10 things you need to know today: July 7, 2012

Roger Federer knocked out defending champion Novak Djokovic to become the first man to reach eight Wimbledon singles finals.

(Image credit: Clive Rose/Getty Images)

last updated 8 January 2015

1. GEORGE ZIMMERMAN RELEASED FROM JAIL ON $1 MILLION BOND

George Zimmerman, who shot and killed 17-year-old Florida teen Trayvon Martin in February, was released from jail for the second time on Friday. Zimmerman, who faces a second-degree murder charge for killing Martin, was able to post the $1 million bond that a judge set Thursday. Zimmerman had to go through a bail bondsman, and pay 10 percent of the bond amount, or $100,000. Zimmerman's lawyer Mark O'Mara said the online legal defense fund set up for Zimmerman had $211,000. Zimmerman had previously been granted a $150,000 in April, but was ordered back to jail when prosecutors filed a claim that he and his wife had misrepresented the funds that had been raised through the online campaign. [CNN]

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A helicopter carrying voting materials near the city of Benghazi in Libya was shot down on Friday, killing one election commissioner. A spokesman for the country's ruling council labeled the attackers as "enemies of the revolution." The attack came on the eve of the country's first election since longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi was overthrown and then killed last year. It's the latest incident reflecting escalating tensions in Libya leading up to the election. On Thursday, rebel fighters shut down three oil refineries and attacked the offices of the country's election commission, imploring the ruling council to cancel the election. The spokesman said the elections will still go on as planned, despite the rebel group's complaints that the distribution of seats among Libya's regions is unfair. [Associated Press]

Scott Peterson is filing an automatic appeal to the California Supreme Court, eight years after he was sentenced to death for murdering his wife and their unborn son. Peterson was found guilty in 2004 of suffocating his wife, Laci, and then dumping her in San Francisco Bay on Christmas Eve 2002. Throughout the entire ordeal, Peterson has maintained his innocence. His death penalty lawyer, Cliff Gardner, claims that the media circus surrounding the murder trial — which he argues was more out of control than even the O.J. Simpson trial — prevented his client from receiving a fair trial. [Associated Press]

Newly-elected Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi appointed a fact-finding committee to investigate the killing of nearly 1,000 protesters during the uprising that led to the toppling of his predecessor, Hosni Mubarak. The committee is composed of a panel of judges, a state prosecutor, a general, a top police commander, and six representatives of victims' families, and a likely point of contention will be whether the committee has the right to investigate members of the military, who ruled in the interim prior to the country's first free election. [Associated Press]

The official vote count in Mexico's presidential election — including a vote-by-vote recount at more than half of polling places — concluded Friday, confirming that Enrique Pena Nieto had in fact won the election, by 6.62 percent. Pena Nieto, "the candidate seeking to return the former autocratric ruling party to power," beat out leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who had refused to concede defeat. Obrador alleged that Pena Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, engaged in vote-buying that illegally tilted millions of votes. [Associated Press]

British police officials reported on Friday that they had arrested seven men under counterterrorism laws, bringing the total number of arrests announced over two days to 13. "The unusually high number of detentions reflected concerns that when the 2012 Olympics open in London in three weeks, they could become the highest-profile targets since the 2001 attacks in New York and Washington." Still, the police have not drawn any direct connections between the arrests and the upcoming Olympic games. [New York Times]

Roger Federer became the first man to reach eight Wimbledon singles finals, knocking out defending champion Novak Djokovic. Federer, the third seed, progressed to his 24th Grand Slam final with a 6-3 3-6 6-4 6-3 win. It will be Federer's first Grand Slam final since last year's French Open and his first at Wimbledon since he won his sixth title in 2009. He will face off against Briton Andy Murray, who defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in four sets to become the first British man to reach a Wimbledon final in 74 years. [BBC]

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a warning for people grilling outside during the hot summer months, saying that grillers should carefully inspect grill surfaces for wire bristles that have fallen off of grill-cleaning brushes. The CDC has seen a rise in emergency room visits due to people accidentally swallowing the bristles that can puncture the soft tissues of the neck, "causing severe pain on swallowing, to perforation of the gastrointestinal tract requiring emergency surgery." [Daily Disruption]

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