Portside

Interesting new developments calling for end of ban on travel and trade with Cuba, and for full normalization of relations with socialist Cuba, our closest neighbor in the Caribbean. Open letter to Obama signed by former government officials, including ones who served in his Cabinet. Business groups in the U.S. are now clamoring for a change in policy. Today, Thomas Donohue, President of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce headed a business delegation to Cuba.

The leaders of AAAS and the Cuban Academy of Sciences have signed a landmark agreement to advance scientific cooperation by Cuban and U.S. scientists, in key areas of mutual interest to both countries.

Reader Comments - 2014 Moral Freedom Summer Organizer Fellowship (Correction); Jews Speak Out against censorship bans; Auto Parts Strike; Carl Bloice remembered; Charlie Chaplin Legacy; Chris Christie; Announcements - Harlem Celebrates-Duke Ellington's 115th; May Day Rally in New York; Third Annual NYC Film Festival - Global Labor Solidarity; Cuba travel; Volunteer opportunities in El Salvador

Cecily McMillan Trial Update; Reader Comments - Palestinian-Israeli Talks; Walmat, Living Wage, Minimum Wage of $15; Syria; Turkey; Pulitzer and Snowden; Paul Robeson; Russia, Ukraine, Crimea; Immune Systems; New book - What Did You Learn at Work Today? Announcements - Howard Zinn Symposium - Apr 24 - New York; 78th Celebration Abraham Lincoln Brigade & ALBA/Puffin Award for Human Rights Activism - Apr. 27 - New York; 45th Contingent of the Venceremos Brigade

Inventing Internet drones; Farm-fresh data; Big Snoopy is listening; Bay of tweets; NSA database from ACLU; Gender inequality in all media

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs!; Progressive Budget, Ryan Budget and economic inequality; General Motors; Supreme Court McCutcheon decision; USAID, Twitter and Cuba; Ukraine

State news agency aligns covert ZunZuneo program with other 'anti-Cuban' plots including failed Bay of Pigs invasion

The new foreign investment law, approved unanimously by the legislature on March 29, invites foreign investors to operate in all sectors of Cuba’s planned economy, with a few exceptions.