World in brief

Curtailed Haiti cruise heads back to Florida

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - A cruise marking the 200th anniversary of Haiti's independence made only a brief visit to a remote beach Thursday after American organizers canceled other tours, citing concerns about the government that replaced ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

The cruise, billed as "Cruising Into History," arrived Thursday morning in the northern beach of Labadee, said Frandley Julien, who helped coordinate the visit. About 450 people were on board. The ship left in the afternoon to return to Florida.

Organizer Ron Daniels, of the nonprofit Haiti Support Project, announced the cancellations in a recent statement, saying otherwise it "could be construed as endorsing or legitimizing the U.S.-installed government."

Organizers canceled visits to about 10 other sites in Haiti. Actor Danny Glover, one of the organizers, boycotted the trip altogether.

JERUSALEM - Embattled leaders Ariel Sharon and Yasser Arafat rebuffed demands from their backers Thursday, holding steadfast to positions posing great political risk: Sharon insisted he will press on with efforts to pull out of Gaza despite a stinging rebuke from his party, while Arafat refused to sign reform legislation.

The internal power struggles foreshadowed difficulties for Sharon's plan to evacuate all 21 Jewish settlements in Gaza and four in the West Bank, as well as hopes for meaningful reform of the corruption-plagued Palestinian administration and its security forces.

The political struggles played out against a backdrop of violence.

Israeli soldiers shot and killed an 18-year-old Palestinian in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, witnesses and hospital officials said.

Two others were wounded, including a 13-year-old boy. Witnesses said the shooting was unprovoked. The army said soldiers fired at two Palestinians in an off-limits zone, hitting one.

Also, Palestinian militants fired five homemade rockets from the Gaza Strip at the Israeli town of Sderot, slightly wounding a 10-year-old boy, Israeli rescue workers said. More than 30 others were treated for shock, they said.

HAVANA - Cuba on Thursday called on unions and neighborhood groups to mobilize members for a huge cleanup effort to pick up trees and debris flung in the streets when Hurricane Charley ripped through the island Aug. 13 on its way to Florida.

The effort, to take place Saturday and Sunday, is necessary to help speed up recovery in Charley's aftermath, Pedro Saez, the Communist Party's first secretary for Havana, told Cuba's National Information Agency.

TSKHINVALI, Georgia - Explosions and gunfire echoed over this regional capital Thursday as government troops battled South Ossetian separatists over key hills outside town, after a week of near nightly clashes that escalated into some of the worst fighting in a decade.

Georgian Interior Minister Irakly Okruashvili said government forces captured hills overlooking a key road that links ethnic Georgian villages with the rest of Georgia, but officials in the breakaway region disputed that claim.

Both sides said government troops began pulling back after nightfall, and Georgia's president offered to withdraw all forces if fighting stops.

South Ossetia's military chief said three civilians were killed by Georgian shelling of Tskhinvali on Thursday, while Georgian officials reported three soldiers died overnight and claimed to have killed eight "Cossack mercenaries."

World and national headlines

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times 490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 Contact the Times | Privacy Policy Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright