Rodrigo Abd / AP

A family leaves their house after the building was hit by a Syrian Army tank in Idlib, northern Syria, on March 4, 2012.

Rodrigo Abd / AP

Free Syrian Army fighters pose for a portrait at their headquarters in Idlib on March 4, 2012.

Syrian activists reported clashes between rebel fighters and government troops in the northern Idlib province Sunday, The Associated Press reports. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said one soldier was killed and that the army was raiding homes in nearby villages following the rebel capture of an intelligence officer.

• UN: 2,000 refugees flee Syria for Lebanon amid shelling

Saudi Arabia said that Syrians have a right to take up arms to defend themselves against the regime and accused the Damascus government of "imposing itself by force", as concerns mounted over a humanitarian crisis.

• Syria rebels: Let us have the weapons to finish Assad

Marc Hofer / AFP - Getty Images

A plume of smoke can be seen over Brazzaville from across the Congo River in Kinshasa, capital of neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo on March 4. A diplomatic source in the Congolese capital said the blasts came from a munitions depot in the east of the city. There was no official word from Brazzaville on the cause of the explosions, or damage sustained.

Elie Mbena / AP

Injured people are treated by health workers at a hospital, after multiple explosions occurred at a munitions depot, in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, Sunday, March 4.

Around 200 people were killed and many more injured in explosions Sunday morning in Brazzaville, the capital of Congo, according to a senior official in the presidency, citing hospital sources.

The blasts were felt across the border in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Windows were blown out there and roofs lifted off by the blasts, the BBC reported.

The victims reportedly included many churchgoers attending Sunday services.

-- Reported by msnbc.com staff and news services

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Daniel Ochoa De Olza / AP

Spanish bullfighter Juan Jose Padilla adjusts his 'montera' or bullfighter hat, before a bullfight at the southwestern Spanish town of Olivenza, March 4. Padilla, a 38-year old matador who is also known by his professional name of 'the Cyclone of Jerez', lost sight in one eye and has partial facial paralysis after a terrifying goring, but returned to the bullring Sunday, five months after his injury.

Daniel Ochoa De Olza / AP

Spanish bullfighter Juan Jose Padilla performs during a bullfight in Olivenza, Spain, March 4.

A Spanish bullfighter who lost sight in one eye and has partial facial paralysis after a terrifying goring returned to the bullring Sunday, five months after his injury.

On Oct. 8, a bull's horn ripped into Juan Jose Padilla's lower jaw and caused his left eyeball to protrude as spectators screamed in horror. Padilla was seen getting up shouting, "I can't see, I can't see anything," his face gushing blood as assistants distracted the bull.

NYT: Bullfighter's return stuns a hardened sport

 Now, wearing an eye patch and speaking with a lisp, Padilla fulfilled what he describes as an unquenchable desire to once again face massive 1,100-pound (500-kilogram) fighting bulls with the aid of only a cape and sword.

-- Reported by The Associated Press

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Daniel Ochoa De Olza / AP

Spanish bullfighters Juan Jose Padilla, right, Jose Maria Manzanares, center, and Morante de la Puebla, wait to enter the arena before a bullfight, March 4.

Daniel Ochoa De Olza / AP

Spanish bullfighter Juan Jose Padilla adjusts his 'capote' before a bullfight, March 4.

Daniel Ochoa De Olza / AP

Spanish bullfighter Juan Jose Padilla, left, is greeted by the audience, March 4.

Daniel Ochoa De Olza / AP

Spanish bullfighter Juan Jose Padilla aims his sword during a bullfight, March 4.

Daniel Ochoa De Olza / AP

Spanish bullfighter Juan Jose Padilla performs during a bullfight, March 4.

Daniel Ochoa De Olza / AP

Spanish bullfighter Juan Jose Padilla is carried out of the ring among jubilant crowd scenes on the shoulders of fellow bullfighter Serafin Marin, an honor for the best performers, after a bullfight, March 4.

Stringer / Reuters

Tourists wait to see the rupture of the leading edge of the Perito Moreno glacier near the city of El Calafate in the Patagonian province of Santa Cruz, southern Argentina, March 2. As Perito Moreno moves forward, it cuts off a river feeding the lake. Water builds up pressure and slowly undermines the ice, forming a tunnel until ice comes tumbling down. The phenomenon repeats itself at irregular intervals, with the last major ice falls occurring in 2008. The glacier collapsed on March 4, 2012, after several large chunks broke off.

Ariel Molina / EPA

The Perito Moreno Glacier in Los Glaciares National Park, in southern Argentina, completed its break in the middle of a storm when the darkness and rain conspired to frighten hundreds of tourists waiting anxiously for the show on March 4. The breakdown process, which began on Feb. 29, was caused by the pressure of water above the ice dam, which began to crack to form an arch-shaped hole that ended up weakening and finally collapsing. The natural phenomenon happens infrequently -- from once a year to less then once a decade.

Andres Arce / Reuters

The Perito Moreno glacier is seen after the rupture of a massive ice wall near the city of El Calafate in the Patagonian province of Santa Cruz, southern Argentina, March 4, 2012. The glacier, a massive tongue of ice in the Santa Cruz province that covers 250 square kilometres (97 square miles), advances yearly into a lake, known as Lago Argentino.

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Nam Y. Huh / AP

Tasos Pantelidis searches through a home destroyed by a tornado in Marysville, Ind., March 4. Calm weather gave dazed residents of storm-wracked towns a respite on Sunday as they dug out from a chain of tornadoes that cut a swath of destruction from the Midwest to the Gulf of Mexico, killing at least 39 people.

Slideshow: Early season tornado outbreak

Eric Thayer / Reuters

Severe storms and tornadoes tear through the midwest and southern states.

Launch slideshow

The search for tornado victims was wrapping up Sunday, but the cleanup was only beginning, especially along a 52-mile-long stretch in Indiana where the scene was best described as "total devastation."

With a light snow and cold temperatures adding to the misery in places like hard-hit Henryville, Indiana officials were able to announce that no one else was still reported missing in the state where 12 died. Kentucky was hardest hit, with 20 deaths.

-- Reported by NBC News, msnbc.com and news services

Related content: PhotoBlog posts from the storms

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Andrew Lubimov / AP

A Russian navy sailor casts his ballot as others queue to cast their ballots at a polling station at the Russian Fleet base during the Russian Presidential election, in Sevastopol, Ukraine, March. 4. Vladimir Putin appears all but certain to return to the Kremlin in Sunday's Russian presidential election, but he'll find himself in charge of a country far more willing to challenge him.

Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP

Russian Prime Minister and presidential candidate Vladimir Putin, left, and his wife Lyudmila leave a polling station in Moscow, Russia, March 4.

Vladimir Putin won a resounding victory in Russia's presidential election on Sunday, exit polls showed, securing a new six-year term in the Kremlin and a mandate to deal with opposition protests after a vote that opponents said was marred by fraud. 

Two television exit polls forecast the prime minister would win 59.3 and 58.3 percent of the votes, easily enough to make a runoff against the second-placed candidate unnecessary.

-- Reported by Reuters 

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Kuni Takahashi

A few walls of bathroom are all that remain of a house in a residential neighborhood in Sendai, Feb 18, 2012.

Kuni Takahashi for msnbc.com

Jun Hirayama, 20, and his grandmother, Akiyo, 70, at their apartment in Sendai, Japan on Feb 21, 2012. The 2011 tsunami swept their house away and overtook the car they were driving, Akiyo spent a night on the roof of the half-submerged vehicle while Jun hung onto a tire drifting in freezing waters.

Kuni Takahashi reports: 

Kuni Takahashi

Jun Hirayama,19 and his grandmother Akiyo Hirayama, 70, stand in front of other family members in front of the remains of their house in Sendai, Japan on April 4, 2011.

Jun Hirayama, 20 and his grandmother, Akiyo Hirayama, 70, lost their home in the Japanese city of Sendai when the tsunami swept it away on March 11, 2011. They nearly lost their lives when it overtook the car they were driving to escape the wall of water. Akiyo spent a night on the roof of the half-submerged vehicle while Jun hung onto a tire -- drifting in freezing waters all night.  Akiyo's husband, Shinetsu Hirayama, with some family members in another car, was able to make it out safely.

Jun Hirayama, a college student, had performed as a part-time music DJ at a nightclub, but he lost everything including his clothes and music equipment to the tsunami.

“After the tsunami, I became less materialistic," he said. "I loved fashion and music and used to spend money on clothes and CDs, but I hardly buy anything now except necessary things. Everything I bought and saved disappeared in seconds. I’m so afraid to see that happen again”

“Even a year after, I still dream about the tsunami every month.”

Akiyo Hirayama, who was rescued by a helicopter the morning after the tsunami hit, thought that she would die on the roof of the car, where she huddled overnight in freezing temperatures and snow. She was reunited with her husband at the hospital after her rescue.

“For several months, I was too afraid to either go outside or to stay alone in the house," she said. "I was crying a lot. People kept saying ‘ganbaro’ (stay strong) but I didn't know what to do.”

“Since the disaster, my husband has been working hard to revive the community. I was afraid to stay in the same area but I trust him and have to follow him. Although I am still nervous, there is no other choice but stay here.”

The land where the Hirayamas' house used to stand does not have rebuilding restrictions, though the breakwaters and trees are gone, leaving the area exposed. It is unclear when the breakwaters will be rebuilt.

After Akiyo was rescued, she stayed with her sister. Jun, who drifted close enough to land to make it to shore after a frigid night spent clinging to the floating tire, was reunited with his grandparents a couple of weeks later.

“Being able to see his Seijin-shiki (coming of age ceremony) was the best thing that happened in my life after the tsunami," said Akiyo Hirayama. "I was crying again but that time for joy.”

The younger Hirayama is back in college now and slowly resumed working as a DJ. “Right after the tsunami, I didn’t think I would be able to go back to perform as a DJ," he said.  "But at the same time I realized how important the music is to my life. I cried when I went back to the club for first time after the tsunami. The audience was warm and very supportive. It was great.”

“Survivors are going through tough recovery time and some people may think it’s not the time for recreation, but to me, the music is something to live for. Because of the disaster, I feel like putting more energy and doing my best music ever. It’s like the second chapter of my life just began.”

• More from Kuni Takahashi on the survivors of the 2011 tsunami in Japan.

Kuni Takahashi, a photojournalist based in Mumbai, returned to his native Japan in 2011 shortly after the earthquake and tsunami. He recently revisited some of the people he met there— as well as some of the people that msnbc.com profiled in its After the Wave series -- to find out how they were doing nearly a year after the devastating natural disaster.

Buddhist tombstones stand in the empty land which was once a crowded residential area in Sendai, Feb 18, 2012.

Associated Press photojournalist Evan Vucci has been on the road with the Newt Gingrich campaign for a month, where the pace can go from completely hectic to total boredom in the space of minutes. While waiting for the doors to open at an event, or in the hours spent on buses and planes traveling to 11 states, he's documenting the edges of the campaign -- the times where the "Wizard of Oz" curtain slides back a bit and reveals the levers and mechanisms of a campaign at work.

Evan Vucci / AP

Left: Newtmobile in action, Rome, Ga., Feb. 28. Right: They're handing out Newt socks, Nashville, Tenn, Feb. 27.

Even though -- or maybe because -- he's carrying four professional camera bodies, seven lenses and a laptop, Vucci reaches for a fifth much smaller camera to capture the "edges" -- his iPhone. He's not cracking open a laptop to process and transmit the images like he does for the wire. Instead, he's filtering, commenting and uploading them via Instagram, instantly.

Evan Vucci / AP

Left: Newt press bus, Dayton, Ohio, Feb. 7. Right: A few hours of downtime on the road. I'm surrounded by girls that went to get their nails done, in Suwannee, Ga., Feb. 26.

Admittedly, he's a little late to the iPhone bandwagon having only gotten the fourth-generation device this year. Check out our coverage of how other photographers use smart phones and apps like Hipstamatic to photograph stories, including war.

On the campaign trail this year, app-based photography particularly using Instagram is going mainstream, with feeds from news organizations to the incumbent himself.

Vucci sheds light on why he was attracted to the tool. "When the campaign comes around, everyone tries to up their game a little bit. You'll see Leicas, medium format, 4x5 cameras, Polaroids...anything to make all the stuff that looks the same be a little different. Instead of looking back at older formats, I wanted to experiment with some of the new tools people are using and basically have some fun."

Evan Vucci / AP

Left: Newt bus, Gainesville, Ga., Feb. 29. Right: Campaign stop in a box, Covington, Ga., Feb. 29.

The point-and-shoot quality of the camera and the instant upload to a network of friends is inspiring a different kind of creativity. "It's like being back in photojournalism school where I'm not really worried about the result. There's no boundary."

It also helps him connect with other photographers and journalists on the campaign trail, seeing instantly how they're documenting other candidates in different places.

Evan Vucci / AP

Left: Praying during Newt visit, Miner, Ga., Feb. 26. Right: Newt supporters- HELP, Feb. 28.

But mostly, it's personal. This is the kind of assignment he dreamed about when he decided to be a photojournalist -- traveling the country and taking pictures. "It's like my scrapbook for the campaign. I think these pictures will jog my memories about the campaign more than the stuff I'm uploading to the wire."

Evan Vucci / AP

Left: Reserved for Washington Post photographer, First Redemer Church, Cumming, Ga., Feb. 26. Right: Newt security holding the door for the candidate, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, Feb. 24.

The creators of Instagram were inspired by old Polaroid cameras – both their look and how they could be shared immediately. Users can follow, comment and like images. They offer 17 different filters to achieve different looks from hyper-saturated and edgy to painterly and antique. Vucci points out that this heavier filtering is not appropriate for the photojournalism he sends to the wire from his digital SLRs to feed  websites, newspapers and magazines around the world. But for this personal work, the filters are fun. For the non-professional, they can gloss up an image that is technically questionable or a little mundane.

Evan Vucci / AP

Left: I know how you feel kid, Dalton, Ga., Feb. 28. Right: Gingrich visits Rock Springs Baptist Church in Miner, Ga., Feb. 26.

Earlier this week, there was a another example of a pro dipping into Instagram for a different look, when Nick Laham of Getty Images photographed New York Yankees players with an iPhone. See the "glamorous" location next to some urinals where he captured the images, and the result after he Instagrammed them on his blog.

Some Instagram feeds from the campaign trail to check out:

@evanvucci, Associated Press.

@philiprucker, Washington Post.

@JamieNBCNews and @AlexNBCNews, #Decision2012, NBC News.

Randall Hill / Reuters

A circular driveway leads to the main house at Silver Hill Plantation in Georgetown, S.C., Feb. 17. The house was restored in 1999 by the current owners of the property. Silver Hill is listed for sale with Friendfield Plantation that includes 3264 acres of land along the marsh outside of in Georgetown, S.C. In the South Carolina Lowcountry, more than a half-dozen antebellum plantations, which don't change hands often, are for sale.

Randall Hill / Reuters

Grounds manager Ed Carter walks down the stairway in the main house at Silver Hill Plantation in Georgetown, S.C, Feb. 17. Carter has worked on the property for 22 years and has collected a working history from his years of service.

Asking prices range from just over $3 million to $20 million for plantations of 350 acres to as many as 7,000 acres. Costly maintenance ups the financial pressure for any potential owner.

A plantation "is not for everybody," Charleston real estate broker Helen Geer said. "These places are very, very expensive to take care of, and people are cash-strapped right now."

At least eight plantations currently are for sale. They can be found at the end of gated, long dirt roads overhung by grand, centuries-old live oaks draped in Spanish moss.

-- Reported by Reuters

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Randall Hill / Reuters

Friendfield Plantation grounds manager Ed Carter, left, and realtor Chip Hall of Plantation Services, Inc., stand in the front entrance of the main house at Silver Hill Plantation in Georgetown, S.C., Feb. 17. Silver Hill is listed for sale with Friendfield Plantation and includes 3264 acres of land along the marsh outside of Georgetown.

Randall Hill / Reuters

The view from a porch overlooks the former rice fields at the main house at Silver Hill Plantation, in Georgetown, S.C., Feb. 17.

Randall Hill / Reuters

Realtor Chip Hall of Plantation Services, Inc. and Friendfield Plantation grounds manager Ed Carter walk to the main house at Friendfield Plantation in Georgetown, S.C., Feb. 17. The main plantation house at Friendfield was built in 1790 but burned in the 1920s. This house was built in 1930 on the foundation of the original plantation house.

Randall Hill / Reuters

Friendfield Plantation custodian Vanessa Robinson cleans a study at Friendfield Plantation in Georgetown, S.C., Feb. 17. She has worked at the plantation for the last 9 years. The plantation has ties to Michelle Obama's family in South Carolina. According to plantation staff, Obama's great-great-grandfather, Jim Robinson, was a slave at Friendfield Plantation.

Randall Hill / Reuters

Layers of wall coverings peel from the walls of the slave quarters at Friendfield Plantation, in Georgetown, S.C., Feb. 17, 2012. The buildings used up to the 1970s and were homes of the plantation workers and sharechoppers.

Randall Hill / Reuters

A grave stone with just the first name of Jane shows the passage of time at the slave cemetery at Friendfield Plantation in Georgetown, S.C., Feb. 17. According to the 1860 census, 273 slaves lived at Friendfield Plantation.

Randall Hill / Reuters

Medway Plantation property manager Bob Hortman and his dog Cooper, stand by the main plantation house in Goose Creek, S.C., Feb. 17. Hortman has lived and worked on the property for 34 years and oversees the day-to-day operations and maintenance of the plantation. Medway Plantation has 6728 total acres of land with 50 miles of maintained roads. The main building was built in 1686 and is the oldest brick structure in South Carolina.

Randall Hill / Reuters

Garden worker Carolyn F. Mack takes a short break from her duties at Medway Plantation in Goose Creek, S.C., Feb. 17. Mack has worked at the plantation for the last 16 years, taking over a job previously held by her mother Janie Freeman who worked at the plantation for 22 years.

Randall Hill / Reuters

A sculpture adorns the front grounds at Medway Plantation in Goose Creek, S.C., Feb. 17.

Randall Hill / Reuters

The late afternoon sunset reflects over a retention pond on the property at Medway Plantation in Goose Creek, S.C., Feb. 17. The plantation contains 6,728 acres of land and is staffed by 7 full-time employees. Upkeep on the property can run as high as $500,000 a year.

Adnan Abidi / Reuters

Men throw red powder as they celebrate "Lathmar Holi" in Nandgaon, India, March 3. In a Holi tradition unique to Nandgaon and Barsana villages, men sing provocative songs to gain the attention of women, who then "beat" them with bamboo sticks called "lathis". Holi, also known as the Festival of Colours, heralds the beginning of spring and is celebrated all over India.

Kevin Frayer / AP

Indian Hindu men watch during Lathmar Holi at Nandagram Temple, in Nandgaon,India, March 3. According to tradition which has its roots in Hindu mythology men from Barsana arrive at the temple where they are soaked in colored water by men from Nandgaon, believed to be Lord Krishna's village, and then beaten by the women of the village with wooden sticks as they depart the town.

A number of legends surround Holi, and the legend of Radha-Krishna is detailed by holifestival.org:

Young Krishna is known to be very playful and mischievous. The story goes that as a child, Krishna was extremely jealous of Radha's fair complexion since he himself was very dark.

One day, Krishna complained to his mother Yashoda about the injustice of nature which made Radha so fair and he so dark. To pacify the crying young Krishna, the doting mother asked him to go and colour Radha's face in whichever colour he wanted.
In a mischievous mood, naughty Krishna heeded the advice of mother Yashoda and applied colour on her beloved Radha's face; Making her one like himself.

Related content: See more PhotoBlog posts from Holi

Kevin Frayer / AP; Manan Vatzyayana / AFP - Getty Images

Indian Hindu women from Nandgaon village beat the shield of a man from Barsana during Lathmar Holi in Nandgaon, India, March 3.

Kevin Frayer / AP

An Indian Hindu worshipper throws a bucket of colored water on others during Lathmar Holi at Nandagram Temple, in Nandgaon, India, March 3.

Kevin Frayer / AP

Indian Hindu worshippers pray as others throw colored powder and water on them during Lathmar Holi at Nandagram Temple, in Nandgaon, India, March 3.

Shannon Stapleton / Reuters

Students leave the gravesite of Chardon High school student Daniel Parmertor after his burial in Chardon, Ohio, March 3. Three students were killed and two others wounded by suspect TJ Lane in Monday's shooting rampage at Chardon High school.

Jeff Swensen / Getty Images

A crowd of well-wishers holding American flags stands along the road in front of St Mary's Church to pay respect for Danny Parmertor on March 3, in Chardon, Ohio.

Hundreds of people stood shoulder to shoulder along the street on a cold, windy Saturday morning to honor one of three teenagers killed in a high school shooting.

The service in Chardon for 16-year-old Daniel Parmertor is the first of the three funerals. Services for 16-year-old Demetrius Hewlin and 17-year-old Russell King Jr. will be held next week.

Parmertor's family said they planned to bury him with his first paycheck — still unopened — from his new job at a bowling alley, The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported.

-- Reported by msnbc.com and wire services

Related content: PhotoBlog posts on shooting in Chardon, Ohio

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Shannon Stapleton / Reuters

The casket of slain Chardon High School student Daniel Parmertor is carried to his gravesite in Chardon, Ohio, March 3.

C.E. Branham / The News and Tribune via AP

A school bus is crushed into a business on the east side of U.S. 31 in Henryville, Ind., after powerful storms stretching from the U.S. Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes in the north wrecked two small towns and killed at least eight people Friday, March 2.

C.E. Branham / The News and Tribune via AP

Fireman examine damage at a school in Henryville, Ind., after powerful storms stretching from the U.S. Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes in the north wrecked two small towns and killed at least eight people on March 2.

Slideshow: Early season tornado outbreak

Severe storms and tear through the midwest and southern states.

Launch slideshow

At least six people were confirmed dead in two southern Indiana counties, and there were reports of three other possible tornado-related deaths, including one in the town of Henryville, where television images showed homes blown apart.  

Major Chuck Adams of the Clark County Sheriff's office said there was extensive damage to a school in Henryville, but added: "All the children are out. No injuries to any of them, just minor scrapes and abrasions."

Storm warnings were issued from the Midwest to the Southeast. Schools, government offices and businesses closed ahead of the storms, which came after a series of tornadoes earlier in the week killed 13 people in Kansas, Missouri, Illinois and Tennessee.

-- The Associated Press

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Courtesy of Evan Bentley

This tornado spotted two miles west of Henryville, Ind. before it crossed I-65 around noon on March 2.

Elaine Thompson / AP

Demi Hines kisses her husband airman Michael Hines on the return of the USS Stennis to Naval Base Kitsap Bremerton on March 2 in Bremerton, Wash. Airman Hines finished his first deployment aboard the ship.

Families welcomed home their sailors Friday at the Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton in Bremerton, Wash. when the USS John C. Stennis returned to its home port.

The Stennis completed a seven-month deployment in which the aircraft carrier launched the last Navy air mission over Iraq and more than 1,000 flights over Afghanistan.

A spokeswoman, Lt. Cmdr. Cindy Fields, says the final Iraq flight on Dec. 18 was a surveillance mission in support of Iraqi forces as U.S. forces withdrew. The carrier unloaded its air wing earlier in the week at San Diego.

-- The Associated Press

Elaine Thompson / AP

Richard Dell, of Altoona, Pa., wipes away joyful tears as he watches the return of the USS Stennis, with his daughter Chelsea Dell aboard on March 2 in Bremerton, Wash.

Elaine Thompson / AP

Sailor Thomas Crawford greets his 6-week-old son, Casey Crawford, for the first time after arriving to the Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton aboard the USS Stennis.

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Shamil Zhumatov / Reuters

Makpal Abrazakova trains her golden eagle Akzhelke outside her home village of Aksu-Ayuly in central Kazakhstan.

Shamil Zhumatov / Reuters

Makpal Abrazakova, 25, carries her golden eagle Akzhelke at her home in Aksu-Ayuly in central Kazakhstan.

Makpal Abrazakova, 25, who is professionally trained lawyer, is the only female eagle hunter in Kazakhstan. She started learning falconry from her father at the age of 13. These pictures were taken by Reuters' photographer Shamil Zhumatov  on Feb. 23, but were made available to msnbc.com today.

-- Reuters

Related links:

• Kazakhs revive eagle hunt tradition
  

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Shamil Zhumatov / Reuters

Makpal Abrazakova trains her golden eagle Akzhelke outside her home village of Aksu-Ayuly in central Kazakhstan.

Gary Cosby Jr / The Decatur Daily via AP

Greg Cook hugs his friend David Derrick at East Limestone community on Friday, March 2. A reported tornado destroyed several houses in northern Alabama as storms threatened more twisters across the region Friday.

Slideshow: Early season tornado outbreak

Severe storms and tear through the midwest and southern states.

Launch slideshow

Multiple tornadoes tore paths across Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee and Indiana on Friday, leaving an undetermined number of people injured, and homes and businesses destroyed, emergency officials and forecasters said. 

A "very large super-cell" of tornadoes touched down in northern Alabama early in the day, damaging homes and a prison and injuring at least four people. In southern Tennessee, another twister ripped 20 homes off their foundations and submerged boats, officials said.

Related link:

• Three reported killed in Indiana as tornadoes sweep Midwest, South
• Slideshow: Early-season tornado outbreak

Ajay Verma / Reuters

Activists of radical Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) Hindu group shout slogans during a protest at the shooting site of the movie "Zero Dark Thirty" in the northern Indian city of Chandigarh on Friday. Hindu radicals in the city protested on Friday against the shooting of a film by Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow on the hunt for Osama bin Laden, on the grounds that the film-makers were portraying Pakistan on Indian soil.

Anil Dayal / AP

Oscar winning director Kathryn Bigelow, left, stands on the sets during the shooting for her upcoming film about Osama bin Laden in Chandigarh, India.

Reuters reports that the India set for director Kathryn Bigelow's film includes the flag of Pakistan:

The film-makers, denied permission to film in Pakistan, converted parts of Chandigarh to look like the Pakistani city of Lahore.

But for right-wing Hindus, the use of India to portray sworn enemy Pakistan was too much.

"They have made Chandigarh like Pakistan, as if it is Pakistan," said Vijay Bhardwaj, a leader of the radical Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) Hindu group.

"We strongly oppose this and we will not let them put Pakistani flags here and we will not let them shoot for the film."

AFP - Getty Images

Indian police stand outside shops adorned with temporary signs written in Urdu, Pakistan's official language, to be filmed for scenes depicting Pakistan's Abbottabad town.

AFP - Getty Images

Indian right-wing Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) activists shout slogans during a protest against filming scenes in the country depicting Pakistan's Abbottabad.

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