HAVANA: Cuba’s parliament on Friday unanimously ratified a deal reached between Havana and Washington normalising rela­tions after a half-century of hostility.

“The Cuban parliament today gave its unanimous support” to the bilateral thaw, which was outlined on Wednesday in a speech by President Raul Castro, the Cuban news agency Prensa Latina said following the session.

Castro chaired the twice-yearly meeting of parliament on Friday in a session largely focused on the communist island’s historic renewal of relations with the United States.

Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2014