Jihadi John’s finally gone (maybe) … Myanmar’s humming “Brand New Day” … And you can chill, the sky isn’t falling. It’s Friday the 13th, and here are the 5 things you need to know today.
JIHADI JOHN
Losing face: “Jihadi John,” ISIS’ jeering, sadistic masked mouthpiece, may finally be Jihadi gone. U.S. officials are pretty confident they killed him during an airstrike in Raqqa, Syria, last night. But they’re couching their words carefully. America really wanted to get this guy. He’s the one who played a starring role in all those gut-wrenching beheading videos where, dressed head-to-toe in black and holding a knife, he taunted the West and then took part in the slaughter of aid workers and journalists.
MYANMAR ELECTIONS
Time to update that LinkedIn profile: It’s been nice knowing you, Thein Sein. You’re like the Burmese Gorbachev. You opened Myanmar up to free elections and soon you’ll be out of a job. Today, the election commission said Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy has won enough votes that it’ll now choose the country’s next President. Sweeter still, it comes on the 5th anniversary of her release from nearly two decades under house arrest.
MOB TRIAL
The untouchable: Prosecutors thought they had a solid case against Vincent Asaro, the aging, alleged ex-mob boss accused of carrying out the ’78 Lufthansa heist. For crying out loud, there were recordings of him talking about the biggest bank robbery in New York history (immortalized in “Goodfellas”). But either the jury didn’t buy it, or it didn’t like the “accomplished liars” – as the defense put it — the prosecution relied on. Asaro walked away a free man yesterday. The prosecution was left picking its jaw up off the floor.
SAME-SEX ADOPTION
Not an either/or scenario: Does being gay disqualify you from being a good parent? It doesn’t. But tell that to a Utah judge who’s ordered a 1-year-old girl taken away from her same-sex foster parents. He wants her in a “more traditional” home. The couple’s hurt and angry. Even the governor is PO’d, telling the judge he’s got to follow the law. The judge won’t back down. This is the first serious challenge to same-sex adoption rights since the Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage ruling last summer.
SPACE JUNK
Undeep impact: A mysterious object hurtles toward Earth — on Friday the 13th no less — and Bruce Willis is nowhere to be found? Relax people, the sky isn’t falling. It’s just a piece of space junk that’s been floating around. Most of it will burn up on entry; the rest will fall in the ocean. But astronomers – weird beings that they are — are psyched. They say this is an “ideal opportunity to test our readiness for any possible future atmospheric entry events.” Blah blah blah. We just want to see the epic light show as it streaks across the sky.