The 9th plenary session of the Cuban Communist Party Central Committee, presided by its second secretary Jose Ramon Machado Ventura, held sessions on Thursday to evaluate the work of the organization in 2014 regarding the implementation and follow up of accords reached at the 6th Congress of the Party and the objectives adopted at its First National Conference.

The Cuban National Assembly of People's Power (ANPP by its Spanish acronym) thanked today in plenary, all parliamentarians and legislators of the world for their support to the cause of the Cuban Five.

The Cuban National Assembly of People´s Power (Parliament) will consider the approval today of main documents for Cuban economy in 2015 during the 4th Session of the 8th Legislature taking place at Havana´s Convention Centre.

US President Barack Obama will announce new executive measures next month aimed at improving relations with Cuba, according to White House officials cited by The New York Times.

Diplomats, poets, biologists and people in general honored in this capital Wayne Smith, who was the first chief of the US Interests Section in Cuba and has fulfilled one of his dreams: the restoration of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

On hearing the news of the release of three Cuban antiterrorism fighters imprisoned in the United States, the deputies of the National Assembly of People's Power, and guests gathered today in the Conventions Palace in Havana could not contain their excitement.

Cuban President Raul Castro addressed the nation this Wednesday broadcast on radio and television on the recent developments in the Cuba-US relations.

For the second time this year, Washington imposed a multi-million fine on a European bank under the extraterritorial economic, commercial and financial blockade of Cuba. This time, Germany´s Commerzbank will have to pay one billion dollars for maintaining financial operations with the island.

HAVANA, Cuba, Dec 16 (acn) For the second time this year, Washington imposed a multi-million fine on a European bank under the extraterritorial economic, commercial and financial blockade of Cuba. This time, Germany´s Commerzbank will have to pay one billion dollars for maintaining financial operations with the island.

The unilateral and extraterritorial measure is part of the US Department of the Treasury´s policy that hunts any bank that does transactions with Cuba through US subsidiaries.

According to an article recently published by the Financial Times, cited by Cuba´s Trabajadores newspaper, in September, the German bank agreed to pay 650 million dollars after being accused of doing financial transactions with Cuba, Iran, Sudan and other countries under US sanctions.

However, the Department of Justice and the Fiscal Office in New York, the city where the bank´s subsidiary is based, decided to take the fine up to one billion dollars.

On June 30, Washington imposed a record 8.9 billion dollar fine on France´s Paribas Bank for violating US unilateral sanctions against several countries, particularly Cuba.

According to experts, these multi-million sanctions violate International Law and respond to the enforcement of an extraterritorial and illegal US measures against foreign entities.

Other European banks like Germany´s Deutche Bank, France´s Société Générale and Crédit Agricole, and Italy´s UniCredit SpA are under the magnifying glass of an investigation by US authorities.

Germany´s Commerzbank, founded in 1870, has its headquarters in Frankfurt and at present it is considered the country´s second largest financial institution after the Deutsche Bank. It is also the fifth most powerful bank in the world with subsidiaries in London, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Brussels and New York.

Cuban lawmakers are gathering in working commissions on Tuesday to consider crucial issues for the country, including the performance of Cuban economy in 2014 and a draft economic plan for next year, as part of the 4th Session of the Parliament´s 8th Legislature, whose plenary session will take place on Friday.

Notwithstanding Cuba's efforts to improve public transportation, this remains one of the main dissatisfaction of the population due essentially to the poor state of roads and few resources available in the country.

We cannot talk about improving education, without including art and sport teaching, First Vice-President Miguel Díaz-Canel, during the first day of discussions of Cuban lawmakers.

Cuban President Raul Castro received Monday afternoon his Bolivian counterpart Evo Morales, who participated in the ALBA Summit held in Havana this Sunday.

Cuba will progressively open nursing homes in 2015 to assist senior citizens suffering from Alzheimer, while one of those institutions is already experimentally operating in Havana.

With a political-cultural gala in which the success of the 13th ALBA-TCP Summit was ratified and the legacy of its founders -Commanders Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez- acknowledged once more, the 10th anniversary of that mechanism of integration was celebrated on Sunday.

The President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, sent on Sunday a message to Army General Raul Castro, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party and President of the councils of State and Ministers, in which he wished success to the ALBA-TCP Summit.