Eastern Cuba was hit by two low intensity earthquakes on Wednesday, informed the National Center for Seismology Research. The tremors registered at 3.7 and 4.8 on the Richter scale and were felt in the provinces of Guantanamo, Santiago de Cuba and Granma. No injuries or material damage was reported.
Read MoreThe first Iberian-American Gender, Education, Health and Human Development Congress began Wednesday in Cuba with a lecture titled “Sex education as a state policy” given by Mariela Castro, director of the National Centre for Sex Education (CENESEX), reported IPS. Outstanding specialists will attend the event, such as Marcela Lagarde, from Mexico, and Félix López and Ana Feixas, from Spain.
Read MoreThe UN special rapporteur on torture, Manfred Nowak, said he was disappointed on Wednesday that no agreement has been reached with Cuban authorities for a visit to the island.
Read MoreThe Committee for Latin America, a working group of the Council of the European Union (EU), is preparing this week the conclusions on the Cuba policy, which the foreign ministers of the 27 member countries should approve next June 14 in Luxemburg, the Brussels media reported. Spain’s intention during the presidency of the EU of changing the Common Position, in force since 1996, has come up against the opposition of the governments of Germany, Sweden and the Czech Republic.
Read MoreGeorgia Govenor Sonny Perdue just completed a visit to Cuba to promote better trade relations between the two countries. He said he would lobby back home at the legislature to make increased business a future reality.
Read MoreThe National Assembly of People’s Power (parliament) will discuss during its next regular session a bill for the division of Havana province, bordering on the Cuban capital, into two new territories: Mayabeque and Artemisa, reported IPS. The measure would attempt to make more efficient the administration of that area, one of the Caribbean country’s key agricultural regions.
Read MoreLast year Cuba received 81,000 tourists more than in 2008 but revenues from the tourist industry decreased by 10 per cent, according to a report released by the National Office of Statistics (ONE). Canada continues at the head of the issuing markets, with 914,000 visitors, while the number of U.S. tourists increased 25 per cent, to surpass the figure of 52,000, including many Cuban-Americans visiting family.
Read MoreThe Zaza Dam, Cuba’s largest reservoir with a capacity to hold 1.020 billion cubic meters of water, is barely storing 14 per cent of that volume due to the drought that is affecting the island since late 2008, reported the local press. The decrease in the water level has forced the authorities to speed up fishing in that aquifer to avoid the massive death of the fish because of lack of oxygen.
Read MoreSpanish President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero will talk with Pope Benedict XVI on the human rights situation in Cuba when he meets with the Supreme Pontiff next Thursday in the Vatican, reported sources close to the Executive in Madrid. The dialogue will take place three weeks after the beginning of the talks between the Cuban government and the Catholic Church.
Read MoreAcid rain has increased in recent years in Cuba, affirmed Osvaldo Cuesta Santos, head of the Contamination and Atmospheric Chemistry Centre (CECONT) of the Institute of Meteorology. According to the specialist, 25 per cent of the precipitations in the island contain light to high levels of acidity. The most affected areas are located in industrial regions such as Moa, Cienfuegos and Havana.
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