Cheat Sheet - Obama Will Fight the Surveillance State in 2014

Today: North Dakota Town Evacuated , Schumacher Improves After Surgery , Chinese Doctor Sold Newborns December 31, 2013 DEFINING MOMENT 1. Obama Will Fight the Surveillance State in 2014 Not-so-light beach reading. President Obama is spending his trip to Hawaii reading a 300-page report from his commission on how to reform the surveillance state. The Daily Beast's Daniel Klaidman reports that the president is irritated with the intelligence community and seems inclined to end the NSA's controversial collection of metadata next year. Read it at The Daily Beast DISASTER 2. North Dakota Town Evacuated A majority of the 2,300 residents of Casselton, North Dakota, fled on Monday night after a massive fire following an oil train explosion. Mushroom-cloud smoke and flames rose up after a grain train derailed and crashed into a crude oil train in Casselton, located about 25 miles west of Fargo. "It was black smoke and then there were probably four explosions in the next hour and a half," said Casselton resident Eva Fercho. Both trains had more than 100 cars each, and the cars were still burning as darkness fell. Following the explosion, the Cass County Sheriff's Office called for "precautionary" evacuations until the health hazards are known. A monitoring crew spent the night evaluating air quality and other possible hazards, despite the temperatures of 15 degrees and a wind-chill at 32 below. Read it at Minneapolis Star Tribune RECOVERY 3. Schumacher Improves After Surgery Formula 1 racing champion Michael Schumacher's condition improved slightly, doctors said Tuesday, following a second surgery to relieve brain damage after a skiing accident. Doctors removed a large hematoma from Schumacher's brain Monday night after seeing an unexpected improvement earlier in the day, but Schumacher remains in critical condition and a medically induced coma. "There is still a long way to go," said University Hospital Center of Grenoble chief anesthesiologist Jean-Francois Payen. Schumacher hit his head on a rock on Sunday while skiing in France. He was reportedly wearing a helmet. Read it at CNN HORRIBLE 4. Chinese Doctor Sold Newborns A Chinese doctor admitted on Monday to stealing newborn babies from the hospital where she worked, and then selling them to human traffickers. Zhang Shuxia, a locally respected obstetrician who was due to retire soon, confessed in court that she told parents their newborns had congenital problems, and convinced them to "give the babies up." According to the indictment, Zhang sold seven babies from November 2011 until July 2013. Six of the babies were later rescued, but one that was trafficked for $165 later died. Child trafficking is an epidemic in China due to the country's traditional preference for male heirs and strict one-child policy—although the punishment for child trafficking is the death penalty. Read it at USA Today RED, WHITE & BLUE 5. Cruz's Canadian Panic Of all the vows undertaken by 2016 hopefuls, Ted Cruz's announcement that he plans to renounce his Canadian citizenship (he's a dual citizen of the U.S. and Canada) could be the wackiest of them all—and the most zany good fun to watch. But then why, The Daily Beast's Michelle Cottle asks, aren't the Democrats running with it? Read it at The Daily Beast CHAOS South Sudan Rebels Take Key Town Uganda's president threatens military action. APPEAL Brain-Dead Teen Gets Reprieve Judge rules she can stay on life support. PIN IT Twitter Slips in Popularity LinkedIn, Pinterest have more users. CHEAP Netflix to Test $6.99 Streaming Will have lower quality video. SCANDALOUS Report: Dwyane Wade Fathered Child Not with fiancée Gabrielle Union. GET The Cheat Sheet A speedy, smart summary of news and must-reads from across the Web. You'll love the featured original stories on politics, entertainment, and more from The Daily Beast's diverse group of contributors. GET Culture Beast Weekly cultural recommendations from The Daily Beast. The Year in Awful by Michael Moynihan Bollywood's Baffling Blockbuster by Sujay Kumar New Year's Rockin' Eve 1913 by Charles Emmerson

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