Caribbean news briefs

BAHAMAS: Travolta family returns to US with 16-year-old son's cremated remains

FREEPORT, Bahamas (AP) — Actor John Travolta and wife Kelly Preston have returned to Florida with the remains of their 16-year-old son, Jett, who died at the family vacation home in Grand Bahama.

The couple received an urn with his ashes and left the island chain on Monday night, according to Obie Wilchcombe, a member of the Bahamas parliament and a family friend.

"Everything was in place, the cremation was completed, and they decided to leave," Wilchcombe told The Associated Press on Tuesday. He said the family is back in Ocala, Florida, where they have a home.

Doctors in the Bahamas performed an autopsy on Jett on Monday but did not release results. However, a Bahamas undertaker told the AP the teen's death certificate had "seizure" as the cause of death.

Jett Travolta had a history of seizures and was found unconscious Friday in a bathroom.

The body was in "great condition," said Glen Campbell, assistant director of the Bahamas funeral home that handled Jett's remains, though police officials had said the teen hit his head on a bathtub.

A memorial service for Jett will be held Thursday for family and close friends this week in Ocala, his publicist said.

In Ocala, Mayor Randy Ewers said the city sent the Travolta family condolences and will give them space and privacy.

ARUBA: Prosecutor: Evidence still being pursued in Holloway case but probe nearing end

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Aruban prosecutors said Tuesday their investigation into the 2005 disappearance of U.S. teenager Natalee Holloway is nearing the end and appealed for anyone with information to come forward.

Chief Prosecutor Hans Mos said his office still needs "at least another few months" to investigate statements made by the only remaining suspect, Joran van der Sloot, during a hidden-camera interview which was broadcast on Dutch television last year.

But he then said prosecutors "are approaching the end of this lengthy investigation."

"If you have relevant information — no matter how small or uninteresting it may seem — please notify my office or the police," Mos said in a statement Tuesday.

Holloway, from Mountain Brook, Alabama, was last seen in May 2005 leaving a bar in the Aruban capital Oranjestad with Van der Sloot on the final night of a high school graduation trip to the island. She was 18 at the time.

No trace of Holloway has ever been found despite extensive searches involving hundreds of volunteers, Aruban soldiers, FBI agents and even Dutch F-16 jets with special equipment.

Aruban investigators reopened the case last year based on the hidden-camera recordings made by Dutch television crime reporter Peter R. de Vries.

But judges rejected an attempt to re-arrest Van der Sloot for statements he made on the Dutch TV show. The hidden-camera recordings showed Van der Sloot saying he was with Holloway when she died on the Dutch Caribbean island and that he had a friend dump her body at sea.

GUANTANAMO: US judge blasts Bush administration as hiding evidence in case of detainee

WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. judge on Tuesday accused the Bush administration of hiding evidence in the case of a Yemen man who has been held as a terror suspect at Guantanamo Bay for six years.

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan said he was forced to delay ruling on whether to free Aymen Saeed Batarfi because as many as 10 documents of classified information were withheld from the court until recently.

"I think it's unfair, I think it's disingenuous," Sullivan said during an hourlong hearing.

He added: "This government, especially, hides the ball when it suits this government's purpose."

In Tuesday's case, Justice Department attorneys admitted that at least some of the recently revealed documents dated back to September.

But Justice attorney John Henebery said the government did not believe the information had to be turned over immediately.

The information in the documents — compiled by the Defense Department and other government intelligence agencies — is unknown because it is classified. Much of the evidence in the cases of hundreds of detainees who are seeking release in U.S. District Court in Washington will never be made public.

Batarfi's attorneys say the 38-year-old Yemen doctor was first held by U.S. forces at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan in late 2001 and transferred to the U.S. naval station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in April 2002.

GUYANA: Guyana to build canal, flood-control gates to improve response to coastal flooding

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — Guyana's agriculture minister says the government will build a canal and flood-control gates to improve response to annual flooding in rural towns along the coast.

Robert Persaud says $15 million has been allocated for a 6-mile-long (9-kilometer) canal to help drain stagnant water from rice and sugar-cane fields in low-lying villages. The work will be completed in a year, he said Tuesday.

December rains inundated dozens of seaside towns and farms, temporarily displacing hundreds of people. Nearly 70 were treated for leptospirosis, a disease spread through contaminated water.

Most of Guyana's 270-mile (435-kilometer) coastline is nearly 6 feet (1.8 meters) below the Atlantic, and flash floods are a constant threat during rains.

CRICKET: New Zealand wins toss, bowls in 3rd one-dayer against West Indies

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand has won the toss and chosen to bowl in the third limited-overs cricket international against the West Indies.

Jacob Oram was passed fit after concern over an Achilles tendon injury, allowing New Zealand to retain the team which lost the second match of the five match series by five wickets on Saturday.

The West Indies were able to include Shivnarine Chanderpaul for the first time in the series as the veteran batsman overcame a hand injury.

Captain Chris Gayle said the tourists are eager to build on their 1-0 series lead Wednesday.