Trickster Lures Castro Son Into Online Affair

(NEWSER) - The Internet has lured Cuba's black marketeers online, GlobalPost reports. In a nation that bans most private commerce, a Craigslist-style website has emerged offering everything from American razor blades to True Blood DVDs. Buyers with fatter wallets can pick up computer equipment, a $6,000 illegal Internet hookup, or a sham marriage "if you want to make a deal to leave the island." More»

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»

'Red Social' launches a year after Cuban Wikipedia clone

(NEWSER) - Cuba has introduced its very own Facebook-style social network called Red Social. The website appears to be sponsored by the communist nation's Ministry of Education, reports USA Today . Red Social imitates both the look and feel of Facebook, and its homepage features the slogan "A virtual meeting point for Cuban universities." The new social network arrives a year after Cuba launched its own Wikipedia, EcuRed, but it is only available from within the country. The domain name is facebook.ismm.edu.cu. More»

Former Cuban leader calls Obama's UN speech 'gibberish'

(NEWSER) - One person who is not a fan of the US intervention in Libya: Fidel Castro. The former Cuban leader spoke out against President Obama's address to the UN in an opinion column published on a Cuban government website today, calling it "gibberish" and referring to NATO’s actions in Libya as "genocide" and a "monstrous crime." Castro had not written one of his so-called "reflections" since early July, prompting rumors of declining health, but in today’s piece he was back to form, blasting what he calls the US' hypocritical behavior. More»

Ceremony called a milestone, although gay marriage still illegal

(NEWSER) - Less than a year after Fidel Castro apologized for Cuba's history of gay persecution, Cuba has had its first gay marriage ... kind of. Gay marriage remains illegal in Cuba, but yesterday saw the wedding of a gay man and transsexual woman, reports the AP —the bride, Wendy Iriepa, is now officially a woman, four years after undergoing state-sponsored sex-change surgery. "We celebrate it at the top of our voices and affirm that this is a step forward for the gay community in Cuba," said groom Ignacio Estrada, a gay-rights activist. More»