POLITICS-CUBA: EU Leaves Ball in Castro’s Court

The European Union decision to maintain dialogue with Cuba despite its criticisms of the Fidel Castro government's human rights record leaves the rhetorical ball in Castro's court, though the president of this Caribbean island is in no hurry to return the play.

CUBA-US: Return of Illegal Migrants a Sign of Improved Relations?

Cuba and the United States achieved at least a slight rapprochement in their decades-old conflict Monday by reaffirming bilateral migration policy after the U.S. government sent the 15 Cubans aboard a stolen boat back to the socialist-run island.

ECONOMY-CUBA: Landlords on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

”We live in a state of permanent stress, worrying about whether we’ll have enough guests, or waiting for more restrictions to be slapped on,” complained a 58-year-old Cuban woman who rents out two of the five bedrooms in her home, mainly to foreign tourists.

ECONOMY: Hot Summer Saps Cuba’s Energy

The high temperatures and scorching sun beating down on Cuba these days are jeopardising the government's energy savings plans, aimed at reducing fuel imports at a time of continued economic difficulties aggravated by a poor sugar harvest.

ENVIRONMENT-CUBA: Scientists Sound the Alert on Climate Change

Island nations are especially vulnerable to climate change, which means Cuba should begin taking precautions now, local scientific researchers said in interviews with IPS.

CUBA: Expanding Sugar Cane By-Products Sector with Foreign Investment

Cuba hopes to expand its sugar cane derivatives industry by opening it up to foreign investment and incorporating greater added value into the products it sells on the depressed international market.

CUBA-EU: Reactions to Sanctions Put Relations at an Impasse

The Cuban government reacted forcefully Wednesday to the European Union's recently-imposed diplomatic sanctions, warning the 15-member bloc that it will apply the letter of the law if European embassies in Havana are turned into "centres for conspiring against the revolution."

CUBA-EU: Reactions to Sanctions Put Relations at an Impasse

The Cuban government reacted forcefully Wednesday to the European Union's recently-imposed diplomatic sanctions, warning the 15-member bloc that it will apply the letter of the law if European embassies in Havana are turned into "centres for conspiring against the revolution."

/ARTS WEEKLY/ FILM-CUBA: Low-Budget Goes to Paris

France will be the destination of the best films shown at the first International Non-Budget Film Festival, which recently drew directors from 23 countries of the Americas, Asia and Europe to the eastern Cuban city of Gibara.

DEVELOPMENT-CUBA: Any Cutting of EU Aid Would Hurt Populace

If foreign aid for economic and social development programmes in Cuba is reduced in reprisal for the socialist regime's recent crackdown on dissidents, it would be the people, rather than the government, who would be hurt, say international aid officials in Havana.

AGRICULTURE-CUBA: Forecast for Worst Sugar Harvest in 70 Years

Cuba could suffer 180 million dollars in lost revenues if the current sugar harvest bears out the gloomy predictions of experts, that it will be the lowest yield since the 1930s.

CUBA-EU: Castro Slams the Door Once Again

Cuba has once again withdrawn its request to join the Cotonou Agreement, through which the European Union extends aid and preferential trading conditions to former colonies in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP).

CUBA-US: Another Turn of the Screw

The expulsion of 14 Cuban diplomats by the U.S. government was an ''aggressive and irrational act of vengeance,'' the Cuban Foreign Ministry said Wednesday, adding that the government would take ''the time necessary to respond'' to ''the new provocation.''

Caribbean Fish on the Decline

Several saltwater fish species are growing scarce in Cuban waters, where in the past it was not unusual to snag a porgy or a mero weighing as much as 15 kilos.

RIGHTS-CUBA: The Return of the Firing Squad

Cuba applied the death penalty Friday for the first time in more than two years, executing three men who hijacked a ferry last week to try to reach the United States. The move will further complicate the situation for Havana in the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, currently meeting in Geneva.

CUBA: Phoney Dissidents Infiltrated U.S. Offices in Havana

Agents of the Cuban government who infiltrated the opposition movement had free access to U.S. diplomatic offices in Havana, according to revelations made by Cuban foreign minister Felipe Pérez Roque in a prolonged press conference Wednesday.

CUBA: Housing Shortage, Strict Regulations Create Straitjacket

Cuba's severe housing shortage - a cause of divorces, marriages of convenience and serious family conflicts - leads many couples to indefinitely postpone the dream of a home of their own and forces growing families to live in crowded conditions.

RIGHTS-CUBA: Harsh Penalties for Dissidents, Likely Backlash from UN Commission

Cuban courts began handing down stiff prison sentences Monday for 75 dissidents on trial, with the immediate political costs for the Fidel Castro government likely to be renewed censure by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.

RIGHTS-CUBA: Harsh Penalties for Dissidents, Likely Backlash from UN

Cuban courts began to hand down stiff prison sentences Monday for 75 dissidents on trial, with the immediate political costs for the Fidel Castro government likely to be renewed censure by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.

HUMAN RIGHTS-CUBA: Havana Remains Faithful to its Own Agenda

The arrests of at least 75 anti-government activists in Cuba could cost the government a new condemnation of its human rights record in the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, and a setback in its dialogue with the European Union (EU) on admission to a key trade-and-aid accord.

CUBA-U.S.: Tenuous Official Relations Worsen

Relations between Cuba and the United States are suffering one of the most tension-filled moments of the past two decades, though in academic circles the Iraq crisis is seen as imposing a question mark on the bilateral ties.