The White House on Wednesday dismissed Republican criticism of President Barack Obama's handshake with Cuban leader Raul Castro at Nelson Mandela's memorial service.

Obama has faced a backlash from Republican rivals after exchanging pleasantries with Castro, the leader of a Communist-run country that has been bitterly estranged from the United States since 1961.

U.S. President Barack Obama's surprise handshake Tuesday with Cuban President Raul Castro at a memorial for the late Nelson Mandela in South Africa was saluted in Havana as a hopeful sign.

The government website Cubadebate.cu ran a photograph of the moment with the caption: "Obama greets Raul: may this image be the beginning of the end of the U.S. aggressions against Cuba."

A great unifier in life, in death Nelson Mandela will again bring together political foes Tuesday, when U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban leader Raul Castro share a stage at his memorial.

Organizers announced Monday that the two men would be among world leaders to address a crowd of 80,000 people amassed at a stadium in Soweto and millions more watching on from around the world.

A former U.S. contractor jailed in Cuba says he feels his country has abandoned him and is appealing to President Barack Obama to intervene to bring him home, The Washington Post reported.

Alan Gross aired his views in a letter sent via the U.S. mission in Cuba. The letter was to be delivered to Obama Tuesday, the fourth anniversary of Gross's arrest in Cuba.

A former U.S. contractor jailed in Cuba says he feels his country has abandoned him and is appealing to President Barack Obama to intervene to bring him home, the Washington Post reported.

Alan Gross aired his views in a letter sent via the U.S. mission in Cuba. The letter was to be delivered to Obama Tuesday, the fourth anniversary of Gross's arrest in Cuba.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden thanked Panama Tuesday for detecting a controversial shipment of Cuban arms headed for North Korea apparently in violation of U.N. sanctions.

During his visit to tour an ongoing expansion of the Panama Canal, Biden said that the country "stepped up where others might have stepped back. ... You found and confiscated weapons heading from Cuba heading to North Korea.

The U.S. Senate debated a defense bill Tuesday that would ease restrictions on detainee transfers from Guantanamo, a major first step toward closing the controversial war-on-terror prison.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the provision should be the first measure debated and voted on in the defense spending bill for 2014 now under consideration, and which Congress is aiming to pass in December.

Cuba on Wednesday hailed its election to the U.N. Human Rights Council, saying it was a "resounding recognition" of its work in the area.

The communist state was among 14 countries picked to be a part of the Geneva-based body Tuesday despite criticism of its rights record.

The United States must continue to update its policy towards communist Cuba, President Barack Obama said late Friday, speaking at the home of a prominent Cuban-American activist.

Freedom in Cuba will come from the work of activists, Obama said, but the United States can help in "creative" and "thoughtful" ways.

Colombia's government and FARC guerrillas reached agreement Wednesday on the rebels' future participation in politics, a deal that brings the country closer to ending a half-century of civil war.

The accord was a much-needed boost to year-long peace talks that had appeared to be close to stalling in recent months, with President Juan Manuel Santos repeatedly warning the process was dragging on without progress.