10 things you need to know today: May 4, 2015

(Image credit: (AP Photo/LM Otero))

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1. Police kill two gunmen outside Muhammad cartoon event in Texas
2. Carson, Fiorina, and Huckabee set to fill out the GOP's 2016 field
3. National Guard begins withdrawing from Baltimore after curfew lifted
4. 101-year-old man pulled from earthquake rubble in Nepal
5. Ethiopian-Israelis protesting police brutality clash with Tel Aviv police
6. Oil prices hit 2015 high
7. San Francisco shaken by five minor earthquakes
8. Smith College decides to admit transgender women
9. Curry to get NBA MVP award
10. Tiger Woods and Lindsey Vonn break up after dating for three years

By Harold Maass, The Week US

published 4 May 2015

1. Police kill two gunmen outside Muhammad cartoon event in Texas

Police in suburban Dallas police killed two men who allegedly opened fire outside a contest for cartoons of Islam's Prophet Muhammad on Sunday. Local officials said the event was ending when the men drove up and started shooting at a security officer, who was wounded in the ankle, and police officers shot back. The event was sponsored by the anti-Muslim group the American Freedom Defense Initiative. A possibly Islamic-State-linked Twitter account posted a message with the hashtag "texasattack" minutes before the attack.

Retired pediatric neurosurgeon Ben Carson effectively announced his bid for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination on a local TV show on Sunday. He wasn't the only new candidate on the block for long: On Monday morning, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina announced her candidacy, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is expected to follow suit on Tuesday. This will be Huckabee's second run for the GOP nomination, and the first bid by Carson and Fiorina. Neither Carson, who is black, nor Fiorina have ever held elected office, though Fiorina ran unsuccessfully for a U.S. Senate seat in California in 2010.

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Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake on Sunday lifted a curfew imposed last week to curb rioting over the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who died from injuries he suffered in police custody. Rawlings-Blake said the 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew, which took effect last Tuesday, had helped restore sufficient calm. Three thousand National Guard troops and 1,000 police officers from other Maryland towns are withdrawing over the next several days. "The city is safe," Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said.

A rescue team saved a 101-year-old man who was buried alive after last week's devastating earthquake in Nepal, police outside Katmandu said Sunday. The man, Funchu Tamang, was found buried in the collapsed remains of his house in Nuwakot district's Kimtang village, 50 miles northwest of the capital. He was taken to a local hospital in stable condition. The official death toll from the quake has risen over 7,000, and Nepal's government said Sunday the toll was likely to climb "much higher."

Dozens of people were injured Sunday in a violent confrontation at a protest by thousands of Ethiopian-Israelis against police brutality in Tel Aviv. The demonstration started out peacefully, as protesters blocked city streets, but tensions rose when people began throwing stones. One group overturned a police car. Police used stun grenades and water cannons against the crowd. About 46 people — half of them police officers — were injured. At least 26 people were arrested.

Oil prices rose to a 2015 high on Monday, reaching nearly $67 a barrel. Brent crude prices jumped by 49 cents, hitting $66.95, after a private survey released Monday showed that activity at Chinese factories shrank at the fastest pace in a year in April. Prices then began fluctuating, easing back a bit as the morning went on. The slowdown in China added strength to expectations that Beijing would introduce new stimulus measures that would boost the world's second biggest economy and increase demand for fuel.

At least five earthquakes — the strongest at 4.0 magnitude — hit the San Francisco Bay Area on Sunday afternoon. The strongest hit near Concord, 30 miles northeast of San Francisco. It struck about 10 minutes after a 2.5-magnitude tremor jolted the same area, followed by tremors at magnitudes 2.7, 2.4, and 1.6 within 45 minutes. The quakes shook buildings but no injuries or damage were immediately reported. In the morning, a 3.9-magnitude quake struck in Los Angeles.

Smith College, a prestigious women's school, will begin accepting transgender women beginning in the fall, college President Kathleen McCartney and board chairwoman Elizabeth Mugar Eveillard announced over the weekend. Smith, the largest of the all-female Seven Sisters schools, previously only accepted students who had identified as female since birth, but the administrators said "concepts of female identity have evolved." Smith will not admit students who were born female but identify as male.

Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry has been selected as the NBA's most valuable player, The Associated Press reported Sunday, citing an anonymous source familiar with the decision. Curry reportedly will receive the MVP award on Tuesday night, before the Game 2 in the Warriors' conference playoff semifinal against Memphis on Tuesday. Curry led the top-seeded Warriors to 67 wins — a franchise record — and beat his own record for three-pointers this season.

Sports power couple Tiger Woods and U.S. Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn have split up, they announced Sunday. "After nearly three years together, Tiger and I have mutually decided to end our relationship," Vonn said on her Facebook page. Woods, the once dominant professional golfer, confirmed the news on his website. "I have great admiration, respect and love for Lindsey and I'll always cherish our time together," he said. "She has been amazing with (daughter) Sam and (son) Charlie and my entire family."

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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.