Odds and ends

• Cuban media continue covering the Snowden case without mentioning that he has requested asylum in Cuba.  These articles discuss his requests to Brazil and Russia, and this foreign ministry statement slams U.S. pressure on other countries.

• There were changes in the membership of the Communist Party’s Central Committee, including the departure of U.S. expert and former National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon.  The changes represent a “natural process,” the Granma story says.  Raul Castro recalled an agreement made in the last party conference by which members of party committees “at all levels should submit their resignations from their posts when they consider that the reasons for their elections no longer obtain.”  Hence Alarcon and four others, all of whom had left high-level posts elsewhere, left the Central Committee.  Here’s the list of the Central Committee’s 112 members, not yet updated.  More from BBC.

• Radio Marti on the changes in the Cuban penal code that opens the door for reduced sentences in criminal cases.

• The Herald on the latest twist in the case of former Rep. David Rivera’s re-election campaign.

• Financial Times on Cuba’s real estate market.

• El Nuevo has an affectionate profile of the guys at Babalu, ten years into their enterprise.

• “There’s an awful lot to like about this kid,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said after seeing Cuban phenom Yasiel Puig play with the Dodgers last month.  More from Bill Plashke in the Los Angeles Times.