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Emergency crews worked through the night and into the morning Tuesday, trying to find survivors of a massive, mile-wide tornado that touched down in Oklahoma, killing a feared 91 people and flattening neighborhoods whole.

Most of the damage appears to be in the suburb of Moore, where at least 20 of those who died are said to be children. Oklahoma resident David Massey posted several powerful videos of damage from the tornado using the video sharing app Vine.

Israeli and Syrian forces have exchanged fire across the cease-fire line in the occupied Golan Heights. Syria said it destroyed a vehicle that crossed the line overnight, and Israel acknowledged returning fire. While sporadic gunfire from Syria’s civil war has spilled over into Israel on occasion, this marks the first time that Syria has admitted to intentionally firing on Israeli forces.

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As expected, Obama urged Myanmar’s president Thein Sein to tame anti-Muslim violence in his troubled country during an historic visit. But the White House also acknowledged what Myanmar observers have noticed for a while: diplomats (including Obama) are more often using the word “Myanmar” though official policy favors “Burma,” a colonial title that (to some) signifies a stance against the military rulers who switched the name more than 20 years ago.

STRANGE BUT TRUE

Would-be grooms in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh are posting photos of themselves with their home’s toilet to woo brides. Millions of poor and rural Indians still defecate under the open sky because their homes and sometimes even their villages lack facilities. The local administration has made the picture of the groom along with the toilet a mandatory requirement for getting registered for mass marriage ceremonies and available benefits.

AL-QASR, Lebanon — The only official Lebanese presence at this northern border crossing with Syria is a tiny, one-man cinderblock army post. Rockets and shells explode nearby.

Just a few miles up the road is the Syrian city of Qusayr, once a rebel stronghold. There, an already fierce battle between Syrian rebels, government troops and Hezbollah fighters — backed by Lebanese-based, pro-regime militias they call “popular committees” — intensified Sunday as Syrian troops launched an aggressive operation to retake the town.

For generations, the Syrian-Lebanese frontier along this northern tip of the Bekaa Valley has existed only on maps. But now this once sleepy borderland is the frontline for an escalating Sunni-Shia sectarian conflict that could threaten the region. 

What does Hezbollah have to do with Syria? Actually, a lot…

Photo by AFP/Getty Images

Russia has sent advanced antiship cruise missiles to Syria, according to US media reports.

The New York Times quoted an unnamed military source saying that while Russia has previously supplied weapons to Syria, the latest round are more sophisticated in countering any potential future foreign military intervention in Syria.

Stephen Sestanovich of the Council on Foreign Relations told GlobalPost via email that, “Russia stubbornly defends its right to support other sovereign states to defend themselves. For them, this is a matter of dollars and cents but also high principle.”

“The standard Russian response to criticism of such moves is that they’re simply fulfilling a contract that’s been in place for years. They’ll say that it doesn’t matter that Syria has become a war zone since the contract was signed,” Sestanovich said.

Russia sends advanced missiles to Syria

Meanwhile: Syria refugee count tops 1.5 million, UN says

Photo by AFP/Getty Images

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to push the United States to act on Syria when he meets President Barack Obama at the White House on Thursday.

WATCH LIVE at 12 p.m.

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Syria’s Refugees Are Trapped Between Hells

I first met war photographer Giles Duley a month ago, to talk about his work both before and after he became a triple amputee in Afghanistan. Giles’s most recent trip since we spoke was to Jordan, where he documented the arrival of Syrian refugees after a long journey across the border. Here’s his account of new arrivals to the Zaatari Camp. – Jamie Collins

The nights become so bitterly cold that I’ve taken shelter in a portakabin staffed by UNHCR doctors. We sit, sipping tea, fighting our tiredness, waiting. It’s nearly 1 AM and there’s still no sign of any refugees arriving. Restless, I go outside to join my colleagues, who are sharing a cigarette in the starless night. Suddenly we are silent. In the distance we can hear buses and then out of that cold dark night they start to arrive. The first to appear is a young girl, maybe five years old, dressed in a cream coat walking with a purpose beyond her years, followed by two young mothers clasping their children, wrapped tightly in blankets to protect them from the cold. They make their way into the large military-style reception tent where they will be processed, fed, given medical attention, and finally allocated their own plot within Zaatari Camp.

I watch as more and more arrive—tens, hundreds and, by dawn, nearly 2,000. There’s man wearing a suit, holding his kid’s hand; an elderly couple struggling to carry their meagre possessions; a pregnant woman in tears; a young man carried across the rough ground in his wheelchair. Each face seems haunted and etched with exhaustion, uncertainty, and fear. The scenes are reminiscent of so many earlier wars, faded black and white images of civilians uprooted and forced to flee with only what they carry. But this is not some terrible past, this is happening now and the war grows more violent and brutal each day.

The numbers are almost beyond comprehension. More than 70,000 people killed, over four million displaced, and more than one million refugees registered by the UNHCR. In Jordan alone, there are 340,000 refugees, many in the tented Zaatari. This number is expected to rise to over one million by the end of the year.

Continue + more pictures

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What next for Bangladesh? As recovery efforts end, and mourners gather to pray for the dead, the death toll from the collapse of a garment factory building three weeks ago stands at 1,127 — the worst industrial accident in Bangladesh’s history. 

The collapse of the Rana Plaza followed several other horrifying incidents at Bangladesh garment factories, including a fire in November that killed 112 people.

In the aftermath, European retailers including two of the biggest fashion chains — Sweden’s H&M and Spain’s Inditex, which owns Zara — have agreed to a pact to improve Bangladesh building and fire safety. 

But major US retailers, including Gap, have declined to endorse the accord, leading to fears that the push for garment industry reform will be diluted.

Rohingya boat capsizes. A boat carrying up to 200 Rohingya Muslims has capsized off western Myanmar. The boat was evacuating people ahead of a cyclone expected to hit the area later this week, with coastal areas in Rakhine state and neighboring Bangladesh at risk of flooding or tidal surges.

Tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims are living in temporary camps in Rakhine after violence last year. To understand more, read this dispatch from GlobalPost Senior Correspondent Patrick Winn, whose ongoing series Myanmar Emerges delves further into this rapidly changing country.

Heart stopping. Among the legions of disturbing videos and news from Syria, there’s this: footage which appears to show a Syrian rebel eating the heart of a dead soldier.

“I swear to God we will eat your hearts and your livers, you soldiers of Bashar the dog,” the man in the video says, as he stands over the soldier’s corpse.

The New York-based group Human Rights Watch has said the rebel is Abu Sakkar, an insurgent from the city of Homs, and describes his actions as a war crime.

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Angelina’s choice. The actress has revealed she underwent a preventive double mastectomy to reduce her risk of contracting breast cancer. Jolie, 37, wrote in an opinion piece in The New York Times that she had the procedure because she carries a faulty gene that increases her risk of breast and ovarian cancer.

Jolie said she kept the issue quiet while undergoing surgical procedures and continuing to work, but she was speaking out to encourage other women with a family history of cancer to seek out information from doctors and make informed choices about their bodies.

Back to Earth. It was a great ride, but after 146 days — and a whole lot of tweeting, photographing, and music video-making along the way — International Space Station commander Chris Hadfield is back on Planet Earth.

A Soyuz capsule carrying Hadfield and two flight engineers landed safely in southern Kazakhstan last night at 10:31 p.m. EDT. Hadfield, the first Canadian commander of the ISS, handed control over to the next team of astronauts under the command of Russian cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov.

For posterity, GlobalPost has compiled 15 ways that Hadfield is really darn awesome.

STRANGE BUT TRUE

Sorry, Swazi witches. Your high-flying fun is over.

Like airplanes and helicopters, witches on broomsticks must also obey the Swaziland’s aviation laws, according to Sabelo Dlamini, a Civil Aviation Authority official. “A witch on a broomstick should not fly above the [150-meter] limit,” Dlamini explained.

Dlamini’s statement was prompted by the arrest of a private detective who had operated an unregistered toy helicopter with a drone-like video camera attached. A statute in Swaziland also forbids toy helicopters and children’s kites from ascending too high into the country’s airspace.

But while witches are known to use their brooms for applying or flinging “potions” and other cursed substances across large areas, they are generally not used for transportation purposes. 

So while traditional healing is taken seriously in Swaziland, it can be assumed that Dlamini used the flying broomstick example only to illustrate his point. 

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And the winner is… Nawaz Sharif by a country mile, according to the unofficial results of Pakistan’s election. Sharif, a two-time ex-premier who was toppled in a military coup in 1999, and his Pakistan Muslim League-N party are on course to win a majority in parliament and form the country’s next government.

Sharif has pledged to overhaul Pakistan’s sluggish economy and end a decades-old feud with India. Karachi stocks hit an all-time high following the win.

Final results are still days away, but Sharif is already in talks on forming a government. He has been congratulated by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who said he hoped for a “new course” in relations between the two countries.

GlobalPost’s Mariya Karimjee writes from Karachi about Pakistan’s “44 percent” — the country’s women — and their potential role in turning the political tide.

It wasn’t us. Syria has denied any involvement in weekend car bombings in Turkey that killed at least 46 people and wounded 100 more. 

The bombings in downtown Reyhanli, a Turkish border town, have heightened fears that Syria’s ongoing civil war is spilling over into neighboring countries.

Turkey has accused a group with links to Syrian intelligence of carrying out the bombings. Damascus said it had nothing to do with it. So far, nine Turkish citizens have been detained in connection with the attack.

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Hong Kong makes history. Sort of. In a surprise decision, Hong Kong’s top court has granted a transsexual woman the right to marry her boyfriend.

While it is a landmark ruling for this semi-autonomous Chinese territory, it falls short of allowing same-sex marriage. The decision only covers the right of a transgender person who was born male to marry a man, and for one who was born female to marry a woman.

A Mother’s Day tragedy. Some 19 people, including two children, were injured when multiple gunmen opened fire during a Mother’s Day parade in New Orleans.

The FBI believes the shooting, which took place during a second-line parade in the city’s 7th Ward, was an act of street violence. New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu has appealed for help from witnesses in catching the gunmen.

Second-line parades, a tradition in New Orleans, are loose, sometimes impromptu processions in which people march and dance in the streets, often following behind a brass band.

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Ground control to… Major Chris? Social media-loving astronaut Chris Hadfield has released a gift to the internet: a video of him performing David Bowie’s beloved “Space Oddity” all the way from the International Space Station.

Hadfield, the first Canadian commander of the ISS, is leaving the station and decided to mark the moment with the iconic 1969 Bowie tune, which records the curious journey of the fictional Major Tom, who is “floating in the most peculiar way” (as is Hadfield in the video).

An active Twitter user, Hadfield’s geek cred was already solidified by his five-month stint on the ISS. With the professionally produced video, and what appears to be tacit approval from Bowie himself, he is likely to ascend to the ranks of nerdy royalty.

REYHANLI, Turkey — The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, a United Nations commission investigating claims of the use of chemical weapons in Syria, clarified on Monday that it has “not reached conclusive findings” on the use of such weapons.

On Sunday, UN human rights investigator Carla del Ponte, who is a member of the commission, said, “According to the testimonies we have gathered, the rebels have used chemical weapons, making use of sarin gas.”

UN clarifies statement, says ‘no conclusive findings’ on chemical weapons in Syria

Photo by AFP/Getty Images

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Clue, the Syria edition. Was it the army in Homs with a nerve agent, or rebels in Aleppo with sarin gas? The allegations are flying in all directions, as a UN investigator claims to have evidence that suggests opposition forces are using the lethal poison sarin. Carla del Ponte, one of the investigators leading the UN’s inquiry into suspected war crimes in Syria, says her team does not have “incontrovertible proof” that that’s the case, only “strong, concrete suspicions.”

The problem with suspicions, however strong, is that they’re based on testimonies and interpretations rather than cold, hard evidence, which has so far proved elusive. As GlobalPost has learned, initial blood tests on victims of one suspected chemical weapons attack found no trace of sarin, while other explanations for their symptoms are eminently possible. Before we get to who, what and where, we need to tackle whether. 

Malaysian malaise. The government is urging voters to put their differences behind them after one of the closest elections in Malaysia’s history. Prime Minister Najib Razak and his ruling National Front coalition hung on to power despite their worst-ever poll result, and are now promising Malaysians a program of “national reconciliation.”

The opposition, however, claims that the incumbents stole the election from them. Their leader, Anwar Ibrahim, has called for a full investigation into what he alleges were widespread irregularities. The voting may be over, but the campaign isn’t.

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Not a bargaining chip, just a straight-up criminal: that’s Kenneth Bae for you, according to North Korea. The country’s secretive regime has denied that it’s keeping the US national prisoner in order to use him as a negotiating tool with Washington, and insists it has no plans to free him in exchange for a visit by a high-profile American.

As with most things North Korea says, no one’s quite sure whether to believe it. Analysts suspect the country is looking for a way to back up its recent war rhetoric without actually, y’know, going to war; unfortunately for Bae, keeping hold of him could be the way Pyongyang chooses to do it.

Neo-Nuremberg. Germany has begun the trial of a woman believed to be at the heart of a neo-Nazi terror cell responsible for at least 10 deaths. Beate Zschaepe is accused of plotting to murder immigrants as part of a racist killing spree that was allowed to continue for seven long years.

The closely watched trial is expected to make for uncomfortable viewing, not only because of the violent fascist underworld it exposes, but because of the questions it will raise about why it wasn’t exposed sooner.

STRANGE BUT TRUE

Why honey, it’s just what I never wanted. One lucky bidder could soon be the proud owner of a electrocardiogram showing the beat of Neil Armstrong’s heart just before he made his historic moon landing in 1969.

The lot, part of an online auction of space memorabilia, is testimony to the astronaut’s cool head under pressure: Armstrong’s heartbeat, the read-out shows, stayed for the main impressively low, despite a few moments of worry as Apollo 11 began to run low on fuel. One small blip for man, one giant waste of money for whoever buys it.

BOSTON, Mass. — After a five-month investigation inside Syria and the wider Middle East, GlobalPost and the family of missing American journalist James Foley now believe the Syrian government is holding him in a detention center near Damascus.

“With a very high degree of confidence, we now believe that Jim was most likely abducted by a pro-regime militia group and subsequently turned over to Syrian government forces,” GlobalPost CEO and President Philip Balboni said during a speech marking World Press Freedom Day.

American journalist likely held by Syrian government

Photo by AFP/Getty Images