WASHINGTON (AP) _ President Barack Obama won a modest victory Tuesday in his continuing effort to close the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba and allowing the government to continue to transfer detainees to the United States for prosecution.

The plan to permit terror suspects held at the facility to be shipped to U.S. soil to face trial passed the U.S. Senate by a 79-19 vote as part of a larger $44.1 billion budget bill for the Homeland Security Department.

The measure already passed the House of Representatives and now goes to Obama to be signed into law. The Guantanamo provision generally tracks restrictions already in place that block release of detainees in the United States but permits them to be tried here.

In January, Obama ordered the facility closed within a year, but the administration has yet to deliver a plan and the effort has hit several roadblocks. Among the main problems was unease among Obama's Democratic allies in Congress who have refused to approve money for the effort.

The plan adopted Tuesday requires the administration to develop a plan before any further transfers. It also requires 15 days' notice before a transfer can occur and a certification that the prisoner does not represent a security risk.

The Senate debate over Guantanamo prisoners was relatively sedate. Last week, House Democratic leaders had to press to defeat a Republican effort to block transfer of any of the Guantanamo Bay detainees to the United States, even to face trial.

"Prosecuting these individuals in our U.S. courts simply will not work, and there is too much at stake to grant the unprecedented benefit of our legal system's complex procedural safeguards to foreign nationals who were captured outside the United States during a time of war," said Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss.

BAHAMAS: Defense urges jury to clear 2 defendants in Travolta extortion trial

NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) _ Lawyers for an ambulance driver and a former politician accused of trying to extort millions from John Travolta urged jurors Tuesday to clear their clients, accusing the actor's attorneys of setting them up.

Lawyers for paramedic Tarino Lightbourne and former Sen. Pleasant Bridgewater, who have both pleaded not guilty, made the charge during their closing arguments. Prosecutors summed up their case Monday, and the nine-member jury is expected to start deliberations Wednesday.

Lightbourne's lawyer, Carlson Shurland, maintained the paramedic was "cornered" and called him a "victim" of entrapment by Travolta's attorneys. Lightbourne is accused of threatening to sell stories to the media about the death of Travolta's 16-year-old son, Jett, unless he was paid $25 million.

Defense attorneys have sought to show that Travolta wanted to buy a document he signed releasing emergency responders from liability if the family refused an ambulance for the youth, who died Jan. 2 after suffering a seizure.

Travolta testified during the trial that he signed the release form because he had hoped to fly his son to the U.S. for treatment. But police said the document never came into play because Jett was taken to a local hospital.

Shurland did not deny that Lightbourne, who police secretly taped negotiating with Travolta attorney Michael McDermott, tried to sell the document. But he denied it was extortion, describing it as a straightforward business transaction.

"Tarino had something to sell and everybody wanted to buy," Shurland said. "If you had something to sell and they were willing to pay, you'd be a fool not to sell it. That's what a free society is all about."

Bridgewater's attorney, Murrio Ducille, urged jurors in the socially conservative archipelago to "set my people free."

BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS: Prosecutors wrap up case in murder trial over scuba death; defense to call witnesses

TORTOLA, British Virgin Islands (AP) _ Prosecutors wrapped up their case Tuesday in the trial of a Rhode Island man accused of drowning his wife while scuba diving in waters of the British Virgin Islands.

Prosecutors spent the day showing jurors videotape of depositions from a 2006 civil trial in David Swain's home state that found him responsible for the 1999 death of his wife, Shelley Tyre, during a Caribbean vacation.

In one tape, Swain, 53, said he had difficulty recalling details from the dive and his attempts at resuscitating Tyre when her body was retrieved from the deep. He has said he and his wife, who was an experienced diver, descended together and then parted ways. Swain later surfaced without Tyre, and another diver found her body.

"I was stressed; I was at my wits' end. I don't recall everything that I said or everything that I did," Swain said in the deposition, adding he had "no idea" how his wife drowned.

Prosecutors contend Swain killed his wife so he could pursue a romance with another woman, and because the couple's prenuptial agreement denied him money if they divorced. Experts have testified that they believe Swain wrestled Tyre from behind, tore off her mask and shut off her air supply.

Swain maintains his innocence and his defense lawyers said they will show the drowning was a "tragic accident."

The 1999 drowning was initially ruled an accident. But authorities in the British Virgin Islands later charged Swain with murder after the civil trial found him responsible. He was extradited to Tortola the following year and has been in jail here since.

In another videotape viewed Tuesday by jurors, Swain was also unable to account for his dive computer, a device that measures depth and time during a dive. He said he either sold the device or replaced it sometime after Tyre's death.

GUANTANAMO: Ex-Guantanamo prisoners work behind-the-scenes of PGA Grand Slam in Bermuda

SOUTHAMPTON, Bermuda (AP) _ Four former Guantanamo Bay prisoners who have settled in Bermuda are playing a behind-the-scenes role in the wealthy island's sporting event of the year.

The four ethnic Uighurs from western China are working as groundskeepers during the PGA Grand Slam of Golf at Port Royal Golf Course. The first round was starting Tuesday, featuring some of the biggest names in the sport.

The Uighurs have spent the past four months grooming the Trent Jones-designed course and will be out between rounds to cut, rake and repair.

Port Royal superintendent Steve Johnson praised the men, who were whisked to Bermuda in June after seven years in the U.S. prison in Cuba.

Their work during the Grand Slam is a change from the last high-profile event at Port Royal. The men were kept away when former U.S. President Bill Clinton played the course in August during a visit to the British territory.

The men's arrival in Bermuda initially sparked protests and a no-confidence vote for the premiere, but the controversy has subsided.

When not working, two of the men play for the X-Road Warriors in a local soccer league _ and all say they are grateful that Bermuda accepted them.

"This place was the one and only country to open their arms to us and give us the opportunity to be free," said 30-year-old Abdulla Abdulgadir.

The Uighurs _ Turkic Muslims from far western China _ were taken to Guantanamo Bay as suspected "enemy combatants" following their capture in Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2001.

The Pentagon determined they did not pose a threat, but their release was delayed because they could not be sent back to China, where they face persecution for their separatist beliefs, and other countries refused to accept them.

In June, Bermudian Premier Ewart Brown announced he had agreed to take the refugees, surprising many local officials and angering the British government, which said he should have consulted with it first.

CARIBBEAN: Caricom launching swine flu vaccination campaign; high-risk people to get 1st doses

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) _ Health workers, pregnant women and the elderly will get the Caribbean Community's first batch of swine flu vaccinations in early November, the organization said Tuesday, but most people will have to wait as doses trickle in.

The 15-member Caricom bloc issued a statement saying that the first shipments of vaccine doses from the United States, India, Brazil and other suppliers are expected in three weeks. It was not immediately clear how many doses would be made available.

Caricom health spokesman Rudolph Cummings said the H1N1 virus is expected to intensify in the cooler months of December and January, the high season for regional tourism. More than 10 million people are expected to visit the region during the winter tourism season, which ends in April.

Cummings said the Caribbean region should be "more prepared to deal with this virus" than it was shortly after the swine flu strain was identified in April in Mexico.

In the southern Caribbean island of Grenada, the outbreak of different strains of flu viruses prompted administrators to send hundreds of sniffling students home this week. Some schools have been closed for a day or two to sanitize the buildings.

The World Health Organization says there have been nearly 400,000 laboratory confirmed cases and more than 4,700 deaths linked to the illness. In the vast majority of cases, swine flu is a mild disease from which most people recover without needing medical treatment.

CUBA: Gov't frees political prisoner from '03 crackdown, paroles Spaniard following Spanish FM visit

HAVANA (AP) _ Cuba has freed one of the 54 political prisoners still behind bars following a state crackdown on dissent six years ago and also paroled a Spanish businessman awaiting trial for bribery, officials in Spain and a Cuban political opposition group said Tuesday.

The moves appear to be gestures of goodwill on the heels of a visit by Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos _ though a top Cuban dissident accused Cuban leaders of using political prisoners as political bargaining chips.

Nelson Alberto Aguiar Ramirez had been sentenced to 13 years in prison for treason, but he was released and picked up by his wife early Tuesday, according to Laura Pollan, a founding member of the "Ladies in White" support group for the wives and relatives of those arrested during the 2003 crackdown.

In Madrid, meanwhile, Spain's Foreign Ministry confirmed Cuban authorities freed Pedro Hermosilla, a Spanish businessman jailed about a month ago on charges of offering payoffs to officials. He will not be allowed to leave the country pending trial.

Moratinos spent two days in Cuba and met for nearly three hours with President Raul Castro. He caused a stir by refusing to see dissidents, though Moratinos said that he broached the subject of human rights with Cuba's president and that Spain will continue to push the communist government on the issue after it assumes the revolving presidency of the European Union on Jan. 1.

Spain's foreign minister asked Castro about Hermosilla's case and his office said it considers the businessman's provisional release a positive gesture.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Man from DomRep in immigration custody dies at Boston hospital

BOSTON (AP) _ A man from the Dominican Republic being held on federal immigration violations has died.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a statement Tuesday that Pedro Juan Tavarez was pronounced dead Monday at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

The medical examiner's office has not determined an official cause of death and will decide later if an autopsy is necessary.

Officials say the 49-year-old man was transported Friday from the Suffolk County House of Correction after medical staff believed the man had possible pneumonia.

The hospital diagnosed and treated him with heart and respiratory conditions.

Official say Tavarez's family was at the hospital with him when he died.

No further information was available.