10 things you need to know today: April 6, 2015

(Image credit: (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta))

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1. Obama defends nuclear deal, saying Iran knows it "cannot fight us"
2. Rolling Stone retracts rape story after damning report
3. Houthi rebels detain rivals in Yemen's capital
4. Kenya identifies al Shabab mastermind blamed for university attack
5. Palestinians reject Israeli tax transfer
6. Top aide to Sen. Kelly Ayotte quits after arrest in prostitution sting
7. Court turns down clemency appeal for two Australians sentenced to death in Indonesia
8. David Lynch bows out of Showtime's Twin Peaks revival
9. Furious 7 debut weekend sets records
10. Notre Dame and UConn qualify for women's NCAA basketball championship game

By Harold Maass, The Week US

last updated 6 April 2015

1. Obama defends nuclear deal, saying Iran knows it "cannot fight us"

Obama explains his Iran views to NYT columnist Thomas Friedman

President Obama strongly defended the framework for a deal to rein in Iran's nuclear program in an interview with New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman. Obama called it "our best bet by far to make sure Iran doesn't get a nuclear weapon." Obama said the diplomatic effort could fail, but, "Iran understands that they cannot fight us." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated his rejection of the proposal, calling it a "bad deal" that would leave Iran's nuclear capabilities intact.

Rolling Stone magazine on Sunday officially retracted a discredited story about a gang rape at the University of Virginia after independent investigators released a report calling the article a "journalistic failure that was avoidable." The article's uncorroborated account of the assault from the alleged victim — a female student identified as "Jackie" — included errors in reporting, editing, and fact-checking, according to a three-person investigative team at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.

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Shiite rebels raided homes in Yemen's capital city of Sanaa on Sunday and detained more than 120 suspected supporters of the Saudi-led coalition that has been bombing rebel targets in an attempt to restore the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. The embattled president fled the port city of Aden for Saudi Arabia, which is seeking ground troops to drive out the rebels. Houthi forces are still fighting to take Aden, the last major bastion of Hadi loyalists.

The Kenyan government has identified an al Shabab figure, Mohamed Mohamud, as the mastermind of last week's terror attack that left 148 people dead at a Kenyan university. Mohamud, who also goes by the aliases Dulyadin and Gamadhere, is the Somali Islamist extremist group's chief of external operations against Kenya, and commands cross-border attacks. Kenya's Interior Ministry is offering a $215,000 reward for Mohamud's capture.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said on Sunday he will not accept hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenues from Israel, since the government kept one-third of the amount to pay for services like electricity and water. "We are returning the money," Abbas said at a rally in Ramallah. "Either they give it to us in full or we go to arbitration or to the ICC [International Criminal Court]. We will not accept anything else."

David Wihby, the state director for U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), resigned over the weekend after being arrested in a prostitution sting at a hotel in his home state. Ten men were arrested in the sting. Wihby, 62, allegedly responded to a woman's ad online. Ayotte said in a statement that she had accepted Wihby's resignation. "David obviously cannot continue his duties," she said in a statement.

An Indonesian court on Monday rejected a challenge to the planned executions of two Australians, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, who were convicted in a failed heroin smuggling plot. A panel of three judges from the state administrative court reaffirmed an earlier ruling that the court did not have jurisdiction to consider challenges to President Joko Widodo's denial of clemency for the men, part of the so-called Bali Nine. Australia has appealed for the men's release, even proposing a prisoner swap.

David Lynch has dropped out as director of Showtime's revival of his cult TV show Twin Peaks. The filmmaker said via Twitter that Showtime "did not pull the plug," and the show "may still be very much alive." He said he had decided to leave, however, because after 16 months of negotiations "not enough money was offered to do the script the way I felt it needed to be done." Lynch's announcement came after rumors began surfacing saying that the project had been killed.

Furious 7 shattered the April box office record by taking in $143.6 million in its opening weekend. The previous record was $95 million for the debut of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The haul was the best launch for any film in the Fast and Furious franchise, and the ninth biggest for any movie. The film was one of the last made by star Paul Walker, who died in a 2013 car crash. Some scenes were completed with stand-ins and digital technology. "Its success is a tribute to him," BoxOffice.com vice president Phil Contrino said.

Notre Dame's women's basketball team qualified for its second straight appearance in the NCAA basketball title game with a 66-65 victory over the University of South Carolina on Sunday. The game was up in the air until a final shot by South Carolina's Tiffany Mitchell hit the side of the backboard. UConn crushed Maryland for the other spot in the championship game. It will be the Irish's fourth title game in five years, although they haven't won a championship since 2001. Duke and Wisconsin square off Monday night in the men's title game.

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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.