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Subtropical Storm Ana has hit the north Atlantic Ocean off Bermuda, making this the earliest Atlantic hurricane season in memory. Ana is the first storm of 2003 and one of only two tropical or subtropical storms to form in April since record keeping began. The official six-month Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30. U.S. National Hurricane Center forecaster James Franklin says, “April is the least common month for tropical or subtropical storms.”

Tropical Storm Ana is upon us two months in advance of the usual hurricane seasons. Normally, the hurricane season begins in June, but now in April we are seeing the formation of storms that can lead to hurricanes.
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In an ABC news exclusive, former CIA officer Bob Baer, who now works with ABC, says Saddam’s intelligence chief tried to arrange Saddam’s surrender last week. He contacted Baer, with whom he had secretly worked in the past. “They told me the chief of Iraqi intelligence was seeking to get in touch with the United States and could I do anything about that,” says Baer. On April 11, Saddam’s top intelligence officer, Gen. Taher Haboush, came to the home of the Dulaym Tribe’s chief near the town of Ar-Ramadi on behalf of Saddam, to arrange a meeting. But shortly after he arrived, U.S. forces bombed the home, killing the chief, along with 17 members of his family. Haboush managed to escape.
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Want to walk around inside a great old master painting, rather than just stand back and look at it hanging on the wall? Microsoft has developed a program that lets you have the feeling of literally being inside a religious painting by an Old Master. “You feel yourself present in the painting and could even find yourself next to Christ,” says Antonio Criminisi. This program could also solve the current debate on whether Renaissance painters relied on mirrors to help them create perspective, a theory of the artist David Hockney. It would also make it more fun to visit paintings on the internet, rather than see them in real museums. “A virtual museum on the web means you work around the corridors. We think this is a little boring,” says Criminisi.read more

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A flood caused by a crack in a glacier may destroy the city of Huaraz in Peru. The crack has been spotted by a space satellite in a glacier high in the Peruvian Andes that feeds into Lake Palcacocha, at the top of a valley that leads down to the city. Huaraz has a population of 60,000. NASA says, “Should the large glacier chunk break off and fall into the lake, the ensuing flood could hurtle down?reaching Huaraz and its population of 60,000 in less than 15 minutes,” meaning there will be no warning. Glacier expert John Reynolds says, “It’s an ongoing manifestation of climate change.”
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