HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters): With music, dancing and rum, Cubans celebrated on Friday the likely return of a record they consider rightfully theirs -- the world's longest cigar. At just over 148 feet 9 inches, the thick stogie stretched like a long brown snake through a room and out its front and back windows at El Morro. read more...

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HAVANA, Cuba (ACN): In a meeting Thursday with Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage, StVincent's Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves stressed the importance of the Food for Life Summit, recently held in Nicaragua, as they talked on Thursday in Havana. The two government officials discussed other topics of mutual interest. read more...

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PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad: The Secretary General of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS), Ambassador Luis Fernando Andrade Falla recently visited Cuba, at the invitation of Foreign Affairs Minister, Felipe Pérez Roque. The Secretary General met with Pérez Roque last month at the offices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. read more...

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HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters): The only time Cuba's Fidel Castro is known to have played golf in 1961, in a stunt thumbing his nose at the United States. Now that Fidel has handed over power to his brother, Raul, Communist Cuba is setting aside any ideological objections and is embracing golf, the most capitalist of sports. read more...

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HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters): Days after he was feted in Miami as a freedom fighter for his anti-Castro activities, Cuban exile Luis Posada Carriles was scorned on Wednesday in Havana as a "terrorist" given haven by the Bush administration. Carriles is accused of master-minding the 1976 explosion of a Cubana Airlines jet. read more...

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KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS): Jamaica and Cuba are to strengthen co-operation in five key areas, Prime Minister Bruce Golding has announced. Golding said that discussions were held at the ministerial level involving Jamaica's Ministers of Health, Tourism, Agriculture, Water and Housing, and Foreign Affairs. read more...

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HAVANA, Cuba (ACN): Representatives from the Cuban and Canadian foreign ministries held official talks this week and agreed on the good status of bilateral relations between the two countries, particularly in the development of economic, trade and cooperation ties and the increase of these links. read more...

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MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AFP): Leaders and representatives of several South and Central American nations prepared to meet here to discuss a regional strategy to avert the food crisis affecting poor nations around the world, officials said Tuesday. The meeting Wednesday was hosted by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega. read more...

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MADRID, Spain (AFP): Two exiled Cuban writers condemned Wednesday Havana's refusal to give a travel visa to a Cuban blogger who was to receive a top journalism award in Spain, saying it was a sign that there have been no real reforms on the island under new President Raul Castro. read more...

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HAVANA, Cuba (ACN): The Cuban music band Klimax is in St Lucia for the 17th Jazz Festival held every year in the Caribbean island. Until May 11, the Cuban group will be sharing the stage with renowned jazz artists such as Michael Bolton, Jonathan Butler, and Anita Baker. read more...

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HAVANA, Cuba (ACN): Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding concluded on Wednesday a three-day official visit to Cuba to expand bilateral links. His agenda included meeting with Cuban President Raul Castro and visiting scientific research sites. On Monday, the Jamaican head of state visited an ophthalmological institute. read more...

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WASHINGTON, USA (Bloomberg): President George W. Bush said Cuba's leaders should begin taking steps toward democracy by releasing political prisoners on the island-nation. Bush disclosed that he spoke Tuesday with dissidents in Cuba via a videoconference from the White House. read more...

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HAVANA, Cuba (ACN): The Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph  Gonsalves, on Tuesday visited the emblematic Cuban National Ballet School, where students treated him to a performance. The performance included pieces of the classic, neoclassic and modern dance repertoire. read more...

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HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters): Cuba has begun soy bean production on 5,000 hectares of land formally dedicated to sugar cane, official radio reported on Tuesday, the first such effort to grow soy on the Caribbean island. Cuba has studied the possibility of growing soy for a number of years. read more...

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MADRID, Spain (AFP): Cuban authorities have refused to give a travel visa to Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez so she can receive one of Spain's top journalism awards in Madrid on Wednesday, said Spanish newspaper El Pais which hands out the awards annually. Sanchez has said her request for a travel visa is the "perfect test." read more...

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HAVANA, Cuba (ACN): The Venezuelan TV channel Colombeia will broadcast Cuban audiovisuals for Latin America, as part of a cooperation accord subscribed with the Caribbean nation. In the beginning, Colombeia will broadcast educational material including TV language lessons and the "Universidad para Todos". read more...

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HAVANA, Cuba (ACN): Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines Ralph Gonsalves arrived at the Jose Marti International Airport in Havana on Monday, where he was met by Cuban Government Minister Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz, reported Granma newspaper. He told the press that he would be meeting with Cuban leaders. read more...

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HAVANA, Cuba (ACN): Cuban President Raul Castro officially welcomed Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding at the Palace of the Revolution in Havana on Monday. Cuban air, ground and marine troops paid military honour to the visitor from the sister nation of Jamaica and his delegation. read more...

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WASHINGTON, Cuba (AFP): Robert Vesco, the fugitive financier who left a trail of alleged bribery, embezzlement and drug trafficking that reached to the White House, died in Cuba late last year, The New York Times reported Saturday. Vesco died of lung cancer on November 23, the newspaper said. read more...

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HAVANA, Cuba (AFP): Jose Castelar began rolling cigars when he was five. Now, at 64, the Cuban expert hopes to finish rolling a 20-meter (65-foot) stogie by Wednesday to garner his fourth world record from the Guinness Book. He rolls his mega-cigar out of premium tobacco leaves, making a long, slender tube... read more...

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HAVANA, Cuba (AFP): Cubans have begun exercising their new right to buy personal computers, although the government has not freed up access to the Internet for the communist-ruled country's would-be consumers. Computers were on sale at at least two stores in Havana Friday, read more...

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MIAMI, USA (AFP): Florida travel agents specializing in Cuba trips are up-in-arms over plans to make them pay more than 100,000 dollars in bonds to fund any probe into irregularities in their dealings with the communist-ruled island. Such agencies currently put up a one-time bond of 25,000 dollars. read more...

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VATICAN CITY, Rome (AFP): The Roman Catholic Church should have "normal access" to the media in Cuba, Pope Benedict XVI told visiting Cuban bishops on Friday. Nearly half of Cuba's 12.5 million people are baptised Catholic, but after decades of official atheism, a much smaller number have been schooled as Catholics. read more...

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HAVANA, Cuba (ACN): Cuba will take 10 boxers to the Beijing Olympics in August, one short of the 11 weight categories to be contested. The final berth was given on Wednesday to Yampier Hernandez after defeating his Colombian opponent Oscar Negrete in the final Olympic qualifying tournament in Guatemala. read more...

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KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS): Jamaican Prime Minister, Bruce Golding, will leave the island on Sunday, May 4, on an official visit to Cuba. The visit is in response to an invitation extended to him in February by Cuban President, Raul Castro, shortly after assuming office as President. read more...

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HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters): Cuban President Raul Castro has finished shifting control over agriculture into local hands and has cut bureaucracy dramatically in an effort to stimulate food production, the Communist party newspaper Granma said on Thursday. Granma said decision-making had moved... read more...

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HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters): Hundreds of thousands of Cubans marched through Havana's Revolution Square on Thursday for a red-splashed May Day celebration that urged economic gains and increased productivity from workers. A sea of people, wearing red shirts and waving red flags, paraded through the vast square. read more...

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HAVANA, Cuba (AFP): Qatar Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, was to meet Cuban President Raul Casto on Wednesday to discuss plans to build hotels here and for a new Qatari hospital to be staffed by Cuban doctors.  The talks came after the two countries last week "signed important agreements on cooperation." read more...

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HAVANA , Cuba (Reuters): Cuban President Raul Castro has reorganized the Communist Party's leadership and consolidated his power as he pushes through reforms two months after succeeding his ailing brother Fidel Castro. All the changes are aimed at strengthening communist rule. read more...

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HAVANA, Cuba (AFP): Cuban President Raul Castro announced Monday he was commuting the death sentences of an unspecified number of inmates, including a Salvadoran and a Guatemalan linked to a 1997 bombing. The sentences will be commuted to jail terms of 30 years for some inmates and life for others. read more...

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