An elderly woman has been living with two skeletons and a badly decomposed body of her siblings in a suburb of Chicago, one of whom may have died at least 20 years ago.

Living with the dead

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Nuclear power plants smaller than a garden shed and able to power 20,000 homes will be on sale within five years, say scientists at Los Alamos, the US government laboratory which developed the first atomic bomb.

The miniature reactors will be factory-sealed, contain no weapons-grade material, have no moving parts and will be nearly impossible to steal because they will be encased in concrete and buried underground.

Mini Nuclear Plants

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…Major Hurricane Paloma slows down over eastern Cuba as it
continues to lash the region with heavy rain and damaging winds…

A Hurricane Warning remains in effect for the Cuban provinces of
Ciego de Avila…Camaguey…Las Tunas…Granma and Holguin.

A Tropical Storm Warning remains in effect for the Cuban province
of Santiago de Cuba.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for the central Bahamas…
including Cat Island…the Exumas…Long Island…Rum Cay…San
Salvador…Acklins Island…Crooked Island and the Ragged Islands.A
Tropical Storm Warning means that tropical storm conditions are
expected within the warning area within the next 24 hours.

Interests elsewhere in Cuba and the Bahamas should closely monitor
the progress of Paloma.

For storm information specific to your area…including possible
inland watches and warnings…please monitor products issued
by your local weather office.

At 1000 PM EST…0300z…the center of Hurricane Paloma was located
near latitude 20.9 north…longitude 77.7 west or about 35 miles…
60 km…south-southeast of Camaguey Cuba and about 75 miles…120
km…north of Cabo Cruz.

Paloma is moving toward the northeast near 7 mph…11 km/hr. This
general motion…accompanied by a decrease in forward speed… is
expected through Sunday. On the forecast track…the center of
Paloma is expected to be approaching the Atlantic coast of
east-central Cuba late Sunday morning…and be nearing the central
Bahamas Sunday night or on Monday.

Maximum sustained winds have decreased to near 115 mph…185
km/hr…with higher gusts. Paloma is a category three hurricane on
the Saffir-Simpson scale. Steady weakening is expected for the
next day or two…especially as Paloma moves across Cuba tonight
and Sunday morning.

Hurricane force winds extend outward up to 30 miles…45 km…from
the center…and tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 115
miles…185 km. Unofficial reports from amateur/ham radio operators
around Santa Cruz del Sur and in Camaguey province Cuba indicate
sustained winds of 95 mph…150 km/hr with gusts to 155 mph…250
km/hr…may have occurred in the area during the past couple of
hours. This has resulted in widespread communications outages…
including at least one communications tower having been blown down.

The estimated minimum central pressure is 968 mb…28.59 inches.

Dangerous storm surge flooding of 13 to 18 feet…accompanied by
large and dangerous battering waves…will be possible near and to
the east of Santa Cruz del Sur along the southeast Caribbean coast
of Cuba.

Paloma is expected to produce total rainfall accumulations of 5 to
10 inches over central and eastern Cuba…with isolated maximum
totals of 20 inches possible. These rains may produce life-
threatening flash floods and mudslides. Five to ten inches of rain
are possible over the central Bahamas.

TropicalWx.com

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…Extremely dangerous Paloma turns toward the east-northeast and
takes aim at Cuba…new warnings issued…

at 10 am EST…1500 UTC…the government of Cuba has issued a
Hurricane Warning for the Cuban provinces of Granma and Holguin and
discontinued the Hurricane Warning for Sancti Spiritus. A Hurricane
Warning is now in effect for the Cuban provinces of Ciego de
Avila…Camaguey…Las Tunas…Granma and Holguin. Preparations to
protect life and property should be rushed to completion.

A Hurricane Warning remains in effect for the Cayman Islands.

A Tropical Storm Warning remains in effect for the Cuban province
of Santiago de Cuba.

A tropical storm watch remains in effect for the central Bahamas…
including Cat Island…the Exumas…Long Island…Rum Cay…and San
Salvador. A tropical storm watch means that tropical storm
conditions are possible within the watch area…generally within 36
hours.

Interests elsewhere in Cuba and the Bahamas should closely monitor
the progress of Paloma.

For storm information specific to your area please monitor products
issued by your local weather office.

At 1000 am EST…1500z…the center of Hurricane Paloma was located
near latitude 19.9 north…longitude 79.3 west or about 130 miles…
210 km…east-northeast of Grand Cayman and about 140 miles…220 km
…Southwest of Camaguey Cuba.

Paloma is moving toward the east-northeast near 9 mph…15 km/hr…
and this general motion is expected through Sunday with some
decrease in forward speed after landfall. On the forecast track…
the center of Paloma is expected to move away from Cayman Brac this
morning…and be approaching the coast of south-central Cuba late
tonight or early Sunday.

Maximum sustained winds are near 140 mph…220 km/hr…with higher
gusts. Paloma is an extremely dangerous category four hurricane on
the Saffir-Simpson scale. Some slow weakening is forecast during
the next 24 hours…but Paloma is expected to remain a major
hurricane up until landfall in Cuba.

Hurricane force winds extend outward up to 25 miles…35 km…from
the center…and tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 115
miles…185 km.

The estimated minimum central pressure is 943 mb…27.85 inches.

Life-threatening storm surge flooding of 17 to 23 feet…accompanied
by large and dangerous battering waves…is expected near and to
the east of where the center of Paloma makes landfall along the
South Coast of Cuba. Storm surge flooding in the Cayman Islands
will gradually subside today.

Paloma is expected to produce total rainfall accumulations of 5 to
10 inches over Little Cayman…Cayman Brac…and central and eastern
Cuba…with isolated maximum totals of 20 inches possible. These
rains may produce life-threatening flash floods and mudslides.

TropicalWx.com

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…Dangerous major Hurricane Paloma continuing to strengthen as it
slowly approaches Grand Cayman…

a Hurricane Warning is in effect for the Cayman Islands.
Preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to
completion.

A Hurricane Warning is also in effect for the Cuban provinces of
Sancti Spiritus…Ciego de Avila…Camaguey and Las Tunas. A
Hurricane Warning means that hurricane conditions are expected
within the warning area within the next 24 hours. Preparations to
protect life and property should be rushed to completion.

A Tropical Storm Warning and a Hurricane Watch are in effect for
the Cuban province of Granma. A Hurricane Watch means that
hurricane conditions are possible within the watch area…generally
within 36 hours. A Tropical Storm Warning means that tropical
storm conditions are expected within the warning area within the
next 24 hours.

Interests elsewhere in Cuba and the central Bahamas should
closely monitor the progress of Paloma.

For storm information specific to your area…please monitor
products issued by your local weather office.

At 700 PM EST…0000z…the center of Hurricane Paloma was located
near latitude 18.9 north…longitude 81.1 west or about 30 miles…
50 km…south of the eastern end of Grand Cayman and about 275
miles…440 km…southwest of Camaguey Cuba.

Paloma is moving toward the north-northeast near 6 mph…9 km/hr. A
gradual turn toward the northeast is forecast to occur overnight and
that general motion is expected for the next couple of days. On the
forecast track…the center of Paloma will pass near Grand Cayman
tonight…be near Cayman Brac Saturday morning…and be approaching
the coast of central Cuba late Saturday.

Data from an Air Force Reserve unit hurricane hunter aircraft
indicate that maximum sustained winds have increased to near 115
mph…185 km/hr…with higher gusts. Paloma is now a category three
hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale. Additional strengthening is
possible through Saturday morning. Afterward…gradual weakening
is expected to begin by late Saturday.

Hurricane force winds extend outward up to 25 miles…35 km…from
the center…and tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 120
miles…195 km. During the past hour…several reports of sustained
winds near 60 mph…97 km/hr…with gusts to near 80 mph…130
km/hr…have been received from amateur/ham radio operators on
Grand Cayman.

The latest minimum central pressure as estimated from Air Force
Reserve hurricane hunter aircraft data is 962 mb…28.41 inches.

Storm surge flooding of 5 to 7 feet above normal tide levels…
accompanied by large and dangerous battering waves…is expected
near the center of Paloma in the Cayman Islands. Storm surge
flooding of 8 to 12 feet is expected near and to the east of where
the center of Paloma makes landfall along the South Coast of Cuba.

Paloma is expected to produce total rainfall accumulations of 5 to
10 inches over the Cayman Islands and central and eastern Cuba with
isolated maximum totals of 15 inches possible. Flash flood and
mudslides are also possible…especially in higher terrain.

http://tropicalwx.com

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