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2 minutes ago
Drone Strikes Kill Four U.S. Citizens Since 2009: Holder
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The White House revealed on Wednesday that drone strikes since 2009 have killed four Americans overseas, NBC News reported. One of those killed, Anwar Al-Awlaki, was targeted in Yemen because he plotted terrorist attacks in the United States. The other three killed were Awlaki's teenage son Abd al-Rahmn Anwar al-Awlaki; Samir Khan, the American who ran al Qaeda’s web-based propaganda magazine Inspire and Jude Kenan Mohammed of Raleigh, N.C., who was on FBI's "most wanted" list for conspiring to provide material support to terrorists. Holder said the older Awlaki was the only American citizen targeted, but the other three were not "specifically targeted" and were killed in circumstances that the administration did not explain. The revelation came in a letter from Attorney General Eric Holder to congressional leaders and on the eve of a major address by President Barack Obama on his counterterrorism policy. Click through to read more on this breaking story.
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3 hours ago
Tamerlan Tsarnaev Had Role in Triple Homicide, Sources Say
Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev and a Florida man killed while being questioned by the FBI in Orlando early Wednesday morning murdered three people in Massachusetts in 2011 after a drug deal went awry, sources tells NBC News. Sources say that what began as a drug ripoff ended in the triple homicide when Tsarnaev and friend Ibragim Todashev realized their victims would later be able to identify them. An FBI agent shot and killed Todashev on Wednesday after he allegedly attacked the agent with a knife, investigators said. The agent sustained non-life threatening injuries, the FBI said in a statement. Todashev was not suspected of being involved in the bombing, but he did confess to being involved in the brutal 2011 killings in Waltham, Mass., investigators said. Law enforcement officials said Todashev was being questioned as part of the FBI’s effort to find and talk to anyone who had any links to Tsarnaev. Todashev, officials said, had spent some time in the Boston area, where he was a mixed martial arts fighter, and knew Tsarnaev there. He had been interviewed about his connections to the bombing suspects before by the FBI and started out cooperative. Officials said he became violent as he was about to sign a written statement based on his confession.
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Chicago School Board Votes to Close 50 Schools
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26 minutes ago
"Barbaric": Man Killed in Possible London Terror Attack
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A man reported to be a British soldier was killed on a London street and his two suspected attackers wounded Wednesday in what is being investigated as a possible terror attack or politically-motivated killing, NBC News reported. Eyewitnesses told local media that the man was attacked with knives or a meat cleaver in broad daylight by two people who were later shot by officers. The assailants were taken to separate hospitals and were later arrested. Local lawmaker Nick Raynsford said the dead man was a soldier serving at a nearby barracks in Woolwich, southeast London, NBC News reported. Prime Minister David Cameron called the killing "truly shocking" and convened the government's emergency committee. Britain’s Home Secretary Theresa May said the attack was "sickening and barbaric."
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Wednesday, May 22, 2013 at 2:58 PM
Up to 13,000 Homes Damaged as Okla. Turns to Recovery
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The tornado that zeroed in on Moore, Oklahoma, decimating two elementary schools and the local hospital and wiping out entire neighborhoods, destroyed or damaged 12,000 to 13,000 homes, said Oklahoma City mayor Mick Cornett at a Wednesday afternoon press conference. The cleanup of debris was beginning Wednesday as rescue teams wound up their search, NBC News reported. Cornett said 33,000 people were affected by the twister and he put the monetary damage estimate at between $1.5 billion to $2 billion. President Obama vowed to help victims get needed assistance "right away" and is scheduled to travel to Moore on Sunday to survey the damage. Authorities said 24 people were killed by the twister, nine of them children. The first funeral for one of the victims is scheduled for Saturday, Cornett said. Six people, all adults, remained unaccounted for, said Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management Director Albert Ashwood. They might have just "walked off" their properties or could still be in the rubble, he said.
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Wednesday, May 22, 2013 at 3:43 PM
IRS Official: "I've Done Nothing Wrong"
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Members of the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday expressed anger and bewilderment that IRS leaders had not told Congress sooner that the tax agency had improperly singled out conservatives groups seeking tax-exempt status, NBC News reported. The lawmakers voiced outrage that Douglas Shulman, the commissioner of the IRS during much of the abuses, did not tell lawmakers that an internal agency investigation had suggested improper action. "You misled Congress. Make no question about it … When you learned there was a list, you did nothing," said Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass. Earlier in the day, the committee dismissed the IRS official in charge of the division accused of wrongdoing, after she invoked her Fifth Amendment rights and refused to testify. Lois Lerner refused to answer lawmakers’ questions but denied having done anything wrong before invoking her rights, NBC News reported. “I have not done anything wrong. I have not broken any laws. I have not violated any IRS rules or regulations,” she said at the hearing.
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4 hours ago
West Point Sergeant Charged with Secretly Filming Female Cadets
A staff member at West Point is accused of hiding cameras in the women’s shower and locker room. Army Sgt. 1st Class, Michael McClendon was relieved of his duties at West Point and has been charged with four counts of indecent acts, dereliction of duty, cruelty and maltreatment and violations of good order and discipline, according to The New York Times.
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27 minutes ago
Washington State Man Arrested Over Ricin Letters
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A man was arrested on Wednesday after two letters containing the deadly poison ricin were discovered in Washington state last week, The Associated Press reported. A grand jury issued an indictment for 37-year-old Matthew Ryan Buquet that accuses him of sending threatening communication to U.S District Judge Fred Van Sickle at the federal courthouse on May 14. FBI agents arrested Buquet on Wednesday afternoon and he appeared in federal court in Spokane. He pleaded not guilty. If convicted of mailing the threatening letters, he could face up to 10 years in prison.
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Wednesday, May 22, 2013 at 11:14 AM
I have not done anything wrong. I have not broken any laws. I have not violated any IRS rules or regulations.
17 minutes ago
NASA Funds Project to Make Space Meals with 3-D Printer
NASA is paying out $125,000 to study the use of 3-D printing technology for food preparation in space, NBC News reported. "We will be building the components for a prototype" over the grant's six-month period, David Irwin, principal investigator for the project at Texas-based Systems and Materials Research Consultancy, told NBC News. Generic mixes of starch, protein and fat can be transformed into food elements that result in food items like warm pizza with fake cheese, sauce and pepperoni, according to NBC News. The contract was signed on Wednesday and the project is part of NASA's efforts to widen the menu options for future space travelers on Mars and asteroid missions. Astronauts are currently eating pre-packaged, pre-processed foods.
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5 hours ago
Arias Jury in Deadlock: "What If We Can't Reach a Decision?"
The Arizona jury deliberating on whether Jodi Arias should face the death penalty or life in prison for the murder of her ex-boyfriend were in a deadlock on Wednesday as they questioned the judge about what to do if they can't reach a decision. Judge Sherry Stephens gave the jury further instructions and sent them back to the jury room to resume deliberations, NBC News reported. A new jury would be enlisted if the current jury is unable to reach a decision. Arias is now asking jurors to spare her life after initially saying she preferred to die. “What I receive will be what I deserve, I believe,’’ Arias said in interview which aired on the "Today" show Wednesday. Arias said she deserves life in prison instead of the death penalty because she still has a lot to contribute to society. She also said she feels betrayed by the jury’s verdict, which her attorneys plan to appeal. Asked in the "Today" interview about people who feel that the only way for Travis Alexander to get justice is for Arias to get the death penalty, the former waitress replied, "That's not justice. That's revenge."
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Wednesday, May 22, 2013 at 3:12 PM
Youngest Victims of Tornado Were 4 and 7 Months Old
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The youngest victims of the tornado that leveled Moore, Oklahoma, on Monday were two infant girls, four-month-old Case Futrell and seven-month-old Sydnee Vargys, according to the Oklahoma medical examiner’s report. Both children died of blunt force trauma to the head. Case's mother, Megan Futrell, 29, died along with her son when a 7-Eleven, where they sought shelter, collapsed under the force of tornado winds. Karrina Vargyas, 4, was on the list of victims, but it was not immediately clear what her relationship to Sydnee was. Ten of the 24 people on the medical examiner's victims' list were children, seven of whom were killed at Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore. Six of the children were listed as 9 years old, and one was 8 years old. Among them was third-grader Ja'Nae Hornsbyand. Five of the eight- and nine-year-olds died of "mechanical asphyxia," which Okla. Gov. Mary Fallin's office said referred to "suffocation ... not drowning," despite previous reports that the seven children who died at the school had drowned in the building.
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LA Selects Garcetti as Next Mayor
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6 hours ago
Costa Concordia Captain Charged with Manslaughter
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The captain of the Costa Concordia - the cruise ship that ran aground in January 2012 - will be tried for manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship while the vessel's 4,200 passengers and crew were still on board, NBC News reported. Captain Francesco Schettino will be the only defendant in the trial, which is scheduled to begin on July 9 in the Tuscan city of Grosseto. Schettino's lawyers tried to convince the judge to drop the charge of abandonment of ship, but the judge ruled that there was enough evidence to suggest the captain left the ship voluntarily hours before the last passenger was rescued, rather than falling off the ship like he originally claimed. He could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
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Weiner Launches Mayoral Bid, Asks for "Second Chance"
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- Holder says drone strikes since 2009 have killed four U.S. citizens
- Man with ties to Boston bombing suspect admits role in 2011 murders; shot during FBI questioning
- Tornado birth: Mom endures labor as twister destroys hospital
- Mother, infant who sought shelter in 7-Eleven among tornado victims identified
- 'Leave our lands': Man knifed to death in suspected London terror attack
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What Killed the Son of Faith-Healing Couple- Drone Strikes Kill Four U.S. Citizens Since 2009: Holder
- White House Defends IRS Handling, McConnell Claims "Intimidation"
- Clean-Up Begins at the Connecticut Train Crash Site
- Washington State Man Arrested Over Ricin Letters
- Complaints Filed Against 4 Colleges Over Rapes
