World/ Nation Briefs June 3, 2013

Veteran storm chasers killed by Oklahoma tornado

Three veteran storm chasers died doing what they loved: roaming the Great Plains in search of dangerous storms like the one in Oklahoma that ended their final pursuit.

Tim Samaras, his son Paul and colleague Carl Young, who through the years had shared dramatic videos with television viewers and weather researchers, died Friday night when an EF3 tornado with winds up to 165 mph turned on them near El Reno, Okla. They were among 13 people who died in the storm in Oklahoma City and its suburbs.

Their deaths in pursuit of the storm are believed to be the first among scientific researchers while chasing tornadoes, the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., said.

Tim Samaras, 54, and Paul Samaras, 24, both of Bennett, Colo., were trapped in their car along with Young, 45, of South Lake Tahoe, which straddles the California and Nevada border.

Syrian rebels, guerrillas battle in worst clash yet

BEIRUT - Syrian rebels and Hezbollah guerrillas battled Sunday in their worst clashes yet inside Lebanon, a new sign that the civil war in Syria is increasingly destabilizing its fragile neighbor.

Palin speaks at small-town commencement

REPUBLIC, Wash. - Former Alaska governor and Republican firebrand Sarah Palin had a gift and a message for the 26 graduates at a small-town commencement this weekend.

The grads in the high school gym in the town of Republic found a dollar bill taped under their seats. The message, Palin said: "You gotta get off your butt to make a buck."

More than 700 people crowded into the gym for the ceremony Saturday. Republic, the government seat of Ferry County, is a town of 1,100 in a historic gold-mining region.

- The Associated Press