For the first time in 15 years, the US administration has authorized the participation of US boats in a yacht race in Cuba. Some twenty US boats have come to Cuba from Key West for the Havana Challenge Yacht race to be held on the Havana coast.

HAVANA, Cuba, May 14 (acn) On May 14, the Cuban Foreign Ministry released the following information note:

When Kenneth Douglas graduated as a major in Physical Culture in 2007 he returned to his native St. Kitts and Nevis, but with the dream of one day returning to Cuba as ambassador of his country.

Russia´s Roscosmos Cargo Space Agency announced that the Progress M-27M spaceship is falling into the earth to reach the atmosphere at 22:13 GMT on Thursday and at 1:51 GMT on Friday.

The Cuban people decided to update their economic model and France is willing to support the island in this historic moment, but it is the Cubans who will write their own history, said French State Secretary for Foreign Trade, Tourism and the Diaspora, Matthias Fekl.

The president elect of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, received Cuban Ambassador Carlos Trejo on Monday, the island's mission in that country informed.

The Cuban Minister of Higher Education, Rodolfo Alarcón, and his Angolan counterpart, Adão do Nascimento, toured on Thursday the Marta Abreu Central University of Las Villas (UCLV), with the purpose of strengthening current academic links.

The Prime Minister (PM) of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Anatolievich Medvedev, received the Vice-president of Council of Ministers of the Republic of Cuba, Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz, on Friday afternoon, in the culmination of a successful visit that had as main objective to hold a Special Session of the Russian-Cuban Intergovernmental Commission for commercial, economic, scientific and technical cooperation.

A round of political talks between Cuba and the European Union (EU) - that will mark the beginning of other meetings that could conclude by the end of the year- will start in June, with the purpose of strengthening relations between the two parties.

The Vatican's spokesman, Federico Lombardi, announced on Wednesday that Pope Francis will visit Cuba before starting a tour of the United States that will take him Washington, New York and Philadelphia, the Granma newspaper reported.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo described on Tuesday as productive and mutually advantageous the two-day visit to Cuba that he carried out along with a dozen entrepreneurs, the Prensa Latina news agency reported.

Chinese ambassador to Havana Zhang Tuo said that Cuba and China enjoy bilateral relations in their best moment as such links continue to strengthen.

The US Boost Mobile Telecommunications Company, which is part of Sprint Corp., launched a pre-paid phone service plan for US clients who want to call or send text messages to Cuba, following steps by Washington to ease restrictions on the Caribbean nation.

Senior consultant for the US Globepharm, Michael Anisfeld, predicted an increasing role by Cuban bio-pharmaceutical industry once the US economic, commercial and financial blockade is lifted.