10 things you need to know today: December 9, 2014

1. American embassies tighten security ahead of torture report

The U.S. beefed up security at embassies and military posts overseas ahead of the expected Tuesday release of a report on CIA terrorism techniques, including torture, after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The Pentagon placed 2,000 Marines on alert to respond to any threats in the Persian Gulf or Mediterranean. Republicans have criticized the decision by the Democratic majority on the Senate Intelligence Committee to release the report, the first public review of secret post-9/11 CIA interrogation centers overseas.

The Associated Press NBC News

2. Tamir Rice's mother calls for charges against the officer who shot him

The mother of Tamir Rice, the black 12-year-old fatally shot by a Cleveland police officer last month, on Monday called for indicting the rookie officer on criminal charges. The officer had been deemed unfit for duty by his superiors in a suburban police department before he quit, and was hired in Cleveland. He shot Tamir Rice when responding to a report that the boy was threatening people outside a rec center with a gun that turned out to be a toy.

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The New York Times

3. Israeli lawmakers vote to dissolve parliament

Israel's parliament, the Knesset, voted Monday to dissolve and hold elections two years earlier than planned. The unanimous vote came a week after the ruling coalition broke up when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired two members of his cabinet who had harshly criticized some of his policies, including the budget and a proposal to formally declare Israel to be a Jewish state. Netanyahu's Likud party is expected to win the most seats in the March vote, but he will have to get other parties to align with him to gain the majority he needs.

Voice of America

4. U.N. asks for $16.4 billion to handle refugee crises

United Nations aid agencies warned Monday that armed conflicts around the world created an "unprecedented" refugee crisis. The groups said it would take $16.4 billion to deal with the problem in 2015. About 70 percent of global relief needs come from war-torn South Sudan, Iraq, Central African Republic, and Syria. The World Food Program recently had to shut down a rationing program for 1.7 refugees from Syria's civil war due to a $64-million funding shortfall.

Los Angeles Times

5. Six die when plane crashes into Maryland house

Six people were killed Monday when a private jet crashed into a Maryland home, igniting a fire. Three of the dead were passengers on the plane. The others were a woman who lived in the house and her two small children, identified as Marie Gemmell, 36, and her two sons, 3-year-old Cole Gemmell and Devon Gemmell, an infant. Their bodies were found together on the second floor. "She tried to save these kids," Montgomery County Police Chief Thomas Manger said. "She had nowhere to go."

The Baltimore Sun

6. Oil prices fall to a five-year low

Oil prices dropped by more than $2 per barrel on Monday, hitting a five-year low. Brent crude fell by $2.42 to $66.62 a barrel. Oil has been declining this year due to falling demand and a glut in global supply. A Dec. 5 Morgan Stanley report predicted that oil prices could continue falling to as low as $43 per barrel in 2015. Kuwait, a member of OPEC, said prices could continue to be pushed downward for six months.

Reuters

7. Syria urges the U.N. to condemn Israel over airstrikes

Syria is calling on the United Nations Security Council to impose sanctions on Israel, accusing its neighbor of bombing areas near Damascus' international airport and its border with Lebanon. Syria's military and other sources say that during the country's civil war neighboring Israel has carried out airstrikes targeting missiles believed to belong to Israel's long-time foe Hezbollah, the Lebanese Islamist militant group. Israel has not confirmed the strikes.

Reuters The Associated Press

8. VH1 star Stephanie Moseley dies in apparent murder-suicide

Dancer and VH1 star Stephanie Moseley and her husband, rapper Earl Hayes, were found dead Monday in a Los Angeles apartment in what police suspect was a murder-suicide. TMZ reported that boxer Floyd Mayweather was on FaceTime with Hayes when the fighter allegedly pulled a gun and shot Moseley, then himself, in a rage because he suspected she had an affair.

US Weekly TMZ

9. Curiosity uncovers evidence of ancient lake on Mars

NASA's Curiosity rover has discovered evidence that Mars had a massive, 96-mile wide lake 3.5 billion years ago. Curiosity found sedimentary rocks in what is now called Gale Crater, suggesting that the crater was once filled with water, and that Mount Sharp, a 3.5-mile high mountain within the crater, was created by sediment deposits that built up over tens of millions of years. NASA scientists said revelations about Mount Sharp could help in the search for signs of Martian life.

CNET

10. Actor Ken Weatherwax, The Addams Family's Pugsley, dies

Ken Weatherwax, the actor who portrayed Pugsley in the classic 1960s TV series The Addams Family show, has died at age 59. Weatherwax reportedly suffered a heart attack, and was found at his California home. His character was the son of Gomez and Morticia Addams, whose family of spooky oddballs appeared in 64 episodes on ABC from 1964 to 1966. Weatherwax also voiced Pugsley's role in an animated Addams Family series in the 1970s, and played Pugsley senior in a 1977 Halloween reunion show.

BBC News