COLOMBIA: ‘Exploratory’ Meetings with Rebels Could Lead to Peace Talks

Representatives of the Colombian government and the insurgent National Liberation Army (ELN), set to begin preliminary talks Friday in the Cuban capital, will first have to face the challenge of listening to each other, in order to pave the way for eventual peace negotiations.

COMMUNICATION: Internet Boosts Reach of Alternative Radio

While the transnational corporations showed off the latest in information and communication technologies (ICTs) at the world summit that ended Friday in Tunis, reporters from alternative radio stations remained loyal to their old tape recorders and microphones.

CUBA: Yes to Computers and Internet – But Not at Home, Thanks

Cuba's computer technology policy gives priority to the social uses of information technology and telecommunications, while excluding private access to tools like the internet.

CUBA: All Shades of Blame for U.S. Embargo

Seven out of 10 Cubans were born under the four-decade U.S. trade embargo - voted down again this year by the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday - although not all of them see the impact of the sanctions in the same light.

RIGHTS-CUBA: Ladies in White Share Sakharov Prize

The "ladies in white", wives and mothers of imprisoned dissidents in Cuba, received this year's Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought Wednesday in recognition of their efforts to obtain the release of their loved ones.

HEALTH: “Green” Medicine Flourishing in Eastern Cuba

For a wide range of health problems from high blood pressure to asthma to the common cold, people are just as likely to turn to herbal remedies as to conventional drugs in this easternmost province of Cuba.

CUBA: Power Generation Still Achilles’ Heel of Economy

The Cuban economy continues to be plagued by an energy crisis and blackouts, despite major investments over recent years to modernise a service that now extends to a full 95.6 percent of the country's 11.2 million inhabitants.

CUBA: New Medical Brigade to Provide Aid in Natural Disasters

The international team of doctors created by Cuba to deal specifically with natural disasters and epidemics could strengthen risk management systems throughout the Caribbean region, said an official with a specialised United Nations agency.

CUBA: Forests Face Deadly Combination of Drought and Fires

All it takes is a still smouldering cigarette butt or a tiny spark from a car for the flames to kill thousands of trees in this eastern drought-stricken province of Cuba.

HEALTH-CUBA: New Doctors Head Home to Aid Their Communities

Some are leaving with jobs waiting for them at home, others will have to fight to have their degrees recognised, but all of them now face a unique challenge: to serve as living proof of the effectiveness of the cooperation project that made it possible for them to study medicine in Cuba.

CUBA: Food Imports Rise to Compensate for Chronic Production Shortfall

Cuba's food imports will total 1.7 billion dollars this year - up 400 million dollars from last year - as the chronic shortfall in domestic food production was further aggravated by extreme weather conditions.

CARIBBEAN: Latest Hurricane Forecasts Even More Alarming

High water temperatures in the North Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea are the main reason behind this year's unusually early and active hurricane season, which could be even more severe than was initially predicted, according to experts.

CUBA: ‘It’s Not Easy’ – a Common Refrain

"It's not easy" is a commonly heard refrain in Cuba, where people frequently complain that public transportation is "getting worse every day," their wages just don't stretch far enough, or it's impossible to sleep at night because of the suffocating heat made absolutely unbearable by the frequent power outages.

CUBA: The Earth Trembles in the Caribbean Too

Frequently thrashed by the hurricanes that roar through the Caribbean region each year, Cuba knows something about disaster - including earthquakes, due to the proximity of its eastern-most point to the Bartlett-Cayman fault system.

The Earth Trembles in Cuba Too

Santiago, Cuba, founded in 1515, is one of the cities at greatest seismic risk on this Caribbean island. Quake-proof standards guide the construction of new housing.

CUBA: Dissidents Berate U.S. Policy Towards Havana

Moderate sectors of Cuba's fractured dissident community complained Wednesday that the "unfortunate" policy adopted by the United States against Cuba provides grounds to discredit all government opponents, who are invariably portrayed as working on Washington's payroll.

ENVIRONMENT-CUBA: Homegrown Formula Against Desertification

A programme for planting trees in yards and courtyards has become popular in drought-stricken eastern Cuba, as part of the effort to fight soil degradation and erosion.

CUBA: Residents Struggle to Save Surroundings of Centuries-Old Mine

The people now at the helm of the oldest copper mine in Latin America, located in eastern Cuba and shut down in 2001, want it to be recognised as a national and global heritage site.

CUBA: Dissidents Complain of ‘Disproportionate Reaction’ to Protests

Dissidents in Cuba said Thursday that the response to protests by opposition groups marking the 11th anniversary of the sinking of a hijacked tugboat was "disproportionate".

Centuries-Old Mine Struggles to Save Its Surroundings

Experts are working to rehabilitate the ecosystem damaged by a mine that operated in Cuba for nearly five centuries.

CUBA: In Search of the Island’s First Inhabitants

Archaeological digs in Cuba could turn today's theories about the earliest humans here and the Antilles on their head. "We are just at the beginning of it all," says German archaeologist Jean Weining a bit cautiously.