Current Track of Hurricane Bill
as of August 23rd 3:30pm ADT

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Hurricane Bill brought high winds, heavy rain and dangerous surf to Nova Scotia as it blew into the region as a Category 1 storm on Sunday.

Bill knocked out power to thousands, flooded some roads and disrupted travel plans.

The storm was about 140 kilometres south of Halifax at noon AT Sunday, moving northeast at about 54 km/h. It was expected to move into Cape Breton late in the afternoon or early evening, with sustained winds of 120 km/h.

The storm was expected to maintain hurricane strength until it moves into the Cabot Strait and into Newfoundland.

As the hurricane moved into the Atlantic region Sunday morning, Bill made its presence felt. Conditions were deteriorating by the hour, prompting the Canadian Hurricane Centre to urge everyone to stay away from the Atlantic coastline because of the dangerous waves.

"This is not something to be taken lightly," said Peter Bowyer, the centre's program manager.

By 11 a.m., winds were gusting to 70 km/h in Yarmouth and 56 km/h at the Halifax airport, said CBC meteorologist Peter Coade.

The RCMP closed the highway into Peggys Cove, as well as the road near Lawrencetown Beach, east of Dartmouth, and Cow Bay Road near the causeway.

Police said several cars had gone off the road because of heavy rains and localized flooding in the Halifax area. Drivers were urged to stay off Highway 101.

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UFO sightings may have been down to "X Files"

LONDON (Reuters) - A cluster of UFO sightings over Britain in 1996 may have had more to do with public fascination with TV shows like the "X Files" than extraterrestrial activity, according to files released by the National Archives on Monday.

Documents from Britain's Ministry of Defense (MoD) indicated there were 609 UFO sightings in 1996, compared with 117 in 1995. This coincided with the rise in popularity of the X Files and the release of the alien blockbuster film "Independence Day."

The files, which span 15 years and contain more than 4,000 pages, show that for most cases the UFO sightings had ordinary explanations such as bright stars and planets, meteors, artificial satellites and balloons.

In one incident in 1995, two men in the midland county of Staffordshire told police they saw an alien with a lemon-shaped head emerge from a hovering UFO and tell them "We want you; come with us."

Another case detailed dozens of sightings of a brightly illuminated oval object in London during 1993 and 1994 which was later explained as an airship advertising the launch of the Ford Mondeo car.

Despite most cases having a mundane reason behind them, some 10 percent were classed as "unexplained."

For these, the MoD said there was "insufficient information" which is why it continued to collect reports.

The files also add a new detail on Britain's best known UFO incident, the Rendlesham Forest sightings of December 1980 in which American airforce men saw a series of mysterious lights.

The then government of Margaret Thatcher summarily dismissed the affair but a letter from a former chief of defense staff in 1985 warned it not to be so cavalier.

"The case has puzzling and disquieting features which have never been satisfactorily explained ... which continue to preoccupy informed sections of the public," said the letter.

The files can be seen on www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/

(Reporting by Farah Master; Editing by Steve Addison)

Life-giving compound found in space

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Scientists have uncovered fresh evidence that life could exist beyond Earth, with research published showing that comet dust contained traces of a compound vital to human existence

Researchers probing dust and gas collected from the Wild 2 comet by NASA's Stardust spacecraft in 2004 found traces of the amino acid glycine, lending credence to idea that there is life elsewhere in the universe.

"The discovery of glycine in a comet supports the idea that the fundamental building blocks of life are prevalent in space, and strengthens the argument that life in the universe may be common rather than rare," said Carl Pilcher, one of the space agency's top astrobiologists.

Jamie Elsila, lead author of the report, which was published in the journal Meteoritics and Planetary Science, said the findings also support the idea that the material elements of human life may have come from space.

"Our discovery supports the theory that some of life's ingredients formed in space and were delivered to Earth long ago by meteorite and comet impacts," she said.

The group's final findings confirm suspicions that the amino acid -- which creates the proteins that form the building blocks of life -- were not simply earth-sourced contamination.

"We discovered that the Stardust-returned glycine has an extraterrestrial carbon isotope signature, indicating that it originated on the comet," said Elsila.

Twenty different amino acids are arranged to build the millions of different proteins that make up everything from hair to enzymes, NASA said.

Major fire breaks out at Scott's Nursery

A major fire broke out Monday at Scott's Nursery, a landmark gardening centre, about 10 kilometres southeast of Fredericton.

Thick black smoke was visible from several kilometres away as it billowed out of the nursery, located in Lincoln, N.B.

Employees were evacuated and police closed part of Lincoln Road, forcing area residents returning from work to walk to their homes. But no homes were evacuated.

Scott's owner, George Scott, a well-known gardening expert, was on vacation in Newfoundland with his children. But his wife, Jeanette Scott, was in her home when the fire started. She told CBC News there was an explosion in the soil room of the greenhouse.

Through tears, she described the damage to the third-generation family business as devastating. She said hundreds of thousands of dollars in inventory had been lost.

Firefighters did manage to rescue Scott's two pet iguanas.

Fredericton and Oromocto fire departments were still trying to get the blaze under control as dozens of area residents and passersby looked on. Some firefighters had to be treated for smoke inhalation. Ambulances were also on the scene.

Scott's greenhouses, plant inventory, fertilizers and bulk soils cover more than two hectares.

Scientists dismiss Mars monolith

A rectangular object found jutting out of Mars's surface has caused imaginative minds to speculate over the nature of the "monolith" and its origins.
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