Cuban Scientists Improving Quality of Rice Crops

<p style="text-align: justify;">By: Martin Hacthoun. Havana, Mar 13 (Prensa Latina) More than 70 percent of rice crops in Cuba are planted with varieties obtained in the Rice Research Station of Los Palacios, in the westernly province of Pinar del Rio, where the scientific work focuses on genetic improvement.Elizabeth Cristo, an associate researcher in charge of that program at the center, which is attached to the National Agricultural Sciences Institute, said the seeds mainly used are INCA LP-5, obtained by grafting, and INCA LP-7, produced through biotechnological procedures. Read More

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U.S. seizes UN health funds, Cuba says

<p style="text-align: justify;">The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) seized $4.207 million the United Nations Foundation Fund for AIDS wanted to transfer to Cuba.The payment was to pay for the fight against AIDS and tuberculosis in Cuba during the first quarter of 2011, Deputy Foreign Trade Minister Orlando Hernández said, according to Prensa Latina.Hernández said the UN Development Program told the Cuban government that OFAC froze the funds in January. Read More

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