10 things you need to know today: June 10, 2014
- 1. VA audit finds 57,000 vets waited three months for appointments
- 2. "Friendly fire" kills five U.S. Special Operations troops in Afghanistan
- 3. Boko Haram abducts another 20 Nigerian girls
- 4. A mob of men sexually assaults a woman in Tahrir Square
- 5. Karachi airport area attacked again
- 6. Time Warner is considering buying a big chunk of Vice Media
- 7. Sterling withdraws support for $2 billion Clippers sale
- 8. Cost of cyber crime soars
- 9. Olympic swimming champion Amy Van Dyken Rouen severs spine in accident
- 10. Truck driver in Tracy Morgan crash had not slept in 24 hours
1. VA audit finds 57,000 vets waited three months for appointments
A Veterans Affairs internal audit released Monday found that 57,000 veterans had to wait at least three months for initial appointments at 731 VA medical centers. Investigators found that 13 percent of scheduling employees had been told to falsify dates to improve statistics on wait times. Top VA officials apologized for the scandal and called the situation "indefensible," saying investigators were looking into whether crimes occurred.
2. "Friendly fire" kills five U.S. Special Operations troops in Afghanistan
Five American Special Operations soldiers and at least one of their Afghan counterparts were killed in a "friendly fire" incident in Afghanistan on Monday night, when a NATO warplane mistakenly bombed their position in Afghanistan's southern Zabul Province. The U.S. and Afghan troops had called in an airstrike when they were ambushed by Taliban fighters while conducting security sweeps ahead of Sunday's presidential runoff election.
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3. Boko Haram abducts another 20 Nigerian girls
Boko Haram fighters reportedly have kidnapped 20 more girls from an area in Nigeria near where the Islamist rebel group abducted more than 270 high-school girls in April. A member of a vigilante group formed to repel Boko Haram attacks said the kidnappers forced the women to enter their vehicles at gunpoint in the latest abduction.
4. A mob of men sexually assaults a woman in Tahrir Square
A video went viral Monday showing men attacking and pulling clothes off of a nearly naked woman in Cairo's Tahrir Square at a celebration of Sunday's inauguration of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. At the end of the two-minute video the bloodied woman, wearing just a black T-shirt, is carried to a police vehicle as men continue to strike and grope her. Sisi had promised to end a rash of sexual assaults in crowds.
5. Karachi airport area attacked again
Two insurgents on motorbikes attacked an airport training facility in Karachi, Pakistan on Tuesday, near the international airport raided by Taliban fighters two days earlier. The attackers fired shots but were turned away by stiff resistance from guards at the walled complex. The violence still forced the airport, Pakistan's busiest, to be closed temporarily. The latest attack came as Pakistan launched air strikes on nine militant hideouts.
6. Time Warner is considering buying a big chunk of Vice Media
Time Warner is reportedly in talks to buy a large stake in Vice Media that would value the 20-year-old company at $2.2 billion. Vice was started as a "punk zine" for music enthusiasts but has grown to include an advertising agency, a record label, and a television show. The pricey valuation under the proposed deal shows that old media companies are increasingly desperate to link up with innovative new rivals.
7. Sterling withdraws support for $2 billion Clippers sale
Embattled Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling has withdrawn his approval of a deal brokered by his estranged wife, Shelly, to sell the team to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer for $2 billion. Sterling agreed to the deal last week, but now plans instead to revive a $1 billion lawsuit against the NBA, which banned him over secretly recorded racist remarks. "I intend to fight to keep the team," Sterling said.
8. Cost of cyber crime soars
Cyber crime costs the global economy more than $445 billion every year, according to a new report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. That's nearly 1 percent of all global income. The U.S. is getting hit the hardest, losing $100 billion a year. The figures are lower than the $1 trillion cited by President Obama, but still mean cyber crime does nearly as much economic harm as drug trafficking.
9. Olympic swimming champion Amy Van Dyken Rouen severs spine in accident
Former Olympic swimmer Amy Van Dyken Rouen, who won six gold medals, severed her spine when the all-terrain vehicle she was driving hit a curb, sending her tumbling down an embankment. Rouen's husband, former Denver Broncos punter Tom Rouen, ran to her side and lifted the back of her neck so she could breathe. She was unable to move her legs. Rouen, 46, was otherwise in good condition and will have surgery next week.
10. Truck driver in Tracy Morgan crash had not slept in 24 hours
The driver of the Walmart truck that slammed into a luxury van carrying comedian Tracy Morgan — killing Morgan's writer, comic James McNair — had not slept in more than 24 hours, New Jersey prosecutors said Monday. Under New Jersey law, that means the truck driver, Kevin Roper, 35, of Jonesboro, Ga., can be charged with vehicular homicide. Morgan remains in critical but stable condition after surgery on a broken leg.
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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.
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