The Cuban government has declared nine days of mourning for Fidel Castro, the revolutionary leader who has died at the age of 90.

Fidel Castro greeted his 80th birthday from his sickbed, gripping a newspaper to show he was alive two weeks after stepping down as president.

Pope Francis has hailed the detente between the US and Cuba as a model of reconciliation for the world.

US president Barack Obama met Cuban president Raul Castro on Saturday in the highest-level talks between the two countries in nearly 60 years, and the two men agreed to push ahead on improving relations after decades of hostility.

Former president Fidel Castro has broken his silence over Cuba and the United States’ move to restore full diplomatic relations, saying that although he does not trust Washington’s politics, differences between the nations should be resolved through co-operation.

Bells tolled in celebration and teachers halted lessons as President Raul Castro told his country Cuba was restoring relations with the United States after more than 50 years of hostility.

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Ger Loughnane was right. Last Sunday night he called on one of the rich phrases from his beloved Gaeilge to suitably articulate what had transpired earlier. ‘Lá dar saol a bhí ann.’

One hundred state-run produce markets and 26 other establishments were scheduled to become private co-operatives today as communist-run Cuba continues to shed secondary economic activity in favour of individual initiative and markets.

Cuban President Raul Castro says he will not seek another five-year term after the one he started yesterday.

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has returned home after more than two months of treatment in Cuba following cancer surgery.

Venezuela’s vice president flew to Cuba to visit the ailing Hugo Chavez and his family, while the leaders of Argentina and Peru also travelled to Havana saying they hoped to ask about the Venezuelan president’s condition.

Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro has criticised rumour-mongers who claim he is on his death bed.

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has sworn in his new vice president and six other cabinet ministers, less than a week after winning a new mandate to extend his self-styled Bolivarian revolution.

Cuban President Raul Castro has said his government is willing to mend fences with bitter Cold War foe the United States and sit down to discuss anything, as long as it is a conversation between equals.

SARDINIA and Corsica are physically similar.

Pope Benedict XVI is to wrap up his visit to Cuba with an open-air Mass in the shrine of the Cuban revolution, and a meeting with Fidel Castro.

The pope left Spanish-speaking Latin America’s most Roman Catholic country today on his way to its least.

Cuban faithful celebrating Christmas say they have plenty to cheer this year as they prepare for the arrival of Pope Benedict XVI, the first visit by a pontiff to the Communist-run island since John Paul II’s historic tour nearly 14 years ago.

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez is hosting leaders from across the Americas at a two-day summit.

FIDEL Castro has broken a long silence by granting an interview to a Venezuelan television station, his first since rumours began to spread that the former Cuban leader might be sick or near death.

Nearly two dozen singers and musicians from nine Latin American nations honoured Fidel Castro with a concert on the eve of the former Cuban leader’s 85th birthday.

Cuba has published revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara’s journal from the guerrilla campaign he fought with Fidel Castro.

RAUL CASTRO was named first secretary of Cuba’s Communist Party, with his ageing brother Fidel not included in the leadership for the first time since the party’s creation 46 years ago.

Raul Castro was named first secretary of Cuba’s Communist Party today with his ageing brother Fidel not included in the leadership for the first time since the party’s creation 46 years ago.

Communist Party delegates gave their blessing to a sweeping slate of economic changes designed to breathe life and a bit of free-market spirit into Cuba's moribund economy, and also voted in a new party leadership at a historic summit.

Raul Castro has proposed term limits for Cuban politicians - including himself - in a remarkable gesture on an island ruled for 52 years by him and his brother.

A Cuban opposition group was met with jeers, insults and pro-government slogans from counter-protesters in a march through the capital to call attention to jailed dissidents.

Fidel Castro told a visiting American journalist that Cuba’s communist economic model does not work, a rare comment on domestic affairs from a man who has conspicuously steered clear of local issues since stepping down four years ago.

Raul Castro said his government will scale back controls on small businesses, lay off unnecessary workers and allow more self-employment – significant steps in a country where the state dominates nearly every facet of the economy.

President Raul Castro fired Cuba's transportation minister for professional mistakes and replaced the head of the Sugar Ministry after he admitted incompetence, the latest in a growing series of leadership shake-ups.

The husband of an acclaimed dissident Cuban blogger was punched and shouted down by a pro-government mob after he challenged the presumed state agents who earlier roughed up his wife to a street corner debate.

Cuba unveiled what it said is a recent photograph of ex-President Fidel Castro, showing him looking healthier than in other pictures since he underwent emergency surgery three years ago.

Signalling its willingness to discuss improved relations with the US, Cuba granted three visiting members of the Congressional Black Caucus the first meeting with Fidel Castro by American officials since he fell ill in 2006.

I REGRET to say that I cannot tell my readers much about Irish bird activity this week other than what I can see in my garden or from the windows of the car parked alongside the bay.

Fidel Castro met for 90 minutes with Chile’s president, who said the ailing former Cuban leader appeared “in very good shape”.

Cubans with classic American cars – or even rusty Russian sedans – are being encouraged to apply for taxi licences and set their own prices for the first time in nearly a decade as the communist government turns to the free market to improve its woeful transport system.

Cuba’s ailing former leader Fidel Castro will probably never appear in public again, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez said.

Fifty years after triumphant armed rebels descended from the eastern mountains, communist Cuba celebrated the revolution’s anniversary with toned-down festivities following a trio of devastating hurricanes and under the enduring public absence of an ailing Fidel Castro.

Raul Castro began his first international trip as Cuba’s president in Venezuela, a symbolic choice of destination aimed at strengthening ties with the island’s socialist ally and main benefactor.

JOHN McCAIN renewed his attacks on Barack Obama’s ties to a 1960s radical as he targeted the key battleground state of Florida.

President Raul Castro warned Cubans to prepare for a “realistic” brand of Communism that was economically viable and did away with excessive state subsidies designed to promote equality on the island.