NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City prepared to evacuate coastal areas and rescue stranded New Yorkers with a fleet of police boats in case the city gets socked by Hurricane Irene this weekend.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Just one minute after the 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck in the state of Virginia on Tuesday and shook much of the U.S. eastern seaboard, an online aftershock of 40,000 tweets hit the internet.

South African Retief Goosen is nursing a broken toe heading into the first round of the PGA Tour playoffs following a freak boating accident in the driveway of his Florida home.

Hurricane Irene pounded the Bahamas with winds of 120 miles (195 kilometers) an hour and churned up heavy seas as it barreled along a path toward the populous US east coast.

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Dominion Resources workers were inspecting the North Anna nuclear power plant in Mineral, Virginia on Wednesday, a day after the largest earthquake to hit the U.S. East Coast in six decades knocked both reactors offline, the company said.

Advice on the types of home insurance coverage you should sign up for to ensure your protected during an earthquake or hurricane.. Advice on the types of home insurance coverage you should sign up for to ensure your protected during an earthquake or hurricane.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Just one minute after the 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck in Virginia on Tuesday and shook much of the eastern seaboard, an online aftershock of 40,000 tweets hit the internet.

Hurricane Irene gathered steam Wednesday as it pounded the Bahamas with winds of 120 miles (195 kilometers) an hour and heavy seas as it barreled along a path that threatens the populous US east coast.

NASSAU (Reuters) - Powerful Hurricane Irene battered the Bahamas on Wednesday on a track to the North Carolina coast that forecasters say could threaten the densely populated U.S. Northeast, including New York, starting on Sunday.

(Reuters) - Hurricane Irene, which strengthened to Category 3, was hitting the southeastern Bahamas hard, the National Hurricane Center said in a report on Wednesday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - In the annals of natural disasters, it doesn't get much worse than a major hurricane directly striking New York City and Long Island.

A strengthened Hurricane Irene bore down on the Bahamas Wednesday, churning on a track that could see it slam the US mainland as an even stronger storm later in the week.

The strongest earthquake to jolt the eastern United States in a century cracked the iconic Washington monument, and sent thousands of workers fleeing skyscrapers in New York.

The strongest earthquake to strike the eastern United States in more than a century jolted the US capital and sparked fearful evacuations from skyscrapers in New York.

Hurricane Irene bore down on the Bahamas Tuesday as a category one storm, churning on a track that could see it slam the US mainland later in the week.

Hurricane Irene bore down on the southeastern Bahamas Tuesday as the category one storm churned on a track that could see it slam the US mainland later in the week.

The strongest earthquake to strike the eastern United States in more than a century rattled downtown Washington on Tuesday and sparked fearful evacuations from skyscrapers in New York.

US President Barack Obama broke away from a round of golf to conduct a conference call with top disaster officials Tuesday after a rare earthquake shook America's east coast.

MIAMI (Reuters) - The entire U.S. east coast should be alert to Hurricane Irene as it approaches from the south in the next few days, although it is too early to say where it could directly impact, U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Craig Fugate said on Tuesday.

Hurricane Irene churned toward Haiti and the Dominican Republic, after forcing Oscar-winning actress Kate Winslet and Richard Branson's relatives to flee the British tycoon's Caribbean island home.