Obama set for historic meeting with Cuban leader

Barack Obama is to turn the page on half a century of hostility, signalling he will soon remove Cuba from America’s list of state sponsors of terrorism, as he prepares for a historic encounter with President Raul Castro.

Hours before his arrival in Panama for a regional summit, President Obama said the State Department had finished its review of Cuba’s presence on the list, a stain on the island nation’s pride and a major stumbling block for efforts to mend US-Cuba ties.