A cyclonic storm is currently bulldozing through the Midwestern US with wind speeds over 100 m.p.h., virtually shutting down the Chicago airport and triggering blizzards in North Dakota and tornado warnings across several states. Worst storm since 1975, they say.

Parts of Indonesia have been struck by a magnitude 7.5 earthquake. No casualties reported yet.

When people talk about Haiti, it's usually prefaced with something along the lines of "they just can't catch a break." Well, Haiti really can't. As of today, around 200 people have died, and thousands have been hospitalized for cholera.

The Hawaiian island of Kauai has canceled Friday night high school football games this season, because migrating seabirds mistake the stadium lights for the "moon and stars," then "fall from the sky and [get] eaten by cats." Stupid cats. [AP]

The Ugandan tabloid Rolling Stone (no relation to Jann Wenner) has outed one hundred gay (or presumed gay) Ugandans, inciting violence against several and sending many more into hiding. The rag's editor said the list was "in the public's interest."

A huge explosion in a Chinese coal mine killed 21 workers and left 16 trapped. Like Chile! Except, "mining accidents are so common in China that they rarely make newspaper front pages." So, way more tragic and awful.

Four miners are trapped, alive, in a mine in Ecuador. Media, relocate!

Total recovery costs from the floods in Pakistan could reach $30 billion.

Hungarian PM Viktor Orban today said a reservoir wall holding back poisonous red sludge was "very likely" to collapse, and ordered the evacuation of the village of Kolontar. The alumina plant has already spilled 700,000 cubic meters of sludge.

A drill has reached the 33 trapped Chilean miners—stuck underground since the August 5 collapse—and they could be rescued within this weekend. A NASA advisor said, "The Chileans are really writing the book on this kind of rescue."

The red toxic sludge that has overtaken entire towns and killed people in Hungary today reached the Danube, Europe's second-longest river. But don't worry, Hungarian officials say the highly toxic alumina spill is no longer a threat to the environment.

[Excavators working on the broken dyke that unleashed a flood of toxic sludge look like they're on the surface of Mars. They're actually in Hungary. Image via AP]

In your fiery Wednesday media column: Jay Fielden's Connecticut house is destroyed, Robert Thompson's rent-a-quote business is flourishing, a tale of thoughtful and well-paid journalism gone to hell, and USA Today's amazing foto feat!

A Phoenix woman trying to use eye drops after cataract surgery grabbed superglue instead, sealing her eye shut. Why would you keep superglue near your medicine, anyway? Should we not be keeping our breath mints near our cyanide pills?

When a video clip of a girl drowning puppies appeared online, 4chan went to work and identified the perpetrator, a girl in Bosnia. The police there tracked her down. And now: she's reportedly getting off without being charged.

The Hungarian government is calling a toxic sludge spill there an "ecological disaster" and has declared a state of emergency after three people were killed and over 100 injured when a reservoir at an alumina plant ruptured. Six are missing.

A Pakistani boy salvaged a window from his home after flooding in Dadu district, southern Pakistan. The UN says flooding there has left 8 million people homeless and 12 million in need of emergency food aid. [Dawn; Image via AP]

A thousand people were feared dead in yesterday's Mexican mudslide. Actual toll: 11 missing.

As many as 1,000 people in Mexico may have been buried in a mudslide.

[Kids in the Philippines participate in a disaster drill meant to simulate a flood. Photo via AP]