• Egypt's 'rebels' gather millions of signatures to protest Morsi

    Hassan Amar/AP

    An Egyptian activist covers her face with the petition for "Tamarod," Arabic for "rebel," a campaign calling for 15 million signatures expressing "no confidence" in Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi and calling for early presidential elections, during a protest in Tahrir Square in Cairo on May 17.

    By Charlene Gubash, Producer, NBC News

    CAIRO – Once again, a handful of activists has managed to galvanize and inspire Egypt’s grumbling masses in a way no opposition political parties have been able to.

    Their concept is simple. They are inviting the Egyptian electorate to sign a petition expressing “no confidence” in President Mohamed Morsi, a move they hope will trigger early presidential elections.

    The response has been eye-opening. So far, 6,000 volunteers for the grassroots campaign dubbed “Tamarod” or “Rebel” have collected over 2 million signatures, according to the group’s spokesman Mahmoud Badr. Egypt’s electorate numbers about 50 million, with half of those voting in the last presidential election.

    The movement has grown quickly, with opposition parties announcing support, widespread press coverage and black and white leaflets plastered across nearly every Cairo neighborhood. The “Rebel” Facebook page has attracted 150,000 “likes” in one month.

    At a busy intersection in Mohandiseen, an upper-middle class Cairo neighborhood, at least 20 people stopped last Thursday to sign the leaflets and jot down national ID numbers to verify their identity.

    Mohamed Muslemany / NBC News

    Egyptian volunteer Basma Sherif, 24, hands out 'Rebel' petitions calling for no confidence in President Morsi and calling for early elections.

    “Yesterday was even more crowded,” said Basma Sherif, as she handed out forms.

    “There were accidents because people were leaving their cars in traffic to come and sign,” said Sherif, a 24-year-old insurance company employee. 

    People from all walks of life and throughout Egypt are signing the petition – from upper class educated elites to truck drivers and housekeepers – even people who voted for Morsi in the last election are now taking part in the campaign.

    "People come from the cars to sign – poor, rich, middle class, everybody has one opinion,” said Sherif.

    Those signing the petition were anxious for change. “I don’t want Morsi,” said Khaled Mostafa, a 27-year-old lab technician.  “There is no security, no stability and their economic program failed… If we get several million signatures, we will have early elections.” 

    Amal Ragab, a middle-aged human resources manager, said that the revolution that toppled Mubarak made her believe people have the power to bring down a president.  “For us, the Muslim Brotherhood is much worse and weaker than Mubarak with all of his power and security apparatus,” she added. 

    The group’s goal is to collect 15 million signatures, almost 3 million more than the number of votes Morsi received when he was elected by a narrow margin in June last year. They plan to deliver the petition for early elections to the Supreme Constitutional Court, Egypt’s highest court, on June 30, the one-year anniversary of Morsi’s inauguration, and to hold a massive demonstration in front of the presidential palace that day. 

    A symbolic move
    But even diehard supporters admit there are no legal grounds to call for early elections based on a “no confidence” petition. They say the campaign is really meant to prove that Morsi has lost his majority and, with it, his legitimacy.   

    Hamza Abdullah, a 37-year-old lawyer who has been coordinating the campaign in three Cairo districts was carrying an armload of signed petitions on Thursday. 

    “This is a peaceful way to apply pressure and prove that people are against Morsi,” he said. “It is not legally binding, but it is like a poll to prove that he is not popular and not approved as president of Egypt.” 

    Oliver Weiken/EPA

    Protesters call for the removal of the Egyptian government in Tahrir Square in Cairo on May 17.

    Not so fast, say Muslim Brotherhood 
    Members of the ruling Muslim Brotherhood, however, pooh-pooh the challenge.

    Dr. Mohamed Beltagy, a senior leader of the Brotherhood’s political arm, issued a statement calling the petition “no more than a public survey,” saying it was useless unless organizers “transform the millions of participants they’re talking about into a political party.” 

    Others gave veiled warnings. “If some want to toss out the constitution, then they should admit their aim and bear the consequences because it is a complete and utter crime,” Essam Arian, deputy chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood, told the Al Fajr newspaper. 

    A lawyer for the Brotherhood, Abdel Moneim Abdel Maksoud, said that, “Hijacking a political democratic legitimacy constitutes a violation of the law.” And one Brotherhood-linked group launched a rhyming pro-Morsi petition called Tagarod, or “Impartiality.”  

    Egypt’s prime minister, which operates under the president, was more receptive.

    Alaa al Hadidi, the prime minister’s spokesman, said he views the grassroots movement as a sign of growth.  “I am happy because before, nobody spoke, nobody cared, nobody was interested.  Now everybody feels that they own the country and have a stake.” 

    Related links

    Report: Al Qaeda-linked militants planned attack on US Embassy in Egypt

    Muslim Brotherhood gains more influence in limited Egypt cabinet reshuffle

    NBC News complete coverage of Egypt 

     

     

     

  • Israeli inquiry: 'No evidence' Palestinian boy in infamous photo was killed by IDF

    AFP / Getty Images

    A September 30, 2000, file combo of TV grabs from France 2 footage taken during Israeli-Palestinian clashes in Netzarim in the Gaza Strip shows Jamal al-Dura and his son Mohammed, 12, hiding behind a barrel from Israeli-Palestinian cross fire.

    By Martin Fletcher, Correspondent, NBC News

    TEL AVIV, Israel — It is an extraordinary image that became a global symbol of Palestinian victimhood at the hands of the Israelis: A 12-year-old old boy cowering behind his father moments before he was killed during a gunbattle in Gaza.

    But a new Israeli government report out on Sunday asserts that there is no evidence that the child, Mohammed al-Dura, was shot dead by Israeli soldiers 13 years ago and "numerous indications" that he and his father Jamal were not actually hit by any bullets.

    Jamal al-Dura reportedly responded to the claim on Monday by offering to exhume the child’s body from a Gaza cemetery to allow a forensic examination.

    "Are they willing to do an international investigation? Is Israel willing? I'm not saying the people of Israel, I mean the government, and IDF soldiers," Jamal told Army Radio, according to the Jerusalem Post.

    Indeed, the question arises: If Israel is right and Mohammed was not killed, what actually happened to him and where is the 25-year-old today?

    Photo by Newsmakers

    The family of 12 year-old Palestinian boy Mohammed al-Dura, center, in blue shirt, poses in an undated family photo at their home in the Gaza Strip. Mohammed's apparent death captured the world's attention.

    His apparent death in Sept. 30, 2000, was first reported by television station France 2. A video showed the young Mohammed hiding behind his father, who himself was sheltering behind a barrel, as Israeli soldiers and Palestinians fought it out on a Gaza Strip street corner.

    The boy, who was allegedly killed in the fighting on the second day of the second Palestinian uprising against Israel, quickly became infamous across the globe.

    However an Israeli investigatory committee found that “contrary to the [France 2] report's claim that the boy is killed, the committee's review of the raw footage showed that in the final scenes, which were not broadcast by France 2, the boy is seen to be alive,” according to a statement issued by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office. The review was begun last year at a request of the prime minister.

    “The review revealed that there is no evidence that Jamal or the boy were wounded in the manner claimed in the report, and that the footage does not depict Jamal as having been badly injured. In contrast, there are numerous indications that the two were not struck by bullets at all,” the statement said.

    “The review showed that it is highly-doubtful that bullet holes in the vicinity of the two could have had their source in fire from the Israeli position, as implied in the France 2 report,” it added. “The report was edited and narrated in such a way as to create the misleading impression that it substantiated the claims made therein.”

    Israel initially admitted it had killed Mohammed, an admission that on further examination was withdrawn.

    It has previously accused the Palestinian cameraman who filmed the alleged death of faking it, and France 2 correspondent of being either party to the faking or of being duped.

    Media organizations in France and elsewhere have also cast doubt on the Palestinian’s narrative.

    It is relevant today because Israel believes it is suffering from a campaign of "delegitimization" that ultimately is a strategic threat to its existence.

    Netanyahu said in the statement that the incident had “slandered Israel's reputation.” 

    “This is a manifestation of the ongoing, mendacious campaign to delegitimize Israel,” he said. “There is only one way to counter lies, and that is through the truth. Only the truth can prevail over lies."

    Israel’s Minister of International Affairs, Strategy and Intelligence Yuval Steinitz described the claims that Israeli troops had shot the child as “a modern-day blood libel against the State of Israel.”

    The term “blood libel” is used to refer to historic allegations that certain Jewish sects murdered Christian children in order to use their blood in rituals.

    In an appendix to the Israeli report, an orthopedic surgeon said injuries to Jamal al-Dura’s arm that the father claimed to be from the shootout were actually incurred years earlier when he was attacked by members of the Palestinian Hamas party.

    But this reporter, who met al-Dura days after the shooting in an apartment in Amman, Jordan, was shown his bandaged arm and told that he was undergoing medical treatment in a hospital paid for by Jordan's King Hussein.

    At the time, al-Dura explained that he ventured onto that street corner on the way to look at a used car, and he took his son for the fun of it. There was a shootout and in a lull in the firing they dashed across the street, only to get caught in the middle when it started again.

    A day after his alleged death, this reporter also visited Mohammed’s Gaza classroom and found his desk a shrine, covered by flowers and notes and his classmates mourning him.

    One reason Israel is so insistent that its case be accepted may be that a previous, iconic picture of Palestinian suffering turned out to be false.

    In 1982 a photograph issued by the UPI agency showed a nurse holding a baby girl and carried a caption saying an Israeli bomb had blown off the child’s arms in South Lebanon.

    The picture was reportedly placed on President Ronald Reagan’s desk as a symbol of the Palestinians plight. But Israel investigated and found that the supposedly armless baby girl was in fact a four-year-old boy with a broken arm. UPI apologized.

    NBC News' Ian Johnston contributed to this report.

    Related:

  • North Korea sends top military official as 'special envoy' to China

    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 benefactor. Beijing has faced pressure from Washington to use its influence to push Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear ambitions.

    Kim Jong Un hasn't visited Beijing since he took power after his father Kim Jong Il died in December 2011.

    Choe was one of a handful of new vice marshals North Korea announced last year.

    The Associated Press

  • Guatemala's top court annuls Rios Montt genocide conviction

    Johan Ordonez/AFP – Getty Images file

    Guatemalan former de facto president (1982-1983) and retired general, Jose Efrain Rios Montt,Β during a hearing in court in Guatemala City on Jan. 21, 2013.

    By Mike McDonald, Reuters

    Guatemala's highest court on Monday overturned a genocide conviction against former dictator Efrain Rios Montt and reset his trial back to when a dispute broke out a month ago over who should hear the case.

    Rios Montt, 86, was found guilty on May 10 of overseeing the killings by the armed forces of at least 1,771 members of the Maya Ixil population during his 1982-83 rule. He was sentenced to 80 years in prison.

    However, in a ruling on Monday, the country's Constitutional Court ordered that all the proceedings be voided going back to April 19, when one of the presiding judges suspended the trial because of a dispute with another judge over who should hear it.

    It was unclear when the trial might restart.

    Rios Montt's conviction was hailed as a landmark for justice in the Central American nation, where as many as 250,000 people were killed in a bloody civil war lasting from 1960 to 1996.

    When Rios Montt was in power, his government launched a fierce offensive in which soldiers raped, tortured and killed tens of thousands of Maya villagers suspected of helping Marxist rebels. Thousands more were forced into exile or had to join paramilitary forces fighting the insurgents.

    After he was sentenced, a court ordered the government to apologize for atrocities committed against indigenous people.

    Ana Caba, an ethnic Ixil who survived the civil war after fleeing her home, was stunned by the Constitutional Court's decision.

    "I'm distressed," she told Reuters. "I don't know what's happening. That's how this country is. The powerful people do what they want and we poor and indigenous are devalued. We don't get justice. Justice means nothing for us."

    Irregularities
    At the time the row broke out between the judges, a number of appeals were lodged with the Constitutional Court over alleged irregularities in the handling of the case.

    One related to Francisco Garcia, one of Rios Montt's defense lawyers, who had just won an appeal to be readmitted to the case. Garcia was thrown out when the trial began for repeatedly trying to have two of the three presiding judges recused.

    When Garcia was reinstated, he tried to recuse the judges again, but they rejected his bid and proceeded with the case.

    The Constitutional Court said the judges should have suspended the trial until the recusal attempt had been officially resolved. A spokesman for the court could not say how the recusal bid needed to be formally settled.

    Diana Cameros, a psychologist who attended the Rios Montt trial, attacked the Constitutional Court over its ruling.

    "It's absurd," she told Reuters. "It said in a previous ruling that the process couldn't be wound back to stages that had already concluded, and now it's saying something that contradicts what they said before."

    The court said it had given the judges who sentenced Rios Montt 24 hours to comply with its order.

    After spending a couple of nights in prison, Rios Montt was transferred to a hospital last week for treatment for respiratory and prostate problems.

    He came to power in a bloodless coup on March 23, 1982, and ruled for 17 months during one of the most brutal phases of the conflict until he was toppled in August 1983. He has repeatedly denied the charges against him.

    Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan supported Rios Montt's government and said in late 1982 that the dictator was getting a "bum rap" from rights groups for his military campaign against left-wing guerrillas during the Cold War.

    Reagan also once called Rios Montt "a man of great personal integrity."

    The retired general returned to politics after his fall from power and later unsuccessfully ran for president. For years, he avoided prosecution because he had immunity as a congressman. That ended when he left Congress in 2012.

    Until August 2011, when four Guatemalan soldiers received 6,060-year prison sentences for mass killings in the northern village of Dos Erres in 1982, no convictions had been handed down for massacres carried out during the war.

    Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

  • Man commits suicide inside Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral

    Yoan Valat/EPA

    Notre Dame Cathedral is evacuated by the police in Paris on May 21, 2013.

    By Becky Bratu, Staff Writer, NBC News

    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 trigger, Reuters reported. He died just after 4 p.m. local time.

    Europe 1 radio and French media identified the man as 78-year-old Dominique Venner, an activist and historian known in France for his far-right political essays.

    A May 21 post on Venner's blog criticized a law passed last week allowing same-sex marriage.

    Monsignor Patrick Jacquin, the cathedral's rector, told the AP this was the first suicide in decades at the historic site.

    "It's unfortunate, it's dramatic, it's shocking," Jacquin told the AP. The motives for the suicide were unclear.

    Police evacuated visitors out of the cathedral after the shooting, the AP reported, in an unusual move for a landmark site visited by about 13 million people every year.

    NBC News' Nancy Ing in Paris contributed to this report.

  • Pakistan's new leader makes landmark offer of talks to Taliban

    Arif Ali/ AFP – Getty Images

    Pakistan's incoming Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif addresses his party's newly elected members of parliament in Lahore on May 20, 2013.

    By Wajahat S. Khan, Producer, NBC News

    ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan's prime minister designate Nawaz Sharif told a packed hall of his party stalwarts that talks with the Taliban -- who have been fighting the state for almost a decade -- are not off the table.

    "All options should be tried, and guns and bullets are not a solution to all problems … Why shouldn't we sit and talk and engage in dialogue?" said Sharif, the leader of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) party, a center-right group that traces its roots back to the origin of Pakistan in 1947.

    The party, once nurtured by military regimes, has now morphed into a modern, conservative, pro-business faction that secured a majority of the seats in the country’s parliament earlier this month.

    Sharif's announcement in Lahore on Monday has created a schism among Pakistan's divided political classes.

    For many, this is a war which must be committed to and won.

    Days before the May 11 election -- the first, largely peaceful and constitutional transfer of power from one civilian administration to the next -- the country's powerful army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, reminded audiences in a rare public speech that "there can be no doubt that this is our war.”

    “The soldier of the Pakistani army cannot fight under conditions of doubt …The army cannot fight this war alone. The Pakistani people must also fight alongside us,” he added.

    The military says more than 5,000 people have been killed with over 20,000 wounded in the fight against the Taliban.

    Slideshow: Pakistan: A nation in turmoil

    Muhammed Muheisen / AP

    Images of daily life, political pursuits, religious rites and deadly violence.

    Launch slideshow

    Maj. Gen. Asim Saleem Bajwa, director general of Inter-Service Public Relations, said there was “no ambiguity about the military's position.”

    “Pakistan will do what it can to protect itself from domestic as well as foreign threats. This is a national effort,” he said.

    The Pakistani Taliban would be willing to partake in peace talks, according to their spokesman, Ihsanullah Ihsan. He said they had already been willing to participate in peace talks with the previous government – and that they had wanted to work with Sharif as a guarantor to implement accords, if they were agreed to.

    "Before he was not part of the government and that's why we wanted him to become guarantor,” the Taliban spokesman told NBC News. “Now he will have his own government, so let us see what type of polices he formulates about us.”

    Senator Pervez Rashid, spokesperson of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) party, did not respond to an interview request.

    For his part, Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, whose assassination was claimed by Pakistani Taliban, insists that the war-ravaged country has lost almost a $100 billion in the battle against the Taliban.

    The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan says that more than 40,000 civilians have died in Pakistan's version of the War on Terror. Sharif's rival during the recent election, the charismatic former cricket star Imran Khan and leader of a neo-nationalist political party called the Movement for Justice, calls it the state's "War of Terror on Pakistan."

    Khan has been pushing for talks with the Taliban and has also called for Pakistan to shoot down U.S. drones that operate over the country’s unruly tribal areas.

    The recent election secured a federal government for Sharif and a provincial government for Khan in the volatile Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province that borders Afghanistan.

    This means that two of Pakistan's major political opponents are now broadly in agreement about talks with the Taliban.

    But there are still others who disagree.

    "If our elected office holders think that the Taliban are not at war with the state, then with due respect, I don't think the Taliban got that memo," said Asad Khwaja, a host on a liberal radio network, soon after Sharif's announcement became national news.

    "We have lost thousands - soldiers, men, women, children - to this menace. I really hope that our leaders understand what they're asserting, for the sake of Pakistan."

    Related:

    This story was originally published on Tue May 21, 2013 2:15 PM EDT

  • UN mediator: Syria government, rebels preparing for peace talks

    By Ayman Samir, Reuters

    CAIRO -- Syria's opposition and government are preparing to take part in an internationally-sponsored peace conference, the United Nations-Arab League mediator Lakhdar Brahimi said on Tuesday.

    "The Syrian people are building great hopes on the conference, as the opposition prepares itself to take part and likewise the Syrian regime prepares to take part in this conference," he told reporters at the Arab League.

    "The United Nations is working to organize the conference in the best way possible,” he added.

    The talks are due to take place in the Swiss city of Geneva in June.

    U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is due to discuss current planning for the conference at a meeting in Jordan on Wednesday of the "Friends of Syria" club of countries.

    Brahimi admitted there were “many problems in the preparation for this conference,” saying that the first was to decide on who would represent the regime and the opposition.

    "The Geneva 2 conference is a great opportunity, and we hope that the brothers in Syria and the regional and international parties will cooperate to make it succeed,” he added.

    Syria's opposition is also due to meet in Istanbul on Thursday to announce its stance while the Arab League's Syria committee will meet in Cairo at the request of Qatar.

    Related:

    Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

  • 'Blade Runner' Oscar Pistorius' brother cleared of unlawful killing

    Alexander Joe / AFP

    Carl Pistorius, the older brother of South African Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius, at Vanderbijlpark Magistrate's Court on Tuesday.

    By Ian Johnston, Staff Writer, NBC News

    The brother of Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius was acquitted on Tuesday of the unlawful killing of a motorcyclist in a traffic accident.

    Oscar Pistorius is currently facing a murder charge after shooting dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp at his home near Pretoria on Valentine’s Day. He says he mistook her for an intruder while she was in a bathroom.

    His brother Carl Pistorius was facing a charge of “culpable homicide” – unlawful, negligent killing -- over the death of Maria Barnard in 2008.

    However, he was acquitted at Vanderbijlpark Magistrate's Court on Tuesday, the South Africa Broadcasting Corporation and other media reported.

    National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Medupe Simasiku said that prosecutors had failed to prove the case against him, SABC reported.

    "We are satisfied with the end of it all. We are delighted," Carl Pistorius’ lawyer, Kenny Oldwage, told the station.

    South Africa’s Times newspaper reported that Pistorius’ “bakkie” or truck had collided with Barnard’s motorcycle on March 8, 2008, and she had died a few days later.

    The paper said Pistorius was also cleared of charges of reckless or negligent driving, and driving without reasonable consideration for another person using the road.

    Oscar Pistorius was granted bail of a million rand ($108,000) in March, pending his trial over the Steenkamp’s death.

    Related:

  • Israel and Syria clash on Golan Heights cease-fire line

    By Albert Aji, The Associated Press

    DAMASCUS, Syria -- Syria said Tuesday it destroyed an Israeli vehicle that crossed the cease-fire line in the Golan Heights overnight, while the Israeli military said gunfire from Syria had hit an Israeli patrol, damaging a vehicle and prompting its troops to fire back.

    The two sides appeared to be referring to the same incident.

    Sporadic fire from Syria's civil war has occasionally hit the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, a strategic plateau Israel captured in the 1967 war. Israel assumes most of the incidents are accidental fire but its forces have responded on several occasions.

    Tuesday's incident, however, marked the first time that the Syrian army has acknowledged firing at Israeli troops across the frontier, and appeared to be an attempt by President Bashar Assad's regime to project toughness following three Israeli airstrikes near Damascus this year.

    The strikes, which targeted alleged Syrian arms shipments bound for the Lebanese Hezbollah militant group, marked a sharp escalation of Israel's involvement in the Syrian civil war.

    They also raised fears that a conflict that has repeatedly spilled over Syria's borders could turn into a full-fledged regional war.

    Syria vowed to retaliate and Assad said Syria is "capable of facing Israel" and would not accept violations of its sovereignty. Firing at an Israeli target seems to be in line with the tougher rhetoric that followed the airstrikes.

    A statement issued Tuesday by the Syrian Armed Forces said its troops destroyed the Israeli vehicle along "with those in it."

    It said Israel later fired two missiles toward one of the Syrian positions in the village of Zobaydiya village, causing no casualties.

    The village is located inside the Syrian-controlled Golan and the state-run SANA news agency said rebels were operating in the area. The border zone has seen repeated breaches during Syria's two-year civil war as rebels took control over some villages near the cease-fire line.

    The army statement carried by SANA said any attempt to infiltrate Syria's sovereignty will face "immediate and firm retaliation."

    Earlier Tuesday, Israel's military said gunfire from Syria had hit an Israeli patrol on the Golan Heights overnight, damaging a vehicle and prompting the troops to fire back.

    It said that the Israeli troops reported a "direct hit" from the return fire but provided no further details.

    Related:

    © 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

  • 'Deeply saddened': Pope, UK queen lead worldwide condolences after Oklahoma tornado

    Evening Standard

    London's Evening Standard newspaper reports on the tornado in Oklahoma.

    By Alastair Jamieson, Claudio Lavanga and Amna Nawaz, NBC News

    Pope Francis and Britain’s queen sent messages of condolence to those affected by the deadly Oklahoma tornado Tuesday, as news of the devastation spread around the world.

    "I am close to the families of all who died in the Oklahoma tornado, especially those who lost young children,” the pontiff posted on his Twitter feed. “Join me in praying for them."

    The U.S. Embassy in London thanked British well-wishers for their expressions of support.

    In a statement issued by Buckingham Palace officials, Queen Elizabeth said: "I was deeply saddened to hear of the loss of life and devastation caused by yesterday’s tornado in Oklahoma."

    "Prince Philip joins me in offering our heartfelt condolences to the victims and their families at this difficult time. Our deepest sympathies go out to all those whose lives have been affected, as well as the American people," she added.

    Canada's foreign minister John Baird said he was "shocked and saddened" at the devastation.

    "Canada stands with those affected, ready to assist," he added.

    Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the government and people of the country were “deeply saddened and shocked at the humanitarian tragedy unleashed on the Oklahoma State by a devastating tornado.”

    “Our sympathies and prayers go out to the families of victims of this horrific incident that led to precious loss of life and property,” the statement said. “We are particularly grieved over the loss of innocent children and their teachers who were buried under the rubble.”

    “May God Almighty give courage and strength to the bereaved families to bear this irreparable loss. The people of Pakistan stand hand in hand with the people of Oklahoma at this difficult time,” it added.

    Full coverage of the Oklahoma tornadoes from NBC News

    This story was originally published on Tue May 21, 2013 9:01 AM EDT

  • Unhappy Italian climbs onto dome of St Peter's in protest — again

    Andreas Solaro / AFP - Getty Images

    Italian businessman Marcello De Finizio stands on the dome of St Peter's basilica to protest against austerity measures on May 21, 2013 at the Vatican.

    An Italian business owner began a second day on the dome of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican to protest economic problems in Italy. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.

    By Reuters

    A man climbed onto a ledge on the dome of St Peter's Basilica on Monday and unfurled a banner protesting against a "political horror show," an apparent reference to Italy's embattled coalition struggling with recession and high unemployment.

    Identified by police as Marcello Di Finizio, the man unfurled a white banner reading "Stop this massacre!" in English, scrawled in black and red ink, with "Help us Pope Francis" in Italian.

    Di Finizio, who was still on the ledge on Tuesday, has staged similar protests in the past. Last October he stayed overnight on the dome with a banner criticizing multinationals, Europe, and former Prime Minister Mario Monti. Read the full story.

    Filippo Monteforte / AFP - Getty Images

  • Car bomb explosions in Baghdad kill more than 60

     

    At least 70 people have been killed in a wave of car bombs in Iraq, raising concerns the country may slip back into civil war. NBC's Annabel Roberts and Richard O'Kelly report.

    By Kareem Raheem, Reuters

    BAGHDAD — More than 60 people were killed in a series of car bomb explosions targeting Shi'ite Muslims across Iraq on Monday, police and medics said, part of the worst sectarian violence since U.S. troops pulled out in December 2011. 


    The attacks brought the number killed in sectarian clashes in the past week to over 200, and tensions between Shi'ites, who now lead Iraq, and minority Sunni Muslims have reached a point where some fear a return to all-out civil conflict. 

    No group claimed responsibility for the bombings. Iraq is home to a number of Sunni Islamist insurgent groups, including the al Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq, which has previously targeted Shi'ites in a bid to provoke a wider sectarian confrontation. 

    Nine people were killed in one of two car bomb explosions in Basra, a predominantly Shi'ite city 260 miles southeast of Baghdad, police and medics said. 

    "I was on duty when a powerful blast shook the ground," said a police officer near the site of that attack in the Hayaniya neighborhood. 

    "The blast hit a group of day laborers gathering near a sandwich kiosk," he added, describing corpses littering the ground. "One of the dead bodies was still grabbing a blood-soaked sandwich in his hand." 

    Five other people were killed in a second blast inside a bus terminal in Saad Square, also in Basra, police and medics said. 

    In Baghdad, at least 30 people were killed in car bomb explosions in Kamaliya, Ilaam, Diyala Bridge, al-Shurta, Shula, Zaafaraniya and Sadr City - all areas with a high concentration of Shi'ites. 

    A parked car bomb also exploded in the mainly Shi'ite district of Shaab in northern Baghdad, killing 12 people and wounding 26 others, police and hospital sources said. 

    In a separate incident, police said a parked car blew up near a bus carrying Shi'ite Muslim pilgrims from Iran near Balad, 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, killing five Iranian pilgrims and two Iraqis who were traveling to the Shi'ite holy city of Samarra. 

    CORPSES FOUND 

     In the western province of Anbar, the bodies of 14 people kidnapped on Saturday, including six policemen, were found dumped in the desert with bullet wounds to the head and chest, police and security sources said. 

    When Sunni-Shi'ite bloodshed was at its height in 2006-07, Anbar was in the grip of al Qaeda's Iraqi wing, which has regained strength in recent months. 

    In 2007, Anbar's Sunni tribes banded together with U.S. troops and helped subdue al Qaeda. Known as the "Sahwa" or Awakening militia, they are now on the government payroll and are often targeted by Sunni militants as punishment for co-operating with the Shi'ite-led government. 

    Three Sahwa members were killed in a car bomb explosion as they collected their salaries in the city of Samarra, north of Baghdad, police said. 

    Iraq's delicate intercommunal fabric is under increasing strain from the conflict in neighboring Syria, which has drawn Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims from across the region into a proxy war. 

    Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's main regional ally is Shi'ite Iran, while the rebels fighting to overthrow him are supported by Sunni Gulf powers Saudi Arabia and Qatar. 

    Iraq says it takes no sides in the conflict, but leaders in Tehran and Baghdad fear Assad's demise would make way for a hostile Sunni Islamist government in Syria, weakening Shi'ite influence in the Middle East.

    The prospect of a shift in the sectarian balance of power has emboldened Iraq's Sunni minority, embittered by Shi'ite dominance since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein by U.S.-led forces in 2003. 

    Thousands of Sunnis began staging street protests last December against Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, whom they accuse of marginalizing their sect. 

    A raid by the Iraqi army on a protest camp in the town of Hawija last month ignited a bout of violence that left more than 700 people dead in April, according to a U.N. count, the highest monthly toll in almost five years. 

    At the height of sectarian violence in 2006-07, the monthly death toll sometimes topped 3,000.

    Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
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