World in brief

Fox: U.S. must obey World Court

MEXICO CITY - Mexican President Vicente Fox said Friday the International Court of Justice and the United Nations will have to take action if the United States doesn't comply with a ruling that it review the cases of 51 Mexicans on death row.

In an interview with the board of directors for the Associated Press Managing Editors, Fox declined to say, however, whether Mexico would take additional measures if the U.S. government does not follow the order.

The International Court of Justice, the United Nations' highest judiciary, ruled Wednesday that the United States violated the rights of Mexican inmates by denying them assistance from their government, a right guaranteed under the 1963 Vienna Convention.

The court ordered the United States to review the Mexican cases, but the U.S. government has ignored court rulings in the past.

TBILISI, Georgia - Georgia has detained four men on suspicion of plotting to assassinate the president, and authorities on Friday accused the autonomous province of Adzharia of being behind the alleged plot. The Adzharian leader rejected the accusation.

Deputy state security minister Gigi Ugulava said that the arrests were made over nine days beginning March 23 and that two other suspects are at large and believed to be in Adzharia's capital, Batumi.

Ugulava said the men were working under the direction of Adzharian security minister Soso Gogitidze, his deputy Gogi Kupreishvili and other provincial officials.

TORONTO - Canada's new prime minister, Paul Martin, will make his first official visit to the United States this month for talks with President Bush likely to touch on the war on terror and border security, officials said. A formal date and agenda have yet to be worked out.

U.S. officials have praised Canadian efforts to improve border security, but Canada's auditor general, Sheila Fraser, said last month that Canada has not tightened its security procedures sufficiently after the Sept. 11 attacks.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - A day after a public confession, a handyman denied Friday he killed an American couple, Todd and Michelle Staheli, and blamed two other Brazilians for the crime.

Jociel Conceicao dos Santos, 20, was placed into Brazil's witness protection program after recanting his confession delivered at a police news conference.

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