C. America on alert as hurricane rina strengthens

Rina grew from a category 2 storm into a major hurricane 17:00 local time (1000 GMT) Tuesday, prompting Central American countries to take emergency measures. The U.S. Hurricane Center reported the hurricane was 440 km southeast of the Mexican tourist island of Cozumel at the time, and is expected to make landfall on the country's Yucatan Peninsula early Thursday. Rina, with maximum sustained winds between 110 and 175 km per hour, would affect an area including Honduras, Belize, Mexico and Cuba. Starting as a tropical storm Sunday night, the sixth of its like in the current Atlantic Hurricane Season. Cuba's Institute of Meteorology said Rina's trajectory has changed since Monday, but possible dangers remain as the hurricane could still cross the western area of Cuba on Friday or Saturday. Central American countries have issued emergency declarations after torrential rains inflicted enormous damages since last week, leaving some 140 people dead and 2 million other affected across Central America and southern Mexico, according to UN agencies. Presidents from El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Honduras on Tuesday met in San Salvador to discuss recovery measures to undo damages caused by the week-long torrential rains. The presidents also studied the possibility of asking for international humanitarian help to support the reconstruction of their disaster-hit countries.