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Tropical Storm Erin expected to strengthen

 
Published Aug. 16, 2013

Miami

Tropical Storm Erin expected to gain strength

Tropical Storm Erin is moving away from the Cape Verde Islands in the far eastern Atlantic, and it's expected to strengthen in the next two days. The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Thursday night the storm's maximum sustained winds are near 40 mph. The storm was centered about 340 miles west of the islands and was moving west-northwest at 15 mph.

Seoul, South Korea

Talks proposed to reunite families

President Park Geun Hye of South Korea said Thursday that South and North Korea should resume arranging reunions of families separated by the Korean War six decades ago. Park's conciliatory overtures came a day after the Koreas agreed to reopen an idled joint industrial park in the North Korean border town of Kaesong, indicating they were moving toward a thaw after months of tensions this year.

Pleasanton, Calif.

Boasting tweets up charge to murder

An 18-year-old accused of killing a bicyclist with his car has had a vehicular manslaughter charge upgraded to murder in part because he boasted on Twitter about speeding, prosecutors said Thursday. Cody Hall of Pleasanton was being held without bail after he was charged with the murder of Diana Hersevoort, 58, the San Francisco Chronicle and Oakland Tribune reported. Hall was going more than 80 mph in a 40-mph zone when he hit Hersevoort June 9, prosecutors allege.

Calhoun, Ga.

Bert Lance, Carter budget chief, dies

Bert Lance, a Georgia banker and close ally of former President Jimmy Carter who served as his first budget director before departing amid an investigation of his bank's lending practices, has died. He was 82. Gordon County, Ga., deputy coroner Heath Derryberry said Lance died Thursday night in northwest Georgia. He said Lance had struggled recently with unspecified health problems, though officials were unsure of his cause of death.

Times wires