Diana Nyad, right, gestures as U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents board her support boat in Key West, Fla., Tuesday, Aug. 9. The 61-year-old marathon swimmer had to be pulled from the water early Tuesday during a second attempt to swim from Cuba to the Florida Keys.

U.S. swimmer Diana Nyad begins her challenge of swimming 103 miles between Havana, Cuba and Florida, in a period of three days, without a cage to protect her from sharks, Aug. 7. Nyad, 61, began accompanied by a team of 40 people who will escort her, divided in three vessels in a journey that will last about 60 hours. During the 60 or so hours, from Cuba to Florida, she won't touch land or even a boat. Every hour and a half, she'll stop for some water, an electrolyte drink and maybe a banana with peanut butter. At 29, Nyad set the record for the longest ocean swim at 163 kilometres. That record still stands.

U.S. swimmer Diana Nyad swims on her way to Florida from Havana, while flanked by two assistants in kayaks with an assistance boat in front Aug. 7. The 61-year-old plunged into the Straits of Florida at dusk on Sunday to begin what she hopes will be a world record 103-mile swim from Cuba to Florida. The same swim was completed successfully by Australian Susan Maroney in May 1997. But Nyad's claim to a world record will be that unlike Maroney, she is doing it without a shark cage in the strait's warm, shark-infested waters. Nyad will be protected by a surrounding electrical field and by divers who will watch for sharks and drive them away if they get too close.

U.S. swimmer Diana Nyad begins her attempt to swim to Florida from Havana Aug. 7.

People look at removable tattoos for sale at a soviet-era apartment block in Havana July 3. Cuba will authorize limited housing and car markets by 2012, the Communist party newspaper Granma said on Friday, a move awaited by local residents since the early 1960s when home and most auto sales were banned. Granma, reporting on a recent meeting of top level party, government and other officials, said Cubans would still be prohibited from owning more than one home. But for the first time, they could buy and sell the dwellings with minimal government interference.

Cars drive on a street in Havana July 1, 2011. Cuba will authorize limited housing and car markets by 2012.

Cuban self-employed Lorenzo Conejo fixes a bicycle wheel's spokes in front of his house, on June 21 in Havana. Many Cubans make their business using any tools or workspace available in an effort to adapt to the the new economic rules.

A man repairs his house in Havana July 13. Cuba has begun lifting restrictions on individual economic activity earning applause from local residents even as the moves stoke anger over why the prohibitions existed in the first place and the many that remain. President Raul Castro has loosened regulation since taking over for his ailing brother Fidel as he moves Cuba's Soviet-style economy in a more market friendly direction and battles the paralyzing and often corrupt bureaucracy and black market it has fostered.

A man goes down stairs of his house in Havana July 1.

The world's longest cigar that stretched 268 feet 4 inches, or most of the length of a football field, is seen in Havana May 3. Resting on tables, it sprawled through El Morro, an old Spanish fort overlooking Havana Bay, where Cuba is holding its annual International Tourism Fair. The cigar, once it is officially accepted by Guinness World Records in London, will eclipse the previous record cigar of 148 feet 9 inches, both rolled by Jose Castelar Cairo, better known as "Cueto".

A woman greets Russian communist supporters from a window with a red cloth during the traditional May Day rally in central Moscow on May 1. May Day traditionally celebrates the rights of the proletariat in the former Soviet Union. Crowds waving balloons and blue or red flags gathered in cities from the Pacific port of Vladivostok to Moscow in carefully-choreographed rallies reminiscent of the Soviet era when May 1 was one of the most venerable holidays celebrating international socialism.

Riot policemen stand beside fire flares as they clash with left-wing protestors during May Day demonstrations in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin, May 1.

Cuban soldiers bearing their national flag march in the May Day parade at Revolution Square in Havana, Cuba, May 1. The demonstration is being touted as a massive show of support for economic changes recently approved by the Communist Party - even though the people holding placards and shouting slogans haven't seen the details yet.

A man walks next a tied up ship at the port of Piraeus, near Athens, on Sunday, May 1, during a 24-hour port strike. Rail services in Greece, including the Athens suburban railway were suspended for 24 hours. Protesters gathered in central Athens and other Greek cities for May Day rallies to protest against the austere measures needed to secure rescue loans for near-bankrupt Greece.

Sultan Kosen, top, of Turkey, who according to the Guinness World Record Association is the world's tallest man, accompanied by members of the newly-created Cuba Amore Foundation, walks among students during a visit to the Cesareo Fernandez school in Havana on Monday.

Sultan Kosen, center, of Turkey, who according to the Guinness World Record Association is the world's tallest man, is helped to get into a vehicle after visiting the Cesareo Fernandez school in Havana, Cuba on Monday.

A teenager lifts weights in an improvised gym in Havana, Cuba, Thursday Jan.13, 2011

Two teenagers exercise in an improvised gym in Havana, Cuba, Thursday Jan.13, 2011.

A teenager exercises in an improvised gym in Havana, Cuba, Thursday Jan.13, 2011.