10 things you need to know today: February 24, 2014

(Image credit: (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti))

last updated 8 January 2015

1. Ukraine's parliament gives its leader presidential powers... for now

Ukranian lawmakers fired the country's foreign minister and other high-ranking cabinet members on Sunday, dismantling what remained of President Viktor Yanukovych's government a day after he was pushed out of power. The parliament also voted to retake ownership of the presidential palace, which Yanukovych had privatized, and granted its speaker, Oleksandr Turchynov, authority to perform the ousted president's duties. A presidential election has been scheduled for May 25. On Monday, the acting interior minister also issued a warrant for Yanukovych's arrest, accusing him of ordering the mass killing of civilians during the demonstrations that forced him to flee Kiev. [The New York Times, BBC]

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Comcast has struck a deal to let Netflix stream videos directly over the cable company's broadband network. Comcast confirmed Sunday that Netflix is paying for the access, which gives customers faster service for smoother streaming of movies and TV shows. Broadband providers have been pushing Netflix to cough up money to cover the huge amount of bandwidth its customers use — in peak hours, Netflix streaming can account for a third of the broadband traffic in the U.S. [CNN]

The Pentagon is proposing shrinking the Army to its smallest size since before World War II. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's new budget would mark the clearest sign yet that the military is stepping back from the war footing it has been on since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The proposal, due to be released Monday, is meant both to recognize the need for austerity and to maintain the strength to win any war, although the smaller force would not have the numbers for another extended foreign occupation. [The New York Times]

Uganda's president, Yoweri Museveni, signed a law toughening penalties for homosexuality, imposing 14-year sentences for a first conviction and up to life in prison for what the law calls "aggravated homosexuality." President Obama had warned Uganda's government that enacting the law would stain the country's human rights record and complicate its relations with the U.S. A government spokesman said Museveni was standing up for Uganda's "independence in the face of Western pressure." [BBC News]

The Canadian men's hockey team defended its Olympic title on Sunday by beating Sweden 3-0 in one of the last major events of the Sochi Olympics. The U.S. men's hockey team got trounced by Finland 5-0 in the battle for the bronze medal. With the Winter Olympics officially closed, the host country, Russia, came out on top in the medal count with 33. The U.S. had the second most (28), but Russia, Canada, and Norway won more golds. [Reuters, USA Today]

Egypt's military-backed interim government resigned unexpectedly on Monday. Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi announced the news in a televised address, saying that the cabinet had "shouldered a very difficult responsibility" since taking over after the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi in July. Beblawi, who might stay on until a successor is named, did not give a reason. One official said the move was to clear legal hurdles for army chief Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to run for president. [Fox News]

Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the Daytona 500 on Sunday. It was his second time winning the storied race, and it came a decade after his first victory there. As Earnhardt zoomed over the finish line, he radioed his crew, saying, "This is better than the first one!" The victory broke a 55-race losing streak for Earnhardt, the most popular driver in NASCAR. "The world is right right now," teammate Jeff Gordon said. "Dale Junior just won the Daytona 500. That's a sign it's going to be a great season." [The Associated Press]

CNN is reportedly scrapping British journalist Piers Morgan's show because of its low ratings, The New York Times reported. The program, Piers Morgan Live, could go off the air as early as next month. "It's been a painful period, and lately we have taken a bath in the ratings," Morgan told the Times. "Look, I am a British guy debating American cultural issues, including guns, which has been very polarizing, and there is no doubt that there are many in the audience who are tired of me banging on about it." [TV Guide]

Jason Collins, who announced a year ago that he is gay, played for the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday night in a game against the Los Angeles Lakers, making him the first active openly gay player in any of the nation's four major men's professional sports leagues. Collins, 35, came out in April shortly after playing his last game for the Washington Wizards, and hadn't played since. The Nets — a team with whom the seven-footer spent the first six seasons of his pro basketball career — signed him to a 10-day contract. [The Washington Post]

Alice Herz-Sommer, the oldest known survivor of the Holocaust, died Sunday in London. She was 110. Herz-Sommer was sent, along with her husband and son, to a concentration camp in the Czech city of Terezin in 1943. She was an accomplished pianist, and performed in concerts the inmates were allowed to stage. "Music was our food," she later recalled. "Through making music we were kept alive." Herz-Sommer and her son were among about 20,000 of the 140,000 Jews sent to the camp who survived. [The Associated Press]

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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