World Briefs

Ike gains strength over Gulf, aims for Texas

HAVANA - Hurricane Ike grew stronger as it barreled across the warm, energizing waters of the Gulf of Mexico Wednesday toward the Texas coast after crashing through Cuba's tobacco country and toppling aging Havana buildings.

Forecasters said the Category 1 storm could grow into a major Category 3 storm before slamming into Texas or northern Mexico on Saturday.

Ike has already killed at least 80 people in the Caribbean, and Texas put 7,500 National Guard members on standby and urged coastal residents to stock up on supplies.

Quake in Iran kills 4

TEHRAN, Iran - A strong earthquake rocked southern Iran on Wednesday, killing four people and sending tremors across the Persian Gulf to the skyscrapers of Dubai.

The country's seismological center said the magnitude 6 quake struck at 3:30 p.m., with the epicenter about 850 miles south of the capital Tehran in the province of Hormozgan.

The region's main city, Bandar Abbas, is one of Iran's key ports and home to a large oil refinery that primarily serves the domestic market. People in the port city, reached by telephone, said panicked residents ran into parks when the tremors started.

Dench picked for European Film Award

Veteran actress Judi Dench and the founders of the avant-garde cinema manifesto Dogma will pick up honorary prizes at this year's European Film Awards, organisers said Wednesday.

The laureates will be among the guests at a glittering awards ceremony December 6 in Copenhagen where the top European filmmakers and actors of the year will also collect prizes, the Berlin-based European Film Academy said.

Dench, 73, will accept a lifetime achievement award.

Cairo rockslide toll climbs to 63

CAIRO - At least 63 people were killed in a massive rockslide that crushed dozens of homes in a Cairo slum over the weekend, the official MENA agency said on Wednesday, with the toll expected to rise further.

"The number of victims has gone up to 63, after the body of one woman was pulled out," MENA said. At least 58 people were injured.

Several bodies were found on Wednesday, with many more feared buried under the rubble after giant boulders flattened dozens of homes in the shantytown of Manshiyet Nasser on Saturday, burying whole families.

Some television stations have estimated the number of people buried to be 500.

Australian doctor charged with assaulting patients

SYDNEY, Australia - A former gynecologist was arrested Wednesday in Australia on charges that he sexually assaulted several patients and mutilated the genitals of at least one of them during surgery, authorities said.

Graeme Reeves, 58, was arrested in Sydney following an investigation into 113 allegations of misconduct involving at least 10 patients between 2001 and 2003 in Sydney and the southern New South Wales town of Bega.

Reeves, dubbed the "Butcher of Bega" by the Australian media, was charged with nine counts of aggravated sexual assault, six counts of indecent assault, one count of female genital mutilation and one count of maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm.