Chatter: Indonesia quake triggers tsunami warning

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Need to know:
The entire Indian Ocean region is on tsunami watch after a powerful earthquake struck under the sea off northern Indonesia.

The 8.7-magnitude quake hit some 300 miles off the coast of Aceh province. It's thought it occured at roughly the same depth and location as the 9.1 tremor that triggered the devastating 2004 tsunami.

Countries as far away as Australia, Iran and South Africa have been warned to be on alert.

Want to know:
Farewell then, Rick Santorum, GOP presidential candidate no more. 

You won when you weren't expected to. You said some pretty wacky things. Your name always sounded vaguely unpleasant. You had some funny friends.

We'll miss your sweater vests and the way JFK makes you puke. Maybe we'll see you in Mitt Romney's VP spot. Then again, maybe not.

Dull but important:
Special envoy to Syria Kofi Annan says he received assurances from Bashar al-Assad's government that it will respect his ceasefire agreement.

Annan, who is in Iran today to seek the Syrian ally's support, said there remained a chance of seeing "improved conditions on the ground" by tomorrow morning.

Government troops were supposed to have pulled out of cities yesterday, in readiness for a full cessation of hostilities, by both sides, tomorrow. But reports of violence continued overnight and into this morning. So you'll have to excuse us if we don't take Damascus at its word.

Just because:
The strange tale of Bo Xilai got even stranger yesterday, as it emerged that the disgraced Chinese politician's wife had been detained in connection with the suspected murder of a British businessman.

Bo, once tipped to rise to the top of China's Communist Party, was sacked from his regional position last month, in mysterious circumstances. Last night, he was suspended from his remaining national roles and placed under formal investigation.

Meanwhile his wife, Gu Kailai, is being questioned over the death of Neil Heywood, a British national whose body was found last November. Yes, we know, it's complicated. Here's our timeline of the main events.

Strange but true:
Fact #1: Hillary Clinton is bad-ass. Fact #2: she knows it. 

Madam Secretary not only has her own meme, she makes it. For those who haven't seen Texts from Hillary, it's a Tumblr based around a single photo of Her Hillness, texting, on a plane, in sunglasses. 

And guess what! She loves it! So much she made her own! And invited the site's creators to the State Department! We are awed, and just a little – extremely – jealous. 

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