Debris: Thailand reports that one of its satellites spotted 300 floating objects in the Indian Ocean not far from where other satellites took pictures of  what could be debris from Malaysian Airlines Flight 370. Searchers are fighting bad weather and none of the unidentified objects have been recovered so far.

Ukraine: The International Monetary Fund is close to an agreement to give Ukraine $18 billion in loans to prevent the country’s financial collapse. Ukraine will have to agree to drastic budget cuts, which could be difficult during its current political turmoil.

Econ 101: Growth was stronger in the fourth quarter and unemployment claims dropped, according to the Commerce Department. Analysts say the adjusted 2.6 percent annual rate of growth in the fourth quarter suggests underlying strength in the economy.

Mudslide: Authorities now say 90 people remain missing and the status of 35 is unclear in Saturday’s massive mudslide in Oso, Wash. Forty-nine houses were in the path of the slide, although not all of them were occupied full time. The death toll is 24.

End Run: Northwestern University football players are actually employees of the school and eligible to unionize, according to a ruling by the regional director of the National Labor Relations Board. Peter Sung Ohr wrote that when players accept their scholarship they are essentially signing an employment contract. The ruling has the potential to upset the entire system of college sports in which the scholarship jocks are defined as “student athletes.” If the ruling stands on appeal, it opens the door for athletes to negotiate for injury insurance, a salary, and rights to their likeness. The NCAA would be faced with giving up and declaring college athletes professional, or fighting to maintain the charade of amateurism.

Nation: Two Boston firefighters died yesterday in a nine-alarm fire in a brownstone apartment building on Beacon Street in the historic Back Bay. The two were trapped in the basement where the fire started as wind-driven flames engulfed the building.

>Osama bin Laden’s son in law, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, was convicted yesterday of conspiring to kill Americans and providing material support to terrorists. The 48-year-old Ghaith is the most senior bin Laden advisor to be tried in an American court. Ghaith denied involvement in the 9/11 conspiracy, but admitted on the witness stand that he met with bin Laden hours after the attacks.

Gun World: A California State Senator who pushed gun legislation has been arrested and indicted on charges that he was involved with a Chinese gun-running gang. Leland Yee of San Francisco was accused along with 25 other people, including former San Francisco School Board Chairman Keith Jackson and reputed Chinatown crime boss Raymond Chow. The complaint says Yee offered to arrange a meeting between an undercover officer and an arms dealer. Ironically Yee is a hated figure to the 2^nd Amendment crowd that denounces him as a “gun-grabber” for his bill requiring a device to slow the re-loading speed of semi-automatic rifles.

Death Blow: Oklahoma’s execution law was struck down by a state judge because it’s too secretive about the drugs used to put prisoners to death. Two death row inmates sued to learn the maker and quality of the drugs used for lethal injection because state law prohibits them from knowing. Judge Patricia Parrish ruled that “the secrecy statute is a violation of due process because access to the courts has been denied.”

The Pew Report: President Obama met with the Pope today at the Vatican. The two agree with each other on the issue of economic justice and inequality, but the president has some trouble with the Catholic Church when it comes to Obamacare and birth control.

>Germany’s “Bishop of Bling” has resigned to end the scandal over his big-spending ways. Bishop of Limburg Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst spent $40 million on a new diocesan building that includes a $3.9 million personal quarters with a $20,000 bathtub. The buildings in traditional German style are quite beautiful, but Pope Francis, who appears to have a Calvinist streak, disapproved.

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