MEXICO CITY — At least 10 oil workers were killed when a drilling rig hit an oil platform, spilling gas and oil into the Gulf of Mexico, the state- owned oil company said Wednesday. Some other workers were still missing.
Rescuers have pulled 58 oil workers from waters but have yet to control the oil leak, Mexico’s oil monopoly Petroleos Mexicanos said.
Ten workers were killed and at least 18 other employees were still either floating at sea in life rafts or were unaccounted for, it said. The company said it had located a raft but “weather conditions in the area have made it impossible to reach the vessel.”
The accident occurred about 20 miles offshore from Dos Bocas, Tabasco.
Additional world news briefs:
U.N. won’t delay talks on Darfur
UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. will press ahead with Darfur peace talks set to start Saturday, even though leaders of the main rebel groups have refused to attend and violence in the region is escalating, the lead negotiator said Wednesday.
The U.N. special envoy for western Sudan, Jan Eliasson, said he had rejected requests from rebels to delay talks until they had unified their splintered groups or to wait until U.N.peacekeepers deploy to Darfur. He said the longer the wait, the greater the obstacles to peace.
Women’s cellphones send gropers a message
TOKYO — “Did you just grope me? Shall we head to the police?” That’s the message women are flashing on their cellphones with a popular program designed to ward off wandering hands in Japan’s congested commuter trains.
“Anti-Groping Appli” by games developer Takahashi reached No. 7 in this week’s top-10 cellphone applications list compiled by Web-based publisher Spicy Soft Corp.
The free application flashes increasingly threatening messages in bold print on the phone’s screen to show to the offender. It is for women who want to scare away perverts with minimum hassle and without attracting attention.
According to Tokyo Metropolitan Police, 1,853 people were arrested for groping passengers on trains in Tokyo in 2005. Experts say the incidence of harassment is much higher, but women are often too embarrassed to report it.
Service honors slain reggae star
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA — Slain reggae star Lucky Dube was remembered Wednesday at a memorial service by friends and family.
Dube, 43, was gunned down in front of two of his children last week in an apparent carjacking attempt. Four men who were arrested in connection with the murder appeared briefly in court Tuesday.
Dube, who launched his career in the 1980s with criticism of the apartheid regime, went on to become a huge international star recording more than 20 albums and sharing stages with the likes of Michael Jackson, Peter Gabriel, Ziggy Marley and Sting.
Israel powers up electricity tactic
JERUSALEM — Israel unveiled a new tactic Wednesday aimed at deterring Palestinians from firing rockets out of the Gaza Strip – it will cut off Gaza’s electricity bit by bit as a pressure tactic every time rockets hit Israeli territory.
Israel provides more than half of Gaza’s electricity, and any power cutoff is sure to make life more difficult people in the impoverished region.
The retaliation would begin with short cutoffs that would gradually increase for continued rocket fire, but a lengthy power blackout would not be imposed, defense officials said.
French leader unveils energy goals
PARIS — France’s government agreed Wednesday to reward drivers of cars that use little gasoline, and will drastically slow road construction and renovate all the country’s public buildings to slash energy consumption.
The measures emerged from the start of national talks aimed at changing the way the French treat the environment – part of President Nicolas Sarkozy’s bid to put the country in the forefront of the fight against global warming.
