News

Cuba crushed Italy in straight sets Friday to reach the semifinals in the 2010 World Volleyball League (Mens). The Cubans now plays Brazil, —the tournament favorite— on Saturday hoping to make it the final on Sunday.

Rep. Kathy Castor, a US congresswoman from Tampa, has broken ranks with other Florida legislators and became the first from her state’s delegation to sign on to the Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act.

The Cuban Men’s Team lost a hard fought match to Russia on Thursday night three sets to two in World Volleyball League final round action in Cordoba, Argentina. Tonight the Cubans play Italy in a do-or-die match to advance to the semifinals.

Cuban Public Health Minister Jose Ramon Balaguer has been replaced by First Vice-minister Roberto Morales,43, revealed official sources on Friday, reported IPS. No reason was given for Balaguer’s “liberation”, a term frequently used to refer to dismissed officials.

Cuba has 12 specialized classrooms to teach computing to the visually impaired as part of the social projects to benefit those persons. The means, equipped with screen readers that allow the impaired to learn different texts and the functioning of the computers, were donated by Spain’s National Organization for the Blind and Belgium’s Handicap NGO.

The tropical depression moving north of Cuba is heading for the Bahamas and the Florida Keys reported the Cuban Meteorological Institute late Thursday afternoon.

A new tropical depression, the third of the season, formed on Thursday and the disperse storm was centered northeast of Punta Lucrecia, Holguin, noted the Cuban Meteorological Institute at 11:00 a.m. this morning.

Cuba opens its final round play in the World Volleyball League on Thursday night against the tough Russian team in Cordoba, Argentina.

Dominican Republic President Leonel Antonio Fernández arrives in Cuba Thursday on an official visit. The Cuban press reported that Fernandez will meet with his counterpart Raul Castro to discuss ways to strengthen bilateral ties. No mention was made whether the Dominican leader would also meet with ex-President Fidel Castro.

Yunieski Maya, not long ago the top right-handed pitcher on team Cuba, is headed for Washington to play with the Nationals. “Maya was by most measures the best pitcher in Cuba the season immediately before his 2009 departure,” said Cuban Baseball expert Peter C. Bjarkman.