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Agatha hits southern Mexico coast as strongest May hurricane

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PUERTO ESCONDIDO, Mexico -- Hurricane Agatha, the strongest hurricane on record to make landfall in May in the eastern Pacific, swept ashore on a stretch of tourist beaches and fishing towns Monday, then weakened moving inland over the mountains of southern Mexico. Torrential rains and howling winds whipped palm trees and drove tourists and residents into shelters as Agatha pushed onto a coastal region that is sparsely populated except for a handful of small communities along the shore. Oaxaca state's civil defense agency showed families hustling into a shelter in Pochutla and a rock and mud slide that blocked the highway between that town and the state capital. Agatha made landfall about 5 miles (10 kilometers) west of Puerto Angel in late afternoon as a strong Category 2 storm, with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph (165 kph). But it quickly began losing strength as it moved inland. Late Monday, it was downgraded to a tropical storm, with maximum sustained winds of 70 mph (110...
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Sri Lanka police tear gas protesters opposed to president

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COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- Police in Sri Lanka used tear gas and a water cannons Saturday to disperse demonstrators trying to approach the president's office to demand he resign over the country's ongoing economic crisis. The demonstrators were rallying to mark the 50th day of protests in which they have camped outside President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's office. Police broke up the rally and briefly detained three people before releasing them. Sri Lanka is nearly bankrupt, having defaulted on its foreign loans, and is battling acute shortages of essential goods like cooking gas, fuel and medicines. People have been forced to wait for hours in long lines to try to buy goods and many still go empty handed. The country's foreign currency reserves have also dwindled to only enough to purchase two weeks of needed imports. Authorities announced last month that they are suspending repayment of nearly $7 billion foreign debt to be repaid this year. Sri Lanka has to pay up $25 billion th...
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