MOORE, Oklahoma (Reuters) – Emergency workers pulled more than 100 survivors from the rubble of homes, schools and a hospital in an Oklahoma town hit by a powerful tornado, and officials lowered the death toll from the storm to 24, including nine children.

The 2-mile (3-km) wide tornado tore through Moore outside Oklahoma City on Monday afternoon, trapping victims beneath the rubble, wiping out entire neighborhoods and tossing vehicles about as if they were toys.

, May 21 (Reuters) – Emergency workers searched
for survivors in the rubble of homes, schools and a hospital in
an Oklahoma town hit by a powerful tornado, but officials on
Tuesday sharply lowered the number of deaths caused by the
storm.

The Oklahoma state medical examiner’s office said 24 bodies
had been recovered from the wreckage of Monday’s storm, down
from the 51 they had reported earlier. The earlier number likely
reflected some double-counted deaths, said Amy Elliott, chief
administrative officer for the medical examiner.

MOORE, Oklahoma (Reuters) – At least 91 people, including 20 children, were feared killed when a 2 mile wide tornado tore through an Oklahoma City suburb, trapping victims beneath the rubble as one elementary school took a direct hit and another was destroyed.

President Barack Obama declared a major disaster area in Oklahoma, ordering federal aid to supplement state and local efforts in Moore after the deadliest U.S. tornado since one killed 161 people in Joplin, Missouri, two years ago.

MOORE, Oklahoma (Reuters) – At least 91 people, including 20 children, were feared killed when a 2 mile wide tornado tore through an Oklahoma City suburb, trapping victims beneath the rubble as one elementary school took a direct hit and another was destroyed.

President Barack Obama declared a major disaster area in Oklahoma, ordering federal aid to supplement state and local efforts in Moore after the deadliest U.S. tornado since one killed 161 people in Joplin, Missouri, two years ago.

QUANTICO, Virginia (Reuters) – There has never been a shooting at a U.S. Defense Department school and the U.S. Marines are doing their best to ensure one never takes place.

Bombs, blood, dozens of gunshots, billowing smoke, screaming teenagers, bodies sprawled on the gym floor – all of it fake – were part of the first school shooting exercise at Marine Corps Base Quantico, known as “the Crossroads of the Marine Corps.”

COLLEGE PARK, Maryland (Reuters) – Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on Tuesday decried Buddhist monks’ attacks on Muslims in Myanmar, saying killing in the name of religion was “unthinkable.”

The Dalai Lama, a foremost Buddhist leader, told an audience at the University of Maryland at the start of a U.S. tour that the root of seemingly sectarian conflict was political, not spiritual.

By Ian Simpson

(Reuters) – A fierce wildfire threatening 4,000 homes northwest of Los Angeles was about 30 percent contained on Saturday as higher humidity and cooler temperatures helped firefighters, fire department spokesmen said.

The fire in coastal Ventura County has blackened about 28,000 acres of rugged brush land since starting on Thursday. There is no forecast for containment and the fire was not expected to be under control until May 13, Ventura County Fire Department spokesman Tom Kruschke said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Honey bees, which play a key role in pollinating a wide variety of food crops, are in sharp decline in the United States, due to parasites, disease and pesticides, said a federal report released on Thursday.

Genetics and poor nutrition are also hurting the species, which help farmers produce crops worth some $20 billion to $30 billion a year.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Maryland became the 18th U.S. state to abolish the death penalty on Thursday when Governor Martin O’Malley signed a bill outlawing capital punishment in the state.

O’Malley, a Democrat mentioned as a potential presidential candidate in 2016, had pledged to sign the bill, which the Democrat-controlled legislature passed in March. The law replaces capital punishment with a sentence of life without parole.

WASHINGTON, May 2 (Reuters) – Honey bees, which play a key
role in pollinating a wide variety of food crops, are in sharp
decline in the United States, due to parasites, disease and
pesticides, said a federal report released on Thursday.

Genetics and poor nutrition are also hurting the species,
which help farmers produce crops worth some $20 billion to $30
billion a year.