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☆ Cuban police crackdown on demonstrators protesting widespread shortages
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Patrick Oppmann | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Videos posted to social media show a crowd protesting in front of government buildings, before riot police arrived and forcibly arrested several demonstrators. Netblocks, an organization that tracks internet activity, said it appeared the Cuban government had taken down the internet across the entire island as news of the protests spread. Pro-Cuban government bloggers blamed the protesters uploading videos of the protests for the internet disruptions. However, the Cuban government has a history of taking down the state-provided internet during previous protests, sometimes for several days. Internet connectivity appeared to be largely restored on Sunday, and Cuban state media Cubadebate said no more protests had occurred.

☆ Isolated protest in eastern Cuba sparks dueling versions on social media
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

But state-run radio journalist Mabel Pozo said on social media that the protest began when "various citizens, some in a state of drunkenness, yelled statements against the Cuban social process and regarding their dissatisfactions." Reuters could not independently verify the reports or video on social media or the official media version of events. Dissidents have accused the Cuban government of blocking internet traffic countrywide when protests flare in a bid to contain anti-government sentiment. Global web watchdog Netblocks showed a sharp drop in web traffic in Cuba on Saturday shortly after the protest was first reported. The state-run media version of events appeared to blame the lack of internet access on a spike in web traffic.

☆ What the End of Title 42 In the U.S. Means - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Alejandra Oliva | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

On the face of it, the end of Title 42 — reopening the border and an ostensible return to normalcy — may seem like a good thing. I’ve helped asylum seekers fill out their applications in a New York City clinic within their first year in a new home. We must not forget that the United States has legal obligations to provide protection to people who qualify as refugees under international law. The choice to come to the United States is not an easy or uncomplicated one. They are often frustrated and angry at how the United States government has treated them.

☆ Cubans, waylaid by weather and fuel shortage, march for May Day five days late
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] People gather at the seafront Malecon to watch the International Worker's Day celebration in Havana, Cuba May 5, 2023. REUTERS/Alexandre MeneghiniHAVANA, May 5 (Reuters) - Cubans rallied on Havana's Malecon waterfront boulevard to celebrate International Worker's Day on Friday, five days after the planned May 1 event was called off due to foul weather and a fuel crisis that has crippled public transport on the island. "This year it was not possible, due to the fuel situation," said university professor Javier Sanchez, 24, as he cheered during the morning celebration. Though May 1 dawned clear in Havana, a wind and rain storm the previous day hindered preparations, leading Cuban officials to postpone the event until Friday. Cuban state-run media estimated that 100,000 Cubans had gathered on the Malecon by early Friday morning.

☆ Best rice dishes: 20 delicious specialties from around the world
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Terry Ward | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +16 min

And while famous rice dishes such as sushi, fried rice and paella are among the most prominent in the global spotlight, there are so many more rice recipes out there to put on your radar – and seek out on your travels. Wali wa kukaanga, KenyaWali wa kukaanga is Kenya’s answer to fried rice, and translates to just that in Swahili. So it’s no surprise that the Polynesian island country’s most popular rice dish, alaisa fa’apopo, has ties to the coconut, too. Thai fried rice (Khao Pad), ThailandThai fried rice uses the layering of flavors that's characteristic of the country's cuisine. ArenaCreative/Adobe StockWhen it comes to fried rice, the Chinese version tends to steal the spotlight.

☆ Secret ‘Mission’ for Peace in Ukraine May Show Limits of Pope’s Influence
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Jason Horowitz | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

ROME — A secret mission revealed days ago by Pope Francis to bring peace between Russia and Ukraine is so secret that Russia and Ukraine claim to know nothing about it. The Kremlin said on Tuesday that it had no idea what the pope was talking about. “Ukraine doesn’t know about it,” Ukraine’s ambassador to the Holy See, Andrii Yurash, said in an interview Wednesday, adding that he had scheduled a meeting for Thursday with the pope’s foreign minister. “I will for sure ask him what it is.”Later Wednesday evening, the pope’s second-in-command and chief diplomat, Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, told reporters, “to my knowledge, they were and are aware” of the peace plan, saying that the denial by the governments “surprises me.”The apparent bewilderment of the war’s parties, and confusion around the existence of a plan contributed to the sense that the pope’s influence as a geopolitical player and peacemaker — already chastened in countries like Cuba, South Sudan and Myanmar — did not extend to Ukraine.

☆ 'Focused on the job': France's Le Maire defends writing of steamy novel
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Dominique Vidalon | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

PARIS, May 3 (Reuters) - French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said he was fully focused on creating growth and fighting inflation after coming under fire for penning a steamy novel that was published hours before France's credit rating was downgraded by an agency. "I am 100% focused on the job," Le Maire told Franceinfo radio. It is a graphic account of Oskar having sex with a character named Julia that has exposed Le Maire to mocking and criticism. The French edition of the Huffington Post headlined a story "Bruno Le Maire has written about an anus and no one was ready for this." "These are 10 lines out of a 480 pages book," Le Maire shot back when pushed on his writings during the Franceinfo interview.

☆ US to continue humanitarian program after Title 42 end date - joint statement
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MEXICO CITY, May 2 (Reuters) - The United States will continue to accept migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela under a humanitarian program after May 11, when the COVID-19 health policy known as Title 42 is set to end, the U.S. and Mexican governments said on Tuesday. Mexico, for its part, will continue accepting back migrants returned to Mexico on humanitarian grounds, the two countries said in a joint statement. The statement also said the United States would accept some 100,000 people from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras under a family reunification program announced last week, but did not give a time frame for that number. The statement came after Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador met with White House Homeland Security Advisor Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall on Tuesday to discuss migration ahead Title 42's impending end. Tuesday's announcement indicates that a humanitarian parole program providing legal migration pathways for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans will continue after Title 42's end.

☆ The Outrageous Star Power of El Duque
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Jack Curry | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The mystery man was tall and lean and he was smiling, perpetually smiling. His life had dramatically changed when he left Cuba in a fishing boat, and it was about to change again. Every day featured more changes, more smiles and more glimpses of the pitcher known as El Duque. That was the scene on a sunny spring training day when Orlando Hernández first pitched in front of the Yankees. On that day in Tampa, the real El Duque antics started when he pitched from a windup and unveiled a funky motion that was different from any that the attendees had ever seen.

BERLIN, May 3 (Reuters) - U.S. climate envoy John Kerry said on Wednesday China has invited him to visit "in the near term" for talks on averting a global climate change crisis even as diplomatic relations between the world's two biggest greenhouse gas emitters remain tense. The United States and China must work together to address climate change, Kerry said in an interview with Reuters on the sidelines of a conference on global warming in Berlin. China, for example, first must issue its plan to reduce methane emissions and advance in the transition away from coal, Kerry added. "We're not pointing fingers and we're not out there trying to, you know, make this part of the other issues that are out there" between the United States and China, Kerry added. "This (climate change) is a free-standing issue which affects China as it affects the United States."

Jeremy Selwyn/WPA Pool/Getty Images Camilla stands next to Queen Elizabeth II during a Diamond Jubilee pageant on the River Thames in June 2012. Chris Jackson/Getty Images From left, Camilla, Charles, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip attend the state opening of Parliament in May 2013. From left are Camilla, Charles, Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Louis, Duchess Catherine, Princess Charlotte, Prince George and Prince William. Frank Augstein/WPA Pool/Getty Images In pictures: Britain's Queen Camilla Prev NextShe reportedly met Prince Charles at a polo match in Windsor in 1970 and they became friends. From left are Camilla, Charles, Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Louis, Duchess Catherine, Princess Charlotte, Prince George and Prince William.

Michel Gaubert first crossed paths with Karl Lagerfeld when he worked at a record store on the Champs-Élysée. “All his life Karl was obsessed with music,” he recalled. All his life Karl was obsessed with music. Then one day Eric came and asked if I wanted to work with the Karl Lagerfeld brand. Karl said Diane de Beauvau-Craon [a French princess and a pal of Mr. Lagerfeld’s] would call me.

☆ Cuba fuel shortages spark fistfights, queues and holiday cutbacks
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Patrick Oppmann | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Havana, Cuba CNN —As the gas lines grow longer, tempers in Cuba are growing shorter. Since mid-April, Cuba has been beset with its most dire fuel shortages in years, prompting comparisons to the severe disruptions Cubans suffered after the fall of the Soviet Union. Lines stretch for blocks even at gas stations where there has been no fuel for days. Taxi drivers wait in line to fill fuel at a petrol station in Havana. “How can we go to May Day when we have to be in a line for gas,” she said.

☆ A Cuba Without May Day? Here’s What Happened.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Emiliano Rodríguez Mega | Ed Augustin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The NewsSevere fuel shortages have forced the Cuban authorities to cancel the widely celebrated International Workers’ Day parade, which had been set for Monday. But Havana’s Revolution Square, which features a giant statue of the island’s national hero, José Martí, will look nothing like that this May Day. In recent weeks, Cuba has struggled with fuel shortages across the island caused by supplier nations not delivering, according to its president. Cuba usually consumes between 500 and 600 tons of fuel daily, President Miguel Díaz-Canel, said earlier this month. Now, he said, the island has less than 400 tons a day.

☆ Moscow's 'special' forces: An inside look at how Russia's famed Spetsnaz really operate
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Mark Galeotti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +24 min

Russia's Spetsnaz forces are often depicted as a kind of Russian super troops. Osprey PublishingMost countries' special forces emphasize physical fitness, determination and aggression. Special people, for special tasksMembers of the Russian military's 16th Separate Special Purpose Brigade during an exercise in 2018. Even so, being better than most of the Soviet army's miserable and recalcitrant conscript forces did not make most of them truly special, special forces. The special operations commandMembers of Russian's 22nd Separate Guards Special Purpose Brigade during an exercise in November 2017.

☆ Fact check: Trump’s own campaign can’t find proof for his ‘mental institutions’ immigration story
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Daniel Dale | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

How we searched for proof of Trump’s storyCNN conducted a broad search for any proof for Trump’s story. These articles did not mention anything about South American mental health facilities being emptied under President Joe Biden, nor feature any quote from a doctor at any such facility. We then reached out to a pro-Trump super PAC asking for evidence for Trump’s “mental institution” story, but a spokesperson didn’t respond. We next turned to two groups that advocate for reduced immigration, the Center for Immigration Studies and the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which would be good candidates to be aware of any such evidence. As a last resort, we posted Trump’s quotes on Twitter and invited the public to try to find support for them.

☆ Opinion | Biden Can Close the Legal Black Hole at Guantánamo
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Last week, Said bin Brahim bin Umran Bakush was released from detention at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and returned to Algeria, his home country. Mr. Biden wisely avoided the kind of highly public pledges to close down the prison that President Barack Obama made and could not keep. Clearing out the remaining prisoners requires cutting through a tangle of laws, policies, procedures and bureaucratic secrecy. Mr. Biden can use his authority to order the Departments of Defense, Justice and State, the intelligence agencies and other agencies involved to coordinate their efforts and direct their resources to make it happen, as quickly as possible. As long as there are people held in detention at Guantánamo, America’s condemnations of brutal detention centers in China and Syria will ring hollow.

WASHINGTON, April 28 (Reuters) - The Biden administration outlined efforts this week to address growing U.S. national security concerns on foreign companies' handling of Americans' data. Concerns about Chinese-owned TikTok have sparked new efforts in Congress to boost powers to address it or potentially ban the popular short video sharing app. Under Commerce Secretary for Industry and Security Alan Estevez was among those addressing information and communications technology supply (ICTS) chain threats, the department said. "I think it is a top priority and we need to move with urgency," U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said at a Senate hearing on Wednesday of the legislative effort. Days before then President Donald Trump left office in 2021, the Commerce Department issued aimed at addressing ICTS concerns posed by China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela.

☆ War Court Proceedings Stream to Guantánamo From a Secret Chamber in Virginia
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Carol Rosenberg | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

GUANTÁNAMO BAY, Cuba — For hearings in the destroyer Cole bombing case this month, the Guantánamo war court was mostly empty. Skeletal teams for the prosecution and the defense sat in the cavernous chamber, silently watching an 80-inch screen over the witness stand. On it lawyers argued and witnesses testified from a secret courtroom 1,300 miles to the north outside Washington. After the Sept. 11 attacks, the George W. Bush administration created a war crimes court at Guantánamo to be out of reach of the U.S. courts. But now, increasingly, lawyers are examining witnesses and making arguments in the remote annex — four miles from the Supreme Court and 10 miles from C.I.A.

☆ DeSantis loses his cool with a reporter after being challenged over claims he witnessed torture while working at Guantanamo Bay
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Ron DeSantis clashed with a reporter when questioned about Guantanamo Bay. A former detainee claims DeSantis witnessed him being force fed. Ron DeSantis was involved in a tetchy exchange with a reporter after being questioned about whether he witnessed detainees being tortured in Guantanamo Bay. The UN has said that it regards the force feeding of inmates at Guantanamo as a form of torture. "So everything at that time was legal in nature one way or another," DeSantis told a CBS affiliate in 2018.

☆ Colombia's Gustavo Petro finds his opening in Washington
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Stefano Pozzebon | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

So what was the most solid common ground President Biden, as host, could find for his guest? Leaders from the region tend to see the climate issue as their platform in international summits. Like many countries in Latin America, Colombia has received considerable investments from Chinese companies in recent years, mostly in the transport and mining sectors. “Petro has the aspiration of leading the new phase of Latin America’s geopolitics. And Biden can also tout a considerable concession from his meeting with Petro, who had always refused to condemn Russia’s actions in Ukraine – until now.

WASHINGTON, April 27 (Reuters) - The United States will expand a family-reunification parole program currently available to Cubans and Haitians to include additional nationalities, U.S. officials said on Thursday, as part of a suite of measures aimed at curbing record border crossings. The program will be expanded to nationals of Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras in an effort to create new lawful pathways for migrants, the officials said during a briefing with reporters. Biden, a Democrat seeking re-election in 2024, has struggled politically with record numbers of migrants caught crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally. Reuters reported on Wednesday that the United States is also discussing increased refugee processing in Ecuador and Costa Rica. The family reunification program is distinct from a program that Biden launched in January that allows up to 30,000 migrants per month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela with U.S. sponsors to enter the country by air.

[1/5] Newly elected Mayor of Berlin Kai Wegner and his predecessor and designated Berlin Senator for Economics and Energy Franziska Giffey look on at the city's town hall Rotes Rathaus (Red Townhall), in Berlin, Germany, April 27, 2023. REUTERS/Nadja WohllebenBERLIN, April 27 (Reuters) - Berlin appointed its first conservative mayor in more than two decades on Thursday after the Christian Democrats (CDU) beat Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats (SPD) in a repeat election in February, dislodging its centre-left coalition. Kai Wegner, 50, a former insurance salesman, was sworn in as mayor after a vote in local parliament, succeeding the SPD's Franziska Giffey who had been Berlin's first female mayor. His CDU won a clear victory in February's election held after a court ruled the 2021 vote invalid due to irregularities. Critics have accused his CDU party of dog-whistle politics.

[1/5] A Cuban tanker ship enters Havana's bay with a sign that reads in Spanish: "No more blockade", referring to the trade embargo on Cuba imposed by the U.S., Havana, Cuba, April 25, 2023. Venezuela's oil exports to Cuba so far this year have dropped to 55,000 barrels per day (bpd) from almost 80,000 in 2020. Cuba has also imported since November at least five cargoes from Russia, a long-time supplier, as well as fuel from Caribbean terminals and Europe, the data shows. Officials also blame U.S. sanctions, which complicate the financing and transport of fuel to Cuba, for the crisis. Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA and oil ministry, Pemex, and Mexico's foreign ministry did not reply to requests for comment.

BERLIN, April 26 (Reuters) - Germany's domestic spy agency on Wednesday classified the youth organisation of far-right party the Alternative for Germany (AfD) as an extremist entity that threatens democracy, as authorities seek to combat a widespread rise in extremism. Germany's spy agency on Wednesday classified two other organisations, the Institute for State Policy and "One Percent", as extremist entities pursuing aims against the constitution. The spy agency said that the Young Alternatives wanted a society that was as ethnoculturally homogeneous as possible, designated migrants of non-European origins as fundamentally impossible to integrate and warned of the destruction of "organically grown European peoples". It is now Germany's most successful far-right party since World War Two and is currently polling just a few percentage points behind the Greens and the ruling Social Democrats (SPD). "We have seen that the whole discussion about extreme right tendencies has not hurt the AfD," said Guellner.

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