The Latest: Cubans shocked by Castro at news conference

Castro restated his government's long-stated position that it simply places different emphasis on a wide range of human rights, assuring its people free health care and education while restricting activities by people it considers to be U.S. agents acting to destabilize the government.

President Obama says he believes the Cuban trade embargo is going to end, and while he can't predict when that will be, he believes it will happen at some point because the embargo has not served the interest of the U.S. or the Cuban people.

Obama says that how quickly that Congress ends the embargo also will likely depend on how Cuba addresses concerns about human rights.

The leaders' press conference has resulted in an extraordinary interchange between CNN reporter Jim Acosta, a second-generation Cuban-American, and Raul Castro, a figure of absolute authority in Cuba who is never subjected to aggressive questioning by the state-controlled press or exposed to questions from independent foreign reporters.

Cuba is criticized for briefly detaining demonstrators thousands of times a year but has drastically reduced its practice of handing down long prison sentences for crimes human rights groups consider to be political.

Cuba released dozens of political prisoners as part of its deal to normalize relations with Cuba and Amnesty International said in its 2015/2016 report that it knew of no prisoners of conscience in Cuba.

President Barack Obama says he and Cuban President Raul Castro had a "frank and candid conversation" on human rights and democracy, and are making progress in tearing down barriers between the two nations.

Castro says in a statement after Monday's meeting with the U.S. president that he welcomes changes by Obama to allow commercial flights to resume and changes in the area of telecommunications, for example.

[...] he says an economic blockade that remains in place is the "most important obstacle" to Cuba's economic development and the well-being of the Cuban people.

Google is opening a cutting-edge online technology center at the studio of one of Cuba's most famous artists, offering free Internet at speeds nearly 70 times faster than currently available to the Cuban public.

The U.S. technology giant has built a studio outfitted with laptops, cellphones and virtual-reality goggles at the complex run by Alexis Leiva Machado, a sculptor known as Kcho.

In an exclusive tour of the site for The Associated Press on Monday, Brett Perlmutter, Google's head of Cuba operations, said the company was optimistic that the studio would be part of a broader cooperative effort to bring Internet access to the Cuban people.

The company says it intends to expand its service handling money transfers to Cuba in response to new regulations announced last week by the Obama administration.

Monday's statement from Western Union quotes company executive Odilon Almeida as saying remittances to Cuba fund families and private small businesses and can be a "powerful catalyst for empowerment and innovation."

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced that the United States and Cuba will share agricultural research and ideas, a move designed to help U.S. farmers better understand the Cuban market.

Standing in a lineup of Cuba and U.S. officials, the president listened as a military band played both the Cuban and American national anthem.