Hurricane prediction delayed to spring
FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — Hurricane forecaster William Gray will wait until spring to predict how many storms will form in the Atlantic.
Gray and his research partner at Colorado State University, Philip Klotzbach, usually start making predictions in December but this month, for the first time in 20 years, they’re holding off on forecasting the number of named storms, including hurricanes.
Klotzbach says they’ve tried various models but none have been successful in estimating the number of storms that early. He acknowledges that, currently, predicting hurricanes that far out is “just about as good as making a guess.”
CSU will still issue a discussion of possible hurricane activity each December but the first estimate of the number of storms won’t come until April.
Italy police intercept another letter bomb
ROME ( AP) — Police say they have intercepted another letter bomb at the offices of Italy’s tax collection agency.
The bomb was intercepted today at an Equitalia office near the center of Rome.
A police official speaking on customary condition of anonymity said agents were working to defuse the explosive.
The director of the office was injured last Friday when he opened an envelope addressed to him containing explosives.
An anarchist group that had also sent a letter bomb to Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt claimed responsibility for that attack.
Police say links with the earlier incidents were under investigation.
Nigeria’s roads among world’s most deadly
MOWE, Nigeria ( AP) — Officials say Nigeria has the world’s third-highest number of road traffic deaths, behind China and India.
The World Health Organization says traffic fatalities kill nearly 50,000 people a year in Africa’s most populous nation.
Only 15 percent of Nigeria’s roads are paved, and speeding buses crash head-on into each other on a seemingly daily basis. Long- haul truckers also lose control of gasoline tankers that can explode into infernos.
Critics blame the Nigerian government for not doing more to maintain the oil-rich country’s roads, and accuse officials of accepting bribes to look away from dangerous vehicles and drivers.
Cable TV guy finds sleeping bear in home
HOPATCONG, N.J. (AP) — A cable TV repairman got quite a surprise when he walked into the basement of a New Jersey home.
There was a 500-pound bear sound asleep on the floor.
The bear had been spotted wandering in the neighborhood in Hopatcong earlier Wednesday. It’s not clear how it got into the home.
The bear ambled out of the house before state Fish and Game officials arrived.
WNBC- TV in New York reports the officials fired a tranquilizer dart at the animal, which walked a few blocks to the Missouri Trail before it was knocked out.
No one was injured.
Applications for jobless aid drop
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of people applying for unemployment benefits dropped to its lowest level since May 2008, a hopeful sign that layoffs are declining and hiring is picking up.
The Labor Department says weekly applications for unemployment benefits fell by 19,000 to a seasonally adjusted 366,000 last week. The fourweek average, a less volatile measure, dropped for the 10th time in the past 12 weeks, to 387,750. That is the lowest reading for the average since July 2008.
Applications for unemployment benefits are a measure of the pace of layoffs. Job cuts have fallen sharply since the recession, but so far employers are hiring at only a modest pace.
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