I will die soon, Fidel Castro bids farewell to Cuba's Congress

Fidel Castro has made what is likely to be his final speech to Cuba's Congress, telling the assembled politicians that he would die soon but that the revolution's ideals would live on.

The 89-year-old spoke after his brother Raul, 84, was re-elected as head of the Communist party - a position the younger Castro has said he will hold until retiring in 2018.

And Fidel Castro said the time was approaching for a younger generation to take over. His declaration appeared to be less of an announcement that he was dying - he has been suffering from intestinal problems since the early 2000s - than a statement of obvious fact.

"I'll be 90 years old soon," he said. "Soon I'll be like all the others."

CHIBOK!!! You Need To Understand That Jonathan Can't Go There

Poor Ebele Jonathan! All his demoralized people can see is the fact that he tucked his tail between his legs, did 440 away from Chibok, and ran into the comforting arms of Papa Francois Hollande in Paris. Now the people are saying that even the second arm of our conjugal diarchy, President Mrs Patience Jonathan, seems to be displaying a more robust testicular fortitude than our man who thought discretion was the better part of valour.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff helps Cuba inaugurate special development zone

Rousseff criticized the U.S.-led economic embargo against Cuba as an "unfair blockade," 

Cuban leader Raul Castro and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff Monday inaugurated the first phase of the Cuba's Special Development Zone in the port of Mariel, a project largely financed by Brazil. The first phrase of the project is the construction of a 702-meter dock at the deep-water port. According to Cuban media, equipped with four super post-panamax cranes and 1,140 outlets for refrigerated containers, the dock has been already put into operation.

"Brazil is proud to work with Cuba in this mega-port," Rousseff said at the inauguration ceremony, adding that her country "believes in and is betting on Cuba's human capital," and "wants to be a leading economic ally" of Havana.

Brazil's National Economic and Social Development Bank is the largest fund provider of the 957-U.S.-dollar whole project, lending a total of 682 million dollars as soft credit.

Rousseff said her government will contribute 290 million dollars to the second phase construction of the port, and has organized a trade mission to the Caribbean island country to boost bilateral alliance and increase trade flow.

Rousseff criticized the U.S.-led economic embargo against Cuba as an "unfair blockade," saying it has prevented many countries from doing business with the Caribbean nation and hindered its economic development since is was imposed in 1961.

Castro thanked Brazil for its "significant financing" of what he called a "transcendental project for the Cuban economy."

The port, located 45 kilometers west of Havana and with an initial annual shipping capacity of 800,000 containers, will be Cuba's main gateway for foreign imports and exports, and has the potential to become the main shipping port in the Caribbean, said Castro.

"From this moment on, the mega-port of Mariel is inserted into the Cuban and Latin American port system," said the Cuban leader.

The port will serve all cargo and container traffic passing by, while the Bay of Havana will be reserved for cruise ships, according to local media.