Puerto Rico blast

An explosion early Friday morning at a gasoline facility in Puerto Rico rocked a neighbourhood outside Puerto Rico’s capital, San Juan, causing at least some minor injuries and forcing evacuations as firefighters raced to prevent additional blasts.

Authorities said the cause and the scale of the damage were not immediately clear.

US FBI agents on the scene were among those investigating what caused the blast around 12:30 a.m Eastern Caribbean time.

A police helicopter that flew over the area confirmed that 11 of more than 30 tanks had exploded.

MP faces contempt charge

An opposition MP in the Bahamas is facing contempt charges today after he pre-emptively announced that one of the defendants on trial for extortion against American actor John Travolta had been freed.

Consequently the judge hearing the case ordered a retrial.

Picewell Forbes, of the Progressive Liberal Party, will be asked to show why he shouldn’t be cited for contempt of court.

Forbes told his party’s annual convention – which was being covered live on television and radio – that a former senator, one of two people on trial in the case, was a “free woman”.

But the jury was still deliberating.

Former senator Pleasant Bridgewater and ambulance driver Tarino Lightbourne are accused of attempting to extort US$25 million from John Travolta after the death of his 16-year-old son Jett in the Bahamas in January.

Tobago stays

The Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago has said that any secession of Tobago from Trinidad would be an “undesired” event that would not be in the best interest of the country.

Speaking in Tobago Prime Minister Patrick Manning said while his government is exploring the issue of maximum autonomy for Tobago, there were no plans for a split.

The issue came up in a discussion about the authority of the local government in Tobago over acquisition of lands on the island by national authorities.