CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico
More than 1,000 flee
rain, floods from Otis
More than 1,000 people fled their homes and stiff rains sparked flooding along main streets of this resort city Saturday, as Hurricane Otis swirled off the coast of western Mexico.
The Category 1 hurricane weakened a bit, but still packed 85 mph winds as it crawled north about 140 miles west of the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula.
Forecasters expected Otis to skirt past Cabo San Lucas, and move ashore along a sparsely populated stretch of desert far north of here as early as tonight, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.
Otis was the 15th Pacific storm of the season. Unlike powerful Atlantic storms such as Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Pacific hurricanes tend to do less damage because they make landfall less frequently.
ISTANBUL, Turkey
Turks want talks on
becoming EU member
Turkey’s foreign minister urged European leaders Saturday to keep their promises and open talks this week on his country joining the European Union, and warned again Ankara will accept no new conditions to those discussions.
EU foreign ministers meet today to discuss Austria’s insistence that Turkey be offered something less than full membership in the EU, calling into question whether the bloc will open accession talks with the mostly Muslim nation on Monday.
BASTIA, Corsica
Ferry debate becomes clash with police
Youths throwing stones clashed with police Saturday after hundreds of marchers protested against the government’s plans to privatize a state-run ferry operator.
The skirmishes capped days of labor unrest on the French Mediterranean island triggered by government plans to sell control of the SNCM ferry operator.
The workers’ protests began after the government announced its privatization plans on Monday, and have blended with Corsica’s long-simmering independence movement, which has mostly involved low-level violence by organized crime gangs and separatists.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates
Iran leader threatens
to curtail sales of oil
Iran’s president threatened to curtail oil sales if the country is referred to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions on its nuclear program, a newspaper reported Saturday.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad insisted in an interview with the Khaleej Times that Iran’s nuclear program was peaceful. But he warned the country would protect its right to a nuclear fuel supply.
“If Iran’s case is sent to the Security Council, we will respond by many ways, for example by holding back on oil sales,” the president told the Dubai-based newspaper.
Iran pumps about 4 million barrels daily, making it the second-largest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries after Saudi Arabia.
VATICAN CITY
Abortion, marriage
among bishops’ topics
Bishops from around the world begin today tackling major issues facing the Roman Catholic Church, including whether Holy Communion should be given to Catholic politicians who back abortion rights and to divorcées who remarry without getting an annulment.
The priest shortage, and whether celibacy contributes to it, are expected to be discussed among other items at the three-week Synod of Bishops.
