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Tourism is an essential part of Cuba's economy. But as the industry grows, some worry it will create a gap between the haves and have-nots in a throwback to pre-revolution days.

A small-town library in Colorado is lending more than just books. Patrons can now check out seeds and farm them. After the crops are harvested, the patrons return the seeds from the best fruits and vegetables so the library can lend them out to others.

Retailers offered deep discounts over the weekend, trying to make up for the lackluster holiday shopping season. A spokesman for the National Retail Federation says the weekend after Christmas is becoming just as critical for the industry as Black Friday. That's the traditional start of the holiday shopping season on the day after Thanksgiving.

The recent Conservative Political Action Conference featured a stream of political zingers. Two former presidential speechwriters weigh in on the rhetoric there and in other political news last week.

Susan Jane Gilman recommends behind-the-scenes reads about the rich and famous — by a rock star, a hotel concierge, a stuntman and a Brat Packer, all offering backstage passes to their glamorous lives. Entertaining and star-studded, they make for perfect holiday escapism — with a cocktail (or two) in hand.

As Zimbabwe prepares for hotly contested elections later this month, there's pressure on politicians to avoid violence and follow through on promises. One group making sure the country's leaders do what they promised is the group Zimbabwe Poets for Human Rights.

Biologists who study the lives of animals can learn a lot simply by listening to them. The problem is that natural sounds can be far easier to record than to analyze. So scientists are working to automate the process with automated systems that do the identifying for them.

Sissy Spacek recounts some of her favorite memories from the sets of movies such as Coal Miner's Daughter, BadlandsandCarrie in a new memoir, My Extraordinary Ordinary Life. Also, Julia Louis-Dreyfus talks about her roles in Seinfeld and Veep.

The damage from flooding in Colorado is immense. As the raging rivers overflowed, they spilled into low-lying farm and ranch land wrecking costly equipment, dismantling irrigation systems and stranding livestock. In the near future, it'll be hard for farmers to remain optimistic. Still, as the waters recede, there may be a silver lining to the excess rain further down the line.

In Canada, a remote warehouse that was holding millions of pounds of maple syrup recently became the scene of what may be "the sweetest heist of all time," as a Canadian newspaper calls it.