Geneva  - Countries split largely along political and economic lines Thursday when Cuba was reviewed at the United Nations on its human rights record.

Many developing nations praised Havana, focusing on its strong health system and overseas medical missions and condemning the United States' embargo on the island.

They also commended Cuba for being among the only developing nations fully on track to meet the UN's Millennium Development Goals.

Johannesburg - Cuban President Raul Castro on Thursday kicked off a state visit to oil-rich Angola, a longtime ally of the Communist island, where he was due to hold talks with President Jose Eduardo dos Santos.

Angola's state press agency Angop reported that Castro, 77, who replaced his ailing brother Fidel Castro as president last year, was to receive the official welcome given heads of state at the presidential palace in Luanda.

Castro, 77, was due to give a speech at the official opening of talks with dos Santos, before later addressing an extraordinary session of the National Assembly.

Havana  - Cuba has declared the birthplace of brothers Fidel and Raul Castro a "national monument," state media reported.

The rural home of the Castros near the village of Biran in Holguin province in south-eastern Cuba was given the distinction because of its "extraordinary historical value," news reports said Tuesday.

Havana - The number of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in Cuba is decreasing and now stands at 205, even as the Cuban government has increased "political and social repression" in the form of "short-lived arbitrary arrests," a dissident human rights organization said Monday.

Havana  - In a surprising reversal, ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro has attacked US President Barack Obama's foreign policy initiatives as "abusive," and compared them to those of George W Bush.

In two articles last week, Fidel had stressed the "sincerity" and "honesty" of the new White House resident.

But in his most recent piece published by Cuban media Friday, Fidel - who has not been seen in public since July 2006 - used harsh language previously reserved only for Bush.

Washington, Jan. 30 : Former Cuban President Fidel Castro has released another blog post, where he has criticized President Barack Obama.

In a post on Cuban Web site www. cubadebate. cu entitled "Deciphering the Thinking of the New United States President," Castro takes Obama to task for saying that returning Guantanamo to Cuban control would depend on whether it might have even a minimal impact on U. S. defense capacities.