Free Republic

Scattered severe thunderstorms are pummeling parts of the mid-Atlantic and Northeast Wednesday afternoon, including much of the major I-95 corridor cities of New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., bringing heavy rains, strong winds, frequent lighting and even a sighting of a funnel over the Washington Capitol. Some of the severe thunderstorms could bring wind gusts of 60-70 mph, according to the National Weather Service. On Tuesday afternoon, a funnel was spotted above the US Capitol building in Washington, D.C. The funnel did not pose any risk to the area. “That is not a tornadic situation,” said FOX Weather meteorologist Jordan...

..."It's significant in that it's their last remaining funnel to Europe," a US military official said. A number of US special forces will operate as advisers while America will also provide air strike support.

SOUTHEAST Queenslanders should be on the lookout for large black funnel-web spiders as big as an adult hand. As the hot, humid weather arrives, the potentially deadly spiders are on the move, with the first reports of the season this week. Queensland Museum senior curator Robert Raven said yesterday sightings of male funnel-webs had been confirmed at Mt Tamborine in the Gold Coast hinterland and Mt Glorious, west of Brisbane. With summer temperatures and rain, male funnel-webs would be active until at least March or April. Males often wandered at night searching for females, especially during rain. They are black,...

SIERRA VISTA — A funnel cloud Friday afternoon raised eyebrows of police, residents and weather spotters. Another smaller funnel was reported by Sierra Vista police personnel about 10 minutes after the first one retracted into the thunderhead. The funnel clouds were seen by enough people to have an advisory put out on it by the National Weather Service’s Tucson office. Marshall Bryan was mowing his yard on Shawnee Drive in Hereford when he stopped about 1:55 p.m. to look up and see how much time he had before the rain. Instead he saw a funnel cloud to the east of...

Israel: Captured documents show EU aid subsidizing war SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM Tuesday, April 30, 2002 JERUSALEM — Israel has relayed evidence to the European Union that its aid to the Palestinian Authority is being diverted to finance insurgency attacks. Israeli officials said the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has sent captured PA documents on the Palestinian use of EU aid. Over the last year, the EU has provided more than $70 million to the PA to pay salaries of members of the more than 100,000 Palestinian civil servants. The EU aid has earmarked for paying the salaries of...