Astrium via AFP - Getty Images

Two satellite views show Moore, Okla., before (top) and after the passage of a powerful tornadoon May 20.

Editor's note: Updated on May 23 with before & after satellite images (above)

Bing (top); Jewel Samad / AFP -Getty Images (bottom)

Top, a look at a shopping center before Monday's devastating tornado. Bottom, a man salvages items from his tornado devastated store on May 21, in Moore, Oklahoma.

Bing (top); Tony Gutierrez / AP (bottom)

An aerial view shows a residential area before and after Monday's tornado, in Moore, Okla.

Google (top); Tannen Maury / EPA (bottom)

A residential neighborhood before and after a tornado swept through Monday.

Bing (top); AP (bottom)

Aerial photos show the Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, Okla., before and after it was hit by a massive tornado on Monday, May 20.

Google (top); Tannen Maury / EPA (bottom)

A twisted street sign in a destroyed neighborhood in Moore, Okla.

Bing (top), AP (bottom)

Briarwood Elementary School, bottom right in Oklahoma City, Okla. before (top) and after (bottom) the tornado hit on May 20.

Bing (top), AP (bottom)

Moore Medical Center in Moore, Okla., as seen before (top) and after (bottom) the tornado that hit on May 20.

Explore the Bing map, or Google map of Moore, Okla.

More on the Oklahoma tornado:

• Slideshow: Tornadoes ravage Plains
• PhotoBlog: Aerials show destructive path of Oklahoma tornado
• ‘The school started coming apart’: Trapped students had nowhere to hide
• Curse or coincidence? Scientists study Tornado Alley's past and future

This story was originally published on Thu May 23, 2013 2:27 PM EDT

Abir Abdullah / EPA

Bangladeshi firemen battle a blaze that broke out at the Kung Keng Textile resort the outskirts of Dhaka on Aug. 26, 2005. The fire was caused by a short-circuit.

Abir Abdullah / EPA

Burned sewing machines sit on the first floor of the Garib & Garib sweater factory after a fire in Gazipur, Bangladesh, on Feb. 26, 2010. Twenty-one garment workers were killed and about 50 injured in the fire. The factory produced sweaters for H&M, among other companies.

Abir Abdullah / EPA

Women cover their noses to avoid the smell of burned bodies as they gather near where bodies are being kept for identification following a devastating fire at the Tazreen Fashions Ltd. garment factory in Savar, outside Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Nov. 25, 2012. The fire killed 112 people, and a government inquiry accused the factory owner of "unpardonable negligence."

In April 2005, at least 64 workers were killed when the Spectrum Garments building collapsed in Bangladesh.

It was the first time photographer Abir Abdullah had covered a building collapse, and the horrific scenes he witnessed over the next week would stay with him. He was left disturbed and unable to eat for several days “because of the smell and seeing the trapped, disfigured faces and bodies of the workers,” Abdullah told NBC News. The scenes moved him to continue to document Bangladesh’s garment industry.

As he would find out, there would be many more agonizing disasters over the next several years.

Abir Abdullah / EPA

Bangladeshi firefighters and rescue workers at the scene of a six-story building collapse on Feb. 25, 2006. The building housed a garment factory, shops and offices in Dhaka's Tejgaon industrial area. At least 18 people were killed and more than 50 seriously injured.

Abir Abdullah / EPA

An injured Bangladeshi worker is carried on a stretcher during a fire at the Ha-Meem Group factory that makes clothes for the Gap, in Savar, Bangladesh, on Dec. 14, 2010. At least 27 people died when a fire broke out on the 9th and 10th floors of the building.

Abir Abdullah / EPA

Relatives mourn beside bodies in front of a hospital gate following a fire at SMART factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Jan. 26, 2013. At least seven garment workers died and many more were injured in a stampede after a fire broke out in the factory.

Abdullah’s photographs of Bangladesh’s garment industry become especially poignant as the death toll in the recent collapse of the eight-story Rana Plaza now tops 1000, making it the deadliest disaster in the history of the industry. Efforts to keep the cost of production down have contributed to a dangerous work environment, where factory fires and building collapses are commonplace. “Corrupt officials who ignore building codes and greedy businessmen who bypass fire protection” exacerbate the problem, according to Abdullah.

Bangladesh’s garment industry now brings in about $20 billion a year and accounts for 80 percent of the country’s exports. There is tremendous pressure on the Bangladeshi manufacturers to keep labor and production costs low in order to attract global retailers.

Abir Abdullah / EPA

Burned garments are seen after the fire at the SMART garment factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Jan. 26, 2013.

Abir Abdullah / EPA

Civilans try to put out a fire at the Sir Denim Ltd. building in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Nov. 26, 2012. There were no casualties, the fire service reported.

Abir Abdullah / EPA

Rescue workers carry bodies following a devastating fire in the Tazreen Fashions Limited garment factory at Nischintapur, Savar, outside Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Nov. 25, 2012. The factory produced clothing for two Wal-Mart suppliers, as well as one for Sears.

Workers play a pivotal role in the equation, allowing Bangladesh to maintain cheap labor costs. The garment industry employs more than 3 million people. Labor protests demanding safer working conditions and higher salaries sometimes result in a factory temporarily closing, but there are few long-term changes. With few other job opportunities, Bangladeshis return to work at the factories in order to provide a living for their families.

“Though it is exhausting and traumatic to cover building disasters, I think the exploitation of the garment workers need to be documented,” writes Abdullah. He hopes that by drawing attention to the injustices in the system, western buyers and consumers will understand the true cost of their clothing and be moved to effect change. In February, he received an Alexia Foundation grant to continue photographing the deadly cost of cheap clothing. Abdullah says he believes in the power of photography as a “weapon to express your statements against injustice” and dedicates his work to changing the industry.

Abir Abdullah / EPA

The damaged interiors of a garment factory after a clash between the protesting workers and police at Ashulia, Savar, Bangladesh, on June 22, 2010.

Abir Abdullah / EPA

Angry workers and locals protest the deaths of garment workers and demand punishment of the building owner Sohel Rana, in Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh, on April 30, 2013, after the collapse of Rana Plaza.

Abir Abdullah / EPA

The scene on April 25, 2013, the day after eight-story Rana Plaza building collapsed in Savar, outside Dhaka, Bangladesh, killing more than 900 people.

This story was originally published on Thu May 9, 2013 9:48 AM EDT

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This story was originally published on Mon Apr 29, 2013 5:11 AM EDT

Charles Krupa / AP

Carlos Arredondo helps a victim of the Boston Marathon bombings on Monday.

It’s an iconic image that captures a moment when one Boston Marathon bystander became much more.

With blood-soaked hands and wearing a cowboy hat, Carlos Arredondo helps rush a young man in a wheelchair to safety after explosions turned Monday’s race into a disaster scene.

He appears to be pinching closed a severed artery protruding from the victim’s thigh, stanching the flow of blood from a torn and shattered leg.

"I kept talking to him. I kept saying, 'Stay with me, stay with me,'" Arredondo told the Portland, Maine, Press Herald.

Darren Mccollester / Getty Images

Carlos Arredondo displays a blood-soaked flag. He had been handing them out when explosions ripped through areas near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday.

Another frequently published photo shows him afterward, carrying an American flag soaked in blood.

Arredondo had been at the race to support a group running for fallen veterans, one of them his son, according to the Maine newspaper, which described him charging in to help the wounded after the explosions.

Afterward, he was shaking, sometimes violently, as he told bystanders what had happened.

Arredondo didn’t set out to become a heroic figure – or a tragic one, for that matter.

Life dealt the Costa Rica native the cards that brought him national media attention long before Monday.

In 2004, Arredondo’s son, Marine Lance Cpl. Alexander S. Arredondo, died in battle in Najaf, Iraq.

When Marines arrived in a van to deliver the news, on Arredondo’s 44^th birthday, he grabbed a can of gasoline and a torch from his garage, climbed inside the van and doused it, then set fire to it, severely burning himself in the process, The Associated Press reported at the time.

The New York Times wrote about Arredondo in 2007, finding him a man distraught who was manning a makeshift mobile memorial in the back of his pickup. There was a coffin containing his son’s favorite possessions, and then there were the photos. They depicted Alexander Arredondo as a happy teen, then as a fully-battle-equipped warrior, then as a body in a coffin.

“As long as there are Marines fighting and dying in Iraq, I’m going to share my mourning with the American people,” he told the paper.

Public grieving would gain him national attention, but it wouldn’t be easy.

In 2007, Arredondo was publicly beaten during an anti-war demonstration in Washington, according to WarIsACrime.org, which carries photos of the incident and an account from Arredondo’s wife.

And in December 2011, just before Christmas, Carlos’ other son, Brian, 24, took his own life as U.S. troops were withdrawing from the war that left his brother dead, according to numerous media reports.

“We are broken people,” he told The Boston Herald.

Related:

Full coverage of the Boston Marathon bombings

Boston on edge after marathon blasts

Experts: Blast required battlefield savvy

This story was originally published on Tue Apr 16, 2013 4:56 AM EDT

Alexsey Druginyn / Kremlin Pool - RIA Novosti via EPA

The Kremlin today released a series of photos of Russian President Vladimir Putin gamboling in the snow with his dogs Yume, left, and Buffy at his countryside residence outside Moscow.

Buffy, a Karakachan Bulgarian shepherd, was presented to Putin by his Bulgarian counterpart Boyko Borisov in 2010. A 5-year-old boy was reported to have won a competition to find a name for the dog.

Yume, an Akita Inu, was gifted to Putin by Japan's Akita Prefecture as thanks for Russia's help during the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Yume, whose name means "Dream" in Japanese, will be one year old on April 24, according to Russia's state-owned RIA Novosti news agency.

Putin's love of dogs is well-documented, and it is even said that he has used his Labrador, Koni, to intimidate German Chancellor Angela Merkel during negotiations.

Editor's note:  This post has been corrected to reflect that these photos were taken on March 24, and not as previously stated on April 10. They were released by the Kremlin today.

Alexsey Druginyn / Kremlin Pool - RIA Novosti via EPA

Vladimir Putin walks with Buffy at his countryside residence, Novo-Ogariovo, on March 24, 2013.

Alexsey Druginyn / Kremlin Pool - RIA Novosti via Reuters

Related:

'Isolated' Medvedev mans the office as protests dog Putin's European trip

Putin takes to sky to lead flight of cranes

Vladimir Putin, your friendly local dentist

This story was originally published on Wed Apr 10, 2013 12:02 PM EDT

Jochen Luebke / EPA

An eye-opening experience for Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) as he is confronted by a topless demonstrator during a tour of the Hanover Fair in Hanover, Germany, on April 8, 2013. He was accompanied by German Chancellor Angela Merkel (center right) and Volkswagen Chief Executive Officer Martin Winterkorn (extreme right).

Russian President Vladimir Putin laughed off a protest against him by topless women in Germany on Monday, joking that he liked what he had seen while sharply rebuffing German criticism of his human rights record.

Three members of the women's rights group Femen, which has staged protests against Russia's detention of the feminist punk band Pussy Riot around Europe, disrupted his visit to a trade fair in the German city of Hanover focusing on Russian business.

They stripped to the waist and shouted slogans calling the Russian leader a "dictator" before being covered up and bundled away by security men.

Julian Schultenschulte / EPA

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin exchange glances after the incident involving topless demonstrators.

Jochen Luebke / EPA

Security staff stop another topless demonstrator at the Volkswagen stand at the Hanover Fair.

"Regarding this performance, I liked it," grinned Putin at a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, adding that it had helped to promote the trade fair though he suggested that the security men could have been "gentler".

"I did not catch what they were shouting, I did not even see if they were blondes, brunettes or chestnut-haired ... I don't see anything terrible in (the protest), though I think ... it is better to be dressed if one wants to discuss political matters." Read the full story.

Jochen Luebke / AFP - Getty Images

A demonstrator is held by security staff.

Related:

Topless feminist confronts Russian patriarch

Putin awards biker buddy 'The Surgeon' with medal

Putin takes to sky to lead flight of cranes

This story was originally published on Mon Apr 8, 2013 9:12 AM EDT

Rafiq Maqbool / AP

Rescue workers look for trapped people after a residential building collapsed in Thane, Mumbai, India, Thursday, April 4, 2013.

At least 39 people were killed and dozens injured after an illegal, half-constructed building collapsed in seconds "like a pack of cards" on the outskirts of India's financial centre Mumbai, officials and witnesses said.

Rescue workers using cranes and bulldozers searched for survivors in the wreck of steel and concrete on Friday after the seven-storey building crumbled on Thursday night. Residents said laborers paying rent of around $5 a day had lived in it.

"The building collapsed like a pack of cards within three to four seconds," said Ramlal, a local resident. "It just tilted a bit and collapsed," he said. Read the full story.

Danish Siddiqui / Reuters

Rescue workers carry a woman who survived from the collapsed building.

Vivek Prakash / Reuters

Rescue workers search for survivors at the site of the collapsed building.

Danish Siddiqui / Reuters

Rescue workers carry a child who survived the collapse of a residential building in Thane.

Divyakant Solanki / EPA

Rescue work continued at the site of the building collapse on April 5, 2013.

AP

Rescue workers carry a young child who survived the building collapse on Friday, April 5, 2013.

This story was originally published on Thu Apr 4, 2013 5:39 PM EDT

Jeff Haynes / Reuters

Louisville Cardinals head coach Rick Pitino calls to the referees to stop the game as Cardinals guard Kevin Ware lays on the court with a broken leg in the first half against the Duke Blue Devils during their Midwest Regional NCAA men's basketball game in Indianapolis, Indiana, on March 31, 2013.

Darron Cummings / AP

Louisville players talk to guard Kevin Ware after Ware's injury during the first half of the Midwest Regional Final against Duke in the NCAA basketball tournament March 31 in Indianapolis, Ind.

By Rob Dauster, CollegeBasketballTalk on NBCSports.com

Kevin Ware was taken off the court on a stretcher in the first half of Louisville’s regional final against Duke on Sunday afternoon after suffering the worst injury I’ve ever seen in a sporting event.

After challenging a three that Tyler Thornton took from the wing, he landed wrong on his right leg and suffered a compound fracture. His shin bone was protruding through his skin.

Read the full story.

Andy Lyons / Getty Images

Wayne Blackshear #20 and Chane Behanan #21 of the Louisville Cardinals react after Kevin Ware #5 suffered a compound fracture to his leg in the first half against the Duke Blue Devils during the Midwest Regional Final round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Lucas Oil Stadium on March 31, 2013 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

This story was originally published on Sun Mar 31, 2013 7:11 PM EDT

Cathal Mcnaughton / Reuters

Farmer Donald O'Reilly searches for sheep or lambs trapped in a snow drift in the Aughafatten area of County Antrim, Northern Ireland on March 26. At least 140,000 homes and businesses in Northern Ireland were left without power over the weekend following heavy snowfall, causing snowdrifts of up to 5 metres (18 feet).

Peter Muhly / AFP - Getty Images

Lambs are pictured on snow covered fields in the hills of Domore, Northern Ireland, on March 26. A Royal Air Force (RAF) helicopter was deployed in Northern Ireland in a bid to reach remote farms where estimates suggest up to 10,000 animals have been buried beneath snowdrifts 20 feet (six metres) high. Thousands of cattle and sheep are already feared to have died in the cold at the height of the lambing season. The bad weather has claimed at least two lives on the British mainland.

Cathal Mcnaughton / Reuters

Donald O'Reilly rescues a sheep trapped in a snow drift in the Aughafatten area of County Antrim, Northern Ireland on March 26. At least 140,000 homes and businesses in Northern Ireland were left without power over the weekend following heavy snowfall, causing snowdrifts of up to 5 metres (18 feet).

Reuters photographer Cathal McNaughton describes the devastating impact of the recent weather on the farming community in Northern Ireland in a blog post: No happy endings in nature.

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This story was originally published on Tue Mar 26, 2013 1:23 PM EDT

Richard Drew / AP

David Ranta is hugged by family members after Judge Miriam Cyrulnik freed him, in state Supreme Court in Brooklyn, New York, on Thursday. Ranta, 58, who spent more than two decades behind bars was freed after a reinvestigation of his case cast serious doubt on evidence used to convict him in the Feb. 8, 1990 shooting of Rabbi Chaskel Werzberger.

Richard Drew / AP

David Ranta, right, with his attorney Pierre Sussman, has his handcuffs removed after Judge Miriam Cyrulnik freed him, in state Supreme Court in Brooklyn, New York, on March 21.

Richard Drew / AP

David Ranta is greeted by family members after Judge Miriam Cyrulnik freed him.

By Joseph Ax, Reuters

A New York man convicted of killing a Hasidic rabbi more than two decades ago was freed on Thursday after his conviction was vacated as a miscarriage of justice.

David Ranta, 58, spent 23 years in prison until the conviction integrity unit of the Brooklyn district attorney's office concluded after a year-long investigation that the case against him was fatally flawed.

"Sir, you are free to go," acting state Supreme Court Justice Miriam Cyrulnik told Ranta at a Brooklyn courthouse as relatives, including his daughter who was an infant when he was jailed, erupted in tears and shouts of joy.

Prosecutors had joined Ranta's defense attorney, Pierre Sussman, in asking Cyrulnik to vacate Ranta's conviction "in the interest of justice."

"The evidence no longer establishes the defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt," said Assistant District Attorney John O'Mara, the chief of the conviction integrity unit.

Ranta was found guilty of killing Rabbi Chaskel Werzberger on February 8, 1990, and stealing his car in an effort to flee following an unsuccessful attempt to rob a diamond courier. The crime rattled the Hasidic Jewish community in Brooklyn and prompted calls for swift justice.

Continue reading.

Richard Drew / AP

David Ranta kisses a family member after Judge Miriam Cyrulnik freed him, in state Supreme Court in Brooklyn, New York, on March 21.

This story was originally published on Thu Mar 21, 2013 7:45 PM EDT