Man with ties to Boston bombing suspects shot during FBI questioning

Posted by Richard Esposito and Matthew DeLuca, NBC News on May 22, 2013 Comments Off
A man with ties to the Boston Marathon bombing suspects was shot and killed while being questioned by the FBI in Florida, sources told NBC News.The man who was shot, Ibragim Todashev, had been interviewed about his connections to the bombing suspects before by the FBI and started out cooperative, sources told NBC News.The suspect then went to attack the agent and was shot, the sources said.The sus...
    


Jodi Arias: Death penalty would be revenge, not justice

Posted by Scott Stump on May 22, 2013 Comments Off
As an Arizona jury resumes deliberating on Wednesday about whether she deserves the death penalty for the murder of her ex-boyfriend, Jodi Arias is now begging for her life after initially saying she preferred to die. “What I receive will be what I deserve, I believe,’’ she told NBC’s Diana Alvear only hours after she begged the jury to spare her life on Tuesday. Earlier this month, she was convic...
    


FBI agent kills man linked to Boston bombing suspects

Posted by Richard Esposito and Matthew DeLuca, NBC News on May 22, 2013 Comments Off
An FBI agent was involved in a deadly shooting connected to the Boston Marathon bombing case.The man who was shot, Ibragim Todashev, had been interviewed about his connections to the bombing suspects before by the FBI and started out cooperative, NBC sources said.The suspect then went to attack the agent and was shot, the sources said.The suspect is deceased, the FBI said.“We are currently respond...
    


Sweden stunned by third night of rioting

Posted by Johan Sennero and Johan Ahlander, Reuters on May 22, 2013 Comments Off
STOCKHOLM - Hundreds of youths set fire to cars and attacked police and rescue services in suburbs of Stockholm Tuesday night in Sweden's worst disorder in years.A police station in the Jakobsberg area in the northwest of the city was attacked, two schools were damaged and an arts and crafts center was set ablaze, despite a call for calm from Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt.It was the third night...
    


US isn’t respecting meat labeling rules, Mexico says

Posted by Adriana Barrera on May 22, 2013 Comments Off
MEXICO CITY -- The United States is not respecting a World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling on meat labeling, Mexico's Agriculture Minister Enrique Martinez said on Tuesday, saying it was hurting local industry.The WTO ruled in late June last year that a U.S. program for labeling imported meat unfairly discriminated against Mexico and Canada, putting pressure on the United States to bring the s...
    


Sparks will fly: House panel braces for heated IRS hearing

Posted by Michael O'Brien on May 22, 2013 Comments Off
Capitol Hill readied Wednesday for perhaps the most explosive -- or at least dramatic -- of the three hearings into IRS abuses of conservative and Tea Party groups in the past week, with one of the key witnesses expected to invoke her constitutional right to remain silent.The Republican-controlled House Oversight and Government Reform committee was set to convene its own hearing on the revelations...
    


‘Tornado Mom’ Stephanie Decker to Okla. victims: ‘You will rebuild and get through this’

Posted by Kavita Varma-White on May 22, 2013 Comments Off
Survivors of Monday’s devastating tornado in Oklahoma are coming to grips with their post-storm realities, and there’s one person who knows all too well what they are feeling. Stephanie Decker understands the emotions of fear, shock and loss after the disaster -- and also the gratitude for what remains and the hope for what’s to come.Decker, a 38-year-old mom of two from Henryville, Ind., survived...
    


More storms on the way, tornadoes possible across swath of US

Posted by Ian Johnston, Staff Writer, NBC News on May 22, 2013 Comments Off
An area stretching from the lower Great Lakes to the Tennessee Valley was expected to be hit by severe thunderstorms on Wednesday, forecasters warned.The National Weather Service said that the “primary threats” would be damaging winds and large hail, but added “isolated tornadoes will also be possible.”“Farther south, Tuesday night thunderstorms could continue into Wednesday morning with some dama...
    


‘I hope I get a second chance’: Anthony Weiner launches bid to become NYC mayor

Posted by F. Brinley Bruton, Staff Writer, NBC News on May 22, 2013 Comments Off
Anthony Weiner, whose career as a congressman collapsed after he posted sexually suggestive pictures of himself on Twitter, has announced that he’s running for mayor of New York City.“I made some big mistakes and I know I let a lot of people down. But I've also learned some tough lessons,” the Democrat said in a video posted on his website late on Tuesday."I'm running for mayor because I've been f...
    


Chaos and courage as tornado wrecks elementary schools

Posted by Matthew DeLuca and Miranda Leitsinger, NBC News on May 22, 2013 Comments Off
The massive tornado that tore through Moore, Okla., on Monday bore down hardon Plaza Towers Elementary School, where children sheltered inside from the roaring gusts, even as the building began to come apart around them.The winds and flying debris from the mile-wide tornado claimed at least two dozen lives, the Oklahoma medical examiner said on Tuesday. Nine of those victims were children. The sev...
    


‘The Voice’ kicks off results show with emotional Oklahoma tribute

Posted by Craig Berman on May 22, 2013 Comments Off
“The Voice” set aside its usual flashiness and kicked off with a call to action on Tuesday's results show.Coach Blake Shelton and wife Miranda Lambert opened the program with a touching version of “Over You,” dedicated to the people of Oklahoma, Blake's home state, which was devastated by a deadly tornado Monday. The performance stripped away all the show’s usual extravagance and replaced it with ...
    


Winner of ‘Dancing With the Stars’ is …

Posted by Ree Hines on May 22, 2013 Comments Off
Updated at 12:24 a.m. ET: It's over! Kellie Pickler is the winner of the 16th season of "Dancing With the Stars." The confetti rained down on the "American Idol" alum and country-music star as she was awarded the coveted (though some might call it a little tacky) mirror-ball trophy on Tuesday night. It's an honor she shares with her pro partner, Derek Hough, who now has the distinction of being th...
    


Most expensive house ever hits market at $190M

Posted by Erika Riggs on May 22, 2013 Comments Off
There's Versace's former home, priced at $100 million, Steven Cohen's $115 million apartment and a Manhattan penthouse listed at $125 million. But none of them hold a candle to an estate that spans 50 acres of waterfront in Greenwich, Conn. that recently hit the market at $190 million, becoming the most expensive residential listing in the U.S.While the house is impressive — public records measure...
    


North Korea sends top military official as ‘special envoy’ to China

Posted by The Associated Press on May 22, 2013 Comments Off
North Korea says that a "special envoy" for leader Kim Jong Un has left for China.The North's official Korean Central News Agency said in a short dispatch Wednesday that the envoy was Choe Ryong Hae.There were no other details. Choe is the North Korea military's top political officer tasked with supervising the 1.2-million-strong force.China is North Korea's only major political and economic be...
    


Ex-Cincy IRS official doubts agency’s explanation for Tea Party scandal

Posted by Rich Gardella and Lisa Myers on May 22, 2013 Comments Off
A former manager at the IRS Cincinnati office at the center of the controversy over the targeting of conservative political organizations seeking tax-exempt status tells NBC News she doesn’t think low-level employees acted on their own in flagging them for further scrutiny.  But she also said that in her time at the IRS she has never known politics or partisan motivations to play any role in the o...
    


Okla. school survivor: Teacher threw herself over us and ‘saved our lives’

Posted by Scott Stump on May 22, 2013 Comments Off
A fourth-grader at a school that took a direct hit from Monday’s deadly tornado in Moore, Okla., described the heroic actions of a teacher who saved his life and others by covering several students with her body to shield them from the storm.Damian Britton, a student at Plaza Towers Elementary School, recounted a harrowing scene to Savannah Guthrie on TODAY Tuesday. He also had an emotional reunio...
    


Tornado survivors: A 48-hour window of opportunity

Posted by Maggie Fox, Senior Writer, NBC News on May 22, 2013 Comments Off
Search teams, including some with trained dogs, are scouring the rubble left behind by the monster tornado that flattened miles of homes, schools and businesses in Oklahoma City and its suburbs Monday. More than 100 people had been found alive by rescuers as of Tuesday afternoon.While it's uncertain exactly how many people are still missing, rescuers are up against the clock to find survivors, exp...
    


Share your stories of heroism in Oklahoma

Posted by U.S. News on May 22, 2013 Comments Off
Heroic action was in no short supply Monday as a massive tornado blazed a trail of destruction through Moore, Okla.Did you witness ordinary people doing extraordinary things? Share your stories, photos and video with us by email, or on Twitter using hashtag #OKheroes -- but only if it is safe to do so. Selected responses may be used in an upcoming story.
    


Blogger to Abercrombie & Fitch: A&F means ‘Attractive & Fat’

Posted by Meena Duerson on May 22, 2013 Comments Off
When Jes Baker heard that Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries wasn't interested in customers her size, she decided to respond by showing him what he was missing.In an open letter to Jeffries posted on her blog "The Militant Baker" this week, Baker took aim at the CEO's remarks about his brand's target audience, and reinterpreted Abercrombie & Fitch's signature "A&F" letters to stand ...
    


Man commits suicide inside Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral

Posted by Becky Bratu on May 22, 2013 Comments Off
A man committed suicide inside Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on Tuesday, prompting the clearing out of hundreds of tourists, who had been waiting in a snaking line to visit the 850-year-old landmark.Before pulling a gun and shooting himself in the head, the elderly man placed a letter on the altar, The Associated Press reported. Its contents were not known.The man said nothing before he pulled the...
    


Oklahoma twister among five costliest in history

Posted by John Schoen on May 22, 2013 Comments Off
The worst of it lasted for about an hour. But the human, physical and economic toll of the Oklahoma tornado will rank among the most devastating weather events of its kind. "This is going to be one of the top five costliest tornadoes in U.S. history," said Evan Gold, senior vice president of client services at Planalytics, a weather consulting firm.The full impact of the human loss was still u...
    


Health workers strike at UC California medical centers

Posted by Ronnie Cohen on May 22, 2013 Comments Off
SAN FRANCISCO -- Thousands of healthcare workers walked off the job at the University of California's five medical centers on Tuesday, delaying surgeries, diagnostic procedures, treatments and emergency care throughout the state. The union representing nearly 13,000 vocational nurses, respiratory therapists and radiology technologists said they staged the strike -- scheduled to last two days ...
    


Court strikes down Arizona 20-week abortion ban

Posted by PAUL ELIAS on May 22, 2013 Comments Off
SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal court in San Francisco Tuesday struck down Arizona's ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the law violates a string of U.S. Supreme Court rulings starting with Roe v. Wade that guarantees a woman's right to an abortion before a fetus is able to survive outside the womb. That's generally considered to be about...
    


What you’re seeing: Videos, images from the ground

Posted by U.S. News on May 22, 2013 Comments Off
Related:'Major damage' as huge tornado slams Oklahoma
    


Shocking new theory: Humans hunted, ate Neanderthals

Posted by Science on May 22, 2013 Comments Off
By Larry O'HanlonDiscovery NewsHumans today eat gorillas and chimpanzees, so why would our prehistoric ancestors flinch at sitting down to a nicely roasted Neanderthal?That's the shocking new hypothesis being raised by anthropologists in Spain who wonder if our closest extinct relative was exterminated in the same way as 178 other large mammals, so called megafauna, which are suspected of going at...