Castro has terminal cancer: report

Time magazine reports ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro is believed to have terminal cancer and is unlikely to return to power.

It reports many US officials are now convinced Mr Castro has terminal cancer and will never retake the reins of the Americas' only communist-ruled country.

The rumours have emerged despite remarks by Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque on Wednesday that Mr Castro "continues to recover [and] we will have him back leading the revolution".

The 80-year-old Cuban leader handed over the presidency for the first time in almost five decades to his brother Raul Castro, 75, who has long been Cuba's defence chief, after undergoing intestinal surgery in July.

He has largely remained out of the public spotlight since then.

Time.com notes the intelligence reports on Castro's health could be wrong.

But reporter Tim Burger, one of the article's authors, told CNN television: "There have been lots of rumours over the decades about Castro's health. This time, there's specificity and they attribute credibility to the reports".

- AFP