Breaking News Stories
(Reuters) - The tornado that slammed into the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore, killing 24 people, was upgraded on Tuesday to a rating of EF5, the category reserved for the most damaging twisters on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, the National Weather Service said. The Enhanced Fujita scale is an updated version of an earlier chart to measure the ferocity of tornadoes published in 1971 by University of Chicago professor Ted Fujita. ...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Twitter is booming as a social media destination for teenagers who complain about too many adults and too much drama on Facebook, according to a new study published Tuesday about online behavior. It said teens are sharing more personal information about themselves even as they try to protect their online reputations.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate voted Tuesday to keep a $400 million annual cut — or roughly a half of 1 percent — to the food stamp program as part of a major five-year farm bill.
FORT MEADE, Md. (AP) — Lawyers in the court-martial of an Army private who sent more than 700,000 classified U.S. documents to WikiLeaks said Tuesday they have reached a deal that may eliminate the need for testimony from a member of the military team that killed Osama bin Laden. Prosecutors also agreed to accept Pfc. Bradley Manning's guilty plea to a lesser version of one of the 22 counts he faces.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government has given the job of compiling statistics used by the State Department to analyze trends in global terrorism to an academic group, a move that may complicate accurate unclassified assessments of patterns of terrorist activity for years to come.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Vinny Del Negro is out as coach of the Los Angeles Clippers after a season in which the team won its first division title but lost in the first round of the playoffs.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama believes journalists shouldn't be prosecuted for doing their jobs, the White House said Tuesday, showing solidarity with First Amendment advocates alarmed by a pair of high-profile federal probes into national security leaks.
By Patrick Temple-West and Kevin Drawbaugh WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Apple Inc Chief Executive Tim Cook made no apology on Tuesday for the iPad maker saving billions of dollars in U.S. taxes through Irish subsidiaries and told lawmakers that his company backs corporate tax reform, even though it may end up paying more. The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations has found that Apple in 2012 alone avoided paying $9 billion in U.S. taxes, using a strategy involving three offshore units with no discernible tax home, or "residence. ...
MOORE, Oklahoma (Reuters) - The damage from Monday's tornado in a suburb of Oklahoma City is likely to exceed that caused by the 2011 twister in Joplin, Missouri, that killed 161 people, Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner John Doak said. In an interview with Reuters after touring the area, Doak said that losses were likely to be greater than in the Joplin storm, which he said caused about $3 billion in damage. "This will likely exceed that," Doak said. The insured losses from Joplin exceeded $2 billion and are expected to rise as claims are settled. ...
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Senate panel voted on Tuesday to provide weapons to rebels battling the forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad, the first time lawmakers have endorsed the aggressive U.S. military step of arming the opposition in the 2-year-old civil war.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Army says the commanding general of Fort Jackson, S.C., has been suspended in connection with charges of adultery and involvement in a physical altercation.
By Kareem Raheem BAGHDAD, Iraq (Reuters) - A series of bomb and gun attacks across Iraq killed more than 40 people on Tuesday, a day after over 70 died in violence targeting majority Shi'ites that has stoked fears of all-out sectarian war with minority Sunnis. Nearly 300 people have been killed in the past week as sectarian tensions, fuelled by the civil war in neighboring Syria, threaten to plunge Iraq back into communal bloodletting. Ten years after the U.S. ...
By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - The H7N9 virus appears to have been brought under control in China largely due to restrictions at bird markets, but caused some $6.5 billion in losses to the economy, U.N. experts said on Tuesday. Health authorities worldwide must be on the lookout to detect the virus, the experts said, which could still develop the ability to spread easily among humans and cause a deadly influenza pandemic. ...
WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah (AP) — WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah (AP) — In a story May 20 about the Susan Powell investigation, The Associated Press reported erroneously the day that Josh Powell committed suicide. It happened on Feb. 5, 2012.
By Matthew Goldstein NEW YORK (Reuters) - The decision by prosecutors to compel Steven A. Cohen to testify before a federal grand jury about allegations of insider trading at his $15 billion hedge fund is leaving many criminal defense lawyers scratching their heads. In the past week, federal authorities have issued grand jury subpoenas seeking testimony from Cohen and others at SAC Capital, The New York Times first reported. Two people familiar with the matter confirmed to Reuters that subpoenas had been issued and Cohen was among those served. ...
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GENEVA (AP) — U.N. officials said Tuesday that the number of Syrian refugees arriving in Jordan has suddenly fallen from an average of 2,500 a day to fewer than 20, and they are trying to quickly figure out why.
ENUGU, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria's military said Tuesday that the West African nation would release some of the prisoners it has taken in the country's fight against Islamic extremists — including all the women now held in custody.
MOORE, Okla. (AP) — I left the office in Oklahoma City as soon as I saw the tornado warnings on TV. I had photographed about a dozen twisters in the past decade, and knew that if I didn't get in my car before the funnel cloud hit, it would be too late.
By Jonathan Spicer and Paul Carrel NEW YORK/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Two senior Federal Reserve officials on Tuesday played down the chances that the U.S. central bank would signal a readiness to reduce its bond buying at its meeting next month, dampening speculation the Fed's ultra-easy monetary policy might end soon. New York Federal Reserve Bank President William Dudley and St. Louis Fed chief James Bullard, both of whom will vote at the June 18-19 meeting, made clear further economic progress was needed before they would support curtailing bond purchases. ...
LONDON (AP) — Britain's House of Commons has passed a bill to legalize same-sex marriage in England and Wales.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia on Tuesday executed five Yemenis convicted of crimes and displayed their bodies in public as a deterrent for future criminals, the government said.
