10 things to know for today, Dec. 17
Published 8:19 am Wednesday, December 17, 2014
- Indian schoolchildren observe a two-minute silence for victims killed in a Taliban attack on a military-run school in Peshawar, in New Delhi, India, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2014. Pakistan is mourning as the nation prepares for mass funerals for more than 141 people, most of them children, a day after seven Taliban gunmen, explosives strapped to their bodies, stormed the army public school. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
By The Associated Press
Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today:
1. PAKISTAN SCHOOL SCENE OF HEART-WRENCHING LOSS
Images of blood-soaked floors, torn notebooks and blown up children’s clothes show horrors of the attack that killed nearly 150 people in Peshawar.
2. SYDNEY GUNMAN DROPPED OFF SURVEILLANCE
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott says the 50-year-old man who took 17 people hostage at a cafe on Monday was on a terror watch list till 2009.
3. WHICH MEMBER OF POLITICAL DYNASTY IS POISED TO RUN IN 2016
Jeb Bush all but declares his candidacy for president more than a year before the first primaries.
4. WHY RUSSIA’S CURRENCY IS REGAINING SOME LOST VALUE
Moscow’s announcement that it will bolster its sagging ruble by selling foreign reserves is causing a moderate rise in its value, but consumers are still scrambling as prices rocket.
5. NY PREMIERE FOR ‘THE INTERVIEW’ CANCELED AMID THREATS
A group calling itself the Guardians of Peace makes ominous threats against movie theaters showing the movie that depicts a terror plot to kill the North Korean leader.
6. WHERE YOU CAN’T ‘SUPERSIZE’ FRIES
Japan is facing a drastic shortfall in potato supplies forcing local McDonald’s outlets to limit orders of fried potatoes to small size only.
7. HOW QATAR IS FAKING IT WHEN IT COMES TO SPORTS
In the rich but thinly populated Gulf nation, migrant workers are paid to attend sporting events to give the impression Qataris are obsessed with all things athletic.
8. EX-MARINE’S BODY FOUND AFTER MANHUNT
An Iraq war vet suspected of killing his ex-wife and five of her relatives is discovered dead with self-inflicted stab wounds near his suburban Philadelphia home.
9. AP FINDS POLITICIANS GOT QUESTIONABLE STOCK PAYOUTS
North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory and U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford of South Carolina deny they did anything improper by accepting the payouts, which were not fully described in their ethics statements.
10. BILL COSBY WON’T FACE CHARGES IN PLAYBOY MANSION CASE
Los Angeles prosecutors decline to file charges against the TV icon after a woman recently claimed the comedian molested her at the mansion around 1974.
