10 things you need to know today: September 28, 2013

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

last updated 8 January 2015

1. Senate passes budget bill, sends government shutdown fight back to House

By a 54-44 party-line vote, the Senate on Friday approved a continuing resolution to fund the government that did not include a provision defunding ObamaCare. The bill now returns to the House, where Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has indicated his party would not agree to a clean budget bill. If the House fails to pass the Senate's version, the government will likely shut down at midnight Monday. [New York Times]

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A coalition of national women's rights groups and Texas health clinics sued the state on Friday to block implementation of key pieces of a new abortion law set to take effect October 29. The law, which drew significant national attention following Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis' (D) 13-hour filibuster attempt, would require doctors to have admitting privileges at local hospitals and ban abortions beyond 20 weeks. [USA Today]

Inspectors from the United Nations are looking into seven more alleged cases of chemical weapons being used in Syria, three of which may have happened after the August 21 attack that left hundreds dead and triggered an international outcry. They are expected to wrap up the investigation next week and deliver their findings by the end of October, though the U.N. did not offer many other details. The U.N. Security Council, meanwhile, has tentatively agreed on a resolution calling on Syria to give up its chemical weapons cache. [Reuters]

Video game company E.A. Sports and Collegiate Licensing Company agreed to pay out $40 million to settle a lawsuit brought by former athletes who objected to their names and likenesses being used without their consent. Former UCLA basketball player Ed O'Bannon brought the lawsuit, which will benefit some 200,000 to 300,000 players, and which could have broad implications for the future of college sports. If a judge approves the terms of the settlement, the NCAA would be left as the lone defendant in the case. [ESPN]

To the delight of nerds everywhere, a team of Harvard and MIT scientists said they had stumbled across a way to bind photons together, thus creating what they said was something "similar to what we see in the movies." Scientists previously believed photons had no mass, but when placed under the right conditions, the researchers discovered they could clump photons together to form molecules. "It's not an in-apt analogy to compare this to lightsabers," Harvard physicist Mikhail Lukin said. [The Independent]

Some dozen staffers with the National Security Agency — the body tasked with monitoring foreign correspondence for signs of terrorism — allegedly used their power to snoop on their current and former partners, according to a government watchdog group. The NSA Office of the Inspector General said the practice, known in the business as "LOVEINT," took place over the past decade and included inappropriate monitoring of personal email and phone records. [Reuters]

Jon Terbush is an associate editor at TheWeek.com covering politics, sports, and other things he finds interesting. He has previously written for Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, and Business Insider.

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