Oscar: Meryl Streep collected her 18^th Oscar nomination this morning, again for playing a woman with a heavy accent, this time in “August Osage County”. She’s won three times.

For Best Picture: “12 Years a Slave”, “American Hustle”, “Captain Phillips”, “Dallas Buyers Club”, “Gravity”, “Her”, “Nebraska”, “Philomena”, “The Wolf of Wall Street”

For Best Actress: Streep, Amy Adams, Cate Blanchett, Sandra Bullock, Judi Dench.

For Best Actor: Christian Bale, Bruce Dern, Leonardo DiCaprio, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Matthew McConaughey.

Benghazi: A Senate Intelligence Committee report says the attack on the Benghazi consulate in 2012 could have been avoided with better security. The report didn’t say anything that has not been said before, but it was blistering. The press announcement said, “The committee found the attacks were preventable, based on extensive intelligence reporting on the terrorist activity in Libya – to include prior threats and attacks against Western targets – and given the known security shortfalls at the U.S. Mission.”

Nation: Apple Computer will refund $32.5 million for “in-app” purchases made by children. Kids using apps on tablets and iPhones have been able to buy upgrades, new features, and gizmos without their parents’ knowledge, running up bills in the hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars. As part of a settlement with the FTC, Apple will have to change its programming so an adult in charges makes confirmation before any new purchases go through. We know people who got their money back, no questions asked.

Nuclear Meltdown: The Air Force has suspended 34 officers responsible for launching … or not launching … nuclear missiles. They’re accused of cheating on their monthly proficiency tests. Sixteen officers shared answers and the other 18 knew about the cheating, but didn’t expose it. The cheating investigation grew out of a drug investigation in which 11 officers were recently accused of involvement with illegal drugs, three of them at nuclear sites in North Dakota and Montana.

A Penney Saved: JC Penney announced it is closing 33 stores and cutting 2,000 jobs in an effort to save $65 million and turn around the losing operation. The new CEO has reversed many of the disastrous innovations of his predecessor, but the chain has been losing money for more than two years.

Break Point: Extreme heat has forced a timeout in the Australian Open tennis tournament as the temperature hit 107 today. A ball boy fainted yesterday and two days ago a player fainted mid-match on the court. A heat wave has blanketed most of Australia with the temperature hitting nearly 115 degrees in the southern city of Adelaide.

The Downton Law: The Lady Marys of England are pushing Parliament for the right to inherit family titles and standing in the peerage. As with the family in the BBC series Downton Abbey, in which the daughter Lady Mary could not inherit the family estate, women in present day England are still not allowed to inherit their father’s title, and the land that goes with it, if there’s any left these days.

England’s upscale heiresses hope the recent change in royal succession breaks the barrier. When Kate Middleton was pregnant, the law was changed so the baby would be first in line for the throne, regardless of whether it was male or female. No one knows if this is the moment for the untitled women of entitled families, but as Downton’s Lady Grantham said, “Don’t be defeatist dear, it’s terribly middle class.”

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