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Tough, volatile winter creates menace: Ice falling from skyscrapers, causing injuries
• NEW YORK (AP) -- City dwellers battling one of the most brutal winters on record have been dealing with something far more dangerous than snow falling from the sky: ice tumbling from skyscrapers.
• Streets around New York's new 1 World Trade Center, the nation's tallest building, were recently closed when sheets of ice were seen shearing from the face of the 1,776-foot structure -- turning them into potentially deadly, 100-mph projectiles.
• And sidewalks around high-rises in cities big and small have been cordoned off with yellow caution tape because of falling icicles and rock-hard chunks of frozen snow, a situation that experts warn could get worse over the next few days as a thaw sets in over much of the country.
• "The snow starts to melt and the liquid drips off and makes bigger and bigger icicles, or chunks of ice that break off skyscrapers," said Joey Picca, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in New York, which has had 48.5 inches of snow this winter and several cycles of freeze and thaw.
• "Be very, very aware of your surroundings," he said. "If you see ice hanging from a building, find another route. Don't walk under hanging ice."
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On eve of reunions with relatives in North, aging South Koreans fear hopes may again be dashed
• BUCHEON, South Korea (AP) -- Kim Se-rin is sure he'll recognize his sister when they reunite -- if they reunite -- in North Korea this week, more than 63 years after war drove them apart. And he knows what he'll say.
• "I will first hug her and tell her that I thank her for having lived so long," the 84-year-old retired Seoul City official said. "Then, I will ask her when our father and mom passed away and when our sister and brother died."
• What Kim doesn't know is what he'll do if their reunion -- one of hundreds planned Thursday through Tuesday between North and South Koreans -- falls victim to the ever-volatile relations between the two countries. Kim, who has chronic heart problems, got sick after North Korea abruptly scrapped reunions in September, and he hasn't slept well since.
• "I think this will be my last chance," Kim said during an interview at his home in (Continued on page 38)
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