MEXICO CITY — With shouts of "Viva Fidel!" Cuban President Raúl Castro said on Saturday that the easing of tensions with the United States did not mean he was going to jettison the communist ideals that his brother brought to the island a half-century ago.
The political thaw would eliminate the dangerous back channels of defection. The impact on the sport could be immense and, in the words of one team official, "drastic."
Karin Haud, founder and director of Animales de Asís, a rescue and adoption center, laments that “too many dogs and cats, especially pregnant females, are abandoned. All the refuge centers are full, and still we find abandoned mothers with pups and kittens.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two brothers believed to be leaders of one of the most prolific cocaine-trafficking organizations in Central America were charged in a massive drug conspiracy case unsealed Friday in U.S. federal district court in Alexandria, Virginia.
Poinsettias are native to Central America, but are now found around the world as a leading ornamental, particularly at Christmas. They are primarily grown as potted plants; however, tropical gardeners can plant poinsettias outside in the garden.
Costa Rica exceeded its annual goal for foreign investment by an estimated $300 million in 2014, but new investments weren’t enough to outpace the loss of jobs from companies like Intel and Bank of America that exited the country this year.
Despite the unusually close diplomatic ties between Caracas and Havana (even their intelligence services are interlinked), President Nicolás Maduro appears to have been caught completely off guard by this week's dramatic announcement.
Under President Raúl Castro, arbitrary arrests have "increased dramatically" in recent years and detainees are often beaten and threatened in custody, according to Human Rights Watch. On Dec. 10, Universal Human Rights Day, Cuban authorities detained 240 people arbitrarily, according to the dissident group Patriotic Union of Cuba.
Officials in Moscow confirmed Friday that North Korean despot Kim Jong Un may attend ceremonies next year commemorating the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. It would be Kim's first public foreign visit since coming to power in December 2011.
As shipping executive Jay Brickman was leaving for Miami International Airport for his 50-minute charter flight to Havana, he had no clue the earth was about to shake under his feet.
