10 Things to Know for Today: 1-09
1/9/2014
In this Jan. 4, 2014 photo, Wu Yongyuan, right, shows medicines his wife Gong Qifeng, left, takes to control her schizophrenia symptoms, in a room they rent in Beijing for stay as Wu keeps petitioning to China's central government for help. When Gong's mind is clear, she can recall how she begged for mercy. Several people pinned her head, arms, knees and ankles to a hospital bed before driving a syringe of labor-inducing drugs into her stomach. She was seven months pregnant with what would have been her second boy. The drugs caused her to have a stillborn baby after 35 hours of excruciating pain. Since the abortion more than two years ago, Gong has been diagnosed with schizophrenia. (AP Photo/Alexander F. Yuan)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today:
1. NJ GOVERNOR’S OFFICE LINKED TO TRAFFIC JAM SCANDAL
Chris Christie denies involvement in a road shutdown apparently engineered to punish a Democratic mayor.
2. OBAMA MAY DIAL BACK PHONE SURVEILLANCE
The president is also considering restricting the NSA’s monitoring of foreign leaders as part of proposed intelligence changes.
3. SUICIDE BOMBER STRIKES IN BAGHDAD
The attack — likely retaliation for the Iraqi government’s campaign to retake two cities overrun by al-Qaida militants — kills at least 12.
4. MEDICS DETAIL HARASSMENT BY TURKISH AUTHORITIES
Several doctors who treated demonstrators during last summer’s Taksim Square upheaval tell the AP they were assaulted with tear gas and pressured to reveal the names of patients.
5. WHAT LED TO RODMAN’S OUTBURST
The ex-NBA star apologizes, and says he had been drinking before a TV interview in which he faulted an American missionary being held captive in North Korea.
6. COMPANIES MAKE GOOD ON CALORIE-CUTTING PLEDGE — AND THEN SOME
Some of the biggest food companies in the U.S. have cut calories in their products by more than 6.4 trillion — more than four times the amount they had promised.
7. WHERE FORCED ABORTIONS ARE CONSIDERED ACCEPTABLE
The procedures are one way China enforces its population limits.
8. FIRST DEATH FROM H5N1 BIRD FLU RECORDED IN NORTH AMERICA
Officials say the victim was traveling from China to Canada when the symptoms appeared, and that the risk to the general public is very low.
9. WHICH DAYTIME TV HOST IS A REAL PEOPLE PERSON
Ellen DeGeneres wins her 14th People’s Choice award — the most for a female entertainer.
10. ALL WRESTLING, ALL THE TIME
WWE — following the lead of the NFL, NHL, NBA and MLB — is launching an around-the-clock TV network.