10 things you need to know today: July 3, 2016

Nobel laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel dead at 87, Clinton 'eager' for FBI interview, and more

Elie Wiesel
(Image credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

1. Nobel laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel dead at 87

Elie Wiesel, the Auschwitz survivor whose writing and activism uniquely forced the world to confront the horrors of the Holocaust, died Saturday at his New York home. He was 87 years old. "Elie Wiesel was one of the great moral voices of our time, and in many ways, the conscience of the world," President Obama said in a statement. Wiesel was a teenager when he was sent to Auschwitz and Buchenwald, where he watched his father die just a few months before the camps were liberated. He chronicled his recollections of the experience in Night, a memoir read by millions.

2. Clinton: I was 'eager' to be interviewed for the FBI’s email investigation

Following a three-hour interview with investigators Saturday morning, Hillary Clinton said that evening she was happy to participate in the FBI's inquiry into the private email server she used while secretary of state. "It was something I had offered to do since last August," Clinton commented in an MSNBC interview. "I’ve been eager to do it, and I was pleased to have the opportunity to assist the department in bringing its review to a conclusion." Clinton said she had no knowledge of the investigation's timeline, but the Justice Department has indicated it would like to release a conclusion before the major parties' conventions at the end of July.

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Politico The Hill

3. Homegrown Dhaka attackers targeted foreigners, Bangladeshi elite

Saturday's deadly attack in Dhaka, Bangladesh, which left at least 28 people dead, was designed to target foreign nationals and the Bangladeshi elite. The bakery and restaurant where the incident occurred is located in the capital city's diplomatic quarter, and local press reports suggest the terrorists sorted victims by nationality and religion. Three of the hostages who were killed were students at American universities. Despite the Islamic State's claim of responsibility for the attack, Bangladeshi authorities say all seven of the gunmen were homegrown militants, members of an illegal Islamic fundamentalist group.

The Washington Post Yahoo News

4. Biggest private coal company could cut up to 4,400 jobs

The largest private coal mining corporation in America, Murray Energy, has warned it may have to lay off as many as 4,400 employees — some 80 percent of the company's workforce — thanks to a slump in the coal markets. The Central Appalachian coal price benchmark has sunk to just $40 a ton, about half of its price in 2011, and many major coal producers are declaring bankruptcy. Murray Energy owner Robert Murray significantly blamed his company's decline on "the ongoing destruction of the United States coal industry by President Barack Obama."

The Wall Street Journal

5. China completes the world's largest radio telescope

China has completed the Five Hundred Meter Aperture Spherical Telescope, the world's largest radio telescope, clocking in at the size of 30 soccer fields. With the final piece of the structure in place, the telescope will be used to search for extraterrestrial life and further China's space exploration ambitions. Construction on the telescope began in 2011, and more than 9,000 nearby residents were uprooted from the area to facilitate the project. They were compensated about $1,800 each for the loss of their homes.

The Guardian The Guardian

6. Court documents offer new insight into UVA rape story process

New court documents in the University of Virginia Associate Dean Nicole Eramo’s $10 million defamation suit against Rolling Stone reveal early warning signs that the magazine's primary source in its now-infamous rape story was not to be trusted. The filings show journalist Sabrina Rubin Erdely deferring to the requests of "Jackie," the pseudonymous UVA student who led Erdely on a 9,000-word adventure now revealed to be less fact than fiction. Erdely was cautioned that Jackie's claims were shifting over time, but these inconsistencies did not prevent publication.

The Washington Post

7. 91 killed in two Baghdad bombings

Iraqi officials report that at least 91 people, including 15 children, were killed in two bombings in Baghdad Sunday. The larger of the two attacks, claimed by the Islamic State, killed 86 and wounded 170 more by blowing up a pickup truck next to a busy shopping center. "It was like an earthquake," said Karim Sami, a street vendor who survived the explosion. "I was so scared to go back and started to make phone calls to my friends, but none answered."

Associated Press

8. Heavy rains, mudslides in Pakistan and India leave at least 55 dead

Heavy rains in Pakistan and northern India have killed at least 55 people since Saturday as flash flooding and mudslides damage houses and farms. Ongoing extreme weather has limited rescue efforts to deal with the destruction, which is an annual occurrence during monsoon season. Several dozen buildings were swept away in the Chitral region of Pakistan, including a military outpost.

BBC News

9. The Deer Hunter director Michael Cimino dead at 77

The director of 1978's The Deer Hunter, Michael Cimino, has died at 77, as first announced on Twitter by Cannes Film Festival director Thierry Fremaux. "Michael Cimino died peacefully surrounded by his family and the two women who loved him," Fremaux wrote. "We loved him too." After The Deer Hunter's Oscar sweep, Cimino went on to direct five more feature films, most recently The Sunchaser in 1996.

Entertainment Weekly

10. Nike's 'floaty' tennis dress causes controversy at Wimbledon

Nike's gauzy design for female tennis pros at this year's Wimbledon tournament has drawn the ire of the sport's choosy fashion critics. The "NikeCourt Premier Slam," which features a pleated, "floaty" fabric easily blown askance by a gust of wind, forced some players to alter or augment the garment in advance of their matches — but the company denies it has made any alterations in response to complaints. The Wimbledon Championships continue through July 10.

CNN

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.