10 things you need to know today: April 11, 2016

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1. Kerry becomes highest-ranking American to visit Hiroshima memorial
2. Danny Willett wins Masters after Jordan Spieth unravels
3. Obama calls Libya intervention follow-up his 'worst mistake'
4. CIA director says agency will never waterboard again
5. High-ranking North Korean military officer defects
6. Ukrainian prime minister resigns
7. India investigates fireworks accident that killed 100 at temple
8. Macedonian officers use tear gas to keep migrants from crossing border
9. Murder charge filed in road-rage death of ex-Saints player Will Smith
10. Golden State Warriors tie single-season record for wins

published 11 April 2016

1. Kerry becomes highest-ranking American to visit Hiroshima memorial

On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry visited what he called the "gut-wrenching" memorial to the victims of the American atomic bombing of Hiroshima 71 years ago. Kerry is the highest ranking U.S. official ever to visit the peace memorial. He visited with other G7 leaders. "Everyone in the world should see and feel the power of this memorial," Kerry wrote in the guest book. "It is a stark, harsh, compelling reminder not only of our obligation to end the threat of nuclear weapons, but to rededicate all our effort to avoid war itself."

Danny Willett, a 28-year-old British golfer with no PGA Tour wins, won the Masters on Sunday after defending champion Jordan Spieth suffered an epic meltdown. Spieth, who had led by five strokes in the final round, was still clinging to a one-shot lead when he put two shots into the water and scored a quadruple bogey seven on the 12th hole, falling three shots behind. Willett is the first European to win the Masters since Jose Maria Olazabal in 1999.

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President Obama said on Fox News Sunday that his "worst mistake" in office was the lack of planning for "the day after" the 2011 U.S.-backed intervention that toppled Moammar Gadhafi in Libya. Obama said intervening was "the right thing to do," but the U.S. should have been better prepared to boost a stable government afterwards. He said his biggest accomplishment was "saving the economy from a Great Depression." Obama also vowed not to influence the investigation of Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while serving as secretary of state.

CIA Director John Brennan said Sunday that his agency would never again use waterboarding and other "enhanced interrogation" techniques that have been characterized as torture, even if a future president ordered them. "I will not agree to carry out some of these tactics and techniques I've heard bandied about because this institution needs to endure," he told NBC News. President Obama banned waterboarding in 2009, but Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump has said he would bring back waterboarding or "worse" tactics against suspected terrorists.

A colonel from North Korea's spy agency defected recently, South Korea confirmed on Monday. The colonel is the highest ranking military officer to have defected from the isolated communist nation in decades, although South Korea declined to provide details about his identity or his role in North Korea's intelligence service. South Korean news agency Yonhap earlier reported the defection, which occurred last year. The government, which also confirmed the defection of another North Korean official last year, typically only confirms defections after it has thoroughly debriefed a defector.

Ukraine's embattled prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, announced Sunday that he would submit his resignation to parliament on Tuesday. Lawmakers are expected to promptly elect the current speaker, Volodymyr Groysman, to replace him. Yatsenyuk has faced accusations of inaction and corruption. President Petro Poroshenko in February called for him to step down, but Yatsenyuk's Cabinet withstood a no-confidence vote, although two coalition partners quit in protest. Yatsenyuk took office in 2014.

Indian police on Monday filed criminal charges against authorities at a temple in the city of Kollam where more than 100 people were killed over the weekend after a fireworks accident caused a massive fire during a festival marking the local Hindu new year. Sparks detonated an entire magazine of fireworks that were to be used in a display that reportedly was not authorized. The explosion ignited a large blaze that consumed several buildings within the temple complex. Nearby homes caught fire, too.

Macedonian police used tear gas and rubber bullets on Sunday to turn away hundreds of migrants trying to break through a border fence at a refugee camp in the northern Greek town of Idomeni. The incident was the latest in a series of outbursts by migrants and war refugees since officials last week started sending people back from Greece to Turkey under a European Union deal aiming to stem the flow of migrants toward Europe.

The New Orleans Saints Hall of Fame announced Sunday that former defensive end Will Smith, who was fatally shot Saturday in an apparent road-rage incident, was unanimously voted into the hall last month. Smith played a key role in the football team's 2009 Super Bowl victory. Smith's wife, Racquel, was in the car with him on Saturday, and was shot twice in the legs. Twenty-eight-year-old Cardell Hayes, who was driving a Hummer that rear-ended the Smiths' Mercedes, was arrested on second-degree murder charges.

The Golden State Warriors beat the San Antonio Spurs 92-86 on Sunday for their 72nd win, tying a single-season record set by the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls. The Warriors, led by Stephen Curry's 37 points, were the first team to defeat the Spurs this season on their home court, where the Spurs had won 48 straight games. The Warriors play the Memphis Grizzlies at home on Wednesday in their final game of the season with a chance for a record-breaking 73rd win.

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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.