5 things to know for October 15: Sears, Hurricane Michael, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, affirmative action

Sears filed for bankruptcy early this morning, after the once-dominant retailer couldn't make a $134 million debt payment that was due today. Sears, which also owns Kmart, says it will stay in business and keep open profitable stores as well as its online shopping sites. But it will close at least 142 more stores this year, on top of the 46 store closings it had already planned for next month. Sears, a 132-year-old company, changed how Americans shopped, but it has struggled in the era of big box stores and internet shopping and has been drowning in debt.

2. German elections

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's fragile coalition government just got a lot more fragile. A political party allied with her in the state of Bavaria lost its majority in Bavaria's parliament in an election yesterday. The party, the Christian Social Union, had pretty much ruled Bavaria since the end of World War II, but the refugee crisis in the country fueled the rise of far-right, anti-immigration parties that gained seats in parliament for the first time. Bavaria bore the brunt of the 2015 refugee crisis; at its peak, thousands of asylum seekers were crossing into the state every day. Since then, both Merkel and her CSU allies have been criticized for their management of the influx. The outcome of the election further weakens Merkel's coalition, which took four months to form and almost imploded over refugee issues.

3. Hurricane Michael

Five days after Hurricane Michael slammed into the Florida Panhandle, dozens of people are still missing. About 30 to 35 people remain unaccounted for in hard-hit Mexico Beach. Conditions are dire for survivors, with long lines for food and bottled water. There's also some reports of looting. And local schools are scrambling to get students back in class. The misery extends beyond Florida, with more than 250,000 customers still without power in seven states from Florida to Virginia. Later today, President Trump and first lady Melania Trump visit to survey the damage.

4. Saudi Arabia

International pressure has been mounting on Saudi Arabia for days for an explanation into the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Turkey. The UK, Germany and France demand an investigation. Businesses are pulling out of conferences there. Politicians in the US have talked of sanctions. Over the weekend the Saudis pushed back, threatening to retaliate if the US imposed sanctions. Saudi Arabia's King Salman spoke with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which resulted in talk of the two countries possibly putting together a "working group" to deal with the matter.

5. Affirmative action

A lawsuit that could spell the beginning of the end of affirmative action goes to trial today in a federal court in Massachusetts. The suit was filed by a group of conservative advocates on behalf of Asian-American students who failed to gain admission to Harvard. The group wants Harvard's racial admissions practices, that traditionally benefit African-American and Latino students, overturned. This case is all but certain to reach the Supreme Court, where the group's ultimate hope is that the court's new conservative majority will be more inclined to reverse the landmark 1978 Supreme Court case that upheld race-based admissions policies.

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