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

(Image credit: (AP Photo/Richard Drew))

Jump to category:

1. Obama says help from Arab allies show U.S. is not fighting ISIS alone
2. CDC warns Ebola cases could increase to 1.4 million
3. Obama urges more "ambitious" action against climate change
4. Three die in shooting spree at Alabama UPS warehouse
5. Bin Laden's son-in-law sentenced to life in prison by civilian court
6. Second fence goes up outside White House for added security
7. Chelsea Manning sues for transgender treatment in prison
8. Massive blaze shuts down Los Angeles port
9. Vatican arrests former ambassador on child sex abuse charges
10. Indian spacecraft enters orbit around Mars

last updated 13 January 2015

1. Obama says help from Arab allies show U.S. is not fighting ISIS alone

President Obama said Tuesday that the participation of five Arab allies in a U.S.-led barrage of airstrikes against ISIS in Syria demonstrated that his expanded military action against the Islamist extremist group was "not America's fight alone." Iran and Russia criticized the U.S. for launching military action in a sovereign country. Obama, who says America's first strikes in Syria were legal and necessary to help defend Iraq, will address the U.N. to defend the move on Wednesday.

The number of Ebola cases in West Africa could rise exponentially over the next few months, with as many as 1.4 million people potentially infected by the end of January if more isn't done to contain the disease, according to a worst-case scenario published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday. The shocking number surfaced within hours of a report from the World Health Organization saying the number of cases could quadruple to more than 20,000 by November.

Subscribe to The Week

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

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

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.

In a Tuesday speech at a one-day United Nations climate summit, President Obama called for world leaders to make a more "ambitious" push to combat climate change. "We have to raise our collective ambition," Obama said. Obama called on the countries with the world's biggest economies to take the lead and enact tougher rules on pollution despite complaints they could hurt business. He also quoted Martin Luther King Jr., saying, "There is such a thing as being too late."

A former UPS employee who was fired recently allegedly entered one of the company's warehouses in Alabama and opened fire, killing two people, then himself. Local news stations identified the suspected gunman as Joe Tesney, 45. Police Lt. Sean Edwards said the gunman, who was wearing a UPS uniform, apparently targeted specific people. One of the victims appeared to be a higher-ranked UPS employee. "It appears that the shooter knew exactly who he wanted to target," Edwards said.

Osama bin Laden's son-in-law, Sulaiman Abu Ghayth, was sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday for conspiring to kill Americans, providing material support to al Qaeda, and helping recruit jihadists into the terrorist network. Abu Ghayth, the highest ranking al Qaeda figure ever put on trial in a U.S. civilian court, was the Islamist group's spokesman after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Abu Ghayth said in the Manhattan courtroom that "hundreds of Muslim youths" would replace him.

The Secret Service has erected a second fence outside part of the White House grounds for added security. The waist-high barrier, which runs along the Pennsylvania Avenue side of the White House, will keep tourists about eight feet away from the old fence. The new barricades went up early Tuesday, and will stay up until the Secret Service has completed a security review after an Iraq war veteran, Omar Gonzalez, scaled the old fence and dashed across the lawn and into an open door carrying a pocket knife.

Chelsea Manning filed a lawsuit Tuesday demanding that the Defense Department begin her transgender medical treatment while she is imprisoned for leaking classified national-security documents to WikiLeaks. Manning, formerly known as Bradley Manning, is receiving psychotherapy, but the lawsuit says Manning is at risk of harmful consequences, even suicide, without other treatment, including hormone therapy. A Pentagon spokeswoman said it was Pentagon policy not to comment on pending litigation.

A fire caused by a welding accident shut down cargo operations on Tuesday at the Port of Los Angeles, the nation's largest cargo shipping hub. Thick smoke from the blaze also forced authorities to close half of the terminals at the Port of Long Beach nearby. Combined, the two abutting harbors amount to the ninth largest container port in the world. Most of the Los Angeles terminals reopened for the overnight shift, and the last one was expected to reopen early Wednesday.

The Vatican announced Tuesday that it had arrested one of its former ambassadors to face criminal child sexual abuse charges. The defrocked ex-archbishop, Jozef Wesolowski, is the first high-ranking official the Vatican has charged with sexually abusing children. Wesolowski was the papal nuncio in the Dominican Republic, until he was recalled after the archbishop of Santo Domingo told Pope Francis of the rumored crimes. Prosecutors in the Caribbean nation say Wesolowski allegedly paid teenage boys to masturbate.

Indian scientists succeeded Wednesday in maneuvering a spacecraft into orbit around Mars in the country's first interplanetary mission. The success marked an important milestone in India's efforts to establish itself as a competitor in commercial and research space launches. Twenty-three out of 41 previous Mars missions attempted by other countries have failed, and India's Mars Orbiter Mission, or Mom, cost just $75 million, compared to the $671-million price tag for NASA's MAVEN spacecraft, which also began orbiting Mars this week.

Explore More

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.