Cuba to Allow Private Home Sales

Cuba approved a law Thursday that will allow the sale of private homes—the first time this will be allowed since shortly after the 1959 revolution. The new law will go into effect on Nov. 10. For decades, the only way to obtain a new home was through a bartering system or through black-market deals. Many Cubans cheered the law, which followed legislation in October that allowed them to own cars. President Raul Castro, who took over for his ailing brother Fidel in 2009, has repeatedly said the old Soviet model of communism is not effective anymore for Cuba.