10 things you need to know today: March 23, 2015

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1. Singapore's founding father dies at 91
2. Cruz officially enters 2016 race for the White House
3. McCain tells Obama to end his "temper tantrum" over Netanyahu
4. Supreme Court hears argument on Texas Confederate flag license tag
5. Crowds line the streets for Richard III funeral
6. Durst heads back to New Orleans court
7. Seven children killed in fire mourned in Brooklyn
8. Soldiers brush off ISIS "hit list"
9. Starbucks ends its brief campaign against racism
10. Virginia and Kansas fall as March Madness upsets continue

published 23 March 2015

1. Singapore's founding father dies at 91

Singapore founding father Lee Kuan Yew died Monday more than a month after being admitted into a hospital with pneumonia. He was 91. Lee served as prime minister from 1959 to 1990, and has been credited with turning the small island trading outpost into one of the wealthiest and least corrupt countries in Asia. Lee's government became known for its authoritarian rule, including tough law enforcement and limits on protests. He said the heavy-handed tactics were necessary for stability.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) made his presidential candidacy official on Monday, announcing with a Twitter post and video that he will run for the Republican nomination in 2016. Other big-name candidates are openly considering running, but Cruz, a Tea Party favorite, was the first major candidate from any party to jump into the race officially. Cruz, 44, promised to lead "a new generation of courageous conservatives to help make America great again."

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Republicans sharply criticized President Obama on Sunday for saying that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had complicated peace negotiations with Palestinian leaders by saying there would be no Palestinian state as long as he was prime minister. Netanyahu made the statement in a last-minute appeal to conservative voters ahead of his party's surprisingly strong win in last week's parliamentary elections. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Obama should end his "temper tantrum" and accept the result of Israel's "free and fair democratic election."

The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing arguments Monday on whether the state of Texas can refuse to issue license plates featuring the Confederate battle flag. The Texas division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, backed by First Amendment advocates from the American Civil Liberties Union, says banning the plates is a violation of free speech. Texas counters that license tags, unlike bumper stickers, are government speech, so they should not include a symbol many see as racist.

Richard III got a king's funeral in England on Sunday, more than 500 years after his death at the Battle of Bosworth Field. The former king's remains were excavated from a parking lot in Leicester in 2012 and identified. About 35,000 people, many tossing white roses symbolizing the House of York, lined the streets to watch the procession take the coffin from the University of Leicester to Leicester Cathedral. The casket was placed on public view until Monday. The notoriously brutal monarch will be reburied on Thursday.

Real estate heir Robert Durst returns Monday to a New Orleans courtroom where his lawyers plan to demand his release on the grounds that his arrest was illegal. Durst, 71, has spent nearly a week in a prison mental ward, but he is to appear in a preliminary hearing on new weapons charges filed after he was picked up on a Los Angeles warrant accusing him of killing family friend Susan Berman in December 2000. Defense lawyers say the arrest was a stunt timed to coincide with the airing of an HBO documentary in which Durst appeared to incriminate himself.

Thousands of New Yorkers on Sunday joined a grief-stricken father to mourn seven Orthodox Jewish children killed in an overnight fire the day before. The blaze was believed to have been started by an untended hot plate left on to warm food on the Jewish day of rest. The children died within minutes. Their mother, Gayle Sassoon, 45, and a 15-year-old sister survived by jumping out of second-floor windows. "There’s absolutely nothing to say!" the father, Gabriel Sassoon, wailed.

An purported ISIS "hit list" of 100 U.S. service members has emerged online, but three soldiers named on the list said they were not concerned about the threat. The list, which included personal information allegedly linked to the targeted soldiers, was posted on a website by the "Islamic State Hacking Division," a previously unknown group. The post urged "lone wolf" ISIS supporters to kill the soldiers on the list.

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz on Sunday ended his company's brief attempt to spark a national dialogue about race, by encouraging baristas to write "Race Together" on their customers' cups. Schultz said in a letter to employees that the project was designed to be a brief "catalyst" for a long-term conversation about race. "While there has been criticism of the initiative — and I know this hasn't been easy for any of you — let me assure you that we didn't expect universal praise," Schultz said.

In the latest upsets of the NCAA men's basketball tournament, Michigan State, a regional No. 7 seed, beat the No. 2-seeded Virginia Cavaliers 60-54, and another No. 7 seed, Wichita State, knocked off Kansas 78-65 to advance to the Sweet 16. The Cavaliers also lost to Michigan State in 2014, that time in the Sweet 16. The loss came after Virginia won 30 or more games both seasons — the first such streak in the school's history. Villanova on Saturday became the first No. 1 seed to fall.

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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.