Watch live: Zimmerman trial jury selection continues
Jury selection continues in the trial of George Zimmerman who faces charges of second-degree murder in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.
Watch live, broadcast via NBC News on July 11:
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Watch live: Obama marks 50th anniversary of Equal Pay Act
President Obama delivers remarks at the White House commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Equal Pay Act.
Watch live, broadcast via NBC News on June 10.
[Obama Signs Lilly Ledbetter Equal Pay Act in 2009]
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Self-described 'conservative Republican' began IRS targeting of tea party groups
By David Morgan and Kim Dixon
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Internal Revenue Service manager, who described himself as a conservative Republican, told congressional investigators that he and a local colleague decided to give conservative groups the extra scrutiny that has prompted weeks of political controversy.
In an official interview transcript released on Sunday by Democratic Representative Elijah Cummings, the manager said he and an underling set aside "Tea Party" and "patriot" groups that had applied for tax-exempt status because the organizations appeared to pose a new precedent that could affect future IRS filings.
Cummings, top Democrat on the House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Committee conducting the probe, told CNN's "State of the Union" program that the manager's comments provided evidence that politics was not behind IRS actions that have fueled a month-long furor in Washington.
"He is a conservative Republican working for the IRS. I think this interview and these statements go a long way toward showing that the White House was not involved in this," Cummings told CNN's "State of the Union" program.
"Based upon everything I've seen, the case is solved. And if it were me, I would wrap this case up and move on," he added.
Cummings, a Maryland Democrat, said he would release a full transcript of the committee's interviews with IRS officials by the end of this week, if the panel's Republican chairman, Representative Darrell Issa, does not.
Issa has released his own excerpts of interviews with IRS employees the committee is conducting jointly, which the Republican says suggests the added attention given to Tea Party groups originated from Washington, D.C. and had political motivations.
Issa vowed to press ahead with the investigation and said the IRS manager's comments "did not provide anything enlightening or contradict other witness accounts."
"I strongly disagree with ... Cummings' assertion that we know everything we need to know about inappropriate targeting of Tea Party groups by the IRS," the California Republican said in a statement released by his office.
Revelations that the tax agency set aside conservative groups for scrutiny has raised a political furor over the past month, leading President Barack Obama to fire the IRS commissioner. The House oversight panel, several other congressional committees and the FBI have launched investigations.
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration issued a report on the matter last month finding no evidence of involvement beyond IRS officials.
Still, Republicans have raised questions about whether the scrutiny was directed politically at Obama's opponents and have sought evidence of any White House involvement.
The House oversight committee has now completed five lengthy interviews with IRS employees, including four based in the Cincinnati office where applications for tax exempt status are handled.
Cummings said congressional investigators now know what happened based on these interviews.
CINCINNATI SOUGHT ADVICE FROM WASHINGTON
The excerpts of interviews with IRS workers released by Cummings indicate that the IRS manager and an underling first decided to contact Washington, D.C. IRS officials for guidance on the cases from groups aligned with the anti-tax Tea Party movement.
They did so to consolidate them, as they might be precedent-setting for future cases, the manager said, according to the interview transcripts.
It was an unidentified Cincinnati IRS worker who reported to the manager, identified as John Shafer by committee aides, who identified the first Tea Party case. That individual has not been interviewed by the committee yet.
Investigators asked Shafer if he believed the decision to centralize the screening of Tea Party applications was intended to target "the president's political enemies."
"I do not believe that the screening of these cases had anything to do, other than consistency and identifying issues that needed to have further development," the manager answered, according to a transcript released by Cummings.
Asked if he believed the White House was involved, the manager replied: "I have no reason to believe that."
John Shafer could not be reached for comment.
"They wanted to make sure that it was handled in a way whereby when other cases came behind it that were similar, that they would be treated in a consistent way," the lawmaker said.
Another Cincinnati screener who worked for Shafer, Gary Muthert, indicated in committee interviews released in part by Issa last week, that "Washington wanted some cases," to review.
Democratic committee staff said Muthert's involvement came later, after the initial screener and Shafer first sought advice from Washington about the legal aspects of the newly-emerging cases.
(Reporting by David Morgan and Kim Dixon; Editing by Maureen Bavdek and Theodore d'Afflisio)
[U.S. Representative Cummings asks questions during "The Security Failures of Benghazi" hearing on Capitol Hill]
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Watch live: Train derailment causes fire and smoke cloud near Baltimore
A train derailment has caused a fire near Baltimore. So far no injuries have been reported.
Watch live, broadcast via NBC News on May 28.
Use of synthetic psychoactive substance abuse on the rise in Europe
New synthetic psychoactive substances are making their way into Europe where the Internet is becoming a big challenge in the fight against illicit drugs, the continent's drug agency warned Tuesday.
Drug use in Europe remains high even though the consumption of cannabis and cocaine appears to be slowing, as is new heroin use, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) said in its annual report.
"New synthetic drugs and patterns of use are appearing, both on the illicit drug market and in the context of non-controlled substances," the Lisbon-based centre said in its report.
"The Internet presents growing challenges, both as a mechanism for rapid diffusion of new trends and as a burgeoning anonymous marketplace with global reach."
The centre said more chemical or natural substances were emerging on the market, with 73 new psychoactive substances detected in 2012 -- compared to just 49 in 2011 -- many of them close to cannabis due to high demand.
"A recent development is an increasing proportion of substances reported that are from less known and more obscure chemical groups," the report said.
"Many of the products on sale contain mixtures of substances, and the lack of pharmacological and toxicological data means it is hard to speculate on long term health implications of use."
Mephedrone, a party drug often called "meow meow" described as a mix between amphetamines, cocaine and ecstasy, is an example of a new drug that has become a sought-after substance on the illicit stimulant market.
"Today's drug market appears to be... less structured around plant-based substances shipped over long distances to consumer markets in Europe," the report said.
Altogether, around a quarter of Europe's adult population has used an illicit drug at some point in their lives.
And while the practice of injecting drugs is slowing, the report says figures show the long-term decline in the number of new HIV diagnoses in Europe could be interrupted as a result of outbreaks among drug users in Greece and Romania.
The report however welcomed that a record number of people -- an estimated 1.2 million -- had received treatment for illicit drug use in Europe during 2011.
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Watch live: Zimmerman's lawyers appear in court for pre-trial hearing for Trayvon Martin case
Lawyers for George Zimmerman, who maintains he was acting in self-defense in the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager in Florida, appear before a judge for a pre-trial hearing. George Zimmerman will not be present during these proceedings.
[Editor's note: Text and headline have been updated to reflect the fact that Zimmerman will not appear in court.]
Watch live, broadcast via NBC News on May 28.
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Watch live: Obama addresses Naval Academy graduation
President Barack Obama delivers the commencement address at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
Watch live, broadcast by NBC News.
Google maps Galapagos Islands in incredible detail to trace Charles Darwin's work
Google has followed in the footsteps of Charles Darwin to gather images of the beauty and biological diversity of the Galapagos Islands for the Internet titan's online maps.
A Google Maps team toting 360-degree cameras sticking from backpacks hiked trails, hills, and even into a live volcano to take Street View pictures of the precious environment where Darwin gleaned insights for his theory of evolution.
"We were in a boat on choppy waves; clambering over lava rocks, and on horseback up the side of a volcano," Google Maps project lead Raleigh Seamster told AFP on Thursday.
"There were a lot of adventurous times. It was very inspiring."
The Street View team spent 10 days on the islands working with the nonprofit Charles Darwin Foundation (CDF); Galapagos National Park Directorate, and Catlin Seaview Survey.
The CDF had reached out to California-based Google to add images from the Galapagos Islands to Google Maps to let people virtually explore without treading on the fragile ecosystem and as resources for research and education.
"This is a unique opportunity to spearhead technology science for conservation and public awareness about the importance of Galapagos ecosystems in a changing world," CDF head of research on human systems Daniel Orellana said in a release.
Catlin Seaview Survey used special photography gear to collect high-definition, panoramic images in the waters of the archipelago, which is listed as a United Nations World Heritage Site.
"We have compiled an amazing portfolio of 360-degree images that will allow the world to take 'virtual dives' in the Galapagos Marine Reserve's unique ecosystems," said Darwin Foundation head of fisheries Pelayo Salinas de Leon.
Underwater images will also be used as baselines for gauging the health of the marine system and the effect of climate change.
Google engineers are weaving imagery into immersive Street View scenes that will be added to its free online mapping service later this year, the company said in a blog post Thursday describing the project.
"They picked a very diverse set of places, from some that tourists visit quite often to locations that are off-limits," Seamster said.
"We had to hike across four kilometers of lava fields to get to a spot where land iguana restoration was going on," she continued.
"We were able to get very close to animals."
The project marked the first collection of Street View images in Ecuador, according to Google, which has ranged to places such as the Amazon in Brazil and the Canadian Arctic to get pictures for online maps.
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Watch live: Obama addresses tornado disaster in Oklahoma
President Barack Obama addresses the tornado in Moore, Oklahoma that killed 24, including 7 children
Watch live, broadcast on May 21.
Watch live: Senate committee grills Apple CEO about hiding money in offshore accounts
Apple CEO Tim Cook will testify before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations regarding a report that Apple had hidden more than $102 billion of its $145 billion in cash in offshore accounts between 2009 and 2012, meaning the company avoided paying some $44 billion in taxes on the funds.
In anticipation of the hearing, Apple released Cook's 17-page testimony, which explains Apple's position on the investigation, saying the company "safeguards the capital entrusted to it by its shareholders with prudent management" and argues that the company has been a powerful force for job creation in the United States.
"Apple complies fully with both the laws and spirit of the laws. And Apple pays all its required taxes, both in this country and abroad," the advance testimony explained.
An April report by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists revealed that hiding money in offshore accounts is common around the world, as a massive leak of emails revealed politicians were often avoiding paying taxes in their own countries.
Watch the testimony, broadcast on May 21.
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WATCH LIVE: Huge tornado rips through Oklahoma
Severe weather ripped through the state of Oklahoma on Monday, damaging areas of metropolitan Oklahoma City. Watch live coverage of the storm and its aftermath, courtesy of NBC News, below:
Watch live: Obama speaks to students in Texas
President Obama speaks to students at Manor New Tech High School in Austin.
Watch live, broadcast by NBC News on May 9.
Watch live: Cleveland kidnapping suspect appears in court
Ariel Castro, the man accused of kidnapping and holding three woman captive in his home for about decade, appears before a judge in Cleveland Municipal Court. His brothers Pedro and Onil also face a judge on charges unrelated to the kidnapping.
Watch live, broadcast on NBC News on May 9.
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