10 things you need to know today: November 27, 2014

(Image credit: (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File))

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1. Justice Ginsburg undergoes heart procedure
2. Ebola vaccine passes its first test
3. Snow and rain delay thousands of flights for Thanksgiving travelers
4. Consumer mood improves to level not seen since 2007
5. Police release footage showing officers shooting 12-year-old who had a toy gun
6. Hong Kong police arrested for beating during October pro-democracy protest
7. Walmart workers in six states plan Black Friday wage protests
8. Protests calm on third night after Ferguson grand jury decision
9. European Parliament approves nonbinding resolution suggesting Google breakup
10. Cricket player dies in Australia after being struck by ball

last updated 13 January 2015

1. Justice Ginsburg undergoes heart procedure

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg underwent heart surgery early Wednesday, the Supreme Court announced. Doctors put a stent in her right coronary artery, a procedure called a coronary catheterization, after she experienced discomfort while exercising the night before. She was expected to leave the hospital within two days and return to the bench on Monday. Ginsburg, 81, has survived colon and pancreatic cancer, and recently vowed to stay on the court "as long as I can do the job full-steam, and that, at my age, is not predictable."

A potential Ebola vaccine has been tested safely on 20 people in West Africa, National Institutes of Health researchers reported in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday. The White House said the findings marked "another important milestone" in the fight against the biggest and worst outbreak of the virus in history. The vaccine, which is being developed by the NIH and GlaxoSmithKline, still needs to clear more testing. A clinical study could start in early 2015 or sooner.

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Harsh winter weather on the East Coast forced the cancelation of more than 700 flights on the day before Thanksgiving, one of the busiest travel days of the year. About 3,000 more flights were delayed, and more than 7,000 homes and businesses in the Northeast were left without power. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie declared a state of emergency and emergency speed restrictions on highways and other major roads. Connecticut alone reported at least 125 accidents on slippery snow-covered roads.

Consumer confidence rose to a seven-year high in November, according to the latest Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan sentiment index, released Wednesday. The figure jumped from 86.9 in October to 88.8 in November — the highest mark since July 2007 — in a sign that Americans feel like their financial standing was improving thanks to a better employment picture, falling gas prices, and rising stocks. "Consumers are increasingly upbeat," said a Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ economist.

Cleveland police on Wednesday released video footage showing the fatal Nov. 22 shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice by two uniformed officers. Rice is seen walking on a sidewalk outside a recreation center, at times pointing a toy gun. Then a squad car speeds up on a patch of grass next to a gazebo where the boy had been sitting at a picnic table. The officers get out and one officer opens fire almost instantly. The boy's family had requested the footage be released, saying, "this situation could have been avoided."

Seven Hong Kong police officers were arrested for assault in connection with the beating and kicking of a man during a pro-democracy protest last month, police said Wednesday. A TV crew's footage of the incident that went viral showed officers laying the man on the ground in a dark area, with some of the officers participating in the beating while others stood by watching. The footage triggered outrage among members of the protest movement and other Hong Kong residents, as well as human rights groups.

Walmart employees plan to protest for higher wages at stores in at least six states and Washington, D.C., on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving and one of the busiest shopping days of the year. The demonstrations mark the third straight year that the group OUR Walmart has organized broad strikes on the day marking the start of the holiday shopping season. The activists and employees will be calling for more full-time jobs and significant wage hikes to $15 an hour.

Protests thinned in Ferguson, Missouri, late Wednesday and early Thursday, in the third night of angry reactions following the announcement that a grand jury had decided not to charge Darren Wilson, a white police officer, with the August shooting death of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager. Protests continued around the country, but remained mostly peaceful. In Los Angeles, 130 demonstrators were arrested on charges of failing to disperse.

The European Parliament on Thursday approved a resolution calling for breaking up Google to end its dominance of online services. The resolution suggests splitting Google's search business from its commercial services — removing shopping comparisons from search results, for example. The European Commission has been looking for ways to reduce the effect of Google's search dominance since 2010. The resolution is nonbinding, however, so it's essentially just symbolic.

Australian cricket star Phillip Hughes died Thursday in a Sydney hospital two days after being struck in the head by a ball. He was 25. Fellow players reacted with disbelief around the world — Hughes had played in dozens of international matches for Australia's national team. The freak accident renewed a debate over safety in Australia's national sport. It is not uncommon for cricket players, who wear protective pads and helmets, to be hit by balls, but the incidents are rarely fatal.

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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.