Supervising News Editor Samira Jafari – 404-827-1401

UPCOMING

South-Africa-Pistorius-Brother (Will update)

As Olympic icon Oscar Pistorius faces a murder trial for the shooting of his girlfriend, his older brother is charged in the death of another woman. Carl Pistorius is accused of culpable homicide in the 2010 death of a female motorcyclist, CNN affiliate eNCA reported Sunday.

Vatican-Pope-Blessing (Will update)

Pope Benedict XVI’s final Angelus blessing is expected to draw huge crowds on Sunday. The pontiff will leave office at 8 p.m. on February 28, two-and-a-half weeks after he shocked the Roman Catholic world by announcing his resignation.

Italy-Election (Monitoring)

Italy’s parliamentary elections kick off Sunday, with polls suggesting the center-left – led by Pier Luigi Bersani – is on track to defeat controversial three-time prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. But Berlusconi’s rise in the polls in recent weeks, combined with widespread public disillusionment, means that nothing about the race is a foregone conclusion.

Mexico-Acapulco-Violence

A Belgian national was shot to death during a robbery at a popular Mexican resort, the latest violence to target foreigners in the popular tourism haven of Guerro state.

ENT-Academy-Awards

Coverage of the 85th Academy Awards, which broadcast 7 p.m. ET. Seth MacFarlane hosts.

South Korea Female President

South Korea’s first female president Park Geun Hye will take office on Monday in the shadow of two giants – the first is the specter of a nuclear-armed North Korea and the second is the legacy of her father, former military dictator Park Chung Hee.

SPORT-Daytona-500

Danica Patrick is the first woman to win the pole position for the Daytona 500, considered the Super Bowl of NASCAR. She’ll start next Sunday’s “Great American Race” in the front row, on the inside part of the track. The polesitter begins the race with certain strategic advantages as well as the prestige of leading an elite pack.

It will be a messy weekend in the Northeast and the Deep South as the massive weather system that walloped 20 states with a snowstorm rolls off toward the Atlantic Ocean.

DJ Robbie Wilde lives in a world of beats and bass — but he can’t hear. Wilde was born hearing in both ears, but a severe ear infection at age 7 left him deaf in his right ear and 80% deaf in his left. Despite his deafness, Wilde launched a successful career complete with turntable skills that rival most hearing DJs.

PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED STORIES

INTERNATIONAL

Afghanistan-Unrest

A car bomb targeted a security building in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, killing at least one person, a government spokesman said.

Vatican-Pope-Scandal

The Vatican sought Saturday to tamp down rumors involving sex, money and gay priests that have been swirling in the Italian media and have been linked by some to Pope Benedict XVI’s decision to resign.

Spain-Protests

Tens of thousands of protesters amassed in Madrid and other Spanish cities on Saturday to voice their anger over harsh austerity and the way the country’s being run in the wake of its financial crisis. In Madrid, demonstrations turned violent and two police officers were injured, Spanish national police said on Twitter. Forty people were arrested.

South-Africa-Gun-Violence

Oscar Pistorius has claimed in a court hearing that when he heard noises in his home, he mistook his girlfriend for an intruder and accidentally shot her with his 9 mm pistol. Plausible? The courts will decide. In the meantime, the killing has highlighted South Africa’s history of gun violence and high crime. And it’s shown the world that many South Africans live with a palpable, almost paranoid, fear of having their homes broken into.

South-Africa-Pistorius

A hacker falsely posted on the Twitter account of Oscar Pistorius’ older brother Saturday that the South African Olympian was going to do media interviews, a family spokeswoman said.

U.S.

UFC-Women-Fight

The UFC holds its first fight featuring women. Ronda Rousey and Liz Carmouche headline the 135-pound division belt fight on Saturday night in Anaheim, California.

US-Weather-Winter-Storm

Florida-Daytona-Crash

Debris flew into the stands, injuring a number of spectators – at least two of them critically – during a jaw-dropping crash Saturday in the final turn of a NASCAR race at Daytona International Speedway. Track officials insisted the facility would be ready for Sunday’s Daytona 500.

Nevada-Las-Vegas-Deaths

Police have identified a suspect in a fatal shooting and crash on the Las Vegas Strip that left three people dead. The suspect, 26-year-old Ammar Asim Faruq Harris, is at large, though a black Range Rover police said he was driving early Thursday morning has been impounded.

ENT-California-MC-Hammer-Arrest

Rapper MC Hammer launched a string of tweets Saturday with his side of the story two days after he was arrested in northern California for allegedly obstructing an officer.

POLITICS

POL-NRA

The National Rifle Association is heading back to the airwaves with yet another round of ads aimed at fighting gun-control initiatives circulating in Washington.The advocacy group announced earlier this week that its CEO, Wayne LaPierre, would unveil the new ad campaign Saturday night from Salt Lake City during a speech at the Western Hunting and Conservation Expo.

POL-South-Carolina-Colbert

What would Stephen Colbert want in a Charleston, South Carolina, bowling alley? Votes for his sister, who is running for Congress.

MONEY

MONEY-medicaid

Despite their initial, vehement protests, a growing number of Republican governors are giving their blessing to expanding Medicaid in their states. That opens the door for millions of poor Americans to enroll in government health care coverage, beginning in 2014.

MONEY-fed-future-losses

The Federal Reserve’s massive annual profit, which it turns over to the Treasury, is likely to dwindle and may even disappear entirely in a few years. But that’s okay, Fed officials say.After years of record profits, the Fed is likely to be saddled with losses starting in 2017 or 2018, economists predict in a paper that was presented Friday at the U.S. Monetary Policy Forum, a New York conference organized by the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

FEATURES AND COMMENTARY

COMMENTARY-Allen-Vatican

Suffice it to say that of all possible storylines to emerge, heading into the election of a new pope, sensational charges of a shadowy “gay lobby” (possibly linked to blackmail), whose occult influence may have been behind the resignation of Benedict XVI, would be right at the bottom of the Vatican’s wish list.

COMMENTARY-avlon-oscars-politics

With a crop of political movies in the Oscar running, this weekend Hollywood is looking more like Poliwood. Best Picture contenders such as “Argo,” “Zero Dark Thirty” and “Lincoln” have managed to pay off at the box office even as they brought politics and history to the big screen – proof that we’ll take smart over stupid as long as we’re entertained while educated.