
Cuban President Raul Castro demanded on Wednesday that the United States return the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay, lift the half-century trade embargo on Cuba and compensate his country for damages before the two nations re-establish normal relations.

The United States Monday rolled out a new initiative for Caribbean countries to ensure energy security in a move widely seen as distancing the Caribbean from Venezuela for their oil and energy needs.

The US government has called for a “complete and impartial” investigation on the death of AMIA special prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who had accused President Cristina Fernandez of covering up the 1994 bombing of the Jewish community centre.

The United States and Cuba fell short of setting dates to reopen embassies but agreed to meet again to overcome deep rifts after they wrapped up historic talks aimed at normalizing relations.

US ambassador to Argentina Noah B. Mamet held his first meeting with Foreign Minister Hector Timerman at the Foreign Ministry on Wednesday afternoon after he arrived in Buenos Aires on Friday of last week.

US and Cuban officials launched historic talks to shed their Cold War-era hostility on Wednesday, complimenting each other on the first day's progress despite persistent differences over migration policy.

US President Barack Obama has declared an end to the financial crisis and pledged economic policies to benefit all Americans, in his annual State of the Union address to Congress. In a speech devised to appeal to working families, Mr Obama outlined his strategy for middle-class economics.

President Obama is to use Tuesday's State of the Union speech to call for tax increases on the wealthy to help the middle class, officials say. The proposals would raise 320 billion dollars over a decade, to fund benefits such as tax credits.

California is overtaking Brazil as the world’s seventh-largest economy, bolstered by rising employment, home values and personal and corporate income, a year after the US most-populous state surpassed Russia and Italy.

The United States government on Friday will begin making it easier for Americans to travel to Cuba than it has been for more than half a century, opening the door to a new era of contact between neighbors that have been estranged longer than most of their citizens have been alive.