Havana, Cuba - Army General Raul Castro, President of the councils of State and Ministers, received Irina Bokova, Director General of the United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO), who is on an official visit to the island.

Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez announced today in a press conference that Cuban President Raúl Castro will participate in the United Nations General Assembly sessions and high level discussion, on September 25 and 28, respectively.

During his stay in New York, the Army General and President of Cuba’s Councils of State and Ministers will additionally attend a conference on the empowerment of women, and hold meetings with sectors of U.S. society and representatives of the solidarity with Cuba movement, Rodríguez said.

Havana, Cuba - I´m coming to visit you to share faith and hope, said Pope Francis in a video-message to the people of Cuba, aired by Cuban television.

His Holiness, the first Latin American Pope, stressed the impetus of Cubans in the face of everyday difficulties and said that his knowing of this makes him feel good.

Artemisa, Cuba - With a daily rate of more than 16 hectares in the cultivation of sugarcane ensure the sowing season the members of the Base Business Unit (UEB) Abraham Lincoln in Artemisa.

The director of the UEB, Nelson Barrios González said that to fulfill the annual plan there are only 311 hectares missing, to plant before the end of this month, for what is use the recent rains that cause moisture in the fields.

This Thursday, September 17, at 8.30 p.m., Cuban Television’s Information System with broadcast a video message from Pope Francis to the Cuban people, in the lead up to his apostolic visit to the island, scheduled for September 19-22.

Artemisa, Cuba - An investment ‘s worth 12,000 Cuban pesos and above 600 CUC allowed to connect water supply for operating rooms in Comandante Pinares General Teaching Hospital and due to that surgical activity was reactivated, which stopped its service during the first quarter of the current year.