10 things you need to know today: July 3, 2014

(Image credit: (David McNew/Getty Images))

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1. Security tightened for U.S.-bound flights over bomb fears
2. Evacuation ordered for part of North Carolina coast as Arthur gains strength
3. Colorado woman, 19, charged with trying to help ISIS suspect in Syria
4. Colorado asks for a moratorium on gay marriage lawsuits
5. Sarkozy criticizes French prosecutors over his detention in corruption case
6. Fire threatens California wine country homes
7. Tensions rise in Israel after killings of teenagers
8. Target asks people not to bring guns into its stores
9. Japan eases sanctions against North Korea
10. Consumer Reports fuels the fast food wars

last updated 27 January 2015

1. Security tightened for U.S.-bound flights over bomb fears

The Homeland Security Department said Wednesday that it was increasing security screening at overseas airports with non-stop flights to the U.S. due to reports that terrorists had developed a new way to smuggle explosives onto planes. Intelligence agencies have not uncovered a specific plot, but they recently learned that a bomb maker working for Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in Yemen had developed a technique for evading metal detectors and body scanners.

Tropical Storm Arthur reached hurricane strength early Thursday, with winds of 75 mph as it churned north toward the Carolinas. Arthur, the first named storm of the 2014 Atlantic season, was 190 miles south-southeast of Cape Fear, North Carolina, at 4:50 a.m. on Thursday. Hurricane warnings have been issued for parts of the North Carolina coast. Local authorities have ordered a mandatory evacuation on the Outer Banks' Hatteras Island and a voluntary evacuation on Ocracoke Island.

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A Colorado teen, Shannon Maureen Conley, was arrested in April for allegedly plotting to help al Qaeda terrorists overseas, according to court documents that were unsealed Wednesday. Conley, 19, was arrested while boarding a flight to Turkey. Authorities believe she was trying to reach Syria to find a Tunisian man she met online. Conley hoped to marry the man, who said he was fighting for Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). She had asked her parents for their blessing. They refused, and notified the FBI.

The Colorado attorney general's office asked a federal court Wednesday for an injunction to suspend same-sex marriage lawsuits in the state until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on whether gay-marriage bans are constitutional. A federal appeals court in Denver ruled last week that Utah could not stop same-sex couples from getting married, but stayed the ruling pending review by the Supreme Court. Since then six Denver couples have sued to overturn a Colorado constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman.

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy slammed anticorruption investigators on Wednesday after he was hauled in for questioning about possible attempts to tamper with an investigation into the financing of his 2007 election campaign. Prosecutors say Sarkozy, through a lawyer, tried to get information from a judge about an inquiry into whether he received up to $68 million in illegal contributions from Libya's Moammar Gadhafi. Sarkozy called his detention politically motivated and "grotesque."

A wildfire has damaged two homes and forced the evacuation of 200 others in Napa County in Northern California. Authorities said however that the blaze, which grew to cover six square miles on Wednesday, posed no threat to Napa Valley wineries, as it was heading away from them. More than 1,000 firefighters are working to contain the fire, although forecasters expect Thursday to bring more of the hot, dry conditions that helped the fire expand a day earlier.

Palestinian protesters and Israeli police clashed on Wednesday following the abduction and murder of an Arab teenager, Mohammad Abu Khieder in apparent retaliation for the killings of three kidnapped Israeli teens. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for restraint as the case was investigated. Palestinians blamed Jewish settlers for the Palestinian teen's death. Israel's air force launched air strikes on Gaza early Thursday in response to mortar fire by suspected Palestinian militants.

Target announced Wednesday that it "respectfully" requests that customers not bring guns into its stores. "This is a request and not a prohibition," said Molly Snyder of Target's public relations department. The decision came after a month of pressure from Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. Target didn't say what it would do if someone didn't comply. Fourteen states let people with permits openly carry guns. Thirty allow open carry without permits.

Japan is lifting some economic sanctions against North Korea because Pyongyang has promised to resume investigations into the abduction of Japanese nationals in the 1970s and 1980s, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced Thursday. North Korea acknowledged in 2002 that it snatched 13 Japanese citizens to teach its spies about Japanese language and culture. The sanctions being lifted include a ban preventing North Korean officials from entering Japan. South Korea said the change shouldn't damage efforts to pressure Pyonyang over its nuclear and missile programs.

Consumer Reports released its annual fast-food survey, and industry leaders McDonald's, KFC, and Taco Bell got panned in taste tests by more than 30,000 Consumer Reports subscribers. The chains each scored the worst for their signature fare — McDonald's had the worst burger ranking; KFC scored worst for chicken; and Taco Bell scored the worst rating for burritos. Habit Burger Grill, In-n-Out, and Five Guys Burgers scored highest for burgers with ratings of 8.1, 8.0 and 7.9 respectively. McDonald's scored 5.8.

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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.