Odds and ends

• AP: Radio Rebelde issues a call to stop hoarding and reselling rice, and AP’s reporter finds that some are selling rice on the street at three to four times the price charged at farmers markets. It’s not unusual to see vendors walking through neighborhoods quietly selling beef, cheese, shellfish, or other items, but I have never heard of rice being sold that way.

• AP: Silvio Rodriguez is preparing to play Carnegie Hall. Meanwhile, Los Van Van have canceled their U.S. tour. And during a break at a concert, Ted Henken asks saxophone/clarinet virtuoso Paquito D’Rivera what he thinks of Cuban artists coming to play here.

• AP: An official from Cuba’s science and environment ministry says the island faces no threat from the Gulf oil spill. To track the spill yourself, check out this New York Times map.

• Reuters: Petrobras gets a six-month extension in the drilling deadline in its oil exploration contract for a bloc north of Varadero.