Cuban President Raul Castro announced a series of measures to gradually reduce the “considerably bulky” payrolls in the government sector, with excess estimated at around one-fifth of the economically active population.
Read MoreTropical depression number four of this year’s hurricane season is not a threat to Cuba, according to the five-day forecast cone drawn up by the U.S. National Hurricane Center, reported IPS. At noon the depression was located 2,200 kilometers east of the Lesser Antilles. It is projected to become a tropical storm and take a course to the north of the Caribbean.
Read MoreCuba will build residential complexes annexed to 16 new golf courses, whose dwellings can be purchased by persons from other countries, affirmed Minister of Tourism Manuel Marrero. The official said that the measure should come into force before the end of the year, after the legal regulations have concluded regarding aspects such as the sales contracts and the immigration status of the owners.
Read MoreA study on the ecological foundations for the structure and functioning of the interior lagoons of Cayo Sabinal, Cuba’s third largest key, will make it possible to propose conservation measures to mitigate the adverse effects in the more than 30 temporary and permanent wetlands of the province of Camagüey. The project is being carried out by the Centre of Environmental Research of that province, 534 kilometers from Havana.
Read MoreBoth President Raul Castro and former President Fidel Castro met separately on Sunday with visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jichei. No details of the talks were disclosed to the press, just the standard: “they talked about the current international situation” and “strengthening” the already “solid bilateral relations.”
Read MoreThe Cuban government plans a major cut back on State jobs during the next nine months while opening opportunities for more self employment initiatives, President Raul Castro told the parliament on Sunday without giving any details.
Read MoreThe governments of China and Cuba ratified this Saturday the mutual interest in strengthening “economic and commercial cooperation” as well as “high-level” exchanges between both countries, after a meeting of foreign ministers held in Havana.
The foreign ministers of China and Cuba, Yang Jichei and Bruno Rodríguez, respectively, presided over the signing of an economic, technical and commercial cooperation agreement.
There are 13 Cuba-China joint ventures, seven of them in communications, agricultural production and tourism, reported IPS.
Read MoreChinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi is arriving this Friday to Cuba in reply to an official invitation. During his stay he will hold talks with his Cuban counterpart Bruno Rodriguez, according to official sources, reported IPS. China is Cuba’s second leading trade partner after Venezuela.
Read MoreThe abundant rains in July in Cuba are still insufficient to compensate for the deficit accumulated in the country’s aquiferous reserves, and the drought continues affecting economic and social sectors, warned Jorge Garcia Fernandez, director of Hydrographic Basins of the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources. In statements published today by the official press, García said the contraction of the reservoirs and underwater sources is not only due to the shortage of rain last May and June, but rather that it had begun previously.
Read MoreCuba’s National Assembly of People’s Power (parliament) will protest “to the world” the “inhuman” treatment being received in prison by Gerardo Hernández, one of the five Cuban agents serving long sentences in U.S. prisons. Parliament leader Ricardo Alarcón said that Hernández is suffering from hypertension and bacteria that has damaged his health. Despite that condition he is kept under punishment for no reason at all.
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