After telling a crowd in Ohio on Saturday that President Obama adheres to "some phony theology" and "not a theology based on the Bible," Rick Santorum defended the remarks on Sunday. "I accept the fact that the president's Christian," he told CBS's Face the Nation, framing Obama's environmentalism and "worldview that elevates the Earth above man" as problematic. An Obama advisor said Santorum's comment went "well over the line." [Los Angeles Times]
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SEE ALSO: 10 things you need to know today: February 12, 2012
2. UN NUCLEAR INSPECTORS RETURN TO IRAN
As tensions increase in the Middle East, United Nations inspectors arrived Monday in Tehran for another round of talks with Iranian officials about the country's nuclear program. On Sunday, Iran cut off crude exports to France and Britain in response to new economic sanctions, while British and U.S. officials urging Israel not to attack Iran. [CNN]
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3. SOUTH KOREA HOLDS MILITARY DRILLS
Despite threats from North Korea, South Korea proceeded with live-fire military drills near a disputed boundary in the Yellow Sea on Monday. On Sunday, a North Korean officer told the Associated Press that the country would respond to any provocation with a "merciless retaliatory strike." [Associated Press]
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4. 4 DEAD IN WASHINGTON AVALANCHES
In Washington state, an avalanche in an out-of-bounds area near a popular ski resort claimed the lives of three veteran skiers Sunday. That same day, a snowboarder was killed in another avalanche at a separate ski area in the state. Experts say the dry winter and weak base layer of snow could increase the risk of avalanche throughout the ski season in the region. [CBS News/Associated Press]
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5. MEXICO PRISON RIOTS KILLS 44
In what may be the country's deadliest prison riot in history, 44 inmates were killed when cell-block fighting broke out between two rival drug cartels on Sunday in Apodaca, Mexico. A similior riot at another Mexican prison last month claimed the lives of 31 inmates. [Wall Street Journal]
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6. GREEK BAILOUT LIKELY TO GET APPROVAL
Monday could be the day for Greece, with seniors officials saying eurozone finance ministers are likely to at last approve a 130-billion-euro ($170-billion) bailout deal to save the country from default. [Associated Press]
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7. ESPN EDITOR FIRED OVER LIN HEADLINE
On Sunday, ESPN fired editor Anthony Federico for using the phrase "chink in the armor" in a headline about New York Knicks star Jeremy Lin and the end of the team's winning streak. Federico says he never intended it as a racial slur and called it an "honest mistake." [New York Daily News]
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SEE ALSO: 10 things you need to know today: February 17, 2012
8. SPACE ANNIVERSARY PROMPTS REFLECTION
Monday marks the 50th anniversary of the groundbreaking flight that saw John Glenn become the first American to orbit the earth, effectively catching up with the Russians in the the space race. With the shuttle program having ended and NASA no longer able to fly astronauts into space, Glenn, now 90, told a crowd at the Kennedy Space Center on Saturday that "I regret that that is the way things have developed." [Reuters]
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9. LOHAN TO HOST SNL
Fallen starlet Lindsay Lohan is set to host Saturday Night Live on March 3rd. That news, along with the fact that Lohan's probation restriction soon ends, are spurring hopes of a turnaround for the troubled tabloid-fixture. She has hosted SNL three times before. [CNN]
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SEE ALSO: 10 things you need to know today: February 10, 2012
10. LEGENDARY ADVENTURER DEAD AT 74
A New York Times obituary celebrates the life of the late John Fairfax who was known for crossing both the Pacific and the Atlantic in a rowboat. It reads: "At 9, he settled a dispute with a pistol. At 13, he lit out for the Amazon jungle. At 20, he attempted suicide-by-jaguar. Afterward he was apprenticed to a pirate." [New York Times]
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