10 things you need to know today: September 30, 2012

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie takes the stage at the Republican National Convention on Aug. 28: Christie says Mitt Romney&#039;s performance at this week&#039;s presidential debate will turn the race

(Image credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

last updated 8 January 2015

1. COORDINATED ATTACKS IN IRAQ LEAVE 26 DEAD

In another wave of bombings across Iraq on Sunday, insurgents left at least 26 people dead. The attacks were "the latest instance in which insurgents coordinated attacks in multiple cities in a single day" in attempts to "rekindle widespread sectarian conflict." The deadliest attack on Sunday came in Taji, a former al Qaeda stronghold north of Baghdad, where three explosive-rigged cars went off within minutes of each other. Although overall violence in Iraq has dropped since the height of bloodshed, Iraqi forces have been unable to stop the almost daily attacks that continue to claim lives. [Associated Press]

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, the former publisher, chairman, and chief executive of The New York Times and its parent company, died Saturday at his home in Southampton, N.Y. He was 86. Sulzberger's tenure at the paper "reached across 34 years, from the heyday of postwar America to the twilight of the 20th century, from the era of hot lead and Linotype machines to the birth of the digital world," Clyde Haberman writes in the Times. It was 1963 when Sulzberger became publisher of the newspaper, which has been controlled by his family since his grandfather Adolph S. Ochs purchased it in 1896. In 1992, Sulzberger named his son publisher, and in 1997, stepped down as chairman, too. By then, "the enterprise had been transformed. The Times was now national in scope, distributed from coast to coast, and it had become the heart of a diversified multi-billion-dollar media operation that came to encompass newspapers, magazines, television, and radio stations and online ventures." [New York Times]

The man who committed suicide after a car chase in Phoenix that was aired live on Fox News was identified as 33-year-old Jordon Romero. He had stolen a car at gunpoint, and was then pursued by police before he abandoned the car and began making a run for it. Romero was wanted for violating his parole on a weapons conviction. He also had numerous other violent crimes on his rap sheet, said police. Fox News' Shepard Smith apologized for airing the suicide after the network came under fire for not cutting away from the footage fast enough. [Associated Press]

An apparent insider attack in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday left one U.S. service member dead, as well as a civilian contractor with NATO and at least two Afghan soldiers. In recent months, there has been a steady increase in the number of attacks by Afghan army and police against American and NATO troops. Some of the attacks have been perpetrated by insurgents disguised as Afghan forces. [CBS News]

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie appeared on CBS' Face the Nation on Sunday and talked up Mitt Romney's chances at the first presidential debate, which will take place on Oct. 3. "This whole race is going to be turned upside down come Thursday morning," he said, praising the Republican presidential nominee's performance in the primary debates, and saying the debates will give the former Massachusetts governor the chance to speak without being "filtered" or "spun" by Romney's critics. [Politico]

Syrian government forces and rebels continued to clash in the city of Aleppo. An opposition activist told CNN that rebel forces had liberated at least four neighborhoods from the grips of President Bashar al-Assad's regime. The government countered that claim, saying that "the armed forces on Saturday continued to target hideouts and gatherings of terrorists in Aleppo city and its countryside, killing and injuring dozens of terrorists and destroying their vehicles." [CNN]

The trial against Pope Benedict XVI's former butler Paolo Gabriele got underway on Saturday. Gabriele is accused of using his access to the Pope to steal papers he wanted to use to expose Vatican corruption. Gabriele told investigators he had seen "evil and corruption everywhere in the Church" and was trying to act in the spiritual leader's best interest because he was "not sufficiently informed." Gabriele suffered a blow in the first day of the trial when judges refused to admit evidence from the Church's investigation. Instead, trial evidence will rely solely on the Vatican's investigation. [Reuters]

Los Angeles' Carmageddon II seemed to be getting off to a smooth start on Sunday, as construction crews worked to tear down a portion of Mulhulland Drive, along Interstate 405, as part of $1 billion project to add a new carpool lane. The original Carmageddon tok place last year during another phase of the reconstruction of one of the nation's busiest freeways. The demolition this time around seems to be on schedule with the roadway expected to reopen Monday morning. [NBC News]

Subscribe to The Week

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox