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At the conclusion of the first day of a London court hearing into whether he should be extradited to Sweden to answer questions about alleged sex crimes, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange had this to say, according to The Guardian:

"Election officials say the final results from last month's vote in Southern Sudan show that more than 98 percent of the ballots were cast for independence," the Associated Press reports from Juba, Sudan.

It adds that: "The results mean that Southern Sudan will become the world's newest country in July. Sudan President Omar Al-Bashir said Monday he accepts the outcome of the vote."

President Obama spoke Monday to one of the country's most powerful business groups. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has been a major adversary of the administration's policies, and the speech is a continuation of Obama's campaign to improve relations with business. He promised to reduce regulations that pose barriers to doing business and called on businesses to hire more American workers.

Appealing to their sense of patriotism, President Obama asked U.S. business leaders Monday to start making investments, with the cash they've been stockpiling, that would create domestic jobs.

In a speech at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Obama acknowledged the need for government to provide the best policy climate possible for American businesses to be competitive. And he cited a number of actions his administration has taken and proposed along those lines.

But his main message, he said, was for business leaders to act to create jobs and more business activity in the U.S.

"The National Football League knew of a potential Super Bowl XLV seating fiasco by the middle of last week," The Dallas Morning News reports.