Odds and ends

• Back in Rome, Cardinal Bertone sums up his trip to Cuba.

• Cuba signs UN human rights conventions, but says it will state unspecified “reservations or interpretive declarations” in the future. AP story here; provisions of the conventions here; discussion of Fidel’s opposition, expressed in 2001 and reiterated last year, here.

• Twenty-four senators call on the Administration to review its approach to toward Cuba, promote trade and travel, and end a “policy based on sanctions, passivity, and waiting.” Their letter here (pdf); the signers are Senators Baucus, Enzi, Dodd, Landrieu, Wyden, Crapo, Feingold, Craig, Johnson, Lincoln, Pryor, Cantwell, Hagel, Bingaman, Stabenow, Conrad, Dorgan, Roberts, Feinstein, Murray, Specter, Harkin, Akaka, Boxer.