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Details about Launch of Fidel Castro’s Book Disclosed

Fidel Castro Ruz

Argentine academic Atilio Borón and Cuban-American lawyer Jose Pertierra will be panelists at next Wednesday”s launch of the book “Nuestro Deber Es Luchar” (Our Duty Is to Fight), by the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro. The book will be presented simultaneously in Havana, Caracas, Quito, Buenos Aires, Luanda, Santo Domingo, La Paz, Mexico City, Bridgetown, San Juan, Kingston, Washington, Madrid and Berlin, at 14:00 hours, Cuba time (19:00 GMT).

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Wife of Cuban Five Member Asks US President for Human Gesture

Gerardo Hernández

Adriana Perez O’Connor has spent 14 years without seeing her husband, Gerardo Hernandez, one of the Cuban Five imprisoned in the United States for conspiracy to commit espionage, and hope that the international pressure forces U.S. President Barack Obama to adopt a measure that enables them to meet again.

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Putin Wins Russian Presidential Elections

putin

Central Electoral Commission (CEC) Head Vladimir Churov on Monday announced the extra-official result of the presidential elections, in which Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin won 63.75 percent of votes. Churov stated that, after counting more than 99.9 percent of the ballots, Putin had 45,109,640 votes. The turnout was 65.3 percent, five points above the December 4 parliamentary elections.

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Rene Gonzalez: I never thought I would have to write this letter

René González Sehwerert

I never thought I would have to write this letter. We share the same lack of enthusiasm for letter writing, a fact clearly demonstrated during our respective internationalist missions and – more conclusively – in the unique experience of the last 20 years. In other words, only conditions as extraordinary as the present ones induce me to write.

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US Court yet to Respond Rene Gonzalez Request to See Ailing Brother, Lawyer Says

rene-gonzalez-2

Rene Gonzalez, one of the Cuban Five imprisoned in the United States, but who is serving time on probation since October, is still awaiting for an answer after asking the Supreme Court for permission to travel to Havana to visit his very sick brother, lawyer Philip R. Horowitz told the AFP news agency on Wednesday.

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Kofi Annan again at UN, but for Syria

kofiannan

Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan will arrive on Wednesday at the United Nations, the organization he led for ten years, but this time as a UN and Arab League (AL) special envoy on the crisis in Syria. According to an official announcement, Annan will talk here on the conflict with the current UN Secretary General and his successor since 2006, Ban Ki-moon, as well as the members of the Security Council.

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Soldier Bradley Manning among Nobel Peace Prize Candidates

Bradley Manning

Soldier Bradley Manning, alleged author of leaking classified information to WikiLeaks, is one of the 231 candidates for the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize, an award that many people believe it has lost discretion over time.

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President Raul Castro sent Condolence for Late Russian Diplomat

rusia-funeral-vorotnikov

Cuban President Raul Castro sent a message of condolence for the death of former Soviet official Vitaly Vorotnikov, whom he described as a close friend of Cuba. The text, read in the funeral of the former Soviet Presidium´s Chairman, expresses deep sorrow for the death of Vorotnikov, remembered “with affection and respect” in Cuba.”Please, receive my deepest sympathy and the testimony of my consideration,” says the note read by Cuban Ambassador to Russia Juan Valdes at the funeral of Vorotnikov, who was ambassador of the former Soviet Union to Havana.

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Syria, Iran to Implement FTA at Crucial Time

Damascus-the-capital-of-S-007

Iran and Syria will consolidate their strategic relations and ties at a crucial time for both countries, after the implementation of a free trade agreement (FTA) a month from now. The FTA, seen in both capitals as an important step to complement their economies, establishes that Syrian products on the Iranian market, for example, will enjoy a gradual reduction of customs tariffs over the next five years. Those rates will decrease 20 percent each year over the next five years up to zero, while Damascus will bring about preferential facilities to investors and goods from Iran.

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USAID contractor work in Cuba detailed

USAID

Piece by piece, in backpacks and carry-on bags, American aid contractor Alan Gross made sure laptops, smartphones, hard drives and networking equipment were secreted into Cuba. The most sensitive item, according to official trip reports, was the last one: a specialized mobile phone chip that experts say is often used by the Pentagon and the CIA to make satellite signals virtually impossible to track.