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Cuba News, Breaking News, Articles and Daily Information

July 29th

Cuban Parliamentarians Discuss Efficiency and Quality of Health Services

<p style="text-align: justify;">HAVANA, Cuba, Jul 29 (acn) The results of recent transformations in the Cuban health system in the interest of improving quality and efficiency, were analyzed on Friday by the members of the Sports and Health Commission of the Cuban National Assembly (Parliament) at Havana's Convention Center. Public Health Minister Roberto Morales explained that today's circumstances and the increase of cooperation with other sister nations led Cuba to re-organize its health services to maintain good quality levels and to reduce costs. Read More

Cuban-Americans fret over travel restrictions home

<p style="text-align: justify;">AP.By LAURA WIDES-MUNOZ - AP Hispanic Affairs Writer. MIAMI (AP) — Sonia Rodriguez whipped up milk-and-espresso drinks at the Latin American Grill as talk turned to a new push in Congress to tighten restrictions on travel to Cuba. Like growing numbers of Cuban-Americans, she's worried about the U.S. reinstating strict limits on how often she can visit relatives and even how much money can be sent to loved ones on the island. Read More

Cuba visits by way of El Paso

<p style="text-align: justify;">By David Steinberg / Journal Staff Writer on Fri, Jul 29, 2011. Team Havana is a band from El Paso, but the main musical roots of its seven members are in the capital of Cuba. The members are from Havana, where salsa was everywhere. David Rodriguez, the leader of the band, said that some of the players learned to play the music as the children of percussionists. The other members, besides listening to the music around them, formally studied in music conservatories. Rodriguez himself studied the bass in school. Read More

Hear My Nectar! Dish-Shaped Leaves Attract Bats

<p style="text-align: justify;"><br /> A photo montage show a flowering vesrion of Marcgravia evenia and an approaching Cuban nectar-feeding bat.Ralph Mangelsdorff and Ralph Simon.It's the acoustic version of a bright, showy flower: A Cuban vine attracts pollinating bats to its nectar not with color, but by posting a dish-shaped leaf over its flowers. The leaf reflects sounds in ways that draw the attention of echolocating bats, according research published today in Science. The hemispherically shaped leaves halve the time it takes for bats to find nectar, compared to the flat leaves that line the rest of the vine, according to the researcher's experiments. Read More

In Havana, no one likes Barack much anymore

<p style="text-align: justify;">By Achy Obejas. Jul. 28, 2011. A visitor from the U.S. in Havana will, eventually and undoubtedly, be asked, “What’s going on with your president?” The debt ceiling chaos overtaking Washington right now isn’t what baffles the Cubans. The very idea of a debt ceiling mystifies them, especially since Cuba lives on debt, and things like the national budget are not really discussed in much detail here. In fact, Cubans seem generally convinced the Washington mess is mostly theater and that all will work out – whatever it is that has to work out – before the Aug. 2 deadline. My constant concern with finding out what was going on back home did little but amuse them. Read More

Food imports put Cuban reforms at risk

<p style="text-align: justify;">HAVANA, July 28 (UPI) -- High food imports are putting Cuban economic reforms at risk because of the drain they pose on foreign exchange resources.The government sounded warnings about rising food commodities import bills after it emerged that while Vietnam, the lead exporter, saw earnings rise from rice sales to Cuba, Havana's&nbsp; state trade sector wasn't too pleased about the situation.Cuban President Raul Castro has been exhorting Cubans to become self-reliant and has laid off of tens of thousands of government employees to cut state spending and signal his readiness to accept a gradual shift toward a market-oriented economy. Read More

Chavez Celebrates 57th Birthday, Vows To Fight Cancer

<p style="text-align: justify;">(NewsCore) - CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, who returned home over the weekend after a first round of chemotherapy in Cuba, celebrated his 57th birthday Thursday and said he was already preparing to celebrate his 67th in a decade's time despite his illness.Chavez vowed to beat the cancer and said he was happy and healthy despite preparing himself for a second bout of chemotherapy, in an interview shown on state broadcaster VTV. Read More

The charm of the Snails Chapel

<p style="text-align: justify;">2011.07.28 - 09:22:33 / radiorebelde.icrt.cu / The charm of the Snails Chapel. Havana, Cuba. -&nbsp; A sui generis chapel, dedicated to Cuba´s Patron Saint, has stood in the old Havana neighborhood of Santos Suarez for almost 80 years. Its facade, previously plastered with snails and seashells, made it different and attractive. Read More

Higher studies prevent premature aging

<p style="text-align: justify;">2011.07.28 - 09:59:21 / radiorebelde.icrt.cu / Higher studies prevent premature aging.Havana, Cuba. - People with less academic qualification age faster, according to a genetic study published in the magazine “Brain, Behavior and Immunity.” The explanation lies in the telomeres that cover the tip of chromosomes in the DNA. They are shorter in people with lower education, a positive sign of premature aging.&nbsp; Read More

Harold López-Nussa Woos French Jazz Fans

<p style="text-align: justify;">An influential French magazine gave him rave reviews and he was elected Jazz Talent 2011 in April, but the young Cuban pianist Harold López-Nussa still feels far from famous.France has given me more international visibility, but I think I´m in a beginning stage in my career, said the youngest of the jazz musicians in a country teeming with top-flight pianists, in an exclusive to Prensa Latina in Paris. Read More