i went to western cuba, where the entire town is renting to tourists. can see the difference. the houses are freshly painted, unlike before. now the once exorbitant taxes on bread and breakfast that used to stop enterprises getting off the ground has been lowered. >> it allows a lot of people to improve standard of living and homes. they can afford to make repairs, unlike before. >> reporter: of course the new prosperity is limited. many living off the tourist circuit struggle to make ends met - especially retirees and those on salaries. i went to visit kubo's cardinal on the day raul castro was meeting the pope. many never thought they'd see the day that their communist leader would say he might return to praying after seeing the pope >>> the communist party has control of the system and the media. access to the internet is better, but still extremely limited. i know that changes in communist cuba have been slow, and in the past many reforms have been regrinded. this time, for the first time, i sense a change is here to stay. that the government is not

the weather front is slow moving and horrible weather in bahamas and western cuba that is friday ando saturday and it's across more central parts of the islands and we could see further flooding here and bad weather extends all the way to guatemala. >>> thank you and still ahead on al jazeera, as british migrants prepare to cast ballots early many cite too many immigrants in the uk as their biggest concern plus we report from a smuggling hub at somali land and ethiopia and find out who the first pick in the nfl draft is and andy will have the answer in sport. ♪ ♪ you're watching al jazeera, our top stories now doctors fears out break of disease in homeless after last week's earthquake in nepal and confirmed dead is 6200 and close to 14,000 others are injured. saudi arabia says dozens of houthi fighters have been killed during fierce fighting in southern yemen and loyal to the exile president abd rabbuh mansur hadi say they gained ground in the southern province. saudi arabia has announced a major shake up at the world's largest energy company days after a government reshuffle and ram

cuba. >> reporter: this is the western tip of cuba known for its natural beauty. and for its tobacco. the raw material of cuba's famous cigars. it's a magnet for tourists who stay in the town. where almost every other house has turned into a bed and breakfast hotel. daniel sanchez and his mother are not just waiting for guests to show up. like many here, they now linked to an american room rental network. the u.s. website air b&b. the fastest growing market has become cuba. >> we here that americans want to come to our country, we are expanding. we want to receive them the best way possible. >> until last month a ban put cuba off limits to air d&b. >> there were cubans trying to log on to air b&b to americans or europeans that wanted to travel somewhere and as an american company, they had to block them. >> reporter: but, no longer. americans like these can book a room by logging on to the site and aassessing that they qualify in one of 12 categories, ace loud by the obama administration administration. >> i can go to paris in 20 years, and everything will be the same. coming here in

cuba. francois hollande became the first western leader to visit the island since the saw in relation -- sincethe thaw in relations between cuba and the u.s. he called for an end to the embargo that has been in place for decades. in a surprise on the schedule, the french president spent an hour face-to-face with fidel castro. oliver farry has the details. oliver: francois hollande inspects with cuban counterpart raul castro where he became the first western leader in more than 30 years to visit the country. he was a company by seven ministers and a plethora of french business leaders keen on getting in on cuba's economy as it opens up to the world. it was part of an and shuttle -- unscheduled visit to fidel castro away from the glare of the media. it was a busy day for hollande. he laid a wreath at the grave of was a marquee -- jose marti and called for an end to the u.s. embargo. president hollande: the measures that have hindered cuba's development can finally be ended and done away with. so that every country can be respected in its identity. that is what we must do. oliver: he also opened

>> absolutely, this is not only the first time that a french president comes to cuba, it's the first westernuropean leader to come to cuba since 1989, and more importantly the first since the e.u. basically froze political and cultural relations with cuba back in 2003 after the cuban government issue issue of human rights that led do it. he may be talking about that with president raul castro a few hours from now. he may pay a visit to the historic revolutionary leader fidel castro. >> and the rest of the e.u. are attempting to restore ties. as you alluded to there. how is that going? >> i'm sorry could you repeat that please? i'm having a difficult time hearing. >> you yes, i was just asking about the rest of the e.u.'s attempts to restore good ties with cuba. how is that going? >> well, there are divisions holland and france have been leading the way to try to restore them. there are others who still don't agree on this. they feel that cuba needs to show that it is more committed to the respect of human rights. but france is leading the way. it thinks it needs to position itself as a leade

cuba hopes it will mean more american tourists. >> this is the western tip of cuba known for its natural beauty and for its tobacco. the raw material of cuba's famous cigars. it's a magnet for tourists who stay in the town, where almost every other house has turned into a bed and breakfast hotel. >> he and his mother around just waiting for guests to show up. like many here, they are now linked into an american room rental network the u.s. website, air b. aped b., who's fastest growing market has suddenly become cuba. >> we hear that lots of americans want to come to our country. we want to receive them the best way possible. >> until last month a u.s. government ban put cuba off limits to air b.&b. >> there were cubans trying to log on to make their house available to americans or europeans who want to travel, and they had to block them. >> but no longer. americans can now book a room logging on to the site attesting that they qualify under one of 12 categories allowed by the obama administration for travel to cuba. >> i want to enjoy it because it's something that won't last. i can go

. >> president francois hollande is currently in cuba, the first western european leader to visit since companies doing business there. to meet his cuban counterpart raul castro. let's go to havana and our latin american producer lucia newman. does this mean renewing of political ties with cuba? >> it certainly seems so. as you may resh the freeze was it in place in 2003 after cuba arrested 77 dissidents, to, the united european reaction, there is pressure to let them go especially now since the united states and cuba are able to speak to each other. leadership role in this sense he has said in fact he is representing not just france but all of europe. >> what did he have to say? addressing the university of havana what did he have to say there? >> yes he can did it was about an hour long speech. he did not allude to that freeze that coffin flict between the eu and cuba, nor did he speak to the thorny issue of human rights rights, the countries strong and free and both cuba and san francisco wanted to be strong and free. he will be meeting with president raul castro later on in the day

on monday he become the first western european leader to visit cuba since 1986.leader called on the u.s. to lift its trade embargo on cuba. lucia newman has more from havana. >> reporter: untying the idealogical knot 12 years after the european union froze cultural and political ties with cuba, the french president is here to declare bygones be bygones. >> translator: this visit is taking place in a context in which at least it's possible for cuba to have all of the necessary conditions to interact with the rest of the world. as you know france has always been in favor of lifting the u.s. embargo that hinders cuba. >> reporter: speaking at the university of havana he made it clear that france wants to take a leadership role in a renewed dialogue. hollande has made latin america and the caribbean one of his foreign policy priorities. but it's not just political, both france and holland are keen to position themselves economically ahead of when the united states lifts its embargo against cuba which would make trade and tourism flourish. american investment lawyer s

for those who have not been to cuba it's one of the least wired countries in the western hemisphere. things we take for granted such as e-mail on the phone basically nonexistent in cuba. what are the major challenges the cubans are facing to access the internet, and what can u.s. companies and the congress due to open up cuba to the global internet? >> thank you so much center, and thank you so much for interest in this and the conversations we've had. i think obviously a huge part of the obstacles to the cuban people right now are sheer access to internet connected devices but its computers or whether it's you know, smart phones. when they have access to that access is expensive. it's almost everybody. even when the costs cause came down recently for the public access to the internet, it was still extremely expensive for most cubans. it was about half a month's wage. so what we are talking about and then there's the question of whether everything is accessible when she did on the web and whether there are things that are blocked. so there are huge challenges for the average cuban. i

western hemisphere. leon: the u.s. removed cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism.s is part of the process to normalize relations. officials from both countries will hash out the details going forward to restore full diplomatic relations. alison: lawmakers are running out of time to reach a deal and restore programs. patriot act provisions expire midnight on monday. that includes the program allowing the n.s.a. to collect and store phone data on millions of americans. the house passed a bill to reauthorize the program weeks ago but it has failed in the senate by three votes. alison: without action from senate we'll experience a lapse in the ability to protect the american people. >> the forefathers would be aghast. alison: congress has until 4:00 p.m. sunday to act but even if they reach a compromise this weekend there are no plans for the house to come back to work before that deadline has already passed. leon: how about folks heading home from work today. get a check of the traffic with jamie sullivan. hey! jamie: a little bit of a rough ride if you are heading ou

. >>> france is going to help cuba drill for oil, exploration deal announced by the french president francois hollande and the first westernn leader to visit in 29 years and called on the united states to lift the trade embargo which crippled cuba economy and we have more. >> reporter: untying the eyed logical knot 12 years after they froze political and cultural ties with communist cuba in response to arrest of 77 people and french president francois hollande is here to declare let by gones be by gones. >> translator: taking place in a context which at last it's possible for cuba to have all the necessary conditions to interact with the rest of the world. as you know france has been in favor of lifting the u.s. embargo that hinders cuba. >> reporter: speaking at the university of havana it's clear he wants to take a leadership role in a renewed cuba eu dialog and has mad latin american one of the foreign policy priorities but it's not just political, both france and holland are teamed to position themselves economically ahead of when the united states lifts its embargo against cuba to make trade and tourism flourish. amer

president francois hollande is wrapping up his caribbean tour in haiti and went to cuba on monday becoming the first westerner to visit since 1986 and met the father of the human revolution fidel castro and french leader called on the u.s. to lift trade embargo on cuba and we have more from havana. >> reporter: untying the eyedknot ten years after they froze political and cultural ties with communist cuba in response to the arrest of 77 people french president francois hollande is here to declare by gones be by gones. >> translator: this visit is taking place in a context in which at last it's possible for cuba to have all the necessary conditions to interact with the rest of the world, as you know france has always been in favor of lifting the u.s. embargo that hinders cuba. >> reporter: speaking at the university of havana made it clear that france wants to take a leadership role in a renewed cuba eu dialog. francois hollande made latin america and caribbean one of his priorities but it's not just political. both france and francois hollande are key to position themselves economically ahead of when the un

for those who have not been to cuba it's one of the least wired countries in the western hemisphere. things we take for granted, such as e-mail on phone, basically nonexistent in cuba. what are the major challenges cubans are facing to access the internet and what can u.s. companies and the congress do to open up cuba to the global internet? >> thank you, senator. thanks so much for your interest in this and the conversations we've had. i think obviously a huge part of the obstacles to the cuban people right now are sheer access to internet connected devices, whether it's computers or whether it's, you know, smartphones. when they are access, that access is expensive, it's also prohibitive, even when the cost came down for the public to access internet it was still extremely expensive. for most cubans it was a half month's wage. what we're talking about -- and then there is a question of whether everything is accessible once you get on the web and whether there are things that are blocked. so there are huge challenges for the average cuban. i think there is a combination of reasons fo

cuba policy. it's one of the least wired countries in the western hemisphere. things we take for granted, such as e-mail on phone, basically nonexistent in cuba. what are the major challenges cubans are facing to access the internet and what can u.s. companies and the congress do to open up cuba to the global internet? >> thank you senator. thanks so much for your interest in this and the conversations we've had. i think obviously a huge part of the obstacles to the cuban people right now are sheer access to internet connected devices, whether it's computers or whether it's, you know smartphones. when they are access that access is expensive, it's also prohibitive prohibitive, even when the cost came down for the public to access internet it was still extremely expensive. for most cubans it was a half month's wage. then there's a question of whether everything is act sell ibl once you get on the web and whether there are things that are blocked. so there are luge challengehuge challenges for the average cuban. i think there is a combination of reasons for that,

western interests. mark: have to ask about the u.s.-cuba normalization talks. the resume tomorrow. openings in? indira: i think we will. i think we're talking about maybe june. certainly, the less major obstacle to opening embassies has been lifted, because the cuban government has found a bank in florida. .t is stonegate bank we're told by people involved that it is a small bank in florida that has a branch that has agreed to take on the cuban government business, meaning it will be able to pay its bills of the empathy and process visas. tot was a major impediment regular business of opening an embassy. so the talks resume tomorrow at the state department. they still have to work out things like how much freedom american diplomats are going to have going around the island and the fact that the u.s. will continue its pro-democracy programs, which does not make the cuban government happy. but i think we could see the opening of embassies as early as june. mark: indira lakshmanan on joining me from washington, thanks so much. coming up, minutes from the federal reserve's latest meeti

it shall be the policy of this nation to reward any nuclear missile launched from cuba against any nation in the western hemisphere as an attack by the soviet union on the united states requiring a full retaliatory response upon the soviet union. >> cindy placed a ring of ships around cuba, trying to prevent soviet premier from shipping in more supplies to his cuban allies. for four daunting days, the u.s. and soviet union stared each other down. act 26, khrushchev agreed to dismantle the sites. >> u.s. planes and ships have counted 42 rockets on russian bound ships. >> the immediate fear of war may have lifted, but the trade embargo remained. in 1996, cuba shot down two u.s. aircraft operated by miami based cuban exiles. the u.s. made the embargo stronger by passing an act which penalized foreign country that is did business in cuba. cuba felt the economic strain. in 2006, fidel castro's health began to fail. he handed over power to his brother. things took a dramatic turn in 2012 when cuba suggested it was ready to negotiate with the united states. soon after, president obama began lifting parts of th

-cuba relations is the focus of a senate foreign relations committee hearing today. roberta jackson assistant secretary of state for western hemisphere affairs who is negotiating with cuba to reestablish diplomatic relations will appear before the committee. that's live starting at 10 a.m. eastern on c-span3. >> u.s. capitol police achieve testifies before the house administration committee today about operations in his agency. you can see his testimony live starting at 2 p.m. eastern on c-span3. >> this sunday night at eight eastern on "first an image will look into the personal lives of 31st ladies, anna harrison, leticia tyler and julia tyler. and harrison never set foot in the white house because her husband dies after one month in office. lakisha tyler becomes first lady when her husband vice president john tyler assumes the presidency but she passes which is the year and half later. the president when he marries tyler was the first photographed first lady. this sunday night at 8 p.m. eastern on c-span's original series first ladies influence in damage, examined the public and private lives of the women who fill the p

. >>> cuba announced an oil expiration deal with france during an historic trip to havana. he's the first western leader to visit the country. he and his counterpart called on the u.s. to lift the trade embargo. lucia newman reports. >> reporter: >>> untying the ideological knot. 12 years since the european union froze ties with communist cuba, in response to dissident. the french president is here to declare bygones be bygones. >> translation: this visit is taking place in a context in which, at last, it's possible for cuba to have necessary conditions to interact with the rest of the world. france has been in favour of the lifting the embargo that hinders cuba. speaking at the university, francis hollande made it clear that france wants to take a leadership role. it has made latin america a foreign policy priority. it's not just political. france and holland are key to possession themselves, lifting an embargo to cuba. american investment lawyer says it's about capturing american business. this american vestment lawyer says it's about cap during american business. >> where are the americans goi

to end the trade embargo on cuba as part of the diplomatic fall between the two countries. president hollande is the first western european to visit since 1966. lifting the embargo would help french companies doing business there. in the coming hours he'll meet raul castro. >>> rooif groups in central african republic signed a peace deal. it's hoped it will end two years of fighting between muslims and christians, which has killed thousands of people. we have the report. >>> the psychological scars on children is a lasting legacy of the conflict. they are half the population. it turns thousands more into soldiers. some of rebels as far as politicians and religious leaders have agreed to draw a line under the violence on paper. in reality it will be impossible for some to forget the pru talt of the last two years. on the face of it the crisis in the central african republic puts muslims against christians but the united nations says the root causes were property and government mismanagement. in that religion it was a convenient excuse used by some sides in the fighting. seleka rebels who forced the president from

cuba. buildings here typically house multiple families but the new owner of this home has converted it into a rental property, mostly for westernrists who can access it using sites like air b&b. >> translator: this house has a higher comfort level than some of thor private homes. >> reporter: while there is a sense of cautious optimism here some fear what will happen to the island. >> it is just going to change. i think it will be a completely different experience in five to ten year's time. >> reporter: but with diplomatic efforts to reestablish relations still in their imfasy it could be some time before a stronger american presence is felt here. >>> palestinian president says israel is presenting piece by expanding jewish settlements. he said he supported a two-state solution based on the pre-1967 border. >>> many palestinians say the lack of political solutions is particularly frustrating, especially in gaza where reconstruction after last summer's war has slowed down. in that is leading many of giving up hope of returning to their homes. >> reporter: for weeks mohammed has been clearing rubble from what is left of his home

the state department's assistant secretary for western hemisphere affairs on the strategy behind the president's significant shift in u.s. policy towards cuba. assistant secretary jacobson is joined at the witness table by the counsellor of the state department ambassador thomas shannon. we welcome you both. cuba has been left behind politically and economically, a far cry from a time decades ago when it was among the most prosperous countries in the region. administration administration's cuba policy initiative has been welcomed in latin america and the caribbean. but significant differences which we'll hear today of opinion exist in the united states over the extent to which change -- this change in policy will advance u.s. interests and improve circumstances for the cuban people. today we look forward to our witnesses to speak to how our nation can best engage strategically with the region and beyond to help cuba rejoin the mainstream of americas and offer its citizens the same rights and freedoms enjoyed by citizens of other countries in the region. to this end, our witnesses can help us understand that administration's policy goals. wi

cuba. it's very customary for fidel to meet dignitaries who come here. not only is it the first french president to come here since cuban independence but also the first western european union leader to come here since the crack down on 77 dissidents on this country back in 2002. so it is all sort of let's let buybygones be bygones. >> and so lucia did this visit signify an end on religious and political differences do you think? >> well when president hollande was addressing the university, he said he didn't just represent france but the eu. there will be talks with other leaders later on in the week. it does open the door to economic ties particularly as the freeze between the united states and cuba seems to be crumbling. diplomatic ties seem to be re reestablished. >> lucia newman, live in havana, thank you. >>> in a few hours time a masterpiece by pablo picasso is expected to become the world's most expensive painting. being sold at auction in new york and likely to smash the current record of $142 million. al jazeera's john terret has been to see it. >> impressionist modern postwar contemporary, remember those terms, they are very important. combining th

cuba relations. >> there it is! got one! captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> reporter: good evening. scott is on assignment. i'm charlie rose. and this is our westerntion.

cuba relations. >> there it is! got one! captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> reporter: good evening. scott is on assignment. i'm charlie rose. and this is our western edition. denis has tert the was indicted today on federal criminal charges. according to court documents republican from illinois is accused of covering up big cash withdrawals he was making allegedly to be used as hush money to pay off someone he had wronged. congressional correspondent nancy cordes has the latest. >> dennis hastert served as speaker for eight years from 1999 to 2007 but it's what he has done since that caught the attention of the fb,. arding to the federal indictment, back in 2010 john dennis hastert agreed to provide someone referred to only as individual a $3.5 million in order to compensate for and conceal his prior misconduct against individual a. the indictment the indictment doesn't say what that misconduct was, but it notes that the two have known each other for most of individual a's life and that the individual is from the same illinois town where hastert was a high school teacher and wrestling coach from 1965 to 1981. from 2010 to 2012, hastert made 15 $50

cuba. we probably shouldn't sugar coat that. this is from the associated press. what would happen if western powers boycotted the world cup.ted. it was suggested that these could exit the organization and form their own tournament. he down played that possibility yesterday. europe, south america, these are the anti-blatter countries. >> he did empower the third world countries and that's what his votes are. it's hard for me >> he ep powered the third world countries. it's hard to see where the west withdraws to start their own tournament. >> he gave south africa the world cup in 2010. >> this is a scandal that may be almost ep i possible -- the bribery payments look very realment fifa may have to be blown up and a few organization take its place. >> whatever emerges they will probably be unified international soccer. >> something for mitt romney to do. >> the olympics. there you go. >> finally we have this one. npr, cbs's bob schieffer retires. he's been anchoring face the nation on cbs. he's leaving after 46 years. he's interviewed every president since if i can son. his first big story was the assassination of president