10 things you need to know today: December 24, 2015

(Image credit: AP Photo/Dan Grossi)

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1. Belgian becomes ninth person arrested for Paris terror attacks
2. Deadly, unseasonable storms strike Southeast
3. U.S. plans raids to deport Central American families
4. Black Lives Matter protest targets Mall of America, Minneapolis airport
5. U.S. and other embassies warn of Christmas terror threat in Beijing
6. Fire kills 25 people at Saudi hospital
7. Judge orders psychiatric evaluation for Planned Parenthood shooting suspect
8. Illinois delivers latest blow to fantasy sports sites
9. Hyatt reports malware breach in its payment system
10. Beatles music finally available to stream

last updated 24 December 2015

1. Belgian becomes ninth person arrested for Paris terror attacks

Belgian authorities have arrested a Belgian man on murder and terrorism charges connected to the Paris terror attacks. The man, identified as Abdoullah C., was the ninth person to be arrested over the Nov. 13 attacks, which killed 130 people. Abdoullah C. was detained Tuesday near Brussels' Molenbeek neighborhood, where several people involved in the attacks lived or had ties. Abdoullah C. allegedly had contact with a cousin of the suspected chief planner of the attacks, who was killed in a Nov. 18 counterterror raid in a Paris suburb.

An unusual spring-like string of storms and tornadoes hit the Southeast on Wednesday, killing at least eight people and injuring 40. The National Weather Service had warned of a "particularly dangerous situation" covering eastern Arkansas, northwest Mississippi, northeast Louisiana, and western Tennessee — the first such warning in more than a year. The unseasonable, violent weather, which disrupted holiday travel, was the latest sign of the unusually strong El Niño starting in the Pacific.

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The Department of Homeland Security has begun preparing for a series of raids targeting families who have evaded deportation orders after fleeing Central America and entering the U.S. illegally. The national operation, reported late Wednesday by The Washington Post, would focus on hundreds of families already ordered removed by an immigration judge. The campaign is expected to begin in early January. It would be the first major effort to deport the more than 100,000 families who fled violence in Central America earlier this year.

Hundreds of Black Lives Matter protesters gathered at the Mall of America in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington on Wednesday, chanting for justice in the massive shopping hub on one of the busiest shopping days of the year. Dozens of the mall's 500 stores closed their gates before the demonstration began. The mostly peaceful protest — organized to draw attention to the fatal police shooting last month of Jamar Clark, a 24-year-old black man — quickly moved on to a light rail station and Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, where one of two terminals was briefly blocked.

The U.S. embassy in Beijing warned Americans of possible terrorist threats on or around Christmas in Sanlitun, a shopping district popular with Westerners. Beijing police locked down large areas and stationed armed officers at key intersections and pedestrian plazas. The embassies of the U.K. and several other nations issued similar warnings to their citizens. In the same shopping district, an assailant who said he "hated Americans" stabbed and killed a Chinese woman in August as she walked with her French husband.

A fire swept through the maternity ward at a Saudi hospital Thursday, killing 25 people and injuring 107. A witness told Saudi Arabia's government-controlled al-Ekhbariya television that the fire appeared to be electrical, and it spread through the hospital in three minutes. "We could hear the women screaming," the unidentified man said. Government critics tweeted calls for the health minister to resign, blaming the fire on official negligence. It was the latest in a series of public disasters, including deadly stampedes at the Muslim hajj pilgrimage.

A judge on Wednesday ordered Planned Parenthood shooting suspect Robert Lewis Dear to undergo a psychiatric evaluation after Dear said he wanted to act as his own attorney. The examination is meant to determine whether Dear is fit to defend himself against murder and other charges. Two weeks ago, Dear said he was guilty and declared himself to be a "warrior for the babies." After the outburst, his lawyer said Dear, 57, might not be competent to stand trial.

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan on Wednesday said fantasy sports sites DraftKings and FanDuel are illegal gambling operations, and that they should be shut down until lawmakers explicitly legalize them. Madigan, whose decision followed a similar one in New York, said Illinois expects the companies to adjust their terms of use to include the state in the list of places where people are not eligible to participate in their daily fantasy sports contests. There is pending legislation in the Illinois legislature that would exempt fantasy sports from a state gambling ban.

Hyatt Hotels said Wednesday that it had found malicious software on the computer system that processes payments from its customers, raising the danger that hackers could access credit card numbers or other personal data. The hotel chain urged customers to review statements for any cards they used at Hyatt properties to make sure there were no fraudulent charges. Several other hotel chains, including Hilton, Starwood, Mandarin Oriental, and Trump Collection, have reported similar malware infiltrations this year.

The Beatles' entire catalog of music for the first time is being made available on streaming services such as Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play, Tidal, and more. The last remaining holdouts from a time when internet streaming was met with skepticism and suspicion (even AC/DC and Led Zeppelin eventually gave in), surviving Beatles Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney have approved making their 13 original albums and four compilations available live on streaming services as of 12:01 a.m. on Dec. 24.

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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.