Last fall, Pvt. Victoria Piccoli, 19, was about to graduate from basic training at Fort Jackson in South Carolina when she appeared on TODAY to talk to Lester Holt about serving her country at such a young age. Inspired by her father, an active-duty Marine deployed to Afghanistan, Piccoli had enlisted in the Army with his encouragement. Its been working out, she said. Its great for my future....

Sun, 19 May 2013 15:50:34 GMT

Ben Affleck joined the five-timers club as host, but departing castmember Bill Hader stole the show on "Saturday Night Lives" season 38 finale.Hader gave a cinematic sendoff to Stefon, that perennially irritating scenester kid. During Weekend Update, he faced his usual dressing down from Seth Meyers. Stefon had finally had enough, and announced hed met someone else and was leaving Meyers. Meyer...

Sun, 19 May 2013 15:50:33 GMT

BERLIN Germans are world-famous for their efficiency, a stereotype both mocked and admired by their economically ailing European neighbors.But this hard-won reputation is now under threat after a catalog of calamities affecting major construction projects.Perhaps worst of all is what should already be the main airport for the capital, Berlin, which has been dubbed the eternal construction site...

Sun, 19 May 2013 15:50:33 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea North Korea fired a projectile into waters off its eastern coast Sunday, a day after launching three short-range missiles in the same area, officials said.North Korea routinely test-launches short-range missiles. But the latest launches came during a period of tentative diplomacy aimed at easing recent tension, including near-daily threats by North Korea to attack South ...

Sun, 19 May 2013 15:50:33 GMT

Do you have the lucky ticket? A winner for the huge Powerball jackpot was sold at a supermarket in Zephyrhills, Fla., a Florida Lottery official confirmed to NBC News early Sunday.The winning Powerball numbers drawn late Saturday were 10, 13, 14, 22, 52 with Powerball number 11.Powerball's website said one winner was sold in Florida, and David Bishop of the Florida Lottery confirmed that it was so...

Sun, 19 May 2013 14:27:44 GMT

President Barack Obama's team emerged on Sunday to defend his handling of revelations that the IRS had targeted conservative groups for scrutiny, as senior Republicans conceded they lacked evidence so far that the president directed the abuses.Republicans appeared on the Sunday talk show circuit with hopes of sustaining their political momentum generated during this past week, one of the tough...

Sun, 19 May 2013 14:16:44 GMT

By Andrew Rafferty, Staff Writer, NBC NewsA heated battle is brewing on Capitol Hill over cuts to the food stamp program, with lawmakers quoting Bible verses at each other and benefits for millions of people hanging in the balance.Nearly 47 million people one in seven Americans rely on food stamps for some or all of their daily sustenance, according to the Department of Agriculture, a n...

Sun, 19 May 2013 13:54:55 GMT

KAIROUAN, Tunisia - Supporters of thehard-lineIslamist group Ansar al-Sharia clashed with Tunisian police on Sunday after the government banned its annual rally, saying it posed a threat to society.Ansar al-Sharia, which openly supports al Qaeda, is considered the most radical of the hardline Islamist groups to emerge in Tunisia since a 2011 revolution overthrew secular dictator Zine al-Abi...

Sun, 19 May 2013 12:49:12 GMT

LIMA - Proposed peace talks for Syria would not curb "terrorism" in the country and it is unrealistic to think they would succeed, Syrian President Bashar Assad said in an interview published in an Argentine newspaper on Saturday.Speaking in Syria with the newspaper Clarin, Assad said he was doubtful that mediation the United States and Russia have proposed could settle a deadly conflict that has...

Sun, 19 May 2013 10:53:25 GMT

A one-way trip to Mars sounds like something you'd wish on your worst enemy so why would more than 78,000 people from around the world pay up to $75 for a chance to die on another planet?"I can say I have an ulterior motive," said David Brin, who has written more than a dozen science-fiction novels including "The Postman," which was turned into a Kevin Costner movie in 1997. "I'd get a lot of ...

Sun, 19 May 2013 09:19:50 GMT

Sun, 19 May 2013 07:40:48 GMT

Do you have the lucky ticket? A winner for the huge Powerball jackpot was sold at a supermarket in Zephyrhills, Fla., a Florida Lottery official confirmed to NBC News early Sunday.The winning Powerball numbers drawn late Saturday were 10, 13, 14, 22, 52 with Powerball number 11.Powerball's website said one winner was sold in Florida, and David Bishop of the Florida Lottery confirmed that it was so...

Sun, 19 May 2013 05:40:18 GMT

Right from the start, a horse trained by one not so over-the-hill Hall of Famer and ridden by another took control of the Preakness. The result: a huge upset and the end of any hopes for a Triple Crown attempt at the Belmont Stakes. Thanks to Oxbow's wire-to-wire win Saturday over Kentucky Derby winner Orb, trainer D. Wayne Lukas and jockey Gary Stevens have themselves another classic to add to th...

Sun, 19 May 2013 04:02:02 GMT

Do you have the lucky ticket? The winning Powerball numbers drawn late Saturday are 10, 13, 14, 22, 52 with Powerball number 11.Four out of every five possible combinations of numbers were in play, Powerball officials said. The jackpot of the 43-state lottery game surged ahead of the drawing, and had been estimated at $600 million. Powerball officials said after the drawing that the final amount w...

Sun, 19 May 2013 04:02:01 GMT

Large sections of the Plains states came under tornado watches Saturday as a wave of storms swept through.The greatest threat late Saturday was in eastern Kansas and Oklahoma, weather.com reported, with central Oklahoma seeing a spike on Sunday.But Weather Channel meteorologist Michael Palmer saidthe storms on Sunday afternoon and evening were likely to carry a greater chance of tornadoes andthe...

Sun, 19 May 2013 02:12:18 GMT