Cuba shows it's hungry for American food

HAVANA -- Their appetites whetted after the first day of a major U.S. agribusiness show, Cuban officials on Friday signed another $1 million in contracts for American food.

With the $500,000 contract with PS International of North Carolina for dried peas and another $500,000 contract with Boston Agrex of Massachusetts for frozen chicken, Cuba has signed to buy about $18.5 million of U.S. food since the fair opened Thursday morning.

"We are opening the door," said Ramiro Velasquez, Latin America sales manager for California Rice, among the companies that has signed to sell Cuba food during the first two days of the five-day expo. "Cuba is a natural market for the United States."

Palestinians march on anniversary of uprising

JERUSALEM -- Defying curfews, hundreds of Palestinians marched in West Bank cities on Friday, marking the second anniversary of their uprising against Israel and its increasingly tight grip on the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

With Yasser Arafat still under siege at his largely destroyed headquarters, another popular Palestinian leader, Marwan Barghouti, said in a message from an Israeli prison that the fighting will continue.

"The third year of the uprising will see the occupation collapse," Barghouti said in written comments carried out of an Israeli jail by his lawyer.

At a rally in the West Bank town of Ramallah, Israeli troops fired tear gas and rubber bullets at youths who threw rocks, but a larger group of demonstrators peacefully beat drums and chanted anti-Israel slogans.

Schwarzenegger against 'Terminator' statue plan

GRAZ, Austria -- Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to terminate a plan to build a giant "Terminator" statue in his hometown.

The Forum Stadtpark wants to build an 82-foot metal statue in a park in central Graz, a city in southern Austria.

The statue, which would hold a giant globe above its head, would tower over the park's trees and more traditional statues.

The project would cost about $4.9 million, which has yet to be raised.

Angelika Reitzer, manager for the forum, said Friday that a letter from the 55-year-old actor, who lives in California, said "he was flattered but that he thought it would be better to spend the money on social projects and the Special Olympics."

-- From wire reports