A few days after Meagan Bilodeau dropped a bottled message into the Atlantic Ocean during a cruise near Bermuda, the girl was home in Massachusetts. A month after that, the bottle nearly came home, too. The 8-year-old recently learned the message she dropped from a cruise ship roughly 600 miles off North Carolina's coast on June 18 was found in late July by a girl whose family was boating in Massachusetts' Vineyard Sound, Meagan's family says. The ...

Tropical Storm Erika strengthened late Tuesday after forming hours earlier in the Atlantic, the National Hurricane Center said. As of 11 p.m. ET, Erika was centered about 365 miles (585 km) east of the northern Leeward Islands, the hurricane center said. Its maximum sustained winds were near 60 mph (95 km/hr), with higher gusts. While Erika meandered Tuesday evening, it was expected to start moving west-northwest at about 9 mph overnight. "Some strengthening is possible during the next 24 hours," ...

Hurricane Bill weakened slightly to a Category 3 storm as it churned over the Atlantic early Thursday, with forecasters warning that it could regain strength.

Tropical Storm Claudette was on course late Sunday afternoon to hit the Florida Panhandle in the evening, and the storm's outer rain bands already were pushing into the area. At 5 p.m. ET, the center of Claudette, with maximum sustained winds near 50 mph, was in the Gulf of Mexico about 40 miles west-southwest of Apalachicola, Florida, and about 120 miles southeast of Pensacola, the National Hurricane Center said. It was moving northwest at about 14 mph. A tropical ...

A warning was issued overnight for a potential tropical storm that may hit the Florida-Alabama border Sunday. It formed in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, according to the National Hurricane Center. A tropical storm warning means that weather conditions will deteriorate in the next 24 hours. The system, still a tropical depression, was about 125 miles south-southeast of Apalachicola, Florida, at 8 a.m. ET, according to the center. It was expected to reach tropical storm strength by Sunday afternoon. ...

A deadly fire in Kuwait that roared through a wedding tent packed with women killed dozens of people and injured at least 76 others, state-run media reported. Ana formed overnight and was expected to gain strength as it moved west toward the Leeward Islands, where forecasters expect it to hit on Monday. The Dutch Antilles issued a storm watch for St. Maarten, Saba and St. Eustatius, meaning tropical storm conditions are expected in the islands within 36 hours, according to ...

Tropical Storm Ana threatened the Caribbean on Saturday, but it was too early to know how much trouble the first named storm of the 2009 Atlantic hurricane season might cause. Ana formed overnight and was expected to gain strength as it moved west toward the Leeward Islands, where forecasters expect it to hit on Monday. The Dutch Antilles issued a storm watch for St. Maarten, Saba and St. Eustatius, meaning tropical storm conditions are expected in the islands within 36 ...

The search for a missing Russian cargo ship was "developing quite dramatically" Friday, according to Russia's ambassador to NATO. But exactly what was developing was not made clear. Ambassador Dmitry Rogozin spoke on Radio Echo of Moscow amid reports of progress in the search for the Arctic Sea, a cargo ship whose Russian crew was last heard from after a reported hijacking two weeks ago. Asked about reports that the ship had been located in the Atlantic Ocean, the ambassador ...

Two Russian attack submarines have been cruising in the Atlantic off the East Coast of the United States, a senior defense official said Wednesday. Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said their presence is not causing alarms to go off. "So long as they are operating in international waters, as, frankly, we do around the world, and are behaving in a responsible way, they are certainly free to do so, and it doesn't cause any alarm within this building," he said. The ...

A massive forest fire continued to burn out of control on Monday on the island of La Palma, part of Spain's Canary Islands, a regional government spokeswoman told CNN. Some 600 firefighters are battling the blaze, backed by aircraft dropping water on the flames, spokeswoman Ana Vidal said. The small island is part of the Canary Islands archipelago located in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Morocco. Firefighters were able to contain the fire on La Palma's western side, ...