10 things you need to know today: June 24, 2015

Protesters outside the South Carolina Statehouse.

(Image credit: AP Photo/Rainier Ehrhardt)

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1. Senate advances fast-track trade bill
2. South Carolina House agrees to debate taking down Confederate flag
3. Greece says European creditors reject concessions
4. Autopsy shows Freddie Gray suffered "high-energy" impact
5. White House eases stance on families that negotiate with hostage takers
6. Charleston bans protests at funerals for nine killed in church shooting
7. Rains ease deadly heat wave in southern Pakistan
8. France angered over report of NSA spying on presidents
9. New York escapees were reportedly smuggled tools in hamburger meat
10. Actor Dick Van Patten dies

published 24 June 2015

1. Senate advances fast-track trade bill

The Senate voted 60-37 on Tuesday to advance Obama’s fast-track trade bill, narrowly avoiding a filibuster that could have derailed the legislation for a second time. The bill, now expectedly to easily pass on Wednesday, is intended to help Obama seal a 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership by letting him present trade deals to Congress for up-or-down votes, with no amendments. The pact would cover roughly 40 percent of the global economy, and House Democrats pushing for U.S. labor protections tried to block it.

South Carolina lawmakers voted Tuesday to open debate on removing the Confederate battle flag from the State Capitol grounds. A growing chorus of politicians, led by Gov. Nikki Haley (R), have called for taking down the flag, a symbol embraced by white supremacists, since the murder of nine people at a black church in Charleston by a white gunman. While members of the State House met, hundreds of demonstrators outside chanted, "Take it down!"

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European stocks dropped on Wednesday after Greece said its lenders had rejected some of its proposals to break an impasse over bailout money it needs to avoid default. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said it was "strange" that "certain" creditors had turned down his government's plan for closing a budget gap, saying this "has never happened before. Neither in Ireland nor in Portugal. Nowhere!" Tsipras is heading to Brussels to meet with leaders of the European Commission, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund.

Freddie Gray sustained a "high-energy injury" that was likely caused when the police van he was in suddenly slowed down, according to an autopsy report cited by The Baltimore Sun. Gray, 25, was arrested in April and died a week later from a spinal injury suffered in police custody. After Gray's arrest, officers loaded him into the van on his stomach. His arms and legs were shackled but he was not belted in. The medical examiner said that put him "at risk for an unsupported fall during acceleration or deceleration of the van."

The Obama administration plans to tell the families of Americans captured by terrorists that they can pay ransom without fear of being prosecuted, under new hostage guidelines being released Wednesday. President Obama ordered a review of the policies after Islamic State militants murdered several American hostages last fall, and family members said administration officials had threatened them with prosecution if they tried to negotiate with the captors. Some lawmakers said they were "disappointed" with the move.

The city of Charleston, South Carolina, unanimously passed an emergency ordinance on Tuesday banning protests at funerals after a group threatened to picket outside services for nine people killed by a white gunman at a historic black church. Police Chief Gregory Mullen declined to identify the protest group, but the Westboro Baptist Church said on social media it planned to picket. The ordinance, which expires in 60 days, prohibits protests within 300 feet of funerals. More than 2,000 local residents joined a Facebook group promising to create a "human wall" between any protesters and the funerals.

Sea breezes and pre-monsoon rains on Wednesday cooled parts of southern Pakistan that had been suffering from a deadly heat wave. Temperatures in Karachi, a city of 20 million people, dropped to 93.2 degrees Fahrenheit from a high of 113 degrees Fahrenheit. Hospitals reported a decline in admittances for heat-related ailments. At least 749 people died in Sindh province, of which Karachi is the capital. The government declared a state of emergency as it faced public anger over the response to the crisis.

France summoned the U.S. ambassador to the Foreign Ministry after documents released by WikiLeaks reportedly indicated that the U.S. National Security Agency had spied on French President Francois Hollande and his two predecessors. Hollande called an emergency meeting with top lawmakers on Wednesday to discuss the leaked documents. Hollande called the NSA snooping described in the documents "unacceptable."

A New York prosecutor said Tuesday that investigators believe prison seamstress Joyce Mitchell helped two murderers escape by smuggling them hacksaws and other tools hidden in frozen hamburger meat. The convicts, Richard Matt and David Sweat, burrowed out of the maximum-security Clinton Correctional Facility on June 6. Mitchell allegedly was supposed to drive a getaway car but got cold feet. Police have swarmed a wooded area about 25 miles from the prison after the escapees' DNA was found on evidence in a hunting cabin that was burglarized.

Dick Van Patten, who played an iconic suburban dad in the 1970s TV series Eight is Enough, died in California on Tuesday. He was 86. The round-faced actor started his career on Broadway at age 7, but his role as Tom Bradford, father of eight, on Eight is Enough sealed his status as a TV icon. The show ran from 1977 to 1981. Van Patten also appeared in several Mel Brooks films, including High Anxiety, Spaceballs, and Robin Hood: Men in Tights.

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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.