10 things you need to know today: December 15, 2014

(Image credit: (AP Photo/Rob Griffith))

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1. Five hostages escape Sydney cafe as standoff continues
2. Abe's coalition wins big in Japanese elections
3. Jeb Bush sparks fresh speculation by releasing policy book and emails
4. Suspect arrested in Auburn football player's killing
5. Haiti's prime minister resigns
6. PetSmart agrees to $8.7 billion buyout
7. Oil starts the week touching a new low
8. U.S. Marine charged with murder in the Philippines
9. Bryant passes Jordan on NBA scoring list
10. Miss South Africa wins Miss World competition

last updated 13 January 2015

1. Five hostages escape Sydney cafe as standoff continues

Five people escaped the popular Lindt Chocolate Cafe in Sydney, Australia, on Monday, six hours after a gunman walked in during rush hour and took an undetermined number of people hostage. Two people inside the cafe reportedly were forced to hold up a black sign saying, "There is no God but Allah," in Arabic. Police locked down the blocks surrounding Martin Place, a plaza in the heart of Australia's largest city, as negotiators worked to get the rest of the hostages freed.

The ruling coalition of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe won a solid majority in parliamentary elections on Sunday. The victory gave the conservative Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, the Buddhist-backed Komei party, four years with a two-thirds majority in the lower house to push for political reforms and Abe's economic stimulus plan known as Abenomics. Abe said his top priority was steering the economy out of the recession it fell into after a tax increase in April.

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Jeb Bush rekindled speculation that he was preparing a presidential bid when he announced Sunday that he was releasing an e-book on policy and all of his emails from his tenure as Florida's governor. Bush announced the moves in an interview broadcast Sunday by a Miami TV station. He said he would announce soon whether he would run for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. "I have no clue if I’d be a good candidate," he said. "I hope I would be."

Police in Alabama arrested Markale Deandra Hart, 32, on Sunday in connection with the murder of Auburn University football player Jakell Mitchell, 18. The freshman tight end's girlfriend said he was arguing with someone outside a party when a third man pulled out a gun and opened fire, hitting him several times. He died after being rushed to a hospital. Mitchell had been redshirted this season so he could gain weight, but was expected to take on a big role for the team next year.

Haitian Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe announced his resignation in a televised address Sunday night, a day after President Michel Martelly accepted the recommendation of a special commission that called for Lamothe to step down. The commission's work was part of an effort to resolve a dispute surrounding overdue legislative and municipal elections in the impoverished Caribbean nation. The government has faced sporadic protests alleging corruption, but Lamothe said he was leaving with "a feeling of accomplishment."

PetSmart on Sunday agreed to sell itself to investors led by private equity firm BC Partners for $8.7 billion. The deal, if it goes through, would be the biggest leveraged buyout of a company in 2014, a year that has been full of major mergers. The buyers would pay roughly $83 a share — a 6.8 percent premium over the pet supply retail chain's Friday closing stock price. PetSmart runs more than 1,300 stores in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico.

Oil prices continued a months-long slide on Monday, briefly hitting five-and-a-half-year lows. U.S. crude futures fell by more than 2.5 percent to as low as $56.25 a barrel before inching up again. Prices have fallen by more than 40 percent this year, and energy industry analysts expect further declines. "The template is still in place," said IG market analyst Alastair McCaig. "Over-supply and dwindling demand mean that the pressure will still be on oil."

The government of the Philippines on Monday charged a U.S. Marine, Pfc. Joseph Scott Pemberton, with the October murder of a transgender woman. The body of the victim, Jennifer Laude, was found in a motel room in a town northwest of Manila, apparently drowned in a toilet bowl. The case reignited debate over the handling of criminal accusations against American military personnel overseas just as the U.S. and the Philippines strengthened ties with an accord giving the U.S. access to Philippine military facilities.

Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant passed Michael Jordan to move into third place on the NBA's all-time scoring list Sunday night. Bryant, 36, entered the game against the Minnesota Timberwolves needing just nine points to push ahead of Jordan, the former Chicago Bulls superstar, who scored 32,292 points over 15 seasons. Bryant, who has been in the basketball league for 19 years, finished the game with 26 points, pushing his career total to 32,310. He now trails only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387) and Karl Malone (36,928).

Miss South Africa, Rolene Strauss, was crowned Miss World 2014 on Sunday before a global TV audience estimated at one billion. Strauss, a 22-year-old medical student, said she hoped to spread education through her home country. "I think I will brace myself for what's about to happen," she said. "It's a huge responsibility." Miss Hungary, Edina Kulcsar, was named runner-up, and Miss United States, Elizabeth Safrit, came in third in the 64th annual competition.

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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.