10 things you need to know today: September 22, 2013

(Image credit: (Feng Li/Getty Images))

last updated 8 January 2015

1. Hostage standoff continues at Kenyan mall following militant shootout

An attack by Somalia's al Qaeda-linked rebel group, al-Shabab, at an upscale mall in Nairobi on Saturday killed at least 59 people and wounded 175. Multiple barrages of gunfire erupted Sunday morning from inside the building where a hostage standoff continues with Islamic extremists nearly 24 hours after they attacked using grenades and assault rifles. Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack, in which they specifically targeted non-Muslims. Al-Shabab told the BBC it carried out the attack in response to Kenyan military operations in Somalia. [CBS News]

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Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) reiterated his commitment to blocking a Senate vote on a House-approved spending bill, saying that currently Senate Democrats have too much leeway to add funding for ObamaCare. "Any vote for cloture, any vote to allow Harry Reid to add funding to ObamaCare with just a 51-vote threshold, a vote for cloture is a vote for ObamaCare," the Texas Republican said on Fox News Sunday. [Politico]

A Chinese court found disgraced former top politician Bo Xilai guilty of bribery, embezzlement, and abuse of power on Sunday. Bo was sentenced to life in prison with the right to appeal. He denied all the charges against him in a fiery defense at his trial. Bo was removed from office last year amid a scandal which saw his wife convicted for the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood. [BBC News]

President Obama urged supporters on Saturday to "go back at it" and pursue gun-control measures after two mass shootings in the past week. Obama made passing tough gun laws a top priority after the Newtown school shooting in December, but Congress rejected his proposals to restrict sales of certain types of guns and require greater background checks. The Obama administration has largely moved on since, but a recent spate of shootings including last Monday's Navy Yard massacre brought the issue back into headlines. [Reuters]

One day after posting more than $900 million in losses and announcing plans to lay off 40 percent of its workforce, BlackBerry delayed the rollout of iPhone and Android apps for its popular BlackBerry Messenger messaging service after an unreleased version of the Android app leaked. That version saw 1.1 million users in the first 8 hours, but the unofficial version "caused issues." The company did not specify what the issues were. [USA TODAY]

Jennifer Mee, whose uncontrollable hiccupping won her national TV appearances in 2005, was convicted of first-degree murder. Mee was accused of masterminding a 2010 robbery, luring a man to an apartment supposedly to buy marijuana, but was instead shot four times. When she was 15, Mee developed a case of the hiccups that wouldn't stop for five weeks and caused her to hiccup up to 50 times a minute. [NBC News]

A hydrogen bomb 260 times more powerful than the device that flattened Hiroshima nearly detonated on the U.S.' east coast on Jan. 24, 1961, according to a new book by Eric Schlosser, the supervisor of the nuclear weapons safety department at Sandia national laboratories. Two hydrogen bombs were accidentally dropped over Goldsboro, N.C., that day after a B-52 bomber broke up in flight. One simple switch prevented the catastrophe. [Associated Press]

The 65th Annual Primetime Emmys will air on CBS tonight, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris. House of Cards is the first Netflix series to be nominated for an Emmy, with actors Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright nominated for their roles on the show and the series nominated for Best Drama Series. AMC's Breaking Bad, which airs its final episode next week, is seen as a frontrunner this year. [The New York Times]

Jon Jones retained his UFC light heavyweight championship Saturday night, defending his title for a record sixth consecutive time at UFC 165 with a hard-fought, five-round unanimous decision over Alexander Gustafsson at Air Canada Centre. Gustafsson gave Jones what the champion called the most difficult fight of his career. The fight lasted 25 minutes, after which both opponents went to the hospital. [ESPN]

Terri is a freelance writer at TheWeek.com. She's a graduate of Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism and has worked at TIME and Brides. You can follow her on Twitter.

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