Friday, May 17, 2013 at 3:56 AM
2nd Top Official Out at IRS, Obama Names New Chief
AP
A second top official is out at the Internal Revenue Service, as the agency reels from a scandal over revelations that it gave special scrutiny to conservative groups applying for tax exemption. An internal memo said that Joseph Grant, commissioner of the IRS's tax-exempt and government entities division, will retire on June 3. That news came after President Barack Obama appointed a new acting IRS commissioner earlier Thursday, hours after he said he knew nothing about the actions within the agency until they were reported in the press. He named Daniel Werfel to fill the position vacated by Steven Miller, who resigned Wednesday on the Treasury's request. The president, however, declined to endorse appointing an independent counsel to investigate the controversy.
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Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 2:17 PM
"Perfect" Diamond Sells for Record $27 Million
Fabrice Coffrini / AFP - Getty Images
The Harry Winston jewelry firm purchased the largest diamond ever offered at auction for a record $26.7 million in Geneva Wednesday. The raw original 236-carat, colorless stone was extracted from a Jwaneng mine in Botswana, and the cut and polish process lasted 21 months. Now, the pear-shaped, flawless-clarity diamond weighs 101.73 carats and has been named the "Winston Legacy." Rahul Kadkia, head of jewelry at Christie's Switzerland and Americas, called the piece the "most perfect diamond ever offered for sale at auction." The auction also broke records for the highest prices for pearls and sapphires, according to a Christie's auctioneer.
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Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 1:12 PM
Tea Party Lawmakers Use IRS Scandal to Ding Health Care Reform
AP
Tea party lawmakers on Thursday warned that the revelation that the IRS had targeted conservative groups could lead to further abuses of government power, specifically when it comes to implementing President Barack Obama’s health care reform law, NBC News reported. "Could there potentially be political implications regarding health care, access to health care, denial of health care - will that happen based upon a person's political beliefs or their religiously held beliefs?" asked Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, a Tea Party figurehead, in a press conference on Capitol Hill. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., a Tea Party darling with presidential ambitions said he’s worried that people’s “medical records now will be evaluated by the IRS.” He added that the while acting IRS commissioner Steven Miller’s resignation was a "step in the right direction," more heads needed to roll. The press conference happened hours before House Republicans were to hold their 37th vote to repeal or replace part of the law.
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Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 8:19 PM
IRS, AP, Benghazi: Guide to 3 White House Storms
With the White House facing several scandals — the Benghazi talking points, the subpoena of Associated Press phone records and the IRS’s political targeting of conservative groups — President Barack Obama on Wednesday tried to stop the bleeding, first by releasing emails about the crafting of the Benghazi talking points and then, about an hour later, announcing the ouster of the acting IRS commissioner. The White House also said Wednesday that it supports the re-introduction of a media-shield bill. The stakes in the scandals are high: Hillary Clinton, a presumed 2016 front-runner, is in the GOP's sights on Benghazi, and Sen. Marco Rubio said the IRS scandal could hurt immigration reform's chances of passing the Senate. In the meantime, Attorney General Eric Holder has promised a nationwide probe of the IRS scandal, and more congressional hearings are on the way.
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Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 7:01 PM
Obama Vows Crackdown on Military Sex Assault
AP
President Barack Obama vowed Thursday to launch a "sustained effort" to curb sexual assault in the military, calling the epidemic "dangerous to our national security." His remarks came after he met with Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Martin Dempsey and military service chiefs on the issue, as well as just after a bipartisan group of senators launched a bill to remove the investigation of serious sex crimes out of the military chain of command. The bill would place the decision for the type of trial with officers holding a rank of colonel or higher, and it would give service chiefs of staff the power to establish courts, empanel juries and pick judges. It would also enshrine into law Hagel's recent proposal of barring military authorities from reducing guilty findings. The new proposal comes in the wake of two separate accusations of two officers tasked with curbing sex crimes in the military of themselves committing sexual misconduct. Just after Obama's remarks Thursday, another officer in charge of a sexual assault program was relieved of his duties for his alleged involvement in a domestic dispute.
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Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 8:42 AM
One Million Flee as Cyclone Lashes Bangladesh Coast
AP
More than 1 million people were forced to evacuate after Cyclone Mashasen struck the southern coast of Bangladesh Thursday. Upon reaching land, the forward movement of the storm slowed, meaning the towns in its path would have to weather the storm for longer, the director of the Bangladesh Meteorological Department said. The U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs had reported Wednesday that the storm could bring life-threatening conditions to about 8.2 million people in Bangladesh, Myanmar and northeast India. At least 18 deaths related to Mashasen were reported in Bangladesh, Myanmar and Sri Lanka before the brunt of the storm hit. River ferries, boat service and factories were suspended in Bangladesh. Air force helicopters and navy ships are also at the ready, the military said. Cyclone Mahasen is rated Category 1, the weakest level.
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Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 8:36 AM
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Left Note Inside Boat, Sources Say
AP
Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev scribbled a note while hiding inside the hull of the boat, saying that the attacks were retaliation for American action against Muslims, sources told NBC News on Thursday. In that note, Tsarnaev, bleeding and hunted by police, said many of the things he told investigators from his hospital bed days later, after his capture, the sources said. The note was first reported by CBS News. Tsarnaev was discovered hiding in the boat, in Watertown, Mass., on April 19 after a daylong manhunt and is currently in a federal prison hospital in Massachusetts. He has been charged with using a weapon of mass destruction and could face the death penalty. His brother, Tamerlan, was killed in a shootout with police in Watertown.
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Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 8:12 AM
Powerball Jackpot Grows to $475 Million
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Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 8:06 AM
Boy, 10, Sentenced to Juvenile Detention for Rape, Murder Plot
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A 10-year-old Washington state boy was sentenced on Wednesday to up to five and half years in a juvenile detention facility for his role in a thwarted plot to rape and kill a girl at his school and harm other children, Reuters reported. The fifth grader was charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, juvenile firearm possession and witness tampering in connection with a plot in February at an elementary school in Colville. The boy pleaded guilty to all charges, prosecutors said. An 11-year-old boy accused of joining in the plot faces a court hearing later this month. The 10-year-old boy told investigators he and his friend planned to kill a former fifth-grade girlfriend because she was "rude" and "always made fun" of him and friends, according to court documents. The boys had a pistol, ammunition and a knife, but were stopped after they boarded a school bus, officials said. Another student saw the knife and reported it to a teacher’s aide.
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Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 7:48 AM
Bomb Plot Briefing May Undercut DOJ Leak Case
AP
The Justice Department said it has conducted an investigation into the disclosure by The Associated Press of an ongoing covert operation against an al Qaeda suicide cell in Yemen because the publication of the story “put the American people at risk,” NBC News reported. But that assertion by Attorney General Eric Holder could be undermined by the White House’s decision to publicly comment about the operation at the time and reveal additional details not reported by the AP, according to legal experts and counterterrorism officials. Soon after the AP published its May 17, 2012 story, then- White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan, currently the director of the CIA, conducted a background briefing assuring reporters that the bomb plot was never a threat to the American public and said intelligence officials had “inside control” over it - a detail not initially included in the AP story and one that indicated an existence of an intelligence source. These public comments could undercut DOJ's position if the AP decides to take any legal action challenging the secret subpoenas of its phone records.
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Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 2:22 PM
15 People, Including 6 Americans Killed in Kabul Suicide Attack
AP
Six Americans were among at least 15 people killed when a suicide bomber targeted a convoy carrying foreign troops Thursday in Afghanistan's capital city of Kabul, a NATO source told NBC News. The American victims included two soldiers and four civilian contractors, the source added. Afghan officials said two children were among the Afghan victims. Forty others were injured in the blast after the attacker detonated a Toyota Corolla car, Kabul police spokesman Hashmatullah Stanikzai said. Hizb-i-Islami, an insurgent group which is allied with the Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack.
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Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 8:29 AM
New Orleans Mother's Day Shooting Suspect Arrested
AP
New Orleans police and federal agents said they arrested the suspect in a Mother's Day parade shooting that left 19 people wounded, NBC affiliate WDSU in New Orleans reported. Authorities said they arrested 19-year-old Akein Scott on Wednesday evening in the Little Woods section of eastern New Orleans. Scott was wanted in connection with the parade shootings where the wounded included two children. Surveillance cameras of the scene captured images of a man stepping into the street, opening fire on the crowd, and then running away. On Monday police identified the shooter as Scott.
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Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 12:53 AM
No Evidence Bomb Caused Texas Fertilizer Plant Blast
Getty Images
Investigators have found no evidence to suggest that a bomb caused last month's deadly explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, officials told NBC News on Wednesday. The news that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives had no indication of a bomb came ahead of a press conference planned for Thursday, when the ATF will discuss its investigation and initial findings along with the state fire marshal's office. One official told NBC News that he did not expect any mention at that press conference of a first responder who was later charged with owning pipe bomb components. Texas authorities arrested that paramedic, Bryce Reed, the same day they launched a criminal probe into the blast, which killed 15, injured hundreds and laid waste to the small town.
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Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 12:57 AM
Kepler Kaput: Malfunction Forces End to Planet Search
AP
The search for alien planets may be over — at least for NASA's Kepler space telescope. The planet-hunting telescope is now out of commission, after its reaction-wheel control system failed a second time. "It's certainly not good news," a deputy project manager for the $600 million NASA mission told reporters Wednesday. But he and others said they still hope the probe could be saved, despite the problems with the gyroscopic reaction wheel system Kepler uses to home in on far-off solar systems. After one of the four wheels failed last year, the telescope was able to manage with three. But without three, the planet quest is kaput. Still, officials emphasized that the telescope had already outlasted its primary mission — and that the end of the planet hunt won't mean the end of the project. Trillions of bits of data already collected must still be analyzed, a process that could take years. "I am really delighted, frankly, with what we've accomplished," the mission's lead investigator said.
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Wednesday, May 15, 2013 at 9:58 PM
Jury Finds Jodi Arias Eligible for Death Penalty
AP
A Phoenix jury found Jodi Arias "especially cruel" Wednesday in how she allegedly killed her ex-boyfriend — making her eligible for the death penalty. The finding constituted an "aggravating factor" under Arizona law in Travis Alexander's murder, of which the same jury convicted Arias last week. The penalty phase of the deliberations is set to resume Thursday, and then the jurors will begin to mull whether Arias should face execution or life in prison. The jury's deliberations on whether Arias should be eligible for death started after only two hours of arguments over whether she had been "especially cruel," a factor that state law says justifies the death penalty. Arias' attorney Kirk Nurmi said jurors had to be convinced that she acted "beyond (the) normal cruelty that's inherent in any first-degree murder."
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