Hurricane Joaquin barrels through Bahamas en route to US

Hurricane Joaquin barreled through the Bahamas as an extremely dangerous Category Four storm, while jittery residents in the eastern United States battened down ahead of its anticipated arrival. Joaquin was packing maximum sustained winds of 130 miles (215 kilometers) per hour and could grow even stronger over the next 24 hours, the National Hurricane Center said. "On the forecast track, the core of strongest winds of Joaquin will move near or over portions of the central Bahamas (late Thursday)