Speaking to Vzgliad online newspaper, Enriquez noted that the choice of the famous resort by Russian tourists is primarily due to its well-developed hotel infrastructure and its extensive white-sand coastline.
“Varadero is Cuba’s main beach, recognized as one of the five best in the world, and is the most famous and popular destination among Russian tourists,” Enriquez stated, adding that the resort boasts more than 20 kilometers of white sand beaches and turquoise waters.
Besides Varadero, Russians actively choose Jardines del Rey resort, in central Cuba, and the islands of Cayo Coco, Cayo Guillermo, and Cayo Santa Maria are also popular.
Holguin province also stands out together with Cayo Largo del Sur, off Cuba’s southern coast, and of course, Havana, the capital of the country, is also among the most popular destinations.
The MINTUR representative noted that Cuba offers a variety of recreational options for Russians, not limited to beaches.
The country offers opportunities for water sports, ecotourism, and cultural itineraries, including trips to the Vinales Valley; Topes de Collantes, a nature reserve park in the Escambray Mountains range, and excursions to sites associated with US writer Ernest Hemingway.
BBC senior football correspondent Sami Mokbel gives Football Focus the lowdown on whether Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo and Crystal Palace’s Marc Guehi will move clubs in January.
These vessels failed to respect Panamanian maritime legislation, Martínez-Acha explained
The Government of Panama will take disciplinary action against several oil tankers registered under its flag targeted by the United States for alleged irregularities, Foreign Minister Javier Martínez-Acha announced Friday. These vessels failed to respect Panamanian maritime legislation, he explained.
The initiative was launched by the administration of President José Raúl Mulino following the US interception of the supertanker Centurias in the Caribbean. The ship is suspected of transporting Venezuelan crude in violation of international sanctions.
Preliminary investigations by Panamanian authorities revealed that the Centurias and other vessels utilized classic shadow fleet maneuvers to evade detection. Detected irregularities include the deliberate deactivation of satellite tracking systems known as transponders, recent and frequent name changes to the hull, and inconsistencies in documentation. Additionally, unusual behavioral patterns after leaving Venezuelan waters, including dark periods during transit have been observed.
Panama will act to ensure its registry —one of the largest in the world— maintains transparency standards, Martínez-Acha stated, emphasizing that his country would not allow its flag to be linked to opaque energy trade networks.
As a direct consequence of these violations, the Panama Maritime Authority (AMP) is considering the cancellation of naval registration for the offending ships. De-flagging is the most severe administrative sanction Panama can impose, effectively stripping a vessel of its legal right to sail and making it a pariah in international ports.
The case of the Centurias is part of a broader US offensive against clandestine oil shipments. The US Coast Guard has intensified operations in the Caribbean, targeting a network of ships that sustain the trade of sanctioned crude from Venezuela, Iran, and Russia.
In addition to the Centurias, Washington is tracking other vessels, such as the Bella 1, which is reportedly involved in similar sanctions-evasion schemes involving flags of convenience and identity shifting.
As the maritime blockade of Venezuela intensifies under Operation Southern Spear, both the U.S. and Panama have taken drastic steps to dismantle the shadow fleet. However, since the US Navy lacks the domestic legal authority to seize civilian merchant ships, all boarding operations are led by the US Coast Guard (USCG), which acts as the lead law enforcement agency.
So far, two major tankers, the Skipper (on Dec. 10) and the Centuries (on Dec. 20), have been placed under US custody, the latter carrying 1.8 million barrels of crude bound for China.
Working directly with President [Donald] Trump and Congress, we accomplished what no one else could, Patel stressed
The United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) announced Friday that the J. Edgar Hoover Building, the agency’s primary headquarters since 1975, will be closed permanently, with the agency’s staff relocated to the existing Ronald Reagan Building in downtown Washington, D.C.
The decision marks the end of a decades-long debate regarding the aging Pennsylvania Avenue facility and cancels a previous multibillion-dollar plan to build a new campus in the Maryland suburbs.
FBI Director Kash Patel characterized the move as a major victory for fiscal responsibility, claiming the previous administration’s plan would have cost taxpayers nearly US$5 billion and would not have been completed until 2035.
We scrapped that plan, Patel stated via social media. Instead, we selected the already-existing Reagan Building, saving billions and allowing the transition to begin immediately.
According to Patel, required safety and infrastructure upgrades at the Reagan Building are already underway. He emphasized that the relocation would provide the workforce with modern tools at a fraction of the cost.
The closure of the Hoover Building is part of a broader strategic shift to reduce the Bureau’s physical and administrative presence in the capital. This decision puts resources where they belong: defending the homeland, crushing violent crime, and protecting national security. It delivers better tools for today’s FBI workforce at a fraction of the cost. The Hoover Building will be shut down permanently, Patel pointed out.
The Director intends to move a significant portion of the headquarters’ 7,000 employees out of Washington. Most of the HQ FBI workforce will move in [to the Reagan Building], and the rest are continuing in our ongoing push to put more manpower in the field, he explained.
Patel has been a vocal critic of the Bureau’s centralized intelligence shops. In previous public statements, he suggested converting the Hoover Building into a Museum of the Deep State to highlight what he describes as government overreach.
While a specific date for the final shutdown has not been released, the selection of the Ronald Reagan Building ensures the FBI remains close to the Department of Justice. This proximity was cited by the administration as a key reason for canceling the Maryland relocation project back in March.
The Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center is the second-largest government building in the country after the Pentagon, and already houses several federal agencies, including USAID and US Customs and Border Protection.
Sponsored by the Cuban Book Institute (ICL), the event aims to bring readers and authors closer together through Saturday open-air book launches.
“El Tigre y la Mansedumbre” is a work published in 2014 by Letras Cubanas publisher, in which the writer provokes readers with an unpredictable text, the ICL explains in a release.
Riveron breaks with traditional molds and addresses the realities of his country from a literary perspective that aspires to transcend the merely local. At first glance, he seems to describe a son’s journey to his father, imprisoned on the other side of the island.
Today’s literary event, which gathers readers every Saturday on Calle de Madera, next to the Plaza de Armas (Arms Square) in Old Havana, will take place at 11:00 hours (local time).
Guehi can sign a pre-contract with an overseas club at the turn of 2026 with Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and Inter Milan among the foreign sides to have shown an interest.
Working directly with President [Donald] Trump and Congress, we accomplished what no one else could, Patel stressed
The United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) announced Friday that the J. Edgar Hoover Building, the agency’s primary headquarters since 1975, will be closed permanently, with the agency’s staff relocated to the existing Ronald Reagan Building in downtown Washington, D.C.
The decision marks the end of a decades-long debate regarding the aging Pennsylvania Avenue facility and cancels a previous multibillion-dollar plan to build a new campus in the Maryland suburbs.
FBI Director Kash Patel characterized the move as a major victory for fiscal responsibility, claiming the previous administration’s plan would have cost taxpayers nearly US$5 billion and would not have been completed until 2035.
We scrapped that plan, Patel stated via social media. Instead, we selected the already-existing Reagan Building, saving billions and allowing the transition to begin immediately.
According to Patel, required safety and infrastructure upgrades at the Reagan Building are already underway. He emphasized that the relocation would provide the workforce with modern tools at a fraction of the cost.
The closure of the Hoover Building is part of a broader strategic shift to reduce the Bureau’s physical and administrative presence in the capital. This decision puts resources where they belong: defending the homeland, crushing violent crime, and protecting national security. It delivers better tools for today’s FBI workforce at a fraction of the cost. The Hoover Building will be shut down permanently, Patel pointed out.
The Director intends to move a significant portion of the headquarters’ 7,000 employees out of Washington. Most of the HQ FBI workforce will move in [to the Reagan Building], and the rest are continuing in our ongoing push to put more manpower in the field, he explained.
Patel has been a vocal critic of the Bureau’s centralized intelligence shops. In previous public statements, he suggested converting the Hoover Building into a Museum of the Deep State to highlight what he describes as government overreach.
While a specific date for the final shutdown has not been released, the selection of the Ronald Reagan Building ensures the FBI remains close to the Department of Justice. This proximity was cited by the administration as a key reason for canceling the Maryland relocation project back in March.
The Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center is the second-largest government building in the country after the Pentagon, and already houses several federal agencies, including USAID and US Customs and Border Protection.
These vessels failed to respect Panamanian maritime legislation, Martínez-Acha explained
The Government of Panama will take disciplinary action against several oil tankers registered under its flag targeted by the United States for alleged irregularities, Foreign Minister Javier Martínez-Acha announced Friday. These vessels failed to respect Panamanian maritime legislation, he explained.
The initiative was launched by the administration of President José Raúl Mulino following the US interception of the supertanker Centurias in the Caribbean. The ship is suspected of transporting Venezuelan crude in violation of international sanctions.
Preliminary investigations by Panamanian authorities revealed that the Centurias and other vessels utilized classic shadow fleet maneuvers to evade detection. Detected irregularities include the deliberate deactivation of satellite tracking systems known as transponders, recent and frequent name changes to the hull, and inconsistencies in documentation. Additionally, unusual behavioral patterns after leaving Venezuelan waters, including dark periods during transit have been observed.
Panama will act to ensure its registry —one of the largest in the world— maintains transparency standards, Martínez-Acha stated, emphasizing that his country would not allow its flag to be linked to opaque energy trade networks.
As a direct consequence of these violations, the Panama Maritime Authority (AMP) is considering the cancellation of naval registration for the offending ships. De-flagging is the most severe administrative sanction Panama can impose, effectively stripping a vessel of its legal right to sail and making it a pariah in international ports.
The case of the Centurias is part of a broader US offensive against clandestine oil shipments. The US Coast Guard has intensified operations in the Caribbean, targeting a network of ships that sustain the trade of sanctioned crude from Venezuela, Iran, and Russia.
In addition to the Centurias, Washington is tracking other vessels, such as the Bella 1, which is reportedly involved in similar sanctions-evasion schemes involving flags of convenience and identity shifting.
As the maritime blockade of Venezuela intensifies under Operation Southern Spear, both the U.S. and Panama have taken drastic steps to dismantle the shadow fleet. However, since the US Navy lacks the domestic legal authority to seize civilian merchant ships, all boarding operations are led by the US Coast Guard (USCG), which acts as the lead law enforcement agency.
So far, two major tankers, the Skipper (on Dec. 10) and the Centuries (on Dec. 20), have been placed under US custody, the latter carrying 1.8 million barrels of crude bound for China.
It was Back to the Future II that made a generation of children dream of travelling by hoverboard.
In the 1989 film, the hero Marty McFly escapes from his arch nemesis Biff by jumping on a flying skateboard.
But it wasn’t until 2011 that inventor Shane Chen came up with the next best thing – a motorised skateboard that moves intuitively and gives the rider a feeling of floating.
The creation became the must-have toy of 2015 and social media was flooded with videos of celebrities trying it out.
But the hoverboard never brought riches for Shane. He tells Vicky Farncombe how cheap knock-offs stole his profits and caused fires and accidents.
Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there.
For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.
Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue.
We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina’s Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall’ speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler’s List; and Jacques Derrida, France’s ‘rock star’ philosopher.
You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world’s oldest languages.
The squid calendar approved, has been tiered as defined by the technical report from INIDEP (Argentina’s Fisheries Research Institute)
Argentina’s jigger lobby has managed to anticipate the beginning of the squid season, advancing the date to next 9 January. According to reports from Mar del Plata, the anticipation of the Argentine squid season 2026 was again adjusted following a letter sent by the Chamber of Argentine Jiggers, CAPA, requesting a review of the Federal Fisheries Council, CFP, Act 33/2025 linked to the beginning of operations south of South latitude parallel 44.
In the CAPA presentation from 11 December the chamber requested to advance the opening date of the squid season for the rest of the jigger fleet that had not previously operated south of parallel 49. In the original act, this segment was allowed to begin on 12 January 2026.
Following consideration, CFP, unanimously decided to partially modify the decision and establish that the opening for the catch of Illex argentines, south of parallel 44 South for the rest of the fleet to become effective from zero hour 9 January 2026.
This means that the definitive scheme for the 2026 squid season is established as follows,
From January 2nd between parallels 49 and 52 South
From January 7th, south of parallel 44 South, exclusively for vessels that have operated to the south of parallel 49 South, during at least three fishing days.
From 9 January, south of parallel 44 South, for the rest of the jigger fleet
The modification introduces a punctual adjustment for the calendar originally approved, keeping the scheme tiered as defined by the technical report from INIDEP (Argentina’s Fisheries Research Institute), but advancing the beginning date for a sector of the fleet that was left with a later authorization.
Parallel to allowing the beginning of the Illex squid season, the union of Maritime Workers, SOMU, on December 19th signed an agreement, by which the percentage of catches in their salaries was updated, considered a milestone in industrial relations for the start of the jiggers’ activities.
However on the political side of the decision, Argentine sources indicate the advance of the Illex season is geared to anticipate foreign fleets operating in the so called mile 201, on the external fringe of Argentina’s EEZ, and those operating with “British usurped Malvinas’ licenses”.
![Working directly with President [Donald] Trump and Congress, we accomplished what no one else could, Patel stressed](https://en.mercopress.com/data/cache/noticias/108417/0x0/fbi.jpg)
