AP-8th NewsMinute,274

 Witness sees dead bodies at UN blast in Nigeria...Irene headed to

East Coast

     ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) - A UNICEF worker says "Many people are

dead" following a huge blast at the United Nations' main office in

Nigeria's capital today. A U.N. official in Geneva is calling it a

bomb attack. The explosion flattened one wing of the building that

houses about 400 employees.

     NAGS HEAD, N.C. (AP) - Heightened waves already are hitting

North Carolina's Outer Banks as Hurricane Irene is still about a

day away. The storm has weakened to a Category 2 storm, but still

could gain strength before it hits the East Coast. There's a

hurricane warning from North Carolina to Sandy Hook, N.J., just

south of New York City.

     NAGS HEAD, N.C. (AP) - Hurricane Irene could be the strongest

storm to strike the East Coast in seven years and it has the

potential to inflict billions of dollars in damage. The Federal

Emergency Management Agency isn't counting out surging seas,

drenching rains, flash floods and high winds.

     TRIPOLI (AP) - NATO is turning its attention to Moammar

Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte (surt), launching airstrikes on the

largest remaining Gadhafi stronghold. The airstrikes come a day

after fierce clashes erupted in the capital, but rebels say that

today Tripoli's streets are relatively calm. Libyans last heard

from a hidden Gadhafi yesterday in an audio message broadcast on

TV.

     LONDON (AP) - World stocks have been unsteady today, as jittery

investors wait to see whether Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke

will promise new steps to help the U.S. economy ward off another

recession. But Wall Street futures are slight up. Bernanke is due

to deliver a highly anticipated speech today in Jackson Hole,

Wyoming.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) - Pinellas County Sheriff Jim Coats

says he will resign from office in November to take care of his

ailing wife.

     Coats had already announced he would not seek re-election next

year. On Thursday, the 67-year-old sheriff said he plans to leave

office Nov. 7 to be with his wife, who has breast cancer.

     The St. Petersburg Times (http://bit.ly/nMuY8c ) reports that

Cat Coats was diagnosed with breast cancer in June. She begins

chemotherapy next week.

THE VILLAGES, Fla. (AP) - Officials say a central Florida man

died after losing control of his car and driving it into a

retention pond.

     Fire officials at The Villages retirement community say

60-year-old James Bruce Hennessey apparently had a heart while

driving Friday morning. He lost control of his vehicle and went

into the water.

     The Orlando Sentinel (http://thesent.nl/oRef5r ) reports that a

passerby pulled Hennessey from the water and later pronounced dead

at a nearby hospital.