Massive tornado rips through Moore, Oklahoma

A devastating, two-mile-wide tornado touched down near Oklahoma City on Monday, killing at least 51 people—including at least 20 children—decimating homes, businesses and a pair of elementary schools in the suburb of Moore.

According to the state’s medical examiner, the death toll was expected to rise.The schools—Plaza Towers Elementary and Briarwood Elementary—were leveled by the tornado. It was unclear how many children were in them at the time the twister hit, but according to KFOR-TV, at least seven children died at Plaza Towers, and as many as two dozen more were feared to be trapped inside the rubble. An Associated Press photographer saw rescue workers pull several children out alive. A makeshift triage center was set up in the school’s parking lot.

“This is war-zone terrible,” Jon Welsh, a helicopter pilot for KFOR who lives in Moore, said while surveying the damage from the air. “This school is completely gone.”Emergency officials urged people to remain off the roads so rescue workers and first responders could reach people potentially trapped in rubble, as the National Guard was called in to help in the search for victims.

Three people were killed at a 7-Eleven in the path of the storm, CBS’ KWTV reported, including a man, woman and baby who took cover in a freezer but didn’t survive. KFOR reported a fourth person was killed there.”Our hearts are broken,” Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin said at a news conference Monday evening.The tornado left a debris field 20 miles long and several miles wide. According to the National Weather Service in Norman, Okla., the tornado was on the ground for approximately 40 minutes, and a tornado warning was in effect for 16 minutes before the twister developed.

Weather officials estimated the strength of the storm to be an F4 or F5 on the Fujita Scale—the highest rating a tornado can achieve. The National Weather Service said the tornado’s preliminary classification was an F4, with winds up to 200 mph.On May 3, 1999, a tornado outbreak near Oklahoma City produced 14 tornadoes—including an F5 in Moore—killing 36 people and injuring 295 others. A host on KFOR called Monday’s storm “the worst tornado damage-wise in the history of the world.”The devastated area was an estimated 30 square miles.

“The whole city looks like a debris field,” Moore Mayor Glenn Lewis said on NBC’s “Nightly News.” “Our hospital is pretty much destroyed.”Communication was snarled as landlines and cellphone towers were knocked down. A water treatment plant in Oklahoma City was also damaged.President Barack Obama directed the Federal Emergency Management Agency to prepare to get “all available assistance” to the disaster-hit area.Families of potential victims were directed by the Red Cross to a website—safeandwell.org—for information about survivors.The 106-acre Orr Family Farm, a popular attraction in town, was extremely damaged, its owner said. KFOR reported between 75 and 100 horses perished there.

Another, smaller tornado was spotted on the ground west of Meeker, Okla., north of Shawnee, on Monday.The Oklahoma House of Representatives canceled its afternoon sessions so lawmakers and staffers could take shelter, the AP said.The tornadoes came a day after powerful storms ripped through the center of the country, spawning at least a dozen tornadoes, killing two people and causing extensive damage from Georgia to Minnesota. – YahooNews

Dozens injured in head-on train crash in Connecticut

About 60 people have been injured, five critically, after a head-on, rush-hour collision between two commuter trains near New York City, officials say.

Some 250 people were on the trains involved in Friday evening’s crash. No fatalities have been reported.Officials said a train that left New York City’s Grand Central station en route to New Haven, Connecticut, derailed then was hit by another train.Amtrak has suspended its service between New York and Boston.Metro-North Railroad described it as a “major derailment”, just outside Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy said the front of one of the trains had been extensively damaged and its wheels were “sticking into the other train”.One of the five people with the most serious injuries was described as being in a “very critical” condition.Investigators are trying to find out what caused the crash, which came shortly after 18:00 local time (22:00 GMT).Gov Malloy said he had no reason to believe it was anything other than an accident.

Bridgeport Police Chief Joseph Gaudett said most of those hurt were walking wounded.”Everybody seemed pretty calm,” he told the Associated Press. “Everybody was thankful they didn’t get seriously hurt. They were anxious to get home to their families.”But Canadian passenger Alex Cohen told NBC Connecticut that “people were screaming… they had to smash a window to get us out”.One witness, Brian Alvarez, told CNN: “I saw this one car and it was completely destroyed and they were pulling people out of the car. They were all bloody.” – BBC

NY busts multi-million dollar ‘cigarette smuggling ring’

New York officials say they have busted a multi-million dollar cigarette smuggling ring.Officials allege that three of the 16 Palestinian immigrants charged had links to known terrorists.

The state’s attorney general said investigators had recovered only “a fraction” of the proceeds from sales of more than a million untaxed cartons.The amount of money involved remains unclear, but records show the suspects deposited at least $55m (£36m).The scheme cost the state an estimated $80m in tax revenue, said officials in a press conference on Thursday.The alleged ringleaders, brothers Basel and Samir Ramadan, were arrested on Wednesday in Maryland.Investigators said they had found $1.5m in cash – some stashed in black plastic bin bags – in the home and car of Basel Ramadan.

According to police, the scheme involved buying large quantities of cigarette cartons from a wholesaler in Virginia, hiding them in a public storage building in Delaware and bringing them to New York City and upstate New York for sale at markets and grocery stores. New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said that one of the suspects used to run a business in the 1990s partly funded by Omar Abdel-Rahman, a blind cleric serving a life sentence for a conspiracy to blow up New York City landmarks.

Another was the “confidant”, Mr Kelly said, of a Lebanese immigrant convicted of a deadly shooting attack in 1994 on a van full of Jewish students on Brooklyn Bridge.He said a third suspect used to live in the same apartment as the secretary of a key fundraiser for the Palestinian militant group, Hamas.Officials have not linked the proceeds of the cigarette sales to any militant fundraising, but said they would keep pursuing the missing money.”This dangerous criminal ring was able to generate astounding profits that we are still continuing to trace,” said New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in a statement.

IRS commissioner ousted over tea party targeting

WASHINGTON: Hurrying to check a growing controversy, President Barack Obama ousted the acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service late Wednesday amid an outcry over revelations that the agency had improperly targeted tea party groups for scrutiny when they filed for tax-exempt status.

Obama said Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew had asked for and accepted Steven T. Miller’s resignation. Obama made no public criticism of Miller but spoke of inexcusable “misconduct” by IRS employees and said new leadership at the agency was critical.”Americans are right to be angry about it, and I am angry about it,” Obama said in a televised statement from the White House. “I will not tolerate this kind of behavior in any agency but especially in the IRS, given the power that it has and the reach that it has into all of our lives.”

Miller’s ouster came five days after an IRS supervisor publicly revealed that agents had improperly targeted groups with “tea party” or “patriots” in their applications for tax exempt status. It came a day after an inspector general’s report blamed ineffective management in Washington for allowing it to happen for more than 18 months.The report said tea party groups were asked inappropriate questions about their donors, their political affiliations and their positions on political issues, resulting in delays averaging nearing two years for applications to be processed.

Miller’s departure hardly ends the matter. Three congressional committees are investigating, and the FBI is looking into potential civil rights violations at the IRS, Attorney General Eric Holder said earlier Wednesday.Other potential crimes include making false statements to authorities and violating the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from engaging in some partisan political activities, Holder said.Miller, a 25-year IRS veteran, took over the agency in November when the five-year term of Commissioner Douglas Shulman ended. Shulman was appointed by President George W. Bush.

Obama has yet to nominate a permanent successor. A new acting commissioner was not announced Wednesday evening.In an email to employees, Miller said, “This has been an incredibly difficult time for the IRS given the events of the past few days, and there is a strong and immediate need to restore public trust in the nation’s tax agency. I believe the service will benefit from having a new acting commissioner in place during this challenging period.”In Lew’s letter asking for Miller’s resignation, Lew wrote that the inspector general’s report “has created an urgent need to restore public trust and confidence in the IRS by installing new leadership for the service.”

At the time when tea party groups were targeted, Miller was a deputy commissioner who oversaw the division that dealt with tax-exempt organizations.The report by the Treasury inspector general for tax administration does not indicate that Miller knew conservative groups were being targeted until after the practice ended. But documents show that Miller repeatedly failed to tell Congress that tea party groups were being targeted, even after he had been briefed on the matter.The IRS said Miller was first informed on May, 3, 2012, that applications for tax-exempt status by tea party groups were inappropriately singled out for extra, sometimes burdensome scrutiny.

At least twice after the briefing, Miller wrote letters to members of Congress to explain the process of reviewing applications for tax-exempt status without revealing that tea party groups had been targeted. On July 25, 2012, Miller testified before the House Ways and Means oversight subcommittee but again was not forthcoming on the issue — despite being asked about it.In all, members of Congress sent at least eight letters to the IRS over the past two years, asking about complaints from conservative groups that they were being harassed by the IRS. None of the IRS responses acknowledged that conservative groups were targeted.

Miller was scheduled to testify Friday at a Ways and Means hearing. A committee aide said Wednesday evening that Miller was still expected to attend the hearing.”More than two years after the problem began, and a year after the IRS told us there was no problem, the president is beginning to take action,” said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. “These allegations are serious — that there was an effort to bring the power of the federal government to bear on those the administration disagreed with, in the middle of a heated national election. We are determined to get answers.”

The Justice department opened its criminal investigation on Friday, Holder said.”I can assure you and the American people that we will take a dispassionate view of this,” Holder told the House Judiciary Committee at a hearing Wednesday. “This will not be about parties, this will not be about ideological persuasions. Anybody who has broken the law will be held accountable.”But, Holder said, it will take time to determine if there was criminal wrongdoing.

Legal experts, however, said it could be difficult to prove that IRS officials or employees knowingly violated the civil rights of conservative groups. If there is a violation, the experts said, investigators can sometimes prove more easily that officials made false statements or obstructed justice in some other way.”I think it’s doubtful that any of these knuckleheads who engaged in the conduct that gave rise to this controversy knowingly believed that they were violating the law,” said David H. Laufman, a former Justice Department lawyer. “But that remains to be seen. That’s what investigations are for.”

The IRS started targeting groups with “Tea Party,” ”Patriots” or “9/12 Project” in their applications for tax exempt status in March 2010, the inspector general’s report said. The criteria later evolved to include groups that promoted the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.Wednesday’s hearing was the first of several in Congress that will focus on the issue.The House Oversight Committee announced Wednesday that it would hold a hearing May 22, featuring Lois Lerner, the head of the IRS division that oversees tax exempt organizations, and Shulman, the former commissioner.

The Senate Finance Committee announced a hearing for next Tuesday.Colleen M. Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, said Wednesday that no union employees had been disciplined, as far as she knew. She noted that the IG’s report said agents were not motivated by political bias.Kelley told The Associated Press that low-level workers could not have specifically targeted conservative groups for long without the approval of supervisors. However, she noted, there are many levels of supervisors at the IRS.”No processes or procedures or anything like that would ever be done just by front-line employees without any management involvement,” Kelley said. “That’s just not how it operates.” – YahooNews

President Obama Blames Political Gridlock on ‘Hyper-Partisanship,’ Rush Limbaugh

President Obama blamed part of the political gridlock in Washington, D.C., on “hyper-partisanship” while speaking at a fundraiser attended by Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel  in New York City Monday afternoon, saying some Republicans worry too much about the reaction of conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh.

“What’s blocking us right now is sort of hyper-partisanship in Washington that, frankly, I was hoping to overcome in 2008.  And in the midst of crisis, I think the other party reacted, rather than saying now is the time for us all to join together, decided to take a different path,” Obama said at the Democratic National Committee fundraiser. “My thinking was after we beat them in 2012, well, that might break the fever, and it’s not quite broken yet.

“But I am persistent,” he said. “And I am staying at it.  And I genuinely believe that there are actually Republicans out there who would like to work with us but they’re fearful of their base and they’re concerned about what Rush Limbaugh might say about them. And, as a consequence, we get the kind of gridlock that makes people cynical about government and inhibits our progress.”

The president’s comments came at the first of three fundraisers in New York City Monday.  He spoke to 65  guests at a reception hosted by movie mogul Harvey Weinstein and actress Georgina Chapman. Later in the afternoon, the president addressed a second 60-person fundraiser hosted by Alexandra Stanton and Sam Natapoff.  Tickets to each event ranged from $16,200 to $20,000 and benefitted the DNC.

Tonight, the president will speak at a Democratic Congressional/Senate Campaign Committee fundraiser benefiting the House Senate Victory Fund at the Waldorf Astoria.While the president said hyper-partisanship has placed a wedge in political progress, he said he expects immigration reform to be achieved by year’s end.“If we stay with it, we will be able to get immigration reform done this year,” Obama said at the second fundraiser of the day.AbcNews

WASHINGTON: Congratulating the Pakistani people on successful completion of Saturday’s parliamentary election, President Barack Obama Sunday said his administration looks forward to working with the government emerging from the historic polls “as equal partners” in supporting a more stable Pakistan.

The United States and Pakistan have a long history of working together on mutual interests, and my Administration looks forward to continuing our cooperation with the Pakistani government that emerges from this election as equal partners in supporting a more stable, secure, and prosperous future for the people of Pakistan,” Obama said.

The U.S. president’s statement came after Saturday’s nationwide polls, which saw Pakistan Muslim League (N) led by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif emerge as the largest party in the Parliament with over 120 seats. Sharif is poised to form a new government in Islamabad in upcoming weeks. Obama said in the White House statement: “I congratulate the people of Pakistan on the successful completion of yesterday’s parliamentary elections.”

The United States, he said: “Stands with all Pakistanis in welcoming this historic peaceful and transparent transfer of civilian power, which is a significant milestone in Pakistan’s democratic progress.” Obama particularly praised the Pakistanis for exercising their democratic right to vote and persevering with democratic process in the face of intimidation by violent extremists. “By conducting competitive campaigns, freely exercising your democratic rights, and persevering despite intimidation by violent extremists, you have affirmed a commitment to democratic rule that will be critical to achieving peace and prosperity for all Pakistanis for years to come,” he added.

Meanwhile, in a separate message, Secretary of State John Kerry also echoed Washington’s desire to work cooperatively with the new government to advance shared interest. He said the national and provincial assembly elections mark an historic step in Pakistan’s democratic journey. “The Pakistani people stood up resiliently to threats by violent extremists,” Kerry noted in a statement released by the State Department. “We’ll be working with the new government to advance shared interests including a peaceful, more prosperous and stable future for Pakistan and the region.” – APP

A gang of cybercriminals stole $45m (£29m) by hacking into a database of prepaid debit cards and draining cash machines around the world, US prosecutors say.

Seven people have been charged in New York over the heist, which allegedly stretched across 26 countries. An eighth suspect is thought to have been murdered in April. The network used fake cards to target banks in the United Arab Emirates and Oman, court documents said. Prosecutors said law enforcement agencies in Japan, Canada, the UK, Romania and 12 other countries were involved in the investigation. Arrests had been made in other countries, they said, although details were not released.

‘Laptops not guns’

“The defendants and their co-conspirators participated in a massive 21st Century bank heist that reached across the internet and stretched around the globe,” Loretta Lynch, US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement. “In the place of guns and masks, this cybercrime organisation used laptops and the internet.” Members of the scheme allegedly hacked computer systems to steal data on prepaid debit cards. The cards are pre-loaded with funds rather than being linked to a bank account or a line of credit. They cancelled withdrawal limits and distributed information to accomplices referred to as “cashers” around the world.

The cashers then loaded other magnetic stripe cards, such as gift cards or old hotel keys, with the stolen data and used them to withdraw huge sums. The first alleged raid took place at the Rakbank in the UAE in December. Criminals were able to conduct 4,500 transactions worth $5m across about 20 countries. Prosecutors believe the group broke into the Bank of Muscat based in Oman in February. In the space of 10 hours, casher cells withdrew $40m from ATMs. According to the indictment of the New York defendants, they quickly moved to launder their cash, opening a Miami bank account and pouring money into cars, including a Porsche and a Mercedes, and Rolex watches.

Seven people have been arrested and face charges of conspiracy to commit access device fraud and money laundering. The accused ringleader of the cell was reportedly murdered in the Dominican Republic just weeks earlier, prosecutors said. “Our message is clear. Law enforcement should not stand by as cybercriminals target our global financial system for their own ends,” Ms Lynch told reporters. She added that the attack was the “largest theft of this type that we have yet seen”. – BBC

Obama heads out for bipartisan golf game

Despite it being a rainy, gray Monday in Washington, President Barack Obama is playing a bipartisan round of golf at Andrews Air Force Base with select members of the Senate.

Republican Sens. Bob Corker of Tennessee and Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, and Democratic Sen. Mark Udall of Colorado are accompanying him.Obama has been reaching out of late to members of the Senate over meetings and dinners at the White House, as well as out in the District, as gun control, immigration and budget debates play out in Washington.

“He’s looking to get things done, and he wants to talk to anyone who has that as his or her objective,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said at Monday’s briefing. “Partisan purists are not what he’s looking for.”Carney added, “He’s looking for partners anywhere he can find them, including on the 8th hole.”The press secretary wouldn’t speculate on the exact topics expected to be covered, saying a “range” of issues will be discussed.Many Republicans have routinely criticized the president for playing golf. It remains to be seen whether Obama’s Republican guests will stave off criticism of Monday’s game. – YahooNews

Bride-to-Be Among 5 Dead in Bachelorette Party Limo Fire

A bride-to-be celebrating her bachelorette party was among the five people killed when a stretch limousine burst into flames while crossing a San Francisco area bridge, according to reports.

The bride, whose name has not been released, recently married and was celebrating with friends before she planned to return to her native Philippines for a second ceremony next month, her sister told the San Francisco Chronicle.

Nine female passengers were in the limo, along with a male driver, when it caught fire in the westbound lane of the San Mateo bridge late Saturday, California Highway Patrol officer Art Montiel told ABC News. The source of the fire was unknown, Montiel said, however he said officials believe it started in the back of the limousine before it quickly spread.  “It does not appear that it [the limo] was involved in a collision, so it just appears that it was a vehicle fire,” Montiel said.

With the limo ablaze, other drivers stopped to help, CHP Officer Amelia Jack told ABC News.”The driver was able to get out, some good Samaritans did stop and assist and try and pull people from the fire,” Jack said. “We have no idea what actually happened yet, everything as I said is still under investigation.”Four women escaped the limousine and were being treated at two area hospitals for smoke inhalation and burns, according to authorities. The driver was not injured in the inferno.

The CHP identified the surviving passengers as Mary Grace Guardiano, 42, of Alameda; Nelia Rafael Arellano, 36, of Oakland; Amalia P. Loyola, 48, of San Leandro; Jasmine Desguia, 34, of San Jose. The driver’s name is Orville F. Brown, 46, of San Jose from Limo Stop, Inc., according to the CHP. – ABC

Nearly uncontrollable California wildfire grows, threatens 4,000 homes

os Angeles: A Los Angeles-area wildfire exploded from 10 acres to 28,000 acres in less than a day and a half, and threatened 4,000 homes, fire authorities said Friday.

The fire, which began Thursday morning, damaged 15 homes,15 outbuildings and five commercial properties, but none were destroyed and no one had been injured, authorities said.Authorities ordered a mandatory evacuation Friday afternoon for the affluent Ventura County community of Hidden Valley, northwest of Los Angeles, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office said. Evacuations remained in effect Friday evening for several other areas.Energized by dryness and strong winds, the wildfire raged for a second day and threatened 300 commercial properties and 50 outbuildings, authorities said.

A red-flag warning for high fire danger was due to high temperatures, low humidity and gusty winds.The so-called Springs Fire was nearly out of control in Ventura County. More than 950 fire and law enforcement personnel were able to contain only 20% of the blaze roaring near upscale houses and through the Santa Monica Mountains, the county fire department said.Federal funding was made available to cover 75% of firefighting costs, the Federal Emergency Management Agency announced.Meanwhile, another fire broke out on the other side of the urban area Friday, but that event was described as a brush fire, occurring in the suburb of Glendale.

“Fire nearly knocked down,” Glendale said on its Twitter feed late Friday afternoon after area agencies helped control the 75-acre blaze. Parts of two neighborhoods were evacuated.The Ventura County blaze, which was expected to reach the Pacific Ocean, crossed the scenic Pacific Coast Highway that separates the Santa Monica Mountains from the sea, and small fires damaged a military firing range, a Navy spokeswoman said.Several timber backdrops at the range were partially or completely burned, but because the facility sits in wetlands next to a lagoon, the fires weren’t a threat to Naval Base Ventura County at Point Mugu, said spokeswoman Kimberly Gearhart. Ammunition isn’t stored at the facility, she said.

“If something catches fire, it’s in the best possible (place) because it’s isolated and it’s near water,” Gearhart said. “Our biggest concern right now is smoke because it’s a very smoldering fire, and as the wind shifts, it either blows smoke toward or away from us.Evacuation orders were in effect in several areas on Friday, but officials lifted orders for the campus of California State University Channel Islands in Camarillo and for the Dos Vientos community in Newbury Park, authorities said.Authorities closed a 10-mile stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway just north of Malibu, the California Highway Patrol said. That closed section includes a portion where the naval base’s firing range is located.

The highway was expected to reopen later Friday, although many cross streets will remain closed.The highway between the ocean and the Santa Monica Mountains is among the most scenic drives in the Los Angeles area, but smoke rose from at least one patch on the coastal mountains.The fire began Thursday morning in Camarillo and traveled nine miles to the coast by Friday, fueled by low humidity and gusty Santa Ana winds, authorities said.Because of the smoke, ash and winds, people in affected areas were urged to be cautious and to avoid unnecessary outdoor activities, the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District said.

CNN meteorologist Chad Myers described the fire as a bad omen for California because the wildfire season isn’t supposed to start until August or September.Mountain chaparral and shrubs are dry because Los Angeles has received only half of its normal rainfall the past two years, Myers said. The vegetation is brown, instead of green from winter rain, he said.”Overall from a scale from one to 10, this fire’s a two compared to what we are going to see this fire season — millions of acres of wildland fires this season because the drought in the West is still in full swing,” Myers said.

In fact, the Los Angeles area has received less than 2 inches of rain since January, making the bone-dry region “definitely ripe for these fires,” said William Patzert, a NASA climatologist.”Normally at this time of the year we have May gray and June gloom, but because of the extreme drought and lack of rainfall, the entire Southwest, including Southern California, is in an incendiary situation,” Patzert said. “We just went up in flames.”Santa Ana winds are characterized as fast, dry blasts of air rushing down from the high desert and Great Basin. They typically blow in the fall, so this week’s Santa Anas are unusual, Patzert said.

“What we call Santa Ana winds or devil winds,” Patzert said, “are exceptionally dangerous.”Eight helicopters and six fixed-wing air tankers were dropping fire retardant on the blaze on Friday, Ventura County fire officials said.Crews battling the fast-moving wildfires were not expected to get relief.”Gusty Santa Ana winds will continue to bring extreme fire danger to the area through Friday,” the National Weather Service said. “Warnings are in effect for much of Los Angeles and Ventura counties through Friday afternoon, where there will continue to be a threat of rapid wildfire spread.”

Paul Whyte of Newbury Park said he panicked when he found his home surrounded by flames.Firefighters saved the home by diverting the blaze, although nine acres of shrubbery were scorched in the area, he said.”Your natural response is fear,” Whyte told CNN’s Piers Morgan. “I am glad my family is well and our house is still standing.”The blaze was among several that firefighters were battling in the Los Angeles area. Another one was east of the city in Riverside County. In that fire, firefighters made progress against flames that consumed more than 2,950 acres, a fire official said.The spread of the Summit Fire slowed Friday as crews contained 75% of the blaze, up from 40% from the previous day, the Riverside County Fire Department said. – CNN