From staff and wire reports

                  WASHINGTON -- The father of 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez says he will not
                  travel to Miami to become involved in "political games" and he feels like
                  "breaking the neck" of politicians trying to prevent his son from returning to
                  Cuba.

                  The Miami politicians "do not take into account that this is only a 6-year-old
                  child," Juan Miguel Gonzalez said on the ABC program Nightline, which
                  aired late Thursday. His son and "all of his relatives" in Cuba are suffering
                  because of the political and legal maneuvering which is keeping them apart,
                  the father added.

                  "Perhaps I might be a little bit crazy because I would feel like breaking
                  the neck of all those SOBs," Gonzalez said.

                  In another development, federal immigration authorities have formally
                  rejected a second request for asylum for the boy, a government official
                  told CNN.

                  In a letter to be sent to attorneys for the boy's Miami relatives, the U.S.
                  Immigration and Naturalization Service repeated its position that only the
                  Cuban father, Juan Gonzalez, legally speaks for the child.

                  A senior official told CNN late Thursday that the letter informs the Miami
                  attorneys that the INS "cannot accept the asylum application" since the
                  agency has already declared that only the father may act on Elian's behalf.

                  The letter also says the latest application contained no new information
                  except for the signature of Elian's great-uncle, Lazaro Gonzalez, and
                  information on a Florida court custody ruling that the Justice Department
                  says has no effect on the INS decision.

                  Boy should be with dad, Reno says

                  This second request for asylum was filed Wednesday by lawyers for Lazaro
                  Gonzalez two days after the Florida court granted tentative custody of Elian
                  to Miami relatives pending a March hearing.

                  Attorney General Janet Reno said that everyone involved in the international
                  custody dispute over the boy should pull together and act quickly in his
                  best interests.

                  "I think it is so important that people of good will come together, work
                  through the processes of the law as soon as possible, and get the boy
                  home to his father," Reno said at her weekly news conference on
                  Thursday.

                  Elian has stayed with relatives in Miami since the boat that was carrying him
                  and 12 other Cubans trying to reach the United States capsized off Florida
                  in late November. Elian and two others survived; his mother and stepfather
                  were among 10 people who died in the shipwreck.

                 Grandmother wants boy back

                  "The issue is a father who wants his son home and grandparents who want
                  their grandson home, and these are bonds that should be honored," Reno
                  said.

                  In Cuba, Elian's maternal grandmother said Thursday that his mother would
                  not "rest in peace" until Elian returns to his homeland.

                  Raquel Rodriguez said that while her daughter, Elisabet Broton Rodriguez,
                  had taken Elian out of Cuba in a bid to reach the United States, her dying
                  wish for the boy would have been to reunite him with his father in Cuba.

                  "She cannot rest in peace until the boy returns here; she cannot be at peace
                  while she sees her boy suffering," Rodriguez told state television in
                  Cardenas, the Cuban town that Elian's mother left in November and where
                  his father lives.

                  "I know what she was like, because I was -- I am -- her mother. Her will,
                  given that she died, is that the boy is here with us, not with them, because
                  they are doing him damage."

                  The grandmother said she spoke this week by telephone with Elian, who
                  told her he had dreamed of his father.

                 Miami lawyer says lawsuit to be filed

                  On Wednesday, Reno said any challenge to the INS decision to return Elian
                  to Cuba would have to be carried out in federal court.

                  A lawyer for Elian's Miami relatives, Jose Garcia- Pedrosa, said the family
                  will file a federal lawsuit on January 18 seeking political asylum for the boy.

                  Reno appealed for all involved to get on with the legal process and act
                  quickly so that Elian can get on with his life.

                  "My hope is that people will look at this little boy and get him into a
                  situation where he can live a normal life without television cameras and the
                  world in his face," she said.

                  Reno said the battle, which has seen reporters camped out in front of Elian's
                  Miami relatives' home for weeks, is prolonging an already traumatic
                  experience for the child.

                  "There is a little 6-year-old boy who survived one of the most traumatic
                  events that any child could experience -- to lose his mother there in the Gulf
                  Stream, to float for as long as he did, and live to come ashore under the
                  circumstances that he did. We've just got to think about that little boy," Reno
                  said.

                 Last hours with mother

                  Elian's mother gave her coat and last fresh water to her son as they clung to
                  inner tubes in the seas between Florida and Cuba after their boat capsized,
                  caring for him until they drifted apart, a survivor of the shipwreck said
                  Wednesday.

                  "She asked him, 'Are you cold?' and he said, 'Yes, I'm cold, mama,' so she
                  took off her coat. She gave him water," Cuban migrant Nivaldo Fernandez
                  Ferran told a Miami radio station.

                  "We all fought to save ourselves, but she only wanted to save the life of her
                  son. ... At every moment she looked after the boy until she lost her life," he
                  said. "She just wanted to save her son. 'My son, my son,' she kept saying,"
                  Fernandez told Radio Mambi, a Spanish-language radio station linked to the
                  Cuban exile cause.

                  "He was very quiet. He never cried," Ferran said. The three who survived
                  were Elian, then aged 5; Ferran, 33, and a 23-year-old woman.

                 More protests in Cuba Friday

                  In Cuba, a highly placed government official told CNN it was "shameless"
                  that the INS would not enforce its order.

                  In Havana, Cubans are keeping up the pressure for Elian's return. Hundreds
                  of health workers rallied on Wednesday. The rally featured impassioned
                  speeches, folk music and children's dance performances.

                  Another protest of 100,000 people is planned on Friday, the day Elian was
                  supposed to return to Cuba.

                  In Miami, Cuban exile activists said they would not restart their civil
                  disobedience campaign while the case goes through the legal system.

                  Correspondents Martin Savidge, Mark Potter, Producer Terry Frieden,
                       The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.