The new presidential directive towards Cuba announced Friday by the White House includes steps by the departments of Trade and the Treasury to favor bilateral scientific collaboration, the import of Cuban products by US citizens allowed visiting the island and scholarships.

A massive denunciation of the US economic, commercial and financial blockade of Cuba is being staged by youngsters in all local universities as a new vote approaches at the UN on the Cuban resolution demanding the lifting of the unilateral and extraterritorial US measure.

Water use and the call to save it is the central theme of video games developed by participants in the third edition of the Pachamama Game Jam, competition opened last Friday at the University of Computing Sciences (UCI by its Spanish acronym).

A second ship of the Venezuelan Navy was received in the port of this city by General Ramón Espinosa Martín, deputy minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR by its Spanish acronym) and member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC).

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan gave Cuba on Friday a donation of 15,000 tons of rice, a gesture that reflects solidarity with the Cuban nation, the easternmost area of which is recovering after the passage of Hurricane Matthew.

The Cuban government bestowed the Friendship Medal on Chinese Ambassador to Havana Zhang Tuo for his outstanding work in the Caribbean nation.

Renowned US critics and artist Robert Storr said in Havana that the people of The Americas share common grounds and the United States should recall its history not to repeat mistakes, since the US people also suffered under colonial rule.

Representatives of the governments of Cuba and the United States are meeting Friday in Havana in the second bilateral working session on Human Rights, the Cuban Foreign Ministry announced.

An airplane financed by the World Food Program (WFP) arrived on Thursday at this city's Antonio Maceo International Airport with the first international help received from this organization for the victims of Hurricane Matthew.

The Vice-president of the Council of Ministers, Ulises Rosales del Toro, held official talks with Spanish Valencia Community President Joaquin Francisco Puig, who is on an official visit to Cuba.

Army General Raul Castro, President of the councils of State and Ministers, received the Prime Minister of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, Abdelmalek Sellal, who is on an official visit to Cuba.

Commander in CHief Fidel Castro and the PM of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, Abdelmalek Sellal, held a cordial meeting on Thursday afternoon.

Tango 63, a ship belonging to the Venezuelan Navy, carrying over 300 tons of humanitarian aid, was officially received at the Santiago de Cuba port.

The Prime Minister of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, Abdelmalek Sellal, arrived in Cuba on Wednesday on an official visit, with the purpose of strengthening even more the excellent relations that exist between the two countries.

Cuba and the United States will talk in Havana on Friday about Human Rights (HR), one of the recurrent topics in bilateral relations.