Business & Economy

The online portal for holiday homes Airbnb announced on Thursday that it will offer home rentals in Cuba, becoming the first US company to provide accommodation on the island.

Fidel Castro Díaz-Balart, the Cuban leader’s eldest son, met Friday (March 27) in Novosibirsk with the city’s mayor, Anatoly Lokot, and the region’s governor, Vladimir Gorodetsky, to discuss closer relations between Cuba and the region in general and its scientific institutions in particular.

The Cuban government announced Friday the reduction of tariffs for international calls and messaging originating from the country. Calls to the United States, where the largest Cuban exile community lives, dropped to 1.00 CUC per minute from land lines and 1.10 from cell phones.

Government representatives of Cuba and the United States met today in Havana to discuss telecommunications issues as part of the diplomatic thaw between the two countries, reported dpa news.

Following a decision in step with the White House’s new policy towards Cuba, the US Treasury Department announced that it would remove 28 companies, 11 vessels and 6 individuals from the list of entities barred from conducting business with US citizens or companies around the world.

Assistant Secretary of State Roberta S. Jacobson is scheduled to deliver the keynote address at the Cuba Opportunity Summit in New York City on April 1. The event is sold out with tickets costing US $1,495 per person.

A Cuban court has imposed 5 to 15 year prison sentences on 18 State company officials and employees in Havana for their involvement in the much-publicized theft of over eight million eggs, a crime that caused the country millions in losses.