A roundup of today's other world news in brief
Hurricane on track to menace Gulf of Mexico
MIAMI –Tropical Storm Richard strengthened into a hurricane over the Caribbean Sea yesterday, on a track that could take it into the Gulf of Mexico, the US National Hurricane Center said.
Richard, which was heading towards Belize and Mexicos Yucatan Peninsula, was the 10th hurricane of the 2010 Atlantic storm season.
Five have been major, but the US has escaped a significant landfall so far.
Richard, with maximum sustained winds of 140km/h (87mph) was located about 155km east of Belize City.
In its five-day track forecast, the Miami-based hurricane centre saw Richard entering the southwestern Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday after crossing the Yucatan Peninsula.
This raised the possibility that the storm might eventually threaten the concentration of US oil and gas installations in the northern Gulf of Mexico and the US Gulf Coast. – (Reuters)
Racist slur lingers for top perfumier
French anti-racism groups are to sue the perfume house Guerlain after one of its best-known perfumiers said he “worked like a nigger” to create a new scent.
About 100 protesters gathered outside the Guerlain store on the Champs-Élysees this weekend, calling for a global boycott of the perfume house and its owner, the luxury brand Louis Vuitton-Moet Hennessy, because of the racist slur.
Jean-Paul Guerlain (73) a descendent of the perfume house’s founder, was interviewed on French state TV last week, and asked about the creation of a new perfume, Samsara. He replied: “I worked like a nigger. I don’t know if niggers have always worked like that, but anyway.” Patrick Lozes, of France’s Representative Council of Black Associations, said the French word negre was “extremely pejorative”. – (Guardian service)