10 things you need to know today: November 24, 2014

(Image credit: (AP Photo/David Goldman))

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1. Grand jury resumes Ferguson deliberations as police brace for reaction
2. Obama says Hillary would be "a great president"
3. Israeli Cabinet approves proposal defining Israel as the Jewish homeland
4. Tunisian presidential candidates head for runoff
5. Deadliest insurgent bombing of the year kills 50 in Afghanistan
6. China builds an airstrip in contested islands
7. Cleveland boy with BB gun dies after being shot by police
8. Buffalo residents urged to prepare to evacuate as snow melts
9. Tour bus overturns in California, killing one
10. Azalea wins an American Music Award for her debut rap album

last updated 13 January 2015

1. Grand jury resumes Ferguson deliberations as police brace for reaction

Protests continued near Ferguson, Missouri, as a grand jury was set to resume deliberations on whether to file charges against Darren Wilson, the white police officer who shot and killed Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, in August. Police, state troopers, and the National Guard are bracing for reactions to the grand jury verdict, which is believed to be imminent. President Obama on Sunday called for calm, saying that race relations are improving in the U.S. "First and foremost," he said, "keep protests peaceful."

President Obama said Sunday that Hillary Clinton, his former secretary of State, would make "a great president" if she decided to make another bid for the White House in 2016. Obama said on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos that he would be willing to help the next Democratic nominee but suggested he would not do much campaigning, stepping back as George W. Bush did in John McCain's 2008 campaign. Obama likened himself to a dinged up "used car," saying Americans are going to want "that new car smell."

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Israel's Cabinet on Sunday backed controversial legislation declaring the country to be "the nation-state of the Jewish people." Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the law, which now goes to lawmakers, gives equal emphasis to Israel's religious and democratic nature, and is necessary to counter challenges to Israel's status as the homeland of the Jewish people. Opponents, including members of two parties in the centrist coalition, said the law would undermine the government's relations with Israel's Arab minority and international allies.

Tunisia's interim president, Moncef Marzouki, and former prime minister Beji Caid Essebsi led the field in the country's first free and democratic presidential election on Sunday, but neither appeared to have won the outright majority needed to avoid a runoff. Essebsi, 87, had led in polls for months, and his secular party Nidaa Tounes won the biggest bloc in October's parliamentary elections. Marzouki's aides said he led the presidential balloting. Official results are expected in a day or two.

At least 50 people were killed Sunday when a suicide bomber attacked a crowd at a volleyball game in eastern Afghanistan, local authorities said Monday. Another 63 people were wounded, many of them children. The death toll was the highest from an insurgent attack in Afghanistan this year. Most of the victims were civilians, although eight members of the local paramilitary police force were among the dead.

China appears to be stoking regional tensions by building an island in a contested part of the South China Sea that could hold an airstrip, according to an analysis of satellite imagery by IHS Jane's, a leading defense publication. Dredges also appear to be creating a seaport big enough to accommodate tankers and warships among the Spratly Islands between Vietnam and the Philippines that are claimed by China, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam.

A 12-year-old boy who had been holding a realistic-looking air gun died Sunday hours after being shot by a Cleveland police officer. The officer was responding to a call in which a witness said someone — "probably a juvenile" — was scaring people outside a recreation center by pointing a gun at them, although the caller said the weapon was "probably fake." The responding officers ordered the boy to put his hands up and fired when, they said, he reached for the BB gun instead.

Residents of flood-prone parts of the Buffalo area have been told to prepare for flooding as up to seven feet of snow that fell last week melts as the weather warms. Gov. Andrew Cuomo urged people to "err on the side of caution" and prepare to evacuate, moving valuables out of the basement and packing a bag in case they have to leave. Temperatures in the area are expected to rise to nearly 60 degrees on Monday, and rainfall on Sunday added to the potential for rising water.

One person was killed and dozens injured on Sunday when a tour bus crashed and overturned in California, about 100 miles south of the Oregon border. Earlier in the same trip, the bus, which was headed from Los Angeles to Washington state, had struck a Denny's restaurant, although there were no injuries in that accident. Investigators said evidence at both crash sites suggested that driver fatigue might have been a factor.

Newcomer Iggy Azalea won her first American Music Award for favorite rap/hip-hop album on Sunday, beating out seasoned stars Eminem and Drake to win for her debut album, The New Classic. "This award is the first award I've ever won in my entire life," the 24-year-old Australian rapper said, "and it means so much to me that it is for best hip-hop because that's what inspired me to move to America and pursue my dreams." One Direction and Katy Perry were the biggest winners with three each.

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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.