- Peru mourns divisive former strongman Fujimori
- Vaughan's son takes 11 wickets as Somerset revive title bid by beating champions Surrey
- Long-awaited case on Man City charges to start on Monday: report
- PSG refuse League order to pay Mbappe disputed €55 million
- Harris, Trump target swing states after fierce debate
- Ten Hag hits back at Ronaldo criticism over Man Utd ambition
- Oscar hopefuls to bookend US French film festival
- UN chief calls for 'courage' ahead of Summit of the Future
- French rugby federation blames 'poorly managed' supervision for youth player drowning
- Movie producer Harvey Weinstein indicted on new charges: US media
- Ex-Scotland captain Hogg to miss Montpellier match after bail release
- 'Historic': Bad weather slashes wine harvest in France's Jura
- ECB rate cut boosts European stocks, euro
- Piastri not 'pulling over' for Norris at every race
- 'Energised' Tebogo looking to close season with Diamond League bang
- Millions in SE Asia battle floods, death toll passes 250
- Fiat 500 electric production pauses for one month
- London Fashion Week opens with Charli XCX party and second-hand runways
- ECB cuts rates again, Lagarde backs EU reform call
- Storm Francine downgraded but still drenching US south
- Everton say 'work to be done' on Textor takeover
- Shelling kills 3 Red Cross workers in E.Ukraine
- Shelling kills 3 Red Cross workers killed in E.Ukraine
- Iran president makes 'historic' visit to Iraqi Kurdistan
- Brigitte Macron awarded damages over false trans claim
- ECB rate cut boosts Europeans stocks, euro
- Deadly Israeli strike on Gaza school draws global condemnation
- Russia recaptures part of Kursk region
- Bike-loving Dutch grapple with 'fatbike' phenomena
- Ahead of Champions League warm-up, PSG are soaring and Brest slumping
- ECB cuts rates again as inflation slows
- Denmark's von Trier to direct a new film
- Arteta agrees new Arsenal deal
- Jon Bon Jovi helps woman standing on edge of US bridge
- SpaceX makes history with first spacewalks by private citizens
- England's Livingstone 'feels like a kid again' after injury setbacks
- Brazil urges EU to suspend 'punitive' anti-deforestation law
- Myanmar residents flee deadly floods in boats and on makeshift rafts
- Power struggle and chaotic player trading: What's going at Chelsea?
- Blinken seeks common cause in Poland after Ukraine jitters
- Stocks rally on cooler US inflation, before ECB rate call
- Spanish PM meets Venezuelan opposition figure amid tensions
- McLaren set to introduce team orders to support Norris title bid
- Tottenham's Bentancur charged with misconduct over remarks about teammate Son
- UniCredit CEO says Commerzbank takeover an option: Bloomberg
- Pogacar aims to conquer Canada before cycling worlds
- UK military urged to stop using bearskin hats on cost grounds
- New Queen Elizabeth II statue panned in Northern Ireland
- Ireland launches EU privacy probe into Google AI development
- Irish skipper Tom Dolan wins Solitaire du Figaro sailing race
RYCEF | 2.33% | 6.45 | $ | |
BP | 1.18% | 31.665 | $ | |
RELX | 1.41% | 47.825 | $ | |
RBGPF | 4.7% | 59.81 | $ | |
GSK | -1.48% | 43.13 | $ | |
AZN | -2.05% | 78.915 | $ | |
NGG | -0.27% | 69.135 | $ | |
CMSC | -0.24% | 25.18 | $ | |
BTI | -0.44% | 38.95 | $ | |
RIO | 0.98% | 61.815 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.08% | 25.11 | $ | |
SCS | 1.11% | 13.49 | $ | |
BCC | 3.48% | 126.49 | $ | |
VOD | -0.1% | 10.03 | $ | |
JRI | -0.08% | 13.17 | $ | |
BCE | 0.1% | 35.225 | $ |
Hurricane Agatha hits Mexico near Pacific beach resorts
Hurricane Agatha, the first of the season, made landfall Monday near a string of beach resorts on Mexico's Pacific Coast, where residents and tourists hunkered down in storm shelters.
The storm's center touched land just west of Puerto Angel in the southern state of Oaxaca as a Category 2 hurricane -- the second weakest on a scale of five.
Agatha was packing maximum sustained winds of 165 kilometers (105 miles) per hour, according to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC).
"Since record keeping began in 1949, this is the strongest hurricane to make landfall in May along the Pacific coast of Mexico," the NHC tweeted.
"Rapid weakening is expected as the hurricane moves farther inland. Agatha is forecast to weaken to a tropical storm later tonight, and dissipate over southeastern Mexico by late Tuesday," an NHC bulletin said.
Residents along the coast had stocked up on food and water and boarded up windows of homes and businesses as Agatha approached.
Seaports in the area closed and airlines canceled flights to an international airport in Huatulco.
A hurricane warning was in effect for a stretch of coastline including Puerto Escondido and other surf towns popular with national and foreign tourists, leaving normally busy beaches deserted.
"Storm surge is expected to produce extremely dangerous coastal flooding" and will be accompanied by "large and destructive waves," the NHC warned.
"Agatha will produce heavy rains over portions of southern Mexico through Tuesday night," as well as "life-threatening surf and rip current conditions," it predicted.
In Oaxaca and neighboring Chiapas state, "life-threatening flash flooding and mudslides may occur," the NHC added.
The region is home to several major rivers and Mexico's meteorological service warned of possible overflows and landslides.
Authorities opened around 200 storm shelters with room for up to 26,800 people, while hotels offered refuge to the estimated 5,200 national and foreign tourists in the danger zone.
"The shelters are already open and people are arriving," Roberto Castillo, a civil protection official in Huatulco, told AFP as the storm neared.
"Right now we are already on red alert. This is coming and it is coming strong," he added.
Mexico is regularly lashed by tropical storms on both its Pacific and Atlantic coasts, generally between the months of May and November.
The deadliest storm to hit Mexico last year was a Category 3 hurricane called Grace that killed 11 people in the eastern states of Veracruz and Puebla in August.
D.Moore--AMWN