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

(Image credit: (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File))

Jump to category:

1. State of emergency declared in St. Louis County after latest Ferguson unrest
2. Google shares soar after it creates a new parent company, Alphabet
3. Greece reaches bailout deal
4. Trump tops another poll as Clinton dismisses his campaign as "entertainment"
5. Rick Perry stops paying South Carolina campaign staff
6. Zimbabwe lifts ban on big-game hunting
7. Japan restarts first nuclear reactor under rules imposed after Fukushima disaster
8. U.S. rowing team members fall ill after competing at Rio Olympics site
9. White House staffer accused of firing gun in lovers' dispute
10. Actress Melissa Gilbert launches bid for Congress

last updated 11 August 2015

1. State of emergency declared in St. Louis County after latest Ferguson unrest

Police arrested 23 people late Monday and early Tuesday as unrest continued in Ferguson, Missouri, following the first anniversary of the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, by a white officer. St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger declared a state of emergency on Monday after police shot and critically injured a young man — identified by friends as Tyrone Harris, 18 — who allegedly fired at police following a peaceful protest.

Google announced Monday that it had created a new parent company called Alphabet that would oversee all of its businesses. The publicly traded Alphabet will be run by Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergei Brin, while Google will be a subsidiary run by newly named CEO Sundar Pichai, who was already a high-ranking Google executive. Page said the change would make the company "cleaner and more accountable." Google shares rose by 6 percent in after-hours trading following the surprise announcement.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Greece and its lenders reached a multi-billion-euro bailout agreement after marathon overnight talks. "Finally, we have white smoke," a finance ministry official said. "An agreement has been reached." If a few lingering minor issues can be worked out, the first disbursement of what is expected to be a three-year, $95 billion bailout could come in time for a major debt payment that is due next week. Greek banking stocks surged 6 percent early Tuesday after the announcement.

Donald Trump came out on top in yet another poll despite his controversial performance last week in the first prime-time debate of the Republican presidential primary campaign. The real-estate billionaire and reality TV star even extended his lead over his nearest competitor in the 17-candidate field, former Florida governor Jeb Bush, in a Reuters/Ipsos poll. Trump had the support of 24 percent of GOP voters, Bush 12 percent. Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton dismissed Trump's campaign as "entertainment."

Former Texas governor Rick Perry's presidential campaign has stopped paying its six-member staff in South Carolina due to financial troubles. Perry's repeat try for the GOP nomination raised just $1.1 million in the second quarter, forcing him to rely on his better-funded super PAC. He also failed to make the cut for last week's prime-time debate. Perry's campaign manager said Perry and his team remained committed to competing in South Carolina, and other early-primary states.

Wildlife officials in Zimbabwe on Monday lifted a ban on big-game hunting imposed after the killing of Cecil the lion, allegedly by American bow-hunter Walter Palmer. Authorities suspended hunting of lions, leopards, and elephants around Hwange National Park on August 1. All such hunts now will require written approval from the head of the parks authority. A member of the park's staff will accompany all legal hunts.

A Japanese power plant on Tuesday restarted the first nuclear reactor to operate under tough new rules imposed following the 2011 Fukushima meltdown, which was caused by a massive earthquake and tsunami. The move marks the end of a four-and-a-half-year break from nuclear power. The reactor at the Sendai Nuclear Power Plant — one of 43 in the nation — could begin supplying electricity to a nearby city by Friday.

Thirteen members of the 40-person U.S. rowing team were stricken with stomach illness at last weekend's World Junior Rowing Championships, a trial run at venues in next summer's Rio de Janeiro Olympics. The U.S. team was hit hardest by the ailments, which caused vomiting and diarrhea. The reports came less than two weeks after an Associated Press investigation found high levels of pollution in all of the water venues to be used in the games.

White House staffer Barvetta Singletary, a special assistant to President Obama, has been charged with domestic violence for allegedly firing a pistol in the direction of her boyfriend. Police said Singletary took the victim's gun and pointed it at him after he refused to reveal the passwords of his two cellphones during an argument over the victim's relations with other women. The White House said Singletary had been placed on administrative leave, and her White House access has been revoked.

Former Little House on the Prairie star Melissa Gilbert announced Monday that she is running for a Michigan congressional seat. The 51-year-old Democrat is running against first-term Republican Rep. Mike Bishop in a district the GOP has controlled for 15 years. It spans three counties from the Detroit suburbs to the state capital, Lansing. Gilbert said she is "running to make life a little easier for all the families who feel they have fallen through the cracks in today's economy."

Explore More

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.