Links To Text Your Friends

1. The NTSB found no signs of distress calls by the pilots of the business jet that crashed into an apartment complex in Akron, Ohio, killing all nine people on board. (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
2. A Mississippi state flag, which includes the Confederate emblem, was removed from a hallway in the U.S. Capitol. (NYT)
3. The U.S. military didn’t have its own intelligence on the Afghan Doctors Without Borders hospital it bombed last month, and instead relied almost exclusively on Afghan officials’ assertion that the Taliban was inside the hospital. (AP)
4. A new planet with similar size and composition to Earth has been spotted 39 million light years away, though scientists doubt there is life on it. (Los Angeles Times)
5. Two nephews of the Venezuelan first lady were arrested in Haiti for trying to smuggle 800 kilos of cocaine into the United States. (AP)
6. Germany’s BND spy agency reportedly eavesdropped on the FBI and U.S. gun manufacturers from 2008 to 2011. Remember Germans’ outrage over the Snowden revelations? (AP)
7. Slovenia started building a razor-wire fence along its border with Croatia to keep out immigrants. (AP)
8. The percentage of Americans who are obese increased from 35 to 38 percent. (NYT)
9. A nationwide shortage of the FluMist nasal spray means people who want protection will need to receive a flu shot. (Ariana Eunjung Cha)
10. The USDA in investigating an undercover video filmed at one of the nation’s largest pork processing plants that shows pigs being beaten and dragged across the ground, and — apparently in violation of federal law — still conscious before being killed. (Roberto Ferdman)
11. A new Justice Department proposal recommends that companies not face charges if they voluntarily disclose instances of foreign bribery. (Ellen Nakashima)
12. Wal-Mart will scale back its Black Friday shopping promotions this year, still opening its doors at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving but no longer having its door-buster deals spread out over a five-day period. (Wall Street Journal)
13. A man was arrested for using social media to threaten to shoot African-Americans at the University of Missouri, which has seen its president and chancellor resign amid allegations that administrators failed to address racially-charged incidents on campus. Meanwhile, the Mizzou professor who was caught on camera berating a student journalist for trying to cover campus protests apologized and resigned her appointment with the journalism school, though she will remain a professor in the communication department.
14. An Arkansas woman, 28, was charged with child endangerment after giving her 10-month-old son bourbon to relieve his teething pains. (KTHV-TV)