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say the Communist Party leadership's main objective in the case is to keep the focus tightly on the murder case and not on larger allegations of corruption that could further taint the Chinese regime.
• Tang said prosecutors told the court that Gu sent Zhang to meet and accompany Heywood from Beijing to the southwestern mega-city of Chongqing. On the night of Nov. 13, Gu went to Heywood's hotel and drank wine and tea with him.
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Tropical Storm Ernesto skirts along Gulf of Mexico on its way flood-prone inland area
• VERACRUZ, Mexico (AP) -- Tropical Storm Ernesto skirted along Mexico's far-southern Gulf coast early Thursday, passing among some of the country's offshore oil wells while building again toward hurricane strength before landfall in a region prone to flooding.
• Ernesto moved out over open water late Wednesday after crossing the Yucatan Peninsula without doing serious damage. It was expected to stay close to shore while heading westward, raising the threat of heavy rains for coastal communities.
• The U.S. National Hurricane Center said the storm's sustained winds had increased to about 70 mph (110 kph) after getting over the water and was expected to gain more strength, probably growing into a hurricane again. It was a hurricane when it made landfall in Yucatan just before midnight Tuesday but weakened over land.
• The Interior Department said Ernesto was expected to come ashore between the oil port of Coatzacoalcos and the coastal city of Alvarado in the Gulf of Mexico state of Veracruz. The U.S. hurricane center said it should make landfall by late afternoon or early evening.
• Officials in Veracruz have readied about 20 storm shelters, said Victor Hugo Ceron of the state civil defense agency. The port captain for Veracruz city, Enrique Casarrubias, said the port there was closed to smaller vessels. The Carnival Elation cruise ship canceled a Wednesday stop, he added.
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US starts landmark cleanup of Agent Orange nearly 4 decades after Vietnam War's end
• DANANG, Vietnam (AP) -- The United States on Thursday began a landmark project to clean up a dangerous chemical left from the defoliant Agent Orange -- 50 (Continued on page 27)
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