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• MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Hurricane Raymond strengthened to a Category 3 storm early Monday as swirled near Mexico's already soaked southern Pacific coast, bringing the threat of heavy and possibly dangerous rains a month after Tropical Storm Manuel caused widespread damage with floods and mudslides.
• The U.S. National Hurricane Center said the newly formed storm had stalled south of Mexico but a general northward drift was expected that would bring the hurricane closer to the coast.
• Mexican authorities rushed to deploy emergency crews and said they were considering ordering evacuations of low-lying areas. About 10,000 people already were living away from their homes one month after Manuel inundated homes and left behind drenched hillsides that posed serious landslide risks.
• David Korenfeld, head of Mexico's National Water Commission, said officials were pinning their hopes on a cold front moving from the north that could help steer Raymond away from the coast.
• "The cold front coming down is what makes it (Raymond) turn to the left, but that is a model," Korenfeld said. "If that cold front comes down more slowly, this tropical storm ... can get closer to the coast."
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• BEIRUT (AP) -- Reflecting confusion in efforts to convene an international conference to end Syria's civil war, the Arab League chief announced on Sunday that talks will take place next month in Geneva, only to have the U.N. envoy flatly deny a date has been set.
• The bizarre diplomatic two-step between Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby and the U.N. envoy for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, at a joint news conference added to the uncertainty surrounding the proposed peace talks. A decision over whether the long-delayed negotiations will happen at all could come at a meeting of the Syrian opposition early next month that will focus on whether to sit down with President Bashar Assad's regime.
• The United States and Russia, who support opposing sides in the conflict that

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