从字面上看，对总统巴拉克·奥巴马来说，最新的报告还算是好消息。除了最近失业率有所下降外，消费者开支和房屋建设的数字都不错，但报告无法改变人们对艰难缓慢复苏的固有印象。两大选举阵营都想尽办法用这个数字来大做文章，但由于距离选举日这么近，这些数字不大可能改变公众对一方或另一方的印象。大多数人都凭自身经验对国家经济下了断言，他们不需要商业部门来告诉自己如何去思考。

The human rights group Amnesty International says more than 200 people have been illegally detained and tortured this year in Ivory Coast. Amnesty says its staff has spoken to dozens who say they have been subjected to electric shocks or sexual abuse after being seized by the security forces. It expressed concern that the detention amounted to reprisals for attacks played on supporters of the former President Laurent Gbagbo.

人权组织大赦国际组织称今年有200多人在科特迪瓦被非法拘留。该组织称其工作人员已与数十名据说遭受电击或性虐待的人交谈过，他们是被安全部队抓获的。大赦组织称这些人对前总统洛朗·巴博的支持者实施的袭击行为发起的报复。

One of Cuba’s best-known dissident Eloy Gutierrez-Menoyo has died in Havana aged 77. He was an ally of Fidel Castro during the 1959 Cuban revolution, but later led a failed armed uprising against him. Will Grant reports.