10 things you need to know today: June 16, 2012

President Obama says he was forced to take executive action on immigration because Congress has failed to handle the matter through normal legislative processes.

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last updated 8 January 2015

1. OBAMA UNVEILS NEW IMMIGRATION POLICY

In the Rose Garden of the White House Friday, President Obama spoke to reporters about his administration's decision to immediately halt the deportation of many young illegal immigrants. The executive order "cast into sharp relief the longstanding political differences on immigration, one of the most divisive and delicate issues being debated as the November elections approach," says The New York Times. Republicans complained that the president is overstepping his powers, but Obama said "he was acting only 'in the absence of any immigration action from Congress to fix our broken immigration system.'" Also of note: A reporter from the conservative website The Daily Caller interrupted Obama's Rose Garden remarks, prompting a scolding from the commander-in-chief. [The New York Times]

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Egyptians began voting Saturday in a presidential runoff election that pits the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi against Ahmed Shafik, the last prime minister in ousted-and-jailed Hosni Mubarak's regime. The two-day runoff vote comes in the wake of game-changing court decisions this week, in which Egypt's first freely elected parliament was dissolved and Shafik was given the green light to run for president. [CNN]

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According to a report in the journal Science, new tests show that 11 Spanish cave paintings of a red sphere and handprints are the oldest in the world — and may have been created by Neanderthals. Researchers found that one of the paintings is at least 40,800 years old, which is at least 15,000 years older than was previously thought. The paintings were first discovered in the 1870s. [Christian Science Monitor]

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