Pistorius Case: Agent Cancels All Future Races

Oscar Pistorius won't run in any of the future races that the athlete was contracted to compete in, but the Paraylmpic gold medalist's sponsors are still supportive as he faces a murder charge, his agent said today.

The decision to cancel Pistorius' scheduled appearances was made to "allow Oscar to concentrate on the upcoming legal proceedings and to help and support all those involved as they try to come to terms with this very difficult and distressing situation," Peet Van Zyl of In Site Athlete Management said in a statement.

"I have decided that following these tragic events that we have no option but to cancel all future races that Oscar Pistorius had been contracted to compete in," Van Zyl said.

Pistorius was slated to compete in races in Australia and Brazil, as well as at the Drake Relays in Iowa and the Manchester City Games in the U.K.

Van Zyl also said that Pistorius' sponsors and partners are supportive.

"I can confirm that at this point in time, all parties are supportive and their contractual commitments are maintained. They have said they are happy to let the legal process takes its course before making any change in their position," Van Zyl said in the statement.

However, M-Net movies, a subscription-funded South African television channel has pulled their ad campaign featuring Pistorius, tweeting, "Out of respect & sympathy to the bereaved, M-Net will be pulling its entire Oscar campaign featuring Oscar Pistorius with immediate effect."

The agent's announcement comes as family and friends rallied to Pistorius' defense -- saying they believe the Paralympic gold medalist's story that he shot his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp by accident after he mistook her for an intruder.

Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images; Mike Holmes/The Herald/Gallo Images/Getty Images

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"When you are a sportsman, you act even more on instinct ... it's instinct -- things happen and that's what you do," Pistorius' father Henke Pistorius, 59, told The Telegraph.

The 26-year-old athlete, known as the "Blade Runner" because of the carbon-fiber blades he runs on, was charged Friday with premeditated murder.

PHOTOS: Paralympic Champion Charged With Murder

If convicted, Pistorius could face at least 25 years in jail.

"All of us saw at firsthand how close [Steenkamp] had become to Oscar during that time and how happy they were. They had plans together and Oscar was happier in his private life than he had been for a long time," Pistorius' uncle Arnold Pistorius said on Saturday.

According to South African newspaper Beeld, Steenkamp was killed nearly two hours after police were called to Pistorius' home to respond to reports of an argument at the complex.

Police said they have responded to disputes at the sprinter's residence before, but did not say whether Steenkamp was involved.

The athlete's best friend said Pistorius called him after the shooting to say "there has been a terrible accident, I shot Reeva," Justin Divaris told the Sunday People.

While his family insists he is not a murderer, prosecutors disagree.

Police sources told local media that Steenkamp was shot through the bathroom door where she may have been trying to hide to save herself.

Reeva Steenkamp

A memorial service for Steenkamp will be held in Port Elizabeth on Tuesday evening, SABC reported. Her body will be flown back for the service before being cremated, her family said.

"Her future has been cut short ... I dare say she's with the angels," said Mike Steenkamp, Reeva Steenkamp's uncle.

The South African reality show Steenkamp competed in premiered Saturday night on SABC as planned and included a special tribute to the slain law school graduate whose modeling career was starting to take off.

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Dominican Republic port contract scrutinized, along with senator, eye doctor’s relationship

SANTO DOMINGO — When the U.S. Embassy set out to press the Dominican government over a long-stalled contract to provide port security, American officials took on some tough opponents. The deal had languished for more than a decade amid stiff resistance from the American Chamber of Commerce, which represents the interests of American and local businessmen in the Dominican Republic, and the country’s customs authorities.

Ambassador Raul Yzaguirre’s team pushed the government to enforce the contract — which calls for operating X-ray scanners to screen cargo at the country’s ports — despite objections over its merits and its price tag.

The port deal has come under heightened scrutiny in the United States in recent weeks because of its chief investor, a wealthy Florida eye doctor named Salomon Melgen who stood to gain a windfall if the contract was enforced, and his close friend Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.).

Menendez, whose relationship with Melgen is the subject of a Senate ethics inquiry, was a major beneficiary of the doctor’s generosity, repeatedly flying on his private plane to the Dominican Republic, staying as a guest at his seaside mansion and receiving large campaign contributions. Melgen donated $700,000 to Menendez and other Senate Democrats last year. The senator was also the most powerful champion of the port deal, publicly urging U.S. officials to pressure Dominican authorities to enforce the contract.

Menendez pointed to the port security deal at Yzaguirre’s confirmation hearing to become ambassador, an aide to the senator said, asking him to put a priority on security efforts aimed at countering drug trafficking through the Dominican Republic. Melgen, too, sought Yzaguirre’s help in enforcing the contract.

Yzaguirre, for his part, received help from both men in becoming ambassador. They had provided a crucial boost to his nomination when it ran into trouble.

The details of efforts by Yzaguirre and embassy staff on behalf of the port security contract remain sketchy. But the ambassador spoke approvingly of stepping up drug interdiction measures when Dominican reporters specifically asked him about the port deal. And embassy officials told the American Chamber of Commerce that they were seeking a resolution of the contract favorable to an American investor, according to William Malamud, the chamber’s executive vice president.

Though it was unusual for a U.S. Embassy to cross swords with the local American chamber, embassy officials said they were doing what U.S. diplomats around the world do when American investors get ensnared in legal or bureaucratic problems.

But this was no routine case because of the relationship among the three men: the senator, the eye doctor and the envoy.

When Yzaguirre’s nomination in 2009 to become ambassador to the Dominican Republic was held up by Republicans in Congress over other disputes with the State Department, Melgen and Menendez came to his aid. At the time, Menendez chaired the subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that handled Caribbean affairs. With the nomination stalled, Melgen contacted Menendez to see what the senator could do to move it along, according to Melgen’s lawyer.

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"Argo", "Lincoln" vie for Oscars crown in open race

LOS ANGELES - Steven Spielberg goes into next weekend's Oscars with the most nominations for his presidential "Lincoln" but the momentum is all with Ben Affleck's thriller "Argo" in the Academy Awards home straight.

And while the Hollywood veteran and the young pretender vie for the Oscars best picture crown, several other frontrunners remain hard on their heels, in one of the least predictable Oscar races in recent memory.

Taiwan-born Lee Ang's 3D spectacular "Life of Pi," Osama bin Laden manhunt movie "Zero Dark Thirty" and romcom "Silver Linings Playbook" could all be in with a chance at the Oscars, the climax of Tinseltown's annual awards season.

Spielberg and Lee are frontrunners for best director, while "Lincoln" star Daniel Day-Lewis is widely seen as a shoo-in for best actor. For best actress the hot money is on Jessica Chastain for her part in "Zero Dark Thirty" or "Hunger Games" star Jennifer Lawrence.

But Affleck's Iran hostage drama, despite only winning seven nominations -- against 12 for "Lincoln," 11 for "Life of Pi" and eight each for "Silver Linings Playbook" and "Les Miserables" -- has a clear edge for best picture.

It has swept up top prizes at a string of key awards shows, including the Golden Globes, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), Producers Guild of America (PGA), the Directors Guild of America (DGA), and Britain's BAFTA last weekend.

Affleck has gotten used to making acceptance speeches over the last two months -- but he has been tightlipped on his prospects for the all-important 85th Academy Awards, to be held at Hollywood's Dolby Theatre next Sunday.

"I just feel so incredibly honoured to be nominated as a producer for this movie. To be here at the big party," he said at the Oscar Nominees Luncheon, the annual gathering of those in the race, held in Beverly Hills on February 4.

Indeed, his best picture nomination is as a co-producer of the film -- along with George Clooney and Grant Heslov -- rather than as a director, a category in which he was not nominated, in a perceived snub.

Snub or no snub, he will be among presenters at the show, along with a Who's Who of A-listers including Halle Berry, Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Robert Downey Jr, Samuel L Jackson, and Meryl Streep.

"Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane will be hosting, a move organizers hope will attract younger viewers among the hundreds of millions watching live around the world.

Other nominees presenting include Chastain -- best actress frontrunner for playing a relentless CIA agent on the hunt for Osama, in Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow's controversial "Zero Dark Thirty".

But Lawrence, star of the "Hunger Games" blockbuster franchise, could also win the category for her portrayal of mixed-up Tiffany to Bradley Cooper's bipolar ex-teacher in "Silver Linings Playbook".

Cooper is up for best actor, along with Hugh Jackman for "Les Miserables", Joaquin Phoenix for "The Master" and Denzel Washington for "Flight" -- but Day-Lewis is widely forecast for a record third Oscar for his "Lincoln" turn.

For best director, 66-year-old Spielberg will be hoping for his first Oscar since "Saving Private Ryan" in 1999.

But he is up against Lee -- whose "Brokeback Mountain" won best picture in 2006 -- as well as Michael Haneke for his Cannes-winning "Amour", David O Russell for "Silver Linings Playbook" and Benh Zeitlin for "Beasts of the Southern Wild".

Best supporting actor nominees are Alan Arkin for "Argo", Robert De Niro for "Silver Linings Playbook", Philip Seymour Hoffman for "The Master", Tommy Lee Jones for "Lincoln" and Christoph Waltz for "Django Unchained".

For supporting actress Anne Hathaway is tipped to win for performance in "Les Miserables" -- including her heart-wrenching close-up rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream" -- against Amy Adams for "The Master", Sally Field in "Lincoln", Helen Hunt in "The Sessions" and Jacki Weaver in "Silver Linings Playbook".

The Oscars have a musical theme this year, including a performance by Britain's Adele singing the Oscar-nominated 007 theme tune "Skyfall" as well as by Shirley Bassey and Norah Jones, and Barbra Streisand, in her first Oscars turn since 1977.

- AFP/ir

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Malik aimed to boost his relevance at home, Pak?

NEW DELHI: The Indian security agencies suspect that JKLF chief Yasin Malik may have secretly met 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed during his stay in Pakistan, apart from sharing the dais with him at a protest in Islamabad. Even as his alleged one-on-one meeting with the LeT boss is kept carefully under wraps, Malik, intelligence officials say, ensured a photo opportunity alongside Saeed to "score" over moderate Hurriyat's "secret" meeting with him last December.

Till now sidelined in Kashmir's separatist politics and desperate to win over the support of Pakistani agencies, Malik possibly saw his appearance with Saeed as a last-ditch bid to boost his relevance at home and across the border.

The intelligence agencies have already rejected Malik's defence that his sharing the stage with Saeed was co-incidental. "I was on a hunger strike for 24 hours near Islamabad Press Club. Thousands of people came there including Hafiz Saeed, who came there for 15 minutes...where did the meeting take place?" the JKLF leader had argued after his public appearance with Saeed sparked an outrage here.

Agencies, however, feel Malik's photo-opportunity with the LeT boss was intentional. "It is virtually impossible for Malik to not have known the list of big leaders who he would be sharing the stage with, particularly those with a profile as daunting as Saeed's," an official pointed out.

"Considering the interest generated by moderate Hurriyat leaders' 'secret' meeting with Saeed in December, Malik possibly thought that a public appearance with the LeT founder in Islamabad would help him score over them. His real meeting with Saeed, however, may have happened away from the public eye to ensure deniability," the official added.

Saeed's active interest in Kashmir is public knowledge. In fact, at a recent rally in Lahore to mark the Kashmir solidarity day, the LeT founder and Jamaat ud Dawah boss urged India to "leave Kashmir", warning that Indian Army would be defeated and Kashmir would get independence. He pledged support to all Kashmiri leaders and hoped for their unity.

According to an intelligence assessment, Malik, who has lately been overshadowed by Kashmiri separatist leaders of the Tehreek-e-Hurriyat like hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani and the moderate Hurriyat under Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, may have sensed an opportunity to bounce back to the centrestage just by being seen with Saeed. His fast in Islamabad against the hanging of Afzal Guru provided him the right setting to pull off the photo-opportunity.

Intelligence officials point out that just like leaders of the two Hurriyat factions, which are dependent on ideological and logistical support from Pakistan to further their campaign in the Valley, the JKLF leader too has shed his hardened pro-azaadi stand and is looking for support from across the border.

Though Malik may be questioned upon his return from Pakistan on his "encounter" with Saeed, the agencies believe there the Centre can do little beyond either revoking his passport or denying its extension beyond March 31, when it is due to expire anyway. "Arresting him will only help him play the victim," an official has warned.

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Picture Archive: Making Mount Rushmore, 1935-1941

Photograph from Rapid City Chamber of Commerce/National Geographic

There's no such thing as Presidents' Day.

According to United States federal government code, the holiday is named Washington's Birthday, and has been since it went nationwide in 1885.

But common practice is more inclusive. The holiday expanded to add in other U.S. presidents in the 1960s, and the moniker Presidents' Day became popular in the 1980s and stuck. It may be that George Washington (b. February 22, 1732) andAbraham Lincoln (b. February 12, 1809) still get the lion's share of attention—and appear in all the retail sale ads—on the third Monday in February, but the popular idea is that all 44 presidents get feted.

Mount Rushmore is a lot like that one day a year writ large—and in granite. It's carved 60 feet (18 meters) tall and 185 feet (56 meters) wide, from Washington's right ear to Lincoln's left.

The monument's sculptor, Gutzon Borglum, grew up in Idaho, a first-generation American born to Danish parents. He studied art in France and became good friends with Auguste Rodin. Borglum mostly worked in bronze, but in the early 1910s he was hired to carve the likenesses of Confederate leaders into Stone Mountain in Georgia.

He was about to be fired from that job for creative differences about the same time that a South Dakota historian named Doane Robinson had an idea. Robinson wanted to have a monument carved into the Black Hills of South Dakota, maybe Western historical figures like Chief Red Cloud and Lewis and Clark, each on their own granite spire. (Plan a road trip in the Black Hills.)

Robinson hired Borglum and gave him carte blanche. Borglum was looking for something with national appeal, so he chose to depict four presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln.

Borglum wanted to represent the first 150 years of the nation's history, choosing four presidents as symbols of their respective time periods. He took a tour of western South Dakota, searching for an ideal canvas.

The sculptor was looking for three things: a surface strong enough to sculpt, a mountain big enough to hold several figures, and a mountain face that received morning sunlight. Mount Rushmore fit the bill and was already part of a national forest, so it was easy to set aside as a national memorial.

Work started in 1927. Calvin Coolidge attended the dedication ceremony. It took 14 years to finish the carving, conducted mostly in summertime because of the area's harsh winters.

There were approximately 30 workers on the mountain at any give time. In total about 400 had worked on it by the time the monument was finished. Though the project involved thousands of pounds of dynamite and perilous climbs, not a single person died during the work.

Borglum himself died of natural causes in 1941, though, just six months before the project was declared "closed as is" by Congress that Halloween. His son Lincoln—named for his father's favorite president—took over.

In the photo above, a worker refines the details of Washington's left nostril.

About 90 percent of the mountain was carved using dynamite, which could get within 3 to 5 inches (8 to 13 centimeters) of the final facial features. For those last few inches, workers used what was known as the honeycomb method: Jackhammer workers pounded a series of three-inch-deep holes followed up by chiselers who knocked off the honeycomb pieces to get the final shape. Then carvers smoothed the "skin's" surface.

—Johnna Rizzo

February 16, 2013

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Meteor Blast 'Something We Only Saw in Movies'

A day after a massive meteor exploded over this city in central Russia, a monumental cleanup effort is under way.

Authorities have deployed around 24,000 troops and emergencies responders to help in the effort.

Officials say more than a million square feet of windows -- the size of about 20 football fields -- were shattered by the shockwave from the meteor's blast. Around 4,000 buildings in the area were damaged.

The injury toll climbed steadily on Friday. Authorities said today it now stands at more than 1,200. Most of those injuries were from broken glass, and only a few hundred required hospitalization.

According to NASA, this was the biggest meteor to hit Earth in more than a century. Preliminary figures suggest it was 50 feet wide and weighed more than the Eiffel Tower.

SEE PHOTOS: Meteorite Crashes in Russia

NASA scientists have also estimated the force of the blast that occurred when the meteor fractured upon entering Earth's atmosphere was approximately 470 kilotons -- the equivalent of about 30 Hiroshima bombs.

Residents said today they still can't believe it happened here.

"It was something we only saw in the movies," one university student said. "We never thought we would see it ourselves."

Throughout the city, the streets are littered with broken glass. Local officials have announced an ambitious pledge to replace all the broken windows within a week. In the early morning hours, however, workers could still be heard drilling new windows into place.

Authorities have sent divers into a frozen lake outside the city, where a large chunk of the meteor is believed to have landed, creating a large hole in the ice. By the end of the day they had not found anything.

They are not the only ones looking for it.

Meteor hunters from around the world are salivating at what some are calling the opportunity of a lifetime. A small piece of the meteor could fetch thousands of dollars and larger chunks could bring in even hundreds of thousands.

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Jesse Jackson Jr. charged with conspiracy

The downward spiral for former congressman Jesse L. Jackson Jr. took another dramatic turn Friday when federal prosecutors in Washington laid out their criminal case against the once-promising Illinois Democrat, accusing him of misusing campaign funds to benefit himself and his wife. Among the purchases were fur coats, a high-end watch and a football autographed by presidents.

Jackson was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit false statements, mail fraud and wire fraud in the misuse of approximately $750,000 in campaign funds, according to court papers filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Washington.

The court filing was a clear signal that Jackson, who served in the House of Representatives, intended to plead guilty to the charge, which has a maximum penalty of five years in prison. No court date has been set.

Jackson’s expected plea would be another mile-marker in his slow political and personal collapse, which began shortly after President Obama’s 2008 election. That had seemed to open up new possibilities for Jackson, considered a likely successor to Obama in the Senate.

Instead, FBI agents arrested then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) and charged him with trying to sell the interim appointment to the Senate seat from Illinois to the highest bidder, and Jackson was implicated in the scandal. Though not charged, he would never recover politically.

According to the documents released Friday, Jackson used campaign funds to buy a $43,350 gold Rolex watch along with almost $10,000 in children’s furniture that he had delivered to his home in the District.

Among other allegations, prosecutors say Jackson made direct expenditures from the campaign’s accounts of about $57,793 for personal expenses. The documents say that he and a co-conspirator used a campaign credit card to make $582,773 worth of purchases for their own use.

Jackson’s wife, former Chicago alderman Sandra Stevens Jackson, was not named or charged in that case, but the description makes clear that she was the co-conspirator.

“That’s a big number as these things go,” said Stan Brand, a former House counsel who has represented defendants in this type of case. “That obviously isn’t the kind of case you would risk putting in front of a jury. That’s why people plead.”

The details of the case against Jackson were part of a document known as a “criminal information,” which cannot be filed without the consent of the defendant and which signals that a plea agreement is near.

Jackson’s wife was charged with filing false income-tax returns from 2006 through 2011, according to a separate criminal information in her case. That charge has a maximum sentence of three years in prison.

Attempts to reach the Jacksons for comment were unsuccessful, but news reports in the Chicago media quote statements, issued by their attorneys, in which the pair take responsibility for their conduct.

Through a representative, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Jackson’s father, declined to comment on the charges.

The criminal documents outline a series of illegal expenditures from the former congressman’s campaign account, including more than a dozen purchases of pop-culture artifacts that revealed his place firmly as a child of the 1970s and 1980s:

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Alleged cop killer died from single shot to head

LOS ANGELES: Alleged US cop killer Christopher Dorner died from a single gunshot wound to the head that appeared to be self-inflicted, a coroner said.

The doctor who examined the body concluded that "the cause of death was a single gunshot wound to the head," said San Bernardino County coroner Kevin Lacy, giving details from the results of a six-hour autopsy.

"We are not yet able to speak about the manner of death and tell you whether or not it was the result of a self-inflicted wound or another round," he told a press conference.

But he said, "while we are still assembling the reports and putting it together, the implication seems to be that the wound that took Christopher Dorner's life was self-inflicted."

The ex-Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) cop went on the run last week after allegedly killing a couple and a policeman, and wounding three people. Another officer was killed and one wounded before the cabin in which Dorner was holed up burned in a fire.

Dorner had posted online a chilling manifesto in which he threatened to kill policemen and their families, and blamed the LAPD for treating him unfairly in his sacking in 2008.

The manhunt came to a climax Tuesday in a cabin near a snow-covered ski resort, after Dorner was spotted in a stolen vehicle and then fled on foot after crashing one vehicle and carjacking another.

San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon said that there was a prolonged firefight with the 33-year-old, who barricaded himself in the cabin after a six-day manhunt.

When they had exhausted other means, SWAT officers used a tractor-type device to open up the windows and walls of the cabin, and inserted a pyrotechnic chemical, to try to force Dorner to surrender.

A blaze erupted, starting at one corner of the cabin. As the flames took hold, after a period of no firing, "We heard a distinct single gunshot coming from inside the house," said McMahon.

The sound of it "indicated to me (that) a different kind of weapon had been fired," he added.

- AFP/ck

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Vintage steam engine back on Shimla-Kalka heritage track

SHIMLA: The British era steam engine, KC-520, chugged on the Shimla-Kalka heritage track on Friday, after a gap of four years. The only narrow gauge steam engine, which dates back to 1903, KC-520 towed four chartered coaches, carrying around 25 passengers, mainly foreigners, successfully between Shimla and Kathlighat.

Railway officials at the Shimla railway station cordoned off the track when the engine set off on its journey around 11.40am. A member of the group from UK travelling in one of the coaches, Viam, told TOI, "It is wonderful to travel in the steam engine. It is certainly a momentous journey and weaving a magnificent image of steam spewing up while traversing through the verdant vales."

Sources said the steam engine was plying following a chartered booking by the UK group. The engine was sent to Amritsar in 2008 for repair works and brought back to Shimla on November 20. It ran a successful trial run on December 5, 2012. Information procured from the Baba Bhalku rail museum in Shimla reveals that the steam engine has been declared a heritage property by UNESCO and that it is the only one being run on the Kalka-Shimla narrow gauge. Technically, the engine's specialty is that it runs on a gradient of 1 in 33 around 3%, which is quite steep and a very difficult gradient compared to other hill tracks like that of Darjeeling.

This steam engine has been quite a hit with tourists, especially foreigners. This particular engine was run for the first time in 1905 and as compared to the diesel locos it requires repeated refilling of water. Before December 2012 it was last run on trial basis in November 2008 from Summer Hill to Shimla and thereafter taken to Amritsar. This engine was brought out of retirement from Saharanpur.

As per records, the KC-520 engine is said to be built by North British Locomotive Company for Rs 30,000 and was put out of service in 1971 after the advent of diesel locomotives. The KC-520 was again put into use in 2001 for small trips between Shimla and Kathlighat for foreign tourists, as well as high end tourists, besides persons of corporate sector and at a cost of around Rs 1.08 lakh for a short trip for 25 people, it became a popular attraction.

Aaron Kelly, a British tourist who travelled on the train, said: "The journey on this narrow-gauge rail line is always exhilarating, especially when a steam locomotive is used to draw the coaches."

Another tourist, Daniel Hall said travelling on a wheeled vehicle consisting of a coal-propelled engine "reminds me of the Raj heritage".

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Severe Weather More Likely Thanks to Climate Change

Jane J. Lee

BOSTON—Wildfires. Droughts. Super storms.

As opposed to representing the unfortunate severe weather headlines of the last year, scientists said Friday that climate change has increased the likelihood of such events moving forward.

And though the misery is shared from one U.S. coast to another, scientists speaking at the annual American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Boston said, the type of extreme event may vary significantly from region to region. (Related: "6 Ways Climate Change Will Affect You.")

Heat waves have become more frequent across the United States, with western regions setting records for the number of such events in the 2000s, said Donald Wuebbles, a geoscientist with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

But the Midwest and Northeast have experienced a 45 percent and 74 percent increase, respectively, in the heaviest rainfalls those regions have seen since 1950.

The extreme drought that plagued Texas in 2011 has spread to New Mexico, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and northern Mexico, said John Nielsen-Gammon, Texas State's climatologist at Texas A&M University in College Station.

"The science is clear and convincing that climate change is happening and it's happening rapidly. There's no debate within the science community ... about the changes occurring in the Earth's climate and the fact that these changes are occurring in response to human activities," said Wuebbles.

In 2011 and 2012, major droughts, heat waves, severe storms, tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, and wildfires caused about $60 billion in damages each year, for a total of about $120 billion.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Climactic Data Center, these were some of the costliest weather events in the country's history, said Wuebbles.

President Obama argued in his State of the Union address this week that the time is ripe to address climate change, saying he would skirt Congress to make such changes, if necessary.

His proposals included a system similar to the cap-and-trade proposal killed in Congress during his first term, new regulations for coal-burning power plants, and a promise to promote energy efficiency and R&D efforts into cleaner technologies. (Related: "Obama Pledges U.S. Action on Climate, With or Without Congress.")

The researchers said they are glad to see that addressing climate change is on the President's agenda. But they stressed that they wanted the public to have access to accurate, scientifically sound information, not just simplified talking points.

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