Cuban Prez OKs Sex Change Operations

Castro, the former Cuban leader, talks up 1,000-page tome

(AP) - Fidel Castro spent six hours presenting a two-volume memoir to an audience at a Havana convention center, state media said today. It was a rare appearance for the retired and increasingly reclusive former Cuban leader. Images on state television showed a smiling, animated Castro wearing a dark track suit over a blue plaid button-up shirt. Audio of him was not broadcast, but Communist Party newspaper Granma said he told attendees yesterday that they would hear about "two books that you haven't had any news of." More»

He also blasts Romney's immigration plan as an 'Obama-level fantasy'

(NEWSER) - Newt Gingrich went fishing for Latino voters in a Univision interview today, calling on the US military to back any uprising in Cuba. "I find it fascinating that Obama is intrigued with Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Syria, but doesn't quite notice Cuba," Gingrich said, according to the Washington Post . "I don't see why Cuba should be sacrosanct. We're very prepared to back people in Libya. … Now Cuba, hands off Cuba. That's baloney. The people in Cuba deserve freedom." (Right back at ya: In an op-ed published in Cuba, Fidel Castro called the GOP race "the greatest competition of idiocy and ignorance that has ever been," notes the New York Times .) More»

Not just the prison, the entire base: NYT essay

(NEWSER) - With the 10th anniversary of the opening of the US prison at Guantanamo Bay upon us, Harvard lecturer Jonathan M. Hansen suggests a way to mark the occasion: Give the whole military base, prison included, back to Cuba. The US forced Cuba to lease the base to us in 1901 in the wake of its war for independence against Spain, and Guantanamo has been a sorry reminder of "America's long history of interventionist militarism" ever since, writes Hansen in the New York Times . More»

Panama, Finland, and Myanmar top the list

(NEWSER) - If you like cool design, upscale safaris, or a forbidden communist island, the New York Times can recommend 45 locales to visit in 2012. Among them:

• Panama. See the world-famous canal before its expansion, then stay for Panama City's economic boom and Frank Gehry's first design in Latin America—a natural history museum called BioMuseo.

But American Alan Gross not among those to be released

(NEWSER) - With a nod to Pope Benedict's upcoming visit to the country, President Raul Castro yesterday announced that Cuba would pardon 2,900 prisoners, a group that includes some convicted of political crimes, many inmates over the age of 60, and a number of women. He referred to the act as "a demonstration of the generosity and strength of the revolution," and noted that 86 foreign prisoners hailing from 25 countries would also be freed. That group does not include Alan Gross , however. The AP reports that the American government subcontractor's supporters had been pleading with Cuban authorities to release the 62-year-old Maryland native. More»