In letters to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service this week, carnivore specialists say the wolf population has only begun to recover and is absent from most of its historical territory after being driven to near-extinction in the past century.

They say there’s enough habitat and prey to support wolves in other parts of the country.

The wolf remains on the endangered species list except in the Northern Rockies and western Great Lakes, where the combined population is about 6,000.

A draft proposal to drop remaining protections except in the Southwest surfaced last month. Government attorneys said in court papers Monday a final decision has been postponed. They provided no explanation.

Pageant officials announced Tuesday that Nick Jonas of the Jonas Brothers pop act and Giuliana Rancic, co-anchor of “E! News,” will host the June 16 pageant.

The winner of the 62nd annual pageant in Las Vegas goes on to compete in the Miss Universe pageant.

Jonas’ brother Joe Jonas was among the judges last year, and Rancic hosted.

Contestants will be judged in swimsuit, evening gown and interview categories. The show will also feature a performance by the Jonas Brothers.

Minister Pablo Groux is slamming Penn’s proposal to a U.S. congressional subcommittee Monday that Bolivia be cut out of the Dakar motor sport rally unless it frees a U.S. citizen under house arrest two years after he was jailed without charge in a money-laundering probe.

Penn suggested that unless Jacob Ostreicher is freed, sponsors should drop their backing for the January event — which is to include Bolivia for the first time.

The New York man invested in a rice-growing venture and, once jailed, fell prey to an extortion ring that allegedly included the Interior Ministry’s top lawyer.

Penn helped get Ostreicher out of prison. But the case is stalled in court.

Sotheby’s said the work, offered as part of a charity book sale jointly organized with the writer’s association English PEN, was sold to an anonymous bidder by telephone late Tuesday.

Rowling peppered the book with about two dozen illustrations and many personal annotations, including editorial decisions and a note on how she came to create the game of Quidditch.

Other participating authors in the charity sale included Kazuo Ishiguro, Ian McEwan, Seamus Heaney, Lionel Shriver and Yann Martel.

The funds raised will benefit English PEN, which promotes the freedom to read and write.

Spokeswoman Keli Pirtle says the agency upgraded the tornado from an EF-4 on the enhanced Fujita scale to an EF-5 based on what a damage assessment team saw on the ground.

The weather service uses the word “incredible” to describe the power of EF-5 storms.

Authorities say 24 people, including nine children, were killed when the tornado flatted homes and demolished an elementary school on Monday.

The weather service says the tornado’s path was 27 kilometres long and two kilometres wide.

Pirtle says Monday’s twister is the first EF-5 tornado of 2013.

Spokeswoman Keli Pirtle said Tuesday the agency upgraded the tornado from an EF-4 on the enhanced Fujita scale to an EF-5 based on what a damage assessment team saw on the ground. The weather service uses the word “incredible” to describe the power of EF-5 storms.

The weather service says the tornado’s path was 17 miles (27 kilometres) long and 1.3 miles (2 kilometres) wide.

Pirtle says Monday’s twister is the first EF-5 tornado of 2013.

AEG Live General Counsel Shawn Trell told jurors on Tuesday that he had forgotten that Kenny Ortega was working under a signed contract.

Trell testified on Monday that Ortega was working under agreements reached through a series of emails, not a formalized contract.

An attorney for Michael Jackson’s mother on Monday compared Ortega’s emails to messages between the promoter and the singer’s personal physician laying out how he would be compensated.

Trell disputed that the situations of Ortega and Conrad Murray were similar.

Katherine Jackson is suing AEG, claiming it hired Murray without properly investigating him.

AEG denies it hired Murray.

Eight Mile Style filed a federal lawsuit in Detroit on Monday alleging that a 30-second Facebook ad broadcast online last month copied music from Eminem’s 2000 song “Under the Influence.”

The Detroit Free Press (http://on.freep.com/10LFB2N ) reports that the ad was featured in a webcast by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to announce Facebook Home, an interface for Android phones.

The complaint says Portland, Oregon, ad agency Wieden+Kennedy copied Eminem’s music “in an effort to curry favour” with Facebook by catering to Zuckerberg’s personal likes and to “invoke the same irreverent theme” of the song.

Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes and Wieden+Kennedy spokeswoman Katie Hull both declined comment Tuesday.

Muppet creator Jim Henson’s family is donating about 400 puppets, costumes, props and other items to the Museum of the Moving Image.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was on hand for the announcement Tuesday.

The museum plans to build a new gallery to house the new contributions. The city is chipping in $2.75 million toward the $5 million project.

The donation also includes objects from other shows and films on which Henson worked, including “”Fraggle Rock” and “The Dark Crystal.”

The new exhibit is expected to open in 2014.

The 1984 film “The Muppets Take Manhattan” depicted the fuzzy crew striving to stage a Broadway musical.

The museum is marking its 25th year.

A fire burns in the Tower Plaza Addition in Moore, Okla., following a tornado Monday, May 20, 2013. A tornado as much as a mile (1.6 kilometers) wide with winds up to 200 mph (320 kph) roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods, setting buildings on fire and landing a direct blow on an elementary school. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

This combination of Associated Press photos shows left, a neighborhood in Moore, Okla., in ruins on Tuesday, May 4, 1999, after a tornado flattened many houses and buildings in central Oklahoma, and right, flattened houses in Moore on Monday, May 20, 2013. Monday's powerful tornado in suburban Oklahoma City loosely followed the path of a killer twister that slammed the region in May 1999. (AP Photo)

A child calls to his father after being pulled from the rubble of the Tower Plaza Elementary School following a tornado in Moore, Okla., Monday, May 20, 2013. A tornado as much as a mile (1.6 kilometers) wide with winds up to 200 mph (320 kph) roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods, setting buildings on fire and landing a direct blow on the elementary school. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Teachers carry children away from Briarwood Elementary school after a tornado destroyed the school in south Oklahoma City, Monday, May 20, 2013. A monstrous tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs, flattening entire neighborhoods with winds up to 200 mph, setting buildings on fire and landing a direct blow on an elementary school. (AP Photo/The Oklahoman, Paul Hellstern)

SHAWNEE, OK- MAY 20: Candice Lopez, left, and Stephanie Davis help clean debris from the mobile home of Thelma Cox destroyed by a tornado Sunday night on Monday, May 20, 2013 in Shawnee, Oklahoma.
(Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images)

SHAWNEE, OK- MAY 20: Volunteers help clean out Jean McAdams' overturned mobile home caused by a tornado Sunday night on Monday, May 20, 2013 in Shawnee, Oklahoma.
(Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images)

SHAWNEE, OK- MAY 20: damages caused by a tornado Sunday night on Monday, May 20, 2013 in Shawnee, Oklahoma.
(Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images)*** Local Caption ***

MOORE, Okla. – The state medical examiner’s office has revised the death toll from a tornado in an Oklahoma City suburb to 24 people, including nine children.

Spokeswoman Amy Elliot said Tuesday morning that she believes some victims were counted twice in the early chaos of the storm. Authorities said initially that as many as 51 people were dead, including 20 children.

Downed communication lines and problems sharing information with officers exacerbated the problem, she said. The death toll was expected to climb back up.

The ferocious storm — less than one per cent of all tornadoes reach such wind speed — ripped through the suburb of Moore in a Midwest region of the U.S. known as Tornado Alley.

The storm laid waste to scores of buildings in Moore, a community of 41,000 people 16 kilometres south of Oklahoma City. Block after block lay in ruins. Homes were crushed into piles of broken wood. Cars and trucks were left crumpled on the roadside. Rescuers launched a desperate rescue effort at the elementary school, pulling children from heaps of debris and carrying them to a triage centre.

The National Weather Service estimated that the tornado reached up to 800 metres wide and was an EF-4 on the enhanced five-point Fujita scale, the second most powerful type of twister.

Footage from The Associated Press also showed first responders picking through rubble and twisted metal.

Tornado hits two elementary schools

There were two elementary schools in the path of the monster tornado. One of them was completely flattened.

At Plaza Towers Elementary School, the storm tore off the roof, knocked down walls and turned the playground into a mass of twisted plastic and metal.

Several children were pulled alive from the rubble. Rescue workers passed the survivors down a human chain to a triage centre in the parking lot.

More than 120 people were being treated at hospitals, including about 50 children. And search-and-rescue efforts were to continue throughout the night.

James Rushing, who lives across the street from the school, heard reports of the approaching twister and ran to the school, where his five-year-old foster son, Aiden, attends classes. Rushing believed he would be safer there.

“About two minutes after I got there, the school started coming apart,” he said.

The students were sent into the restroom.

A man with a megaphone stood near a Catholic church Monday evening and called out the names of surviving children. Parents waited nearby, hoping to hear their sons’ and daughters’ names.

Don Denton hadn’t heard from his two sons since the tornado hit the town, but the man who has endured six back surgeries and walks with a severe limp said he walked about three kilometres as he searched for them.

As reports of the storm came in, Denton’s 16-year-old texted him, telling him to call.

“I was trying to call him, and I couldn’t get through,” Denton said.

Eventually, Denton said, his sons spotted him in the crowd. They were fine, but upset to hear that their grandparents’ home was destroyed.

Tornado’s devastation

In video of the storm, the dark funnel cloud could be seen marching slowly across the green landscape. As it churned through the community, the twister scattered shards of wood, awnings and glass all over the streets.

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin deployed National Guard members to assist with rescue operations and activated extra highway patrol officers.

Fallin also spoke with President Barack Obama, who declared a major disaster and ordered federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts.

“Hearts are broken” for parents looking for their children, Fallin told a news conference.

Downed power lines and open gas lines posed a risk in the aftermath of the system, said Oklahoma City Police Capt. Dexter Nelson.

As dusk began to fall, heavy equipment was rolled up to the school, and emergency workers wearing yellow crawled among the ruins, searching for survivors.

Because the ground was muddy, bulldozers and front-end loaders were getting stuck. Crews used jackhammers and sledgehammers to tear away concrete, and chunks were being thrown to the side as the workers dug.

This amateur video from YouTube shows the tornado as it sweeps across the Oklahoma City area causing extensive damage and killing people and animals in its path.

Many land lines to stricken areas were down, and cellphone networks were congested. The storm was so massive that it will take time to establish communications between rescuers and state officials, the governor said.

Oklahoma City Police Capt. Dexter Nelson said downed power lines and open gas lines posed a risk in the aftermath of the system.

Tiffany Thronesberry said she heard from her mother, Barbara Jarrell, shortly after the tornado struck.

“I got a phone call from her screaming, ‘Help! Help! I can’t breathe. My house is on top of me!’,” Thronesberry said.

Thronesberry hurried to her mother’s house, where first responders had already pulled her out. Her mother was hospitalized for treatment of cuts and bruises.

The tornado also destroyed the community hospital and some retail stores. Moore Mayor Glenn Lewis watched it pass through from his jewelry shop.

“All of my employees were in the vault,” Lewis said.

Chris Calvert saw the menacing tornado from about 1.5 kilometres away.

“I was close enough to hear it,” he said. “It was just a low roar, and you could see the debris, like pieces of shingles and insulation and stuff like that, rotating around it.”

Even though his subdivision is 1.5 kilometres from the tornado’s path, it was still covered with debris. He found a picture of a small girl on Santa Claus’ lap in his yard.

A map provided by the National Weather Service showed that the storm began west of Newcastle and crossed the Canadian River into Oklahoma City’s rural far southwestern side about 3 p.m. When it reached Moore, the twister cut a path through the centre of town before lifting back into the sky at Lake Stanley Draper.

Country music star Toby Keith, who grew up in Moore, said his hometown would persevere.

“Hometown got hit for the gazillionth time. Rise again Moore Oklahoma,” Keith tweeted Monday evening.

How to donate

Best way to help tornado victims is to donate to the Red Cross at redcross.org or text REDCROSS to 90999. #okwx

— Red Cross Oklahoma (@redcrossokc) May 20, 2013

Previous tornadoes

Monday’s powerful tornado loosely followed the path of a killer twister that slammed Moore in May 1999. That storm produced the highest winds ever recorded near the Earth’s surface — 486 kilometres an hour.

Kelsey Angle, a weather service meteorologist in Kansas City, Missouri, said it’s unusual for two such powerful tornadoes to track roughly the same path.

It was the fourth tornado to hit Moore since 1998. A twister also struck in 2003.

“Oklahoma City has had more tornado strikes than any other city in the United States,” the city government’s website says.
Monday’s devastation in Oklahoma came almost exactly two years after an enormous twister ripped through the city of Joplin, Missouri, killing 158 people and injuring hundreds more. On Monday, Joplin organized a team of about a dozen police and firefighters to assist in Moore.

Joplin City Manager Mark Rohr said his community remembers the assistance it received in 2011 and feels an obligation to lend a hand in Moore.

That May 22, 2011, tornado was the deadliest in the United States since modern tornado record keeping began in 1950, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Before Joplin, the deadliest modern tornado was June 1953 in Flint, Michigan, when 116 people died.

More unsettled weather

Heavy rains and straight-line winds hit much of western Oklahoma on Saturday. Tornadoes were also reported Sunday at Edmond, Arcadia and near Wellston to the north and northeast of Oklahoma City. The supercell that generated the twisters weakened as it approached Tulsa, 90 miles to the northeast.

In Wichita, Kan., a tornado touched down near Mid-Continent Airport on the city’s southwest side shortly before 4 p.m., knocking out power to thousands of homes and businesses but bypassing the most populated areas of Kansas’ biggest city. The Wichita tornado was an EF1, the strength of tornado on the enhanced Fujita scale, with winds of 110 mph, according to the weather service.

Golf ball-sized hail slammed homes in the area. Jim Raulston, of Wichita, said the ferocious winds slammed the hailstones into his home.

“It was just unbelievable how the hail and everything was just coming straight sideways,” Raulston said.

Sedgwick County Emergency Management Director Randy Duncan said there were no reports of fatalities or injuries in Kansas.

The weather service reported two tornadoes touched down in Iowa, near Huxley and Earlham. Damage included the loss of some cattle when the storm blew over a barn on a farm in Mitchell County.

Some 6,000 customers were without power Monday, including in the hardest-hit areas where the tornado sirens were also rendered silent. In the event of new impending strikes, first responders planned to use their emergency vehicles’ sirens to warn residents.