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 president denies
threat of oil curtailing
Iran’s president denied telling a newspaper that his government might curtail oil sales if Iran is referred to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions over its nuclear program.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad “never had an interview, either oral or written, with the Khaleej Times,” the president’s office said in a statement late Saturday.
Earlier in the day, the Dubai-based newspaper reported that Ahmadinejad threatened to curb oil sales or limit nuclear inspections in response to last month’s resolution by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The resolution warned Iran it would be referred to the U.N. Security Council unless it allayed fears about its nuclear program.
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 divorced Catholics 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.The Vatican said 256 bishops would participate.
