10 things you need to know today: March 22, 2015

1. Ted Cruz expected to announce presidential bid Monday

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) will make it official on Monday and announce a 2016 presidential campaign, according to the Houston Chronicle. Citing "senior advisers" to Cruz, the paper said the freshman firebrand would skip the standard exploratory committee phase in favor of an immediate declaration of his candidacy. Should Cruz indeed move right on to campaigning, he would be the first major candidate to do so from either party.

Houston Chronicle

2. Villanova becomes first No. 1 seed to fall in NCAA Tournament

March Madness claimed its first top seed on Saturday when No. 8 seed North Carolina State knocked off the Villanova Wildcats 71-68. It's a disappointing cap to an otherwise brilliant season for Villanova, who lost only two games all year and headed into the tournament ranked second in the nation behind undefeated Kentucky. "We failed here in this N.C.A.A. tournament," Villanova coach Jay Wright said, "And we just got to accept it." The Wolfpack advance to the Sweet 16, where they will meet either Louisville or Northern Iowa.

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ESPN The New York Times

3. Tunisia confirms third gunman involved in museum attack

A third gunman took part in last week's attack on Tunisia's Bardo Museum and remains "on the run," Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi said Sunday. "There were for certain three terrorists," Essebsi said. "There is one on the run. He will not get far." Tunisian authorities on Saturday said they had arrested more than 20 people in connection with the attack, including 10 suspected of having a direct role in it. Gunmen on Wednesday killed 23 people, 20 of them foreigners, before being killed by security forces.

CNN

4. Obama: Netanyahu's election rhetoric complicated peace process

President Obama says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's abrupt right turn ahead of last week's elections made it hard for the international community to "seriously believ[e] that negotiations are possible" to establish a peaceful Palestinian state. "We take him at his word when he said that it wouldn't happen during his prime ministership," Obama said in an interview with The Huffington Post. With his support lagging in the polls, Netanyahu vowed never to allow for the creation of a Palestinian state. Days after winning re-election, though, he walked back that statement.

The Huffington Post

5. U.N. Security Council to meet amid crisis in Yemen

The United Nations Security Council will meet on Sunday for emergency discussions after Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi called for an "urgent intervention" regarding the escalating violence in his country. The meeting comes after Shiite rebels seized control of Yemen's third-largest city, Taiz. The U.S. on Saturday withdrew its remaining 100 special forces from an airbase in Yemen, one month after it closed its embassy in Sanaa.

Reuters The Washington Post

6. ISIS claims to release personal info of U.S. military members

A purported hacking wing of the Islamic State on Saturday urged its "brothers residing in America" to kill members of the U.S. military. To that end, the so-called Islamic State Hacking Division posted to the web what it claimed were the names, addresses, and images of 100 service members. The Pentagon and FBI are investigating the incident, but said it did not appear ISIS obtained any information by hacking government servers.

The New York Times

7. North Korea warns it is 'ready for nuclear war'

North Korea's ambassador to Britain, Hyun Hak Bong, on Friday said in an interview with Sky News that while his country does not want war, it is prepared to respond with the utmost force if necessary. "We do not want war, but we are not afraid of war," Hyun said. "We are ready for nuclear war with nuclear war." North Korea quit the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1993, but the state of its clandestine nuclear program remains unclear.

Al Jazeera

8. Iranian president says nuclear deal within reach

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Saturday expressed optimism about the prospect of reaching a nuclear accord with the United States. "I believe achieving a deal is possible," Rouhani said, according to the state-run IRNA news agency. "There is nothing that can't be resolved." Also Saturday, Secretary of State John Kerry said "genuine progress" had been made toward a deal. The two sides have until the end of the month to reach a framework agreement.

The Associated Press

9. Steve Nash retires from basketball

Point guard Steve Nash on Saturday announced his retirement from the NBA after 19 seasons. The 41-year-old is an eight-time NBA All-Star and two-time league MVP who ranks third all-time in assists. Nash struggled with injuries in recent years that kept him off the court; he played only 15 games last year and, before announcing his retirement, was sitting out the 2014-15 season with recurring nerve issues in his back.

ESPN

10. Snoop Dogg developing HBO drama about 1980s L.A.

Rapper and actor Snoop Dogg is developing a TV show for HBO about the impact of 1980s politics on inner-city life in Los Angeles. "This is a dream come true to be able to tell a story that's going to be told the right way on the right network," he said during an interview at the South by Southwest festival. Snoop Dogg is executive producing the potential program, while Allen Hughes is slated to direct.

Variety