A strengthening Tropical Storm Isaac barreled toward Florida and was predicted to become a hurricane on Sunday, forcing a one-day delay to the main events of the Republican convention, after leaving four people dead in Haiti.

With winds reaching 65 miles (100 kilometers) per hour, the storm left Haiti and swept across Cuba late Saturday, with the Miami-based U.S. National Hurricane Center reporting it would probably reach Florida later in the day.

A Florida tour boat operator had his hand bitten off as he was feeding an alligator marshmallows to entertain passengers, officials said Wednesday.

The boat was carrying about six tourists late Tuesday when the alligator leapt up and devoured the sweets along with the captain's hand, according to Jorge Pino, a spokesman for the state Fish and Wildlife authority.

Across southern Florida, rabbits, raccoons, bobcats and foxes have been disappearing at dramatic rates over the past decade, and invasive Burmese pythons are to blame, a U.S. study said.

The big snakes which are native to Southeast Asia have been devouring all kinds of wildlife leading to "severe declines" in once common animals, said the study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum put campaigning in Florida on hold Sunday, as his daughter, Bella, was hospitalized just days before a key primary vote.

Two days before Florida's winner-takes-all primary, Santorum spent the day in Pennsylvania, where his three year-old was admitted to a Philadelphia children's hospital.

A U.S. Republican lawmaker has warned that Hizbullah could build "missile sites" in Cuba and pose a threat to the United States.

"Why would you normalize trade with a country that sponsors terror?" Rep. Michele Bachmann asked an audience of supporters in Cedar Rapids, Iowa Monday, in response to a question about her position on trading with Cuba.

Silicon Valley-based AOptix on Monday introduced new "e-gates" that recognize faces as well as irises of passengers before opening to let them board flights.

"This is what we call the future of passenger boarding," AOptix director of corporate communications Brian Rhea said as an InSight Duo electronic gate was tested at the San Jose International Airport in Northern California.

A toddler was saved during a potentially deadly fall from a fourth-floor balcony at an Orlando hotel after landing in the arms of a British tourist, police said Thursday.

Helen Beard, 44, told police she was in the pool of the Econo Lodge Inn & Suites when she saw the small girl dangling from the balcony.

Hizbullah and Amal have condemned the burning of a copy of the Qoran by controversial U.S. Pastor Terry Jones at a small Florida church earlier in the week.

The burning was carried out by pastor Wayne Sapp under the supervision of Jones, who last September drew sweeping condemnation over his plan to ignite a pile of Qorans on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks.