10 things you need to know today: May 11, 2015

(Image credit: (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File))

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1. Fourth arrest made over killing of two Mississippi officers
2. Gulf rulers snub Obama over Iran
3. Prince holds "Rally 4 Peace" concert in Baltimore
4. Severe weather injures kills two in Arkansas, injures 26 in Texas
5. Jimmy Carter leaves Guyana ahead of election
6. Oil spills into Hudson River after transformer fire
7. Georgia principal apologizes for "racist" remark at commencement
8. Hundreds of refugees rescued at sea in Southeast Asia
9. Infant vaccinations suspended in Mexico after two babies die
10. LeBron James helps Cavaliers tie series with last-second shot

By Harold Maass, The Week US

published 11 May 2015

1. Fourth arrest made over killing of two Mississippi officers

Police in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, arrested a fourth person on Sunday in connection with the shooting deaths of police officers Benjamin Deen, 34, and Liquori Tate, 25, during a traffic stop. Cornelius Clark, 28, was arrested after the others and accused of obstruction of justice, the Mississippi Highway Patrol said. Two of other suspects — Marvin Banks, 29, and Joanie Calloway, 22 — were charged with murder. The other, 26-year-old Curtis Banks, was accused of being an accessory to the crime.

Saudi Arabia's King Salman will not attend meetings at the White House with President Obama, the Saudi government said Sunday. The new monarch also will stay away from a May 14 summit of Persian Gulf leaders at Camp David this week, in an apparent diplomatic snub over U.S. nuclear negotiations with Iran. The heads of Bahrain, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates are also staying put, their governments announced. President Obama was expected to reassure skeptical leaders from Gulf nations about the Iran talks. Dignitaries of the Gulf states — like Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef of Saudi Arabia — will still attend the meeting.

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Thousands of people came out for Prince's "Rally 4 Peace" concert in Baltimore's Royal Farms Arena on Sunday night. One Prince fan said the musician brought the city "a little joy, a little healing" after the death of Freddie Gray, a young black man who suffered a fatal spinal injury in police custody. Prince performed his new song "Baltimore," which he wrote after the protests, as well as favorites like "Little Red Corvette." He told the crowd: "The system is broken. It's going to take the young people to fix it this time."

At least two people were killed and 26 injured as at least 26 tornadoes were reported across the center of the country on Sunday. The two deaths occurred when an Arkansas mobile home park was hit by a suspected tornado. Another suspected tornado damaged a third of the small Texas town of Van, injuring at least 26 people. A band of thunderstorms threatened more violent weather from Texas to Michigan on Monday. The Carolina coast also took a hit Sunday as Tropical Storm Ana, the first named storm of the season, came ashore with top sustained winds of 45 mph.

Former president Jimmy Carter cut short a trip to Guyana after falling ill, the Carter Center said in a statement released Sunday. Carter, 90, was in the South American nation of 88,000 people to serve as an observer in Monday elections, but he canceled a Sunday news conference and headed home to Atlanta instead. The country's president, Donald Ramotar, called the election after he dissolved the opposition-controlled legislature to head off a no-confidence vote.

Thousands of gallons of oil leaked into the Hudson River after a transformer fire knocked a New York nuclear power plant offline on Sunday. Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) said emergency crews were working to contain and clean up the transformer fluid on the water near the plant, Indian Point 3, about 30 miles north of midtown Manhattan. "There's no doubt that oil was discharged into the Hudson River," Cuomo said. "Exactly how much, we don't know." Entergy Corp., which owns the plant, said it could be shut down for weeks.

A Georgia school principal apologized on Sunday for what she conceded was a "racist comment" during a graduation ceremony, blaming "the devil" for her remark. TNT Academy Principal Nancy Gordeuk was captured on cellphone video scolding people in the audience for leaving after she mistakenly dismissed everyone before the valedictorian's speech. Several people were walking out, and Gordeuk said, "Look who's leaving, all the black people." Outraged parents and students said she should be fired.

Hundreds of migrants have been rescued at sea in Southeast Asia over the last two days after being abandoned by smugglers. Seven boats with 600 passengers were rescued on Sunday, but an estimated 6,000 Bangladeshis and Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar are still stuck on crowded wooden boats. United Nations officials and representatives of the U.S. and other governments have been holding emergency meetings to discuss how to handle the crisis.

After two babies died and 29 became ill within hours of receiving vaccinations for tuberculosis, rotovirus, and Hepatitis B, the Mexican Social Security Institute suspended vaccines for infants on Saturday. The babies were taken to a hospital in the impoverished area of Simojovel, Chiapas, on Friday, and six of the 29 sick babies are in grave condition. Investigators say they do not yet know what caused the adverse reactions.

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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.