Why we need Valentine's Day

February 13, 2015 - Daily News Briefing

It's innocent fun. It's a time-out to tell others we love them. (Oh, and it's tomorrow.)

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The Senate on Thursday confirmed President Barack Obama's choice to run the Pentagon, handing Ashton Carter the unenviable task of steering the military as the United States confronts Islamic State militants, conflict in Ukraine and other worldwide threats. The overwhelming bipartisan vote in the Republican-controlled Senate was 93-5. Carter will replace Chuck Hagel, the former Republican senator who had a rough relationship with Obama's insular group of national security advisers. Carter will be Obama's fourth defense secretary in six years, joining a line of succession that began with Robert Gates and included Leon Panetta and Hagel.

A US appeals court on Thursday said it would hear arguments on whether to move the trial of the Boston Marathon bombing suspect out of the city that was the site of the largest mass-casualty attack on US soil since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The appeals court's decision to hear arguments on Feb. 19 comes after a district court judge three times rejected pleas by defendant Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's attorneys to move the trial. Defense attorneys contend too many people in the Boston area had a direct connection to the event to empanel an impartial jury.

The inflight tantrum dubbed "nut rage" culminated Thursday in a one year prison sentence for Korean Air heiress Cho Hyun-ah, a humiliating rebuke that only partially quelled public outrage at the excesses of South Korea's business elite. Cho, the daughter of Korean Air's chairman, achieved worldwide notoriety after she ordered the chief flight attendant off a Dec. 5 flight, forcing it to return to the gate at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York. Head of cabin service at the time of the incident, Cho was angered she had been offered macadamia nuts in a bag instead of on a dish. A heated and physical confrontation with members of the crew in first class ensued.

The Democratic Party has chosen Philadelphia as the site of its 2016 national convention to nominate a presidential candidate, the Democratic National Committee said on Thursday. The Democratic convention will be held the week of July 25, 2016. The Republican gathering is scheduled to be held in Cleveland the week before Democrats meet.

Longtime "60 Minutes" correspondent Bob Simon, who covered most major overseas conflicts and news stories since the late 1960s during a five-decade career in journalism, died in a car crash Wednesday evening in New York City. Simon was among a handful of elite journalists, a "reporter's reporter," according to his executive producer, whose assignments took him from the Vietnam War to the Oscar-nominated movie "Selma." He spent years doing foreign reporting for CBS News, particularly from the Middle East, where he was held captive for more than a month in Iraq two decades ago.

Expedia is buying rival online travel site Orbitz for approximately $1.33 billion to extend its reach in the travel-booking industry. It's Expedia's second major deal in the past month as the industry consolidates. Expedia announced the $280 million acquisition of another rival, Travelocity, in late January. Orbitz owns CheapTickets, HotelClub. Expedia owns Hotels.com and Hotwire. Expedia, based in Bellevue, Washington, will pay $12 per share, a 25 percent premium to the Orbitz' closing price of $9.62 Wednesday.

Tiger Woods said Wednesday his game is "not acceptable" to compete in tournaments and he will return when he thinks it is. Hopeful of having injuries behind him, Woods made a horrific start to the new year. He shot a career-high 82 in the second round of the Phoenix Open to miss the cut by 12 shots. And then he withdrew after 11 holes of ordinary golf at Torrey Pines because of tightness in his back from a fog delay. Woods said on his website the last two weeks have been disappointing, especially at Torrey Pines, where he is an eight-time winner. He said he never wants to withdraw, but recent injuries have allowed that to happen too often.

“The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.” – Mary Baker Eddy

The Daily News Briefing is published Monday through Friday by The Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston, Massachusetts.

To send a comment to the Editor, email editor@csmonitor.com.

“The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.” – Mary Baker Eddy

The Daily News Briefing is published Monday through Friday by The Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston, Massachusetts.

To send a comment to the Editor, email editor@csmonitor.com.

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