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

(Image credit: AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

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1. Taliban militants attack Afghan parliament
2. Spieth wins second straight major championship
3. Cruz returns donation from group praised by Charleston church massacre suspect
4. Greece offers reforms ahead of emergency bailout meeting
5. Police arrest suspect in New Orleans police officer's murder
6. After Taylor Swift complaint, Apple decides to pay artists during Apple Music trial
7. Investigators swarm upstate New York towns near possible sighting of escapees
8. ISIS plants bombs in captured city's ancient ruins
9. Indian prime minister leads observance of first International Yoga Day
10. Thousands honor Charleston church shooting victims in "unity chain"

published 22 June 2015

1. Taliban militants attack Afghan parliament

Insurgents attacked Afghanistan's parliament on Monday as lawmakers met to endorse a new defense minister after the post stood vacant for nine months. The Taliban promptly claimed responsibility for the brazen day-time assault, which began with a suicide car bombing at the building's entrance. Then gunmen tried to storm the building, as frightened lawmakers fled. Security forces pushed the attackers back to a nearby building under construction, and police killed six gunmen in a two-hour battle.

Jordan Spieth won the U.S. Open on Sunday to capture his second straight major championship of the year. He took the Masters title in April. Spieth is the first golfer to win the first two parts of the Grand Slam since Tiger Woods did it in 2002. At 21, Spieth was the youngest to win the Open since 1923. He started the tournament's final round tied with Jason Day, Branden Grace, and Dustin Johnson, and closed with two birdies on the last three holes to beat Johnson and Louis Oosthuizen by one stroke.

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Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Sunday returned a donation from the head of a an organization linked to Dylann Roof, the white suspect in last week's massacre at an historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina. Roof cited the white separatist group, the Council of Conservative Citizens, in his alleged manifesto. "Sen. Cruz believes there is no place for racism in society," his campaign said. The group's leader, Eric Holt, has donated $8,500 to Cruz since 2012, and made smaller contributions to Sen. Rand Paul and Rick Santorum.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Monday is proposing a new package of financial reforms at an 11th-hour emergency meeting where Greek officials hope to persuade their European creditors to release frozen aid to help the country avoid default. It was not immediately clear whether the concessions would satisfy euro zone leaders, who have insisted on additional spending cuts and tax increases before they will give Greece any more bailout money. Tsipras won office on a promise to resist creditors' demands for austerity measures.

A massive 24-hour manhunt ended Sunday when police arrested Travis Boys, 33, for the murder of police officer Daryle Holloway, who was killed while transporting Boys to jail in New Orleans on Saturday. Boys had been arrested on suspicion of aggravated assault and questioned in a police station. Boys was handcuffed in the back seat of the police cruiser, and somehow got into the car with two pistols despite being frisked. He was still wearing broken handcuffs when two officers caught him.

Apple announced late Sunday that it would start paying artists royalties during the 90-day free-trial period of its new streaming music service. The change came less than 24 hours after Taylor Swift complained in an open letter that Apple was asking musicians to provide their work for no compensation. "When I woke up this morning and read Taylor's note, it really solidified that we need to make a change," said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of internet software and services.

Police converged on two upstate New York towns — Mountain View and Owls Head — late Sunday after the latest possible sighting of escaped murderers David Sweat and Richard Matt. The owner of a hunting cabin reported seeing someone fleeing after a break-in. The building is deep in the woods, and far from any road. The sighting was about 25 miles from the prison Sweat and Matt escaped on June 6. Police said 'forensic evidence' had also been found.

Islamic State militants have planted bombs in the ancient ruins of the Syrian city of Palmyra, the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Sunday. It was not immediately clear whether ISIS fighters planned to blow up the historic site in the central Syrian city, or intended to use the explosives to slow down a counteroffensive by government forces. ISIS militants have destroyed ancient archaeological artifacts in neighboring Iraq, calling them pagan.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi helped kick off the first International Yoga Day on Sunday, leading his Cabinet, foreign diplomats, and a crowd of about 35,000 other participants in yoga poses on a major thoroughfare in New Delhi. Thousands of people around the world joined in, from Austin, Texas, to Beijing. Modi said the day was "the beginning of a new age through which we will achieve greater heights of peace, good will and train the human spirit."

Thousands of people formed a "unity chain" across a Charleston, South Carolina, bridge on Sunday night in the latest effort to honor the nine African-American parishioners and ministers killed by a white gunman last week at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Participants in the Sunday procession clapped, linked hands, and sang "This Little Light of Mine" and other songs as they crossed the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge linking Charleston and Mount Pleasant.

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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.