MIAMI

Forecasters at the National Hurricane Centre in the United States have struggled for more than a decade to issue accurate storm reports using broken equipment, an overbooked airplane fleet and tight budgets, a newspaper reported on Sunday. Key forecasting equipment used by the centre has broken down or been unavailable for nearly half of the 45 hurricanes that have struck land since 1992.

Alligators have clashed with pythons before in the United States’s Everglades National Park. But when a 1,8m gator tangled with a 3,9m python recently, the result wasn’t pretty. But when a 1,8m gator tangled with a 3,9m python recently, the result wasn’t pretty. The snake apparently tried to swallow the gator whole — and then exploded.

Powerful Hurricane Rita was upgraded to a category-four storm early on Wednesday as it roared into the oil-rich Gulf of Mexico, packing winds of 217kph, the Miami-based National Hurricane Centre said. The centre added that ”some additional strengthening is possible during the next 24 hours”.

United States weather monitors issued a hurricane watch for Florida’s western islands on Sunday as Tropical Storm Rita brewed in the western Atlantic. ”Rita is getting much better organised and strengthening as it nears the south-eastern Bahamas,” the National Hurricane Centre said on Sunday evening.

Managers of a Japanese restaurant in Miami have refused to take possession of a locale they had leased because, they say, it is haunted. "There have been several documented reports from subcontractors and others of having seen ghosts or apparitions in the restaurant at night," the lawyer for Amura restaurant said.

Tropical depression Irene was getting better organised in the central Atlantic, forecasters said, but still posed no immediate threat to land. Irene had top sustained winds of 56kph on Tuesday night, just below the 63km threshold to become a tropical storm. Forecasters said it was possible for Irene to
strengthen into a tropical storm by Wednesday, but said the forecast wasn’t clear.

Swiss superman Roger Federer rallied from two sets to love down to subdue Spanish teenager Rafael Nadal 2-6, 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (7/5), 6-3, 6-1 in Miami on Sunday and claim the ATP Masters Series title at Key Biscayne. Federer, the world number one, won his 22nd straight match and extended his 2005 record to an astonishing 32-1.

An amazed Kim Clijsters, who added Miami to another Masters trophy she lifted a fortnight ago in California, was revelling on Saturday in a resounding comeback from injury after defeating Maria Sharapova 6-3, 7-5. Trophies at the Indian Wells Masters and the Miami miracle over Sharapova has assured a return to the top 20 in Monday’s rankings.

Venus Williams ended her sister Serena’s three-year reign at Key Biscayne on Tuesday with a 6-1, 7-6 (10/8) quarterfinal victory in the WTA Tour tier-one event.
It was the 13th meeting between the sisters and their first since Serena’s triumph in the 2003 Wimbledon final. Venus now trails in their career head-to-head 7-6.

A Florida man got a rude awakening when he found a 2m-long python in his potty, rearing its diamond-shaped head out of the toilet bowl, the <i>St Petersburg Times</i> reported on Thursday. Shannon Scavotto immediately grabbed his camera phone, snapped a few shots and called for help.

A Florida man paid $17 000 (R100 000) for a full-page newspaper ad imploring his wife to return, two weeks after she had left him. "Life without you is empty and meaningless. Please, please call me," Larry urged Marianne in the <i>Florida Times-Union</i> ad, which uses only the couple’s first names.

A Florida judge issued his own version of a gag order when he had officers duct-tape the mouth of an angry murderer who had been hurling abuse at him, the <i>Saint Petersburg Times</i> reported on Wednesday. It took six prison officers clad in body armour and helmets to place the duct tape on the mouth of the defendant.

An 80-year-old diver, Ignacio Siberio, was rescued after spending about 20 hours clinging to a buoy after his boat went adrift off the Florida Keys. Siberio, a Cuban-born lawyer, was spear-fishing on Saturday, as he has done most weekends for six decades, when his boat’s anchor line broke and drifted away.

Giant, inflatable advertising figures of SpongeBob SquarePants have become a coveted item among United States thieves and cost a worker her job in a dispute with a Burger King in Florida. The balloon figures, 3m tall, promote the SpongeBob SquarePants film and can be seen atop Burger King restaurants.

The people at eBay were no believers in this cheesy miracle: half of a 10-year-old grilled cheese sandwich whose owner claimed it bore the image of the Virgin Mary. Diana Duyser put the sandwich up for sale last week, drawing bids as high as  000 before eBay pulled the item on Sunday night.

Authorities in southern states of the United States on Tuesday urged residents to evacuate low-lying coastal areas, including New Orleans, as ferocious Hurricane Ivan barrelled across the Gulf of Mexico towards land. Tens of thousands of people were told to leave their homes for safer ground ahead of Ivan’s anticipated US landfall.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-InternationalNews&ao=122135">Ivan hits Cuba, moves towards US</a>

Hurricane Frances lashed the Turks and Caicos and the Bahamas as it barrelled toward Florida, where authorities have declared a state of emergency, ordered evacuations and closed schools. In Palm Beach county, 300 000 residents were told to evacuate their homes by Thursday afternoon.

A ”dangerous” Hurricane Frances gathered strength on Tuesday, putting the Bahamas on alert and prompting some Florida residents to stock up on basic goods. A hurricane watch was in effect for the south-eastern Bahamas and for the Turks and Caicos islands as Frances moved closer, packing sustained winds of about 215kph.