Hot on the heels of the $19 billion acquisition of instant messaging platform WhatsApp, Facebook today announced its latest purchase.

The latest buy, however, has on the face of it nothing to do with Facebook's core social networking business.

Mark Zuckerberg's firm stumped up $2 billion to snap up Oculus, the company famous for making a wrap-around virtual reality headset, the Rift.

That suggests that Zuckerberg has major plans to expand beyond what we think of today as social networking.

So, why virtual reality? Perhaps Zuckerberg imagines that the next generation of online social interaction will involve immersive virtual environments in cyberspace?

Citing safety concerns, sheriffs from across the United States are asking Google Inc. to turn off a feature in its Waze app that warns users where police officers are located.

The app — which Google bought in 2013 for $966 million — has 50 million users in 200 countries, and provides real time traffic conditions as well as notifications of car accidents, traffic cameras and construction zones; the locations of officers are marked with a police icon. Sheriff Mike Brown of Bedford County, Virginia, said this feature is a "police stalker," and Google needs to "act like the responsible corporate citizen they have always been and remove this feature from the application." 

Nuala O'Connor, head of the Center for Democracy and Technology, told The Associated Press she doesn't think it's a legitimate request to disable this part of the app, and privacy advocates are actually more concerned over how much information Waze, which monitors the locations of its users as long as the app is open, gives to law enforcement about customers.

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is calling on the nation's Congress to dissolve and reform intelligence services, The Associated Press reports.

Her comments come after the mysterious Jan. 18 death of a federal prosecutor. Alberto Nisman accused Fernandez of working with Iranian officials to cover up details of the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires.

Earlier this week, Fernandez suggested Nisman's death was potentially an intelligence-services initiated plot against the government. She said reforming intelligence services is "a national debt" the country has had since 1983.

The first successful filibuster of the new Congress was bound to happen eventually. The victim? Keystone XL.

The Senate voted 53-39 on the procedural vote, Politico reports. That's seven shy of the number needed to proceed to the bill's final passage, which would approve the construction of the oil pipeline running from Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Earlier this month, the House passed a similar Keystone bill, but it's expected Democrats could have enough votes to prevent Congress from overriding a presidential veto, should President Obama reject a bill that reaches his desk.

At least 10 people are dead after a Greek F-16 fighter jet participating in a NATO training exercise crashed at Spain's Los Llanos base.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said that eight of the dead were French and two were Greek, The Associated Press reports, and 21 people were injured. The jet lost thrust as it was taking off, and crashed into an area where other aircraft taking part in the exercise were parked. The Spanish Defense Military said at least five jets and "numerous" helicopters were damaged.

In a statement, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called the incident "a tragedy that affects the whole NATO family."

As Super Bowl XLIX approaches, you might recall the NFL hasn't had the best track record on domestic violence this season. Ray Rice was caught on video hitting his then-fiancee (now-wife) in an elevator. Adrian Peterson was indicted on charges of child abuse.

So it's not surprising the league is trying to change its image.

Check out this public service announcement for No More, an organization combating domestic violence and sexual assault. It was made by the NFL's own ad firm, and will air during the big game Sunday night. —Julie Kliegman

The largest autism genome sequencing has produced an unexpected finding: Siblings with autism only share the same genes 31 percent of the time, according to a study published Monday in Nature Medicine.

A third of the relevant mutations seemed random to researchers. Lead investigator Stephen Scherer, who runs an applied genomics center at Toronto's Hospital For Sick Children, suggests "autisms" is a more accurate name than "autism."

For some families, "it’s like lightning striking twice in the same family," Scherer told The Los Angeles Times.

Michelle Obama would be proud: Cadets at the military's largest dining hall can't get enough fresh broccoli and asparagus.

Mitchell Hall, the Air Force Academy's legendary dining facility, remains the "Defense Department's reigning champion of the military meal," according to Stars and Stripes, and the meals are getting a makeover.

"We are seeing an increase in cadets wanting healthy foods," said Shelly Morales, the dietitian who plans the school's menus weeks in advance.

A focus group of cadets is used to test new recipes. Classic comfort food favorites like mac and cheese and chicken fingers are still being served, but items like fresh salmon and veggies have been added to the lineup, options which Morales says the cadets look forward to.

The menus are prescribed by the Pentagon to provide between 3,200 and 4,000 calories to sustain cadets through the demanding training they face on a daily basis.

A political network overseen by the billionaire Koch brothers plans to spend a staggering $889 million on the 2016 election.

Announced Monday during an annual winter meeting hosted by Freedom Partners, the total would more than double the $404 million the Republican National Committee spent on the 2012 presidential contest. The nearly $1 billion outlay would be financed by a staple of wealthy donors and the brothers themselves.

Former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling on Monday was convicted of leaking to a New York Times reporter classified information about a plan to undermine Iran's nuclear program.

In a victory for the Obama administration, which aggressively pursued the leak case, a jury convicted Sterling of all nine espionage counts filed against him. In a 2006 book, journalist James Risen published details of a covert CIA plot against Iran. Prosecutors for years sought to compel Risen to give up his source, though they never called him to testify when it became clear he would no do so.

Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant will undergo surgery on Wednesday to repair a torn rotator cuff in his right shoulder.

The team will announce a timetable for Bryant's rehab after the surgery, but the veteran is expected to sit out the remainder of the season. The Lakers are mired near the bottom of the standings, so there's no reason to rush Bryant back to action.

The 36-year-old Bryant is under contract for one more year in L.A. Before his injury, he was struggling through one of the worst seasons of his career.