10 Things to Know for Today: 6-30

6/30/2014
ASSOCIATED PRESS
  • South-Korea-Ship-Sinking-Checkered-History

    In this June 25, 2014 photo, graphic illustrations in the document, center, of the box on the bottom right show a zoomed-in image of the two ships Ohamana, at diagram left, and Orange Sky crashing at the moment of collision on February 17, 2007. The crash was a third accident by the Ohamana, a Chonghaejin car ferry that plied the same route as Sewol, in the span of just one year. An investigator at the Korean Maritime Safety Tribunal said in the 2008 report that Chonghaejin repeatedly failed to come up with reform measures and recommended that the company improve how it manages safety. But problems continued.(AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

    ASSOCIATED PRESS

  • Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today:

    1. OBAMA PICKS VA CHIEF

    If confirmed by the Senate, Robert McDonald, a former Proctor & Gamble executive, would succeed Eric Shinseki, who quit last month as head of the struggling agency.

    2. ISLAMIC STATE DECLARED

    The vast territory straddling Syria and Iraq that has been seized by an al-Qaida splinter group will be established as a state, the group announces.

    3. REPORT SAYS PISTORIUS WAS NOT MENTALLY ILL WHEN HE SHOT GIRLFRIEND

    The murder trial of the former Olympic athlete resumes in Pretoria after he underwent psychiatric examinations for a month.

    4. PAKISTAN LAUNCHES GROUND OFFENSIVE AGAINST TALIBAN

    After evacuating half a million civilians, the army began its long-awaited operation in North Waziristan, the sanctuary for terrorist groups.

    5. OPERATOR OF SUNKEN KOREAN FERRY HAS QUESTIONABLE SAFETY RECORD

    The company was responsible for five earlier crashes which should have been enough for regulators to suspend its license.

    6. BELGIUM BRINGS TOUGH DEFENSE TO CLASH WITH U.S. ON TUESDAY

    So far, the Belgians haven’t conceded one goal in open play at this World Cup.

    7. WHO RARELY GETS FIRED

    House and Senate lawmakers may be wildly unpopular, but more than halfway through the party primaries, the score is incumbents 291, challengers 2.

    8. WHY VROOM! MIGHT BECOME SOUND OF THE PAST

    More manufacturers — even Harley-Davidson — are making or planning to make electric motorcycles.

    9. WHOSE BOOK WON’T BE SOLD IN CHINA

    A Chinese book importer is scrapping plans to distribute Hillary Clinton’s State Department memoir, “Hard Choices,” because it found some of its content sensitive.

    10. UKRAINE WITHDRAWS FROM BIDDING FOR 2022 WINTER GAMES

    Three cities--Oslo, Beijing and Almaty, Kazakhstan--are now vying to host the games that no one seems to want.