10 things you need to know today: December 23, 2014

Tensions between the mayor and the NYPD are running high.

(Image credit: (Andrew Burton/Getty Images))

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1. De Blasio calls for a halt to protests out of respect for slain officers
2. North Korea's internet access cut off, then restored
3. Judge says Oklahoma can resume lethal injections with controversial drug
4. Court rejects North Carolina law requiring ultrasounds before abortions
5. Messy weather threatens holiday travel delays in the East
6. Ukraine lawmakers drop their country's non-aligned status
7. U.N. Security Council votes to examine North Korea's human rights record
8. Algerian army kills leader of Islamist group that beheaded French tourist
9. Rep. Grimm reportedly agrees to plead guilty to tax fraud
10. Joe Cocker dies at 70

last updated 13 January 2015

1. De Blasio calls for a halt to protests out of respect for slain officers

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday urged New Yorkers to "put aside protests" against police tactics until after the funerals of two officers murdered in an ambush on Saturday. The killings of officers Rafel Ramos and Wenjian Liu deepened tensions between police and de Blasio, who had said that it was "painful" when a grand jury decided not to charge an officer for the chokehold death of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man. Protest organizers said they would go ahead with a march already planned for Tuesday evening.

North Korea's already limited access to the internet was restored Tuesday after being mysteriously cut off on Monday, although it remained intermittent. The country has just four networks connecting to the web, all of them routed through neighboring China. The outages came days after U.S. officials blamed North Korea for a cyberattack on Sony Pictures over a film portraying an assassination plot against North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. President Obama vowed a strong U.S. response, but North Korea said it did not know who was behind the hacking against Sony.

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A federal judge on Monday ruled Oklahoma's three-drug lethal injection procedure constitutional, clearing the way for the state to end a moratorium and proceed with four executions scheduled for early 2015. After the botched April execution of Clayton Lockett, who writhed on the gurney during a 43-minute execution the state tried to halt, 21 death row inmates sued, calling the use of the sedative midazolam unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment. Judge Stephen Friot said the inmates' lawyers failed to show they would suffer inhumanely.

A federal appeals court on Monday declared a North Carolina abortion law unconstitutional. The legislation, approved in 2011, requires women to undergo ultrasounds before having an abortion. The three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, upheld a lower court's ruling that the law, approved in 2011, violated free-speech by requiring doctors to describe the ultrasound image to the woman. "The First Amendment not only protects against prohibitions of speech, but also against regulations that compel speech," the panel wrote.

Rain, gusting winds, and thunderstorms are expected to hit much of the East Coast on Tuesday and Wednesday, potentially disrupting Christmas travel for many. The chance of rain on Wednesday, Christmas Eve, is 70 percent or higher in Atlanta, Washington, D.C., and New York City. The messy weather could cause delays at major airports from Tampa to Charlotte to New York, and make driving treacherous along the I-95 corridor. Snow will complicate travel in Michigan, Illinois, eastern Missouri, and northwestern Indiana, too.

Ukraine's parliament voted Tuesday to drop its non-aligned status, a historic first step forward in President Petro Poroshenko's plan to apply for membership in NATO. Russian leaders pressured Ukraine to declare itself a neutral nation in 2010. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called Tuesday's change "counterproductive," saying it would increase tensions. Poroshenko has said his country needed Western military protection as it battles pro-Russian rebels.

The United Nations Security Council voted Monday to examine human rights abuses in North Korea. The move marked the first time a nation's human rights record had been scheduled for ongoing Security Council debate, meaning it can be brought up at any time. "We have broken the council's silence," U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power said. China and Russia protested the vote, saying it could escalate tensions, and North Korea refused to recognize the legitimacy of any discussion of its human rights record by the Security Council.

Algerian special forces have killed the leader of the Islamist group behind the September beheading of French tourist Herve Gourdel, Algerian army officials said Tuesday. The body of Abdelmalek Gouri, the leader of the Jund al-Khilafa militant organization, was positively identified after clashes about 50 miles outside Algiers. Two other members of Jund al-Khalifa, which has sworn allegiance to the self-proclaimed Islamic State, were also killed. Soldiers also seized a cache of guns and explosives.

Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.) has agreed to plead guilty to one count of felony tax fraud, according to people with knowledge of the case. Grimm, a former Marine and FBI agent, was re-elected to a third term in November despite facing a 20-count indictment for allegedly underreporting wages at a Manhattan restaurant, Healthalicious, that he ran before his election. Grimm, who sold himself as a corruption fighter in his first campaign, has maintained his innocence, but one of his lawyers said a change-of-plea hearing was scheduled for Tuesday.

British singer Joe Cocker died of lung cancer on Monday. He was 70. Cocker was known for many iconic hits, including the emotional ballad "You Are So Beautiful," a top 10 hit in 1975. He also won a Grammy in 1983 for "Up Where We Belong," a duet with Jennifer Warnes that served as the theme song for the film An Officer and a Gentleman. He was perhaps best remembered for his energetic rendition of the Beatles' "With a Little Help From My Friends." Paul McCartney, who wrote the song with John Lennon, said Cocker's version was "just mind blowing."

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.