Nicaragua reported ready to welcome Cuban baseball defector

The Nicaraguan government is reported to have issued visas to a Cuban baseball star, Orlando Hernandez, and seven other Cubans who fled from the island to the Bahamas more than a week ago.

Hernandez and another baseball player in the group Alberto Hernandez, who's no relationhave already been told they are welcome in the United States.

But they've been refusing to leave the Bahamas without their companions, who have not been given US visas.

They've all been told they must leave the Bahamas by Wednesday, and face the prospect of repatriation to Cuba unless they go to a third country.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service