Homeward bound: In his State of the Union speech tonight, President Barack Obama will reportedly announce that by this time next year, 34,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan will have returned home. The move would reduce the number of U.S. forces in the country by more than half; there are now about 66,000 U.S. troops serving there. The White House has been considering a range of troop levels to remain in Afghanistan once the combat mission officially ends at the end of 2014, from as many as 15,000 troops to none at all.
Showtime: Apple CEO Tim Cook is calling a shareholder lawsuit against the company a “silly sideshow,” despite saying he is open to looking at the shareholder’s proposals for sharing more cash with investors. Investor David Einhorn sued Apple Inc. last week, saying a proposal slated for a vote at the company’s annual meeting in two weeks would make it more difficult to enact his plan to reward shareholders by distributing a new class of shares. Cook maintains Apple’s proposal puts more power in the hands of shareholders, making it difficult to understand why a shareholder would fight it. The full story is here.
Cut the cord: Intel Corp. announced today that it will sell a set-top box that brings Internet-delivered movies and shows to a TV set this year. Erik Huggers, general manager of Intel Media, says the company plans to sell a box that will offer “a vastly superior experience” to today’s cable boxes. There are various boxes today that bring Internet content to TV sets, with popular ones made by Roku and Apple. But Intel wants to go further and make its box and streaming service a replacement for cable. More details are in the full story here.
