World in brief

Storm gathers strength in Caribbean Sea

Forecasters are keeping an eye on a tropical depression moving over the eastern Caribbean Sea south of Puerto Rico. They believe the system could position itself between the Bahamas and southeast Florida by early next week.

It's too early to predict what effect the system could have on Florida, forecasters say. They will send a plane into the depression this afternoon. Sustained winds were at about 35 mph Thursday.

At 8 p.m., tropical depression 9 was centered near latitude 15.0 N, longitude 66.6 W, or about 260 miles south of San Juan, Puerto Rico. It was moving toward the west-northwest at 14 mph.

The next tropical storm will be named Fabian.

Forecasters also are watching an area of low pressure in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico, an area with heavy clouds and showers. They do not predict any significant development for that system. Rain is predicted for the Tampa Bay area through Thursday.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - An American special operations soldier died of injuries he received Wednesday during military operations in eastern Afghanistan, a statement from U.S. Central Command in Tampa said Thursday night.

The statement said the soldier was injured during operations near the town of Orgun in Paktika province, but did not identify the soldier or say how he was hurt.

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