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The Netherlands clinched first place Saturday in the Haarlem Baseball Week tournament that concludes on Sunday. The undefeated host team defeated Japan 10-9.

Mariela Castro, director of the National Center for Sex Education (CENESEX), said in statements to the German magazine Der Spiegel that she was in favor of “a more attractive policy for young people, so that also from the economic point of view staying (in Cuba) makes sense to them.” The emigration of young professionals is one of the challenges faced by the island’s government.

Former President Fidel Castro met in Havana on Friday with senior Cuban Foreign Affairs officials including numerous ambassadors. His talk centered on the threats to humanity posed by possible US attacks on Iran and/or North Korea.

Cuba’s baseball team assured at least a second place finish by hanging on to defeat the United States 4-3 on Friday in the Haarlem Baseball Week taking place in Holland.

The reservoirs in the central-eastern Cuban province of Camagüey, 650 kilometers east of the Cuban capital, barely accumulate 35 percent of their capacity due to the lack of rainfall for more than two years. Some 150 communities with more than 25,000 inhabitants in that region have begun getting water through cistern trucks.

“Haiti greatly appreciates the honorable contribution of the Cuban people and government in overcoming all the difficulties of the Haitian population and in their development,” affirmed Haitian Minister of Women’s Condition and Rights Marjorie Michel. Cuba maintains a cooperation program with the neighboring country since 1998, strengthened after the last January 12 earthquake.

Former President Fidel Castro visited the Havana Aquarium on Thursday, spoke with workers and took in a dolphin show. Among the employees was Celia Guevara March, daughter of Ernesto “Che” Guevara, who works there as a veterinarian.

The Cuban baseball team broke out of a two game slump in a come from behind win over Chinese Taipei 3-2 on Thursday at the Haarlem Baseball Week in Holland.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva expressed his satisfaction over the announcement of the release of 52 Cuban political prisoners, in statements during a press conference in Brasilia at the end of the fourth Brazil-European Union Summit. “Let’s hope that all countries release all the prisoners who are considered political.”

Cubans with family members abroad who send them remittances are the segment of the population most likely to have a cell phone. This because the cost of a cell phone line and for calls is in hard currency (CUC) and the fact that Cubans earn regular Cuban pesos (MN) at their jobs.