FLORIDA: Tropical storm Beryl moved across northeastern Florida early Monday, bringing drenching rains, driving winds and the threat of flooding to the southeastern US coast, forecasters said. The National Hurricane Center in Miami reported that the center of Beryl made landfall near Jacksonville Beach at around 12:10 am, with near-hurricane-strength winds of 70 mph (113 kph).

NEW YORK: The body of Nathan Bihlmaier, 31, was recovered from Portland Harbor on Tuesday, two days after he disappeared from Portland's Old Port. An autopsy by the state medical examiner is anticipated today, but police say they have no reason to suspect a crime.

NEW DELHI: In a shocking real life drama, an Indian girl adopted into an American family as an infant in 1982 is now homeless. She is facing likely deportation back to India after a recent court ruling that upheld the US federal government’s right to remove her from the US.

Hundreds of firefighters battled several Arizona wildfires on Monday that charred more than 5 ,000 ac res of parched Ponderosa forest, brush and grassland over the weekend, consuming half a dozen buildings and threatening a small town, authorities said. The Sunflower Fire, the largest of at least four blazes in central and eastern Arizona, burned 3,100 acres in the Tonto National Forest, about 40 miles north of Phoenix, destroying two homes, a business and two outbuildings over the weekend, the

LOS ANGELES: Three crew members of a sailboat were found dead and a fourth was missing Saturday after their yacht ran into trouble during a race off the coasts of California and Mexico, the state's second ocean racing tragedy this month. The 37-foot Aegean was participating in the 125-mile Newport, Calif. to Ensenada, Mexico, yacht race when something happened to the vessel, Coast Guard Petty Officer Henry Dunphy said.

WASHINGTON: Six Indian Americans are among 30 immigrants and children of immigrants from 20 countries who have won 2012 Paul and Daisy Soros New American Fellowships to pursue advanced degrees.Each award provides up to $90,000 in tuition and support for two years of graduate study in the US in any field. Immigrants to the US from Hungary, Paul and Daisy Soros set up the programme to honour contributions by immigrants to the US.

WASHINGTON: Fully embracing his role as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney on Monday told President Obama to "start packing." The response came in an interview with ABC World News anchor Diane Sawyer, who asked Romney if he had anything to say to the president. Romney's confident tone came as the first Gallup daily tracking poll showed him pulling slightly ahead of the president, although in a statistical dead heat. However, a CNN survey showed him trailing Obama.

NEW DELHI: India is challenging the United States at the World Trade Organisation over increased visa fees for skilled workers that have hit the country's flagship outsourcing firms, an official said Tuesday.

WASHINGTON: As IT companies in India and the US started filling petitions for the most coveted H-1B work visas, software giant Microsoft has stressed on importance of the visa in retaining America’s competitiveness and urged the US Senate to pass a bill pending before it in this regard. "While the vast majority of our US workforce is comprised of US workers, the individuals we employ in H-1B status- educated at some of the best universities in the US and around the world are crucial to our b

MIAMI: A teacher who had been fired earlier in the day returned to a Florida high school on Tuesday with an assault rifle and fatally shot the headmistress before killing himself, a sheriff's spokesman said. The murder-suicide occurred at Episcopal High School in the northeast Florida city of Jacksonville. No students were hurt or involved, investigators said.

CHICAGO: Tornadoes spawned by a powerful storm system swept central US, wiping out two small towns and killing at least 28 people, media report said Friday. In Indiana, 14 people were killed. The entire town of Marysville was destroyed, and nearby Henryville also suffered extreme damage. In Kentucky, the storms claimed 12 lives and inflicted extensive property damage, reported Xinhua.

Five people have died following a shooting at a health spa in what appears to be a murder-suicide, it has emerged. Four people were found already dead when police officers arrived at Sujung Beauty Health and Sauna in Norcross, Georgia, last night. A fifth victim was pronounced dead at a local hospital. It is believed that the shooter, who has not been identified, is among the dead.

SEATTLE: Authorities say an avalanche near a Washington state ski resort swept four skiers 1,500 feet down a mountain, killing three of them. King County Sheriff's Sgt. Katie Larson says the three men killed Sunday were all expert skiers. The slide happened at Stevens Pass in the Cascade Mountains, about 80 miles northeast of Seattle.

CRANSTON: A Rhode Island school board voted on Thursday to comply with a federal court order to remove a prayer banner that has been displayed in a public high school for nearly a half century, saying the cash-strapped district cannot face a costly appeal.

TRENTON: The New Jersey Assembly passed legislation legalizing same-sex marriage on Thursday, sending the measure to Republican Gov. Chris Christie, a possible vice-presidential candidate who has promised a veto. The Assembly vote of 42 to 33 affirmed a Senate vote from Monday, and the bill is expected to be sent by the end of Friday to Christie, a supporter of Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney.