10 things you need to know today: October 31, 2014

1. Suspect in Pennsylvania police killing caught after 48-day search

Law enforcement officers captured Eric Frein, one of the FBI's 10 most-wanted fugitives, in Pennsylvania on Thursday after a 48-day manhunt. Frein, a 31-year-old survivalist, is suspected of killing one Pennsylvania trooper and wounding another in a September sniper attack on a state police barracks in Blooming Grove. U.S. Marshals on routine patrol caught him inside a hangar at a small airport that had been abandoned since 1998. Authorities said Frein was armed but surrendered without a fight.

USA Today

2. Israel reopens holy site as tensions rise

Israel on Friday reopened the holy site known to Jews as the Temple Mount, and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, but said that Muslim men under 50 would not be allowed in for Friday prayers. Israel had closed off the Jerusalem sanctuary a day earlier after Israeli security forces killed a Palestinian man suspected in the attempted assassination of Rabbi Yehuda Glick, an American-born right-wing activist calling for letting Jews pray at the site. Palestinian leaders called the closing "a declaration of war."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

BBC News The New York Times

3. Ebola nurse challenges Maine quarantine rules

The dispute between nurse Kaci Hickox and Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) escalated on Thursday, after Hickox went for a bike ride in violation of the state's Ebola quarantine. Hickox tested negative after returning from treating Ebola patients in Sierra Leone for Doctors Without Borders. LePage said he would "exercise the full extent of his authority" to enforce the 21-day quarantine. Doctors Without Borders said such policies had a "chilling effect" on anti-Ebola efforts in West Africa.

New York Daily News

4. U.N. says more jihadists than ever are entering Iraq and Syria

A United Nations Security Council report warned that foreign Islamist extremists are entering Iraq and Syria on "an unprecedented scale." About 15,000 jihadists from more than 80 countries, including some that "have not previously faced challenges related to al Qaeda," have joined ISIS and other extremist groups. The U.S. says more than 1,000 foreign fighters are entering Syria every month despite airstrikes against ISIS.

The Guardian The Washington Post

5. Plane crashes at Kansas airport

Four people were killed Thursday when their small plane crashed into a building near Wichita's Mid-Continent Airport, igniting a fire. Among the dead were the pilot and two people inside the building. Four others were still unaccounted for several hours after the crash. Five people were sent to hospitals. "Firefighters engaged in a horrific fight for several minutes," Fire Chief Ron Blackwell said. "We have the fire under control.

CNN

6. Judge approves Stockton's plan to exit bankruptcy

A federal bankruptcy judge on Thursday approved a plan proposed by Stockton, California, to exit bankruptcy without cutting planned pension payments to retired city workers. Earlier this month, the judge ruled that payments to the California Public Employees' Retirement System were fair game as the city's debts were restructured. But CalPERS had said that if Stockton bailed out it would owe $1.6 billion, immediately, and Judge Christopher Klein said Thursday that re-doing the city's pensions would just be too difficult.

Los Angeles Times

7. Former Boston mayor Thomas Menino dies

Thomas Menino, who served an unprecedented five straight terms as Boston's mayor, died Thursday of cancer. He was 71. Menino, a Democrat, was diagnosed shortly after leaving office early this year. He was a down-to-earth politician who avoided lofty promises and focused on fixing problems. "Visionaries don't get things done," he once said. His approach got results — on his watch, Boston experienced a renaissance, and he left office with a rare 82 percent approval rating.

The Boston Globe

8. Burkina Faso president refuses to leave despite escalating protests

Burkina Faso's government collapsed on Thursday as protesters demanding the resignation of President Blaise Compaore torched Parliament. Compaore, who has already held office for 27 years, dissolved his government but said he would not step down. He did, however, promise to open talks with the opposition. After protests across Ouagadougou, the capital, grew increasingly violent, a government spokesman said a bill extending Compaore's term had been put on hold.

The New York Times

9. Poland declines to arrest director Roman Polanski over U.S. sex case

Polish authorities questioned film director Roman Polanski about U.S. charges of having sex with a minor in the 1970s, but declined a U.S. request to arrest him, a spokesman for the Polish Prosecutor General's office said Thursday. Prosecutors decided there was no need to detain him while the U.S. tries to get him extradited. Polanski pleaded guilty in 1977 to having sex with a 13-year-old (he was 43) but fled before sentencing. He said he hoped Poland's decision settled the extradition question "once and for all."

CNN

10. French town takes a stand against clowns

The tiny town of Vendargues in southern France has banned clown costumes on its streets this Halloween. Mayor Pierre Dudieuzere imposed the rule after a rash of incidents across France in which people dressed as clowns scared children in the streets, and in several cases attacked passersby. The town's website said the ban was "absolute" on Halloween, and that nobody aged 13 or older would be allowed to sport clown garb in the street through November.

The Irish Times