US, Cuba To Normalize Relations

The United States and Cuba exchanged prisoners Wednesday as part of a deal to expand trade, increase travel, and normalize relations between the U.S. and its six-decade communist foe, government officials said Wednesday. “We will end an outdated approach that has failed to advance our interests,” Obama said in making a formal announcement at the White House. “These 50 years have shown isolation has not worked.” The biggest shift in the American-Cuban relationship since formal ties were severed in 1961 — the year the president was born — includes new rules for banking and financial dealings as well as a general easing of the U.S. embargo against Cuba and the opening of a U.S. embassy in Havana, said Obama and other officials/ USA Today . More here . (AP photo)