Cleveland Kidnapping Case: Unanswered Questions
AP
As Ariel Castro was arraigned on rape and kidnapping charges Thursday, Cleveland police released new details about the treatment the three Ohio women endured during years of imprisonment. There are still many unanswered questions, according to NBC News. What might other members of Castro's family have known? Castro's brothers, initially arrested but not charged, were determined to not have known or taken part in the abductions. Castro’s children had coincidental ties to the kidnappings - his daughter was described as DeJesus' "best friend" and in 2004 his son reported on the disappearance of DeJesus and Berry for the local paper. Were there other women? Police said so far there is no reason to believe Castro is a suspect in other Ohio disappearances. Is Castro the father of Amanda Berry’s daughter? A paternity test will be conducted. Click through for more questions and mysteries in the case.
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Girl Scout Cookies Headed for $1B in Sales
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This year’s Girl Scout Cookie sales are approaching the $1 billion mark, the organization’s CEO Anna Maria Chavez told CNBC. With 3.2 million Girl Scouts in the U.S., their 2012 cookie sales were only second to the U.S.’s most popular cookie, Modelez’s Oreo. Oreo's already boast more than $1 billion in sales. Girl Scout’s 2013 cookie sales are expected to exceed last year’s record of $790 million, which had topped the $760 million mark one year earlier. The scouts are also considering selling cookies online. In an effort to boost girls' financial knowledge beyond cookie sales, Chavez has launched a program where scouts can earn 26 business badges such as “Money Counts” and “Profits & Losses,” as well as talk with professionals in the money management industry.
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Undisclosed Funding for Presidential Libraries Questioned
AP
The George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum is set to join an impressive collection of 13 institutions that commemorate the nation’s former commanders in chief, libraries which cost taxpayers $75 million to operate last year. The presidential libraries, though, are built with private funds that are sometimes raised while the president is still in office, which raises questions about whether donors gain special White House influence, NBC News reported. A 2007 law requires registered lobbyists to publicly disclose contribution above $200. But in theory a foreign government or someone with interests pending before the government could still donate in the shadows. “Donations to presidential libraries are kind of the wild, wild West of influence,” said Daniel Schuman, the Policy Council for Sunlight Foundation, a nonprofit group that advocates greater government openness. White House spokesman Jay Carney said President Obama has said nothing about his future library, “He’s not focused on his life after the presidency.”
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Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Mazda Recall 3.4M Cars
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Japanese car makers Toyota, Nissan, Mazda and Honda have recalled at least one million vehicles in North America and 3.4 million worldwide due to a defect in passenger airbags supplied by Japanese company Takata, the companies announced Thursday. The airbags had “improperly manufactured” parts that could cause the front of the passenger airbag to “rupture” and “deploy abnormally in the event of a crash,” Toyota said.. Takata had been informed of only two million global recalls, according to Reuters. Toyota explained the discrepancy as follows: the recall may involve a larger number of vehicles -- 3.4 million as opposed to two -- in order "to locate the suspect inflators.”
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Pope Francis' Common Touch Brings Back Lapsed Catholics
AP
Pope Francis is urging lapsed Catholics to return to the church – and has many Americans reconsidering that possibility under his new leadership. One in 10 U.S. adults who were raised Catholic have left the church, a 2009 report estimated. Francis, the former archbishop of Buenos Aries, has made headlines with outward signs of humility, wearing simple white robes and choosing to live in a spartan guesthouse. The decisions seem to be paying off. “He’s not letting himself be controlled by the rest of the church. He’s his own man,” a returned Catholic told NBC News. Tom Peterson, the president of Catholics Come Home, reported a three-fold increase in website traffic the day of Pope Francis' election and said his "love for the poor and his humility" may have inspired those who have strayed to return. Still, some defectors doubt Pope Francis will change to the church's stance on big issues such as birth control and gay rights.
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Cyber Attacks on Banks Peak: 249 Hours Knocked Offline
AP
Over the past six weeks, U.S. banks' websites were knocked offline a total of 249 hours offline due to cyber attacks, NBC News reported. Bank of America, PNC and American Express' sites were offline for hours at a time, NBC News reported. Although a group calling itself Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters came forward last September to say the attacks were in protest of an online anti-Islam film, national security officials are dubious about the real motives behind the attacks. Still, the new barrage is a significant increase over the 140 hours offline the same banks suffered last year, Keynote Systems, a website that measures availability of banking sites, reported. Even with advance notice, banks are struggling to control the attacks.
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American Woman Raped in Brazil, Boyfriend Forced to Watch
AP
Three men in Brazil were arrested Tuesday after allegedly beating and gang raping an American woman Saturday in Rio de Janerio aboard a public transport van while her French boyfriend was also beaten and forced to watch the attacks, police said. The suspects' ages ranged from 20 to 22. A young Brazilian woman came forward after the arrests claiming she had also been raped by the same men in the van on March 23, police said. The victims’ detailed report of the attacks to the police was “shocking,” police officer Rodrigo Brant told The Associated Press. The incidents have raise concerns about security in Rio, where 2014’s World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympic games will be held. The city is also expecting 2 million people in late July during the World Youth Day, a Roman Catholic pilgrimage.
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N. Korea Says It Has Entered State of War with South: Report
North Korea says it has entered a state of war against South Korea, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported Friday night U.S. time. According to Yonhap, the North said in a special statement that it will deal with every inter-Korean issue as though the countries are at war. Those remarks by the bellicose North come swift on the heels of growing tensions between North Korea and both South Korea and the United States, which have been conducting joint military drills in recent days. They also have raised concerns among U.S. officials, one of whom told NBC News that North Korea is "not a paper tiger" and that its threats should not be dismissed as "pure bluster." A day earlier, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had ordered rocket units to be on standby to attack U.S. bases in South Korea and the Pacific after the U.S. Air Force sent two stealth bombers to practice a mock attack on the Korean Peninsula Thursday. Kim vowed to "settle accounts with the U.S. imperialists in view of the prevailing situation," and photos in North Korea's state-run Rodong newspaper of him at an "emergency meeting" showed a chart marked "U.S. mainland strike plan" with missile trajectories that lead to major American cities, the U.K. Telegraph reported. But analysts believe the North is not capable of striking the U.S. mainland.
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Pope Francis in 2012: Celibacy Rule "Can Change"
AP
Before he was Pope Francis, the former Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio said in an interview last year that he favored the Catholic Church’s rule of celibacy for priests but suggested it "can change." In the interview, published in the book "On the Heavens and the Earth," he also confessed he had been "dazzled" by a woman as a young seminarian. Bergoglio said the married clergy of Eastern Orthodox churches are "very good priests" and added that if Catholicism were to review their rule on celibacy, it would be for “cultural reasons” and not "as a universal option." Francis said he believed "the discipline of celibacy stands firm" and planned to keep the rule, however. Still, in the National Catholic Reporter, Thomas Reese called the comments "remarkable" nonetheless. "The last few popes have been pretty clear they were not open to changing it or having a discussion about it," Reese told NBC News.
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American Indian Tribe Approves Gay Marriage, Weds Couple
AP
An American Indian tribe in northern Michigan approved same-sex marriage Friday, becoming at least the third tribe nationwide to do so and immediately wedding a gay couple who had been together for 30 years. Dexter McNamara, tribal chairman for the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, signed the marriage measure after his tribal council approved it by a 5-4 vote, after the council had rejected it just last year. "I started thinking about it, and that’s when I decided that, you know, we all deserve to be happy," McNamara said of his decision to support the measure, "and everybody is happy in different ways, they show their love in different ways, and I decided to sign it." Following his decision, he promptly wed Tim LaCroix, 53, and Gene Barfield, 60, of Boyne City, Mich. Although same-sex marriage is officially banned in Michigan, the tribe hopes that its approval will bring the state and the country one step closer to acceptance.
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Prosecutor: Ohio Rape Victim Was "Too Impaired to Say No"
The two Ohio high school football stars accused of raping a drunken 16-year-old girl humiliated “somebody who was too impaired to say no, somebody who was too impaired to say stop,” a prosecutor said Wednesday, NBC News reported. The Steubenville High School football players — quarterback Trent Mays, 17, and wide receiver Ma’Lik Richmond, 16 — were accused of assaulting the girl while she was intoxicated and couldn't consent during a victory party in August. In her opening statement at a trial that has divided the football-obsessed town of Steubenville, Hemmeter also said the girl was "soft-spoken, mumbling and not participating" in the assault. The girl, who told police she didn’t remember the incident, will be among dozens of witnesses taking the stand. Three players who have not been charged but allegedly witnessed the encounters are expected to testify for the prosecution. The alleged rape garnered national attention because of graphic cell phone photos and video that spread on social media. If convicted, Mays and Richmond could be held in a juvenile jail until they are 21.
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South Korea Warns Retaliation if Attacked by North
AP
South Korea’s military warned it will strike back if North Korea launches a threatened attack, Reuters reported. In a rare appearance on state television Tuesday, a top North Korea general renewed threats to both the U.S. and South Korea because of military drills the two western ally countries began March 1. The threat comes on the heels of a deal between the U.S. and China to “significantly expand” U.N. sanctions on North Korea for its third nuclear test, according to NBC News . The U.N. sanctions are to be formally announced on Thursday. North Korea also announced March 11 as the termination date of the cease-fire that ended the Korean War in 1953, BBC said.
South Korea said it would not stand idly by if its territory was attacked. "We have all preparations in place for strong and decisive punishment, not only against the source of the aggression and its support forces but also the commanding element," Major General Kim Yong-hyun of the South Korean army told reporters.
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Police Departments File Applications for Drones
Law enforcement agencies across the U.S. are filing FAA applications to use drones for surveillance, but civil rights groups are concerned about a lack of regulation, NBC 4 New York reported. Last month NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly said he would be interested in using drones for monitoring crowds and large demonstrations. Kelly has reportedly said he would consider using a small drone similar to a remote-controlled airplane equipped with a camera. Small drones, even tiny ones – the size of hummingbirds – seem to be under consideration by dozens of other police agencies too. The I-Team reviewed hundreds of pages from FAA drone applications filed by police departments, sheriff’s offices, the FBI, and educational institutions – most of the applicants are researching drones that can be launched right from a person’s hand. Police and civilian use of drones, also known as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, was made possible last year when President Barack Obama signed a law opening the skies to UAVs by September 2015. One police department in Alabama wants to use a drone for “covert surveillance of drug transactions.” In Maryland, a drone would be used for “aerial observation of houses when serving warrants.” In Texas, one police department wants to use a drone for “forensic photographs and intelligence gathering.”
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27 Killed in Kazakh Military Plane Crash
NBC10Philadelphia.com
A military transport plane crashed in southern Kazakhstan on Tuesday, killing all 27 people on board, including the country's acting border service chief. The Russian-made An-72 crashed at about 7 p.m. local time (8 a.m. ET) about 12 miles away from the city of Shymkent near the border with Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan's Committee for National Security said in a statement. "The plane has burned up, only some of its fragments remain," the RIA news agency quoted the head of the regional emergencies department as saying. Without specifying further details, authorities said an investigation was opened into the crash. No cause was given, but southern Kazakhstan over recent weeks has been buffeted by winds, heavy snows and low temperatures, causing widespread flight delays.
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Israel: No Proof Chemical Weapon Used In Syria
AP
Israel voiced doubt on Tuesday about claims that chemical weapons had been used against rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad. Activists on Monday claimed civilians had suffered injuries consistent with exposure to some kind of poisonous gas. "We have seen reports from the opposition. It is not the first time. The opposition has an interest in drawing in international military intervention," Vice Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon said on Army Radio. "As things stand now, we do not have any confirmation or proof that (chemical weapons) have already been used, but we are definitely following events with concern," he said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights gathered activist accounts on Sunday of what they said was a poison gas attack in the city of Homs. The reports are difficult to verify, as the government restricts media access in Syria. The Observatory, a British-based group with a network of activists across Syria, said those accounts spoke of six rebel fighters who died after inhaling smoke on the front line of Homs's urban battleground. It said it could not confirm that poison gas had been used and called for an investigation.
Syria has said it would never use chemical weapons against its citizens.
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