Brushing off decades of distrust, Cuban president Raul Castro and US president Barack Obama shook hands in Havana’s Palace of the Revolution, a remarkable moment for two countries working to put the bitterness of their Cold War-era enmity behind them.

Here’s a briefing on some of the stories and issues highlighted on irishexaminer.com today.

Stepping into history, President Barack Obama opened an extraordinary visit to Cuba yesterday, eager to push decades of acrimony deeper into the past and forge irreversible ties with America’s former adversary.