Florence rises to hurricane status

Florence intensified into the second hurricane of the Atlantic season Sunday as it neared Bermuda, where residents stocked up on provisions and formed long lines at gas stations in the lashing rain.

Florence is expected to pass “very near” the tiny British territory today, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. But it was too early to tell whether it would make a direct hit.

Preparations to protect life and property “should be rushed to completion,” the hurricane center said.

The Category 1 hurricane, which had had maximum sustained winds near 90 mph Sunday evening, is expected to become a Category 2 hurricane as it passes Bermuda, according to the hurricane center.

The storm is expected to veer from the U.S. coast as it turns north toward Bermuda, 640 miles east of the United States. Forecasters said the hurricane is creating high surf and dangerous rip currents in the Bahamas and along parts of the Atlantic coast of the United States.

VIENNA, Austria

Iran might make nuclear concession

Iran is ready to consider complying – at least temporarily – with a U.N. Security Council demand that it freeze uranium enrichment, which can be used in developing atomic weapons, diplomats said Sunday.

Such a concession would be a major departure by Tehran as it faces possible U.N. sanctions for its nuclear defiance; it also would be a huge step toward defusing a confrontation over the program Iran says is aimed only at generating electricity.

The compromise was mentioned by senior Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani during two-day talks that ended Sunday with European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, the diplomats said.

TAMPA, Fla.

Southeast escapes quake damage

The largest earthquake to strike the eastern Gulf of Mexico in the last 30 years sent shock waves from Louisiana to southwestern Florida on Sunday, but it did little more than rattle residents.

The magnitude 6.0 earthquake, centered about 260 miles southwest of Tampa, was too small to trigger a tsunami or dangerous waves, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The agency received more than 2,800 reports from people who felt the 10:56 a.m. quake. Scientists said it was the largest and most widely felt of more than a dozen earthquakes recorded in the region in three decades.

The most prevalent vibration, which lasted for about 20 seconds, was felt on the gulf coast of Florida and in southern Georgia. But residents in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana also called in reports.

The temblor was unusual because it was not centered on a known fault line. The “midplate” earthquake, deep under the gulf, probably was the result of stresses generated by the interaction of tectonic plates in the Earth’s crust, experts said.