10 things you need to know today: November 26, 2014

1. Ferguson protests spread across the U.S.

Mostly peaceful protests spread from Ferguson, Missouri, across the country on Tuesday following the announcement that a grand jury had decided not to charge Darren Wilson, a white police officer, with the August killing of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager. Americans, calling the case a symbol of racial injustice, held at least 170 separate demonstrations, blocking bridges and highways. Protesters filled New York City's Times Square, holding their hands up and chanting, "Don't shoot."

CNN

2. Hong Kong protest leaders arrested

Hong Kong police cleared barricades from the main pro-democracy protest camp and arrested key student leaders on Wednesday. It was the second day of a crackdown on the demonstrators' three protest zones that has threatened the future of the two-month-old movement. Among the dozens arrested on Wednesday were protest leaders Joshua Wong, 18, head of the Scholarism group, and Lester Shum of the Hong Kong Federation of Students. "After the clearance operation we don't have a leader," said protester Ken Lee, 19.

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The Associated Press

3. Judges rule Arkansas and Mississippi gay marriage bans unconstitutional

Federal judges on Tuesday struck down gay marriage bans in Mississippi and Arkansas. Judges Kristine Baker in Little Rock, and Carlton Reeves in Jackson, Mississippi, ruled that the bans — both approved a decade ago — violated same-sex couples' right to the equal protection under the law guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. The decisions, coming in two conservative Southern states, marked the latest in a series of court victories for gay-marriage advocates, but both judges put their rulings on hold pending expected appeals.

Reuters

4. Winter storm hits the East Coast as Thanksgiving travel rush begins

A powerful winter storm began dumping rain from northern Florida to Maryland early Wednesday, and was forecast to disrupt Thanksgiving travel as it pushed up the East Coast. The nor'easter could bring up to a foot of snow to some parts of the Northeast, with the heaviest snowfall expected from the Poconos to Maine. Weather Channel lead meteorologist Kevin Roth said the storm would be "nothing too much out of the ordinary" normally, but it could create chaos at airports and on highways since it's hitting on one of the busiest travel days of the year.

NBC News

5. New EPA rules aim to reduce ozone pollution

The Obama administration is expected to release controversial regulations on ozone emissions on Wednesday. The sweeping new Environmental Protection Agency rules would lower the allowable threshold for the pollutant, which causes smog and has been linked to asthma, heart disease, and premature death, coming from power plants and factories. Environmentalists and public health advocates applauded the move. Republicans and industry officials said the rules would hurt the economy without benefiting public health.

The New York Times

6. German politicians set a quota to get more women on corporate boards

Germany's three-party ruling coalition agreed late Tuesday to require that 30 percent of all positions on corporate boards go to women. The quota will take effect in 2016, and it will apply to at least 108 listed German companies. The accord was initially negotiated last year but Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats balked at formally establishing legal quotas. Women currently hold seven percent of board seats at the 30 biggest companies in Germany's DAX blue-chip index.

Deutsche Welle

7. Female suicide bombers kill more than 40 in Nigeria

Two teenage girls wearing belts laden with explosives blew themselves up in a Nigerian market on Tuesday, killing more than 40 others. The suicide bombings were the latest deadly attacks on civilians in a region in northern Nigeria that has been terrorized by Islamist militants. A day earlier, insurgents disguised as traders indiscriminately gunned down people at another market, and a day before that, another group of militants killed 48 fish traders near Lake Chad.

Los Angeles Times

8. Health workers killed by gunmen in Pakistan

Three Pakistani women polio workers and their driver were shot and killed on Wednesday. Teams vaccinating children have been targeted frequently by Taliban militants who sometimes claim the health workers are Western spies. This was the deadliest such attack in two years. The victims were shot by two men on a motorcycle as they were on their way to meet a police escort. Polio cases have spiked to a 15-year high of 265 in Pakistan as unvaccinated children fleeing fighting near the Afghan border spread out across the country.

Reuters

9. Cosby biographer apologizes for excluding rape allegations

Author Mark Whitaker apologized this week for not addressing sexual assault allegations against Bill Cosby in his recently published biography of the comedian, Cosby: His Life and Times. New York Times media critic David Carr wrote a column this week scolding journalists, including himself, for not being more aggressive in looking into the allegations — which Cosby's lawyer has refuted. After the column came out, Whitaker, a former journalist, tweeted that he should have dealt with the rape allegations: "If true the stories are shocking and horrible."

The Washington Post The New York Times

10. Astronauts test 3D printer in space

NASA's 3D printer on the International Space Station this week successfully produced the first object ever printed in orbit — a faceplate for the printer itself with the logos of NASA and Made in Space, the company that made the printer. Next astronauts will print parts and tools that will be tested back on Earth to see how they stack up against objects made by an identical printer on the ground. The idea is to manufacture parts and tools in space to save time and make the space station more self-sufficient.

CNET