Q: (CNN) -- Some long-time Cuba watchers expressed skepticism Tuesday over a report by a former Mexican foreign minister that Communist leader Raul Castro removed two top-ranking officials earlier this month because they were plotting to overthrow him with the support of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. 

Fidel Castro, beset by illness, ceded power to his younger brother, Raul, pictured, last year. 

Jorge G. Castaneda, who served as Mexico's foreign minister from 2000 - 2003, wrote in the March 23 issue of Newsweek, which became public Saturday, that Deputy Prime Minister Carlos Lage Davila and Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque were concerned that Raul Castro would make concessions that would betray the 50-year-old Cuban Revolution. 

"For at least a month or so, Lage, Perez Roque and others were apparently involved in a conspiracy, betrayal, coup or whatever term one prefers, to overthrow or displace Raul from his position," Castaneda wrote. "In this endeavor, they recruited -- or were recruited by -- Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, who in turn tried to enlist the support of other Latin American leaders, starting with Leonel Fernandez of the Dominican Republic, who refused to get involved." 

The Venezuelan Embassy in Washington did not answer a verbal and written request for comment. 

The Dominican Republic Embassy in Washington did not answer telephones calls at various numbers. 

Robert Pastor, who served as a Latin America National Security adviser for President Jimmy Carter in the late 1970s, returned Saturday from a weeklong visit to Cuba. 

Pastor said he wrote Castaneda a letter upon his return expressing his disbelief in Castaneda's contentions. 

1. a communist leader
2. Hugo Chavez
3. Lage, Perez Roque
4. 2000 - 2003
5. at least a month
6. Fidel Castro
7. other Latin American leaders
8. Leonel Fernandez
9. the Dominican Republic
10. no
11. Robert Pastor

Numbered questions:
1. Who is Raul Castro?
2. Who was the president of Venezuela?
3. Who plotted to overthrow Castro?
4. When was Castaneda a foreign minister?
5. How long was the conspiracy?
6. Who was Raul's brother?
7. Who did Chavez attempt to get support from?
8. Like who?
9. From where?
10. Did he help?
11. Who wrote a letter to Castaneda?

Q: (CNN) -- Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, facing an international arrest warrant, is paying the price for pandering to the West, al Qaeda's second-in-command said in an audio statement released Tuesday. 

Ayman al-Zawahiri, seen here in 2007, said Tuesday the Sudanese president pandered to the West. 

"I am not defending Omar al-Bashir or his regime, nor am I defending what it has done in Darfur and elsewhere," Ayman al-Zawahiri said in the statement released by al Qaeda's production company, as-Sahab Media. 

But, he said, "the issue isn't one of Darfur and solving its problems; the issue is one of making excuses for more foreign interference in the Muslims' countries in the framework of the contemporary Zionist Crusade." 

The warrant issued by the International Criminal Court earlier this month accuses al-Bashir of war crimes and crimes against humanity, charges he denies. In response, Sudan ordered 13 international aid groups to leave the country, groups that the United Nations says provide roughly half the assistance delivered in Darfur. 

"The Bashir regime is reaping what it sowed," al-Zawahiri said. "For many long years, it continued to back down and backtrack in front of American Crusader pressure." 

He further accused Sudan of expelling members of the mujahedeen who had sought refuge there, particularly Osama bin Laden, and declaring "in an audacious lie that they had left voluntarily, then attempting to beg payment for that from the Saudi regime and the Americans." 

Al-Zawahiri asked, "Why hasn't the United Nations moved to protect the Palestinians in Gaza from Israeli barbarity and criminality, while it pretends to cry over the suffering of the people of Darfur? Why hasn't the United Nations and the international community intervened to lift the siege from Gaza, while it pretends to cry over the people of Darfur being deprived of relief and aid?" 

1. the International Criminal Court
2. earlier in the month
3. Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir
4. pandering to the West
5. war crimes and crimes against humanity
6. no
7. he ordered 13 international aid groups to leave the country
8. roughly half
9. as-Sahab Media
10. Ayman al-Zawahiri
11. pandering to the West.
12. expelling members of the mujahedeen who had sought refuge there
13. Osama bin Laden
14. the Palestinians in Gaza
15. Israeli barbarity and criminality
16. no
17. an international arrest warrant

Numbered questions:
1. Who issued a warrant?
2. When?
3. Who is named in the warrant?
4. What is he accused of?
5. Anything else officially in the document?
6. Does he agree with the charges?
7. What did Sudan do in response?
8. How much aid do these groups provide in Darfur?
9. What is al-Qaeda's production company called?
10. Who is second in command at al-Qaeda?
11. What does he accuse Sudan of?
12. Anything else?
13. anyone in particular?
14. Who does he want the UN to protect?
15. From what?
16. Is the arrest warrant just a local warrant?
17. What kind is it?

Q: (CNN) -- "I killed that lady," the 10-year-old boy told a Pennsylvania state trooper, after a 90-year-old woman was found dead in the home of the boy's grandfather. 

Tristen Kurilla, a fifth grader, made the chilling confession Saturday, police said, after his mother brought him to the Pennsylvania State Police Barracks in Honesdale, about 140 miles north of Philadelphia. 

Now, Kurilla is being held at the Wayne County Correctional Facility and charged as an adult with criminal homicide, the Wayne County district attorney's office said. The boy is separated from adult offenders and is being constantly supervised, CNN affiliate WBRE reported. 

The boy admitted to grabbing a wooden cane, holding it against 90-year-old Helen Novak's throat for several seconds and punching her in the throat and stomach, according to the police affidavit. 

Kurilla told police he was angry at Novak because she had yelled at him when he entered her room. He said he wanted to ask her a question. 

Were you trying to kill her? the trooper asked the boy. 

"No, I was only trying to hurt her," Kurilla replied, according to the affidavit. 

The boy was ordered to be held without bail after his arraignment and is set to appear in court October 22. 

Bernie Brown, his lawyer, said he was petitioning the court to get the fifth-grade Damascus Elementary School student out of jail, WBRE reported. 

"Tristen really kind of doesn't have an idea of what is going on," Brown told the station. 

Brown added, "Jail is still jail, no matter what part of the facility you are in." 

1. Helen Novak
2. 90
3. he was angry
4. she yelled at him
5. her room
6. he entered it
7. 10
8. yes
9. fifth grade
10. his grandfather's home
11. her cane
12. punching her
13. the throat
14. yes
15. his mother
16. no
17. to hurt her
18. he has no bail
19. yes

Numbered questions:

1. Who did Tristen kill?
2. How old is she?
3. Why did he do it?
4. Why?
5. Where did she do that?
6. Why?
7. How old is the boy?
8. Does he go to school?
9. How far has he gotten?
10. Where did the find her?
11. What did he use to choke her?
12. How did he injure her stomach?
13. Did he punch her anywhere else?
14. Did he turn himself in?
15. Who took him to do it?
16. Did he want to kill her?
17. What was his plan?
18. How much is his bail?
19. Does he have a lawyer?