10 things you need to know today: November 5, 2015

The Egyptian military pulls up to the crash site.

(Image credit: Maxim Grigoriev/Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations via AP)

Jump to category:

1. U.S. says ISIS bomb might have downed Russian plane
2. Trans-Pacific Partnership details released, kicking off ratification battle
3. Elder ex-president Bush slams Cheney and Rumsfeld in new biography
4. Mexican Supreme Court takes a step toward decriminalizing pot
5. Investigators say Illinois officer staged suicide
6. Justin Trudeau sworn in as Canada's prime minister
7. Yellen says rate hike possible in December with solid economic data
8. Suspect shot dead after five stabbed at UC Merced
9. Crews search for survivors after Pakistan factory collapses
10. Chris Stapleton wins big at Country Music Awards

published 5 November 2015

1. U.S. says ISIS bomb might have downed Russian plane

U.S. and British officials said Wednesday that the crash of the Russian jet that killed 224 people in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula could have been caused by a bomb planted by the Islamic State. A Pentagon spokesman said that investigators are still reviewing evidence, but even before a cause is pinpointed U.S. workers should avoid going to the area. British Prime Minister David Cameron said all flights from the Egyptian resort city of Sharm el Sheikh to Britain were being halted until the skies in the area are confirmed safe.

On Thursday, the U.S. and 11 other Pacific Rim nations party to the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade accord released the text of the agreement, starting the clock for the U.S. Congress to ratify the pact — crucial to its success — or reject it. The TPP agreement took five years to hammer out, and the secrecy of the negotiations made a lot of labor, business, and environmental groups nervous. The final agreement, running hundreds of detail-heavy pages, is 30 chapters long with several side agreements. If ratified, TPP will be the largest regional trade pact yet, lowering or ending most trade barriers between 12 nations that make up 40 percent of the world's economy.

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Former president George H.W. Bush broke years of silence on the administration of his son, former president George W. Bush, with harsh criticism of former Vice President Dick Cheney and ex-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. In a Jon Meacham biography to be released by Random House next week, the elder Bush says Cheney's "iron-ass" approach exerted too much hardline influence, and Rumsfeld was an "arrogant fellow" who "served the president badly." Cheney told Fox News he took being called "iron-ass" as a "mark of pride."

Mexico's Supreme Court said Wednesday that people should have the right to grow and consume marijuana for personal, recreational use. The ruling applied only to four members of a group advocating decriminalizing pot, but it established a legal foundation for others to challenge existing drug laws. Mexican cartels provide much of the marijuana sold in the U.S., and the country has been ravaged by drug violence. Advocates for decriminalization say it could erode the power of drug cartels.

An Illinois police officer whose death sparked a manhunt in September staged his suicide to look like he had been killed in the line of duty, Commander George Filenko of the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force said Wednesday. The officer, Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz, had radioed to say he was chasing three suspects, and was found dead a short while later about 150 feet from his squad car. Investigators believe he had been embezzling from the police Explorers program and killed himself because he feared he would be caught.

Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau was sworn in Wednesday as Canada's prime minister. Shortly before, Stephen Harper submitted his resignation from the post, formally ending nearly a decade of conservative rule. Trudeau, son of the late liberal political icon Pierre Trudeau, included an equal number of women and men in his cabinet, a first. "Gender parity in the national cabinet is huge," cabinet minister Sheila Copps said. "It sends a great message to our daughters and sons."

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said that December remains a "live possibility" to start gradually hiking interest rates, if the economy continues to grow at a healthy pace and inflation returns to the target rate of 2 percent. The remarks, Yellen's first since last week's meeting of Fed policymakers, pushed bond yields up, but dragged down stocks. Investors now put the likelihood that the Fed will start slowly raising rates from near zero at more than 60 percent.

A male student allegedly stabbed five people Wednesday at the University of California, Merced, before being shot and killed by police. Two of the wounded had to be airlifted to a hospital. Four of the victims were students. The alleged assailant was shot on a pedestrian bridge students cross to get from classes to the school's dining area and parking lot. "The crime scene is the whole center of campus," said UC Merced spokeswoman Lorena Anderson.

A factory building collapsed in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore on Wednesday, killing at least 18 people. As many as 150 others were trapped hours after the disaster as rescuers dug with construction equipment to free dozens of survivors. The four-story building was reduced to rubble, with nothing remaining standing. "People have received phone calls from three or four people from inside the debris, so we cannot remove the rubble recklessly," said Mohammad Usman, a senior local government official at the scene.

Chris Stapleton was a big winner at the 2015 Country Music Awards in Nashville on Wednesday night, taking best male vocalist, as well as best new artist and album of the year honors. He and Justin Timberlake also brought down the house with covers of the George Jones song "Tennessee Whiskey" and Timberlake's "Drink You Away." Other winners included Luke Bryan (entertainer of the year), Little Big Town (best vocal group and single of the year for "Girl Crush"), and Miranda Lambert, who earned her sixth consecutive best female vocalist honors.

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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.