Hail, hail!: Golf ball-sized projectiles

It was hard to look at Target Field on Tuesday night and not wonder if the ballpark's tractors could be equipped with those golf ball picker-upper things.

Indeed, the entire outfield looked like a driving range on a busy weekend afternoon when a hail storm moved into the Twin Cities and caused a 64-minute delay during the Detroit Tigers' 10-2 win over the Minnesota Twins.

The wild weather, of course, had everyone scrambling for cover. And once there, they marveled at the huge chunks of ice that were dropping out of the skies and onto the field

By 'Duk

Phone call by Kuwaiti courier led to bin Laden

Phone call by Kuwaiti

By ADAM GOLDMAN and MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Adam Goldman And Matt Apuzzo, Associated Press – Tue May 3, 7:57 am ET

WASHINGTON – When one of Osama bin Laden's most trusted aides picked up the phone last year, he unknowingly led U.S. pursuers to the doorstep of his boss, the world's most wanted terrorist.
That monitored phone call, recounted Monday by a U.S. official, ended a years-long search for bin Laden's personal courier, the key break in a worldwide manhunt. The courier, in turn, led U.S. intelligence to a walled compound in northeast Pakistan, where a team of Navy SEALs shot bin Laden to death.

After Uncertainty, a Moment of Triumph in the Situation Room: 'We've IDed Geronimo'

moment of Triumph

By MICHAEL SCHERER Michael Scherer – Mon May 2, 6:15 pm ET

The people who gathered Sunday in the Situation Room know all about high-pressure situations. But this was something else. For 40 minutes, the President and his senior aides could do nothing but watch the video screens and listen to the operation and ensuing firefight on the other side of the world. At Barack Obama's orders, special operations teams were invading the airspace of a foreign country, targeting a compound with unknown occupants, and hoping to get out unscathed. The target was America's No. 1 enemy, Osama bin Laden. But no one knew for sure if he was even there.

NATO strike kills Gadhafi's son but leader escapes

GadhFI'S ESCAPES

By KARIN LAUB, Associated Press Karin Laub, Associated Press – Sat Apr 30, 10:25 pm ET

TRIPOLI, Libya – Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi escaped a NATO missile strike in Tripoli on Saturday, but his youngest son and three grandchildren under the age of 12 were killed, a government spokesman said.
The strike, which came hours after Gadhafi called for a cease-fire and negotiations in what rebels called a publicity stunt, marked an escalation of international efforts to prevent the Libyan regime from regaining momentum.
Rebels honked horns and chanted "Allahu Akbar" or "God is great" while speeding through the western city of Misrata, which Gadhafi's forces have besieged and subjected to random shelling for two months, killing hundreds. Fireworks were set off in front of the central Hikma hospital, causing a brief panic that the light would draw fire from Gadhafi's forces.

Tornadoes devastate South, killing at least 281

killing at least 281

By GREG BLUESTEIN and HOLBROOK MOHR, Associated Press Greg Bluestein And Holbrook Mohr, Associated Press – Thu Apr 28, 7:34 pm ET

PLEASANT GROVE, Ala. – Firefighters searched one splintered pile after another for survivors Thursday, combing the remains of houses and neighborhoods pulverized by the nation's deadliest tornado outbreak in almost four decades. At least 281 people were killed across six states — more than two-thirds of them in Alabama, where large cities bore the half-mile-wide scars the twisters left behind.
The death toll from Wednesday's storms seems out of a bygone era, before Doppler radar and pinpoint satellite forecasts were around to warn communities of severe weather. Residents were told the tornadoes were coming up to 24 minutes ahead of time, but they were just too wide, too powerful and too locked onto populated areas to avoid a horrifying body count.
"These were the most intense super-cell thunderstorms that I think anybody who was out there forecasting has ever seen," said meteorologist Greg Carbin at the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla.

IMF Bombshell: Age of America Nears End

Bombshell
by Brett Arends
Tuesday, April 26, 2011

The International Monetary Fund has just dropped a bombshell, and nobody noticed.
For the first time, the international organization has set a date for the moment when the "Age of America" will end and the U.S. economy will be overtaken by that of China.
And it's a lot closer than you may think.
According to the latest IMF official forecasts, China's economy will surpass that of America in real terms in 2016 — just five years from now.

10 Lost Cities Of The World

lost cities

By Morgan Brennan

Gazing at the Andean peaks soaring above the Lost City of the Incas and the lush valley below, it's easy see why it was voted one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in 2007. The 15th century A.D. Peruvian site was abandoned shortly after Spanish conquistadors invaded the neighboring areas, falling to ruin until 1911, when an American scholar stumbled across the remains.