10 things you need to know today: July 3, 2015

A worker picks up blobs of oil in Louisiana.

(Image credit: AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

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1. BP agrees to $18.7 billion settlement for Gulf oil spill
2. Ex-Senator Jim Webb of Virginia launches bid for Democratic presidential nomination
3. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker takes step toward entering presidential race
4. Aetna to buy Humana for $37 billion
5. Thousands evacuated after train carrying toxic chemicals derails in Tennessee
6. Alleged terrorist mastermind killed by U.S. airstrike in Tunisia
7. Navy Yard report of gunman proves to be a false alarm
8. ISIS militants destroy ancient statues in Syria
9. Van carrying fireworks explodes, closing freeway between Los Angeles and Las Vegas
10. Washington woman dies of measles in first death from the disease since 2003

last updated 3 July 2015

1. BP agrees to $18.7 billion settlement for Gulf oil spill

BP has agreed to pay $18.7 billion to settle all claims against it in connection with the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, officials said Thursday. The settlement, which still must be approved by a federal judge, would be the largest environmental settlement ever. States and cities along the Gulf Coast have said the spill chased off tourists and fish, and cost them a fortune in taxes. The payments would include $5.5 billion under the Clean Water Act, $7.1 billion for environmental harm, $5 billion to the states, and $1 billion to local governments.

Former Virginia Senator Jim Webb announced Thursday that he would run for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination. Webb is a former Republican who served as secretary of the navy under Ronald Reagan. He offers voters a more conservative option to Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton, who has appealed to liberals since launching her second bid for the White House in April. Webb has an uphill battle ahead, as he lacks the former secretary of state's name recognition.

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Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker on Thursday took the first step toward officially joining the 2016 presidential race by filing papers with the Federal Election Commission. Walker is expected to formally announce his candidacy for the Republican nomination on July 13 with a speech in his hometown of Waukesha, Wisconsin, a suburb of Milwaukee. Walker, who won over many conservatives by taking on unions in his state, led a 16-candidate GOP pack in the latest Quinnipiac poll in Iowa.

Health insurer Aetna said Friday that it would buy smaller rival Humana for $37 billion in the insurance industry's biggest deal ever. Antitrust regulators will have to review how the acquisition would affect competition. If the deal goes through, the combined company will have about $115 billion and 33 million members, nearly as many as No. 2 carrier Anthem. The deal could be the start of a wave of consolidation that was on hold before last week's Supreme Court ruling upholding ObamaCare subsidies nationwide.

Five thousand people in Tennessee were ordered to evacuate their homes on Thursday after a CSX train carrying toxic chemicals partly derailed outside of Knoxville. Fifty-two people sought treatment at local hospitals; 25 of them were admitted. The train was carrying acrylonitrile, which authorities said was a "highly flammable and toxic gas." The crash ignited a fire, which firefighters rushed to extinguish so 30 mph winds would not cause the blaze to spread.

U.S. officials said Thursday that Tunisia's most wanted jihadist — Seifallah Ben Hassine, also known as Abu Ayadh — was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Libya last month. The strike targeted another al Qaeda leader. Ben Hassine's death, if confirmed, would mark a major success for Tunisia, which has been battling insurgents in its western border region. Last Friday militants massacred 38 people, most of them British, in an attack on a beach resort. Ben Hassine was suspected of masterminding several terrorist attacks and assassinations.

A shooting scare at the Washington Navy Yard ended Thursday with no shots fired. D.C. police and federal law enforcement agents swarmed the facility. They were already on alert for terrorist threats ahead of the Fourth of July weekend. The Navy Yard and the surrounding area were closed for three hours, but investigators found no evidence of a gunman. Authorities said the search was a good test of lessons learned in a 2013 massacre at the Navy Yard.

Islamic State militants smashed artifacts from the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, the Islamist group said in a statement posted on social media sites Thursday. ISIS militants captured a man smuggling at least six ancient statues through Aleppo province and took him to a self-proclaimed Islamic court in the ISIS-controlled city of Manbij. The court ruled the relics violated ISIS' interpretation of Islam. Militants then destroyed them with sledgehammers, and publicly lashed the smuggler.

A van filled with fireworks exploded Thursday in California five miles from the Nevada state line, shutting down a freeway connecting Los Angeles and Las Vegas. The Chevrolet box van caught fire on the shoulder of the highway. "The fireworks were exploding inside," San Bernardino County Fire Department spokeswoman Tracey Martinez said. "The truck burned to the ground." Southbound traffic was stopped for an hour as firefighters tried to extinguish the blaze. It was not immediately clear whether the fireworks were legal.

U.S. health officials revealed Thursday that a Washington woman recently died of measles — the first death from the disease in the U.S. since 2003. Measles is highly contagious, but it is extremely rare for a patient to die from it. Officials did not immediately say whether the woman had been vaccinated, although they said her immune system was compromised due to medications she was taking. Over the last year, measles cases have soared to an all-time high of 644 since the U.S. was declared to be measles-free in 2000.

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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.