Brazilian builder Odebrecht SA will begin administrating a Cuban sugar mill next week in the first sign the industry is ready to accept foreign participation since the 1959 revolution, two company sources said on Wednesday.

Hurricane Sandy swelled into a serious threat to much of the U.S. East Coast on Thursday after hammering Cuba's second-largest city and taking aim at the Bahamas, U.S. forecasters said.

Cuba will scrap much-reviled travel restrictions starting in January, easing most Cubans' exit and return, state media said on Tuesday, in the communist island's first major immigration reform in half a century.

Cuba is cutting back its hallowed free education system and moving students into more practical careers to reduce costs and fill needs in its work force, recently released government statistics show.

Tropical Storm Isaac emerged over warm Caribbean waters on Saturday slightly weaker but ready to regroup after dumping torrential rains on Haiti, where thousands of people remain homeless more than two years after a devastating earthquake.

Veteran long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad was plucked from the Florida Straits on Tuesday after giving up on her fourth and likely final attempt to make the 103-mile (166-kilometre) swim from Cuba to the United States.

American long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad pushed ahead on Monday, overcoming a night of lightning, rain and whipping winds in her latest bid to become the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage.

With a shout of "courage," veteran long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad dove into the Florida Straits on Saturday and began stroking her way north in her fourth and likely final attempt to make the 103-mile swim from Cuba to the United States.