10 things you need to know today: May 27, 2013

Tony Kanaan of Brazil pours the victory milk over his head after winning the Indy 500.

(Image credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

last updated 8 January 2015

1. OBAMA VISITS TORNADO-RAVAGED OKLAHOMA TOWN

President Obama visited Moore, Okla., on Sunday, about a week after the town was destroyed by a monstrous EF5 tornado that left 24 people dead. "There's no doubt they will bounce back," Obama said. "But they need help." The White House said the Federal Emergency Management Agency has already provided $57 million in rebates and incentives to help build about 12,000 storm shelters in Oklahoma. On Monday, the president will visit Arlington National Cemetery to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown in honor of Memorial Day. [Associated Press (2)]

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Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee announced Sunday that temporary spans will be installed across the Skagit River within weeks to replace an I-5 bridge that collapsed there last week. Federal investigators used 3D laser scans Sunday to study what remained of the bridge, which fell after a semi-truck carrying an oversize load struck it. The state plan also calls for a permanent span to be built and competed by fall. [Associated Press]

At a Monday meeting in Brussels, E.U. ministers discussed calls from Britain and France to ease sanctions on Syria so weapons can be supplied to rebels fighting the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. But several E.U. nations are opposed to ending the arms embargo, which expires May 31. The meeting comes as the U.S., Russia, and France are pushing for the Syrian opposition to join Assad's government at an international peace conference in Geneva next month. [BBC News]

A rocket was fired from southern Lebanon towards Israel late Sunday night, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported. The agency said the rocket was fired from a location near the southern town of Marjayoun, about six miles north of the Israeli border. It was not immediately clear who fired the rocket or whether it caused any damage or casualties. The Israeli military did not confirm that a rocket was fired, but said residents in northern Israel reported hearing an explosion. [Associated Press]

Rob Ford, the mayor of Toronto, said on his radio show Sunday that a purported video of him smoking crack cocaine does not exist. Ford vowed to seek re-election next year and called the media a "bunch of maggots." Reports on the website Gawker and in the Toronto Star claimed a group of men who had sold Ford the drug took a video of him using it. But the video has not been released publicly nor has its authenticity been verified. Ford has also not said whether he has ever abused crack. [Associated Press]

South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se said Monday that the South is against engaging North Korea in a round of "talks for talks' sake" after North Korea reportedly told China it was ready to return to negotiations. North Korean Vice Marshal Choe Ryong-hae made the statement when he met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Friday, according to official Chinese media. North Korea's state-run media, however, reported neither Choe's comment nor Xi's call for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. "North Korea must demonstrate its sincerity through action by honoring its international obligations and promises regarding denuclearization," Yun said. [New York Times]

Debbie Martin, 61, the aunt of actress Angelina Jolie, died Sunday of breast cancer, just two weeks after Jolie wrote an op-ed in The New York Times revealing that she had had a preventative double mastectomy because of her heightened risk of being diagnosed with the disease. Martin was the younger sister of Jolie's mother, Marcheline Bertrand, whose own death from cancer in 2007 inspired Jolie's surgery. Martin reportedly had the same defective BRCA1 gene that Jolie does, which increases the chance of developing breast cancer to 87 percent. [CBS News]

French director Abdellatif Kechiche won the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival on Sunday for his film Blue Is the Warmest Color. He was given the prestigious Palme d'Or along with the two main actresses in the film, Adele Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux. The 3-hour film follows the intimate relationship between two young women. Festival director Thierry Fremaux said the film was timely, as hundreds of thousands of demonstrators marched in Paris on Sunday to protest France's recent legalization of same-sex marriage. [Reuters]

Frances is a senior editor at TheWeek.com, managing the website on the early morning shift and editing stories on everything from politics to entertainment to science and tech. She's a graduate of Yale and the University of Missouri journalism school, and has previously worked at TIME and Real Simple. You can follow her on Twitter and on Tumblr.

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