Cuba has announced the first details of a highly anticipated new law meant to loosen rules on the buying and selling of homes and cars, which have been tightly controlled since soon after the 1959 revolution.

Cuba announced today that interim leader Raul Castro will give this week’s Revolution Day address.

On his 80th birthday, Fidel Castro cautioned Cubans he faced a long recovery from surgery and advised them to prepare for “adverse news”, but urged them to stay optimistic, while a newspaper published the first photographs of the Cuban leader since his illness.

The Communist leadership assured Cubans yesterday that acting president Raul Castro was in firm control of the nation, backed by the military and ready to repel any attack.

Cuban officials who travelled to regions hit by Hurricane Michelle have found vast destruction, with sugar mills wrecked, crops ruined and hundreds of homes destroyed.