Quake rattles southern Caribbean; no injuries or damage reported

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) – A moderate earthquake shook the southern Caribbean yesterday. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

The tremor had a preliminary magnitude of 5.0 and struck at 10:48 am 20 miles (30 kilometres) north-west of Trinidad’s capital of Port of Spain, according to the US Geological Survey.

Cuba declines to renew credentials for 3 correspondents

HAVANA, Cuba (AP) – Cuban press authorities have told the Havana correspondents for the Chicago Tribune, the BBC and a major Mexican newspaper that they can no longer report from the island.

The Chicago Tribune said correspondent Gary Marx, based in the country since 2002, was told Wednesday that his stories were too negative. His press credentials were not renewed during an annual process, and he and his family were given 90 days to leave Cuba, the newspaper said.

The Mexican newspaper El Universal said Cesar Gonzalez Calero, its Havana reporter since 2003, was told this week his credentials would not be renewed. Authorities told him his reporting was “not the most convenient for the Cuban government”, the reporter said, adding he would be allowed to remain in Cuba as the husband of a Spanish journalist.

The British Broadcasting Corporation was “talking to the authorities in Havana about the status of its Cuba correspondent after his accreditation was withdrawn”, spokeswoman Karen Rosine said yesterday in a statement from London. Without naming correspondent Stephen Gibbs, Rosine said he “remains in Cuba, pending the outcome of these discussions”.

Jose Luis Ponce, director of Cuba’s International Press Centre, said the government would have no immediate comment on the correspondents’ status.

Havana in recent years has grown increasingly sensitive about how the international media portrays the communist-run nation.

It is especially touchy about reports distributed in the United States and their possible impact on US public opinion amid efforts by Washington to tighten more than four decades of travel and trade restrictions. And officials have been enraged by speculation in the foreign press about the health of Fidel Castro, who temporarily ceded power to his brother Raul after undergoing intestinal surgery in July.

Anna Nicole Smith saga moves to the Bahamas

NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) – With a feud over Anna Nicole Smith’s resting place resolved by a Florida court, judges in the Bahamas were preparing to take up disputes over custody of the late model’s five-month-old daughter and ownership of her waterfront residence.

A hearing to determine guardianship of the girl, Dannielynn, is expected to resume behind closed doors Monday with appearances by Smith’s estranged mother, Virgie Arthur, and the former Playboy Playmate’s boyfriend, Howard K Stern.

Arthur is seeking to take custody of the girl from Stern, who is listed as Dannielynn’s father on the birth certificate. Arthur’s attorneys in the Bahamas said they would argue in court that she can provide a more stable home than Stern.

Arthur and Stern missed the opening hearing Thursday because they were in court in Florida, where Smith’s body was ordered to the Bahamas for burial. A gag order prevented attorneys from the two sides from discussing the proceedings with the press.

The judge in the case has barred Stern from taking the infant out of the island nation until a decision is made on custody.

A separate hearing Monday, also at the Supreme Court, is to consider a claim from G Ben Thompson, a South Carolina developer who once dated Smith, who says he owns the gated mansion where she was living, according to Thompson’s Bahamian attorney, Godfrey Pinder.

Pinder said Stern would have to vacate the house “immediately” if his client wins the verdict. “He’s occupying the house illegally,” he said.

Thompson says he loaned Smith money for the house, known as “Horizons”, but she did not honour an agreement to pay the debt. Smith’s camp has said the house was a gift.

A nanny has been caring for Dannielynn at the mansion during Stern’s time in Florida.