TRADE-CUBA/RUSSIA: Strengthening Ties Ahead of Putin’s Visit

Cuba and Russia are busy strengthening their commercial ties ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Havana -- the first such visit since the break-up of the Soviet Union.

TRADE-CUBA: Europe Accounts for Nearly Half of All Commerce

Europe accounts for nearly half of Cuba's foreign trade, which this year will top the 5.1 billion dollar total posted in 1999, government officials reported at this week's 18th Havana International Trade Fair.

CUBA: Would-Be Travellers Face a Sea of Red Tape

Cubans wishing to travel abroad must first swim through a sea of red tape, while in the rest of the world globalisation has led to a streamlining of travel procedures.

COMMUNICATIONS-CUBA: Gov’t to Set Up Public Internet Terminals

Internet access from home does not figure into the Cuban government's plans to expand information technology throughout the island, instead, it has opted for a less expensive community-based approach.

ENVIRONMENT-CUBA: Viñales Valley at the Crossroads of Tourism

Few travellers can resist the temptation of entering Bárbara Caridad Miranda's garden when they visit Viñales, a unique Cuban town that today faces the challenge of cashing in on tourism while maintaining its environment and cultural identity.

TRADE-CUBA/US: Havana Rejects Half-Measures in Easing of Embargo

Cuba announced Thursday that it will not engage in any transactions with the United States - even if Congress partially lifts the trade embargo on food and medicine - until Washington removes all of the sanctions that have been in effect for nearly four decades.

RIGHTS-CUBA: Consumers Lack Laws in their Defence

A network of retail shops has materialized in Cuba, one without government subsidies and in some cases governed by the law of supply and demand, and has brought with it the need for legislation to protect consumers' rights.

POLITICS-CUBA/US: Fallout from Hijacking Shakes Migration Talks

The case of "air piracy" that has prompted a loud condemnation from Cuba is complicating the new round of talks with the United States on migration issues, a two- day meeting that began Thursday in New York.

ENVIRONMENT-CUBA: Saving Havana Bay

The Cuban government has set out to save Havana Bay, one of the world's 10 most polluted, through a clean- up plan aimed at resolving one of the capital's most pressing problems.

POLITICS-CUBA/US: Hijacking Occurs on Eve of Migration Talks

A plane hijacked in Cuba with as many as 18 people on board went down in the sea as its pilot presumably attempted to reach the United States, an incident that is likely to heighten tensions during the migration talks between the two nations, slated for Thursday and Friday after nearly a year of postponements.

SPORTS-LATAM: Cuba – Latin America’s Olympic Powerhouse

Cuba has headed to the Olympic Games in Sydney with a delegation of 239 athletes -- including 88 women -- who according to conservative projections could take home 14 gold medals.

/CORRECTED REPEAT/LABOUR-CUBA: Investments Sought to Combat Unemployment

The Cuban government is launching a programme to fight high unemployment in the island's eastern provinces by offering incentives to attract local and foreign investors.

LABOUR-CUBA: Investments Sought to Combat Unemployment

The Cuban government is launching a programme to fight high employment in the island's eastern provinces by offering incentives to attract local and foreign investors.

POLITICS-CUBA: Castro to Defy Threat of Arrest in US

Cuban President Fidel Castro says he will fly to New York next week to attend the United Nations Millennium Summit despite pressure from Cuban exiles in the United States to have him arrested there for "crimes against humanity."

ECONOMY-CUBA: A Decade On, Crisis Persists

The economic crisis that the Cuban government termed a "special period in times of peace" has entered its tenth year, amidst cautious forecasts for the future and the people's hopes that better times are just down the road.

HEALTH-CUBA: Natural Medicine Gains Wide Acceptance

The impact of Cuba's decade-long economic crisis on the local health system has contributed to a boom in the popularity of traditional and herbal medicine, increasingly used by the public at large as well as health practitioners in this Caribbean island nation.

SPORTS-CUBA: International Coaching to Be Tested in Sydney

Delegations from 19 countries heading to the Sydney Olympic Games include Cuban sports experts, the product of an international athletic assistance programme the Caribbean island launched more than 30 years ago.

HEALTH: Cuba Helps Two Countries Reduce Infant Mortality

Cuba's international medical assistance, which reaches 13 countries, was able to reduce infant mortality in a region of Guatemala and in Gambia, and is expected to do the same in Haiti, according to official reports.

ECONOMY-CUBA: Private Initiative Losing Ground

Legally authorised private initiative has been losing ground in Cuba after a boom in the early years of the economic crisis that broke out at the start of the 1990s, when the government expanded the number of areas in which self-employment was permitted.

FOOD-CUBA: A Cow in the Backyard

The Cuban government is encouraging urban farming as an important means of covering the food deficit, one of the consequences of the economic crisis that broke out in the early 1990s.

FOOD-CUBA: A Cow in the Backyard

The Cuban government is encouraging urban farming as an important means of covering the food deficit, one of the consequences of the economic crisis that broke out in the early 1990s.