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

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1. Bernie Sanders defeats Hillary Clinton in West Virginia
2. Obama to become first sitting U.S. president to visit Hiroshima
3. Car bomb kills at least 45 in Iraq
4. U.S. military ship sails close to Chinese artificial island
5. Trump, last GOP candidate standing, wins in West Virginia and Nebraska
6. Staples and Office Depot abandon merger plan after judge blocks it
7. Ohio House backs medical marijuana proposal
8. NASA unveils discovery of 1,284 more alien planets
9. Climbers preparing first attempts in 3 years to reach Mount Everest summit
10. Stephen Curry first NBA player unanimously voted MVP

published 11 May 2016

1. Bernie Sanders defeats Hillary Clinton in West Virginia

Bernie Sanders beat Hillary Clinton in West Virginia's Democratic presidential primary on Tuesday. He had 51 percent of the vote, compared to Clinton's 36 percent, with 97 percent of precincts reporting. Sanders' latest win will do little to erode Clinton's significant delegate lead, but he said it helped justify staying in the race "until the last vote is cast." Clinton won Nebraska's primary, but no delegates were at stake as they were already divvied up in the state's caucuses in March, which Sanders won.

President Obama plans to visit Hiroshima later this month in the first visit by a sitting U.S. president to the city since the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on it at the end of World War II, the White House said Tuesday. Obama will not apologize for the bombing during the "historic visit" with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, according to a statement from Obama's press secretary, but he will "highlight his continued commitment to pursuing peace and security in a world without nuclear weapons."

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A car bomb exploded at a crowded market in a Shiite part of Baghdad on Wednesday, killing at least 45 people and wounding dozens more. The Islamic State claimed responsibility. Witnesses said the bomb was in a pickup truck carrying fruits and vegetables that was parked by a man who quickly disappeared into a crowd. ISIS said in a statement posted on a site used by Sunni militants that the attack targeted a gathering of Shiite militiamen.

The U.S. guided-missile destroyer USS William P. Lawrence passed within 12 miles of one of China's largest artificial islands in disputed South China Sea waters on Tuesday. China responded by scrambling three fighter jets and three ships to monitor the American vessel in a sign of escalating tensions in the region. A Pentagon spokesman said the ship was merely demonstrating that "the United States will fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows." China has called U.S. moves in the region dangerous provocation.

Donald Trump won Republican primaries in West Virginia and Nebraska on Tuesday. The results were considered foregone conclusions because he is the only GOP candidate still in the race. His last two rivals, Ted Cruz and John Kasich, dropped out of the race last week. In West Virginia, with 96 percent of precincts reporting, Trump had 77 percent of the vote, compared to Cruz with 9 percent and Kasich with 7 percent. In Nebraska, Trump had 61 percent of the vote, followed by Cruz with 19 percent and Kasich with 11 percent.

Staples and Office Depot said Tuesday night that they are calling off their proposed merger after a federal judge blocked the $6.3 billion deal. The companies announced the plan last year, but the Federal Trade Commission sued, arguing that letting the rival office-supply giants team up would reduce competition and harm consumers, especially the large businesses that order in bulk. Staples and Office Depot argued that they had to join forces to compete with the likes of Amazon and Walmart.

Ohio's House voted Wednesday to make the state the 26th to legalize medical marijuana. Some lawmakers expressed reluctance, but opposition softened after proponents detailed the drug's potential benefits. Opponents also backed down in the face of a less-restrictive proposed constitutional amendment that will be on the November ballot. The House approved the measure by a 71-26 vote, sending it to the state Senate.

NASA's Kepler space telescope has detected 1,284 previously unknown exoplanets, the largest group of newly discovered alien planets ever unveiled at one time, astronomers announced Tuesday. The finds increased the number of known alien planets by 60 percent. Nine of the rocky worlds theoretically could support life. "We now know that exoplanets are common ... and a reasonable fraction of stars in our galaxy have potentially habitable planets," said Paul Hertz, Astrophysics Division director at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C.

At least 289 climbers and their guides are in high camps preparing to make the first attempts in three years to reach the summit of Mount Everest, the world's tallest peak. The climbing teams are waiting for a weather window in the next few days. Fatal avalanches in 2014 and 2015 cut short the last two climbing seasons. Last year, an earthquake that killed 9,000 people in Nepal triggered a snowslide that killed at least 18 climbers and guides at Base Camp, ending the year's campaign. Nearly 700 climbers reached the summit in 2013.

Golden State Warriors star guard Stephen Curry became the first player in NBA history to be unanimously voted league MVP, accepting the award for the second straight year on Tuesday. Curry became the first player to hit more than 300 three-pointers in a season, shattering the record with 402. He also led the Warriors to a record 73 wins. "I couldn't imagine anybody not voting him first, and yet there always seems to be somebody who has to stand out," Coach of the Year Steve Kerr of the Warriors said.

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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.