CHRSTIANEXAMINER.COM

Detained Cuban pastor faces 7-year prison sentence

Pastor Omar Gude Pérez, whom supporters allege is a victim of religious persecution, is facing seven years in prison by request of a state prosecutor.

BUSINESS WIRE

Cuba Travel Services, Inc. to Relaunch Non-Stop Flights from L.A. to Havana

Due to increased demand that flooded into Cuba Travel Services, Inc. offices on the heels of the Obama Administration lifting travel restrictions on Cuban Americans, Cuba Travel Services, Inc. will be launching its first non-stop weekly flight from LAX to Havana starting June 30, 2009. Departing on Tuesdays at 11:00 am Cuba Travel Services, Inc. will be utilizing aircraft operated by Continental Airlines.

GOVTRACK.US

Congressional resolution condeming Cuba

Expressing the sense of Congress that with respect to the totalitarian government of Cuba

CBS NEWS

US-Cuba talks increasing, but normal relations far off

The ground under U.S. policy toward Cuba took a significant shift today. Mauricio Funes was inaugurated as President of El Salvador and, as announced previously, he immediately restored diplomatic relations with Havana. That left Washington as the odd man out, the only country in the Americas without normal relations with its Caribbean neighbor and long-time thorn in its side.

IPS

US-CUBA: Obama still moving cautiously toward normalisation

Sunday's announcement by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that Washington will begin talks with Cuba on bilateral migration issues and resume direct postal service between the two countries suggests the new administration of President Barack Obama intends to proceed cautiously toward normalising ties with the Caribbean nation, according to veteran experts in Washington.

REUTERS

New U.S.-Cuba relations fuel investor interest

Investors in high risk assets are setting their sights on Cuban securities now more than ever given the cheap prices and the overtures made by the U.S. government toward the island.

NATIONAL POST

Canada: Our man (not) in Havana

Canada's Minister of State for the Americas, Peter Kent, has spent much of the past six months in places like Bogota, Port of Spain and San Salvador, but he's not yet been our man in Havana

PA SPORT

Can Cuban boxers make most of their potential?

For decades they dominated the world of amateur boxing as Fidel Castro's fistic army. Now, the Cubans are ditching the headguards and vests in a bid to make up for lost time in the professional ranks.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

Amnesty International report on Cuba

Amnesty International report on Cuba

YOUTUBE

In YouTube parody, Fidel Castro shills for beer

IRISH TIMES

Warning on Irish relations with Cuban regime

A leading Cuban dissident has criticised Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin for not meeting opposition figures during an official visit to the island in February, saying that such visits serve only to legitimise the island’s regime.

AFP

Report: Cuba expelled Spanish intelligence agents

Cuba has expelled Spanish intelligence agents who were tracking members of the Basque separatist group ETA on the communist island, a Spanish newspaper said Thursday

RTT NEWS

Baucus introduces bill easing Cuba restrictions

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT), along with 15 other Democratic and Republican Senators, introduced a bill Wednesday to ease US trade and travel restrictions with Cuba.

BBC

Cuba pushes its 'medical diplomacy'

The waiting room at Cuba's largest eye hospital, Pando Ferrer, is packed with patients. Many come from across Latin America and the Caribbean, with everything paid for by the Cuban government

REUTERS

Many Cuban Americans mellowing to new Cuba policy

Despite the occasional anti-Castro slogan and an exhibit by veterans of the failed 1961 U.S.-backed Bay of Pigs invasion, politics at the annual Cuba Nostalgia weekend in Miami mostly took a back seat to bittersweet reminiscence.

REUTERS

Experts: Cuba's economy to falter in 2009

A Cuban university think-tank said on Monday Cuba's economy would grow only slightly or shrink in 2009 as the island's financial problems persist against the backdrop of a global downturn.

FT MYERS NEWS-PRESS

Cuba: Island so near is so far for Southwest Floridians

What if Cuba travel, recently eased for family, was within reach for all?

BILLBOARD

Obama Raises Hopes For Revived Interest In Cuban Music

As the annual Cuban music trade fair Cubadisco kicks off May 16 in Havana, promoters in the United States are hoping that a thaw in relations with Cuba could revive interest in the island's music.

REUTERS

No bloom yet in U.S.-Cuba ties

The United States and Cuba offered a glimmer of hope last month that they might be ready to end years of hostility, but neither side has moved much since then to widen that window of opportunity.

BBC MONITORING

Stay out of our internal affairs, Cuban envoy tells Dominica

Cuba's Ambassador to Dominica, Oswaldo Cobacho, is urging authorities there to stay out of his country's internal affairs.

CANWEST NEWS SERVICE

Canada, Cuba must talk publicly, says minister

Canada's cabinet minister for Latin America says he has no regrets about chiding Cuba on human rights, even though Havana abruptly cancelled the trip he was to make there next week.

COLBERT REPORT

Stephen Colbert on U.S.-Cuba Relations

Julia Sweig explains why America should bother opening trade relations with Cuba.

CNN

U.S. brands eye Cuba

U.S. firms register trademarks in Cuba with hopes of change on Havana's horizon. CNN's Shasta Darlington reports.

EFE

Spain and Cuba confident that EU-Havana dialogue will continue

Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos and his Cuban counterpart both agreed that the recently reestablished dialogue between the European Union and Cuba will continue.