CUBA: Swim at Your Own Risk

They get ready for the jump, a spectacular airborne pirouette follows and then a stream of saltwater spray rounds off the plunge. Dozens of youngsters, mainly boys, cool off from the summer heat with daring dives from the sea wall lining the Malecón, the Cuban capital's famous seaside avenue.

CULTURE-CUBA: Women Rappers a Vocal Minority

Women are still a small minority on Cuba’s hip hop scene. "If the situation is hard for us nationwide, imagine what it’s like in the eastern region, where this genre has very little recognition," says Yaneidys Tamayo, leader of the group Las Positivas.

CUBA: Dreams and Progress in a Rural Community

The day that electricity arrived in the Cuban village of Jova, there were shouts, laughter and tears of joy, even among the most incredulous, who had doubted it was possible. "I didn’t know what to do; it actually made me nervous," Carmen Carvallosa confessed.

CUBA: Wedding Follows, Four Years After Sex Change Surgery

Nearly four years after realising her dream of changing her body into a woman's to match her transgender identity, Wendy Iriepa rode through the Cuban capital in a vintage convertible, wearing a stunning full-length white bridal gown and unfurling a rainbow flag, the symbol of the sexual diversity movement, for all to see.

Restoring the Cuban City with a French Colonial Air

The city of Cienfuegos, known in Cuba as the "Pearl of the South", is unique for its spotless cleanliness, the orderly grid pattern of its streets, its 19th century architecture and its air of "Grande Dame" elegance. Now its past splendours, ravaged by time or left to deteriorate because of economic difficulties, are being restored.

CUBA: Castro Says Migration Policy to Be Eased

Cuban President Raúl Castro’s announcement of coming changes to migration policy appears to be the result of repeated demands by the population for freedom to travel, a right ensnared for decades in the Cuba-United States conflict.

Cubans Aren’t Racist, But…

"I'm not racist, but at night, if I see three black men coming, I cross the street"; "I have a black friend, but I'd never accept him as my brother-in-law"; "Who me, racist? Not at all! But my daughter marrying a black man..." These are the kinds of comments that can frequently be heard in Cuba, where discrimination of any kind is prohibited by law.

CUBA: Communist Academic Recovers His Party Card

Cuban historian and columnist Esteban Morales, who was reinstated as a member of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) after being expelled a year earlier for writing articles about corruption in the country, said he would continue exercising his right to express criticism, as the duty and moral obligation of "any revolutionary intellectual."

CUBA: Women Face Challenges in Growing Self-Employment Sector

"Coffee! Get your plastic bags here! Cream cheese, the very best...!" The voices blend in with the cries of other vendors and the noise typical of Cuban markets. Elisa, 64, was one of the hawkers until she was fined for selling her products without a permit. "I paid dearly for it," she says.

CUBA: Budget Vacations in Touch with Nature

To survive the summer heat and enjoy restful vacations in natural settings, the government's network of cabin resorts is a popular alternative among families in Cuba, few of whom can afford the high cost of hotels, which until 2008 were off-limits to Cubans.

Cuban Twitterers Meet Face-to-Face

"I want to meet @salvatore300 and @elainediaz2003" was a comment overheard at #TwittHab, the first meeting in Cuba of social network users. After years of being connected only via the web, the internet is now being used to facilitate real-world contact between citizens of this socialist island nation.

CUBA: Video Games Spread Despite Limitations

Despite the many limitations on access to digital-age technology in Cuba, a taste for computer games is spreading in this country, giving rise to a youthful movement that is beginning to conquer new public spaces.

CUBA: Microcredit Knocks on Door…Softly

A microcredit system could begin operating in Cuba as part of reforms adopted by the government of Raúl Castro to modernise the country's socialist economic system.

CUBA: Young People for Diversity

The idea emerged spontaneously, and then snowballed. In just a few months, more than 100 people in Cuba became part of a young people’s social network for diversity, in a society where machismo and homophobia are seen as natural.

CUBA: Economic Reforms Hitting Women Hard

Women in Cuba are gaining ground in public life and earn the same wages as men. But the gender gap in the workplace is still a challenge for women, who are finding the odds more heavily stacked against them as the government of Raúl Castro adopts economic reforms aimed at "updating" the country's socialist system.

CUBA: South-South Diplomacy Props Up Economic Modernisation

The diplomatic offensive undertaken by Cuba in recent weeks is propping up the most important medium-term development programmes implemented as part of what the Raúl Castro government describes as the "updating" of the economic system without abandoning socialism.

CUBA: Outcome of Airline Corruption Trial Revealed

A Havana court handed down sentences of three to 15 years to 15 officials and employees of Cubana de Aviacion airline and a tourism agency jointly owned by Chilean investors and the Cuban government, in a corruption case that was veiled in a shroud of secrecy.

CULTURE-CUBA: The Coco Solo Social Club, Open to All

The family history of writer Manuel Martínez rises up in large, black letters on the walls and ceilings of his house in a low-income neighbourhood of the Cuban capital. Photos and objects from times past complete this different kind of a book, which you can start reading from any point.

POLITICS-CUBA: Reforms Up Against the Clock

President Raul Castro, who turned 80 Friday, is facing the challenge of making the Cuban economy more efficient without abandoning socialism – a course that involves overcoming conservative resistance to change and new forms of working and even thinking.

CUBA: Rainy Season Off to a Poor Start

Despite major underground water reserves and the start of the rainy season, people in the central region of Cuba are anxiously scanning the skies in the face of scant rainfall, which is needed to ease a drought that has become more severe in recent years.

BOOKS: Victims of Quiet Terror Campaign Against Cuba Speak Out

The death of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden at his hideout in Pakistan earlier this month was hailed by people across the United States and around the world as a fitting end for a self-confessed mass murderer.