World/Nation Briefs August 24, 2012

Tropical Storm Isaac could crash convention

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Tropical Storm Isaac churned toward the Dominican Republic and Haiti late Thursday, although forecasters said it now appeared less likely to become a hurricane while in the Caribbean. It still posed a potential threat to take a shot at Florida as a hurricane just as the Republicans gather for their national convention.

Isaac dumped heavy rain across eastern and southern Puerto Rico and whipped up waves as high as 10 feet in the Caribbean as it moved through the region Thursday.

U.S. forecasters said Isaac probably wouldn't become a hurricane today as it approached the island of Hispaniola, which is shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti. It was expected to weaken a little while crossing over Haiti and the eastern two-thirds of Cuba.

The storm was projected to head northwestward into the Gulf of Mexico and possibly be a hurricane by Monday. The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said the forecast path was shifting westward, possibly to a track that could take the storm to a landfall near the Alabama-Mississippi border Tuesday night.

But hurricane center forecaster Eric Blake stressed that it was "too early to know" just what path the storm would follow this far in advance, and said Florida's Gulf Coast, including Tampa, the site of the Republican National Convention, was very much in the picture.

France signals support for Syria no-fly zone

BEIRUT - France signaled Thursday that it was prepared to take part in enforcing a partial no-fly zone over Syria, piling pressure on President Bashar Assad's embattled regime as it widens a major offensive against rebels in Damascus and surrounding areas.

French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian urged the international community to consider backing a no-fly zone over parts of Syria, but cautioned that closing the Arab nation's entire air space would be tantamount to "going to war" and require a willing international coalition that does not yet exist.

He told France 24 television that Paris would participate in a full no-fly operation if it followed international legal principles. But for now, he suggested that a partial closure - which U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Washington was considering - should be studied.

Syria's chief backer, Russia, said it was working closely with the Damascus government to ensure that its arsenal of chemical weapons stays under firm control and has won promises that it will not be used or moved.

Abandoned by big groups, Akin seeks small cash

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - Abandoned by deep-pocketed national groups, Missouri Rep. Todd Akin is passing a collection plate among his remaining supporters, asking for a few dollars at a time in hopes of sustaining a Senate campaign jeopardized by his remarks about women's bodies and "legitimate rape."

Akin claimed Thursday to have taken in more than $100,000 during a two-day online fundraising drive that he portrayed as a grassroots effort to circumvent "party bosses" who demanded that he drop out. But the six-term congressman will need much more than that to replenish a campaign account already diminished by a hotly contested primary.

Akin now has to go forward without the firepower of well-funded political groups that had planned to pummel Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill with negative television ads.

If his money runs dry, Akin could confront a difficult choice: re-evaluate whether to remain in the race or adopt a bare-bones strategy relying on social media and socially conservative activists to counter the millions of dollars of mass media advertising expected from McCaskill and her allies.

Girl held captive more than two years escapes

WASHINGTON PARK, Ill. - A teenage girl reported missing more than two years ago escaped from a home in southwestern Illinois where she said she was held captive and repeatedly sexually assaulted, police said Thursday.

Police in Washington Park, a village next to East St. Louis, said the girl reported that she was raped by her captor, got pregnant and had a baby.

In April 2010, St. Louis, Mo., police listed the girl as a missing or runaway juvenile. She was 15 when she disappeared.

She escaped from the home in Washington Park earlier this week and went to police. About two dozen members of a SWAT team wearing helmets and body armor swarmed the home Thursday afternoon. They recovered the child and arrested a 24-year-old man.

- The Associated Press