SAN FERNANDO, Mexico – Hurricane Alex made landfall on Mexico’s Gulf coast as a powerful Category 2 storm Wednesday, spawning tornadoes in nearby Texas, forcing evacuations in both countries and whipping up high waves that frustrated oil-spill cleanup efforts and pushed crude onto beaches.

Alex hit a relatively unpopulated stretch of coast in Mexico’s northern Tamaulipas state about 110 miles (180 kms) south of Brownsville, Texas, and was pushing inland at 10 mph (17 kph), the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Its heavy rains and 110 mph (160 kph) winds lashed Mexican fishing villages, whose residents fled inland to the town of San Fernando on buses and in the back of pickup trucks.

Hundreds of people filled a storm shelter in an auditorium in San Fernando.

“We didn’t bring anything but these clothes,” said evacuee Carolina Sanchez, 21, motioning to two small plastic bags at her feet, as her 3-year-old sister Belen Sanchez Gonzalez clutched a purple and white stuffed toy poodle at the storm shelter. Her father, a fisherman, was one of many coastal residents who stayed behind to keep watch on their homes and possessions.

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SEOUL (AFP) –
South Korean civilian workers in Afghanistan have come under rocket attack but no one was hurt, the foreign ministry said Thursday.

The attack was launched early Thursday near a construction site in the northern province of Parwan where the South’s provincial reconstruction team is to be based, a spokesman told AFP.

“Four rockets fell in and outside the site but no casualties have been reported,” he said, adding there was no information on who fired the rockets.

The South’s team, which currently numbers 49 civilian workers and eight police officers, plans to officially launch its aid mission Thursday.

It will be progressively expanded this year to about 100 reconstruction workers and 40 police who will train Afghan counterparts, according to Yonhap news agency. The defence ministry declined to give figures.

The Koreans will help strengthen the provincial government’s capabilities and offer medical services as well as vocational and police training.

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TOKYO – Toyota Motor Corp. said Thursday about 270,000 vehicles sold worldwide, including luxury Lexus sedans, have faulty engines, but the company did not say whether it would recall the automobiles.

The world’s biggest automaker said the defective engines could stall while the vehicles were moving.

Of the 270,000 vehicles, some 180,000 were sold overseas and the rest in Japan. They include luxury Lexus sedans and popular Crown models.

Kyodo News agency and Fuji TV — without providing sources — said Toyota would recall 270,000 vehicles. Toyota spokeswoman Ririko Takeuchi would not say if the company would issue a recall.

Toyota has been working to patch up its reputation after more than 8 million vehicles were recalled worldwide over reports of unintended acceleration and other defects.

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SEOUL (AFP) –
A South Korean court Thursday passed 10-year prison sentences on two North Korean agents who posed as fugitives from the communist state in a bid to assassinate a top-ranking defector.

“The defendants admit all the charges, and testimony from other defectors and former agents verified their statements” about their identities and mission, said senior judge Cho Han-Chang.

“Had the defendants succeeded in taking root here, they would have posed a very serious threat to Hwang‘s life.”

The agents, handcuffed and wearing khaki prison outfits, appeared calm when the sentences were read out.

North Korea has denied involvement in the bid to assassinate Hwang Jang-Yop, accusing Seoul of inventing the story to fuel tensions between the neighbours.

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