WORLD briefs

MIAMI. Forecasters say Jimena is now a dangerous Category 4 storm off Mexico's Pacific coast, and it may intensify even more as it swirls offshore. The center's track shows the storm could make landfall by Wednesday on the Baja California peninsula. Yesterday, it had maximum sustained winds near 215 kmh and was moving northwest near 15 kph It was centered about 460 km south of Cabo Corrientes, Mexico.

TAIPEI. The Dalai Lama, a Tibetan spiritual leader reviled by China as a separatist, arrived in Taiwan yesterday for a hasty visit to comfort victims of a typhoon, testing the island's improved ties with Beijing. Beijing-friendly Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou, widely accused of a slow disaster response, allowed the Dalai Lama's visit, a populist move that he declined last year as ties with China were warming quickly after 60 years of hostilities.

LOS ANGELES. A growing wildfire in the mountains above Los Angeles surged north Sunday, forcing more evacuations and threatening some 10,000 homes. Residents of the small town of Acton were urged to evacuate as the 4-day-old blaze headed into the Antelope Valley. The fire spread in all directions, leaving three people burned, destroying at least three homes and forcing thousands to flee. Some 2,000 firefighters were battling the blaze.

BUENOS AIRES. Argentine farmers have resumed strikes as part of a bitter dispute over taxes on soya bean exports. The farmers are angry over President Cristina Fernandez's refusal to lower the 35 per cent tax. They have been on strike several times in the past year over the tax, saying government aid has been spent on cities at the expense of the countryside.

NEW DELHI. All communication links with the only Indian satellite orbiting the Moon have been lost, India's space agency says. Radio contact with the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft was lost abruptly early on Saturday, The unmanned craft was launched last October in what was billed as a two-year mission of exploration.

BERLIN. Chancellor Angela Merkel's party suffered losses in regional elections yesterday, exit polls showed, a disappointment for her conservatives one month before she seeks re-election in a federal vote.