Bellringer 12/16/2013
#10. First Chinese craft to land on an extraterrestrial body will study moon's surface before China sends astronauts there.
#9.Big guns fired a salute in the rural village where Nelson Mandela grew up and military servicemen marched stiffly behind his casket on a winding dirt road Sunday as South Africa said goodbye for the last time to the man who reconciled the country in its most vulnerable period.
#8.President Obama on Saturday told an influential audience in Washington that his pursuit of a comprehensive diplomatic deal to end Iran’s development of a nuclear weapon is as likely to fail as succeed, but he defended it as the best option to protect U.S. and Israeli national security with respect to the issue.
#7.The U.S. government shutdown is threatening a long-awaited deal to create the world's largest marine sanctuary in Antarctica. Americans are among the most enthusiastic proponents, but they might not make it to the negotiating table.
#6.Tokyo Bay area property prices stand to benefit the most in the lead up to the 2020 Olympic Games, adding to the recovery in the city’s real estate values after 20 years of declines.
#5.Asiana announced Monday that it will sue a San Francisco TV station that it said damaged the airline's reputation by using bogus and racially offensive names for four pilots on a plane that crashed earlier this month in San Francisco.
#4.The winner of the men's race at the Boston Marathon says he is returning his winner's medal to honor the city and those killed and injured in the terrorist bombings near the finish line of one of the world's top running events.
#3.Scientists in Colombia have been able to calculate the trajectory of the meteor that injured 1,000 in Russia this month using data gleaned from local camera footage and a lake landing spot.
#2.Pope Francis has reaffirmed the Vatican's criticism of a body that represents U.S. nuns that the Church said was tainted by "radical" feminism, dashing hopes that he might take a softer stand with the sisters.
#1.Large groups of brawling teenagers sparked a stampede at a Louisiana mall that led police to evacuate the shopping center and shut it down early.