10 Things to Know for Thursday September 19, 2013

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

  1. STOCKS HIT RECORD AFTER FED KEEPS STIMULUS IN PLACE  Wall Street cheers the Federal Reserve's decision to maintain its $85 billion-a-month bond-buying program. FEDERAL RESERVE

2. NAVY YARD GUNMAN GAVE NO CLEAR WARNING  During two hospital visits in the weeks before the rampage, Aaron Alexis complained of insomnia — but denied having any thoughts of harming himself or others, officials say. NAVY YARD SHOOTING

3. FLASHPOINT IN ATTEMPT TO SCUTTLE OBAMACARE  A fight looms in Congress over conservatives' efforts to yank the funding from Obama's health care overhaul.  BUDGET BATTLE

4. WHERE AN ISLAMIST STRONGHOLD IS UNDER SEIGE  Egyptian security forces encircle a town near Cairo that was the scene last month of an attack by suspected Morsi supporters that left 15 police officers dead.  EGYPT

5. ASSAD ARGUES HIS CASE  The Syrian dictator insists in a TV interview that terrorists, not his regime, were to blame for last month's deadly chemical weapons attack.  SYRIA

6. HOW HIGHER EDUCATION HAS BEEN TRANSFORMED IN AFGHANISTAN  Since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001, the number of college students in the country has soared 26-fold to almost 204,000 — as many as a fifth of them women. AFGHAN-COLLEGE BOOM

7. MANUEL MUSCLES UP  The tropical storm that devastated Acapulco over the weekend strengthens into a hurricane and takes fresh aim at Mexico's northwestern coast.  TROPICAL WEATHER

8. WHY OBESE PEOPLE ARE LESS LIKELY TO SURVIVE CANCER  One reason may be that doctors often short them on chemotherapy by not basing the dose on size.  RIGHT-SIZE CHEMO

9. AND THE WINNER IS...  The AP's Lynn Elber predicts "House of Cards" will earn the Emmy on Sunday for best drama. Fellow AP critic Frazier Moore says it'll be "Breaking Bad."  TV-EMMYS-PREDICTIONS

10. EX-HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMP DIES AT 70  Ken Norton was best known for defeating Muhammad Ali, breaking Ali's jaw and sending him to the hospital in a bout in 1973.  OBIT-KEN NORTON