10 things to know for today, Feb. 5
Published 7:50 am Thursday, February 5, 2015
- Emergency personnel work to remove the wreckage of a deadly SUV and commuter train accident in Valhalla, N.Y., Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2015. A packed Metro-North Railroad train slammed into a SUV on the tracks and erupted into flames Tuesday night, killing some and injuring others, sending hundreds of passengers scrambling for safety, authorities said. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)
By The Associated Press
Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today:
1. FRENCH, GERMAN LEADERS TO PUSH UKRAINE PEACE INITIATIVE
Hollande and Merkel will travel to Kiev and then to Moscow with a proposal “based on the territorial integrity of Ukraine.”
2. SOCHI’S COSTLY LEGACY A HEADACHE FOR PUTIN
The 2014 Winter Olympics’ overrun costs are forcing Russian taxpayers to pick up the tab as oligarchs offload investments in facilities to recoup millions of dollars.
3. WHO IS VOWING TO PUNISH THE ISLAMIC STATE GROUP
King Abdullah of Jordan says he will launch a “harsh” war against the extremists who burned a Jordanian captive pilot to death.
4. TAIWAN CRASH DEATH TOLL RISES TO 32
A Taiwanese aviation official tells the Associated Press that the pilot issued a distress call moments before the ATR 72 plane crashed in Taipei.
5. FCC BACKS REGULATING INTERNET LIKE PHONE SERVICE
The proposal is a victory for “net neutrality,” the idea that providers should allow data to move across networks without interference.
6. INVESTIGATORS SCRUTINIZING DRIVER’S BAFFLING BEHAVIOR BEFORE FIERY CRASH
The woman stopped her SUV between the crossing gates on the railroad track north of New York City before a commuter train slammed into it, killing six people.
7. HOW AMERICANS VIEW GAY MARRIAGE
An AP-GfK poll finds that Americans narrowly favor allowing same-sex couples to marry. But 57% of those polled said wedding-related businesses should be free to deny them services if they had religious objections.
8. WHOSE TWITTER JOKES ARE CAUSING AN UPROAR
The embattled Argentinian President Cristina Fernandez is causing an online stir with a tweet that mocked her Chinese hosts’ accents in Beijing.
9. NBC’S BRIAN WILLIAMS ADMITS TALL TALE
The TV anchor apologizes on the air for spreading the false story that he was on a helicopter that came under enemy fire in Iraq in 2003.
10. SPECULATION SWIRLS OVER HARPER LEE’S WISHES
Some in her Alabama hometown aren’t sure the author, who is in an assisted living facility, was fully involved in the decision to publish a sequel to “To Kill a Mockingbird.”