World in brief

Cuba rules delayed a month

MIAMI - The enforcement of new U.S. regulations on travel to Cuba will be delayed by one month for U.S. residents who legally traveled to the island and can't get back before the new rules take effect next week, the Treasury Department said Friday.

The reprieve means U.S. residents on the island visiting relatives or under "fully hosted" licenses will not be hit with the $7,500 fine that kicks in June 30 if they get back by 12:01 a.m. Aug. 1.

The new regulations have created a frenzy among Cuban Americans at the Miami and Havana airports, with thousands of people scurrying to get in or out of the island before the deadline Wednesday.

"The purpose of this is to help people who logistically can't get out of Cuba before June 30," said Molly Millerwise, a Treasury spokeswoman.

The delay applies only to those in Cuba on or before June 29.

June 30 restrictions on family visits to once every three years, instead of annually, remain intact, as do limitations on baggage, gift parcels and remittances.

The measures are part of a long list of tightenings of U.S. sanctions on Cuba that President Bush ordered last month in an attempt to hasten the fall of the communist government and speed a transition to democracy.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - The United Nations took command of a peacekeeping mission Friday, relieving a U.S.-led force a day after Air France's director in the country was shot and killed.

The death of Didier Mortet was the latest in a rash of violence that poses a major challenge to the U.N. force that will help Haiti's U.S.-backed interim leaders stabilize the nation after former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide was pushed from power on Feb. 29.

Mortet, 49, was riding in a car with his wife and a chauffeur when gunmen on a motorcycle fired, hitting him twice, said French Embassy spokesman Eric Bosc.

Although the official transfer was earlier this month, U.N. troops assumed command Friday from a 3,600-member U.S.-led multinational force that included France, Canada and Chile. Most of the American troops had left Haiti by Friday night.

A Brazilian-led force of an estimated 6,700 troops and more than 1,000 international police will work with the interim government for six months to prepare the country for elections next year and train the police.

UNITED NATIONS - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Friday he will team up with Secretary of State Colin Powell in Sudan next week to pressure the government to end a 16-month ethnic conflict. He also raised the possibility of sending in international troops.

Annan said his wants to ensure the Sudanese government can protect thousands of civilians in western Darfur and disarm Arab militias blamed for widespread attacks that have killed up to 30,000 people and forced 1-million to flee their homes.

"If the Sudanese government doesn't have the capacity to protect its population, the international community must be prepared to assist, and the Sudanese government should seek such assistance," Annan said.

TWO PALESTINIANS KILLED: Israeli soldiers enforcing a curfew in Nablus killed two Palestinians and seriously wounded two Friday, the second day of a large-scale search for fugitives and bomb labs in the West Bank city.

71 KILLED IN CRASH, EXPLOSIONS: A gasoline tanker truck slammed into a row of packed buses, setting off fiery explosions that killed at least 71 people and injured 108 in southeastern Iran, officials said Friday.

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