Norbert hits Baja's southwest coast

PUERTO SAN CARLOS, Mexico - Hurricane Norbert swept across Mexico's southern Baja California peninsula on Saturday with torrential rains and screaming winds, forcing scores of people to flee flooded homes.

The Category 2 hurricane, with winds of up to 100 mph, hit land near Puerto Charley on Baja's southwest coast and was emerging hours later over the Gulf of California, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami. Norbert was expected to reach mainland Mexico on Saturday night.

Baja residents fled to shelters in school buses and army trucks as floodwaters rose in their homes. Winds uprooted palm trees and the water rose knee-high in some streets of the town of Puerto San Carlos.

Late Saturday afternoon, the hurricane's center was located about 65 miles southeast of Loreto, a small town popular with tourists in Baja's east coast. It was moving northeast at 15 mph. The storm passed well north of the resort-dotted Los Cabos area on the southern tip of the peninsula.

Meanwhile, a weakening Tropical Storm Odile hugged the southwest coast of Mexico.

Civil Protection officials in Guerrero state urged about 10,000 people living along river banks or other dangerous areas to evacuate.

Officials: Missile strike kills 3 in Pakistan

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan - Two Pakistani intelligence officials say a suspected U.S. missile strike has killed three people near a market close to the Afghan border.

The officials say the attack late Saturday was in Miran Shah in north Waziristan. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Austrian rightist

dies in car accident

VIENNA, Austria - Joerg Haider, who catapulted his rightist anti- immigration party into a powerful force with sharp attacks on rivals and provocative praise of the Nazi era, died Saturday in a car accident. He was 58.

His death on a little-traveled stretch of a southern highway left Austria without one of its best-known politicians - a figure whose strident rhetoric that sometimes sounded contemptuous of Jews once led to months of international isolation for the Alpine republic.

Alone at the wheel, Haider was overtaking another motorist when his car veered off the road, crashing into a concrete pillar and overturning. He died of multiple injuries. Authorities said they do not suspect foul play, but are investigating.

Zimbabwe's president claims key ministries

HARARE, Zimbabwe - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, locked in a standoff with the opposition in power-sharing talks, went ahead Saturday and laid claim to all key ministries as he tries to retain his iron grip on the struggling southern African nation.

Opposition leaders denounced the move, saying it jeopardized a September power-sharing deal that had deadlocked over Cabinet posts.

North Korea releases Kim Jong Il's pictures

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea released pictures of leader Kim Jong Il on Saturday for the first time in nearly two months, showing the reclusive ruler looking generally well despite reports he recently underwent brain surgery.

Another ship seized

as pirates issue threat

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Armed pirates hijacked a massive tanker as world powers on Saturday headed toward the Somali coast to end a two- week standoff aboard a ship laden with tanks and weapons, officials said.

The latest ship to be seized, a Greek vessel flying a Panamanian flag, was traveling from Southeast Asia to Europe, said Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur. There were no further details on the ship, which was seized Friday.

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