US removes sanctions on Cuba-related companies, persons

The Obama administration on Tuesday lifted sanctions on 59 entities blacklisted for doing business with Cuba.
The Department of Treasury deleted six people, 37 businesses and 16 vessels from its Specially Designated Nationals list, with most of the companies based in Panama and two of them in the U.S. state of Florida.
The businesses involved include tour operators and cruise lines.
The move came after three rounds of talks between the United States and Cuba over restoring diplomatic relations since January.
Leaders of the two countries agreed in December to normalize bilateral relations, after more than five-decade of enmity.
Washington has since moved to relax its economic restrictions on Havana, including allowing the use of U.S. credit cards in Cuba, raising the limit on purchases made in Cuba to 400 U.S. dollars, and quadrupling the amount of remittance by a Cuban American to 2,000 dollars every year.