10 things you need to know today: February 28, 2014

(Image credit: (REUTERS/David Mdzinarishvili))

last updated 8 January 2015

1. Armed men seize Ukraine airports

Several hundred pro-Russia gunmen in unmarked military uniforms took over the entrances to two airports in Ukraine's Crimean peninsula, stoking fears of a separatist rebellion. Ukraine's interior minister, part of the pro-Europe government that has just taken over, said the men were Russian troops launching "an armed invasion and occupation." Moscow, which has military bases in Crimea, denied any involvement. [The New York Times, Reuters]

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First Lady Michelle Obama announced Thursday that the Food and Drug Administration is changing nutrition labels on 700,000 food products to more accurately tell Americans whether what they are eating is good for them. The changes will be the first major revamping of food labels in 20 years. Mrs. Obama, whose "Let's Move" campaign aims to combat obesity, said the labels would help grocery shoppers quickly and easily select healthy food. [The Christian Science Monitor]

Another major snowstorm is expected to roll into the northern Rockies and central Plains beginning Friday. The system — the latest in a series of massive winter storms — is expected to shift toward the East on Sunday and Monday, threatening Chicago and New York, ultimately affecting areas with 100 million people. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said this winter's unusually harsh weather might be causing signs of weakness in the economy. [Accuweather, Reuters]

Ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych resurfaced in Russia on Thursday, insisting that he is still the legitimate ruler of his country. Yanukovych requested — and apparently received — Moscow's protection after fleeing Kiev on Saturday. He said opposition leaders had backed out of a deal to share power. The interim government has accused him of ordering the killings of civilian protesters. [The Washington Post]

Britain's signals intelligence division has stolen hundreds of millions of Yahoo users' webcam videos, including a trove of nude and sexually explicit images, Britain's Guardian reported Thursday. If the information is confirmed, Yahoo said, it would constitute "a whole new level of violation of our users' privacy." About 1.8 million users' video communications were intercepted in one six-month period in 2008. [The Associated Press]

North Korea fired short-range Scud missiles into the sea on Thursday. It was the first time the isolated communist regime had fired that kind of weapon since 2009. Security experts interpreted the move as a protest against annual joint military exercises the U.S. and South Korea began on Monday. North Korea called the drills a rehearsal for an invasion, but South Korea didn't expect tensions to escalate over the exercises. [CNN]

The owners of Eden Memorial Park in Los Angeles agreed to pay $80.5 million to settle a lawsuit accusing their cemetery of dumping human remains from hundreds of graves. The settlement was tentatively authorized on Thursday, although the final approval isn't due until May. Cemetery owner Service Corporation International said it had done nothing wrong. The Houston company settled a similar suit in Florida for $100 million in 2003. [The Associated Press]

Older fathers are more likely than younger ones to have children with psychiatric problems, according to a study published this week in the journal JAMA Psychiatry. Kids whose dads are 45 or older, for example, are three times more likely to be on the autism spectrum and 24 times more likely to suffer from bipolar disorder, compared with those whose fathers are aged 20 to 24. Older men's sperm might be more prone to genetic mutations. [CNN]

Warner Bros. has obtained movie rights to the wildly popular video game Minecraft, the game's creator, Swedish programmer Markus Persson, tweeted Thursday. The game's publisher, Mojang, has sold 35 million copies for game consoles and mobile devices since 2009, as well as 14 million copies for PC. As with The Lego Movie, the filmmakers will have to come up with a plot from scratch, as Minecraft players create their own action. [The Hollywood Reporter]

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.

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