Castro recovering on 80th birthday

A Cuban newspaper on Sunday published the first photographs of Fidel Castro since his stomach surgery, and the Cuban leader, shown wearing a sweat suit and sitting in a chair, said he had stabilised "considerably" but was not out of the woods.
He sent a message to Cubans on his 80th birthday that was published by youth daily Juventud Rebelde with four waist-up photographs of him speaking on the telephone, apparently sitting in a chair.
Castro has not appeared in public since ceding power to his younger brother Raul on July 31 after undergoing an operation to stop intestinal bleeding.
One photograph showed Castro holding a copy of the special supplement that the Communist Party newspaper Granma published on Saturday for his birthday, an apparent move to show the pictures were current.
"To say the stability has improved considerably is not to tell a lie. To say that the period of recovery will be short and there is now no risk would be absolutely incorrect," Castro said in the message posted on the youth daily's Web site (http://www.juventudrebelde.cu).
"I suggest you be optimistic and, at the same time, always prepared to receive bad news," he said.
"The country is running well and will continue to do so," the man who has led Cuba for 47 years assured his people.
Details of Castro's health are considered a state secret, so there has been little information about his condition or even confirmation he was alive.
'SMILE CONVEYS CALM':
It is not known whether Castro will be able to resume his government duties. Cuban officials have said the workaholic Castro will have to lessen his workload if he is to recover.
Raul Castro, 75, has not appeared in public either, adding to the uncertainty over the Cuba's political future.
Cubans who worried that Castro's death could plunge the country into upheaval welcomed the news that he was recovering, though some wondered if the pictures were recent.
Castro is the last of the key Cold War-era figures on the world stage and has survived through the administrations of 10 US presidents, despite their efforts to oust him, and the collapse of Cuba's previous benefactor, the Soviet Union.