A package of news briefs from the Caribbean

JAMAICA: Police receive toxicology results for slain coach but release no details

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) _ Jamaican police investigating the killing of Pakistan's coach at the Cricket World Cup have received results of toxicology tests but released no information about the findings Saturday.

"We have received the toxicology report but we're not going to go public with it right now," Deputy Police Commissioner Mark Shields told reporters at the Kingston hotel where coach Bob Woolmer's body was found the day after his team was eliminated from the World Cup.

Shields, a former Scotland Yard detective who is heading the homicide probe, said the results would "require further analysis and investigation" in coming days.

British detectives conducting a review of the investigation have delivered their findings to police, but Shields did not disclose details of that report either.

Woolmer's death March 18 shocked the global cricket fraternity and cast a pall over the Cricket World Cup, being played in nine Caribbean countries through late April.

The 58-year-old Englishman was found unconscious in his hotel room and pronounced dead at a hospital the morning after his squad was upset by Ireland on St. Patrick's Day.

A pathologist who conducted Woolmer's autopsy initially ruled his death "inconclusive" but four days later announced he had been strangled.

HAITI: Report: Gunmen kill journalist in troubled Caribbean nation

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) _ A journalist with ties to ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's political party was shot to death in his bed in northern Haiti, local radio reported Saturday.

Johnson Edouard, a correspondent for the pro-Aristide weekly newspaper Haiti Progres, was killed before dawn Friday in the port city of Gonaives, 170 kilometers (105 miles) north of Port-au-Prince, reported Radio Kiskeya, citing relatives of the journalist.

Edouard, who also served as a spokesman for Aristide's Fanmi Lavalas party, was reportedly sleeping when gunmen broke into his home and shot him several times in the head and throat. The killers escaped through a window.

Police have yet to establish a motive or identify suspects. However, David Francois, a Fanmi Lavalas leader in Gonaives, called Edouard's killing "a political execution" in an interview with Radio Kiskeya. He gave no further details.

Aristide was forced to flee the country in 2004 amid a three-week rebel uprising that began in Gonaives, Haiti's third-largest city.

Many former rebels who helped overthrow Aristide live in Gonaives, which is also a base for armed gangs blamed for a string of recent killings.

Haiti Progres is based in Brooklyn, New York, and distributed in Haiti and the United States. Its publisher was an ambassador-at-large under Aristide.

CAYMAN ISLANDS: 30 Cuban migrants break out of detention facility to protest repatriation

GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands (AP) _ About 30 illegal Cuban migrants escaped from a Cayman Islands detention center on Saturday and walked through this British territory's capital to protest their pending deportation, immigration officials said.

The group forced their way out of the Grand Cayman facility, which is surrounded by a fence topped with barbed wire, by picking a lock on a gate. They then hiked to nearby George Town chanting "no Cuba," eventually ending up at the cruise ship port where they protested peacefully for about an hour.

Before immigration authorities rounded them up, some in the group trying to flee their communist homeland used markers to draw on their shirts the words "no go to Cuba." Others scrawled protests on cardboard boxes.

Speaking through an interpreter, one of the illegal migrants, Jose Joaquin Gonzales Perez, said: "The only way they will be able to get us on the plane back to Cuba will be to kill us, because we are not getting on the flight."

The wealthy British Caribbean dependency, some 150 miles (241 kilometers) south of Cuba, typically sends illegal Cuban migrants who set foot on Cayman shores back to Cuba after a short stay at the detention facility.

PUERTO RICO: Veterinarians' group says 2 dogs killed by tainted pet treats

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) _ Two miniature schnauzers in Puerto Rico died of kidney failure after eating U.S. pet food contaminated with an industrial chemical, a veterinarians' group said Saturday.

The two pets died after eating Ol'Roy dog biscuits bought from the supermarket chain Amigo, which is owned by the Bentonville, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc., according to Victor Collazo, chief of Puerto Rico's Veterinary Medical Association.

The biscuits were contaminated with melamine, used to make plastics and other industrial products, Collazo said in a statement.

Collazo said it was the first animal deaths recorded in the U.S. Caribbean territory as part of a national recall of several brands of pet foods and treats that officials say is one of the largest pet food recalls in history.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has received thousands of complaints but has confirmed only about 16 pet deaths. Other sources put the death toll much higher.

CRICKET: World Cup: New Zealand, Sri Lanka join Australia in semifinal

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (AP) _ New Zealand and Sri Lanka joined Australia in the World Cup semifinals Saturday after a five-wicket victory for the Kiwis against South Africa that was a lot easier than expected.

South Africa and England will meet Tuesday to decide the last semifinalist.

New Zealand took quick control of the game in Grenada by removing the South Africa openers for only three runs and restricting the Proteas to 193 for seven.

Although the South Africans dropped catches, the Kiwis were never in trouble on their way to such a modest total and half centuries by Scott Styris (56) and Fleming (50) helped them get there with 10 balls to spare.

New Zealand and Australia each have 10 points atop the Super 8s standings, with Sri Lanka third on eight. Because South Africa and England have to play each other, they both can't reach eight points, assuring Sri Lanka of a spot.

The fourth-place South Africans are still only two points ahead of England and meet captain Michael Vaughan's team in Barbados for what will effectively be a decider in the race for a semifinal spot.