Under the new law, farmers will have the right to keep or sell what they produce.

The hurricanes that in recent weeks brought devastation to Cuba have accelerated political reform on the island.

The Cuban authorities have brought forward the start-date for accepting applications from farmers and private citizens to lease un-used state land.

Farmers can increase their holdings to 40 hectares (100 acres), while Cubans without land can apply for about 13 hectares.

The authorities hope the move will increase productivity and reduce reliance on food imports which are predicted to cost Cuba over two billion dollars this year.

Land re-distribution is one of the reforms introduced by Raul Castro since he took over as president in February.

Bahamas orders power connections

The Prime Minister of the Bahamas, Hubert Ingraham, has ordered the national power company to reconnect 5,000 homes whose electricity was cut because of unpaid bills.

Mr Ingraham said the vast majority of these had arrears of less than $1,000.

Mr Ingraham however told delinquent clients that they must make arrangements with the Bahamas Electricity Corporation to pay off outstanding bills.

EU expects EPA delays

The European Union has acknowledged that negotiations for controversial new trade and investment deals with some ACP regions could take another year or more.

The Caribbean is the only region to conclude a full economic partnership agreement with Europe.

The EU's whose executive arm, the European Commission, says the negotiations with Africa and the Pacific still face major hurdles.

This follows consultations this week in Brussels between Louis Michel, the commissioner in charge of development, and representatives of the African Union.

France, the current holder of the EU Presidency, has said it is willing to listen more carefully to the concerns raised by the ACP.

UN ramps up its Haiti relief

The United Nations has been giving an update on how its agencies are coping with the relief programme in hurricane-battered Haiti.

It said 160,000 Haitians were still living out in the open.

The UN said that in the last week the World Food Programme had tripled the quantity of food it has distributed, feeding more than 217,000 people.

The programme's country director Myrta Kaulard said conditions remained challenging since relief workers can only travel by air or sea.

She said rice, beans, cooking oil, fresh water and other supplies had been provided with the help of UNICEF and the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti.