Audio Video News

Flat-panel TVs, DVD players, computers, mopeds, and kitchen appliances were among the goods that went on sale in Cuba this week. Incredibly, the old Fidel Castro regime had forbidden sales of these items till just this Tuesday. The new regime is a tad more reasonable about what Raul Castro calls "excessive prohibitions." But there's just one catch.

The average Cuban wage earner in the state-controlled economy is paid just $17 a month. And pricing is on the stiff side, with DVD players, for example, going for $118-162.

Still, the majority of Cubans receive money from relatives in the United States, so there were a few hopeful shoppers in the stores this week. Said one college student to Reuters of her prospective computer purchase: "I have been saving up for three years, since I was 15, and I think I am close to buying one."