10 things you need to know today: March 24, 2015

(Image credit: (AP Photo/dpa, Jan-Arwed Richter))

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1. Israel spied on U.S.-Iran nuclear talks
2. German budget airliner crashes in France with 148 people on board
3. Police find no evidence supporting Rolling Stone rape account
4. Ted Cruz kicks off presidential campaign with "imagine" speech at Liberty University
5. U.S. vows to fund Afghan security forces at peak levels into 2017
6. Utah governor signs law bringing back firing squads
7. Netanyahu apologizes for warning of Arab voter turnout
8. Judge refuses to release Durst
9. Former football star Darren Sharper sentenced for rapes
10. Angelina Jolie reveals she had her ovaries removed to prevent cancer

published 24 March 2015

1. Israel spied on U.S.-Iran nuclear talks

Israel spied on negotiations between the U.S. and Iran on curbing Tehran's controversial nuclear program, then shared what it learned with U.S. lawmakers to fuel opposition to any deal, The Wall Street Journal reported. The snooping was not out of the ordinary — U.S. intelligence agencies discovered it while spying on Israel — but a U.S. official said Israel went too far by sharing the information with U.S. lawmakers "to undermine U.S. diplomacy." Israel denied spying directly on U.S. negotiators.

A Germanwings airliner crashed in southern France on Tuesday with 148 people on board. "The conditions of the accident, which have not yet been clarified, lead us to think there are no survivors," French President Francois Hollande said. The Airbus jet, operated by Lufthansa's budget airline unit, was traveling from Barcelona to Dusseldorf when it went down in rugged terrain in the foothills of the French Alps, about 65 miles north of the French Riviera city of Nice.

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Charlottesville, Virginia, police said Monday that they had found no "substantive" evidence of a gang rape at a University of Virginia fraternity house described in a November article in Rolling Stone. A female student identified in the story as "Jackie" told the magazine that she had been assaulted in September 2012 at the Phi Kappa Psi house. Phi Psi leaders said they enforce a zero tolerance policy on sexual assault. They said the "false accusations" had damaged their organization and they were considering their "legal options."

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Monday announced his 2016 presidential bid with a speech at Liberty University in which he asked voters to "imagine" a more prosperous America free of ObamaCare and the IRS. "It is a time for truth," he said. "It is a time for liberty. It is a time to reclaim the Constitution." Cruz cast himself as the religious "courageous conservative" candidate, proclaiming that rights "don't come from man, they come from God Almighty." Though other prospective candidates have formed exploratory committees in preparation for 2016 bids, Cruz is the first major candidate to join the race.

The Obama administration on Monday promised Afghanistan's leaders enough money to keep Afghan security forces at 352,000 personnel until at least 2017. That peak level is considered crucial to helping Afghan forces provide stability as foreign soldiers leave the country. The announcement came as Afghanistan's new president, Ashraf Ghani, heads into talks with President Obama. Ghani is expected to ask Obama at the White House Tuesday to leave 10,000 troops longer than planned. Obama is expected to agree.

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert (R) signed a law Monday that will allow firing squads to carry out executions if lethal injection drugs are not available. Herbert said the method is "a little bit gruesome," but allows the state to have a Plan B when it comes to executions. The bill was sponsored by Republican Rep. Paul Ray of Clearfield, who said firing squads are a more humane form of execution. Critics believe it is too brutal and puts Utah in a bad light.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized Monday for his last-minute warning that Arab voters were "being bused to the polling stations in droves" ahead of last week's parliamentary election. Netanyahu's party was trailing ahead of the vote but won after he appealed to hardliners by saying there would be no Palestinian state as long as he remained in office. Netanyahu said his comments on Arab turnout had offended many Israelis. "This was never my intent," he said. "I apologize for this."

A New Orleans judge called millionaire accused killer Robert Durst dangerous and a flight risk on Monday, and refused a request by defense lawyers for his release on bail. Durst, heir to a New York real estate fortune, is accused in the shooting death of family friend Susan Berman in Los Angeles 15 years ago, days before she was to talk to investigators about the disappearance of Durst's first wife. Durst was arrested on March 14, hours before the airing of an HBO documentary episode in which he appeared to admit to killing Berman, his wife, and another person.

Former NFL star Darren Sharper pleaded no contest to sexual assault charges in Arizona and Los Angeles on Monday. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison, but his lawyer said he will serve about nine years behind bars. Sharper, 39, faced nine charges that he drugged and raped women in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New Orleans, and Tempe, Arizona. He also is expected to plead guilty to the charges in Las Vegas and New Orleans, and serve sentences for all of the crimes concurrently.

Angelina Jolie said in an opinion article published Tuesday in The New York Times that she had her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed to prevent cancer. The surgery last week came two years after the actress underwent a preventative double mastectomy. A blood test had found that Jolie, who lost her mother, grandmother, and an aunt to cancer, had a gene mutation giving her an 87 percent risk of breast cancer and a 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer. "I know my children will never have to say, 'Mom died of ovarian cancer.'" Jolie wrote.

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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.