Obama Dismisses IRS Targeting of Conservative Groups as Non-Issue, Secret National Reconnaissance Office Payload Successfully Launched, Private Company Wants to Land Spacecraft on Moon in 2015: P.M. Links

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  MSNBC

  President Obama downplayed the IRS targeting of Tea Party groups in defending the job his administration has done and the trustworthiness of the federal government in an interview with MSNBC's Chris Matthews.

• A federal judge ruled Greenville County Schools did not have to stop student-led prayers or activities being held at places of worship while a lawsuit against the practices goes to court.
• A DC police officer, Linwood Barnhill, is being investigated for allegedly running a prostitution ring after a missing 16-year-old girl was found in his apartment. He has not been arrested or charged, but police executed a search warrant for alleged child pornography and sex trafficking of a minor.
• A rocket carrying an unknown payload for the National Reconnaissance Office, which manages  the government's space-based spy satellites, launched successfully off the coast of California.
• At a summit of African leaders being held in Paris, French President Francois Hollande urged the creation of a regional security force to deal with crises like the one in Central African Republic to which France is responding with its latest intervention.
• Jordan will take the UN Security Council seat previously rejected by Saudi Arabia.
• A private company wants to land a micro-spacecraft on the surface of the moon in 2015.

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