Tropical Storm Alex soaks Belize

Tropical Storm Alex soaks Belize

BELIZE CITY

Hundreds of tourists and residents fled low-lying islands off Belize and beachgoers were warned to stay out of the water along Mexico’s resort-studded Caribbean coast as rain from Tropical Storm Alex began lashing the region.

Alex, with maximum sustained winds of about 65 mph, was expected to make landfall at Belize by nightfall, cross land and enter the Gulf of Mexico late today. The storm appeared headed west of the massive oil spill in parts of the Gulf, but meteorologists warned that a storm’s track can quickly change.

Hugo Chavez meets with Syria’s Assad

CARACAS, Venezuela

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez met with Syrian President Bashar Assad on Saturday and called on Latin America and the Arab world to fight what he called America’s imperialist and capitalist interests abroad.

“Arab civilization and our civilization, the Latin American one, are being summoned in this new century to play the fundamental role of liberating the world, saving the world from the imperialism and capitalist hegemony that threaten the human species,” Chavez said.

“Syria and Venezuela are at the vanguard of this struggle.”

hPrince Harry shows off his arm

NEW YORK

Britain’s Prince Harry showed he can shoot. On the second day of his U.S. visit, New Yorkers got to see his arm.

After firing an M4 rifle during a training exercise Friday at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Harry threw out the first pitch at Saturday’s New York Mets game against the Minnesota Twins.

Wearing a white T-shirt and blue Mets cap, he sheepishly waved to the crowd as he stood on top of the mound. He then shook his right arm several times and did a full body jiggle to loosen up.

The 25-year-old prince threw with some zip to Mets catcher Rod Barajas, who stood from his crouch to catch the throw that crossed the plate.

Teen sailor reunited with older brother

SAINT-DENIS, Reunion

Sixteen-year-old Californian sailor Abby Sunderland got a big hug from her older brother Saturday on the appropriately named Reunion Island, and again defended her family for letting her try to sail around the world alone.

Though saddened by the loss of her boat in an Indian Ocean storm, Sunderland said she isn’t giving up sailing.

“I’m really disappointed that things didn’t go as planned,” Sunderland told reporters after coming to shore early Saturday on the remote French island of Reunion, located in the waters near southeastern Africa.

Massive waves snapped her boat’s mast June 10, and she was rescued in a remote area of the southern Indian Ocean two days later by a French fishing boat. It took two weeks more at sea to reach Reunion, from which she plans to fly home today.

Associated Press