Hurricane Gustav, now a major storm picking up steam over warm sea waters, roared toward western Cuba yesterday en route to the oil-rich Gulf of Mexico after a deadly pass through the Caribbean.
Gustav ripped across the Cayman Islands and took aim at Cuba's Isle of Youth before it was set to strike the Cuban mainland later in the day.
Forecasters predicted Gustav would cross the Gulf of Mexico and hit central Louisiana on Tuesday with the same brutal force Hurricane Katrina delivered three years ago.
The US National Hurricane Centre said Gustav's sustained winds had risen to 195 kph, making it a dangerous Category 3 storm on the five-stage Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity.
The storm killed up to 77 people as it crossed the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Jamaica. No deaths had yet been reported from the Caymans, a wealthy banking centre and British territory.
New Afghan rail link proposed
The German military is considering building a railway line in northern Afghanistan to ease transport of Nato supplies to the country and boost economic activity in the area, a German news magazine reported yesterday.
Apart from a short stretch from Uzbekistan, Afghanistan has almost no functioning railways, with less than 25 km of track in the entire country. A number of railways leading towards Afghanistan stop short of the border. The proposed 67 km stretch would link the northern city of Mazar-I-Sharif with the Uzbek town of Termez, where the German air force has a base, Der Spiegel magazine reported.
Tibetans fast, Dalai Lama in hospital
Thousands of Tibetans in India fasted and prayed for peace in Tibet yesterday and their leader, the Dalai Lama, participated from his hospital bed in Mumbai.
The 73-year-old exiled Tibetan spiritual leader was being treated for abdominal pains. Doctors said there was no cause for concern and more tests were being done, a Dalai Lama aide said.
At least 4,000 people, mostly Tibetan monks, nuns and schoolchildren gathered in a temple near the Dalai Lama's residence in Dharamsala, home to the Tibetan government-in-exile, to participate in the 12-hour fast.
"He (the Dalai Lama) was feeling good yesterday," said Chhime Chhoekyapa, a senior aide to the Dalai Lama.
"He is feeling better today, he started fasting from this morning at 7 and he will continue till evening. The doctors say that there is nothing to worry about."
Bombs kill two Russians
At least two Russian soldiers have been killed in bombings in Chechnya, including a suicide attack on a government camp, Russian news agencies reported yesterday.
One soldier was killed and 11 were wounded when two suicide bombers rammed a jeep packed with explosives through the fence of the Interior Ministry camp in Vedeno, south of the region's capital Grozny, a battalion spokesman was quoted as saying by RIA news agency.
A Vedeno resident who saw the aftermath of the blast said both attackers were killed in the blast. The woman, who saw the severed head of one of them, said he appeared to be in his teens.
Somali pirates hijack vessel
Heavily armed Somali pirates have seized another Malaysian tanker in the latest such attack in the waters off the Horn of Africa country, a maritime official said yesterday.
"We believe it's a Malaysian bulk carrier and it was hijacked last night," Andrew Mwangura, head of the Kenya-based East Africa Seafarers' Assistance Programme, told Reuters.
In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysian national carrier MISC said its ship was the hijacked vessel. The tanker, Bunga Melati 5, was carrying 30,000 tonnes of petrochemicals and heading towards Singapore from Yanbu in Saudi Arabia.
It had 36 Malaysians and five Filipinos on board when it was hijacked in international waters off the coast of Yemen.