An attack on a market. An officer on trial. A so-called “honor” killing. It’s Thursday, and here are the 5 things you need to know to Get Up to Speed and Out the Door.
1. Tel Aviv attack
Two Palestinians, dressed as Hasidic Jews, opened fire in an upscale market in Tel Aviv, killing four Israelis and wounding several others. Hamas called it the “first of many surprises” planned for Ramadan. Because why leave killing in the name of religion to just ISIS and al Qaeda? In response, Israel froze 83,000 entry permits for Palestinians — including all permits for Ramadan and those for family visits from the West Bank to Israel.
2. Pakistan
You just can’t wrap your head around something like this. A woman in Pakistan was tied to a bed and burned alive — by her own mother and brother. All because she married a man against her family’s wishes. The saddest part: Zeenat Rafique’s case isn’t unique. About 1,100 women were murdered by family members in Pakistan last year in such so-called “honor” killings.
3. Freddie Gray trials
The third of six police officer in the Freddie Gray goes on trial today. Officer Caesar Goodson has opted to have a judge decide his fate, which maybe is a smart move. It’s the same judge who acquitted another officer in the case last month. Goodson’s the officer behind the wheels when Gray suffered his fatal spinal injury in a police van.
4. Income inequality
It’s like they always say: the richer get richer. While the middle class saw its income creep up only 18%, the top 1% saw its soar almost 188%!! The money crowd did have higher tax bills though.
5. Saudi Arabia
Proof once again that money talks. The U.N. had found that the Saudi bombing campaign in Yemen was responsible for more than half the kids who died there last year. So, the U.N. put the kingdom on a black list. How did it respond? It threatened to break off all relations, which meant the U.N. would have to kiss goodbye to millions of Saudi dollars. And what do you know? Saudi Arabia was dropped from the blacklist. Amnesty International called it “blatant pandering.”
BREAKFAST BROWSE
People are talking about these. Read up. Join in.
Floss failure
And all this time we thought our dentist was just picking on us. Turns out a third of adults don’t bother with flossing either.
Money man
Who needs checks? Not boxer Floyd Mayweather, who dropped a cool $7.7 million — in cash — on his new 5,200-square-foot mansion in Miami Beach.
Boatload of crap
You know that boozy tale of Brits who ended up in Syria after a night of hard drinking? Lies. All lies.
Ain’t nothing like the real thing
“Orange is the New Black” is not really keeping it real, says Martha Stewart. She ought to know: she served 5 months in a real federal prison a decade ago.
Not dead yet
Fans of ABC’s recently canceled “Nashville” are singing for joy on reports that the show is headed to country music channel CMT.
WHAT’S FOR LUNCH
Here’s what’s coming up later
The Greatest’s goodbye
The world’s farewell to Muhammad Ali continues this afternoon with a public Muslim service in Louisville. A private family ceremony is also today.
