10 things you need to know today: September 19, 2014

(Image credit: (AP Photos/Lefteris Pitarakis))

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1. Scotland votes to stay in the United Kingdom
2. Senators approve arming anti-ISIS rebels in Syria
3. One man charged with arson as 10 California wildfires continue to burn
4. The U.N. and France add resources to the battle against Ebola
5. Home Depot says 56 million cards affected in hackers' attack
6. France agrees to hit ISIS with airstrikes
7. ISIS releases video of another British hostage kidnapped in Syria
8. Kansas Supreme Court lets Democrat drop off the November ballot
9. Police say man killed six grandchildren and his daughter in murder-suicide
10. Alibaba IPO bringing in $21.8 billion for the Chinese internet powerhouse

last updated 13 January 2015

1. Scotland votes to stay in the United Kingdom

Voters in Scotland rejected independence on Thursday in a historic referendum that threatened to break apart the United Kingdom. Turnout was a record 85 percent. Fifty-five percent of the 3.6 million people casting ballots voted to preserve the 307-year union, while 45 percent backed secession. Ahead of what was expected to be closer balloting, leaders of the Conservative, Labour, and Liberal Democrat parties promised to give Scottish Parliament "extensive new powers" if Scotland remained part of the U.K.

The Senate voted 78 to 22 on Thursday to arm and train moderate Syrian rebels as part of a stepped up effort to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS. The Senate's approval came a day after a bipartisan majority in the House signed off on the bill. Now it goes to President Obama for his signature. Obama, who last week announced expanded U.S. military involvement in the fight against ISIS, thanked Congress for its "speed and seriousness" in addressing the matter.

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Authorities on Thursday accused Wayne Allen Huntsman, 37, with starting the so-called King Fire, one of the 10 wildfires burning in California, officials announced Thursday. Huntsman was charged with arson of forest land with aggravating factors — the injuries of two firefighters. He is being held in El Dorado County Jail in lieu of $10 million bail. Across the state, 6,600 firefighters are battling the wildfires, and Gov. Jerry Brown has declared a statewide emergency.

The United Nations Security Council declared Ebola a "threat to international peace and security," and announced the creation of a special mission to combat the outbreak in West Africa. The death toll has now reached 2,630. France, the latest Western nation to increase its efforts to fight the disease, announced it was setting up a military hospital in a remote part of Guinea. "We must save lives," French President Francois Hollande said.

Data from 56 million credit and debit cards were exposed in a cyber attack on the Home Depot payment system that was discovered more than two weeks ago, the home-improvement retailer said Thursday. The tally surpassed last year's infamous data breach at Target, in which 40 million cards were affected. Home Depot said that the malware hackers used to get the information had been eliminated. Like Target, Home Depot is offering affected customers free identity protection and credit monitoring.

France joined the growing coalition against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria on Friday, launching its first airstrike against the Islamic extremist group. French Rafale fighter jets attacked a logistics depot controlled by ISIS in northeastern Iraq, leaving the facility "entirely destroyed," according to a statement released by the office of French President Francois Hollande. "Other operations will follow in the coming days," the statement said.

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria released a new video on Thursday showing a British hostage, John Cantlie, delivering what he said would be a series of messages telling "the truth" about ISIS' kidnapping of Americans and Britons in Syria. Cantlie was kidnapped in Syria with American journalist James Foley, who was the first of three Westerners beheaded by ISIS in recent weeks. ISIS has threatened to kill another Briton, Alan Henning, because of the U.K.'s support for U.S. airstrikes against the group.

The Kansas Supreme Court on Thursday dealt a setback to Republican Sen. Pat Roberts by ordering the removal of his former Democratic challenger, Chad Taylor, from the November ballot. Taylor ended his campaign this month, but the state's Republican secretary of state had declined his request to scratch his name from the ballot. Now that he is off, the embattled Roberts will face a one-on-one contest against independent businessman Greg Orman, who no longer has to share the anti-Roberts vote with Taylor.

A rural Florida man allegedly shot and killed his daughter and six grandchildren, then turned the gun on himself after police arrived, Gilchrist County Sheriff Robert Schultz III said Thursday. Investigators identified the man as Donald C. Spirit. The victims were identified as Jonathan, Kylie, and Kaleb Kuhlmann, ages 8, 9, and 11, and Brandon, Destiny, and Alanna Stewart, ages 4, 5, and 2 months, as well as their mother, Sarah Spirit, 28. "There are certain things in life you can explain," Schultz said, "and there are some things you can't."

Alibaba priced its shares at $68 on Thursday, setting the stage for the giant Chinese company to raise nearly $21.8 billion Friday in the biggest U.S. initial public offering of stock ever. The IPO's haul is bigger than those of Facebook and General Motors. Alibaba offers everything from e-commerce to cloud computing services, like a hybrid of Amazon and Google. The IPO share price gives the company a market value of $168 billion, more than eBay, Twitter, and LinkedIn combined.

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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.