CHARLOTTE AMALIE, U.S. Virgin Islands - At least 5,500 residents of St. Croix, the largest of the U.S. Virgin Islands, have signed a petition asking Congress to make the island its own U.S. territory.

Supporters say seceding from the rest of the Virgin Islands would bring the island more U.S. funds. St. Croix is poorer than the two other main islands of St. Thomas and St. John.

Volunteers, who are still collecting signatures, plan to give the petition to Congress in the near future, said Rena Brodhurst, president of the Committee for St. Croix's Self-Government. But some admit they are not optimistic about its chances for success.

Only about 20 percent of St. Croix's 27,000 registered voters have signed, and reorganizing the territorial government would take major legislative changes.

Still, the petition will draw attention to St. Croix's economic needs, said Donna Christensen, the U.S. Caribbean territory's nonvoting representative in Congress and a St. Croix native.

"I believe in the principle that St. Croix needs more attention ... Their position is a bit extreme, but I signed it just to draw some attention," she said.

Though St. Croix is home to the Western Hemisphere's second largest oil refinery and the Cruzan Rum distillery, unemployment is at about 13 percent compared to 9 percent on the other two islands.

St. Croix residents voted four of their seven territorial senators out of office in elections on Nov. 2. Many residents complained they were poorly represented and received less than their share of government money.

MEXICO CITY - Mexico and a U.S. environmental group agreed on a plan to protect 370,000 acres of tropical forest on the Yucatan Peninsula in what officials said Friday was the largest conservation project in the country's history.As a result of the $3 million expropriation, published Friday in the federal registry, the land will be included in the core conservation zone of the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, a 1.8-million acre area that contains significant Mayan ruins and is home to hundreds of exotic plant and animal species, including the largest jaguar population outside of the Amazon.

ATHENS, Greece - The final cost of the Athens Olympics soared to about $11.6 billion - at least $3.1 billion more than originally estimated.The figure did not include transportation projects such as the new tram line, suburban rail network and extension of the Athens metro system to the airport, Finance Minister Giorgos Alogoskoufis said Friday."The Olympic Games were an investment, but the Greek people should know how much they have cost," he said.The previous socialist government, which lost to the conservatives in March elections, had placed the cost of the Aug. 13 to 29 Olympics and Paralympics that followed in September at $5.9 billion. The budget of the organizing committee, which was managed as a separate company and had a separate budget of nearly $2.6 billion, would have brought that total up to about $8.51 billion.The government has blamed the inflated costs on construction delays and unprecedented security.Athens spent $1.39 billion on defending the games against a potential terrorist attack - about the cost of the entire Sydney Olympics in 2000, Alogoskoufis said.