In Brief: Hong Kong protesters stage defiant rally
HONG KONG – Bolstered by a massive rally overnight, Hong Kong’s pro-democracy activists were defiant on the eighth day of protests today in the face of attacks by opponents and government warnings to clear the business district streets they have occupied to press their demand for reforms.
“Democracy now! Democracy in Hong Kong!” thousands chanted as speakers from the movement seeking wider political reforms for this former British colony urged them to persist in their campaign. The rally lasted hours.
The city’s top leader, Chief Secretary Leung Chun-ying, appeared on television Saturday evening to once again urge everyone to go home, saying things needed to get back to normal by Monday.
Hurricane Simon strengthens in Pacific
MIAMI – Simon has strengthened into a major hurricane in the Pacific, but still poses no direct threat to land.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said Simon’s maximum sustained winds increased to 130 mph on Saturday, making it a Category 4 hurricane. Forecasters say Simon is expected to begin weakening today.
The hurricane is located about 395 miles southwest of the southern tip of the Baja peninsula.
Simon is expected to produce 2 to 4 inches of rain, with isolated amounts of 8 inches, across central portions of the peninsula and in the northwestern state of Sonora.
Mass grave found after police clashes
IGUALA, Mexico – Security forces investigating the role of municipal police in clashes in this southern city a week ago found a mass grave on the edge of town, raising fears the pits might hold 43 students missing since the violence that also resulted in six shooting deaths.
Guerrero State Prosecutor Inaky Blanco did not say Saturday night how many bodies were in the burial pits uncovered on a hillside on Iguala’s outskirts, and he declined to speculate about whether the dead were the missing students.
Blanco said eight more people had been arrested in the case, adding to the 22 Iguala city police officers detained after a police confrontation with student protesters last weekend set off a series of violent incidents in the city.