China’s President Xi Jinping received visiting Cuban first vice-president Miguel Diaz-Canel on Tuesday. The top government Cuban official is on an Asian tour that also includes Vietnam and Laos.

Cuba and the United States are expected to hold talks Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss the possibility of resuming direct mail services between the two countries after a 50-year ban, U.S. officials announced.

A Chinese-designed biomass power plant fueled with byproducts of sugar production is planned go up in Matanzas province, east of capital Havana.

Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermúdez, the First Vice President of the Councils of State and Ministers of Cuba is slated to make official visits to China, Vietnam and Laos, the official Granma newspaper said Monday.

Iran's president-elect Hassan Rouhani said Monday that his country will try to be more "transparent" in its nuclear issue as part of the new government's efforts to build a "constructive interaction" with the world.