10 things you need to know today: September 12, 2015

(Image credit: Sid Hastings/Associated Press)

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1. Rick Perry drops out of presidential race
2. Donald Trump talks polls, apologies with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show
3. At least 107 dead after crane collapses on Mecca's Grand Mosque
4. House rejects Iran deal in symbolic vote
5. NYPD releases video of James Blake's wrongful arrest
6. Britain's Labour Party elects hard leftist Jeremy Corbyn in surprising vote
7. Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake won't seek re-election
8. Egyptian cabinet resigns following official's arrest
9. Serena Williams upset by Roberta Vinci in U.S. Open semifinals
10. NFL clears New England Patriots of cheating suspicions in season opener

published 12 September 2015

1. Rick Perry drops out of presidential race

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) is dropping out of the presidential race, he announced during a speech in St. Louis on Friday. "We have a tremendous field — the best in a generation — so I step aside knowing our party is in good hands as long as we listen to the grassroots," he said. Perry, who has been plagued by middling poll numbers and an inability to pay his staff, is the first candidate to drop out of the race. Sixteen GOP candidates remain.

Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump sat down with The Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon on Friday for his first late night appearance since launching his campaign. In the opening segment, Fallon gently mocked the billionaire by pretending to be his reflection in a mirror. The interview itself didn't hit any harder, focusing on Trump's high poll numbers. When Fallon asked if Trump has ever apologized, he responded, to much audience laughter, "I fully think apologizing is a great thing, but you have to be wrong."

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A construction crane crashed onto the Grand Mosque in the Saudi Arabian city of Mecca on Friday, killing at least 107 people and wounding at least 238 others. The Grand Mosque, or Masjid al-Haram, is the biggest mosque in the world. The crane fell amid heavy wind and rain just 10 days before the annual Hajj pilgrimage, an event expected to draw millions to the nation. Saudi officials have called for an investigation into the cause of the collapse.

House Republicans rejected President Obama's nuclear deal with Iran on Friday in a 269-162 vote that was largely symbolic. The vote came one day after Senate Democrats blocked a GOP attempt to pass a "resolution of disapproval" of the agreement between Iran and six world powers, securing a major victory for Obama and ensuring that he wouldn't have to veto a Senate rejection of the deal. The landmark nuclear deal will ease sanctions on Tehran in exchange for Iran agreeing to curb its nuclear program.

Newly released video of the the wrongful arrest of retired tennis star James Blake in a case of mistaken identity shows undercover NYPD officer James Frascatore tackling Blake, who is black, and slamming him to the ground outside of a hotel where he had been waiting for a car to take him to the U.S. Open. Frascatore, who reportedly has a history of excessive force complaints, has been placed on desk duty while the NYPD investigates the incident.

Britain's opposition Labour Party elected outsider Jeremy Corbyn in a shocking upset on Saturday, marking a hard leftward turn for the group. Corbyn, who snagged nearly 60 percent of the vote despite never holding a major party position, has pledged to reverse centrist policies enacted by his predecessors, including former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Corbyn chalked up his victory to voters fed up with "the inequality, the injustice, the unnecessary poverty" he says the country has endured since Europe's 2008 financial crisis.

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, who faced criticism for her handling of riots in the wake of the death of Freddie Gray in police custody, won't seek re-election, she announced Friday. The development comes as Baltimore gears up for the trial of six police officers charged in Gray's death. Rawlings-Blake said running would be "time that I would be taking away from my current responsibility to my city, to the city that I love, the city that I took an oath to serve."

Egyptian Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab and his cabinet resigned Saturday, days after police arrested the agricultural minister on charges of corruption. President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi accepted the resignation, but ordered the cabinet to serve until the oil minister selects their replacements, which is expected to happen within a week. Salah al-Din Helal was arrested Monday for allegedly taking bribes in exchange for helping secure land licenses for roughly 2,500 acres. A cabinet spokesman has claimed to local media that the case will not grow to involve other officials, including Mahlab himself.

Roberta Vinci foiled Serena Williams' chances of a Grand Slam on Friday with a dramatic 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 win. Vinci will advance to the finals on Saturday, where she will face fellow Italian Flavia Pennetta, who beat No. 2 Simona Halep 6-1, 6-3. The upset marks the first time Williams has lost a Grand Slam semifinal or final after winning the first set. Williams had aimed to become the first player since Steffi Graf in 1988 to win the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and U.S. Open in the same year.

The NFL cleared the New England Patriots of any wrongdoing in Thursday night's headset glitch. The home radio broadcast sounds Pittsburgh Steelers coaches said they heard in their headsets were "entirely attributable to an electrical issue made worse by the inclement weather," a league spokesman said Friday. Other football coaches have made similar cheating accusations against the reigning Super Bowl champs, and the team has faced backlash for allegedly deflating footballs to get a competitive advantage last playoff season.

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Julie Kliegman is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed, Vox, Mental Floss, Paste, the Tampa Bay Times and PolitiFact. Her cats can do somersaults.