Brian Hardzinski

The embarrassing arrest of a suspected CIA officer in Moscow is the latest reminder that even after the Cold War, the United States and Russia are engaged in an espionage battle with secret tactics, spying devices, and training that sometimes isn't enough to avoid being caught.

"There's nothing new here," says Suzette Grillot, the Dean of the College of International Studies at the University of Oklahoma. "We spy, everybody spies. There's a long history of spying between these two countries."

The twister that ripped through the town of Granbury, Tex.  Wednesday night killed at least six people and injured dozens of others.

The National Weather Service classified the deadly Texas twister as a powerful EF4, with winds up to 200 miles-per-hour.

University of Oklahoma meteorology student Paige Burress captured video of the tornado for the weather blog Texas Storm Chasers. She told Here & Now host Robin Young it was a "sobering experience."

Earlier this year an independent review by veteran diplomat Thomas Pickering and retired Adm. Mike Mullen slammed the U.S. State Department for inadequate security at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi before the September 11, 2012 attacks that killed four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador.

“The styles of public diplomacy are now constrained by our fear,” says Richard Arndt, a veteran U.S. diplomat and the author of The First Resort of Kings: American Cultural Diplomacy in the  Twentieth Century. ”Which after all is what terrorists try to produce, and which they've amply succeeded in.”

Arndt says as the United States reestablished diplomatic relations with European countries after World War II, the goal was to build the most beautiful embassies possible.

A human rights activist from Pakistan who founded an all-girls school and his 15-year-old daughter who survived an assassination attempt by the Taliban have been honored by the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum.

Memorial officials presented the 2013 Reflections of Hope Award to Ziauddin Yousafzai and Malala Yousafzai on Monday.

China hosted back-to-back visits this week with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. More and more detainees are participating in a hunger strike at the detention center at Guantanamo Bay.

So far more than 1,000 have died in the April 24 collapse of Rana Plaza in Dhaka. ABC Radio Sima Bhowmik joins Suzette Grillot for a conversation about the lack of government oversight in Bangladesh's garment industry.

A state senator from Oklahoma City has announced her candidacy for chairwoman of the Oklahoma Democratic Party.

State Sen. Constance Johnson (D-Oklahoma City) said Friday she will seek the post during the party's annual convention on Saturday, May 18. Democratic campaign strategist Jed Green will seek the vice-chair position.

Current Democratic Party Chairman Wallace Collins also is seeking re-election to the post, along with current vice-chair Dana Orwig. Collins is a former Democratic state legislator from Norman.

Earlier this week Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to China. Even though the two leaders did not meet, the timing of the visits signals China could start to become a diplomatic player in the troubled region.

Joshua Landis, the Director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma and a longtime observer of Syria, says China tried to arrange a meeting in 2007 between Netanyahu and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but it didn’t work.

“[China has] been asserting themselves more and more in the Middle East,” Landis says. “And that’s a product of the United States withdrawing, and China is becoming much more self-confident.”

Abortion providers in Oklahoma would be required to answer dozens of new questions on a state questionnaire under a bill given final approval in the House despite concerns the bill paves the way for costly litigation against the state.

The bill by State Rep. Sean Roberts (R-Hominy) adds several questions to the Individual Abortion Form that abortion providers in Oklahoma are required to fill out and submit to the Department of Health.

Providers already are required to ask a woman dozens of questions about her age, race, marital status, previous pregnancies, and relationship problems.

Oklahoma City Thunder star point guard Russell Westbrook says he expects to be on crutches for at least four weeks after knee surgery that forced him to sit for the remainder of the NBA Playoffs.

“For now, I can’t travel,” Westbrook says. “When I get off crutches, we’ll sit down and see what the timetable is for me.”

Westbrook told reporters Thursday morning he’s still trying to find ways to help his team by offering input during halftime, practices, and in the film room.

“The group of guys we have, I think we have enough to get a ring,” Westbrook says.