Culture War: The religious war in Syria and Iraq has become a war on art.A new video shows Islamic State militants ransacking the central museum in Mosul, Iraq and destroying irreplaceable ancient artifacts. They broke up statues with sledgehammers and drills. The works were from the Assyrian and Akkadian empires, considered to be among the first great civilizations.

The video starts with a Koranic verse on idol worship and the narrator condemns the Assyrians and Akkadians as polytheists, justifying the destruction of the works in the museum as un-Islamic. The narrator says, “These statues and idols, these artifacts, if God has ordered its removal, they became worthless to us even if they are worth billions of dollars.”

The destruction is similar to a campaign waged by the Taliban in Afghanistan who infamously blew up two enormous statutes of Buddha carved into a mountain.

Econ 101: The government has made a downward revision to its figures for 4^th quarter growth, putting it at 2.2 rather than 2.6 percent. The downward adjustment is attributed to higher imports and a bigger trade deficit. Economists expect a better performance in the first three months of this year.

Nation: Eight people are dead and one wounded after a series of shootings overnight in Tyrone, Mo., southwest of St. Louis. Police found the bodies in five different homes. The body of the 36-year-old shooter was found in his car.

>In what could turn out to be one of his most controversial executive actions, President Obama is considering a ban on armor-piercing bullets made for popular AR-15 assault rifles. The National Rifle Association is screaming about it and gun owners are buying up existing supplies of the bullets. The Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms proposed the rule banning the 5.56-millimeter “M855 green tip” rifle bullet because it can be used in some new handguns and is a threat to law enforcement.

New Rules!: The Federal Communications Commission yesterday passed new rules guaranteeing what’s called “net neutrality,” keeping equal access to the Internet. Basically the Internet will be regulated like the phone industry. Under the new rules Internet and broadband providers will not be allowed to accept payment to give better service to some content providers and customers. So, for instance, Netflix couldn’t pay to provide you with a movie at a faster loading speed that Amazon. The rules require service providers to act “in the public interest.”

No Dice: Under criticism that it is fueling the slaughter of African elephants, China has banned the importation of ivory for one year. China is the world’s largest importer of elephant tusks smuggled out of Africa. The ivory trade was banned by international agreement in 1989, but rich Chinese people still love carved ivory trinkets.

Call the Fashion Police: The $150,000 dress sewn with 6,000 white pearls worn by actress Lupita Nyong’o at Sunday’s Oscars was reported stolen late Wednesday from her West Hollywood hotel room. Nyong’o won Best Supporting Actress a year ago for her part in Twelve Years a Slave. The actress said she was away from the hotel most of the day. The dress made by a Calvin Klein designer was noted as one of the most stunning of the night. Security video might reveal who made off it.

The Obit Page: The Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, who as President of the University of Notre Dame for 35 years was a national figure and a powerful force in Catholic affairs, has died at age 97. He both advised and stood up to presidents and popes. Hesburgh pushed back to keep a degree of independence from Rome. He also talked president Nixon out of using the National Guard to quell campus unrest in the Vietnam War era.

Big Deal: The Kardashian family has signed a $100 million contract for four more seasons of “Keeping up with the Kardashians” on the E! Channel. The New York Post called it a “Big Ass Deal.”