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Gustav strikes southwest Haiti, cancels flights

(CNN) — Hurricane Gustav made landfall Tuesday on the southwestern peninsula of Haiti, near the city of Jacmel, forecasters said.

The National Hurricane Center said it expected the storm — still a Category 1 when its center hit Haiti, about 10 miles west of Jacmel — to reach Category 2 status by day’s end.

The hurricane has winds nearing 90 mph (145 kph) and higher gusts, the center said.

At 2 p.m. ET, Gustav was about 40 miles (64 kilometers) southwest of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and about 190 miles (305 kilometers) southeast of Guantanamo, Cuba.

The storm was moving northwest at 10 mph (16 kph), the hurricane center said. Gustav was expected to slow and turn west-northwest later Tuesday, and move generally toward the northwest Wednesday.

The storm was expected to weaken slightly as it moves over Haiti, the center said, but it warned that the storm would restrengthen before approaching eastern Cuba on Wednesday.

Category 2 hurricanes have sustained winds between 96 and 110 mph, and storm surges are generally 6 to 8 feet above normal. iReport.com: See images of flooding in Dominican Republic

Gustav may become a major hurricane, or a storm that has reached at least Category 3 status, over the next few days, forecasters said.

The Cuban government issued a hurricane warning — meaning that sustained winds of 74 mph (119 kph) are expected within a day — for the provinces of Guantanamo, Santiago de Cuba and Granma.

Gustav prompted several flight cancellations between the United States and Haiti, airport spokesmen said.

An American Airlines flight from Fort Lauderdale International Airport in Florida to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and one from the Haitian capital to Fort Lauderdale were canceled, Fort Lauderdale airport spokesman Greg Meyer said.

Miami International Airport spokesman Greg Chin said six flights there had been canceled — four to and from Haiti and two to and from Belize.

The Associated Press reported that at Port-au-Prince’s airport, stranded travelers crowded around an airlines counter trying to rebook flights that had been canceled.

I knew it was coming, but I was hoping to be out before it came, Jody Stoltzfus, a 27-year-old missionary, told the AP. She had been heading home to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, for a two-week stay.

The storm was moving northwest at 10 mph (16 kph), the hurricane center said. Gustav was expected to slow and turn west-northwest Wednesday.

On this track, this hurricane should move over southwestern Haiti later today and near or just south of eastern Cuba on Wednesday, forecasters said Tuesday.

The storm was expected to dump about 4 to 8 inches of rain over Hispaniola, eastern Cuba and Jamaica, with isolated amounts of up to 20 inches.

These rains will likely produce life-threatening flash floods and mudslides, the center said. Coastal storm surge flooding of 2 to 4 feet above normal tide levels, along with large and dangerous battering waves, can be expected near and to the east of where the center makes landfall. iReport.com: Send us your photos, stories

In addition to the Cuban provinces, a hurricane warning remained in effect from Barahona, Dominican Republic, to Le Mole St. Nicholas, Haiti.

A hurricane watch — meaning that sustained winds of 74 mph (119 kph) are expected within 36 hours — extended from Le Mole St. Nicholas, Haiti, to the northern Haiti-Dominican Republic border, as well as for the Cuban provinces of Las Tunas and Holguin.

Jamaica was also under a hurricane watch, the hurricane center said.

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Russia condemned for recognizing rebel regions

MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) — The United States, Britain and NATO have condemned Russian President Dmitry Medvedev for recognizing the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, two breakaway regions in Georgia.

This is not an easy choice to make, but it represents the only possibility to save human lives, Medvedev said Tuesday in a televised address.

He called on other countries to follow Russia’s lead, which comes in the wake of the Russian-Georgian conflict which erupted earlier this month. But the decision was immediately denounced by the United States, Britain and NATO.

I think it is regrettable, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said during her visit to the Middle East. It puts Russia, of course, in opposition to a number of [United Nations] Security Council resolutions to which it is party.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the decision was unjustifiable and unacceptable.

It will also not work. It is contrary to the principles of the peace agreement, which Russia recently agreed… [it] further inflames an already tense situation in the region, Miliband said.

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said the decision was in direct violation of numerous U.N. Security Council resolutions regarding Georgia’s territorial integrity.

Speaking to CNN’s Matthew Chance, Medvedev said the move was in line with international law.

It is internationally recognized that if a people based on all these [U.N.] provisions express their will to have an independent existence… any other state in the world has the right to recognize this independence whether you like it or not, the Russian president said. Watch Medvedev recognize the breakaway regions

He also noted that Russia would like to avoid a new edition of the Cold War era.

Medvedev signed the order a day after it was overwhelmingly approved by both houses of Russia’s parliament.

Speaking Monday, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili called the votes an attempt by Russia to justify the occupation by its forces, which remain in parts of Georgia.

It is unjustified, it is against the norms of international law and poses a challenge to the world community, he said.

Western nations have expressed support for Georgia, which aspires to NATO and European Union membership, with the U.S. dispatching a major humanitarian aid mission.

U.S. President George Bush said Monday that he was deeply concerned by the Russian parliament’s vote, and urged Russia not to recognize the independence of the two pro-Moscow breakaway regions.

The United States will continue to stand with the people of Georgia and their democracy and to support its sovereignty and territorial integrity, he said.

South Ossetia and Abkhazia broke away from Georgia during civil wars in the 1990s. Russia strengthened ties with them after the U.S. and much of Europe recognized the independence of the Serbian province of Kosovo earlier this year, a move that Moscow had warned against.

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Your First Glimpse Of ‘The Fast And The Fourius: Monster Truck Speedway’ [Short Ends]

· it sure is nice to see vin, paul, and michelle backside where they be proper to be owned by: safely penned away in a trailer fitted some movie we’ll on no occasion go out with that doesn’t come in for a very long time. [/film] · optical phantom time: do you glom jim carrey and ewan mcgregor nuzzling noses, or a beautiful vase? it all depends upon where you blurred! [my new plaid pants] · we knew there was a reason we were compelled to play connect 4 with our four best friends while eating a kit kat bar on a four-sofa couch whenever we watch the tonight show! [ibored] · $800,000-per-ep male charlie sheen has a fourth [ed. note: gasp! the tonight show malediction again!] child on the way, which, amazingly, has already appeared in utero on an episode of denise richards: it’s Daedalian. [usa today] ·everything about infatuation ‘n licks makes us uncomfortable. [youtube]

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Madrid plane crash survivor ‘born again’

MADRID, Spain (CNN) — A woman who survived last week’s Spanair airline crash in Madrid left the hospital Tuesday, saying she was born again by the disaster.

Beatriz Reyes, 41, has been credited with saving two of the three children who survived the crash which killed 154 people.

She is the second survivor to be sent home, while 16 others remained hospitalized Tuesday.

The first to leave the hospital was a 6-year-old boy, apparently one of the children Reyes helped in the moments after the Spanair MD-82 airliner crashed on takeoff from Madrid’s Bajaras airport Wednesday.

I saw some kids and I got them out, Reyes said. I think anyone would have done it.

All 18 who survived were seated in the front section of the plane, the only part not to catch fire. Reyes was in seat 5-D.

She said she remained conscious throughout the crash.

I felt a strong blow and then my stomach went up and down, she said. That’s when I knew there was an accident.

She said it was ironic that she was treated in the maternity ward at Hospital Infanta Sofia in the Madrid suburb of San Sebastian de los Reyes.

On the 20th of August, I have been born again, she said.

She was returning home from a vacation in Germany when she boarded the flight to the city of Las Palmas in the Canary Islands.

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Michelle Obama: ‘My husband’ will be ‘an extraordinary president’

DENVER, Colorado (CNN) — Michelle Obama took center stage at the Democratic National Convention on Monday night, stressing her love for the nation and making her case for why her husband should be the next president.

I come here as a wife who loves my husband and believes he will be an extraordinary president, she said of her husband, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, the presumptive Democratic nominee.

Michelle Obama — who could be the nation’s first African-American first lady — pushed a theme of unity in light of controversial comments she made on the campaign trail that raised doubts about her patriotism.

All of us are driven by a simple belief that the world as it is just won’t do — that we have an obligation to fight for the world as it should be, she said, closing the first night of the convention.

That is the thread that connects our hearts. That is the thread that runs through my journey and Barack’s journey and so many other improbable journeys that have brought us here tonight, where the current of history meets this new tide of hope.

And you see, that is why I love this country, she said to a standing ovation.

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