London: Flyweight Robeisy Ramirez won Cuba's second Olympic boxing gold medal of the games on Sunday, capping a stellar run through the tournament with a 17-14 victory over Mongolia's Tugstsogt Nyambayar. The 18-year-old Ramirez won Cuba's 34th Olympic boxing gold, second only to the US team's 48. Ramirez got his toughest test of the tournament from Nyambayar, who fell just short of winning only the third gold medal in Mongolia's...
09:41 PM, Aug 12, 2012
London: Cuba's Mijain Lopez Nunez won gold for Cuba in the men's 120 kg Greco-Roman wrestling on Monday, beating Estonia's Heiki Nabi on points in the final. Lopez Nunez won 3-0 as Nabi claimed Estonia's first medal in London with silver. World champion Riza Kayaalp of Turkey beat Lopez Nunez to the world title last year but was forced to settle for bronze, beating Guram Pherselidze of Georgia 3-0. In...
02:44 AM, Aug 07, 2012
London: Bronze medal around his neck, Danell Leyva applauded as Kohei Uchimura took the top spot on the podium. Hey, no shame finishing behind a guy who might very well be the best gymnast of all time. Uchimura added Olympic gold to the world titles he's won the last three years, and it was never much of a contest. All but wrapping up the gold midway through the meet, the...
12:35 AM, Aug 02, 2012
Havana: The freighter Ana Cecilia, which sailed on last Wednesday from Miami to Cuba with a cargo of goods considered humanitarian aid, docked Friday in the port of Havana to inaugurate a service of regular shipments without precedent in the last 50 years. The ship's arrival in Havana Bay occurred at dawn on Friday, one day behind schedule due to administrative problems with the documentation needed for docking at the...
10:57 AM, Jul 14, 2012
Asuncion: Paraguay's new president said on Saturday he would ask his impeached predecessor to help quell regional tensions after Argentina withdrew its ambassador in protest at what it said was a coup and Brazil recalled its top diplomat for consultations. Paraguay's South American neighbours and key trading partners are taking it to task for the unprecedented speed with which its opposition-dominated Congress removed President Fernando Lugo on Friday, saying he...
10:32 PM, Jun 24, 2012
New York: The Coca-Cola Co. plans to start selling its drinks in Myanmar for the first time in 60 years, following the US government's decision to suspend investment sanctions on the country for its democratic reforms. Myanmar is one of three countries where Coca-Cola doesn't do business. The other two are Cuba and North Korea. The world's biggest soft drink maker said Thursday it will start doing business in the...
10:06 AM, Jun 15, 2012
Bangalore: Global software major Microsoft will incubate 10 early-stage technology start-ups in cloud computing, internet and mobile using its Accelerator for Windows Azure programme to help them build businesses, a top official said Wednesday. "The start-ups will have access to our resources such as BizSpark programme and $60,000 in Azure credit through BizSpark Plus programme to take advantage of the cloud," Microsoft India (R&D) Managing Director Amit Chatterjee told reporters...
11:06 AM, May 24, 2012
New York: Lee Hanson became deeply angry as the self-proclaimed mastermind of the September 11 attacks and co-defendants tried to undermine their arraignment on 3,000 counts of murder at a military court in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Hanson's son, daughter-in-law and 2-year-old granddaughter, the youngest 9/11 victim, were killed in the terror attacks over a decade ago. All were aboard United Flight 175, the second plane to crash into the twin...
02:58 PM, May 06, 2012
Cartagena: A prostitution scandal involving US security personnel in Colombia and an unprecedented regional push to end the isolation of Cuba threatened on Saturday to eclipse President Barack Obama's charm offensive to Latin America. In a major embarrassment for Washington at the Summit of the Americas attended by more than 30 heads of state, 11 US Secret Service agents were sent home and five military servicemen grounded over "misconduct" allegations...
09:56 AM, Apr 15, 2012
London: Stroke is one of the main cause of death among people over the age of 65 in developing countries like India and China, according to new research. The study surveyed 12,373 people aged 65 and over between 2003 and 2005 in a total of 10 urban and rural sites in India, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Peru, Mexico and China, documenting over 2,000 deaths over a three to five...
08:11 AM, Mar 01, 2012
Caracas: President Hugo Chavez bid an emotional farewell laced with references to Jesus Christ and independence hero Simon Bolivar as he departed Venezuela for Cuba for urgent surgery to remove a tumour he says is probably malignant. Clasping the hand of his youngest daughter, Chavez addressed allies of his socialist political movement and troops standing at attention at the Miraflores presidential palace. "I say this from my gut: With cancer...
07:30 PM, Feb 25, 2012
Caracas: President Hugo Chavez has raised serious doubts about whether he'll have the stamina for a successful re-election bid, revealing that he needs to return to Cuba to have a lesion removed that is probably malignant. Chavez told Venezuelans on Tuesday that doctors in Cuba had over the weekend found a two-centimeter (less than an inch) lesion in the same place where they removed a cancerous tumor last year. The...
06:11 PM, Feb 22, 2012
Havana: Fidel Castro marked his 85th birthday outside of the public spotlight on Saturday, with little fanfare around the aging revolutionary icon who is rarely seen in public these days but still casts a long shadow over Cuban society. There were no announced celebrations of Castro's birthday, though the previous night two dozen musical acts from across Latin America held a concert in his honor. "What we say in the...
12:47 PM, Aug 13, 2011
Caracas: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Friday he was preparing for a second round of chemotherapy in Cuba to eliminate the risk of malignant cells after completing what he called a successful first session. The announcement by the 56-year-old socialist leader that he had surgery in Havana last month to remove a baseball-sized cancerous tumor has called into question his fitness to run for re-election next year in the...
02:45 AM, Jul 23, 2011
Caracas: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has returned to Cuba to begin chemotherapy nearly a month after surgery to remove a tumor, and he is expressing optimism the treatment will help him survive his cancer. Chavez said he would start the treatment in Havana on Sunday in an attempt to ensure cancer cells do not reappear following last month's operation. "We're going to give it everything we've got," Chavez said in...
08:48 PM, Jul 17, 2011
Caracas: Venezuela's ever-theatrical President Hugo Chavez made a surprise homecoming on Monday after cancer surgery in Cuba and declared himself "fine" despite speculation he may still require lengthy treatment. "Here I am, home and happy! Good morning, beloved Venezuela," a bubbly Chavez said, punching his fist in the air and singing a folk song after touching down in the early hours. "Now I'm going to get some rest." With their...
03:23 AM, Jul 05, 2011
Caracas: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez revealed on Thursday night that he is fighting cancer after having a tumor removed in Cuba, but assured his countrymen that he is doing well as he sought to cool growing questions about his health and ability to govern. Chavez said in a televised talk that the operation took out a growth in which there were "cancerous cells." The 56-year-old president said the surgery was...
10:36 AM, Jul 01, 2011
Havana: A Cuban cigar roller broke his own record on Tuesday by rolling the world's longest cigar, a monster smoke that stretched 268 feet 4 inches, or most of the length of a football field. Resting on tables, it sprawled through El Morro, an old Spanish fort overlooking Havana Bay, where Cuba is holding its annual International Tourism Fair. The cigar, once it is officially accepted by Guinness World Records...
11:37 AM, May 04, 2011
Havana: Cuba's Communist Party elected President Raul Castro on Tuesday to succeed his older brother Fidel Castro as head of the country's highest political body and only legal party. Fidel Castro made an unexpected appearance on the last day of the crucial Communist Party congress that also approved sweeping economic reforms. The two brothers, who have rarely appeared together since Fidel Castro fell ill in 2006 and was forced to...
09:53 PM, Apr 19, 2011
Oslo: Anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks, the Internet and a Russian human rights activist are among a record 241 nominations for the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize. The Norwegian Nobel Committee said on Tuesday that the 2011 field includes 53 organisations and tops last year's 237 nominees. Known nominees also include Afghan rights advocate Sima Samar, the European Union, former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya Sardinas, Russian rights group Memorial...
10:57 AM, Mar 02, 2011
