Grenada

Three participants in a 1983 palace coup walked out of prison after nearly 25 years behind bars for an attack that led to the U.S. invasion of Grenada. Ten other coup leaders in prison will serve less than two more years under the sentences issued by a judge who said all 13 had demonstrated remorse. The defendants originally were sentenced to death in 1986 for the killings of former socialist leader Maurice Bishop, four Cabinet members and six supporters.

There is no dead of night in this once-idyllic capital, as hundreds of Chinese workers jackhammer and steamroll round-the-clock in a race to rebuild a stadium destroyed 19 months ago by Hurricane Ivan. Grenada is scrambling to make up for months of lost time to get Queen's Park stadium ready for International Cricket Council inspections that start this month for the 2007 World Cup that is to be held jointly by nine Caribbean countries.

The girl in the flounced white micro-mini and green glitter tube top writhes to the dancehall beat throbbing through the Q-West nightclub. She drunkenly gyrates in a motion that sends her skirt riding up high enough to show her panties, if she were wearing any. Throughout the club, sporadically lighted by the flash of a camera or strobe light, barely clad girls dance themselves into a frenzy of carnal excess.

Charles A. Gillespie Jr., a career diplomat who opened the first American embassy in Grenada and later served as ambassador to Colombia and Chile, died of cancer Friday at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla. He was 72. Gillespie was a specialist in Caribbean and Latin American affairs during a three-decade career in foreign service. He was often assigned to countries in turmoil, including Grenada during the American invasion in 1983 and Colombia from 1985 to 1988 during a crackdown on cocaine trafficking.

Seven men convicted of killing Grenada's leader in the 1983 coup that led to a U.S. invasion were freed from prison, the last of 17 who had been sentenced for the crime. Dozens of relatives cheered and applauded as former Deputy Prime Minister Bernard Coard and six other men emerged from the crumbling 17th century prison where they were held for nearly 26 years. Leftist Prime Minister Maurice Bishop, four Cabinet ministers and six supporters were shot on Oct. 19, 1983, by members of their own New Jewel movement, followers of Coard who demanded more radical policies.

Grenadian police ordered people off the streets and businesses closed as Hurricane Emily threatened an island where Hurricane Ivan killed 39 people last year. Shelters across the country reported people were arriving. The National Hurricane Center in Miami reported that Emily had sustained winds of 92 mph. A warning was issued for Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and St. Lucia.

Hurricane Emily grew more powerful after slamming into Grenada, tearing up crops, flooding streets and striking homes still under repair from last year's storms. At least one man was killed. The storm strengthened to a dangerous Category 3 with 125-mph winds as it cleared the Windward Islands, unleashing heavy surf and torrential rain across hundreds of miles.

The most powerful hurricane to hit the Caribbean in nearly a decade killed at least 12 people in Grenada, damaged 90% of the island's homes and destroyed a prison, setting criminals loose, officials said Wednesday. "We are terribly devastated.... It's beyond imagination," Prime Minister Keith Mitchell said aboard a British Royal Navy vessel that came to the island's aid.

Haiti and Grenada need $59 million immediately to cope with the destruction wrought by hurricanes last month, the top U.N. relief official said Friday. "This is immediate humanitarian lifesaving assistance," Jan Egeland said during a news conference. Hurricane Ivan rolled through Grenada in early September, killing 39 people and damaging or destroying 90% of the island's homes.

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell met with leaders of this hurricane-ravaged Caribbean island nation Wednesday, inspected relief efforts and pledged more U.S. support to help revive an economy that was decimated last month. At least 39 people died Sept. 7 when Hurricane Ivan ripped across the island, causing damage estimated at more than $1 billion -- a figure twice the tiny country's gross domestic product last year.