From the Wires

CBSnews.com: A shadowy unit of China’s vast army is behind a huge proportion of the hacking attacks on U.S. websites, according to an American cybersecurity firm

Washington Post: According to the Urban Institute, the government spends 10 percent spent on children compared to 41 percent on the elderly and disabled portions of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

CNNMoney: Luxury retailer Tiffany & Co. is seeking millions in damages from warehouse club Costco, alleging the discount retailer was selling counterfeit Tiffany diamond rings.

Yahoo.com: A meteor streaked across the sky and exploded over Russia’s Ural Mountains with the power of an atomic bomb Friday.

FAST COMPANY: In a list normally dominated by scrappy startups, footwear giant Nike impressed the magazine with its FuelBand and FlyKnit Racer technologies.

Oregon web dev company Periscopic was so moved by December’s school shooting in Newtown, CT, they decided to use their skills to map gun deaths. A self-described “socially-conscious” data visualization firm, they used FBI-provided 2010 gun death data to create a real-time interactive graph that details the “lost years” victims might have lived.

Their calculated total for the 9,595 people in 2010?

413,908 stolen years.

The Atlantic: The New England Confectionery Company near Boston makes 4 million pounds of Sweethearts in the six weeks before Valentine’s Day, with phrases like UR HOT and TEXT ME.

AP: An investment group that includes billionaire investor Warren Buffett acquired Heinz in a $23.3 billion deal.

Yahoo.com: Two days after his State of the Union pledge to guarantee high quality preschool for every 4-year-old in the U.S., President Barack Obama takes his pitch on the road.

AP: American Airlines and US Airways merged in an $11 billion deal to create the world’s biggest airline.