Cuban President Raul Castro warned allies Saturday that Havana's closest ally Venezuela needed support amid fallout from deadly anti-government protests.

"Venezuela today needs our staunchest support," Castro, 83, said in a rare international speech at a Group 77+China meeting in Bolivia.

A U.S. official said Thursday the United States has repatriated a dozen inmates from a secretive military prison in Afghanistan where foreign terror suspects have been held for years without trial.

A French national, a Kuwaiti and 10 Pakistani detainees were sent back to their home countries last month from the Parwan prison, the defense official told Agence France Presse.

Singapore said Tuesday it has filed criminal charges against a shipping firm based in the city-state accused of helping smuggle missiles and other military hardware from Cuba to North Korea.

The foreign affairs and home affairs ministries said in a joint statement that the charges were filed against Chinpo Shipping Company Pte Ltd and a Singapore citizen identified as Tan Hui Tin.

Top Congressional Republicans have raised sharp questions about President Barack Obama's deal to swap five Taliban members for a captured U.S. solder, with some even accusing him of breaking the law.

Several opposition Republicans issued statements welcoming Saturday's release of Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl.

The head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce made an urgent plea Thursday to relaunch relations between Cuba and the United States.

Thomas Donohue spoke at the end of the highest-profile visit of an American official to the communist-ruled island in years.

Fledgling Cuban independent online newspaper 14ymedio on Wednesday published an interview with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, who expressed hope that Havana's economic reforms will be accompanied by greater "rights and freedoms."

Biden was interviewed by dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez, who last week launched the communist-ruled island's first news outlet not controlled by the state in 50 years.

Colombian opposition candidate Oscar Zuluaga led President Juan Manuel Santos in first-round elections Sunday, but they now face a runoff in a crucial campaign for peace talks with Marxist rebels.

With nearly all ballots counted, Zuluaga had 29.3 percent of the votes compared to 25.6 percent for his bitter rival, both failing to get the outright majority needed to avoid the June 15 second round.

The U.S. State Department accused Cuba Thursday of suppressing free speech by shutting down a dissident-run online newspaper just hours after its launch.

The news site was blocked in Cuba for a second day Thursday, but its creator, prize-winning blogger, Yoani Sanchez appeared to shrug off the setback.

Dissident blogger Yoanni Sanchez launched a new digital newspaper Wednesday, with hopes of making it Cuba's first independent news outlet in 50 years, but it was blocked in the communist-ruled island almost immediately.

Curious Cubans trying to link to Sanchez's "14ymedio" site were redirected to another page, Yoanislandia.com, filled with attacks on the prize-winning writer and pieces by pro-government bloggers.

The United States cheered a deal clinched by Colombia and leftist FARC rebels on ending the country's vast illicit drugs trade.

The issue was the third on a six-point agenda for peace talks, which began November 2012, aimed at putting a stop to the longest-running insurgency in Latin America.