And the new star in Latin America is ... the United States? The reviews are in, and while the United States still faces plenty of tricky relations in a diverse region of 35 states, President Obama walked away with more salutes than swipes from a regional Summit of the Americas where the United States usually takes a drubbing. The question now is whether Mr. Obama and his successors can capitalize on the new credibility Washington has earned, primarily through his reconciliation with Havana.

After triumphs abroad, President Barack Obama is finding stern challenges at home to his foreign policy breakthroughs, facing hard sells to skeptics over U.S. shifts, first on Iran and now Cuba. Obama returned to Washington early Sunday still basking in the attention from his historic meeting with Cuban President Raul Castro at a summit of Western Hemisphere leaders. But Obama is certain to find a lessappreciative crowd in Congress than the one he left behind at the Summit of the Americas in Panama.

Facebook is among companies teaming up with the South American nation on the program through its Internet.org non-profit organization, set to launch at the summit. Internet.org aims to bring connectivity to everybody, particularly to low-income communities that have traditionally been deprived of the technology.

Barack Obama and Raul Castro shook hands last night in an historic manifestation of thawing animosity between the US and Cuba after more than 50 years. The two presidents met at the Summit of the Americas. Obama and Castro will meet again today to talk about renewing diplomatic ties after they were severed 54 years ago after the 1959 revolution led by the Cuban leader and his brother Fidel.

The presidents of the United States and Cuba have spoken by phone for only the second time in more than 50 years, setting the stage for a historic encounter between the two leaders at a regional summit starting Friday in Panama. The extraordinary, late-night call between President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro came shortly after both leaders arrived in Panama City for the Summit of the Americas, which begins on Friday.

The United Nations climate change negotiations are headed towards a major deadline this December in Paris to create a new global agreement. The summit presents an ideal place for the US and Latin American and Caribbean leaders to candidly and privately discuss the issue.