World datelines

Scotland: G-20 pledge

ST. ANDREWS — Finance officials from rich and developing countries have pledged to maintain emergency support for their economies until recovery is assured but failed to reach a clear agreement to bear the cost of fighting climate change.

There was also a mixed reaction among the Group of 20 leading rich and emerging nations Saturday to a British-led push to consider a fund for bank bailouts, possibly financed by a tax on financial transactions, to ensure that taxpayers don't bear the brunt of any future rescues.

The grouping — representing around 90 percent of the world's wealth, 80 percent of world trade and two-thirds of the world's population — said in a statement after talks in St. Andrews, Scotland, that economic recovery is "uneven and remains dependent on policy support."

Israel: Don't quit, Abbas

TEL AVIV — Israel's president on Saturday called on Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to rescind his decision to stand down, invoking the memory of Yitzhak Rabin at a public commemoration for the assassinated Israeli premier.

Shimon Peres spoke to a crowd of thousands at the square where Rabin was gunned down by a Jewish extremist who opposed his peace policies on Nov. 4, 1995.

Peres recalled that along with Rabin, he and Abbas were among signatories to the 1993 Oslo peace accord and he appealed to Abbas by name not to quit. "We both signed the Oslo agreement," Peres said. "I turn to you as a colleague, don't let go."

Mexico: Storm's approach

CANCUN — Officials readied storm shelters along Mexico's Caribbean coast Saturday and told fishermen and tour operators to pull in their boats amid warnings that Tropical Storm Ida could become a hurricane as it neared the resort city of Cancun.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said Ida's winds strengthened to near 70 mph, just short of a Category 1 hurricane. Ida's forecast track moved slightly toward the north, on a path that would take it through the middle of the Yucatan Channel that separates Mexico and Cuba around midday today.

Mexico: Opium seized

MORELIA — The Mexican army said Saturday it has seized a shipment of almost a quarter-ton of opium in the country's northern mountains, one of the largest such seizures made in Mexico.

The 448 pounds of opium paste was found Thursday hidden in nine plastic containers in the township of Guadalupe y Calvo, in the border state of Chihuahua, the Defense Department said in a statement. Seven rifles, three pistols and nearly 10,000 rounds of ammunition also were found. The army said it could have yielded 200,000 doses of heroin or similar drugs. Also Saturday, one policeman was killed and four wounded in an attack by gunmen in a drug-plagued part of southern Mexico.

Russia: Nuclear deal?

MOSCOW — Russia and the United States have a good chance of reaching a new nuclear arms reduction deal before year's end, but other nuclear powers must join disarmament efforts, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in remarks released Saturday.

Medvedev also told Germany's Der Spiegel magazine he has been working well with his predecessor Vladimir Putin, and predictions of a rift between him and Putin — widely seen as pulling the strings in Russia — are overblown. The U.S.-Russian arms control talks are moving at a good pace, Medvedev also said.