This week, news organizations reported the fact that Raul Castro is continuing the reign of terror his brother Fidel launched almost 50 years ago as if it were every bit as shocking as the fact that President Barack Obama is continuing many of the oppressive war-on-terror tactics his predecessor George W. Bush deployed. read more...

---

HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) -- US President Barack Obama praised dissident Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez and said in a posting on her website on Thursday that he looks forward to the day "all Cubans can freely express themselves." The US leader also repeated his desire to improve US-Cuba relations. read more...

---

WASHINGTON, USA (AFP) -- US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that congressional efforts to end the US ban on travel to Cuba would take a back seat to overhauling US health care and fostering job creation. Lawmakers who oppose the ban say it has hurt US efforts to promote democratic reforms. read more...

---

WASHINGTON, USA (Reuters) -- Cuba's Raul Castro has kept the system his brother Fidel used to repress critics, refusing to free scores of people imprisoned years ago and jailing others for "dangerousness," Human Rights Watch said in a report issued on Wednesday. The assessment came as President Barack... read more...

---

WASHINGTON, USA (AFP) -- The United States should "scrap" a ban on its citizens travelling to Cuba, two key US lawmakers said Tuesday, blaming the policy for hampering Washington's efforts to promote democratic reforms there. The fate of the legislation to repeal the ban is unclear. read more...

---

HAVANA, Cuba (ACN) -- Almost $11 million was paid to US lawmakers – Republicans and Democrats – to support Washington’s aggressive policy against Cuba in the US Congress. Granma newspaper gave details on Tuesday of a report released by the American non- partisan organization Public Campaign. read more...

---

WASHINGTON, USA (AFP) -- The United States and Cuba will hold a second round of talks on migration issues in Havana at a yet undetermined date, a State Department spokesman said. An administration official, who asked to remain anonymous, said the second round of talks would take place next month. read more...

---

WASHINGTON, USA (Reuters) -- Anti-Castro Cuban-Americans are donating more money to Democratic lawmakers in hopes of blunting momentum in Congress to lift the US trade embargo of the Communist-ruled Caribbean nation, a report said on Monday.  The shift began with the Democratic takeover. read more...

---

CARACAS,Venezuela (Reuters) -- Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez says he will join a team of Cuban scientists on flights to "bomb clouds" to create rain amid a severe drought that has aroused public anger due to water and electricity rationing. Many countries have programs aimed at altering weather patterns. read more...

---

HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) -- Peas and potatoes have become the harbingers of change in Cuba as President Raul Castro chips away at some of the Cuban revolution's most hallowed social programs. Without a word, the two vegetables were removed this month from the subsidized food ration. read more...

---

HAVANA, Cuba (ACN) -- A total of 248 members of the United Kingdom’s House of Commons (Lower House of the British Parliament) have signed a motion asking the British Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, to contribute to the improvement of diplomatic relations with Cuba. The text was supported by MPs from all parties. read more...

---

WASHINGTON, USA (AFP) -- A Cuban-born member of a Hispanic prison gang has been executed by lethal injection in Texas for killing and robbing a Houston drug dealer more than 10 years ago, prison officials said. He was put on death row in 2001 after shooting and killing 28-year-old Jose Junco. read more...

---

HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) -- Cuba has ordered all state enterprises to adopt "extreme measures" to cut energy usage through the end of the year in hopes of avoiding the dreaded blackouts that plagued the country following the 1991 collapse of its then ally, the Soviet Union. The island is facing a "critical" energy shortage. read more...

---

HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) -- A group led by the head of the United States' biggest science organization is in Cuba this week to discuss ways to rekindle scientific cooperation as US-Cuba relations slowly improve under US President Barack Obama. The AAAS last sent a delegation to Cuba 12 years ago. read more...

---

WASHINGTON, USA (AFP) -- The United States said it "strongly deplores" the forcible detention and beating last week of three Cuban bloggers on their way to a peaceful march in Havana. Award-winning blogger Yoani Sanchez was detained and beaten along with two fellow bloggers by Cuban secret police. read more...

---

HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) -- Cuban dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez vowed on Monday to keep on writing her Generation Y Web log, which is critical of the government, despite being beaten last week by men she thinks were state security agents. Sanchez said she experienced "25 minutes of terror" during the incident. read more...

---

HAVANA, Cuba (ACN) -- Several of the famous Havana Club rums will display a new image starting in 2010, reported the company’s directors in this capital. Enrique Noste, sales and marketing manager for Cuba of Havana Club International, told ACN that the first changes will be made to the seven year aged rum. read more...

---

HOLGUIN, Cuba (ACN) -- Several new tour operators, including Canadian WestJet and Finnish Finair, will start bringing clients to eastern Cuba’s Holguin tourist resort through the Frank País International Airport in the province. The two new airlines are two of the 15 that fly to the airport from Canada and UK. read more...

---

HAVANA, Cuba (AFP) -- Secret police agents abducted and beat award-winning blogger Yoani Sanchez, whose online reports chronicle the dark side of everyday life in communist Cuba, on her way to a march for non-violence, she said Saturday. Three agents in street clothes snatched her off the street in the Havana. read more...

---

ST THOMAS, USVI -- On Tuesday, November 17, at an official ceremony at historic Fort Frederik, St Croix Senator Wayne James will transfer to the people of the US Virgin Islands a collection of valuable documents, photographs, and moving images obtained from the University of Havana. read more...

---

LONDON, England -- According to a new report by Business Monitor International, which provides a detailed analysis of the telecommunications market, Cuba remains a market to watch owing to the possible changes that a renewed relationship with the US could bring. read more...

---

HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) -- Cuba has chosen to pay a steeper price than it has to for Venezuelan oil so it can discourage itself from becoming too dependent on one source for energy, a senior Cuban official said on Friday. The Caracas agreement, begun in 2000 when oil prices were below $20 per barrel. read more...

---

HAVANA, Cuba (ACN) -- Companies from Cuba and Spain penned, within the framework of Havana’s 27th International Trade Fair, a letter of intent to improve the quality of the sanitation products made at the Ironwork Plant in Havana. The accord also includes the building of a plant for sewage disposal. read more...

---

HAVANA, Cuba (ACN) -- Cuba and Trinidad & Tobago ratified their commercial cooperation bonds during the fourth day of Havana’s 27th International Fair, which winds up on Saturday at the Expocuba complex. Trinidadian ambassador Lester Efebo Wilkinson thanked Cuba for its cooperation in programs. read more...

---

HAVANA, Cuba (AFP) -- The European Union does not seek a regime change in communist Cuba, but expects progress on human rights, a visiting EU official said after meeting with Cuban President Raul Castro. The EU suspended ties with Cuba after a major roundup of 75 dissidents in March 2003. read more...

---

HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) -- Russian state oil company Zarubezhneft signed contracts with Cuba on Tuesday to search for oil along Cuba's northern coast and said it was looking at procuring more areas for exploration in a step forward for the island's oil hopes. Zarubezhneft signed up for four almost contiguous blocks. read more...

---

HAVANA, Cuba (AFP) -- Cuba's state-run media on Monday condemned a just-published book in which Fidel Castro's sister admits she spied for the Central Intelligence Agency. The country's media added that the expose proves that the former Cuban leader was a "victim" of decades of US targeting. read more...

---

VARADERO, Cuba (ACN) -- Canada's WestJet airline started operations to Cuba this Sunday, when the first flight of tour operator WestJet Vacations landed at the Juan Gualberto Gomez International Airport in this city. The Boing 737 was met at the airport terminal by officials of the Cuban Ministry of Tourism. read more...

---

HAVANA, Cuba (ACN) -- Cuba’s access to master’s degrees and postgraduate courses in Venezuela was highlighted at the 9th Joint Commission on Higher Education, held at Pueblo Guri, in the Venezuelan state of Bolivar. At the meeting the participants also acknowledged Cuba’s collaboration in the project. read more...

---

HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) -- A popular website of classified ads that has given Cubans a taste of the free market has been blocked on the communist-run island, Internet users said. Cubans trying to access Revolico.com are being diverted to the search engine Google.com. read more...

---

HAVANA, Cuba (ACN) -- Cuba has achieved the figure of two million visitors for the sixth year in a row, this time two weeks before the date this amount was reached in 2008. This industry rejoices at the news of this achievement, especially important amid the world economic crisis and the health situation. read more...

---

BASSETERRE, St Kitts (CUOPM) -- St Kitts and Nevis was among the 187 nations that voted this week for an end to the United States economic and trade embargo against Cuba. The vote recorded was 187 in favour to 3 against and 2 abstentions. The 192-Member Assembly in its resolution urged the lifting of the stiff... read more...

---

KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) -- Jamaica's House of Representatives has approved a resolution supporting the removal of the trade embargo on Cuba by the United States. The vote was timely, as it came only a day before the United Nations' General Assembly voted for the 18th year to condemn the 47-year embargo. read more...

---

HAVANA, Cuba (ACN) -- Copies of almost 3,000 letters and documents from the Ernest Hemingway Museum archives in Finca Vigia, where the outstanding writer lived for several years in Cuba, have been made available at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston, United States. read more...

---

HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) -- Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro "looks wonderful," World Health Organization director general Margaret Chan said on Wednesday, after meeting the 83-year-old who resigned the presidency last year due to ailing health.Cuba's health system is widely praised for its preventative measures . read more...

---

HAVANA, Cuba (ACN) -- The Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Margaret Chan, concluded on Wednesday her visit to Cuba, after four days of visits to several scientific and health care institutions and meeting with government officials. Margaret Chan described Cuba’s health parameters as impressive. read more...

---

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) -- The UN General Assembly called overwhelmingly Wednesday on US President Barack Obama's administration to end Washington's Cold War-era trade embargo against Cuba. This was the 18th year running that the UN General Assembly condemned US trade restrictions. read more...

---

MIAMI, USA (Reuters) -- Fidel Castro is still influencing the government of President Raul Castro in Cuba and holding back any moves toward a democratic opening on the island, the exiled younger sister of both men said. Juanita Castro, 76 this week revealed she collaborated with the CIA. read more...

---

HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) -- US, Cuban and Mexican scientists have drawn up plans for joint research in the Gulf of Mexico, in another sign of improvement in long-hostile US-Cuba relations. In a meeting in Havana this week, they agreed on top priorities for collecting information about the Gulf. read more...

---

MIAMI, USA (Reuters) - The younger sister of Fidel and Raul Castro, Juanita Castro, collaborated with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency against her brothers' rule in Cuba before going into exile in Miami in 1964, she said on Sunday.  Juanita Castro, 76, has not spoken to either of her brothers for more than four decades. read more...

---