Iranian authorities are conducting last-minute security sweeps, deploying forces across Tehran, and warning residents to refrain from participating in antigovernment protests planned for tomorrow. The government typically organizes large, festive-like rallies and demonstrations to celebrate the anniversary of the Islamic Republic. However, this year, opposition leaders have called for protestors to demonstrate against the regime on Feb. 11, the last day of the annual festivities. Government officials have responded by vowing to confront demonstrators on the streets and calling for government supporters to turn out in large numbers, in addition to busing in supporters from farther-out regions. There have already been disruptions in Iran’s telecommunications, particularly Internet and text messaging. Google’s email service will also be permanently suspended, and a national email service will soon be rolled out, according to Iran’s telecommunications agency.

The 10 American Baptist missionaries accused of child trafficking in the chaos following Haiti’s earthquake will be freed by a Haitian judge, Reuters reports. (NBC News is reporting that a final decision hasn’t been made, however.) The missionaries, who said they took parentless children from orphanages but actually took them from willing parents in a village, could be released this Thursday after almost three weeks in custody. "One thing an investigating judge seeks in a criminal investigation is criminal intentions on the part of the people involved and there is nothing that shows that criminal intention on the part of the Americans," an anonymous source told Reuters.

From Washington to New York, the East Coast was shut down by a second huge snowstorm within a week. Total snowfall in Washington hit 54.9 inches, breaking a 110-year-old record, just days after being blanketed with 32 inches of the white stuff. Federal office closings in D.C. will cost an estimated $100 million a day; while the Senate will reopen Thursday, there won't be votes this week, and the House will stay closed. Reagan National and Dulles International airports were shut down Wednesday. Many flights in and out of Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston were canceled. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said taxpayers would pay $1 million for every inch that fell there. But Wall Street soldiered on, as did Broadway— Hair offered $40 tickets to students. Travel was especially dangerous, with some areas seeing whiteout conditions. Thousands were left without power, but a few people could savor the day: New York City students enjoyed what was only the third snow day in eight years.

Charlie Wilson, the former congressman from Texas, died Wednesday at the age of 76. Most famously, he led Congress into supporting Operation Cyclone—the largest CIA covert operation in history. During Operation Cyclone, the CIA supplied the Afghan mujahideen in its war against the Soviet Union. Wilson’s campaign became subject of the book and film Charlie Wilson’s War. In Congress, Wilson was a liberal, fighting during his 23 years for Medicaid, the Equal Rights Amendment, regulation of utilities, and a minimum wage.

CME Group Inc., the parent company of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, has bought a 90 percent stake in Dow Jones & Co.'s financial index business for $607.5 million. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, created by Charles Dow in 1896, will become part of a financial-index business co-owned by CME and Dow Jones, which will hold a 10 percent stake. Dow Jones had been looking to sell its index businesses since last year, but wanted a higher price ($700 million) than CME wanted to pay. It will retain a "key role in the management" of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, reports The Wall Street Journal. The new joint venture will keep the old name, and the deal will close in the first quarter. Since News Corp. bought Dow Jones two years ago, it has shuffled the company's assets, including Stoxx Ltd., which was sold for $309 million.

President Obama met exclusively with black leaders for the first time in a rare Oval Office meeting Wednesday. The group—including the Rev. Al Sharpton, NAACP President Benjamin T. Jealous, National Urban League Marc H. Morial—braved D.C.’s “snowpocalypse” to discuss black joblessness, and the president requested support for his economic proposals. "I think he was very clear that he was not going to engage in any race-based programs,” Sharpton said. “But at the same time, he was determined that going forward we can correct some of the structural inequalities that are currently in place." Jealous said the discussion was more about geography than race, focusing on hard-hit areas such as Detroit and the Carolinas. Some black leaders have expressed frustration with Obama, saying he has not addressed deep economic problems facing African-Americans, who have a higher unemployment rate than the national rate and who are disproportionately affected by the home foreclosure crisis.

Google is planning to build and test ultra high-speed broadband networks in a small number of trial spots across the country. "We'll deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today with 1 gigabit per second, fiber-to-home connections," Google product managers said in a blog post Wednesday. "Our goal is to experiment with new ways to help make Internet access better and faster for everyone." The company said the networks will let consumers download a high-definition, full-length feature film in less than five minutes and allow rural health clinics to send 3-D medical images over the Web.

One of the athletes getting the biggest buzz heading into the 2010 Winter Olympics has been Lindsey Vonn, the best female skier in American history who wore skis for the cover of one Sports Illustrated issue and a bikini inside another (the swimsuit issue). But Wednesday, Vonn gave a tearful press conference announcing that she’d severely bruised her lower right shin last week while training in Austria. The skiing phenom said she was scared she might not be at her best in the Olympics this month, if she can ski at all. Vonn said the injury is so bad she’d opt out of competing in one, or all five, of her events because it’s right where her ski boot hits, causing pain with every move. The skier has had rough Olympic luck—while training four years ago in Torino, she had to be air-lifted to the hospital following a bad crash. "She's a tough girl, and you can never discount Lindsey and how tough she is and how much she wants this," a ski team doctor said.

John Mayer's oversharing days may be over—the singer apologized for using the "n" word in a Playboy interview on Twitter and vowed to not be as "raw" in the future. Behind his kissing and telling about Jessica Simpson, who he described as "crack cocaine to me" and "sexual napalm," the most explosive portion of Mayer's interview was his explanation of why, as he says, "black people love me." In the article that will appear in the March issue of Hugh Hefner's infamous publication, the guitar player says, "Someone asked me the other day, 'What does it feel like now to have a hood pass?' And by the way, it's sort of a contradiction in terms, because if you really had a hood pass, you could call it a n***** pass." His political point, however, was overshadowed by the racial remark causing Mayer to both apologize and explain in a series of tweets. "I am sorry that I used the word. It was arrogant of me to think I could intellectualize using it." Mayer wrote, adding that his "shock jock" days are over. "I just wanted to play the guitar for people," he wrote.

About 250 private security guards once employed by Blackwater and still working in Iraq have been ordered to leave the country within seven days, the Iraqi interior minister said. The order is seen as a response to the dismissal by an American judge of criminal charges against five Blackwater guards accused of shooting 17 Iraqi civilians in 2007, though Vice President Joe Biden said last month that the U.S. would appeal that decision. Some of the guards affected work for a subsidiary of Blackwater, now called Xe, and others have moved to different private contracting firms. The shooting incident took place in the Baghdad intersection Nisoor Square, when guards protecting American diplomats opened fire on the square. Women and children were among the dead. Iraqis are now extra suspicious of American private security guards, and they are routinely stopped, searched, and questioned at checkpoints.

The 11-year prison sentence handed down to Liu Xiaobo, a Chinese dissident, for his conviction for "inciting subversion of state power" has been upheld. Liu, 54, co-wrote Charter 08, a declaration calling for major reform of China's government. Western nations and human-rights groups were outraged by the Christmas Day conviction. Liu was also jailed following the Tiananmen Square demonstrations in 1989.

Get your cash while it’s cheap: Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said  Wednesday that, once the economy is recovered, the Fed will reel in stimulus funds by raising interest rates. He said, however, that record-low rates are still needed at this time and the Fed is still months away from a hike.

After seven years, the youngest detainee at Guantanamo Bay will have his day in court—but should he have to? Omar Khadr, who was arrested when he was 15 for allegedly throwing a grenade that killed a U.S. soldier, will likely face war-crime charges, including murder, before a military tribunal in July. However, U.N. officials, human-rights groups, and defense attorneys argue that Khadr was indoctrinated as a child by his parents—his father was in Osama Bin Laden’s inner circle—and therefore he should be afforded the protections given to child soldiers. Namely, that means rehabilitation, not prosecution. Khadr’s case is likely to be the first full military commission trial under Obama.

Nyi Nyi Aung, a naturalized American citizen, was sentenced in a Myanmar court to five years in prison and hard labor on charges that he carried a fake I.D. and two other offences—charges human rights groups say are bogus. He will serve the terms concurrently, meaning he’ll be imprisoned for three years. Nyi Nyi Aung had spent 20 years working for democracy in the country, and a spokesperson for the American embassy in Myanmar said, “We believe the charges were politically motivated.” U.S. human rights group Freedom Now urged the Obama administration to push for Nyi Nyi Aung’s release. He will take his place among 2,100 dissidents who’ve been jailed for opposition to the military government in Myanmar.

It looks like Hooters isn’t recession proof. The chain restaurant featuring its trademark buxom waitresses is on the market, having recently shopped itself to a string of private equity firms, reports the New York Post. Analysts speculate that Hooters could sell for more than $250 million, which would include 450 franchise outposts as far as Australia and China. The restaurant chain took in more than $1 billion in sales in 2008, but the economy has taken a toll on the burgers-and-wings offerings. Hooters has also had a string of back luck in launching an airline and poor investments.

The unending soap opera that is John Edward's life has a new episode: The National Enquirer reports he has proposed to Rielle Hunter. Edwards, 56, popped the question to Hunter on the same day he told her he was finally publicly claiming paternity of daughter Frances. The former senator released the statement on Jan. 21, and six days later his wife of 32 years, Elizabeth Edwards, announced via a spokesperson that the couple had legally separated. Edwards is reportedly purchasing a $3.5 million luxury beachfront home for his new life with Hunter. An unnamed source said that Hunter's loyalty to Edwards inspired Edwards to propose. Evidently, the source said, "John has said that when his divorce is final, he'll buy her a diamond ring. But in the meantime, he's getting them a house."

The book American psychiatrists use to diagnose a patient’s mental illness, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders V (DSM-5), will not be released for another three years, but the American Psychiatric Association has offered a preview. While obviously not yet finalized, some changes have been proposed, such as eliminating the term “mental retardation” in favor of “intellectual disability.” Binge-eating, hoarding, and hypersexuality will be added (Internet addiction was considered but researchers did not have the data to back up its inclusion). Asperger’s syndrome will be placed on the autism spectrum, instead of standing alone as it currently does. “Substance abuse” and “dependence” will now be called “addiction and related disorders.” The manual is highly influential on what type of care and drugs insurance companies will cover.

It doesn’t make for easy looking, ABC News has obtained remarkable aerial photographs of the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. The 13 shots show just how consumed downtown New York was by dust, especially after the towers collapsed. The entire downtown is swallowed by the gray cloud.

An earthquake rattled residents of Chicago's western suburbs awake early on Wednesday, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. The quake's epicenter was 48 miles west/northwest of the city and hit with a magnitude of 4.3 on the Richter scale. So far, no injuries or significant property damage has been reported. Witnesses reported feeling their houses shake, hearing sounds similar to an explosion, and said the quake lasted less than a minute.

Rachel Uchitel is cashing in. Last night Mario Lopez interviewed Tiger Woods' number one mistress on Extra, and her poise impressed producers so much that they offered her a special-correspondent job, reporting on nightlife hot spots. According to an unnamed show source, Uchitel won't discuss Tiger, but "seems very vulnerable," and talks about how she wants a husband and kids some day.

What’s French for “Google”? The celebrity French philosopher Bernard Henri-Lévy—he of the unbuttoned white shirts and coiffed hair—has backed up the arguments in his latest book, On War in Philosophy, by citing the work of a fake philosopher. In arguing that Imanuel Kant was a madman, Henri-Lévy quoted from the lectures of Jean-Baptiste Botul—the creation of the journalist Frédéric Pagès. Botul has a rabid following—which recognizes that he’s not real—and debates his metaphysics of flab and his ideas on cheese, sausages, women’s breasts, and the transport of valises in the 1930s. Botul’s Wikipedia entry makes clear that he does not exist. Said Henri-Lévy, “My source of information is books, not Wikipedia.”

President Obama just can’t seem to make up his mind on how he feels about the banks. After taking a tough tack with them for weeks, Obama now says he doesn’t “begrudge” J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon and Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein their respective $17 million and $9 million bonuses. “I know both those guys; they are very savvy businessmen,” Obama said in the interview with BusinessWeek. “I, like most of the American people, don’t begrudge people success or wealth. That is part of the free- market system.” He added, “there are some baseball players who are making more than that and don’t get to the World Series either, so I’m shocked by that as well.”

The United States announced on Wednesday new sanctions on affiliates of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, saying that they have helped to produce and fund weapons of mass destruction. Specifically, the U.S. froze the assets of Revolutionary Guard General Rostam Qasemi and four subsidiaries of a construction firm that he runs. Qasemi runs the segment of the Revolutionary Guard that builds streets, tunnels, and waterworks; the U.S. Treasury charges that he makes his profits “available to support the full range of the IRGC's illicit activities, including WMD proliferation and support for terrorism."

Another filibuster and another one bites the dust: The Senate failed to confirm union lawyer Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board on Monday, falling short of the 60 votes necessary to break a Republican filibuster with just 52 yay votes. The pro-labor nominee was not helped by the fact that Democratic Senator Ben Nelson came out against him. Now, even The Wall Street Journal is reporting on “whether the institution [the Senate] is broken.” President Obama announced on Monday that he is considering “recess appointments”—a move that, by making appointments while the Senate is in recess, will allow nominees to serve for up to a year without official confirmation.

The world lost a little of its color yesterday as Captain Phil Harris, the prickly, tattooed, chain-smoking boss on Discovery's series The Deadliest Catch, died at age 53. While unloading his ship in Alaska on January 30, Harris had a stroke that he never recovered from, spending his remaining days in the hospital. Discovery followed Harris and the crew of the Cornelia Marie—including Harris' sons Jake and Josh—on its series about crab fisherman working the waters off Alaska, a job that boasts large profits as well as rates of injury so high that it is often called the most dangerous in the world.

After the massive protests that plagued the worldwide tour of the Olympic torch before China’s games, officials decided that the torch would only travel within the host country starting this year. But the rules were slightly bent on Tuesday when Philip Mahre, the American who won the 1984 gold medal in the alpine slalom, took hold of the Olympic torch at the Canadian border and carried it, for about a hundred steps, into Washington state’s Peace Arch State Park. It was the easiest border crossing the area will see for awhile, as the U.S. has beefed up border security before the Games. On Friday, Arnold Schwarzenegger will run with the torch in Vancouver.

Citigroup and Bank of America may be “too big to fail,” but the credit agencies aren’t counting on another bailout: Standard & Poor’s warned on Monday revised its outlook for the two banks from stable to negative, meaning there’s a one-in-three chance it will downgrade their credit ratings over the next six months to two years. The impetus is fears that, with financial regulation coming, the U.S. will be less willing to bail the banks out when the next crisis comes rolling around.

The rumored New York Times story may be the least of New York Governor David Paterson’s problems. PIX news reports that Paterson—who vowed on Tuesday that the only way he’ll leave the governor’s mansion is “in a box”—is under investigation by federal prosecutors for awarding a contract to run a gaming center at Aqueduct Raceway to a group whose political support he’s been seeking. The investigation from the Eastern District U.S. Attorney’s office in Brooklyn is “very fresh,” say sources.

The Jay Leno Show ended on Tuesday evening without so much as a goodbye. An unsentimental Leno "joked" that "it seems like just yesterday I was telling NBC this was not going to work," adding "This show was supposed to be on for two years, but we got five months for good behavior." Leno's numbers, though large for a late-night audience, were piddling compared to other prime-time shows, and killed the ratings of affiliate news program that aired after The Jay Leno Show. Leno will return to late night after the Olympics. Leno's last prime time show featured Donald Trump, Ashton Kutcher, Gabourey Sidibe, and an interview with NBC sports anchor Bob Costas that ran long; Leno didn't even have time to say goodbye.

Find a Valentine, for your health: People can actually die from broken hearts, says The Wall Street Journal. Broken-heart syndrome looks like a heart attack, but occurs in patients without heart disease. Instead it is brought on by acute emotion or physical trauma that releases a rush of adrenaline to the heart, freezing up the left ventricle. It often affects patients who have lost a loved one, and is most common in postmenopausal women. The syndrome is responsible for 1 to 2 percent of all heart attacks.

D.C. dwellers hoping to start their President’s Day weekend early have been thwarted by the snowstorm, which forced Reagan Washington National and Dulles International airports to close Wednesday. They aren’t rescheduled to reopen until Thursday morning. Some airlines have also canceled flights in and out of Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. Delta, United, US Airways, and Continental each canceled at least 600 flights Wednesday. New York airports remained open, but most flights were grounded. According to the National Weather Service, blizzard warnings are in effect Wednesday for the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic U.S., extending from New York to the Carolinas. Those locations can expect winds at speeds of 35 mph or higher and considerable snowfall with near-zero visibility for three hours or longer. In Washington, snow is reportedly falling at a rate of two inches per hour and this winter has already shattered Dulles’ previous snowfall record with 65.7 inches.