Two people in rural northwest Georgia are dead and dozens injured after a series of severe storms moved through the state, producing the first-ever tornado to hit downtown Atlanta. A woman was killed in Polk County early Saturday afternoon when a storm demolished her home and threw her and her husband into a field, while an elderly man in neighboring Floyd County was killed by flying debris as he sat in his home. In Atlanta, crews began cleaning up debris and broken glass Saturday from the tornado that struck the city with little warning the previous night. The storm cut a 6-mile path of destruction through the city with winds gusting up to 130 miles per hour, leaving homes crushed by centuries-old trees and numerous windows shattered in high-rise office buildings and hotels.
Rescuers in New York City are trying to find three people still missing after a crane smashed into a townhouse. Crews are removing pieces of the broken crane that killed four other workers and damaged several buildings. Mayor Michael Bloomberg says Sunday that two other workers and a woman who was visiting the townhouse remain missing. The mayor says rescuers will be able to intensify a search for survivors once the large pieces of debris are removed. The 19-story crane toppled over Saturday in what is already one of the city’s deadliest construction accidents.
The Smithsonian Institution returned to its academic roots on Saturday, naming the president of Georgia Tech as the new leader of the museum complex beleaguered by financial scandals. G. Wayne Clough, an engineer by training, will become the 12th secretary of the world’s largest museum and research complex on July 1, assuming control of an institution that has been in turmoil in the past year. “I know the Smithsonian has challenges,” Clough said at a news conference. “We will surmount those challenges.” Clough, 66, called the institution “a treasure” and “a great integrator of knowledge” from different subject areas.
Pope Benedict XVI issued one of his strongest appeals for peace in Iraq on Sunday, days after the body of the kidnapped Chaldean Catholic archbishop was found near the northern city of Mosul. The pope also denounced the 5-year-long Iraq war, saying it had provoked the complete breakup of Iraqi civilian life. “Enough with the slaughters. Enough with the violence. Enough with the hatred in Iraq!” Benedict said to applause at the end of his Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square. On Thursday, the body of Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho was found near Mosul. He had been abducted on Feb. 29. Benedict has called Rahho’s death an “inhuman act of violence” that offended human dignity.
