Cuba's Fidel Castro, former president, dies aged 90

Fidel Castro, Cuba's former president and leader of the Communist revolution, has died aged 90, his brother Raul has announced.

"The commander in chief of the Cuban revolution died at 22:29 hours this evening," President Raul Castro said.

Fidel Castro ruled Cuba as a one-party state for almost 50 years before Raul took over in 2008.

His supporters said he had given Cuba back to the people. But he was also accused of suppressing opposition.

Obituary: Fidel Castro

Fidel Castro: A life in pictures

Ashen and grave, President Castro told the nation in a late night broadcast on state television that Fidel Castro had died and would be cremated on Saturday.

There would now be several days of national mourning on the island.

Barring the occasional newspaper column, Fidel Castro had essentially been retired from political life for some time, the BBC's Will Grant in Havana reports.

In April, Fidel Castro gave a rare speech on the final day of the country's Communist Party congress.

He acknowledged his advanced age but said Cuban communist concepts were still valid and the Cuban people "will be victorious".

"I'll soon be 90," the former president said, adding that this was "something I'd never imagined".

"Soon I'll be like all the others, "to all our turn must come," Fidel Castro said.

1926: Born in the south-eastern Oriente Province of Cuba

1953: Imprisoned after leading an unsuccessful rising against Batista's regime

1955: Released from prison under an amnesty deal

1956: With Che Guevara, begins a guerrilla war against the government

1959: Defeats Batista, sworn in as prime minister of Cuba

1961: Fights off CIA-sponsored Bay of Pigs invasion by Cuban exiles

1962: Sparks Cuban missile crisis by agreeing that USSR can deploy nuclear missiles in Cuba

1976: Elected president by Cuba's National Assembly

1992: Reaches an agreement with US over Cuban refugees

2008: Stands down as president of Cuba due to health issues

Throughout the Cold War, Fidel Castro was Washington's bete noire.

An accomplished tactician on the battlefield, he and his small army of guerrillas overthrew the military leader Fulgencio Batista in 1959 to widespread popular support.

Within two years of taking power, he declared the revolution to be Marxist-Leninist in nature and allied the island nation firmly to the Soviet Union.

Yet, despite the constant threat of a US invasion as well as the long-standing economic embargo on the island, Castro managed to maintain a communist revolution in a nation just 90 miles off the coast of Florida.

Despised by his critics as much as he was revered by his followers, he outlasted ten US presidents and defied scores of attempts on his life by the CIA.

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She was one of America's moms, a television mother many people grew up watching. Florence Henderson died Thursday from heart failure at the age of 82.

Henderson had not been sick, her manager, Kayla Pressman, said.

"We are all in a state of shock," said Pressman, who spoke with Henderson on Wednesday night.

The actress died at a Los Angeles hospital surrounded by family and friends.

Henderson played Carol Brady from 1969 to 1979 on "The Brady Bunch," a show that became a huge hit in syndication.

"The Brady Bunch," a comedy about two widows with three children each, was Henderson's first television series.

Henderson was 82.

"Florence Henderson was a dear friend for so very many years & in my <3 forever. Love & hugs to her family. I'll miss u dearly #RIPFlorence," tweeted Maureen McCormick, who played Marcia Brady.

Henderson had been in the audience earlier this week when McCormick was performing on ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" with other dancers who had been eliminated before the finals.

Henderson's life story wasn't as ideal as the character she played.

She grew up poor in Indiana, with an alcoholic father and a mother who left when she was just 12 years old, she said.

Henderson used her singing talent to entertain the family and help make ends meet.

"I don't ever remember not singing. and I would sing and pass the hat. and I would sing for groceries," she said.