Guantanamo Bay, Cuba

A senior United States official has described as a "significant step" Portugal's offer of asylum for some inmates from the US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has reported.

John Bellinger, legal adviser to the US secretary of state, told the BBC the move was the first break in a European refusal to help shut down the camp.

In a letter to EU members last week, Portugal urged them to follow its lead.

The US has cleared 50 to 60 detainees for release, but it cannot repatriate them due to the risk of mistreatment.

President-elect Barack Obama has pledged to close down the detention centre soon after he takes office in January, but he is yet to set out what will happen to the 250 men currently being held there.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP):

The Dominican Republic says it will find jobs for most of the 900 workers laid off at the country's largest nickel mine.

President Leonel Fernández says developers of the Punta Perla resort have promised to hire 200 laid-off workers and most of the rest will be hired by the government's environment, agriculture and public works departments. He says about 90 workers could qualify for early retirement.

Toronto-based Xstrata Nickel recently laid off about 70 per cent of its workers at local subsidiary Falconbridge Dominicana. It's a subsidiary of Anglo-Swiss Xstrata PLC.

Fernández also said Friday that scholarships are available for the workers' children.

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP):

Jamaica is suspending plans for a multimillion-dollar expansion of a popular tourist port in Kingston because no one wants to finance it.

A spokesman for the island's port authority says the $122 million project at the Kingston Wharf will be pushed back one year. Pat Belinfanti says construction might start in 2011.

He said Friday that several international banks backed off, citing the global financial crisis after initially saying they might finance the project.

The development would include construction of duty-free shops and a renovation of the nearby Port Royal town as a cruise-ship destination.

The crisis also is responsible for hundreds of hotel layoffs across the Caribbean and paralysing resort construction.

ST JOHN'S, Antigua (AP):

A judge in Antigua has granted bail to a 31-year-old woman accused in the killing of a honeymooning British couple.

Jeorgette Aaron was released Friday on a $22,000 bond. She also was told to surrender her passport and report to police three times a week.

Aaron was previously denied bail in August. She is one of five people awaiting trial for the July 27 shooting of newlyweds Catherine and Benjamin Mullany in a hillside resort cottage.

Aaron is charged with obstructing justice and accessory to robbery and murder.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP):

A Haitian journalist has been sentenced to one month in prison for allegedly defaming a former senator.

Radio Metropole reports that Joseph Guyler Delva was sentenced in absentia and that he is appealing the decision.

Neither Guyler nor former senator Rudolphe Boulos could be reached for comment Friday.

Guyler heads the Haitian press association SOS Journalistes.