VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Cuba renews its annual campaign urging the United Nations to condemn the US economic embargo. Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez told media the Cold War-era embargo had cost Cuba some $833.7 billion over five decades. "Seventy-seven percent of the Cuban population was born and has lived under the cruel effects of the blockade, the humanitarian impact and damage is extreme and cannot be measured (only) in numbers," he said.

Cuba has opened 35 Wi-Fi access points nationwide, offering unprecedented online access in a country that until now has restricted use of the Internet to an elite few.

Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that the United States must respond aggressively when rivals such as China and Iran take actions that threaten U.S. economic interests.

The United States on Friday eased restrictions on imports of goods and services from private Cuban entrepreneurs as part of Washington's rapprochement with Havana after more than half a century of enmity.

A luxury train connecting the capitals of Hungary and Iran left Budapest for the first time on Wednesday, with 70 passengers set to cross the Balkans, the Bosphorus and Kurdistan on the way to Persia aboard a set of deluxe railcars.