SANTO DOMINGO, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC — Tropical Storm Noel brought heavy rain to the western Caribbean on Tuesday as it pushed through Cuba and edged closer to Florida. Floods and mudslides across the region have killed at least 22 people.
Forecasters projected the storm would emerge over water today near Cuba’s Cayo Coco resort area and head northeast toward the Bahamas. They also said a tropical storm watch might be issued for parts of southeastern Florida.
But forecasters said the rains would probably miss drought- stricken Georgia, Alabama and other Southeastern states.
The storm cut a destructive path across the island of Hispaniola, which is shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Because of difficulties reaching remote areas, there was uncertainty over death toll figures, with emergency officials reporting between 22 and 36 people dead.
Almost 12,000 people were driven from their homes and nearly 3,000 homes were destroyed, while collapsed bridges and swollen rivers have isolated 36 towns, a Dominican official said.
In Cuba, the government said about 1,000 homes had suffered damage.
Additional world news briefs:
Prince Harry questioned over bird kill
LONDON — Police questioned Prince Harry over the shooting of two threatened birds of prey near a royal estate in eastern England, Buckingham Palace said Tuesday.
The Norfolk Constabulary says it is investigating a possible wildlife offense after a member of the public reported that two hen harriers were shot Wednesday on the edge of Sandringham Estate, a royal country retreat about 110 miles north of London.
Buckingham Palace said Harry and a friend were in the area at the time and that police have asked if they knew anything about the alleged incident.
The palace, which did not identify the friend, said neither knew anything about it.
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds estimates there are only 521 breeding pairs of hen harriers in Britain.
Probe of illegal immigrants’ treatment ordered
ATHENS, GREECE — The government ordered an investigation Tuesday into claims that the Greek coast guard systematically mistreated illegal immigrants heading for the country’s eastern islands.
Merchant Marine Minister George Voulgarakis ordered the probe after a rights group alleged that coast guard vessels patrolling the Aegean Sea regularly engage in “life-threatening maneuvers,” like surrounding small boats in an attempt to swamp them, to deter migrants from entering Greek waters.
A report from the German refugee rights group Pro Asyl, published Monday, also claimed that in one case a migrant was tortured with a mock execution and by being ducked in a bucket of water.
U.S. told Cuba ready to defend itself
UNITED NATIONS — Cuba’s foreign minister Tuesday warned that Cuba is prepared to defend itself if the United States tries to bring regime change by force, saying a conflict would jeopardize U.S. stability.
“We are not threatening and we never bluff,” Felipe Perez Roque said in an interview. “We respect the United States, but we demand respect for ourselves, and we would defend our country from an attempt to have foreign aggression.”
He claimed that President Bush’s recent major policy speech on Cuba, in which the president challenged the international community to help the people of the communist island shed Fidel Castro’s rule and become a free society, indicated the U.S. might be prepared to use force.
In Cuba, he said, more than 90 percent of the 11.5 million people support “the genuine revolution” that began in 1959 when Castro toppled dictator Fulgencio Batista.
The only “freedom” that Cubans can imagine Bush pursuing, Perez Roque added, “would be similar to the one he has taken to Iraq.”
