World: Russian submarines and spy ships have been lurking near the undersea cables that carry world Internet traffic, making the US worry that Russia would attack fiber-optic lines in a time of outright conflict. The NY Times reports that the military is tracking Russian activity along cable routes from the North Sea to Northeast Asia. Some of the cables run in areas where it would be extremely difficult to fix the line. It’s reminiscent of the days of the cold war when Russians and Americans tapped each other’s undersea cables for information.

>Five people died when a whale watching ship carrying 27 people sank off the coast of British Columbia yesterday. Twenty-one people were rescued and one is still missing.

Big Quake: A 7.7 magnitude earthquake … that’s a big one … struck northeastern Afghanistan today with tremors felt from Pakistan to Central Asia. It’s still early, but there are reports of building collapses and the possibility of many casualties.

Nation: Adacia Chambers, the 25-year-old woman whose car plowed into the Oklahoma State University homecoming parade killing four people, has been charged with four counts of second-degree murder. Blood tests were taken to determine whether Chambers was drunk. By some accounts she was actually sober but extremely distraught because she had been fired from her job only 30 minutes before.

The Breakfast Menu: Processed meats like bacon, sausage and ham cause cancer, according to a study by the World Health Organization. The report says just two slices of bacon a day can increase the chance of developing colorectal cancer by 18 percent. The organization also says red meats are also “probably carcinogenic,” but doesn’t have full evidence to prove it.

The Obit Page: Flip Saunders, a winning coach with a long history in the NBA who was trying to rebuild the Minnesota Timberwolves, died yesterday of lymphoma at age 60. Saunders’ record was 654-592 in 17 seasons with the Timberwolves, Detroit Pistons and Washington Wizards. He started his coaching career at Golden Valley Lutheran College just outside of Minneapolis, worked in Canada, and kicked around the minors from Rapid City and Sioux Falls SD to La Crosse, Wisc. before getting into the NBA in 1995.

Second Amendment: Authorities near Pageland South Carolina over the weekend seized 7,000 guns from a single property, most of them believed to have been stolen. The local sheriff said the man who kept the guns in his home and a warehouse on the property seemed to have been hoarding the guns, not selling them.

Dr. No: Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson said on NBC yesterday that abortion is comparable to the cruelty of slavery and that he would like to see the overturning of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. He told Chuck Todd on Meet the Press, “I’m a reasonable person and if people can come up with a reasonable explanation of why they would like to kill a baby, I’ll listen.” In recent polling, 50 percent of the country favors the right to have an abortion, but only 31 percent of Republicans.

Can You hear Me Now?: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was kicked out of the “quiet car” on the Amtrak Acela train from Washington to New York yesterday for being a loudmouthed politician. A fellow passenger said Christie got on the phone and was animatedly repeating, “this is frickin’ ridiculous” and “seriously?! seriously?!” Running at 2 percent in polling for the Republican presidential nomination, getting bounced from a train car earned Christie more news coverage than he’s had in weeks.

-30-