BEIJING nike air max 270 flyknit australia , April 9 (Xinhua) -- The United States and Cuba are not expected to re-open embassies before the Summit of the Americas starting this Friday, officials said, although there are promising signs for the two nations to normalize ties.
"When you have two countries that haven't really spoken to each other like this in over 50 years, you have a lot of issues to work through as you aim to open embassies," said Ben Rhodes nike air max 270 mens australia , Obama's Deputy National Security Adviser.
The U.S. State Department meanwhile is closing in on a decision to recommend removal of Cuba from its blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism. Rhodes said the review is "nearing its conclusion."
U.S. President Barack Obama ordered the review after announcing a striking policy shift toward Havana in mid-December and has vowed to act quickly once he receives the recommendation. Cuba has been in the list since 1982.
The review is going through its final stage as a historic encouter between Obama and Cuba's Raul Castro is about to take place at the Summit of the Americas slated for April 10-11, marking the first substantive meeting between U.S. and Cuban leader in half a century.
Since last December, Washington and Havana have held three rounds of talks on restoring diplomatic ties and re-opening embassies.
In a latest talk held on March 31 in Washington, the two sides discussed the issue of human rights, with both sides voicing readiness to cover a wide range of topics in future "substantive" talks.
As a positive sign cheap nike air max 270 , American private sector interest in Cuba has stepped up since mid-December, evident by the number of delegations that have visited the island since, Cuban Foreign Trade and Investment Minister Rodrigo Malmierca said.
However, there has been more talk than walk in normalizing the bilateral relations, as no concrete achievement has been made yet.
The longstanding trade embargo against the island country nike air max 270 australia , which has been imposed by the United States ever since Washington severed its diplomatic ties with Havana in 1961, is also still waiting to be lifted.
The five-decade embargo has been impeding a normal relationship in various fields such as telecommunications, which the two sides have been trying to improve.
Cuba and the United States held three-day talks in Havana in late March on enhancing telecommunications between the two countries.
The United States has announced measures to relax its restrictions on Cuba's telecommunications, but putting them into effect is complicated by the fact that the embargo itself remains in place, Cuba's communications ministry said.
SYDNEY nike air max 97 premium australia , Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- A major heatwave is on the weekend horizon in Australia, with forecasters predicting on Thursday that temperatures might reach a sweltering 40 degrees Celsius on Saturday in some parts of the nation - a record for the month of September.
The extreme heat conditions are expected to be caused by a high pressure system that has been building on the east coast of Australia, which will likely see weather conditions normally associated with the hot summer days in Australia.
The Bureau of Meteorology in Australia is currently predicting temperatures will soar above historical averages during spring, directly on the heels of the driest ever winter in Australia's easternmost states - New South Wales and Queensland.
Cities on the outskirts of Sydney are expected to reach highs of 33 degrees Celsius on the weekend, while in Brisbane nike air max 97 plus australia , suburban cities are pegged to reach highs of 37 degrees Celsius.
Weather service Higgins Storm Chasing said that there will be "extreme heat during the weekend," and added that in terms of the overall weather conditions "it's looking ugly."
But, the worst hit will likely be the town of Birdsville in the Queensland outback, which meteorologists predict may reach 42 degrees Celsius on Saturday, a full 13.9 degrees above the average it experiences during the month of September.
With the extreme weather conditions at hand nike air max 97 ultra australia , authorities are also warning of increased risk of bushfires over the weekend, as temperatures are set to soar.
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CAIRO, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- The recent reconciliation between Palestinian rival groups Fatah and Hamas is not just a blessing for the Palestinians, but also positive news for Egypt which brokered the deal between the two major Palestinian factions.
After in-depth negotiations hosted by the Egyptian Intelligence in Cairo nike air max 97 ultra' 17 australia , Hamas ruling the Gaza Strip and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party eventually reached a reconciliation pact on Sunday to heal their decade-long rift.
Moreover, they agreed to form a unity government and prepare for the general parliamentary and presidential elections.
Surprisingly, Hamas also promised to dissolve the administrative committee it formed in March to manage daily affairs in Gaza, which Hamas has been ruling since it routed Abbas' military forces in the summer of 2007.
The formation of the committee, which was considered by Abbas a shadow government nike air max 97 womens australia , pushed the Palestinian president to introduce unprecedented tight measures against the coastal enclave, including a 30 percent slash in staff salaries, refusing to pay for electricity services and sending 7,000 employees to early retirement.