FEBRUARY2007

Cuban television has shown its first pictures for three months of ailing leader Fidel Castro.

Mr Castro, 80, was seen standing during a meeting with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, which was said to have taken place on Monday.

He appeared frail but stronger than three months ago.

The most regular pronouncements on his health have come from his Venezuelan ally Hugo Chavez.



(The Guardian : The date of the video's shooting could not be independently confirmed, but Mr Castro read aloud a headline from a printout of an article dated January 27 from the internet version of the Argentinian newspaper Clarin )