not.

Opinion: Obama's America, better than what Founders imagined

In fact, Monday's speech felt as if after four frustrating years of trying to appease his opponents, Barack Obama had finally met Machiavelli one night in the Lincoln Bedroom and learned that when faced with two equally powerful opposing forces, a president must choose, or both will attack him. He sounded like a leader who knows now that the difference between making a choice and making love is that decisions don't feel better the longer you can draw them out.

As Obama goes from celebration to celebration, his supporters and his opponents have a much clearer idea of what he will do tomorrow, and for the next 1,000-plus days he is president.

This time when he tells banks and insurance companies that "a free market only thrives when there are rules to ensure competition and fair play," they will do well to believe him. Because even with all the cash he collected to fill the coffers of his campaign, Monday's speech makes it clear he will not let it line the coffin of his presidency.

It betrays no security measures to mention that the Secret Service chooses oddly accurate code words for the presidents it protects.

After Obama's first inauguration, that could have been "dancer." After Monday's address, it could legitimately consider ''leader." If the president is able to act in accordance with his second inaugural address, it's not impossible now to imagine "Lincoln." He wasn't afraid to fight when the nation would not stay together.

Travelers Pick Favorite U.S. Hotels

Online hotel review site TripAdvisor has announced the winners of its annual hotel Travelers’ Choice awards. The awards are based on 650,000 traveler reviews during the last year.

“Once again, TripAdvisor is thrilled to recognize the finest accommodations based on the feedback from those who really matter: their guests,” said Barbara Messing, chief marketing officer for TripAdvisor. “It’s the insights from millions of travelers that make these awards so special, as they help others discover the hotels travelers love most – whatever the budget, in all corners of the world.”

Four Seasons hotels swept the top 10, taking four of the spots.  Four Seasons Resort Hualalai at Historic Ka’upulehu, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii took the top spot.

Rounding out the top 10 best hotels in the U.S.:

1. Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea, Wailea, Hawaii

2. Bardessono, Yountville, Calif.

3. Four Seasons Hotel Seattle, Seattle, Wash.

4. Post Ranch Inn, Big Sur, Calif.

5. Four Seasons Resort Lana’i, The Lodge at Koele, Lanai City, Hawaii

6. Hotel Commonwealth, Boston, Mass.

7. Inn at Palmetto Bluff, An Auberge Resort, Bluffton, S.C.

8. RiverPlace Hotel, a Kimpton Hotel, Portland, Oregon

9. The Grand Del Mar, San Diego, Calif.

10. The awards also recognizes travelers’ favorite hotels in several sub-categories:

Small hotels, bargain hotels and B&Bs and inns. The complete list of winners can be seen at TripAdvisor.com/TravelersChoice. Here’s the winner in each category:

Small Hotel:  Inn of the Five Graces, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Bargain Hotel: SeaCoast Inn, Hyannis, Mass.

B&B and Inns: Point Clear Cottages, Fairhope, Ala.

Beyonce, Katy Perry to perform at star-studded inauguration

President Barack Obama's inauguration is shaping up to be an event as star-studded as any red carpet, with performances from heavy-hitters like Beyonce, Katy Perry, Kelly Clarkson, Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys, Usher and Brad Paisley.

Beyonce will sing the national anthem and James Taylor will sing "America the Beautiful" on the West Front of the Capitol on Monday in Washington. Clarkson will sing "My Country 'Tis of Thee." Planners of the event said the president personally selected the performers.

Pop-rock trio fun., who had a wild year with two No. 1 hits, a near-platinum album and six Grammy nominations, will perform for first lady Michelle Obama, Sasha and Malia and Jill Biden on Saturday at the Kids' Inaugural Ball."It's been amazing year, and 2013 is kicking off with us doing the inauguration ... it's just an incredible thing," said lead singer Nate Ruess. "I think the three of us care so much about Obama and so to be invited, I can't even deal."

The band will be joined at the concert by Perry, Wonder, Keys, Usher, Smokey Robinson, Paisley, Marc Anthony, Mindless Behavior, Nick Cannon and the cast of "Glee."

"I think they're all very talented people. Stevie's my brother and so is Usher," Robinson said in an interview. "I know Katy...I'm very happy to be performing among them."

While there will be no shortage of star power, it's not quite a repeat of the 2009 inauguration when everyone who's anyone flocked to Washington for a televised concert on the Mall.

The first time around, Beyonce was a surprise guest, singing the Etta James classic "At Last" for the Obamas' first dance. Her husband, Jay-Z, was another surprise at the private staff ball, singing "99 Problems but George Bush Ain't One." The Jonas Brothers -- then favorites of the Obama girls -- performed at the kids' concert and U2, Springsteen and so many others performed on the Mall.

There may still be surprises in store, but plenty of performances are assured. Keys, Paisley, Chris Cornell, Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Hudson and Anthony will perform at the Commander-in-Chief's Ball on Monday.

Will.i.am, who debuted the song "New Day" at 2009's inauguration, will be at a number of events, including OurTime.org's "General Now Party" on Saturday, which also includes John Legend, Jessica Alba, Common and Flo Rida. Eva Longoria will host the "In Performance at the Kennedy Center" event, which celebrates Latino arts and culture, and will feature Antonio Banderas and Rosario Dawson. And 25-year-old pop party girl Ke$ha will perform a charity concert Monday.

The Creative Coalition will host parties Sunday and Monday that is expected to include Eric Stonestreet, Connie Britton, Taraji P. Henson, Melissa Leo and David Arquette, among others.

Like will.i.am, soul crooner Legend will attend multiple events, including Russell Simmons' Hip-Hop Inaugural Ball II with 2 Chainz, Brandy and Pharrell. BET also has a ball that comedian-actor Wayne Brady will host; performers include Bell Biv Devoe, Doug E. Fresh, MC Lyte and Jermaine Dupri. And Pharrell will host an event late Monday that supports education.

Clarkson says she continues to gush when she thinks about all that's going on to celebrate Obama's second term in office.

"I'm excited to be a part of it honestly. I'm more stoked about (it more) than maybe a lot in my career," she said.

Winter storm could leave six inches of snow

winter

 Winter storm raced through the Carolinas, southern Appalachians and Mid-Atlantic late Thursday and early Friday.

Snow was expected to stop accumulating by daybreak as the system moved off the East Coast and headed to the north Atlantic Ocean.

However, up to six inches of snow was expected from southern Virginia into northern North Carolina.

The storm was forecast to miss major cities from Washington, D.C. to Boston, but could clip Cape Cod with some minor accumulations on Friday morning.

Snow also fell in parts of Mississippi and Alabama with 6 inches recorded just to the east of Ackerman in central Mississippi.

Mississippi officials attributed one death to the storm Thursday. Police in Lowndes County said a 64-year-old man died when his car collided with a large tree that fell because the ground was too saturated to support it.

                                                                                                           By Michael Palmer & weather.com

US may leave no troops in Afghanistan beyond 2014

US may leave no troops in Afghanistan beyond 2014

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration says it might leave no troops in Afghanistan after December 2014, an option that defies the Pentagon's view that thousands of troops may be needed to contain al-Qaida and to strengthen Afghan forces.

"We wouldn't rule out any option," including zero troops, Ben Rhodes, a White House deputy national security adviser, said Tuesday.

"The U.S. does not have an inherent objective of 'X' number of troops in Afghanistan," Rhodes said. "We have an objective of making sure there is no safe haven for al-Qaida in Afghanistan and making sure that the Afghan government has a security force that is sufficient to ensure the stability of the Afghan government."

The U.S. now has 66,000 troops in Afghanistan, down from a peak of about 100,000 as recently as 2010. The U.S. and its NATO allies agreed in November 2010 that they would withdraw all their combat troops by the end of 2014, but they have yet to decide what future missions will be necessary and how many troops they would require.

At stake is the risk of Afghanistan's collapse and a return to the chaos of the 1990s that enabled the Taliban to seize power and provide a haven for Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network. Fewer than 100 al-Qaida fighters are believed to remain in Afghanistan, although a larger number are just across the border in Pakistani sanctuaries.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has said he foresees a need for a U.S. counterterrorism force in Afghanistan beyond 2014, plus a contingent to train Afghan forces. He is believed to favor an option that would keep about 9,000 troops in the country.

Administration officials in recent days have said they are considering a range of options for a residual U.S. troop presence of as few as 3,000 and as many as 15,000, with the number linked to a specific set of military-related missions like hunting down terrorists.

Asked in a conference call with reporters whether zero was now an option, Rhodes said, "That would be an option we would consider."

His statement could be interpreted as part of an administration negotiating strategy. On Friday Afghan President Hamid Karzai is scheduled to meet President Barack Obama at the White House to discuss ways of framing an enduring partnership beyond 2014.

The two are at odds on numerous issues, including a U.S. demand that any American troops who would remain in Afghanistan after the combat mission ends be granted immunity from prosecution under Afghan law. Karzai has resisted, while emphasizing his need for large-scale U.S. support to maintain an effective security force after 2014.

In announcing last month in Kabul that he had accepted Obama's invitation to visit this week, Karzai made plain his objectives.

"Give us a good army, a good air force and a capability to project Afghan interests in the region," Karzai said, and he would gladly reciprocate by easing the path to legal immunity for U.S. troops.

Karzai is scheduled to meet Thursday with Panetta at the Pentagon and with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at the State Department.

Without explicitly mentioning immunity for U.S. troops, Obama's top White House military adviser on Afghanistan, Doug Lute, told reporters Tuesday that the Afghans will have to give the U.S. certain "authorities" if it wants U.S. troops to remain.

"As we know from our Iraq experience, if there are no authorities granted by the sovereign state, then there's not room for a follow-on U.S. military mission," Lute said. He was referring to 2011 negotiations with Iraq that ended with no agreement to grant legal immunity to U.S. troops who would have stayed to help train Iraqi forces. As a result, no U.S. troops remain in Iraq.

David Barno, a retired Army three-star general and former commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, wrote earlier this week that vigorous debate has been under way inside the administration on a "minimalist approach" for post-2014 Afghanistan.

In an opinion piece for ForeignPolicy.com on Monday, Barno said the "zero option" was less than optimal but "not necessarily an untenable one." Without what he called the stabilizing influence of U.S. troops, Barno cautioned that Afghanistan could "slip back into chaos."

Barno said the Afghan-Pakistan border area where numbers of Islamic extremists are in hiding could become the scene of a prolonged "intelligence war" after 2014, with the U.S. and its Afghan and Pakistan partners sharing intelligence.

"Given its vital importance, this undertaking will endure — regardless of the size of the residual U.S. military presence," he wrote.

Rhodes said Obama is focused on two main outcomes in Afghanistan: ensuring that the country does not revert to being the al-Qaida haven it was prior to Sept. 11, 2001, and getting the government to the point where it can defend itself.

"That's what guides us, and that's what causes us to look for different potential troop numbers — or not having potential troops in the country," Rhodes said.

He predicted that Obama and Karzai would come to no concrete conclusions on international military missions in Afghanistan beyond 2014, and he said it likely would be months before Obama decides how many U.S. troops — if any — he wants to keep there.

Rhodes said Obama remains committed to further reducing the U.S. military presence this year, although the pace of that withdrawal will not be decided for a few months.

NFL Wild Card: Baltimore, Houston, Green Bay & Seattle win

Baltimore, Houston, Green Bay & Seattle win in wild card game

The Baltimore Ravens beat the Indianapolis Colts to extend the long and distinguished career of the man many observers consider to be the greatest defensive player in the history of the sport.

Linebacker Ray Lewis, 37, recently announced that he would retire at the end of the season and his team-mates were determined not to let him down in his final home appearance.
 

While the Ravens' defence did well to stop the Colts' rookie quarterback Andrew Luck - who has more than lived up to the pressures associated with being the number one draft pick - it was his opposite number Joe Flacco who emerged victorious.

That Flacco did was largely down to a spectacular performance from his main target, Anquan Boldin. The wide receiver broke the team's record with five catches for 145 yards, including an 18-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter which sealed a 24-9 victory for the Ravens.

Baltimore will next travel to Denver to face the AFC's top-seeded Broncos, who had earned the right to a bye through the wild card weekend.

Next weekend's other AFC divisional round game brings together the Houston Texans and the New England Patriots.
Thanks to some stifling defence, the Texans were never really in danger at home to the Cincinnati Bengals.

While they struggled to convert possession into points, Arian Foster ran for 140 yards and a touchdown as they ran out 19-13 winners.

In the NFC, Green Bay managed to contain Minnesota's chief threat, Adrian Peterson, to convincingly win the all-NFC North encounter 24-10.

It was sweet revenge for the Packers, whose 37-34 loss in the final week of the regular season to the Vikings deprived the former of a bye week and guaranteed the latter a place in the play-offs.

Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers kept the visitors' defence on their toes throughout, finding 10 different receivers as he completed 23 of 33 passes for 274 yards and one passing touchdown.
 

Meanwhile Peterson, who last week fell just short of breaking Eric Dickerson's 1984 record for the most rushing yards in a season, was limited to 99 yards from his 22 carries.

The Packers will head west to face the San Francisco 49ers on Saturday, 12 January for a place in the NFC Championship game, which will also feature the winner of Sunday's match-up between the Seattle Seahawks and the top-seeded Atlanta Falcons.

In a match hyped as being a duel between rookie quarterbacks, Seattle's Russell Wilson came out on top against the Washington Redskins' Robert Griffin III.

But that tells only half the story, as an already injured Griffin - widely known as RG3 - was eventually forced out of the game in the fourth quarter with a knee injury.

The Seahawks had earlier responded well to a nightmare first quarter in which Griffin threw a pair of touchdown passes to Logan Paulsen and Evan Royster.

But from 14-0 down, the visitors never looked back, scoring 24 unanswered points thanks to some solid defence and inspired play by Wilson and running-back Marshawn Lynch.

Lynch ran for a touchdown and 132 yards from his 20 carries, while Wilson completed 15 passes for 187 yards and a touchdown.

His performance was typified in the fourth quarter when, having handed the ball off to Lynch, he charged downfield before throwing a brilliant block to allow his team-mate to score.

That gave the Seahawks the lead for the first time and, less than a minute later, the game was all but over when Griffin's knee buckled as he tried to field a bad shotgun snap, the pain so bad that he did not even try to recover the ball.

NFL wild card weekend results

Indianapolis 9-24 Baltimore
Cincinnati 13-19 Houston
Minnesota 10-24 Green Bay
Seattle 24-14 Washington


NFL Divisional play-off fixtures

Saturday, 12 January (21:30 GMT): Baltimore at Denver
Sunday, 13 January (01:00 GMT): Green Bay at San Francisco
Sunday, 13 January (18:00 GMT): Seattle at Atlanta
Sunday, 13 January (21:30 GMT): Houston at New England

Hagel would face uphill battle for Pentagon's top job if picked by Obama

Washington –  Chuck Hagel likely would face opposition from both liberals and conservatives for his past stances and comments if President Obama nominates the former Republican senator for the top spot at the Pentagon -- as sources tell Fox News is expected, as early as next week.

Hagel’s name has been floated around Washington for weeks as Obama's top choice for the next secretary of defense, but pro-Israel groups, conservatives and gay rights organizations all have raised objections, respectively citing comments he made about a gay former diplomat and his views on Iran and Israel.

Confirmation hearings wouldn't be easy.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., has signaled he’ll move to block the bid unless Hagel withdraws his opposition to the U.S. trade embargo against Castro’s Cuba.  

Other lawmakers have expressed concern over Hagel’s resistance to sanctions against Iran and to the designation of Hezbollah as a terrorist group.

Hagel went on an apology spree in late December and back-peddled on comments he made about the sexual orientation of an ambassador candidate during a 1998 interview, but the country’s largest gay and lesbian groups said they were unimpressed and questioned his sincerity.

The controversy stems from comments he made during a debate over the nomination of James Hormel to be ambassador to Luxembourg. Hagel had said Hormel was “openly aggressively gay.”

“My comments 14 years ago in 1998 were insensitive,” Hagel said in a written statement. “They do not reflect my views or the totality of my public record, and I apologize to Ambassador Hormel and any LGBT Americans who may question my commitment to their civil rights.”

The White House has had to come to the former Nebraska senator's defense multiple times since word leaked that he may be considered for a spot in Obama’s Cabinet.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have spoken out against his bid.

Indiana Sen. Dan Coats, a Republican, blasted Hagel in an interview with radio host Tom Rose. 

"Chuck has alienated an awful lot of people," Coats said. "There have been grace concerns about this possible nomination among Republicans and among people who know and have served with Chuck Hagel. We watched Chuck take positions that are, frankly, many of them are to the left of Barack Obama."

He continued: "Hagel has moved from a conservative Republican coming out of Nebraska to someone that looks like they are out of the most leftist state in the country and exceeding even a lot of Democrats, who also have concerns about his ideology and where he is coming from. I think it would be a mistake for the president to put his nomination up."

When asked about the pulse of Republicans on Hagel, Sen. Linsey Graham, R-S.C., told Chris Wallace on Sunday, "I can tell you there would be very little Republican support for his nomination. At the end of the day, there will be very few votes.”

But there are some supporters and they point to his infantry service in Vietnam – where he was awarded two Purple Hearts – as proof that he’s qualified to lead the department. Hagel also served as the deputy administrator of the Veterans Administration during the Reagan administration, as well as the head of the USO, and was co-author of the 9/11 GI bill.

Congress passes $9.7B Sandy relief bill

Washington –  Congress approved a $9.7 billion aid bill for victims of Superstorm Sandy on Friday, amid a gusty debate between those who say Congress must ultimately approve a total of $60 billion to help communities rebuild and those who warn the aid package is festooned with unnecessary and costly items. 

The Senate approved the first installment Friday afternoon after the House passed it earlier in the day. House Speaker John Boehner has pledged to bring up the other $51 billion in his chamber by mid-January, a commitment made after New York-area lawmakers revolted at his decision to put off the vote in the prior session. 

Sandy left 120 dead and thousands homeless in the densely populated Northeast, and lawmakers from New York and New Jersey called Friday on Congress to swiftly approve the rest of the aid. 

"To be a bride left at the altar once is bad enough. To be left at the altar twice would unconscionable," Sen. Chuck Schumer, the New York Democrat, said Friday. "And so we need the House to move forward and pass the full $60 billion." 

But House conservatives continued to object to more government spending without spending cuts to offset it. Sixty-seven of them voted Friday against the Sandy package, which replenishes the National Flood Insurance Program that was due to run out of money next week. And fiscal watchdog groups pointed out that plenty of items in the earlier Senate bill -- a version of which would presumably make up the $51 billion House bill -- were not necessarily specific to Sandy, or even the battered East Coast. 

"Considering that as part of the fiscal cliff the nation is facing nearly $110 billion in across-the-board cuts in 2013 alone, it doesn't make sense to churn out a business-as-usual, wasteful $60 billion emergency supplemental stuffed with non-emergency funding," the group Taxpayers for Common Sense said in a written statement. 

The Senate bill included a $4 million repair job at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. 

It also included $150 million for fishery disasters in a range of states -- including Alaska and Mississippi. Along those lines, the bill included $821 million for dredging projects nationwide in natural disaster areas, but not necessarily those affected by Sandy. 

Some of this spending, it can be argued, is related to Sandy, but not the kind of direct emergency aid that some lawmakers make it out to be. For instance, nearly $45 million was included for work on NOAA's hurricane reconnaissance aircraft. 

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that only $9 billion of the $60.4 billion proposed on the Senate side would be spent over the next nine months. An additional $12 billion would be spent the following year. Republicans claimed the CBO's estimate undercuts the urgency of the bill. 

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The magnitude of the storm, though, could make the bill difficult to oppose. The late October storm ravaged the coast from North Carolina to Maine, with the worst flooding occurring in New York City and its suburbs, Atlantic City, N.J., and along the Connecticut coastline. 

Northeast lawmakers say the Sandy aid money is urgently needed for victims of one of the worst storms ever to strike the region and the most costly natural disaster since Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005. The bill approved Friday gives more borrowing authority to the National Flood Insurance Program to pay about 115,000 pending claims. 

After the earlier House vote was delayed, New Jersey's famously outspoken Republican governor, Chris Christie, erupted in response at his own party and joined New York's Democratic governor in calling the move a "disgrace." He and others said it took just 10 days for Congress to approve about $50 billion in aid for Katrina. That storm killed 1,800. 

Boehner assured angry lawmakers that votes on the states' entire request for more than $60 billion in aid would be held by the middle of the month. 

Rep. Tim Huelskamp was one fiscal conservative who voted against the Sandy bill Friday. "We have to talk seriously about offsets," he said. "We can't take $60 billion off budget, that's my problem with it." 

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has warned that the National Flood Insurance Program will run out of money next week if Congress doesn't provide additional borrowing authority to pay out claims. Congress created the FEMA-run program in 1968 because few private insurers cover flood damage. 

Northeast lawmakers say the money is urgently needed for storm victims awaiting claim checks. 

"People are waiting to be paid," said Rep. Frank LoBiondo, whose district includes the casino-filled Atlantic City and many other coastal communities. "They're sleeping in rented rooms on cots somewhere, and they're not happy. They want to get their lives back on track, and it's cold outside. They see no prospect of relief." 

The storm damaged or destroyed more than 72,000 homes and businesses in New Jersey. In New York, 305,000 housing units were damaged or destroyed and more than 265,000 businesses were affected. 

About 140,000 Sandy-related flood insurance claims have been filed, FEMA officials said, and most have yet to be closed out. Many flood victims have only received partial payments. 

More than $2 billion in federal money has been spent so far on relief efforts for 11 states and the District of Columbia struck by the storm.