Around the World

Around the World

Cuba: U.S. gov't was notified of refugees

The Coast Guard began searching for survivors from the small power boat on Thursday after fishermen two miles off Fort Lauderdale, Fla., found 5-year-old Elian Gonzalez clinging to an innertube. Coast Guard officials said the boat capsized Tuesday.

Two adult survivors and seven bodies had been found by the time the search was called off on Saturday.

''The entire responsibility for these new and painful deaths falls on the government of the United States because of the senseless way that illegal immigration is promoted, stimulated and rewarded from that country,'' the Cuban Foreign Ministry said in a declaration read over Cuban state radio stations.

Coast Guard officials declined to offer an immediate reaction yesterday.

Also yesterday, Cuba said the boy had been kidnapped by his mother - who died in the voyage - and that he should be returned to his father.

Naked man attacks church with sword

Six of the injured suffered stab wounds, including a man who lost part of a hand. The others were hurt in a stampede to get out of St. Andrew's Roman Catholic Church in Thornton Heath, a London suburb.

Two other men armed with sticks followed the man into the church, lashing out at some of the 400-member congregation, priest Canon John Lennon, said.

11-29-99