MSNBC: Top Stories

Ever since Edward Snowden revealed himself as the leaker of classified documents about U.S. surveillance programs, he has sometimes been called a whistle-blower. But is he?Those who believe he has shed light on improper government actions say he deserves to be called one. But there seems little doubt that he cannot claim legal whistle-blower protection.For starters, the general whistle-blower laws...    

The National Security Agency is reviewing whether to stop collecting a vast stockpile of records of Americans’ telephone calls — the most controversial component of its surveillance programs— by allowing telecommunications companies to retain the data until U.S. intelligence officials have a specific reason to review it for possible connections to terror plots, U.S. officials said TuesdayThe NSA’s...    

UPDATED: After a public disagreement that threatened to blow up into a larger battle, Chrysler said Tuesday that it agreed to recall 1.56 million Jeep vehicles that a government safety watchdog said could potentially erupt into fire if rear-ended.Chrysler had been expected to file papers Tuesday refusing to comply with a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's voluntary recall request sen...    

UPDATED: Chrysler and the federal government have finished wrangling over whether a Jeep recall is warranted, with the automaker agreeing Tuesday to a voluntary recall of 1.56 million Jeep models. Earlier this month, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration asked Chrysler to voluntarily recall Jeep Grand Cherokees in model years 1993 to 2004 and Libertys in model years 2002 to 2007. Bas...    

UPDATED: After a public disagreement that threatened to blow up into a larger battle, Chrysler said Tuesday that it agreed to recall 1.56 million Jeep vehicles that a government safety watchdog said could potentially erupt into fire if rear-ended.Chrysler had been expected to file papers Tuesday refusing to comply with a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's voluntary recall request sen...    

Following a public spat between Chrysler and the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration, the maker of the Jeep Cherokee on Tuesday finally agreed to recall millions of vehicles. But it's not the biggest recall ever, and it's really just one more in a string of high-profile companies that have been forced to admit their products were faulty. Here's a look at some of the more notable rec...    

A cognitively disabled woman and her young daughter were held against their will in an Ohio home for more than two years, forced to perform manual labor, threatened by poisonous snakes, and beaten to scare them from ever escaping, authorities announced on Tuesday.Jessica L. Hunt, 31, and Daniel J. Brown, 33, and Jordie L. Callahan, 26, were arrested in Ashland, Ohio, and charged with forced labor ...    

The Indian government will shut down the country's 160-year old telegraph service in mid-July. The decision risks leaving lawyers, soldiers and government officials without a trusty communication tool. BSNL, a government-run company, will deliver its last telegram on July 14, according to a company letter sent by Shameem Akhtar, senior general manager of telegraph services. The telegraph system p...    

The Republican-controlled House passed legislation Tuesday that would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, offering social conservatives a symbolic victory even as the bill is all but certain not to become law.The vote was 228-196, with six Democrats and all but six Republicans voting for the measure.But the legislation, sponsored by Rep. Trent Franks of Arizona, has virtually no chance of b...    

The American Medical Association officially designated obesity as a disease on Tuesday – a disease that requires medical treatment and prevention.The organization doesn’t have any kind of official say in the matter, but it’s influential nonetheless, and the vote of the AMA’s policy-making House of Delegates is one more step in the evolution of social attitudes towards obesity.“Recognizing obesity ...    

A man was arraigned on indictment for murder on Monday by a California grand jury for throwing his ex-wife over the side of a cruise ship, according to the Orange County District Attorney.The indictment against Lonnie Loren Kocontes, 55, includes one felony count of murder for financial gain.Prosecutors said that that Kocontes and his ex-wife, Micki Kanesaki, divorced in 2001 but lived together on...    

FORT MEADE, Md. - The court-martial of the U.S. soldier accused of providing reams of classified documents to WikiLeaks in a case illustrating the challenge of keeping secrets in the digital age must decide whether tweets and Web pages can be admitted as evidence.Lawyers for Private First Class Bradley Manning, 25, who is accused of providing more than 700,000 files to the anti-secrecy websit...    

A cognitively disabled woman and her young daughter were held against their will in an Ohio home for more than two years, forced to perform manual labor, threatened by poisonous snakes, and beaten to scare them from ever escaping, authorities announced on Tuesday.Jessica L. Hunt, 31, and Daniel J. Brown, 33, and Jordie L. Callahan, 26, were arrested in Ashland, Ohio, and charged with forced labor ...    

Montreal Mayor Michael Applebaum resigned on Tuesday, a day after he was charged with fraud and corruption in the latest major Canadian municipal scandal. "I am going to put my energies into my defense and into my family," said Applebaum, who had promised to clean up Canada's second-largest city when he was named to the post in November. Declaring his innocence, he added in a statement to reporter...    

In a boost for proponents of comprehensive immigration reform, a new report from the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the immigration bill currently being debated in the Senate would increase the U.S. population by 10.4 million and would decrease federal budget deficits by $197 billion between 2014 and 2023.The much-anticipated report indicates that enacting the legislation would create ...    

House Speaker John Boehner said Tuesday that he does not “see any way” of bringing an immigration bill to the floor that does not have backing from a majority of the House’s GOP members, calling the border security provisions in the measure currently making its way through the Senate “weak” and “laughable.” Comprehensive immigration reform must – in some fashion – run through the House, and Boehne...    

Penmanship purists can relax: Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has straightened out his signature.When he was nominated for the post earlier this year, Lew was mocked for his John Hancock — an aimless series of loops that was compared to the white icing atop a Hostess cupcake.The top finance official in the federal government was given the humiliating nickname Loopty Lew. Worse still, the treasury chie...    

Dr. Paul Offit doesn’t like getting threats. But the 62-year-old pediatrician at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia says it goes with the territory when taking on powerful industries and interest groups whose beliefs are deeply rooted in emotion. He’s ready for a tsunami of criticism with his latest foray into debunking popular wisdom – “Do You Believe in Magic?: The Sense and Nonsense of Altern...    

Baby accessories seldom come cuter than this.A Georgia mom-to-be has a viral hit on her hands thanks to her crocheting skills and a fondness for Cabbage Patch Kids – the dimpled dolls that sparked a craze in the 1980s.“I was a huge child of the ‘80s and I had lots of Cabbage Patch Kids dolls and I just loved them,” Amanda Lillie, 33, told TODAY Moms.She also loves to crochet and scours Pinterest f...    

Yahoo is the latest company to disclose how many requests for user data it has received from U.S. government agencies, putting the number between 12,000 and 13,000 in the six months that ended on May 31. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and General Counsel Ron Bell said in a blog post late Monday that the most common requests concerned fraud homicides, kidnappings, and other criminal investigations. Yahoo...