10 things you need to know today: January 19, 2015

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1. Selma actors kick off MLK holiday by recalling historic march
2. Seahawks and Patriots advance to the Super Bowl
3. No sign Biden's house was targeted when shots fired from passing car
4. Rebels take over Yemen's state-run media
5. Indonesia faces protests after executing foreigners
6. Icy conditions cause deadly wrecks in the Northeast
7. Richest 1 percent poised to claim more than half of global wealth
8. Cuomo pushes another hike in New York's minimum wage
9. Oil prices fall as Iraq announces record output
10. Fox News disavows on-air claim of Muslim "no-go zones" in Europe

published 19 January 2015

1. Selma actors kick off MLK holiday by recalling historic march

Oprah Winfrey and fellow actors from the film Selma joined hundreds of others late Sunday in tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. and the other participants in the 1965 civil rights march in Selma, Alabama. On the eve of the holiday honoring King, the group walked to Selma's Edmund Pettus Bridge, where the original protesters were beaten and tear-gassed in one of the bloodiest events of the civil rights era. "Every single person who was on that bridge is a hero," Winfrey said.

The Seattle Seahawks rallied to defeat the Green Bay Packers 28-22 in overtime on Sunday to win the NFC championship game. The defending Super Bowl champion Seahawks will defend their title on Feb. 1 against the New England Patriots, who blew past the Indianapolis Colts 45-7 in the AFC championship game on Sunday night. The Patriots were led by quarterback Tom Brady, who completed 23 of his 35 passes for 226 yards and three touchdowns. The Patriots were the last team to win back-to-back Super Bowls, in 2004 and 2005.

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Federal officials said Sunday that there was no clear evidence that the Wilmington, Delaware, home of Vice President Joe Biden was the target when shots were fired from a passing car over the weekend. No bullets appeared to have hit the house, investigators said. Biden and his wife, Jill, were not at home during the incident. The house sits several hundred yards from the road where the car sped by, just outside the Secret Service's security perimeter.

Shiite Houthis fighters seized control of Yemen's state-run media on Monday as fighting between the rebels and government troops spread across the country's capital, Sanaa, on Monday. A battle near the presidential palace marked one of the clearest threats yet to the rule of President Abed Rabo Mansour Hadi's government. The convoys of the country's prime minister and a top presidential adviser came under fire. "This is a step toward a coup and it is targeting the state's legitimacy," Information Minister Nadia Sakkaf said.

Indonesia on Sunday executed five foreigners and one Indonesian inmate convicted of drug trafficking, despite protests from leaders from the Netherlands and Brazil. European leaders called the executions — by firing squad — "deeply regrettable," and the Netherlands, Indonesia's former colonial ruler, withdrew its ambassador. The executions were the first under new President Joko Widodo, a reformist whose rise to power last year had sparked hopes among human rights groups that the country would ease its capital punishment laws.

At least five people were killed on highways across the Northeast on Sunday in crashes caused by ice and "flash-freezing" rain. As many as 60 cars and trucks were involved in a single pile-up on Interstate 76 outside Philadelphia in which one person died. "I've driven through snow a lot, and this isn't like anything I've ever driven in," said Kaitlyn Maier, who came upon the I-76 wreck on the way to her home in Philadelphia.

The world's richest one percent will control more of the planet's wealth than the remaining 99 percent by 2016, according to a report released Monday by the U.K. charity Oxfam. The top one percent's share of global wealth stood at 44 percent after the 2008 financial crisis, but had risen to 48 percent by the end of 2014 and is set to push past 50 percent by the end of next year. Meanwhile, the bottom four-fifths of Earth's seven billion people possess 5.5 percent of the planet's riches.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Sunday began rolling out a proposal to boost the state's minimum wage to $10.50 an hour. In New York City, employers would pay a dollar more. The plan is part of a set of changes aiming to help the work that Cuomo will unveil Wednesday in his state budget request. Other measures would reduce taxes for some small businesses and forgive some student loans. Lawmakers voted in 2003 to increase the state's minimum wage from $7.25 to $9 an hour over three years.

Brent crude oil prices dropped back below $50 a barrel on Monday, hours after Iraq announced record oil production and looming grim economic news from China increased fears of weak demand. The shift came despite predictions last week from the International Energy Agency that oil prices, which have fallen by more than half since June, could recover later this year. "There's still more supply than demand and that's a situation that will not change in just a few weeks," said ABN Amro energy economist Hans van Cleef.

Fox News apologized over the weekend for bogus on-air claims that there were Muslim "no-go zones" where police don't dare enter in cities across Europe. Conservative host Sean Hannity had mentioned such danger zones earlier, but a backlash erupted after terrorism analyst Steve Emerson said in a Jan. 10 appearance that there were even cities such as Birmingham, England, "where non-Muslims just simply don't go in." British Prime Minister David Cameron responded, "When I heard this, frankly, I choked on my porridge."

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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.