HAVANA (AFP) - The top US diplomat in Cuba personally has served as a conduit of funds delivered to dissidents aiming to oust Cuba's communist government, Havana charged Monday.
Cuba for years has accused the United States regularly of supporting dissidents in the only communist one-party regime in the Americas.
y -- chief of the US Interests Section, a quasi-embassy as the countries do not have full diplomatic ties -- personally supported an alleged dissident funding network, as a "common courier."

HAVANA, Cuba (CNN) -- Cuban officials on Monday accused the top US diplomat in Havana of delivering private funds from American groups opposed to Fidel

The island's communist government put desktop computers on sale to the public for the first time Friday, ending a ban on PC sales as another despised restriction on daily life fell away under new President Raul Castro.
Cubans looking at computers in Havana
China. For about $80 (Euro 52) less, buyers in the U.S. can get a desktop with more than twice the memory, a 80GB SATA hard drive and 22-inch LCD flat screen monitor.

By Michael Bowman The Bush administration says Cuba remains a repressive state despite the transfer of power from Fidel Castro to his brother, Raul.

Cubans have enthusiastically embraced Raúl Castro's lifting of restrictions on products such as cellphones and TVs.
Posted on Sun, May. 18, 2008
to his brother Raul. Fidel is suffering from an intestinal illness, and with the change of power Raul has granted new freedoms. Computers, cell phones and freedom of movement are some of the restrictions lifted.

HAVANA (AP) — Cuba's gay community celebrated unprecedented openness - and high-ranking political alliances — with a government-backed campaign against homophobia on Saturday.
The meeting at a convention center in Havana's Vedado district may have been the largest gathering of openly gay activists ever on the communist-run island. President Raul Castro's daughter Mariela, who has promoted the rights of sexual minorities, presided.
chip away at deep-seated homophobic attitudes.

HAVANA - The synagogue has been proudly and lovingly restored. Services that for the last 40 years attracted only a handful are now brimming with new members. The youth group is popular and active and the Sunday school for children attracts dozens each week.
But best of all for Adela Dworin, curious Cubans have started returning to the Jewish library here in numbers. Many are descendants of Jewish families who have suddenly come alive to their history, intent on learning more about their religious traditions.
, along with small pockets of followers around the island. Several dozen Cubans with Jewish roots have converted, including adult men who agreed to the Jewish circumcision

Havana - The Cuban government says it intends to prepare its citizens for life in a modern state, according to a report Friday in the young people's newspaper of the Communist Party. Juventud Rebelde, the newspaper, reported that the Cuban National Assembly has formed a 43-member commission which will develop an "integral plan for educating citizens" about civil society, in order to strengthen civic knowledge and awareness about the organization of Cuban society.
Cubans were ill informed about "many issues" of civil society, assembly President Ricardo Alarcon was quoted as saying.
earlier this year, Cuba had been tightly ruled for nearly half a century.