Cuba, Communism | featured news

It's official, Beyoncé and Jay-Z's trip to Cuba was legal. Musical power couple Beyoncé and Jay-Z traveled to the Communist island legally on an authorized educational trip, the Treasury Department said Tuesday in a letter obtained by the Miami Herald. The trip was organized by a group called Academic Arrangements Abroad, Reuters reports.

The new law announced Thursday is the most significant market reform yet approved by the government of Raúl Castro, and one that will likely reshape Cuba’s cities and conceptions of class.

Cuba and China have signed a series of economic accords that include the expansion of an oil refinery in Cienfuegos.

Cubans will be allowed to work for themselves in 178 activities in the private sector and even hire employees, according to guidelines published Friday as the communist government moves quickly to shed half a million state jobs and provide alternatives for workers.

It's a common sight in communist Cuba. Here, nearly everyone works for the state and official unemployment is minuscule, but pay is so low that Cubans like to joke that "the state pretends to pay us and we pretend to work."

President Raul Castro said on Saturday he would not change Cuba's communist system to make peace with the United States, but repeated his willingness to discuss all issues with the island's longtime enemy.