10 things you need to know today: June 4, 2016

(Image credit: AP Photo/John Rooney)

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1. Boxing legend Muhammad Ali, 'the greatest,' is dead at 74
2. At least 17 dead in Europe as Paris, Germany clean up from massive flooding
3. Pope Francis issues rules for ousting bishops who mishandled sex abuse
4. Dour U.S. jobs report complicates Clinton's White House bid
5. Trump faces blowback after doubling down on 'Mexican heritage' attack on judge
6. President Obama commutes sentences of 42 prisoners
7. California voter rolls hit record high ahead of Tuesday primary
8. Oil train derails and catches fire in Oregon, forcing evacuations
9. The universe is expanding faster than Einstein thought, astronomers report
10. First ever 'all-refugee' team will compete in Rio Olympics

published 4 June 2016

1. Boxing legend Muhammad Ali, 'the greatest,' is dead at 74

Muhammad Ali, one of the world's greatest boxers and one of the 20th century's biggest personalities, died Friday night in Phoenix. He was 74. Born Cassius Clay, Ali changed his name and converted to Islam in 1964, after beating Sonny Liston for his first of three heavyweight titles. Ali's boxing career was briefly put on hold when he refused to serve in the Vietnam War, then ended for good when he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1984. During his career, the boxer who plausibly called himself "the greatest" amassed a 56-5 record with 37 knockouts.

In France, the Seine has crested at about 20 feet above normal levels after a week of heavy rains caused the river to flood Paris, and seriously inundated other parts of France plus Germany, Belgium, and Romania. Four people died and 42 were injured in flooding in France, Prime Minister Manual Valls said Saturday, bringing the death toll across Europe to 17 in recent days, including 11 in southern Germany. More than 17,000 homes are without electricity in Paris and central France.

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On Saturday, Pope Francis issued a papal decree establishing a legal procedure for removing bishops for negligence, especially regarding child sexual abuse. The new rules specify that prelates can be sacked for causing "grave harm" — be it physical, moral, financial, or spiritual — to people or communities through their actions or inaction. When sex abuse of children or "vulnerable adults" is involved, the negligence need only be "serious." Advocates for victims of sexual abuse, and many Catholics, have been seeking greater accountability for bishops.

The U.S. economy added 38,000 jobs in May, far below the 160,000 economists expected, the Labor Department reported Friday. Part of the drop is due to 40,000 striking Verizon workers being counted as unemployed, but the new figures mean the U.S. economy added an average of just 116,000 jobs over the last three months. The slowdown in hiring could complicate Hillary Clinton's presidential bid, as voters consider the incumbent party's economic record, and it decreases the chances that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates this summer. The U.S. unemployment rate dropped to 4.7 percent.

On Friday, Donald Trump doubled down on his claim that U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel's "Mexican heritage" poses "an inherent conflict of interest" in presiding over the lawsuits against Trump University. Trump denied his attack was racist in an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper, claiming: "We are building a wall. He's a Mexican. We're building a wall between here and Mexico." Curiel was born in Indiana. Trump's statements have been met with broad, bipartisan condemnation. House Speaker Paul Ryan, who endorsed Trump on Thursday, denounced the remarks as completely "out of left field."

On Friday, President Obama commuted the sentences of another 42 prisoners, marking his third round of commutations this year. Nearly half of those commuted were serving life sentences, and most were in prison for non-violent, drug-related convictions. The majority of the prisoners will be released on Oct. 1. Obama has now commuted the sentences of 348 prisoners during his presidency, more than the last seven presidents combined.

On Friday, California Secretary of State Alex Padilla announced that 17,915,053 Californians are registered to vote, the largest number ever heading into a primary election. On Tuesday, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are vying for the biggest pot of delegates in the final contest of the Democratic primary fight. Almost all the swelling of the voter rolls came in the last 45 days of registration, which ended May 23, and 76 percent of those new voters registered as Democrats. "It is clear that Californians are engaged and excited about this election," Padilla said.

A 96-car oil train derailed along the Columbia Gorge in Oregon on Friday afternoon, prompting the evacuation of the small town of Mosier. Two cars caught fire, but no injuries were reported. "Right now there are no impacts to the Columbia River from any oil releases," said Greg Svelund at the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. "We can say that with confidence." Union Pacific trains carry 3 million gallons of Bakken crude oil along the Columbia River to Washington refineries each month.

Using the Hubble Space Telescope to measure the distance of stars in 19 other galaxies, NASA and the European Space Agency have concluded that the universe is actually expanding at a rate 5 percent to 9 percent faster than all previous calculations — including Albert Einstein's theory of relativity — had estimated. Aside from posing a potential challenge to Einstein's theory — which has largely held for the past century — the new discovery also raises problems with scientists' notion that leftover energy from the Big Bang is the sole cause of the universe's steady outward growth.

The International Olympic Committee has announced a 10-person "all-refugee" team that will compete at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro this summer. "The refugees have no home, no team, no flag, no national anthem," IOC president Thomas Bach said Friday. "We will offer them a home in the Olympic Village together with all the athletes of the world." It is the first time a refugee team has competed in the Olympics, and they will function just as any other team, but with their expenses footed by the IOC.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.