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  • Obama salutes Iraq war vets at White House dinner

    Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP

    President Barack Obama leads guests to a toast as he hosts a dinner for members of the U.S. military who served in Iraq in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Feb., 29, 2012.

    Joshua Roberts / Reuters

    U.S. President Barack Obama speaks during a dinner on Wednesday night.

    Slideshow: US troops leave Iraq

    See images from the U.S. withdraw from Iraq at the end of 2010 and 2011.

    Launch slideshow

    AP reports: The president who opposed the Iraq war from its outset thanked those who fought its battles by sitting down to a candlelit meal with a small cross section of the million-plus who served there over the past nine years.

    Looking out over a sea of dress uniforms sparkling with medals attesting to years of wartime strife, Obama told the gathering: "In a culture that celebrates fame and fortune, yours are not necessarily household names. You are something more: the patriots who served in our name. And after nearly nine years in Iraq, tonight is an opportunity to express our gratitude and to say once more, welcome home."

    Rachel Maddow shares some video from Wednesday night's White House dinner honoring returning Iraq war veterans.

     

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  • Man busted for using Jack Nicholson fake ID

    Handout image via AFP - Getty Images

    A famous portrait of Jack Nicholson adorns a fake ID with the name Joao Pedro dos Santos, a fake ID used by Brazilian Ricardo Sergio Freire de Barros to open a fraudulent bank account. Needless to say, the man was caught by police.

    Ricardo Sergio Freire de Barros, a 41-year-old man from Brazil, was arrested after he presented a fake ID bearing a photo of Jack Nicholson, the Oscar-winning actor, while trying to open a bank account in the Brazilian city of Recife.

    The Nicholson photo that Barros selected couldn’t have been more obvious. It's a famous portrait taken by renowned celeb photographer Martin Schoeller which has been published in several magazines, and exhibited in museums worldwide.

    -- Msnbc.com wire services contributed to this blog post

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  • Drug related killings on the rise in Acapulco

    John Moore / Getty Images

    A Mexican soldier stands guard at the site of a suspected drug execution on Feb. 29 in Acapulco. Drug violence surged in the coastal resort last year, making Acapulco the second most deadly city in Mexico after Juarez.

    John Moore / Getty Images

    Family members grieve at the site of a triple execution in Acapulco. One of the country's top tourist destinations, Acapulco has suffered a drop in business, especially from foreign tourists.

    John Moore / Getty Images

    A marijuana themed belt adorns the victim of an apparent drug-related execution in Acapulco on Feb. 29.

    John Moore / Getty Images

    Mexican army soldiers patrol near the beach on Feb. 29 in Acapulco.

    By Jon Sweeney, NBC News

    Acapulco has suffered from a surge in drug-related killings, which nearly tripled last year, making the resort one of the most violent cities in the world in 2011. The slayings have scared tourists away, and prompted President Felipe Calderon to send hundreds of extra police and soldiers into Acapulco to establish order.

    Acapulco is one of Mexico's top tourist destinations, but has suffered a drop in business, especially from foreign tourists, due to drug violence in the last year. Toursim accounts for some 9 percent of Mexico's economy and about 70 percent of the output of Acapulco's state of Guerrero.

    -- Reuters contributed to this blog post

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    John Moore / Getty Images

    A bar advertisement beckons tourists on the beach in Acapulco. One of Mexico's top tourist destinations, Acapulco has suffered a drop in business, especially from foreign tourists, due to drug violence in the last year.

    John Moore / Getty Images

    A lone person walks along the beach before sunrise on Feb. 29 in Acapulco.

  • This view of the Orion Nebula, incorporating infrared observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and the European Space Agency's Herschel telescope, highlights fledgling stars hidden in gas and clouds.

    Orion Nebula reveals an infrared rainbow

    By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News

    The sparkles of hidden stars are revealed in a picture of the Orion Nebula that shows off the colors of the infrared rainbow.

    Do you see those twinkling lights, strung along a line that starts at the top right corner of the image? Those are stars in the earliest stages of their evolution, swathed in clouds of gas and dust. Astronomers focused on those protostars with the infrared-sensitive cameras of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and the European Space Agency's Herschel space telescope.

    This color-coded image shows the scene as observed by Spitzer in one set of infrared wavelengths (8.0 and 24 microns, shown here in shades of blue), and by Herschel in somewhat longer wavelengths (70 and 160 microns, shown in green and red, respectively). Herschel monitored the emissions from cold dust particles once a week for six weeks, while Spitzer kept track of the emissions from the warmer dust, filling out the infrared rainbow.

    Astronomers found that the stars' brightness in infrared wavelengths varied by more than 20 percent during the observational time frame. That's surprising, because the astronomers expected variations in brightness to play out over a time frame measured in years or even centuries rather than weeks.

    What could cause the short-term twinkling? The astronomers theorized that lumpy filaments of gas might be streaming inward from a star's outer environs, temporarily warming up the dusty disk of material surrounding the star. An alternative hypothesis would be that material occasionally piles up on the inner edge of the disk, casting 'shadows" that temporarily darken the outer disk. In any case, the observations from Herschel and Spitzer show that the birth process for baby stars is a rough-and-tumble affair, with significant ups and downs.

    Members of the Herschel science team, led by Nicolas Billot, an astronomer at the Institut de Radioastronomie Millimetrique in Grenada, Spain, are preparing a paper about their findings.

    "Herschel's exquisite sensitivity opens up new possibilities for astronomers to study star formation, and we are very excited to have witnessed short-term variability in Orion protostars," Billot said today in a photo advisory. "Follow-up observations with Herschel will help us identify the physical processes responsible for the variability."

    More infrared wonders:

    Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter or adding Cosmic Log's Google+ page to your circle. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for other worlds.

  • Brigadier General buried at Arlington Cemetery

    Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP

    A rider less horse leads a caisson carrying the remains of Army Brig. Gen. Terence J. Hildner, during a burial services at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. on Feb. 29. Hildner died of apparent natural causes Feb. 3 in Kabul, Afghanistan.

    Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP

    Cindy Hilder, center with red scarf, widow of Army Brig. Gen. Terence J. Hildner, watches as Army Lt. Gen. Donald Campbell presents her family with American flags during a burial services at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va.

    Mark Wilson / Getty Images

    Two U.S. Army soldiers salute during a full honors burial service for U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Terence Hildner at Arlington National Cemetery on Feb. 29 in Arlington, Virginia.

    Brig. Gen. Terence J. Hildner received a full honors burial service at Arlington National Cemetery today in Arlington, Virginia.

    Hildner, 49, died of apparently natural causes in Afghanistan, and is the highest-ranking soldier to die during the war. 

    Related links:

     

  • Sifting through the debris of the tornado aftermath

    Whitney Curtis / Getty Images

    Steve McDonald stands in the debris of his mother-in-law, Mary Osman's home. Osman was killed after a tornado touched down on Feb. 29 in Harrisburg, Ill.

    Twisters roared through the nation's heartland in the early morning darkness Wednesday tearing through small towns in Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, and Missouri. 

    In Harrisburg, Ill., a town of 9,000, residents sorted through piles of debris and remembered their dead while the winds still howled around them.

    Not long after the storm, Darrell Osman raced to his mother's home, arriving just in time to speak to her before she was taken to a hospital with a head injury, a severe cut to her neck and a broken arm and leg.

    "She was conscious. I wouldn't say she was coherent. There were more mumbles than anything," he said. "She knew we were there."

    Mary Osman died a short time later.

    -- The Associated Press

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    Laurie Skrivan / St. Louis Post-Dispatch via Zuma Press

    One of the owner's of Dream Baskets, a gourmet food eatery located off Route 45, look out the exposed north side of the restaurant, which was destroyed by a tornado on Feb. 29 in Harrisburg, Ill.

    Sarah Conard / Reuters

    Carissa Westfall helps salvage products from Nature's Sunshine Health Foods store in Branson, Missouri, on Feb. 29.

  • Over 20 stories of homeless families in Sao Paulo building

    Andre Penner / AP

    Marta dos Santos sits with five of her six children in room of the occupiped Prestes Maia building in downtown Sao Paulo, Brazil on Thursday, Feb. 23. Occupied since 2002 by about 350 homeless families, the building lacks electricity, elevators and running water. The families are part of Brazil's "roofless" squatter movement that's been around for years and hasn't abated despite the nation's economic boom. Squatters say their meager incomes, often earned in Brazil's informal economy, would never allow them to afford rent, even in slums.

    Andre Penner / AP

    The Prestes Maia building in downtown Sao Paulo, Brazil.

    Andre Penner / AP

    Boys sit outside the occupied Prestes Maia building in downtown Sao Paulo, Brazil.

    Andre Penner / AP

    A woman looks down from the staircase in the occupied Prestes Maia building

    Andre Penner / AP

    A woman plays with her cat in the front door of her apartment in the occupied Prestes Maia building.

    AP reports that the "roofless" movement mirrors the "landless" movement in Brazil:

    Building owners are in the courts arguing the residents have illegally seized others' property. Leaders of the roofless movement say it's a societal crime to let abandoned buildings stand empty when so many homeless are living on the street.

    See more images in PhotoBlog of evicted homeless people in Sao Paulo.

  • Rolling their own: making (and smoking) cigars at Cuban festival

    Alejandro Ernesto / EPA

    A man lits his self-made cigar during a cigar rolling seminar at the XIV Festival del Habano in Havana, Cuba on Wednesday.This year focuses on the Cohiba brand and its famous El Laguito factory and the Romeo y Julieta brand. International sales of luxury Havana Cigars rose 9 per cent in 2011 despite the world financial crisis and antismoking laws, according to Corporacion Habanos S.A.

    Adalberto Roque / AFP - Getty Images

    Delegates to the XIV Cigar Festival attend a master class on how to hand roll a cigar, on Wednesday in Havana.

    Alejandro Ernesto / EPA

    General view of a cigar rolling seminar during the XIV Festival del Habano in Cuba.

    Alejandro Ernesto / EPA

    A woman looks at the product of her efforts during a cigar rolling seminar during the XIV Festival del Habano in Havana.

    See more images from Cuba in PhotoBlog.

  • Storm's path of destruction crosses several Midwest states

    Mark Schiefelbein / AP

    Rob Turpen of Hollister, Mo., holds his son Izaiha, 2, while his son Patrick, 3, climbs over debris at a friend's storm-damaged house just east of Branson, Mo., Wednesday. A powerful storm system lashed the Midwest early Wednesday, roughing up the country music resort city of Branson and laying waste to a small town in Kansas.

    Mark Schiefelbein / AP

    Windows are blown out of a Hilton hotel in downtown Branson, Mo., Wednesday.

    Stephen Lance Dennee / AP

    Julie Shaw picks up jewelry of Dorothy Hill in Harrisburg, Ill., after an early morning tornado struck the small town in southern Illinois on Wednesday. Hill was injured and take to the hospital. At least six people died in Harrisburg in the pre-dawn tornado.

    Timothy D. Easley / AP

    Workers with National Distributors Leasing examine damage to semi trailers following a tornado that went through the area Wednesday in Hodgenville, Ky. Waves of strong storms ripped roofs off homes, apartment buildings and a bank and destroyed several buildings in north-central Kentucky. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)

    Patti Longmire / AP

    Mary Curtsinger looks over the devastation at her friend's home after severe weather passed Hodgenville, Ky. on Wednesday. Waves of strong storms ripped roofs off homes, apartment buildings and a bank and destroyed several buildings in north-central Kentucky.

    The full story on msnbc.com reports that at least nine people were killed as tornadoes crossed the Midwest:

    John Moore, owner of the damaged Cakes-n-Creams '50s Diner in Branson, Mo., said the apparent twister appeared to "jump side to side" as it moved down the entertainment district, right through the convention center, across a lake and into a housing division.

    "The theater next to me kind of exploded. It went everywhere. The hotels on the two sides of me lost their roofs. Power lines are down. Windows are blown out," Moore said. "There's major, major destruction. There has to be millions dollars of damage all down the strip.

  • Rescue workers search for victims after avalanche in Switzerland

    Jean-christophe Bott / EPA

    An aerial view shows rescuers searching for persons under an avalanche at Col de la Croix in the Skiing area The Diablerets, Switzerland, on Wednesday. It is assumed that two persons are buried under the snow.

    Jean-Christophe Bott / AP

    Picture taken out of a rescue helicopter shows people searching for victims after an avalanche near Col de la Croix mountain, Swiss Alps, near Les Diablerets, Switzerland on Wednesday.

     

    See more images of snow in Europe in PhotoBlog.

  • Ouch! Racket feels the bite of a lost match

    Hassan Ammar / AP

    Feliciano Lopez of Spain reacts after he lost a point against Roger Federer of Switzerland during the Emirates Dubai ATP Tennis Championships in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Feb. 29.

    Marwan Naamani / AFP - Getty Images

    Swiss tennis champion Roger Federer smiles to the crowd after beating Spain's Feliciano Lopez during their ATP Dubai Open tennis match in the Gulf emirate on Feb. 29.

    DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Roger Federer defeated Feliciano Lopez of Spain 7-5, 6-3 on Wednesday to reach the quarterfinals of the Dubai Championships.

    Federer broke the 15th-ranked Lopez in the final game to end a tight opening set. The second set was more routine, breaking the Spaniard to lead 5-3 and closing out the match with a volley winner from the net.

    -- Associated Press

  • Monkees star Davy Jones dies at 66

    By Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, NBC News

    Singer Davy Jones of The Monkees has died of a heart attack at 66, the medical examiner's office in Martin County, Fla., has confirmed to NBC News.

    A statement issued by the medical examiner's office says that Jones complained Wednesday morning that he wasn't feeling well and was having trouble breathing. He was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. No suspicious circumstances surrounded his death, and his family has been notified. He is survived by his wife, Jessica, and four daughters.

    The news was originally reported by TMZ.

    Jones was most famous for his role in the pop group The Monkees, which was put together in 1965 for the TV show of the same name. With such hits as "Daydream Believer," "Last Train to Clarksville," "I'm a Believer," and "Pleasant Valley Sunday," and the "Monkees" theme song, the group sold more than 50 million records.

    In 2008, Yahoo Music named Jones the top teen idol of all time.

    After "The Monkees" disbanded in 1971, Jones sang solo as well as with various reincarnations of the group.

    He also acted on stage and screen, with his most famous TV appearance as himself on "The Brady Bunch," in an episode where Marcia Brady was the president of his fan club and tried to get the singer to appear at her school dance. He also starred in "Oliver!" on Broadway.

    Recently, he played himself on an episode of "SpongeBob SquarePants."

    He released his final album in 2009.


    As recently as June of 2011, Jones told The Palm Beach Post that after a routine stress test, a doctor said he had the heart of a 25-year-old. "The doctor says my heart's so good, the door's open to do any kind of exercise I want," he told the paper.

    On Jones' Facebook page, fellow Monkees weighed in. "David's spirit and soul live well in my heart," wrote Michael Nesmith, "Among all the lovely people, who remember with me the good times, and the healing times."

    And Micky Dolenz wrote, "Can't believe it ... still in shock ... had bad dreams all night long. My love and prayers go out to Davy's girls and family right now."

    Last summer, Al Roker of TODAY interviewed Jones and fellow bandmates Peter Tork and Micky Dolenz as the band, minus Michael Nesmith, prepared to tour. That tour was later canceled due to internal conflict.

    In that interview, Jones joked to Roker "(Fans) used to throw their little briefs and things like that, and now they're throwing Depends."

    Jones also poked fun at himself in a way that now seems tragic. "He used to be a heartthrob," joked bandmate Peter Tork in the interview. "And now I'm a coronary," said Jones with a laugh.

    Upon hearing of Jones' death, Roker tweeted, "A little bit of my youth just died." The TODAY anchor had joined Jones, Tork and Nesmith to perform "Last Train to Clarksville" and "I'm a Believer."

    Other musicians and fans also took to Twitter to mourn Jones. "Damn, Davy Jones is gone," wrote Questlove of The Roots. "I loved The Monkees."

    Slideshow: Davy Jones, 1945-2012

    Launch slideshow

    British fan Daniel Parker wrote, "Just heard the sad, sad news. R.I.P. Davy Jones. You were the greatest daydream believer."

    And writer Tony Parsons spoke for many fans when he tweeted, "Those of us who were kids with The Monkees loved you and never dreamed we were not meant to take you seriously."

    'Daydream Believer'

     

    'I'm a Believer'

    'Pleasant Valley Sunday'

     

    'Last Train to Clarksville'

     

    'Monkees' theme song

     

    What's your favorite memory of Davy Jones? Take our poll, and tell us on Facebook. 

     

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  • Mel Evans / AP

    Base jumper Jeff Provenzano leaps off the top of the The Water Club hotel in Atlantic City, N.J. on Wednesday, Feb. 29. People were slated to jump off tall buildings all around the U.S. on Wednesday as part of a an energy drink commercial. In Atlantic City, two parachutists jumped off the top of The Water Club, the Borgata's luxury hotel, and landed safely in the parking lot. Similar jumps were planned in Miami, Detroit, Las Vegas and other cities.

    Man jumps from building, adds connotation to 'Leap Day'

    .

  • Violent confrontations between student protesters and police in Spain

    Lluis Gene / AFP - Getty Images

    Firemen extinguish a fire after clashes between students and policemen during a demonstration against austerity measures in Education on Feb. 29 in Barcelona. Students across Spain staged sit-ins and noisy demonstrations over crisis spending cuts, labour market reforms and recent police violence against protestors.

    Albert Gea / Reuters

    A man confronts hooded protesters who were vandalizing a bank during a protest against cuts in public education in Barcelona, on Feb. 29.

    Jose Jordan / AFP - Getty Images

    Students demonstrate to protest austerity measures in Education on Feb. 29 in Valencia. Students across Spain staged sit-ins and noisy demonstrations over crisis spending cuts, labor market reforms and recent police violence against protestors.

    Spanish students in Barcelona clashed Wednesday with police and set fire to garbage containers during nationwide protests against education spending cuts.

    Police said officers in riot gear charged a crowd outside the stock market in Spain's second largest city after protesters who had broken away from a peaceful rally of thousands threw rocks and other objects. Authorities made an unspecified number of arrests.

    The fire in the containers spread to a car and protesters smashed a bank window.

    The country is enduring steep austerity cuts and the prospect of recession as the government tries to stem an unemployment rate of almost 23 percent. Among those under age 25 it approaches a staggering 50 percent.

    Read the full story.

    -- Associated Press

    Lluis Gene / AFP - Getty Images

    Students burn a doll representing the death of the public university system in front of Barcelona's stock exchange during a student's demonstration against austerity measures in Education on Feb. 29 in Barcelona. Students across Spain staged sit-ins and noisy demonstrations over crisis spending cuts, labor market reforms and recent police violence against protestors.

    Lluis Gene / AFP - Getty Images

    Students clash with policemen during a demonstration against austerity measures in Education on Feb. 29 in Barcelona. Students across Spain staged sit-ins and noisy demonstrations over crisis spending cuts, labor market reforms and recent police violence against protestors.

    Lluis Gene / AFP - Getty Images

    Students protest during a demonstration against austerity measures in Education on Feb. 29 in Barcelona. Students across Spain staged sit-ins and noisy demonstrations over crisis spending cuts, labour market reforms and recent police violence against protestors.

     

  • Deadly tornadoes rake Midwest

    By Jonathan Woods, msnbc.com

    A powerful storm system has killed at least 9 people across the Midwest, roughing up the country music resort city of Branson and laying waste to a small town in Kansas.

    Mark Schiefelbein / AP

    Residents walk amid downed power lines in Branson, Mo, Wednesday, Feb. 29.

    The storm is expected to progress through the Tennessee Valley and southern Appalachians through Wednesday evening.

    Orlin Wagner / AP

    Furniture and walls are all that remain after severe storms destroyed several homes and businesses in Harveyville, Kan., on Feb. 29.

    Several deaths occurred in Harrisburg, Ill., after the storm destroyed a few dozen homes, according to a local TV station. A hospital official later confirmed the deaths.

    Orlin Wagner / AP

    Residents gather the morning after severe storms destroyed several homes and businesses in Harveyville, Kan., Wednesday, Feb. 29.

    Another death and an additional 13 people were injured at a mobile home park in rural southwest Missouri.

    Mark Schiefelbein / AP

    Sherry Cousins and her brother Bruce Wallace of Hollister, Mo., sit in the wreckage of their secondhand store in Branson, Mo., on Feb. 29.

    Read more in our full story. 

  • Foggy morning at the central fish market in Myanmar

    AFP - Getty Images

    An elderly man waits for customers on his boat during early morning trading at the central fish market on the port of Myanmar's biggest city of Yangon on Wednesday, Feb. 29.

    Soe Zeya Tun / Reuters

    A boat waits for fog to clear during foggy weather in Yangon river Wednesday, Feb. 29.

     

  • Residents of remote village vote early in Russia election

    Russians are due to vote in presidential elections on Sunday, March 4, but ballots are already being cast in some outlying areas. Photographer Ilya Naymushin traveled with election officials to the remote Siberian village of Pinchino.

    Ilya Naymushin / Reuters

    Members of the local electoral commission carrying a portable ballot box for preliminary voting leave the train at the Pinchino railway station, about 62 miles east of Russia's Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, on Feb. 29, 2012.

    Ilya Naymushin / Reuters

    Ilya Naymushin / Reuters

    Orthodox priest Nikolay Ufimtsev, 65, casts his vote in Pinchino on Feb. 29, 2012.

     

  • Fast cars and a Cold War icon: U-2 spy planes keep watch on North Korea

    Lee Jin-Man / AP

    U.S. Air Force pilot Major Colby drives a chase car as a U-2 spy plane attempts to land during a training flight at the U.S. airbase in Osan, south of Seoul, South Korea, on Feb. 16, 2012.

    Lee Jin-Man / AP

    The Associated Press reports from Osan air base, South Korea — As a sleek black U-2 roared back from a mission, Pontiac muscle cars zoomed along the runway to help it touch down using a low-tech method dating back more than half a century to when this Cold War-era aircraft was cutting-edge.

    These "chase cars" race down the runway at speeds of more than 120 miles per hour to meet each landing and guide the pilot down.

    They estimate the plane's distance from the ground in feet and radio that to the pilot — "Five ... five ... four ... three ... three" — until the plane is brought to a stall with about two feet to go and essentially drops down to the ground.

    "It's notorious for being hard to land," the pilot said after climbing out of the cockpit.

    But the legendary U-2 "Dragon Lady" remains one of Washington's most prized possessions on the Cold War's last hot front. Pumped up by a $1 billion overhaul, a trio of these piloted aircraft are proving they can still compete with the most futuristic drones on a crucial mission: spying on North Korea. Read more.

    Lee Jin-Man / AP

    A U-2 spy plane takes off as a chase car stands by. When the planes land, the chase car guides the pilot down, radioing in the plane's altitude as it comes to a full stall with about two feet to go and essentially drops down to the ground.

    Lee Jin-Man / AP

    U-2 pilot Major Colby is assisted to put on a spacesuit and an astronaut-style fishbowl helmet for demonstration purposes. At altitudes of more than 70,000 feet the pilots are vulnerable to altitude sickness. In a worst case scenario, a pilot's blood could actually boil at peak altitude.

    Lee Jin-Man / AP

    The U-2 was scheduled to be phased out by 2015 in favor of the Global Hawk, which was used extensively in Iraq and Afghanistan. But the U-2 gained a reprieve last month, when the Air Force decided that replacing it with the drone would be too expensive.

     

  • Welfare group helps South African township dogs

    Schalk Van Zuydam / AP

    A dog is examined by British volunteer veterinarian Gemma Driscoll, right, at the Mdzananda clinic, in the Khayelitsha township near Cape Town, South Africa on Friday, Feb. 24, 2012. The Mdzananda animal welfare clinic helps impoverished residents take better care of their pets.

    Schalk Van Zuydam / AP

    An unidentified dog owner carries his pet to the Mdzananda clinic, in the Khayelitsha township on Friday.

    Schalk Van Zuydam / AP

    A dog is operated on by veterinarian Brain Bergman at the Mdzananda clinic.

    AP reports: An animal welfare group is trying to help dog lovers in an impoverished South African township better care for their pets.

    The Mdzananda clinic in the sprawling Khayelitsha township started in 1996 in one shipping container. Today, an operating room and other facilities are housed in seven brightly painted containers equipped with electricity and running water and filled with the smell of anesthetic and the sound of big and small dogs barking nervously. The International Fund for Animal Welfare funds the clinic and brings in volunteer vets.

     

  • London artist paints miniature masterpiece on discarded chewing gum

    Finbarr O'reilly / Reuters

    Artist Ben Wilson paints on a piece of discarded chewing gum on the Millennium Bridge, in London on Tuesday, Feb. 28.

    Reuters

    Finbarr O'reilly / Reuters

    Artist Ben Wilson uses a bank note to provide scale as he takes a photograph of one of his miniature paintings.

    From Reuters: Artist Ben Wilson has painted miniature works of art on discarded chewing gum in various parts of London and Europe over the past seven years in an effort to "turn something some people would find disgusting into something artistic and beautiful," he said. He chooses gum splatters with unusual shapes "to allow art to happen in a random way."

    Finbarr O'reilly / Reuters

    Wilson paints on a piece of discarded chewing gum on the Millennium Bridge

     

  • Mark Blinch / Reuters

    Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney address supporters at his Michigan primary night rally.

    Romney wins Michigan and Arizona Republican primaries

    Msnbc.com’s Michael O’Brien reports: Mitt Romney won the Michigan Republican primary on Tuesday, staving off Rick Santorum in a closely-fought contest here in a state where Romney was born and raised and avoiding an embarrassing setback for his campaign.

    Romney won the Michigan primary by just a few percentage points, while scoring a victory by much larger margins in Arizona.

  • Hundreds show support at Chardon vigil

    Shannon Stapleton / Reuters

    People gather outside St. Mary's of Chardon on Feb. 28 for a candlelight vigil remembering the victims of a school shooting in Chardon, Ohio.

    Jeff Swensen / Getty Images

    Students and those in the community embrace one another as they hold a candlelight vigil at St Mary's of the Assumption Church in Chardon, Ohio on Tuesday night.

    Slideshow: Deadly school shooting in Ohio

    Aaron Josefczyk / Reuters

    Three students was killed and 2 were injured in a shooting Monday morning at an Ohio high school, officials said.

    Launch slideshow

    Hundreds gathered at St. Mary's of Chardon Tuesday night following the deadly school shooting at Chardon High School. 

    The death toll rose to three students as the suspect, 17-year-old T.J. Lane, appeared at a preliminary hearing where a prosecutor said Lane had confessed to investigators and that he said he fired at students randomly.

    --Msnbc.com news services contributed to this post

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