(CBS News) STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - One hundred days ago, the Northeast was hit by a left hook from superstorm Sandy.
This week, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposed spending $400 million to buy up and demolish thousands of those homes, so the property can be turned back into wetlands.
Homeowners have mixed feelings about the proposal.
For 11 years, Joe Monte worked two jobs and spent weekends renovating his Staten Island home. Weeks after he finished last fall, superstorm Sandy swept eight feet of water inside.
"I came into the house with paper towels and some Fantastic, and I stood in the middle of the room and called my wife and I told my wife, 'There's nothing to clean here, there's nothing to do. It's done,'" Monte said.
A picture of a house heavily damaged by superstorm Sandy on Staten Island, 100 days after the storm hit.
/ CBS News
Monte welcomes Cuomo's proposal to buy up properties like his in flood-prone areas.
"This isn't my dream, the poison that's in this home, the destruction that took this neighborhood. How could you even stay here?" he said. "How could you even live in this neighborhood?"
100 days post-Sandy, N.Y. Gov. Cuomo wants some areas emptied Romney camp wrote big check to Red Cross Watch: Senate passes $50 billion Sandy relief aid bill
But about 30 miles away in Long Beach, N.Y., Fran Adelson plans to stay and rebuild. She, too, lost almost everything in the storm.
"We live here. This is where our homes are, this is where our children were raised, this is where our families are, this is where the businesses that we go to are," she said.
Fran Adelson
/ CBS News
She believes the governor should be looking at ways to help people stay in their communities.
"We would rather see Cuomo spend the money on helping us rebuild than offering to buy people's property," Adelson said.
But Joe Monte says he's had enough. He's walking away.
"I hate that I lost neighbors in my neighborhood," he said. "Three people died in this neighborhood. I hate everything about it. I could never come back here ever again."
Gov. Cuomo's buyout proposal still has to be approved by the federal government. If it is approved, the governor's office says they won't force people to sell their property -- but those who do decide to stay would be offered grants to rebuild their homes.
Federal investigators are in the midst of an active criminal investigation of disgraced former Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, ABC News has learned.
The revelation comes in stark contrast to statements made by the U.S. Attorney for Southern California, Andre Birotte, who addressed his own criminal inquiry of Armstrong for the first time publicly on Tuesday. Birotte's office spent nearly two years investigating Armstrong for crimes reportedly including drug distribution, fraud and conspiracy -- only to suddenly drop the case on the Friday before the Super Bowl last year.
Sources at the time said that agents had recommended an indictment and could not understand why the case was suddenly dropped.
Today, a high level source told ABC News, "Birotte does not speak for the federal government as a whole."
According to the source, who agreed to speak on the condition that his name and position were not used because of the sensitivity of the matter, "Agents are actively investigating Armstrong for obstruction, witness tampering and intimidation."
An email to an attorney for Armstrong was not immediately returned.
READ MORE: Lance Armstrong May Have Lied to Winfrey: Investigators
AP Photo/Bas Czerwinski, File
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Earlier Tuesday, during a Department of Justice news conference on another matter, Birotte was confronted with the Armstrong question unexpectedly. The following is a transcript of that exchange:
Q: Mr. Birotte, given the confession of Lance Armstrong to all the things --
Birotte: (Off mic.)
Q: -- to all thethings that you, in the end, decided you couldn't bring a case about, can you give us your thoughts on that case now and whether you might take another look at it?
Birotte: We made a decision on that case, I believe, a little over a year ago. Obviously we've been well-aware of the statements that have been made by Mr. Armstrong and other media reports. That has not changed my view at this time. Obviously, we'll consider, we'll continue to look at the situation, but that hasn't changed our view as I stand here today.
The source said that Birotte is not in the loop on the current criminal inquiry, which is being run out of another office.
Armstrong confessed to lying and using performance-enhancing drugs throughout his career in an interview with Oprah Winfrey.
READ MORE: Armstrong Admits to Doping
WATCH: Armstrong's Many Denials Caught on Tape
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Investigators are not concerned with the drug use, but Armstrong's behavior in trying to maintain his secret by allegedly threatening and interfering with potential witnesses.
Armstrong is currently serving a lifetime ban in sport handed down by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. He has been given a Feb. 6 deadline to tell all under oath to investigators or lose his last chance at a possible break on the lifetime ban.
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The Mexican government said on Monday that a gas leak caused a blast that killed at least 37 people at the offices of state oil monopoly Pemex in Mexico City, raising fresh questions about the firm's safety record.
Attorney General Jesus Murillo said no trace of explosives was found at the site of the explosion, the latest in a string of disasters to hit the lumbering oil giant.
New President Enrique Pena Nieto is seeking to overhaul Pemex as part of raft of economic reforms aimed at boosting growth in Latin America's No. 2 economy.
"We have been able to determine that the explosion was caused by an accumulation of gas in the basement of the building," Murillo told a news conference in Mexico City. He said the gas was believed to be methane.
Murillo said the gas may have leaked from containers in a storage facility connected to where the explosion took place by a tunnel. Or it could have leaked from an aging pipeline that passed through the building.
Another possibility is that it emanated from sewage in the ground under the building, he said.
Mexico City is built on a dried-out lake bed, and the stench of sewage often hangs over parts of the city downtown.
Murillo said contractors working on supports under the building needed electricity and used an extension cord, which could have caused a spark that ignited the gas.
Thursday afternoon's blast at a building at the Pemex headquarters complex in downtown Mexico City prompted speculation the incident could have been an act of sabotage.
That raised fears that drug war violence that has killed an estimated 70,000 people in the past six years could have entered a new, more sinister phase, and rattled investors.
REFORM OUTLOOK
The explosion next to Pemex's flagship tower block prompted renewed criticism of the oil giant's safety record.
For years a source of national pride, Pemex has proven stubbornly resistant to change. The company has become a touchstone for Mexico's capacity for economic reform since oil output began to fall behind the performance of other major producers.
A symbol of Mexican self-sufficiency since president Lazaro Cardenas expropriated U.S. and British oil companies in 1938 and nationalized the oil industry, Pemex has also become a byword for inefficiency and graft.
Pena Nieto, who took office in December, has made passing an energy reform to boost crude production a priority this year.
Geoffrey Pazzanese, who co-manages Federated Investors' $523 million Federated InterContinental Fund, said an accident would help the government push its energy reform.
"It's probably going to be positive for the reform, it underlines the need for Pemex to invest in its own capital spending," he said before Murillo spoke. "You have a big explosion in a building that's right in the middle of the city.
"Conspiracy theories aside, people are probably outraged about the situation and that tends to spur action," he added.
Mexico is the world's No. 7 oil producer and a top exporter to the United States. But output has slumped from a peak of 3.4 million barrels per day in 2004 to less than 2.6 million bpd now.
While the company had said it improved safety prior to the blast, fires, explosions and other safety breaches are regular occurrences.
Mexico loses hundreds of millions of dollars a year to theft of oil carried out by drug gangs, petty criminals and corrupt workers. The Mexican government relies on oil revenues to fund nearly a third of the federal budget.
The heavy tax burden has limited Pemex's ability to fund new projects and lift crude output. The government has warned that Mexico could become a net oil importer as early as 2018 if major new oil finds cannot be developed.
The company had pinned its long-term hopes of boosting production on the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, where the government estimates there are significant oilfields.
The last conservative administration had helped Pemex by drawing more outside investment into mature oilfields via the auction of private contracts.
(With reporting by David Alire Garcia, Krista Hughes, Ana Isabel Martinez and Anahi Rama; Writing by Simon Gardner and Dave Graham; Editing by Xavier Briand)
SINGAPORE: Member of Parliament (MP) for Holland-Bukit Timah Group Representation Constituency, Liang Eng Hwa, has proposed an amendment to the original motion being debated in Parliament on the White Paper on Population.
He said reflecting the concerns raised by Singaporeans, he proposes to amend the motion to further reinforce the point that Parliament supports maintaining a strong Singaporean core.
This is by encouraging more Singaporeans to get married and have children.
He said: "A key thrust of strengthening our Singaporean core in the workforce is to help enhance the employability of Singaporeans and prepare Singaporeans for the competition. We need to help our citizens better maximise our so-called 'home ground advantage' and benefit from the job opportunities available and get higher salaries.
"What would work against the strengthening of Singaporean core is where foreigners are seen to be taking up jobs that Singaporeans can do. There are clearly still many examples of that in some sectors. We need employers to be more conscious of that."
Mr Liang also wanted to add clarity to the motion by recognizing that the population projection beyond 2020 is for the purpose of land use and infrastructural planning and not a population target.
The MP stressed that Singapore's leaders will not get the buy-in from Singaporeans on the country's long term plans if it has not demonstrated that the government is serious in resolving the current bottlenecks.
He said: "We need to invest big to create space and capacity to cope with higher population and to sustain a high quality living environment. We also need a long term economic strategy that can continue to create good and fulfilling jobs for our citizens.
"Bearing in mind, come 2020, we will have at least 16,000 Singaporeans per year graduating from local universities and many others from the polys and ITEs. We need to keep creating good employment for these graduates every year.
"Economic growth sustains our financial ability to pay for the higher social spending so that our retired citizens can age with dignity and security. Too low an economic growth will change that equation and things may balance out. That is exactly what this population White Paper and Land Use Plan is all about. And I agree with DPM Teo that it is about doing the balancing acts. And that every issue is interlinked with one another and so you can't just take one piece and say we should do more or do less."
Mr Liang said the government also needs to assure Singaporeans that the population policies are meant to benefit citizens.
Although Twitter hasn't revealed who may have been victimized in last week's suspected massive account hack, an analysis suggests that accounts with high levels of influence may have been among those affected.
Within days of accusations that hackers in China were responsible for network breaches at The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, the microblogging site revealed Friday that about 250,000 accounts might have been compromised. In e-mails to affected users, Twitter said it reset passwords for accounts it suspected of being compromised after identifying unauthorized attempts to access Twitter user data.
"This attack was not the work of amateurs, and we do not believe it was an isolated incident," Twitter said in a company blog post Friday explaining its action. "The attackers were extremely sophisticated, and we believe other companies and organizations have also been recently similarly attacked."
Now it appears that key media outlets, high-level elected officials, and influential journalists and tech figures may have been affected, including the Twitter account of President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. Seventeen percent of the 100 most influential accounts in politics were possibly affected, including House Speaker John Boehner (@johnboehner), House Majority leader Eric Cantor (@EricCantor), and Republican tech strategist Patrick Ruffini (@PatrickRuffini), according to analysis by PeerReach.
Because of the hackers' attack -- which could have been intended to snare influential tech figures -- 70 percent of PeerReach's Webtech top 100 list, including @TechCrunch, Evan Williams (@ev), Tim O'Reilly (@timoreilly), Fred Wilson (@fredwilson), Om Malik (@om), and Kara Swisher (@karaswisher), were among those whose Twitter accounts had their passwords reset, the analyst reported, noting that the impacted accounts appeared to be early adopters who launched their accounts prior to 2007.
Meanwhile, 22 percent of the account linked to the analyst's list of 100 most influential media outlets may also have been breached, according to PeerReach, including @nytimes, @reuters, @cnn, and @foxnews.
Despite the password reset, PeerReach notes that because many users recycle their credentials on a variety of sites, the hack still poses a threat:
If the hackers have 250,000 encrypted passwords in their possession they have all time of the world to break these passwords. Although the compromised accounts are forced to change their passwords, many are likely to have re-used passwords for other applications such as email, domain names and other critical services. This gives the criminals great possibilities, in combination with Social Engineering, to continue their campaign against other media sources.
CNET has contacted Twitter for comment on PeerReach's conclusions and will update this report when we learn more.
FORT WORTH, TexasThe Iraq War veteran charged with killing a former Navy SEAL sniper and his friend on a Texas shooting range had been taken to a mental hospital twice in the past five months and told authorities that he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, police records show.
Eddie Ray Routh, 25, also told his sister and brother-in-law after the shootings that he "traded his soul for a new truck," according to an Erath County arrest warrant affidavit obtained by WFAA-TV. Police said that Routh was driving the truck of victim and ex-Navy SEAL Chris Kyle at the time of arrest.
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Routh is charged with one count of capital murder and two counts of murder in the shooting deaths of Kyle, author of the best-selling book "American Sniper," and his friend Chad Littlefield at a shooting range Saturday in Glen Rose. He is on suicide watch in the Erath County Jail, where he's being held on $3 million bond, Sheriff Tommy Bryant said.
Routh, a member of the Marines Corps Reserve, was first taken to a mental hospital on Sept. 2 after he threatened to kill his family and himself, according to police records in Lancaster, where Routh lives. Authorities found Routh walking nearby with no shirt and no shoes, and smelling of alcohol. Routh told authorities he was a Marine veteran who was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
"Eddie stated he was hurting and that his family does not understand what he has been through," the report said.
Routh's mother told police that her son had been drinking and became upset when his father said he was going to sell his gun. She said Routh began arguing with them and said he was going to "blow his brains out."
Police took Routh to Green Oaks Hospital for psychiatric care.
Dallas police records show Routh was taken back to the same mental hospital in mid-January after a woman called police and said she feared for Routh's safety.
Green Oaks will not release patient information, citing privacy laws. Most people brought by police to the hospital are required to stay at least 48 hours.
In May, Routh's mother reported a burglary that included nine pill bottles and her son was involved, according to a Lancaster police report. No other details were available.
Authorities say Routh, Kyle and Littlefield arrived at the sprawling Rough Creek Lodge at about 3:15 p.m. Saturday, and a hunting guide called 911 about two hours later after discovering the bodies. Kyle and Littlefield were shot multiple times, and numerous guns were at the scene, according to the affidavit.
In this April 6, 2012, photo, former Navy SEAL and author of the book American Sniper, Chris Kyle poses in Midlothian, Texas.
/ Paul Moseley
After leaving the Navy, Kyle quickly found a way to maintain contact with his fellow veterans and pass on what had helped him work through his own struggles. By late 2011, he filed the paperwork to establish the nonprofit FITCO Cares, which received its nonprofit status the following spring, said FITCO director Travis Cox.
Routh drove to his sister's house, and told her that he killed two people and that he planned to drive to Oklahoma to evade Texas authorities, the affidavit said. Routh's sister then called police, and he was arrested after a short police pursuit in Lancaster.
Jailers used a stun gun on Routh on Sunday night after he appeared ready to assault them when they entered his cell after he refused to return his food tray, the sheriff said. Then they put Routh in a chair that restrains his arms and legs in his solitary confinement cell, Bryant said.
Bryant said Routh has an attorney but hasn't met with him at the jail in Stephenville, about 75 miles southwest of Fort Worth.
Attempts by The Associated Press to reach Routh's mother and sister were unsuccessful Monday.
Sundae Hughes, an aunt of Routh's, said she watched him grow up but hasn't seen him since his high school graduation in 2006. Hughes was in disbelief that her nephew could be involved in such an incident.
"He has a kind heart (and was) someone willing to jump in and help, no matter what it was," she said.
Routh joined the Marines in 2006 and rose to the rank of corporal in 2010. His military specialty was small-arms technician, commonly known as an armorer. He had been stationed at Camp Lejeune, N.C., and served in Iraq from 2007-08 and in the Haiti disaster relief mission in 2010.
He is now in the individual ready reserve. He could be called to duty, but it's uncommon unless he volunteers, 1st Lt. Dominic Pitrone of the Marine Forces Services public affairs office said.
Travis Cox, director of FITCO Cares — the nonprofit that Kyle set up to give in-home fitness equipment to physically and emotionally wounded veterans — said he believes that Kyle and Littlefield were helping Routh work through PTSD.
Cox didn't know how Routh and Kyle knew each other. He said the shooting range event was not a FITCO session.
Kyle, 38, left the Navy in 2009 after four tours of duty in Iraq, where he earned a reputation as one of the military's most lethal snipers. "American Sniper" was the No. 3 seller of paperbacks and hardcovers on Amazon as of Monday, and the hardcover was out of stock.
Kyle was so deadly accurate in combat that insurgents in Iraq put a $20,000 bounty on his head and dubbed him "The Devil of Ramadi." But to fellow SEALs like Rorke Denver, he was known as "The Legend." Denver told CBS News, "We were aware early on in that deployment that something special, for lack of a better term, was unfolding."
Littlefield, 35, was Kyle's friend, neighbor and "workout buddy," and also volunteered his time to work with veterans, Cox said.
MUNICH (Reuters) - Iran said on Sunday it was open to a U.S. offer of direct talks on its nuclear program and that six world powers had suggested a new round of nuclear negotiations this month, but without committing itself to either proposal.
Diplomatic efforts to resolve a dispute over Iran's nuclear program, which Tehran says is peaceful but the West suspects is intended to give Iran the capability to build a nuclear bomb, have been all but deadlocked for years, while Iran has continued to announce advances in the program.
Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said a suggestion on Saturday by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden that Washington was ready for direct talks with Iran if Tehran was serious about negotiations was a "step forward".
"We take these statements with positive consideration. I think this is a step forward but ... each time we have come and negotiated it was the other side unfortunately who did not heed ... its commitment," Salehi said at the Munich Security Conference where Biden made his overture a day earlier.
He also complained to Iran's English-language Press TV of "other contradictory signals", pointing to the rhetoric of "keeping all options on the table" used by U.S. officials to indicate they are willing to use force to keep Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
"This does not go along with this gesture (of talks) so we will have to wait a little bit longer and see if they are really faithful this time," Salehi said.
Iran is under a tightening web of sanctions. Israel has also hinted it may strike if diplomacy and international sanctions fail to curb Iran's nuclear drive.
In Washington, Army General Martin Dempsey, the top U.S. military officer, said in an interview broadcast on Sunday that the United States has the capability to stop any Iranian effort to build nuclear weapons, but Iranian "intentions have to be influenced through other means."
Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made his comments on NBC's program "Meet the Press," speaking alongside outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.
Panetta said current U.S. intelligence indicated that Iranian leaders have not made a decision to proceed with the development of a nuclear weapon.
"But every indication is they want to continue to increase their nuclear capability," he said. "And that's a concern. And that's what we're asking them to stop doing."
The new U.S. secretary of state, John Kerry, has said he will give diplomacy every chance of solving the Iran standoff.
THE BEST CHANCE
With six-power talks making little progress, some experts say talks between Tehran and Washington could be the best chance, perhaps after Iran has elected a new president in June.
Negotiations between Iran and the six powers - Russia, China, the United States, Britain, France and Germany - have been deadlocked since a meeting last June.
EU officials have accused Iran of dragging its feet in weeks of haggling over the date and venue for new talks.
Salehi said he had "good news", having heard that the six powers would meet in Kazakhstan on February 25.
A spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who coordinates the efforts of the six powers, confirmed that she had proposed talks in the week of February 25 but noted that Iran had not yet accepted.
Kazakhstan said it was ready to host the talks in either Astana or Almaty.
Salehi said Iran had "never pulled back" from the stuttering negotiations with the six powers. "We still are very hopeful. There are two packages, one package from Iran with five steps and the other package from the (six powers) with three steps."
Iran raised international concern last week by announcing plans to install and operate advanced uranium enrichment machines. The EU said the move, potentially shortening the path to weapons-grade material, could deepen doubts about the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel's mission to stop its arch-enemy from acquiring nuclear weapons was "becoming more complex, since the Iranians are equipping themselves with cutting-edge centrifuges that shorten the time of (uranium) enrichment".
"We must not accept this process," said Netanyahu, who is trying to form a new government after winning an election last month. Israel is generally believed to be the only country in the Middle East with nuclear weapons.
(Additional reporting by Myra MacDonald and Stephen Brown in Munich, Dmitry Solovyov in Almaty, Yeganeh Torbati in Dubai and Jim Wolf in Washington; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Will Dunham)
SINGAPORE : Asian markets were mixed on Monday as late profit-taking offset a rally on Wall Street that was fuelled by upbeat jobs data out of the United States.
The euro and US dollar eased slightly against the yen after racking up healthy gains in New York on Friday.
Tokyo closed 0.62 percent higher, adding 69.01 points to a 33-month high of 11,260.35, while Seoul slipped 0.23 percent, or 4.58 points, to 1,953.21, and Sydney fell 0.28 percent, or 13.6 points, to 4,907.5.
Hong Kong fell 0.16 percent as dealers cashed in profits after the index spent most of the day in positive territory and around one-and-a-half-year highs.
The Hang Seng Index fell 36.83 points to end at 23,685.01, while Shanghai rose 0.38 percent, or 9.13 points, to 2,428.15.
US traders sent the Dow to a more than five-year high Friday on the back of the latest jobs data.
The labour department report showed employers added 157,000 jobs in January, fewer than expected, and the jobless rate inched up to 7.9 percent.
However, revised data for all of 2012 showed net job growth at an average of 181,000 a month, up from a prior estimate of 153,000.
The Dow rallied 1.08 percent to 14,009.79, above 14,000 points for the first time since October 2007. The index is just shy of the record high 14,164.53 seen on October 9, 2007.
The broad-based S&P 500 added 1.01 percent and the Nasdaq jumped 1.18 percent.
"The economic momentum in the US is quite good," Khiem Do, head of Asian multi-asset at Baring Asset Management in Hong Kong, told Dow Jones Newswires.
"The US is basking in good news at the moment because the debt negotiations have kicked the can down the road," he added, referring to a delay until May to negotiations on raising the country's debt ceiling.
And UniCredit's Harm Bandholz in the United States said the updates to the 2012 data "highlight even more how remarkably resilient the US labor market has been over the last two quarters".
The jobs figures sent the dollar and euro higher against the yen on Friday, and the units dipped on profit-taking Monday in Tokyo forex trade.
The US dollar bought 92.74 yen against 92.80 yen in New York late on Friday, while the euro sat at 126.16 yen and $1.3604, compared with 126.60 yen and $1.3637.
Eyes will turn later in the week to China, which is due to release key data on inflation and trade ahead of the Chinese New Year public holiday.
Australia's central bank will also announce the outcome of its policy setting meeting, with analysts expecting it to keep interest rates on hold.
In other markets:
Taipei rose 0.86 percent, or 67.19 points, to 7,923.16. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. was 1.48 percent higher at Tw$103.0 while Fubon Financial Holding rallied 3.56 percent to Tw$39.3.
Manila rose 1.86 percent, or 117.37 points, to 6,435.98, a new record. Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. added 2.13 percent to 2,880 pesos and Ayala Corp. gained 4.8 percent to 574 pesos.
Wellington ended flat, edging up 0.47 points to 4,246,40. Air New Zealand was up 2.38 percent at NZ$1.29 and Fletcher Building slipped 2.23 percent to NZ$9.19.
This ad, included in a tweet from Oreo, won the Super Bowl Sunday night.
(Credit: Oreo)
Anyone watching the Super Bowl this evening saw a great game -- and one of the greatest embarrassments in pro sports history: a power outage that halted play for a full half hour.
As the eventual champion Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers -- and tens of thousands inside New Orleans' Superdome and millions watching on TV -- waited, Oreo came up with an idea so brilliant and bold that it out and out won the night.
"Power out? No problem," the tweet read, along with a hastily-put together image of an ad showing an Oreo and the brilliant tag line, "You can still dunk in the dark."
The tweet caught fire, and as of this writing had been retweeted 13,734 times.
So how did the cookie company act so fast, and get so many talking -- all with minimal time available, and negligible expense?
While CNET reached out to Oreo in search of the answer, it was Buzzfeed that got the scoop. Apparently, it was the very quick thinking of the company's agency, 360i:
"We had a mission control set up at our office with the brand and 360i, and when the blackout happened, the team looked at it as an opportunity," agency president Sarah Hofstetter told BuzzFeed. "Because the brand team was there, it was easy to get approvals and get it up in minutes."
Oreo had already aired a solid TV ad with their "Cookie or Creme" spot. But they were ready to capitalize on social media as well when the lights went out.
"The big question is, what happens when everything changes, when you go off script?," Hofstetter said. "That was where it got fun."
The key? Having OREO executives in the room, and ready to pull the trigger.
Other brands, of course, took to Twitter -- and Twitter's video service, Vine -- during the blackout.
Some examples:
Calvin Klein used Vine to tempt some fans with a buff male model working out:
And Tide tried to convince people it could help them with their laundry:
All told, the Super Bowl was yet another big win for Twitter. According to the official Twitter blog, there were more than 24.1 million tweets about the game, the ads, and the halftime show. But no matter how good the game itself was, the peak of interest on Twitter came during the blackout, when there were 231,500 tweets per minute, and during Beyonce's halftime show, when 268,000 tweets per minute marked the end of her show.
As for actual football? The top moment was the kickoff for a touchdown by the Ravens' Jacoby Jones, which compelled 185,000 tweets per minute, a tad more than the 183,000 tweets per minute that came when the Ravens sealed the deal.
Authorities say at least eight people are dead and 38 are injured after a tour bus collided with two other vehicles in the mountains of Southern California about 80 miles east of Los Angeles, near the town of Forest Falls.
California Highway Patrol spokesman Mario Lopez said at least eight have died from the Sunday night crash. He says 38 injured people were taken to hospitals.
Lopez says the bus driver reported having brake problems as it came down the mountain on State Route 38, rear-ending a sedan, then flipping over and hitting a pickup truck that was pulling a trailer.
Department of Transportation spokeswoman Michelle Profant says the passengers on the bus were part of a tour group from Tijuana, Mexico, and a representative from the Mexican consulate was at the crash scene.
"It's pretty ugly up there with body parts." she said.
CBS station KCBS in L.A. says the bus was heading back to Mexico from Big Bear.
At least two passengers were said to be trapped in the wreckage, the station added.
