MIAMI (Reuters) – Florida seniors were so rattled by proposed changes to Social Security emerging in the U.S. political debate that their consumer confidence levels plunged more than that of any other age group in August, an economic survey showed.

And that was before Texas Governor Rick Perry called the popular retirement program a “Ponzi scheme” during last week’s debate among Republican presidential candidates.

MIAMI, Sept 7 (Reuters) – Tropical Storm Nate sprang to
life in the western Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday, Tropical Storm
Maria formed in the Atlantic and Hurricane Katia churned up
surf along Bermuda and the U.S. East Coast, forecasters said.

The trio of tropical cyclones came during what is
traditionally the busiest part of the June-through-November
hurricane season in the Atlantic basin.

MIAMI, Aug 17 (Reuters) – The United States has already
tied its yearly record for billion-dollar weather disasters and
the cumulative tab from floods, tornadoes and heat waves has
hit $35 billion, the National Weather Service said on Wednesday.

And it’s only August, with the bulk of the hurricane season
still ahead.

“I don’t think it takes a wizard to predict 2011 is likely
to go down as one of the more extreme years for weather in
history,” National Weather Service Director Jack Hayes told
journalists on a conference call.

MIAMI (Reuters) – Heat and drought are parching the southern U.S. plains, floods and tornadoes have shattered long-standing records, and the tropical Atlantic is steaming into the traditionally busiest part of the hurricane season.

With commodity markets across the globe in the thrall of extreme weather, private-sector meteorologists are increasingly providing custom-tailored weather intelligence to the financial world. This time of year their services are in high demand.

MIAMI, Aug 10 (Reuters) – Heat and drought are parching the
southern U.S. plains, floods and tornadoes have shattered
long-standing records, and the tropical Atlantic is steaming
into the traditionally busiest part of the hurricane season.

With commodity markets across the globe in the thrall of
extreme weather, private-sector meteorologists are increasingly
providing custom-tailored weather intelligence to the financial
world. This time of year their services are in high demand.

MIAMI (Reuters) – A spike in gold prices prompted the U.S. Mint to suspend the online sale of gold collector coins on Tuesday for the first time in recent memory, a mint spokesman said.

The move affects only the gold numismatic products sold to collectors and not the gold bullion coins sold to investors, Mint spokesman Mike White said from Washington.

MIAMI (Reuters) – Raising its forecast, the U.S. government’s weather agency on Thursday predicted the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season will produce 14 to 19 named storms, 7 to 10 of them becoming hurricanes.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said three to five of the storms could turn into major Category 3 or above hurricanes, with winds of more than 110 miles per hour (177 km per hour).

MIAMI, July 19 (Reuters) – The Florida Supreme Court on
Tuesday upheld a jury’s order that the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co
pay nearly $30 million to a woman whose husband died of lung
cancer after decades of smoking its cigarettes.

The court issued a brief ruling saying it would not review
the product liability award nor entertain any further motions
for rehearing. The tobacco company, a unit of Reynolds American
Inc (RAI.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), argued the award was excessive.

MIAMI (Reuters) – When the United States embarked on its shuttle program decades ago, it set out to build a workhorse vehicle that would make space travel routine and beat the Soviets during the Cold War struggle for dominance in space.

The resulting spaceship had 2.5 million parts and was nine times faster than a speeding bullet as it climbed heavenward. It was the first reusable spacecraft, capable of gliding back to Earth like an airplane.

MIAMI (Reuters) – An American man who ran a home for impoverished boys in Haiti has been arrested on charges that he forced them to perform sex acts in exchange for food, shelter and schooling, U.S. prosecutors said on Friday.

Matthew Andrew Carter, the 66-year-old operator of the Morning Star Center in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, was arrested in Miami on May 8. He pleaded not guilty on Thursday to four counts of child sex tourism, or traveling in foreign commerce to engage in illicit sex with minors.