All Blog Posts from World Watch

For Cubans and others who wonder just how former President Fidel Castro is doing, the answer seems to be much, much better.

Nearly seven minutes of new video released by government-run TV Sunday showed a more robust looking Castro speaking in a firm voice with a group of recently graduated Venezuelan law students, in what the news announcer said was a three-hour meeting.

The video also offers the first full length view of Castro standing unaided seen in a long time. As in previous pictures, Castro, who celebrated his 83rd birthday August 13, is dressed casually in dark pants and a track suit jacket. Underneath he seems to be wearing a white shirt. In most previous photos he appeared to be wearing pajamas under the track suit.

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With no suspected or confirmed cases of swine flu, Cuba is going ahead with plans for it biggest annual gathering, the May Day parade through the capital’s Revolution Square on Friday.

The traditional early morning event draws tens of thousands of marchers bused in on city vehicles from neighborhoods in 11 municipalities throughout the city and across the bay.

Smaller celebrations will be taking place in cities across the island.

It is the sort of public gathering that most countries where cases of the H1N1 flu have appeared would not even consider.

And despite the fact that the World Health Organization says closing borders will not help and that countries should simply try for containment of the new variant of swine flu, Cuba remains closed to flights from Mexico.

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CBS News correspondent Charlie D'Agata takes a look at the pros and cons of Britain's 60-year-old health care system.

The Upside of Britain's Health Care System:

Britain is one of many European nations that have state-run health care system. Although the care has been criticized, one American says it saved her life.






The Downside of Britain's Health Care System:

Many British citizens are proud of their health-care system. But some say the system has failed them -- with tragic consequences.

A Scottish doctor is so concerned that Britons are taking after their American cousins in the waistline department that he's recommending the government tax chocolate.

Dr. David Walker, a family doctor and nutritionist, warned in an interview with the BBC that "Obesity is a mushrooming problem. We are heading the same way as the United States."

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Medical researchers at a Cambridge University hospital took four kids who were highly allergic to peanuts — eating the smallest amount would send them into possibly-deadly anaphylactic shock — and started giving them tiny doses of peanut flour ever day. Now, they can eat peanuts.

I hope this is recorded as a victory for Team Common Sense.

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Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro continued to praise newly inaugurated U.S. President Barack Obama in a blog posted late today on the Cuban Web site, Cubadebate.cu.

His post then took a personal turn, saying he has decided to remove himself further from domestic affairs on the island. While saying, “I am fine,” he urged government and Communist Party leaders to do what they have to without first considering what he might have to say or the state of his health.

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