Havana - Cuba is investing in additional hotels in the hope of increased tourist numbers.

"We're adding to our hotel capacity, by about 3,000 rooms," Deputy Tourism Minister Maria Elena Lopez Reyes told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

In 2008, the number of foreign visitors rose to 2.25 million from 2.152 million. Although there was an overall drop in European visitors, the decline was offset by more visitors from Canada, Latin America and Russia.

Washington - A decision by the US Congress to ease restrictions on travel to Cuba marks a positive step that should be made permanent, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday.

The Senate late Tuesday approved a budget for the remainder of the this fiscal year, which cut off all funding for enforcing travel restrictions imposed under former president George W Bush in 2004.

Havana  - Felipe Perez Roque and Carlos Lage were regarded as likely stars in a potential Cuban transition until they fell from grace earlier this week and resigned from all their positions Thursday.

Following days of speculation, Cubans woke up Thursday to find published in state media the resignation letters of two men who were once heavyweights in Cuban politics and had been seen as likely stars for the moment in which the revolutionaries of 50 years ago were to hand over power to the generations born under communism.

Havana  - Former Cuban foreign minister Felipe Perez Roque and former secretary of the Cuban Council of Ministers Carlos Lage - a sort of Cuban prime minister - resigned from all their political positions and admitted their "mistakes," Cuban state media reported Thursday.

Havana  - When legendary Cuban musician Chucho Valdes enters the old piano repair shop in the heart of Havana, Irishmen Ciaran Ryan and Alex Jeffers cannot hide their broad smiles.

What started as an Irish volunteer project to help Cuba repair pianos, and train specialists, has taken on a dimension that would have been hard to imagine in 2006. At that time, the music-lovers had started looking for resources in Ireland and for ways of getting them to Havana.

Thanks to the initiative known as Una Corda (One String), countless Irish tourists have hauled parts for pianos in their luggage as well as tools to repair instruments in official Cuban institutions and those in private property.

Havana  - Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro in a commentary published Tuesday endorsed the sacking of several top officials undertaken by his brother and successor, President Raul Castro.

On Monday, Raul announced a major cabinet reshuffle including the removal of several key figures, most notably foreign minister Felipe Perez Roque and Carlos Lage, who had been secretary of the Cuban Council of Ministers.

Fidel wrote that the changes had been discussed with him in advance.