10 things you need to know today: November 12, 2013

(Image credit: (AP Photo/Wally Santana))

last updated 8 January 2015

1. Aid pours into the Philippines for typhoon victims

Rescue efforts in the Philippines gained steam Tuesday, with the U.S. further scaling up aid for victims of Super Typhoon Haiyan by sending an aircraft carrier. The resources could be crucial in getting help to remote areas where roads and bridges are impassable. The death toll, 10,000, could rise sharply once authorities reach more victims. A new tropical depression, Zoraida, hit the country Tuesday, delaying aid to some areas. [Reuters, CNN]

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Roughly 40,000 people have signed up for health insurance on the ObamaCare online marketplace since its botched launch six weeks ago, The Washington Post reported late Monday. That is far below the pace expected by the federal government, which had projected that 7 million Americans would enroll through HealthCare.gov by 2014. Far more people — more than 440,000 — have managed to sign up for the health-care law's Medicaid expansion. [Washington Post]

The Dow Jones industrial average closed at another record high on Monday. The jump was minor — just 21 points, or 0.14 percent — compared to a Friday surge that came thanks to a stronger than expected October jobs report. The Dow and S&P 500 stock indexes have gained more than 20 percent this year. The tech-heavy Nasdaq is up nearly 30 percent, and some investors are wondering how much longer the run can last. [CNN]

Walmart announced Tuesday that it would start Black Friday in-store deals at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, two hours earlier than last year. Kohl's, Target, and Toys R Us on Monday said that they, too, were pushing their opening holiday sales earlier into Thanksgiving dinner hours. One reason for the rush: This is the shortest holiday shopping season in a decade, with six fewer days between Thanksgiving and Christmas than last year. [Washington Post]

Four Iranian expatriate musicians died in New York City on Monday in what police described as a murder-suicide. Investigators say that three musicians — two of them members of a Brooklyn punk band called the Yellow Dogs — were shot and killed by another musician, who later turned the gun on himself. A fourth victim was wounded in the arm and taken to a hospital. Police said the suspected gunman had recently been dumped by another band. [BBC News]

Apple began taking orders for its new iPad Mini with Retina display on Tuesday. When the company unveiled the latest version of the iPad on October 22, it said only that the Mini would be available "later in November." The new iPad 2 arrived in stores November 1. Apple's website says customers can get 16GB and 32GB Wi-Fi models of the new Mini with one- to three-day ship times, although the wait is expected to increase as the initial supply dwindles. [Macworld]

Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, is blaming squabbling among the U.S., France, and other Western powers for the failure to reach a deal in Geneva on curbing Tehran's nuclear program and ending sanctions. Secretary of State John Kerry, who is now in Washington defending his push for more talks, has said Iran just couldn't accept a deal "at that particular moment," but Zarif said the deal fizzled after France gutted the U.S. draft. [BBC News, New York Times]

North Korea executed 80 people earlier this month for crimes that included possessing a Bible and watching South Korean TV shows smuggled over the border on flash drives, South Korean newspaper JoongAng Ilbo reported Monday. Executions were carried out in seven cities. Eight people were killed by firing squad in a packed stadium in the port city of Wonsan, where North Korean leader Kim Jong Un wants to attract tourists with a ski resort. [New York Daily News]

The number of smartphones will triple to 5.6 billion globally by 2019, according to a report released Monday by Sweden's Ericsson AB, the world's largest builder of telecommunications networks. Ericsson said smartphone traffic would increase tenfold in the next six years, reaching 10 billion gigabytes annually by 2019. Videos will account for half of the volume, with social networking and web services each accounting for 10 percent. [Associated Press]

The number of scenes with gun violence in popular PG-13 movies has more than doubled since 1985, according to a new study being published in the December issue of the journal Pediatrics and unveiled online on Monday. In 2012, the last year covered in the study, PG-13 films for teens had more gun violence than R-rated ones aimed at adults. "Violence sells," one of the authors said. "We recognize that, and the movie industry realizes it." [New York Times]

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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