10 things you need to know today: November 14, 2015

Man mourns victims of deadly Paris terrorist attacks

(Image credit: Thibault Camus/Associated Press)

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1. At least 127 dead, 300 hospitalized in terrorist attacks across Paris
2. French President François Hollande calls attacks 'act of war' by ISIS
3. World leaders stand with France after attacks
4. Supreme Court takes up first abortion case in nearly a decade
5. Former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky to get pension back
6. Ben Carson responds to Donald Trump's attacks: 'Pray for him'
7. Mizzou football coach resigns, citing health reasons
8. Federal report: Adult smoking rate hits new low
9. Utah judge reverses decision, lets lesbian couple keep foster child
10. Democratic presidential contenders prepare for Iowa debate

published 14 November 2015

1. At least 127 dead, 300 hospitalized in terrorist attacks across Paris

At least 127 people died and 300 were hospitalized following six terrorist attacks in Paris on Friday night. Of the people hospitalized, 80 are in critical condition. A gunman opened fire with an AK-47 in a Paris restaurant. Around the same time, at least two suicide bombs were reported near Stade de France, the stadium where the French national team was playing a football match. Shots were also fired inside the Bataclan concert hall during a metal show, and the attackers took hostages. Smaller shootings were also reported near the city center.

French President François Hollande called the six terrorist attacks that killed at least 127 people across Paris an "act of war" Saturday morning. "It is an act of war that was waged by a terrorist army, a jihadist army, by Daesh, against France," he said, referring to the Islamic State by its Arabic name. After Hollande spoke, ISIS reportedly claimed responsibility in an online statement for the Friday attacks, the worst on French soil since World War II. On Friday night, Hollande declared a state of emergency.

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President Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron, and Pope Francis were among the world leaders to express their support for France in light of Friday night's deadly terrorist attacks. "This is an attack on all of humanity and the universal values that we share," Obama said Friday. Cameron said Saturday morning he's spoken with French President François Hollande and offered to help. Francis said Saturday: "It is difficult to understand such things, done by human beings."

The Supreme Court agreed Friday to hear a case on a Texas law limiting abortion clinics, marking the first time the court has taken up a case on the issue since 2007. The law would leave only about 10 of the state's more than 40 abortion clinics open. In the case, Whole Women's Health v. Cole, the justices will decide whether Texas' tough restrictions on abortion providers place an "undue burden" on women seeking legal abortions. A decision is expected by late June.

A Pennsylvania court ruled Friday that former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, a convicted child molester, will get his state pension back. The monthly $4,900 payment to Sandusky, who had retired from the public university in 1999, was revoked in October 2012, when he was convicted of sexually abusing 10 children. Sandusky, 71, did work for Penn State at the time he committed the crimes, but because he was not technically an employee, he didn't forfeit his pension, the decision argued. The retirement board behind the original call may appeal to the state Supreme Court.

A nine-minute attack by Donald Trump aimed at his biggest threat in the polls, Ben Carson, caused the retired neurosurgeon's camp to respond with pity. A Carson spokesman told CNN on Friday after hearing about Trump's Thursday attack, Carson responded, "Pray for him." The Republican presidential hopeful berated crowds on Thursday for accepting a now-questioned story Ben Carson has been telling about a knife fight from his childhood. "How stupid are the people of Iowa?" Trump said.

University of Missouri head football coach Gary Pinkel announced his resignation Friday, citing a diagnosis of non-Hodgkin lymphoma he received earlier in 2015. "I decided that I want to focus on enjoying my remaining years with my family and friends, and also have proper time to battle the disease and give full attention to that," he said. Pinkel's announcement to retire Dec. 31 comes days after race-related Mizzou protests, including a boycott from about 30 football players, led system President Tim Wolfe to resign. Pinkel backed his players in the boycott.

The number of U.S. adults who smoke cigarettes dropped to a new low of 16.8 percent in 2014, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report released Friday. In 2005, 20.9 percent of adults smoked. The average number of cigarettes smoked per day among daily smokers also decreased in the same time span. The smoking rates are higher among uninsured adults and Medicaid recipients, according to self-reported data, which comes from the 2014 National Health Interview Survey.

Utah judge Scott Johansen reversed his order Friday and will now allow a married lesbian couple to keep their foster child. Johansen had ordered Tuesday that the child, a 9-month-old girl, be removed from the couple's home due to their sexual orientations and be placed with a heterosexual couple. Johansen's revised statement omits both the claim that "it is not in the best interest of children to be raised by same-sex couples" and the initial order from Tuesday.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley go head to head Saturday evening at the University of Des Moines, Iowa in the second Democratic debate of the season. In light of the Paris attacks, CBS News will reportedly focus the questions on terrorism, national security, and foreign relations. Clinton, the frontrunner among the Democrats, seeks to avoid losing the Iowa caucuses as she did in 2008. The debate will stream for free on CBS's website beginning at 9 p.m. ET.

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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.