Cuba Headlines

Cuba News, Breaking News, Articles and Daily Information

At 80, Cuba's Hotel Nacional still shines

<p style="text-align: justify;">Associated Press. Sunday, January 30, 2011. HAVANA -- The carpets are worn and the rooms have a musty feel. Yet Havana's iconic Hotel Nacional, which marked its 80th birthday last December, wears its slightly shabby elegance with pride, an aging beauty a bit past its prime.The hotel has welcomed movie stars and mobsters, but today's visitors are mostly flip-flop-wearing tourists from Britain and Spain hoping to get a taste of the past at the apricot-colored monolith on Havana's seaside Malecon boulevard. Read More

Rangers sign Ruiz to Minor League contract

<p style="text-align: justify;">ARLINGTON -- The Rangers have signed free-agent first baseman Jose Ruiz, a left-handed hitter who signed with the Rays last year and then was released in November. He has agreed to a Minor League contract with an invitation to Spring Training.Ruiz, 26, defected from Cuba in the summer of 2009 after playing for Cuba in the National Series, the highest level of baseball in that country. The Rangers were one of several teams that pursued him when he became available last year. Read More

New OFAC regulations on Cuba travel released (morning roundup)

<p style="text-align: justify;">The Office of Foreign Assets Control released Thursday the changes to Cuba travel and remittance policy announced on Jan. 14 by the White House. There aren't too many surprises in the 37-page document, but one paragraph is of special interest. After noting that U.S. citizens are now allowed to send remittances to non-family members in Cuba, the following exception is noted: The remitter's total remittances pursuant to paragraphs (b) of this section to any one Cuban national do not exceed $500 in any consecutive three-month period. Read More

Winners of Contest on Cuba Awarded Prizes

<p style="text-align: justify;">Managers of Belarusbank and the Cuban Embassy in Minsk led a prize-awarding ceremony for winners of the "Change Your Winter for a Cuban Summer" contest.The ceremony was attended by First Vice President of Belarusbank Siarhey Pisaryk and Cuban Ambassador Alfredo Nieves Portuondo.The contest, promoted by Belarusbank, was held in November-December 2010 and involved more than 21,000 Belarusbank credit-card holders.Sergei Lagurk pocketed the first prize, consisting of a free trip to Varadero beach. Read More

Cuba to Study Oil Spill Risks and Prevention

<p style="text-align: justify;">Havana, Jan 29 (Prensa Latina) The Cuban office of the Pan-American Institute of Naval Engineering will hold a workshop in March on oil spill safety and risk agreements, including a debate on the latest software used in this field, organizers said Friday. Read More

Jamaica looks forward to closer ties with Cuba

<p style="text-align: justify;">Saturday, January 29, 2011. The following was presented by Speaker of the House Delroy Chuck on behalf of Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Dr Kenneth Baugh on January 14 at a diplomatic reception at the residence of Cuban Ambassador Yuri Gala Lopez in Kingston. Read More

Cuba's economic changes create new entrepreneurs

<p style="text-align: justify;">(AP:HAVANA) When Julio Cesar Hidalgo looks past the rotten window frame and the coarsely laid concrete, he envisions his shabby living room as a standup pizza joint, with the rich smell of garlic and oregano wafting out onto a warm Havana street. Read More

UNESCO Official Highlights Cooperation with Cuba

<p style="text-align: justify;">HAVANA, Cuba, Jan 29 (acn) The Director of the Regional Culture Office for Latin America and the Caribbean of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Herman van Hoof, said that the recently concluded 12th International Congress on Pedagogy (Pedagogia 2011) confirmed itself as one of the most important events in the world for the development of projects and research on education. Read More

It's time for Florida to repeal limits on travel to Cuba

<p style="text-align: justify;">January 28, 2011. If lawmakers and Gov. Rick Scott are looking for an easy way to make Florida more attractive to academic research and business, they can start by repealing the state's limits on travel to Cuba. In a pique of political pandering to Florida's most extreme anti-Castro elements, the Legislature in 2006 passed a law barring academics at Florida's public colleges and universities from going to the island nation, even if they use private funds. At the time, the new law didn't have a huge impact because of strict Bush-era travel limits. Read More

Pablo Milanes, Happy with Cuba Tour

<p style="text-align: justify;">2011.01.28 - 13:39:43 / NUEVA GERONA.- Cuban singer songwriter Pablo Milanes concluded in the Isle of Youth a successful tour across Cuba that started last year’s November 9 in the easternmost province of the island, Guantanamo.Milanes, internationally known for Yolanda and El Breve Espacio en que no estas, told CAN he was happy to see people from all generations in his concerts during the tour, but he said to be rather particularly impressed to see young people singing his songs. Read More