1. OBAMA COMES OUT SWINGING AT SECOND DEBATE
The gloves came off at the second, high-stakes presidential debate at Hofstra University in New York on Tuesday night. A more aggressive President Obama attacked Mitt Romney for lacking specifics as the two traded blows on immigration, taxes, abortion, and violence in Libya. It was a sharp turnaround from Obama's first debate performance, for which he was criticized for being listless and unfavorably professorial. This time around, Obama defended his record and painted his GOP rival as having extreme plans and being out of touch with ordinary Americans. Romney continually argued that Obama is just peddling more of the same. [Washington Post]
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2. FEDS RAID LAB TIED TO MENINGITIS OUTBREAK
Federal agents on Tuesday raided the Massachusetts pharmacy linked to a nation-wide meningitis outbreak that has killed 16 people and sickened more than 200. The New England Compounding Center has voluntarily recalled batches of a tainted steroid tied to the outbreak and has since shut down. The raid comes as critics call for an investigation into whether the pharmacy broke federal laws dealing with controlled substances. [Reuters]
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3. 4.6-MAGNITUDE QUAKE SHAKES NEW ENGLAND
A 4.6-magnitude earthquake rattled Portland, Maine, on Tuesday evening, with tremors being felt all across New England. According to WCSH-TV in Portland, Maine, there was minor damage — like food falling off of store shelves — near the epicenter of the quake. Some cell phone service outages were also reported. Residents in New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut said they felt the rare quake. [NBC News]
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4. COURT OVERTURNS BIN LADEN DRIVER'S CONVICTION
A U.S. federal court overturned a terrorism conviction of Osama bin Laden's former bodyguard and driver on Tuesday, ruling he was illegally prosecuted before a military tribunal for a war crime that did not exist at the time he was accused of committing it. The court ruled 3-0 that material support for terrorism was not a crime under international law when Salim Hamdan worked for the Sept. 11 mastermind. [Los Angeles Times]
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5. SUICIDE BLAST ROCKS U.S.-AFGHAN BASE
A suicide car bomber blew up his vehicle near a U.S.-Afghan base in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday morning. According to initial reports, at least 10 Afghan soldiers were wounded in the blast in Paktiya province. The attacker appeared to have detonated his car before reaching the actual gate of the camp. [Associated Press]
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6. MITT'S 'BINDERS FULL OF WOMEN' REMARK GOES VIRAL
Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney inadvertently created a new viral meme, "binders full of women," during a debate discussion about gender equality in the workplace. The GOPer made the odd remark while describing how, as Massachusetts governor, he made a big effort to recruit women, even receiving "binders full of women" qualified to serve on his team. The phrase immediately went viral on Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr. [Politico]
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7. OBAMA ATTACKS ROMNEY ON THE 47 PERCENT
In a key moment during Tuesday night's presidential debate, President Obama brought up the secret video of Romney dismissing 47 percent of Americans as government moochers, something Obama failed to bring up during the first face-off. "Keep in mind who he was talking about," said Obama at the end of the debate, pointing to Americans on Social Security, veterans, students, and soldiers. "I want to fight for them," Obama declared. Romney, speaking before Obama, seemed to preemptively refer to the video, saying, "I care about 100 percent of the American people." [The Hill]
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8. CANDY CROWLEY FACT-CHECKS MITT ON LIBYA
Another big moment in the presidential debate: CNN moderator Candy Crowley fact-checked Mitt Romney on Libya. The Republican presidential nominee insisted that President Obama failed for two weeks to call the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi an "act of terror." Obama insisted that he called it an "act of terror" the very next day, telling Romney to check the transcript. When the governor repeated his charge, Crowley jumped in, saying Obama "did in fact," on Sept. 12, use those words to describe the siege. [Politico]
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9. FORBES LISTS MOST EXPENSIVE ZIP CODES IN U.S.
It's official: New York City is the most expensive place to live in America. For the first time, the area code of 10065, which surrounds the Upper East Side, was ranked No. 1 on Forbes' annual list. Next up was Alpine, N.J., followed by Atherton, Calif. [Forbes]
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10. BEYONCÉ TO PERFORM AT SUPER BOWL
Global music icon Beyoncé will perform at the Super Bowl halftime show in February, the singer confirmed on Tuesday. After The Associated Press broke the story, the Grammy Award-winning singer took to her blog, posting a photo of herself wearing two strips of tape mimicking eye-black with the date of the Super Bowl show on Feb. 3. [Reuters]
