World in brief

Barrier decision prompts sides to seek new support

JERUSALEM - Israelis and Palestinians were lining up support for a showdown at the United Nations over Israel's planned security barrier in the West Bank, while violence erupted in the Gaza Strip and four Palestinians were killed.

Palestinians and the Arab world were elated by a nonbinding world court ruling Friday that declared the barrier illegal and said it should be dismantled.

The Palestinians have said they'll seek the support of the world body's members in the General Assembly, then go to the 15-nation Security Council, which can order action.

Israel said the International Court of Justice in The Hague had no right to make such a decision, and it planned to continue building the 425-mile barrier of high concrete walls, razor-wire fences, trenches and watchtowers.

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said he asked U.S. officials to prevent the adoption of any U.N. resolution aimed at enforcing the court's ruling.

In the Gaza Strip, an explosion on Saturday killed four Palestinians in what Palestinian officials said was an Israeli tank attack on a car in al-Zahra, on the outskirts of Gaza City. The army said it had not fired at any vehicles.

HAVANA - Members of an American humanitarian aid group arrived in Cuba Saturday in defiance of U.S. law and wearing T-shirts calling for "regime change" in the United States.

About 120 volunteers with Pastors for Peace flew in from Tampico, Mexico, where they had loaded a caravan of 12 vehicles filled with goods including medicine, computers and bicycles onto boats bound for Cuba - all in violation of a long-running U.S. trade embargo.

"We know in our hearts and in our heads ... that the blockade is immoral, is illegal, is illogical and is unjust," said the Rev. Lucius Walker, a Baptist minister from New Jersey who founded Pastors for Peace.

CUBA REVIEWS MILITARY RECRUITMENT: Cuba has ordered a study of its military recruitment program, hoping to enlist more young men in the armed forces during a period in which authorities say they are increasingly concerned about a U.S.-led military attack.

A special commission to "study, propose and control (military) recruitment policies and their ties with the nation's education program" will be created under a decree signed July 2 by President Fidel Castro and his brother, Defense Minister Raul Castro.

INTROD, Italy - In a major gesture toward Russian Orthodox Christians, Pope John Paul II will return a revered icon that the Vatican has held for three decades, the Vatican said Saturday.

The announcement, made while John Paul is vacationing in this Alpine hamlet near France, came as a surprise, although the Vatican has been talking about a return since Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the Vatican in November.

The icon of the Mother of God of Kazan usually hangs in John Paul's private chapel.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa - It took him two tries, but South African Philip Rabinowitz made it into the Guinness Book of World Records Saturday as the fastest 100-year-old to run 100 meters.

Rabinowitz made his run at the Green Point stadium in 30.86 seconds, beating the previous record of 36.1 seconds.

Last week Rabinowitz also broke the record, clocking 28.7 seconds at the Mandela Park Athletics stadium in Khayelitsha, outside Cape Town. But a power outage stopped the official electronic clock, so the time was not recorded or recognized.

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