World datelines

Cuba: No special welcome

HAVANA — Cuba has made no special preparations for a potential avalanche of American tourists if Washington moves forward with a plan to loosen rules on travel to the island, a top official said Tuesday.

The statements made by Maria Elena Lopez, a deputy tourism minister, came as U.S. lawmakers presented measures that could allow Americans to visit Cuba for the first time in decades. The changes would also prevent U.S. President Barack Obama from stopping travel here except in extreme cases.

Argentina: Ex-leader dies

BUENOS AIRES — Raul Alfonsin, whose presidency came to symbolize the return of democracy across Latin America from an era of military dictatorship, has died.

Alfonsin's personal doctor, Alberto Sadler, said the former Argentine president died of lung cancer on Tuesday. He was 82. Vice President Julio Cobos declared three days of mourning.

Alfonson's presidential inauguration on Dec. 10, 1983, ended more than seven years of a repressive military regime that left at least 13,000 disappeared.

Canada: Hitman guilty

MONTREAL — A Canadian hit man whose victims included outlaw bikers, Mafiosi and innocent bystanders pleaded guilty Tuesday to 27 charges of first-degree murder in a case that makes him one of Canada's worst killers.

Gerald Gallant, who has become a police informant while already serving a life sentence for a 2001 slaying, also pleaded guilty to 12 charges of attempted murder and a handful of other charges.

The killings between 1978 and 2003 targeted members of motorcycle gangs, mobsters and people in street gangs.

S. Korea: North warned

SEOUL — Leaders of South Korea and Britain urged North Korea to forgo its planned rocket launch as international pressure mounted on the communist regime just days before the impending launch.

North Korea says it will send a communications satellite into orbit on a multi-stage rocket between April 4 and 8. The U.S., South Korea and Japan think the communist regime is using the launch to test long-range missile technology, and they warn Pyongyang would face sanctions under a U.N. Security Council resolution banning the country from ballistic activity

Brazil: Pigeon smugglers