Fidel Castro death rumors are like the Nigerian e-mail scam of the news cycle — they've been around forever and are never going away. So here we are: according to the Miami Herald, is Castro "very close to a neurovegetative state" — not quite dead, but close:

Restrictions that have kept Cuban islanders landlocked for half a century have been mostly lifted according to a foreign ministry statement in the Central Committee's official newspaper, Granma.

I met Liván, Takeshi and the rest of their band of frikis—rock and metal fans of the punk-and-anarchist subcategory—around nine one Thursday night on the median of Havana's G Street. I'd come to Havana to write a book about what it was like to be a young adult in the post-Fidel city and, since G Street was the biggest…

Before he became president, Barack Obama promised he was going to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center before his first term was out. "I have said repeatedly that I intend to close Guantanamo, and I will follow through on that," Obama told ABC News in November 2008, shortly after winning the election. Almost…

Two women in Miami face zero charges after transporting two fetuses into the U.S. from Cuba in their suitcases on January 30th. So I guess it's a cool new thing to do?

Our old pal to the South, retired Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, has been watching these Republican debates, including the most recent one in which the candidates talked about Fidel Castro going to Hell. He has not been impressed, writing in an editorial that "the selection of a Republican candidate for the presidency…

Are we sick of Herman Cain saying stupid things? No? Good: here's video of the Republican front-runner asking a bunch of people in Miami "How do you say 'delicious' in Cuban?" This is, we guess, Cain's third embarrassing gaffe in as many days, if you don't count his entire campaign as slow-motion, multi-day gaffe.…

Where does Michele Bachmann stand on normalizing trade relations with Cuba? Well. It's not particularly high on her priority list, let's say! Not merely because they're dirty commies. But also, apparently, because Cuba is working with Hezbollah to potentially set up missile sites on the island. Perhaps you might…

While Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez is getting treatment for cancer in Cuba, he's governing the country via Twitter. This says a lot about how much thought, preparation and patience goes into his presidential decisions. [AP, image via Getty]

No one has seen Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez for two weeks! (Well, not no one, but you know.) He flew to Cuba on June 10 for surgery on a pelvic abscess, speaking to media two days later to say he was fine, but he apparently hasn't returned to Venezuela since. According to the not-exactly-trustworthy government,…

Among the cache of documents allegedly leaked to Wikileaks by PFC Bradley Manning was over 700 dossiers on detainees at Guantanamo Bay Prison. A slew of international papers published stories based on them today, and Wikileaks is dribbling out the full cache. They paint a picture of Gitmo as a poop-strewn debacle…

After taking his time leaving Cuba's Communist Party, Fidel Castro wrote today that he's finally done: "Raul knew that at this time I wouldn't accept any role in the party." They just don't make dictators like they used to.

It seems that "former" Cuban leader Fidel Castro pulled a funny on everyone! After having surgery in 2006 to stop intestinal bleeding, Fidel issued a statement saying his brother Raul would temporarily be taking charge of Cuba. But in a new column the old timer states that the people of Cuba "affectionately" called…

Alberto Granado — Argentinian revolutionary Che Guevara's friend who was made famous by The Motorcycle Diaries — has died in Cuba. He moved to Cuba in 1961, and taught biochemistry at Havana University after the revolution. He was 88. [Guardian; image via AP]

The repercussions from October's failed inkjet printer bomb plot are being felt by Cuban cigar aficionados, as the Department of Homeland Security tightens air cargo restrictions. But DHS folks won't enjoy them... the cigars will be "vaporized." Yeah, sure.

[Extras from a Cuban zombie film, "Juan de los Muertos," or "Juan of the Dead," take a lunch break while filming on Havana's Malecón today. Image via AP]

Looking to kickstart its struggling economy, Cuba announced it will terminate 1 million state jobs in the near future. Perhaps Fidel now remembers telling The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg, "The Cuban model doesn't even work for us anymore." Or maybe not.

The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg has posted a series of funny interviews with Fidel Castro, and in one he swears Castro told him, "The Cuban model doesn't even work for us anymore." Castro says he meant "exactly the opposite." Hmm.