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Tag: Cuba

  • Chikungunya virus: New York confirms first locally acquired case in US since 2019

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    Health officials in New York confirmed a person tested positive for the mosquito-borne chikungunya virus in what is the first locally acquired case in the United States since 2019. 

    The transmission detected in a Nassau County resident comes after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned Americans to be on high alert for the virus following outbreaks in Cuba and China this year. 

    “A communicable disease investigation conducted by Nassau County Department of Health (NCDOH) found that the individual began experiencing symptoms in August. The investigation revealed that the individual had history of travel outside of Nassau County during the period of inoculation, but did not report traveling abroad,” the Nassau County Department of Health said Tuesday. 

    “No Chikungunya Virus has been detected in local mosquito pools to date, and the risk to the general public continues to remain low,” it added. 

    DEADLY MOSQUITO-BORNE VIRUS SPARKS CDC TRAVEL ALERT — COULD IT REACH THE US? 

    The chikungunya virus is “most often spread to people by infected Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes,” according to the Nassau County Department of Health. (iStock)

    The CDC said most people infected with the chikungunya virus develop some symptoms, which usually begin around three to seven days after a bite by an infected mosquito. 

    “The most common symptoms are fever and joint pain. Other symptoms may include headache, muscle pain, joint swelling, or rash. Most people get better within a week; however, some can have severe joint pain for months to years following acute illness,” according to the CDC. 

    “People at risk for more severe disease include newborns infected around the time of birth, older adults (65 years or older), and people with medical conditions such as diabetes or heart disease. Death from chikungunya is rare,” the CDC added. “There is no specific treatment for chikungunya.” 

    CDC WARNS OF ‘ENHANCED’ VIRUS RISK FOR TRAVELERS AMID OUTBREAK SPREAD BY MOSQUITOES 

    Chikungunya virus outbreak in China

    A sanitation worker sprays insecticide to prevent the spread of the chikungunya virus on Aug. 3, 2025, in Dongguan in the Guangdong Province of China. (VCG via Getty Images)

    The CDC said on its website that, “Locally acquired chikungunya cases have not been reported from U.S. states or territories since 2019.” 

    “An investigation suggests that the individual likely contracted the virus following a bite from an infected mosquito,” the New York State Department of Health said. “While the case is classified as locally acquired based on current information, the precise source of exposure is not known.” 

    “Mosquito bites are more than just a nuisance, they can sometimes spread illnesses that affect both people and animals,” said Nassau County Commissioner of Health Irina Gelman. “While the 2025 mosquito season is essentially over with cooler weather in Nassau County, this case serves as a reminder to take precautions against mosquito bites during the season and when traveling to areas where mosquito-borne illnesses are present.” 

    Worker fighting Chikungunya virus in Foshan

    A staff member carries out disinfection work at a hospital amid an outbreak of chikungunya on July 23, 2025, in Foshan, China.  (VCG via Getty Images)

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    “Our Wadsworth Center has confirmed this test result, which is the first known case of locally acquired Chikungunya in New York State. Given the much colder nighttime temperatures, the current risk in New York is very low,” added State Health Commissioner James McDonald.  

    Greg Norman is a reporter at Fox News Digital.

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  • Exclusive-Citing Cuban Fighters in Ukraine, US Urges Allies to Shun Havana at UN

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    WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Donald Trump’s administration is mobilizing U.S. diplomats to lobby against a U.N. resolution calling on Washington to lift its decades-long embargo on Cuba, in part by sharing details of Cuba’s support for Russia’s war in Ukraine, according to an internal State Department cable seen by Reuters.

    As part of the administration’s campaign, U.S. diplomats will tell countries that the Cuban government is actively supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with up to 5,000 Cubans fighting alongside Moscow’s forces.

    The October 2-dated unclassified cable sent to dozens of U.S. missions directed American diplomats to urge the governments to oppose the non-binding resolution, which has passed in the U.N. General Assembly by wide margins year after year since 1992.

    Officials at the Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.

    Last year, the General Assembly adopted the resolution with 187 countries voting in favor. The United States and Israel were the only countries that voted against it, while Moldova abstained.

    Since returning to office in January, Trump has doubled down on sanctions, returning Cuba to a U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism, tightening financial and travel restrictions and sanctioning third-country nationals who host Cuban doctors.

    Trump has also recently toughened his stance towards Moscow, threatening financial penalties against buyers of Russian oil and allowing U.S. intelligence agencies to share information with Ukraine to help its attacks on energy assets inside Russia.

    The cable said that the U.N. resolution was “incorrectly” blaming the United States for Cuba’s problems which it said were caused by Cuba’s “own corruption and incompetence.” It added that the objective of this push was to demonstrate the administration’s opposition, significantly reducing the number of “yes” votes.

    “”No” votes are preferred but abstentions or absent/not voting are also useful,” the cable said, adding that Washington needed “allies and like-minded partners” in this push.

    The United States has piled dozens of new sanctions on the Communist-run Caribbean island since a trade embargo was put in place following Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution.

    The U.N. vote can carry political weight, but only the U.S. Congress can lift the Cold War-era embargo.

    The Cuban government blames U.S. sanctions for the grueling crisis the country is mired in, the worst economic downturn in decades characterized by shortages of basic goods, collapsing infrastructure and runaway inflation.

    The State Department said Cuba was using the annual U.N. resolution as a mechanism to victimize itself and that it did not deserve the support from America’s democratic allies.

    “The Trump Administration will not remain on the sidelines or support an illegitimate regime that undermines our national security interests in our region,” a State Department spokesperson said in emailed comments on Saturday.

    CUBAN MERCENARIES IN UKRAINE

    For years, U.S. tactics to weaken support for the non-binding U.N. resolution have focused on the legality of the embargo, how the U.S. provided exceptions for food and medicine and highlighted Cuba’s human rights, the cable said.

    All of these approaches have failed to influence the vote, it added. The cable provided nearly two dozen talking points, many of which accused Cuba of squandering its limited resources, denying its people basic human rights and being a threat to international peace.

    Cuba and its President Miguel Diaz-Canel were actively supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine, one of the talking points said.

    “After North Korea, Cuba is the largest contributor of foreign troops to Russia’s aggression, with an estimated 1000-5000 Cubans fighting in Ukraine,” the cable said.

    The State Department spokesperson declined to provide further details on the Cuban fighters but said Washington was aware of the reports that they were fighting alongside Russian troops in Ukraine.

    “The Cuban regime has failed to protect its citizens from being used as pawns in the Russia-Ukraine war,” the spokesperson said.

    In recent weeks, Ukrainian officials warned U.S. lawmakers about the growing scale of recruitment of Cuban mercenaries by Russia to fight in Ukraine.

    The cable also accused the Cuban government of undermining democracies in the Western Hemisphere, as tensions have been mounting between Washington and Venezuela, Cuba’s most important political and economic ally. The U.S. military has carried out strikes in the Caribbean on boats out of Venezuela that it claimed were carrying drugs. The latest U.S. attack took place on Friday.

    On Wednesday, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez called for the United Nations to stop the United States from starting a war in the region. He said fighting drug trafficking in the name of U.S. national security was a “crude and ridiculous pretext” for aggression.

    (Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk Editing by Don Durfee and Diane Craft)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

    Photos You Should See – Sept. 2025

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  • 2 killed in Cuba as Tropical Storm Imelda and Hurricane Humberto threaten Bahamas and Bermuda

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    Authorities in the Bahamas closed most schools on Monday as Tropical Storm Imelda dropped heavy rain in the northern Caribbean, including over Cuba, where two people died as a result of the storm.The storm was located about 120 miles north of Great Abaco Island of the Bahamas, which is still recovering from Hurricane Dorian after it slammed into parts of the Bahamas as a devastating Category 5 hurricane in 2019.Imelda had maximum sustained winds of 65 mph and was moving north at 9 mph. It was forecast to become a hurricane on Tuesday morning and spin out to open ocean, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.A tropical storm warning was in effect for parts of the extreme northwestern Bahamas, including Great Abaco, Grand Bahama Island, and the surrounding keys. Power outages were reported in some areas, with authorities closing government offices on affected islands and issuing mandatory evacuation orders for some islands over the weekend.2 deaths and evacuations across CubaCuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero said late Monday that two people died after Imelda impacted eastern Cuba. On his X account, Marrero said the two people died in Santiago de Cuba province, but he didn’t give any details.Earlier, state media reported that 60-year-old Luis Mario Pérez Coiterio had died in Santiago de Cuba following landslides in that area.In Santiago de Cuba, flooding and landslides cut off 17 communities, according to the official newspaper Granma. More than 24,000 people live in those communities.In Guantánamo, another impacted province, more than 18,000 people have been evacuated, according to reports from the state-run Caribe television channel.Imelda was expected to drop 4 to 8 inches of rain across the northwest Bahamas through Tuesday, and 2 to 4 inches across eastern Cuba.Humberto roars in open watersMeanwhile, Hurricane Humberto, a Category 4 storm, churned in open waters nearby, which forecasters said would cause Imelda to abruptly turn to the east-northeast, away from the southeastern United States coast.“This is really what’s going to be saving the United States from really seeing catastrophic rainfall,” said Alex DaSilva, lead hurricane expert for AccuWeather, a private U.S. weather forecasting company.DaSilva said the two storms would draw closer and start rotating counterclockwise around each other in what’s known as the Fujiwhara effect.“It’s a very rare phenomenon overall in the Atlantic basin,” he said.Humberto had maximum sustained winds of 140 mph. It was located about 295 miles southwest of Bermuda, moving north-northwest at 13 mph. A hurricane watch was in effect for Bermuda.“This is going to be no threat to the United States,” DaSilva said.The Carolinas brace for Imelda’s rainsMoisture from Imelda was expected to move up the Carolinas, with heavy rain forecast through Tuesday morning. The heaviest rains will be limited to the coastline, from Charleston in South Carolina to Wilmington in North Carolina, while Charlotte and Raleigh might receive only 1 to 2 inches of rain, he said.The Carolinas might see wind gusts of 40 mph, but only along the coastline, DaSilva said, as he warned of dangerous surf and heavy rip currents all week.South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said authorities were prepositioning search and rescue crews over the weekend.In North Carolina, Gov. Josh Stein declared a state of emergency even before Imelda formed, while authorities on Tybee Island off the coast of Georgia handed out free sandbags to residents.Even though Imelda was not making landfall in Florida, its impact was still felt.At the Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach, crews found a couple of turtle hatchlings that rough surf had tossed ashore.“We actually had two washbacks come in over the weekend,” said Justin Perrault, the center’s vice president of research. “We may get more as the day goes along.”He said typically beachgoers will see a hatchling resting in the seaweed and call the center for help.Farther south in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Carl Alexandre exercised at the beach on Monday. He said he was grateful the storm was not heading toward South Florida, but that he would pray for those in the Bahamas.“It’s great that we’re not having one as of right now,” Alexandre said. “And now we get to run in the Florida sun.”‘A double whammy for Bermuda’Authorities in Bermuda hoped neither of the two storms would be a direct hit later in the week, though they were forecast to, at least, come close, with Imelda possibly passing within 15 miles as the season’s soon-to-be fourth hurricane, Da Silva said.“It’s going to be a double whammy for Bermuda, Humberto first and Imelda following close behind,” Da Silva said.Michael Weeks, Bermuda’s national security minister, urged residents to prepare, warning that there have been “some near misses this season regarding severe storms.”“Hurricane Humberto is a dangerous storm, and with another system developing to our south, every household in Bermuda should take the necessary steps to be prepared,” he said.Flights to and from the islands in the Bahamas were canceled, with airports expected to reopen after weather conditions improve.

    Authorities in the Bahamas closed most schools on Monday as Tropical Storm Imelda dropped heavy rain in the northern Caribbean, including over Cuba, where two people died as a result of the storm.

    The storm was located about 120 miles north of Great Abaco Island of the Bahamas, which is still recovering from Hurricane Dorian after it slammed into parts of the Bahamas as a devastating Category 5 hurricane in 2019.

    Imelda had maximum sustained winds of 65 mph and was moving north at 9 mph. It was forecast to become a hurricane on Tuesday morning and spin out to open ocean, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

    A tropical storm warning was in effect for parts of the extreme northwestern Bahamas, including Great Abaco, Grand Bahama Island, and the surrounding keys. Power outages were reported in some areas, with authorities closing government offices on affected islands and issuing mandatory evacuation orders for some islands over the weekend.

    2 deaths and evacuations across Cuba

    Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero said late Monday that two people died after Imelda impacted eastern Cuba. On his X account, Marrero said the two people died in Santiago de Cuba province, but he didn’t give any details.

    Earlier, state media reported that 60-year-old Luis Mario Pérez Coiterio had died in Santiago de Cuba following landslides in that area.

    In Santiago de Cuba, flooding and landslides cut off 17 communities, according to the official newspaper Granma. More than 24,000 people live in those communities.

    In Guantánamo, another impacted province, more than 18,000 people have been evacuated, according to reports from the state-run Caribe television channel.

    Imelda was expected to drop 4 to 8 inches of rain across the northwest Bahamas through Tuesday, and 2 to 4 inches across eastern Cuba.

    Humberto roars in open waters

    Meanwhile, Hurricane Humberto, a Category 4 storm, churned in open waters nearby, which forecasters said would cause Imelda to abruptly turn to the east-northeast, away from the southeastern United States coast.

    “This is really what’s going to be saving the United States from really seeing catastrophic rainfall,” said Alex DaSilva, lead hurricane expert for AccuWeather, a private U.S. weather forecasting company.

    DaSilva said the two storms would draw closer and start rotating counterclockwise around each other in what’s known as the Fujiwhara effect.

    “It’s a very rare phenomenon overall in the Atlantic basin,” he said.

    Humberto had maximum sustained winds of 140 mph. It was located about 295 miles southwest of Bermuda, moving north-northwest at 13 mph. A hurricane watch was in effect for Bermuda.

    “This is going to be no threat to the United States,” DaSilva said.

    The Carolinas brace for Imelda’s rains

    Moisture from Imelda was expected to move up the Carolinas, with heavy rain forecast through Tuesday morning. The heaviest rains will be limited to the coastline, from Charleston in South Carolina to Wilmington in North Carolina, while Charlotte and Raleigh might receive only 1 to 2 inches of rain, he said.

    The Carolinas might see wind gusts of 40 mph, but only along the coastline, DaSilva said, as he warned of dangerous surf and heavy rip currents all week.

    South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said authorities were prepositioning search and rescue crews over the weekend.

    In North Carolina, Gov. Josh Stein declared a state of emergency even before Imelda formed, while authorities on Tybee Island off the coast of Georgia handed out free sandbags to residents.

    Even though Imelda was not making landfall in Florida, its impact was still felt.

    At the Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach, crews found a couple of turtle hatchlings that rough surf had tossed ashore.

    “We actually had two washbacks come in over the weekend,” said Justin Perrault, the center’s vice president of research. “We may get more as the day goes along.”

    He said typically beachgoers will see a hatchling resting in the seaweed and call the center for help.

    Farther south in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Carl Alexandre exercised at the beach on Monday. He said he was grateful the storm was not heading toward South Florida, but that he would pray for those in the Bahamas.

    “It’s great that we’re not having one as of right now,” Alexandre said. “And now we get to run in the Florida sun.”

    ‘A double whammy for Bermuda’

    Authorities in Bermuda hoped neither of the two storms would be a direct hit later in the week, though they were forecast to, at least, come close, with Imelda possibly passing within 15 miles as the season’s soon-to-be fourth hurricane, Da Silva said.

    “It’s going to be a double whammy for Bermuda, Humberto first and Imelda following close behind,” Da Silva said.

    Michael Weeks, Bermuda’s national security minister, urged residents to prepare, warning that there have been “some near misses this season regarding severe storms.”

    “Hurricane Humberto is a dangerous storm, and with another system developing to our south, every household in Bermuda should take the necessary steps to be prepared,” he said.

    Flights to and from the islands in the Bahamas were canceled, with airports expected to reopen after weather conditions improve.

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  • Videos appear to show captured Cubans who were fighting for Russia in Ukraine

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    In its push to hold captured territory in Ukraine, Russia has turned to countries like North Korea for added manpower. Now, it appears additional support is also coming from Cuban mercenaries. Cristian Benavides reports.

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  • 1 man killed in Cuba as Tropical Storm Imelda and Hurricane Humberto threaten Bahamas and Bermuda

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    Authorities in the Bahamas closed a majority of schools on Monday following mandatory evacuations for some islands in the archipelago as Tropical Storm Imelda was expected to drop heavy rain in the northern Caribbean, with landslides killing one man in Cuba.The storm was located about 35 miles north of Great Abaco Island, which is still recovering from Hurricane Dorian after it slammed into parts of the Bahamas as a devastating Category 5 hurricane in 2019.Imelda had maximum sustained winds of 60 mph and was moving north at 9 mph. It was forecast to become a hurricane on Tuesday and spin out to open ocean, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.A tropical storm warning was in effect for parts of the northwestern Bahamas, including Eleuthera, the Abacos, Grand Bahama Island and the surrounding keys. Power outages were reported in some areas, with authorities closing government offices on affected islands.A death and evacuations across CubaImelda was expected to drop 4 to 8 inches of rain across the northwest Bahamas through Tuesday, and 2 to 4 inches across eastern Cuba. State media in Cuba reported that 60-year-old Luis Mario Pérez Coiterio died in Santiago de Cuba following landslides in that area.“After two days of intense rains in the municipality of Santiago de Cuba, we are now in the stage of saving human lives and the economy of the entire city,” Mayor Indira Oliva Bueno said, according to a broadcast aired by the official Caribe channel.In the easternmost part of Cuba, from Camagüey to Guantánamo, authorities supplied food and drinking water to residents, according to official TV reports.Overall, Imelda forced the evacuation of some 1,291 people across Cuba, with 158 of them staying in shelters.“We are working with our agricultural colleagues to provide food to the population, which is essential,” said Alexander Olivares, president of the San Antonio del Sur Defense Council in Guantánamo.Humberto roars in open watersMeanwhile, Hurricane Humberto, a Category 4 storm, churned in open waters nearby, which forecasters said would cause Imelda to abruptly turn to the east-northeast, away from the southeastern United States coast.“This is really what’s going to be saving the United States from really seeing catastrophic rainfall,” said Alex DaSilva, lead hurricane expert for AccuWeather, a private U.S. weather forecasting company.When two storms circle near each other, they create what’s known as the Fujiwhara effect, which means that they start to rotate counterclockwise around each other, DaSilva said.“It’s a very rare phenomenon overall in the Atlantic basin,” he said.Humberto had maximum sustained winds of 145 mph. It was located about 340 miles south-southwest of Bermuda, moving northwest at 13 mph. A tropical storm watch was in effect for Bermuda.“This is going to be no threat to the United States,” DaSilva said.The Carolinas brace for Imelda’s rainsHowever, moisture from Imelda was expected to move up the Carolinas, with heavy rain forecast through Tuesday morning. The heaviest rains will be limited to the coastline, from Charleston in South Carolina to Wilmington in North Carolina, while Charlotte and Raleigh might receive only 1 to 2 inches of rain, he said.The Carolinas might see wind gusts of 40 mph, but only along the coastline, DaSilva said, as he warned of dangerous surf and heavy rip currents all week.South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said authorities were prepositioning search and rescue crews over the weekend.In North Carolina, Gov. Josh Stein declared a state of emergency even before Imelda formed, while authorities on Tybee Island off the coast of Georgia handed out free sandbags to residents.Further south in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Carl Alexandre exercised at the beach on Monday. He said he was grateful the storm was not heading toward South Florida, but that he would pray for those in the Bahamas.“It’s great that we’re not having one as of right now,” Alexandre said. “And now we get to run in the Florida sun.”Mick Varley, who was visiting Fort Lauderdale from London, said he’s delighted the storm will remain offshore.“I’m very happy it’s not going to disrupt our plans,” he said.‘A double whammy for Bermuda’As Tropical Storm Imelda and Hurricane Humberto swirled in open waters, authorities in Bermuda prepared for two near misses.“It’s going to be a double whammy for Bermuda, Humberto first and Imelda following close behind,” Da Silva said.He said Imelda could pass within 15 miles of Bermuda as the Atlantic season’s soon-to-be fourth named hurricane. Meanwhile, the center of Humberto is expected to pass west and then north of Bermuda on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the National Hurricane Center.Michael Weeks, Bermuda’s national security minister, urged residents to prepare, warning that there have been “some near misses this season regarding severe storms.”“Hurricane Humberto is a dangerous storm, and with another system developing to our south, every household in Bermuda should take the necessary steps to be prepared,” he said.Flights to and from the islands in the Bahamas were canceled, with airports expected to reopen after weather conditions improve.

    Authorities in the Bahamas closed a majority of schools on Monday following mandatory evacuations for some islands in the archipelago as Tropical Storm Imelda was expected to drop heavy rain in the northern Caribbean, with landslides killing one man in Cuba.

    The storm was located about 35 miles north of Great Abaco Island, which is still recovering from Hurricane Dorian after it slammed into parts of the Bahamas as a devastating Category 5 hurricane in 2019.

    Imelda had maximum sustained winds of 60 mph and was moving north at 9 mph. It was forecast to become a hurricane on Tuesday and spin out to open ocean, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

    A tropical storm warning was in effect for parts of the northwestern Bahamas, including Eleuthera, the Abacos, Grand Bahama Island and the surrounding keys. Power outages were reported in some areas, with authorities closing government offices on affected islands.

    A death and evacuations across Cuba

    Imelda was expected to drop 4 to 8 inches of rain across the northwest Bahamas through Tuesday, and 2 to 4 inches across eastern Cuba. State media in Cuba reported that 60-year-old Luis Mario Pérez Coiterio died in Santiago de Cuba following landslides in that area.

    “After two days of intense rains in the municipality of Santiago de Cuba, we are now in the stage of saving human lives and the economy of the entire city,” Mayor Indira Oliva Bueno said, according to a broadcast aired by the official Caribe channel.

    In the easternmost part of Cuba, from Camagüey to Guantánamo, authorities supplied food and drinking water to residents, according to official TV reports.

    Overall, Imelda forced the evacuation of some 1,291 people across Cuba, with 158 of them staying in shelters.

    “We are working with our agricultural colleagues to provide food to the population, which is essential,” said Alexander Olivares, president of the San Antonio del Sur Defense Council in Guantánamo.

    Humberto roars in open waters

    Meanwhile, Hurricane Humberto, a Category 4 storm, churned in open waters nearby, which forecasters said would cause Imelda to abruptly turn to the east-northeast, away from the southeastern United States coast.

    “This is really what’s going to be saving the United States from really seeing catastrophic rainfall,” said Alex DaSilva, lead hurricane expert for AccuWeather, a private U.S. weather forecasting company.

    When two storms circle near each other, they create what’s known as the Fujiwhara effect, which means that they start to rotate counterclockwise around each other, DaSilva said.

    “It’s a very rare phenomenon overall in the Atlantic basin,” he said.

    Humberto had maximum sustained winds of 145 mph. It was located about 340 miles south-southwest of Bermuda, moving northwest at 13 mph. A tropical storm watch was in effect for Bermuda.

    “This is going to be no threat to the United States,” DaSilva said.

    The Carolinas brace for Imelda’s rains

    However, moisture from Imelda was expected to move up the Carolinas, with heavy rain forecast through Tuesday morning. The heaviest rains will be limited to the coastline, from Charleston in South Carolina to Wilmington in North Carolina, while Charlotte and Raleigh might receive only 1 to 2 inches of rain, he said.

    The Carolinas might see wind gusts of 40 mph, but only along the coastline, DaSilva said, as he warned of dangerous surf and heavy rip currents all week.

    South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said authorities were prepositioning search and rescue crews over the weekend.

    In North Carolina, Gov. Josh Stein declared a state of emergency even before Imelda formed, while authorities on Tybee Island off the coast of Georgia handed out free sandbags to residents.

    Further south in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Carl Alexandre exercised at the beach on Monday. He said he was grateful the storm was not heading toward South Florida, but that he would pray for those in the Bahamas.

    “It’s great that we’re not having one as of right now,” Alexandre said. “And now we get to run in the Florida sun.”

    Mick Varley, who was visiting Fort Lauderdale from London, said he’s delighted the storm will remain offshore.

    “I’m very happy it’s not going to disrupt our plans,” he said.

    ‘A double whammy for Bermuda’

    As Tropical Storm Imelda and Hurricane Humberto swirled in open waters, authorities in Bermuda prepared for two near misses.

    “It’s going to be a double whammy for Bermuda, Humberto first and Imelda following close behind,” Da Silva said.

    He said Imelda could pass within 15 miles of Bermuda as the Atlantic season’s soon-to-be fourth named hurricane. Meanwhile, the center of Humberto is expected to pass west and then north of Bermuda on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the National Hurricane Center.

    Michael Weeks, Bermuda’s national security minister, urged residents to prepare, warning that there have been “some near misses this season regarding severe storms.”

    “Hurricane Humberto is a dangerous storm, and with another system developing to our south, every household in Bermuda should take the necessary steps to be prepared,” he said.

    Flights to and from the islands in the Bahamas were canceled, with airports expected to reopen after weather conditions improve.

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  • Assata Shakur, Black Liberation Activist and aunt of Tupac, dies in Havana at 78

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    Havana (CNN) — Assata Shakur, the Black Liberation Army member and fugitive with a $2 million FBI reward on her head, died in Havana where she had received political asylum from Fidel Castro, the Cuban Foreign Ministry announced Friday.

    According to the short announcement, Shakur, who was also known as Joanne Chesimard, died Thursday from “health ailments and her advanced age.”

    Shakur, who was also the godmother and step-aunt of slain rapper Tupac Shakur, was 78 years old.

    An outspoken proponent of armed revolution in the United States, Shakur was convicted for her role in a 1973 shootout on the New Jersey Turnpike that killed a state trooper. Shakur was herself wounded in the exchange of gunfire and claimed that the FBI had targeted her for assassination as part of a widespread campaign against black militant organizations in the 1960s and 70s.

    While serving a life sentence for the murder of State Trooper Werner Foerster, Shakur escaped prison in New Jersey in 1979 and began her life on the run.

    Assata is transferred by authorities from Riker’s Island prison to the Middlesex County jail in January 1976 to await trial in the murder of state trooper Werner Foerster. Credit: Frank Hurley / NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images via CNN Newsource

    She resurfaced in 1984 in Cuba where then Cuban leader Fidel Castro awarded her political asylum. While living in Cuba, Shakur wrote books, appeared in a documentary and mocked US efforts to force her extradition.

    In 2013 the FBI made Shakur the first woman on its most wanted terrorists list and, with the state of New Jersey Attorney, increased the reward for her capture to $2 million.

    Her asylum on the communist-run island among a handful of other US fugitives from justice provided fodder for anti-Castro activists who argued that Cuba should be remain on the US State Department list of countries that sponsor state terrorism.

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  • Trump’s misleading claims about Tylenol and autism

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    President Donald Trump warned U.S. women to stop taking Tylenol in pregnancy or risk giving their children autism. The advice came with no clear scientific basis during an hourlong press conference as he stood beside the nation’s top health officials, including the anti-vaccine activist he appointed to lead U.S. health policy.  

    “Taking Tylenol is not good,” Trump said Sept. 22 at the White House with U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. beside him.

    Pregnant women have relied on acetaminophen — the active ingredient in Tylenol and other medications — for decades to relieve pain and reduce fever. It’s often the only medication OB-GYNs recommend to their patients experiencing high fevers. Untreated fevers can pose health risks for pregnant women and their developing babies. 

    As PolitiFact has reported, research so far does not provide conclusive support for Trump’s warning. Some studies have found an association between acetaminophen use during pregnancy and autism prevalence, while others have found none. None of the research has proven it causes autism in children. Autism was first identified in 1943, more than a decade before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Tylenol for use over-the-counter.

    Trump touted the promise of leucovorin in treating autism. The drug is a form of vitamin B9, also known as folate, traditionally used to combat the toxic effects of certain cancer drugs. He also repeated a number of other wrong or misleading statements about autism and vaccines.

    Trump: “Since 2000, autism rates have surged by much more than 400%.”

    Autism prevalence among children has increased over the years, but Trump’s statement  misses important context about the reasons behind the rise, including the increase in autism screening, diagnosis and awareness.

    In 2000, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated 1-in-150 8-year-olds had autism. In April, the CDC announced that prevalence had risen to 1-in-31. This represents a roughly 383% increase.

    Scientists, including the CDC, have largely attributed the rise to better screening, changes in diagnostic requirements, wider access to services and increased public awareness.

    The CDC based its most recent finding on 2022 surveillance data from 16 sites across 15 states and territories. Autism’s prevalence varied widely by location. The report’s 52 authors attributed those inconsistencies to different ways autism is evaluated and identified, the availability of screenings and financial barriers that can limit families’ access to services.

    In the mid-1990s, researchers began to see autism as a condition that presents in a broad spectrum of symptoms with varying degrees of severity. By 2013, clinicians formally adopted a single autism spectrum disorder diagnosis that includes people with a range of treatment needs.

    Autism advocates have raised awareness of the condition. As more services have become available to autistic children, families increasingly seek out formal testing. A child’s autism spectrum disorder diagnosis makes special education services more accessible and insurance coverage more likely.  

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    Trump: “There are certain groups of people that don’t take vaccines and don’t take any pills that have no autism,” including the Amish and Cubans.

    We rated a similar claim about the Amish Pants on Fire in 2023. Studies have documented cases of autism among Amish children.

    The Amish, a Christian group known for rejecting modern conveniences and technological innovation, tend to have lower-than-average vaccination rates. However, some still vaccinate their children, with rates varying among settlements and different vaccines. 

    University of Maryland genetic epidemiologist Braxton Mitchell, who has studied Lancaster, Pennsylvania’s large Amish communities, previously told PolitiFact that childhood vaccines, which include shots for rotavirus, polio, tetanus and whooping cough, are more accepted among Amish people than other vaccines. 

    Trump also said “there’s a rumor” that Cubans don’t have Tylenol and “have virtually no autism.” 

    Acetaminophen is sold in Cuba under the name “paracetamol,” although shortages of the drug sometimes arise, according to The Latin Times. 

    Cuba also has documented cases of autism. A 2017 report in a peer-reviewed journal focused on Cuban health included a government estimate that 1-in-2,500 Cuban children have autism. That’s likely an undercount because of poor data and surveillance, it said. 

    Trump: “Hepatitis B is sexually transmitted. There’s no reason to give a baby that’s almost just born hepatitis B.”

    That’s misleading. 

    Hepatitis B can be transmitted sexually, but it’s not the only way. It can be spread through direct contact with blood or from a mother to child during delivery. More mundane household contact can also result in transmission. Small amounts of dried blood on innocuous household items such as nail clippers, razors or toothbrushes could be enough. 

    Around half of people with hepatitis B are unaware they are infected and contagious. The vaccine dose is given to newborns within 24 hours of delivery because hepatitis B infections are extra dangerous for babies. Infected infants have a 90% chance of developing the disease’s more dangerous chronic form, which can cause cirrhosis and liver cancer. A quarter of those babies will go on to die prematurely from the disease when they become adults. 

    Trump: “Don’t take Tylenol. There’s no downside…don’t take it if you’re pregnant.”

    This is wrong. Acetaminophen reduces fever, and fever during pregnancy has been linked to birth defects and other health problems.

    Untreated fever and pain during pregnancy has significant maternal and infant health risks, including miscarriage and preterm birth, according to the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

    Doctors have also said that abstaining from needed medication could leave pregnant women in a negative emotional and mental state with worsening underlying conditions.

    Trump: “Now, you know what mercury is, you know what aluminum is. Who the hell wants that pumped into a body?”

    Vaccine critics often cite aluminum and mercury as problematic vaccine ingredients. But these blanket statements leave out important details about the chemistry and the quantity used. Health officials warn pregnant and breastfeeding women against consuming too much mercury, which can be found in seafood in safe and hazardous levels. But those warnings are about methylmercury, which is different from the kind of mercury used in vaccines. 

    Thimerosal, a preservative that prevents bacteria and fungal growth in multi-dose influenza vaccine vials, contains ethylmercury. Unlike methylmercury, which can accumulate and cause harm, ethylmercury is broken down by the body and excreted quickly making it less likely to cause harm.

    Thimerosal was removed from most vaccines, including all childhood vaccines, as of 2001, according to the CDC. Numerous scientific studies have found no link between thimerosal and autism.

    Some vaccines contain a small amount of aluminium to enhance the body’s immune response. Although large amounts of aluminum can be harmful, vaccines contain less aluminum than infants get from their natural surroundings. 

    According to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, babies get about 4.4 mg of aluminum from vaccines in their first six months; they get around 7 mg from breastmilk and around 38 mg from formula in the same time. 

    Trump: Questioning how vaccines are administered to children, “Maybe it’s the doctors they get, maybe more money.”

    Trump advocated for childhood vaccines to be split up into multiple doses — a practice that exists for most childhood vaccines. As he spoke, he questioned if doctors have a financial incentive when it comes to administering vaccines. 

    A close look at the process by which vaccines are administered shows pediatric practices make little profit — and sometimes lose money — on vaccines.

    Pediatric practices might make money providing vaccines to privately-insured children, but many also participate in a program that vaccinates children for free. Overall, most practices likely break even or lose money.

    Doctors told us that evidence-based science and medicine and a desire to keep kids healthy drives doctors’ childhood vaccination recommendations.

    Staff Writer Madison Czopek contributed to this report.

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  • The Best Cocktails To Forget Politics

    The Best Cocktails To Forget Politics

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    It seems everywhere you turn it is all politics….you just need a break and these cocktails may help!

    The nation is in the final throes of the election and it has been brutal. You can’t turn around without donation requests, outrage or just news news news. According to a study, it is the most stressful election to date. It could be a good idea to tune out and breathe for a bit.  Here are the best cocktails to forget politics and have some fun.

    RELATED: Beer Sales Flatten Thanks To Marijuana

    Gin Ricky

    The Gin Rickey originated in Washington, D.C. in the 1880s. Bartender George A. Williamson created the drink at Shoomaker’s Bar after witnessing Democratic lobbyist Colonel Joseph Kyle Rickey add a lime to his bourbon highball. The drink was named after  the Colonel Rickey, who was known for drinking bourbon with soda and lime. The Gin Rickey became more popular than the original bourbon version, and was especially popular during Prohibition. 

    Ingredients

    • 2 ounces gin
    • 1/2 ounce lime juice, freshly squeezed
    • Club soda, to top
    • Lime slice for garnish

    Create

    1. Fill a highball glass with ice and add the gin and lime juice
    2. Top with club soda
    3. Garnish with lime slice

    El Presidente

    This classic Cuban cocktail is likely named after President Mario García Menocal, who served from 1913 to 1921. The El Presidente became popular in Havana during the 1920s and 1930s, when many Americans visited Cuba to escape Prohibition. After Prohibition was lifted, Americans brought the cocktail back to the United States. It bring a little tropical sun and fun to any day or moment.

    • 1 1/2 ounces white rum
    • 3/4 ounce dry vermouth
    • 1/4 ounce orange curaçao
    • 2 dashes grenadine

    Create

    1. Add the white rum, dry vermouth, orange curaçao and grenadine to a mixing glass with ice
    2. tir until well-chilled
    3. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass

    Vesper

    This sexy drink has a story. Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond, was inspired by his visits to Dukes Hotel in London, where he was served stiff drinks by head bartender Gilberto Preti.  He worked it into Casino Royale and named the concoction after Vesper Lynd, a double agent and love interest of Bond.

    • 1 cup ice
    • 3 fluid ounces gin
    • 1 fluid ounce vodka
    • ½ fluid ounce Lillet blanc
    • 1 orange twist

    Create

    1. Fill a cocktail mixing glass with ice
    2. Pour in gin, vodka, and Lillet, stir until chilled
    3. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass
    4. Garnish with an orange twist

    RELATED: Rainy Weather Cocktails

    A Shandy Maker

    The shandy originated in England in the 1850s as a mixture of beer and ginger ale or ginger beer, and was originally called a shandygaff (what a name!). By the late 19th century, the ginger ale was replaced by lemonade or lemon soda, and the “gaff” was dropped to shorten the word to “shandy”.  By adding a brown liquor, this ups the alcohol and richness of flavor.  Perfect to take you mind off politics.

    Ingredients

    • 2 to 4 leaves fresh marjoram
    • 1 3/4 ounces 100-proof bourbon
    • 3/4 ounce grapefruit juice
    • 1/4 ounce lemon juice
    • 1/4 ounce simple syrup
    • 3 ounces chilled IPA or another beer
    • Grapefruit twist for garnish

    Create

    1. In a mixing glass, dry-muddle the marjoram.
    2. Add the bourbon, grapefruit juice, lemon juice and simple syrup into the mixing glass. Fill with ice and shake until well-chilled.
    3. Strain into a pint glass over fresh ice.
    4. Top with the beer and stir briefly and gently to combine.
    5. Garnish with a grapefruit twist.

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  • Hurricane Oscar causes at least 6 deaths in Cuba amid days-long power outage

    Hurricane Oscar causes at least 6 deaths in Cuba amid days-long power outage

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    HAVANA, Cuba — Cuba‘s capital remained largely paralyzed on Monday and the rest of the island braced for the fourth night of a massive blackout that has generated a handful of small protests and a stern government warning that any unrest will be punished.

    Hurricane Oscar made landfall Sunday before crossing the island’s eastern coast as a tropical storm Monday with winds and heavy rain, leaving at least six dead after a night that saw protests by several dozen people in urban neighborhoods like Santos Suárez and central Havana.

    Some banged pots and pans in the streets, while others demonstrated from their balconies. Protesters who said they have no water blocked at least one street with garbage.

    “The country has completely halted,” said homemaker Mayde Quiñones, 55. She cares for her mother-in-law, who is in her 80s. “This hurts everyone, but the elderly most of all.”

    The Cuban government has a low tolerance for civil disobedience and President Miguel Díaz-Canel warned on national television Sunday that “we’re not going to allow any vandalism, or let anyone disturb people’s tranquility.”

    The prolonged nationwide blackout followed a massive outage Thursday night, part of energy problems that led to the largest protests in Cuba in almost 30 years, in July 2021. Those were followed by smaller local protests in October 2022 and March 2024.

    It’s all part of a deep economic crisis that has prompted the exodus of more than half a million Cubans to the U.S., with thousands more heading to Europe.

    The Cuban government and its allies blame the United States’ 62-year-old trade embargo on the island for its economic problems but White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday that the Cuban government’s “long-term mismanagement of its economic policy and resources has certainly increased the hardship of people in Cuba.”

    Power remains relatively cheap but increasingly unavailable. The Cuban government has said that it’s producing 700 megawatts when peak demand can hit 3 gigawatts. Authorities said by Monday afternoon that about 80 percent of Havana had intermittent power but people were skeptical.

    “We have the fridge full of food and we’re scared,” said small-business owner Juan Estrada, 53, whose central Havana business hasn’t had consistent power since Friday morning.

    Energy Minister Vicente de la O Levy said in a news conference he hoped that more reliable electricity will be restored by Monday or Tuesday morning but classes remained closed through at least Thursday.

    He said that Oscar, which made landfall on the eastern coast Sunday evening, will bring “an additional inconvenience” to Cuba’s recovery since it will touch a “region of strong (electricity) generation.” Key Cuban power plants, such as Felton in the city of Holguín, and Renté in Santiago de Cuba, are located in the area.

    Oscar later weakened to a tropical storm but its effects were forecast to linger in the island through Monday.

    Many of Havana’s 2 million people resorted to cooking with improvised wood stoves on the streets before their food went bad in refrigerators.

    People were lining up Monday to buy subsidized food and few gas stations were open.

    The failure of the Antonio Guiteras plant on Friday was the latest problem with energy distribution in a country where electricity has been restricted and rotated among different regions at different times. The status of Cuba’s other power plants was unclear.

    People lined up for hours on Sunday to buy bread in the few bakeries that could reopen.

    Some Cubans like Rosa Rodríguez had been without electricity for four days.

    “We have millions of problems, and none of them are solved,” said Rodríguez. “We must come to get bread, because the local bakery is closed, and they bring it from somewhere else.”

    The blackout was considered to be Cuba’s worst since Hurricane Ian hit the island as a Category 3 storm in 2022 and damaged power installations. It took days for the government to fix them.

    The Cuban government announced emergency measures to slash electricity demand, including suspending school and university classes, shutting down some state-owned workplaces and canceling nonessential services.

    Local authorities said the outage stemmed from increased demand from small- and medium-sized companies and residential air conditioners. Later, the blackout got worse because of breakdowns in old thermoelectric plants that haven’t been properly maintained, and the lack of fuel to operate some facilities.

    Cuba’s energy minister said the country’s grid would be in better shape if there had not been two more partial blackouts as authorities tried to reconnect on Saturday. De la O Levy also said Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela and Russia, among other nations, had offered to help.

    Copyright © 2024 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

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  • Cuba’s grid goes offline with massive blackout after a major power plant fails

    Cuba’s grid goes offline with massive blackout after a major power plant fails

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    HAVANA (AP) — Cuba’s electrical grid went down Friday after one of the island’s major power plants failed, a day after a massive blackout swept across the Caribbean island and with no official estimate for when service will be restored.

    The Cuban energy ministry announced that the grid had gone down hours after the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant had ceased operations, at about 11 a.m. local time Friday. It said state-owned power company UNE was using distributed generation to provide power to some areas and that a gas-fired thermoelectric plant was starting operations.

    But as darkness started to fall, millions of Cubans remained without power.

    Even in a country accustomed to frequent outages amid a deepening economic crisis, Friday’s supply collapse was unprecedented in modern times, aside from incidents involving intense hurricanes, like one in 2022. Various calls by The Associated Press seeking to clarify the extent of the blackout on Friday weren’t answered. In addition to the Antonio Guiteras plant, Cuba has several others and it wasn’t immediately clear whether or not they remained functional.

    “The power went out at 8 in the morning and it is now 5 in the afternoon and there is no electricity anywhere,” said Luis González, a 73-year-old retiree in Havana.

    Early Friday, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero had sought to assuage concerned citizens about the blackout Thursday evening, which was already the nation’s worst in at least two years.

    Officials said that 1.64 gigawatts went offline during peak hours, about half the total demand at the time. Millions were left without power, and on Friday the government implemented emergency measures to slash demand, including suspending classes, shutting down some state-owned workplaces and canceling non-essential services.

    “The situation has worsened in recent days,” Marrero said in a special address on national television in the early hours of Friday. “We must be fully transparent … we have been halting economic activities to ensure energy for the population.”

    During Marrero’s address, he was accompanied by Alfredo López, the chief of UNE, who said the outage Thursday stemmed from increased demand from small- and medium-sized companies and residences’ air conditioners, as well as breakdowns in old thermoelectric plants that haven’t been properly maintained and the lack of fuel to operate some facilities.

    Changes to electricity rates for small- and medium-sized companies, which have proliferated since they were first authorized by the communist government in 2021, are also being considered, Marrero said.

    Marrero sought to provide reassurance about the outage, citing an expected influx of fuel supply from Cuba’s state-owned oil company.

    “We are devoting absolute priority to addressing and solving this highly sensitive energy contingency,” Cuba’s President Miguel Díaz-Canel wrote on X. “There will be no rest until its restoration.”

    The blackout has left millions of Cubans on edge. Thursday night, residents shut their doors and windows they typically leave open at night, and candles or lanterns were visible inside their homes. By Friday night, there was no indication that a solution was imminent.

    Prolonged electricity outages in the past have affected services like water supply and Yasunay Pérez, a Havana resident, said, with sarcasm, that she’s willing and able to bathe in the sea.

    “We can use all our survival (skills),” she said.

    ____

    Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

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  • Hurricane Oscar weakens to tropical storm after making landfall in eastern Cuba

    Hurricane Oscar weakens to tropical storm after making landfall in eastern Cuba

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    HAVANA, Cuba — Hurricane Oscar weakened to a tropical storm after making landfall Sunday in eastern Cuba on Sunday.

    Oscar brought heavy rains and winds to Cuba, an island already beleaguered by a massive power outage, late Sunday after brushing the Bahamas.

    It made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kph) in the eastern Cuban province of Guantanamo, near the city of Baracoa, on Sunday evening. Oscar had weakened to a tropical storm with 70 mph (110 kph) winds by late Sunday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

    Tropical Strom Oscar path: System weakened after making landfall as a Category 1 hurricane in Guantanamo

    The storm was 40 miles (65 kilometers) east of Guantanamo moving west-northwest at 6 mph (10 kph).

    Thunderstorms and rain, along with moderate flooding in low-lying areas, were reported in the country’s eastern provinces. Cuban media said 2-meter (6.5-feet) swells were hitting the coast and roofs and walls in Baracoa had been damaged. Authorities have set up 20 centers for evacuees.

    The system is expected to move across eastern Cuba on Monday. Forecasters said 6 to 12 inches (15 to 31 centimeters) of rain are expected across eastern Cuba through early Wednesday, with some isolated locations getting up to 18 inches (46 centimeters). A storm surge of up to 3 feet (almost 1 meter) in some areas of Cuba’s north shore in the area was possible, the center said.

    This satellite image from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration taken at 6:40pm ET on Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024, shows Hurricane Oscar.

    This satellite image from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration taken at 6:40pm ET on Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024, shows Hurricane Oscar.

    NOAA via AP

    Oscar was expected to weaken over eastern Cuba before making a turn to the northeast and approaching the central Bahamas on Tuesday, the center said.

    Oscar made landfall on Great Inagua island in the Bahamas earlier Sunday. A storm surge that could cause coastal flooding was forecast, along with heavy rain.

    The hurricane‘s arrival comes as Cuba tries to recover from its worst blackout in at least two years, which left millions without power for two days last week. Some electrical service was restored Saturday.

    Philippe Papin of the National Hurricane Center said it was somewhat unexpected that Oscar became a hurricane Saturday.

    “Unfortunately the system kind of snuck up a little bit on us,” Papin said.

    Hours earlier Tropical Storm Nadine formed off Mexico’s southern Caribbean coast. It degenerated into a tropical depression as it moved over land.

    Copyright © 2024 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

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  • Cuban power grid collapses for fourth time as hurricane arrives

    Cuban power grid collapses for fourth time as hurricane arrives

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    Hurricane Oscar’s arrival to eastern Cuba Sunday has impacted millions of residents already facing days without power, as fresh attempts to restore much of the nation’s electric grid have failed.In the capital city of Havana early Monday, people were seen outdoors in poor lighting, a few playing dominoes to kill time. Children are opting to sleep outside to cool off from the stifling heat indoors – schools have also been canceled until Thursday.Oscar made landfall near Baracoa along Cuba’s eastern shores around Sunday afternoon as a Category 1 storm with winds of 80 mph. By Sunday night, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) announced that Oscar had weakened to a tropical storm and was moving toward the west-southwest of the country at 6 mph.“Through Wednesday morning, rainfall amounts of 6 to 12 inches with isolated amounts of 18 inches are expected across eastern Cuba,” the NHC said, adding that as much as 8 inches of rain will appear in isolated amounts in the southeast Bahamas.Earlier Oscar made landfall on Inagua Island in The Bahamas, with maximum estimated sustained winds of 80 mph, the NHC said.On Sunday afternoon the Cuban Electrical Union announced that more than 216,000 people in Havana, a city of 2 million, had power restored. The power grid collapsed again later in the day — for the fourth time since Friday.Some Cubans have taken to the streets, to protest the three-day-long blackout — many banging pots and pans and disrupting traffic.Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel criticized demonstrators for causing public disorder, saying in a video posted on X that “we are not going to allow acts of vandalism and much less alter the tranquillity of our people.”Cuba descended into darkness on Friday, when one of the country’s major power plants failed, according to the Energy Ministry. Since then, most people in the 10 million-strong country have had their access to power interrupted, while also struggling to maintain fresh food and a steady supply of water.Havana residents queue for breadSome people began flooding WhatsApp chats with updates on which areas had power, while others arranged to store medications in the fridges of those who briefly had power – or were lucky enough to have a generator.In Havana, residents waited for hours to buy a few loaves from the handful of locations selling bread in the capital. When the bread sold out, several people argued angrily that they had been skipped in line.Many wondered aloud where Cuba’s traditional allies were, such as Venezuela, Russia and Mexico. Until now, they had been supplying the island with badly needed barrels of oil to keep the lights on.Meanwhile, tourists were still seen circling Havana’s main avenues in classic 1950s cars, although many hotel generators had run out of fuel.One foreign visitor told CNN that Havana’s José Martí International Airport was operating in the dark on emergency power only, adding that printers did not work to issue tickets and there was no air conditioning in the terminal.Reuters reporters witnessed two small protests overnight into Sunday, while videos of protests elsewhere in the capital have also surfaced.The Cuban government is cancelling classes for students from Monday until Wednesday, having previously cancelled them on Friday. It has also instructed non-essential workers to stay home. The U.S. Embassy in Havana will be open only for emergency services on Monday.Cuban officials have blamed the energy crisis on a confluence of events, from increased U.S. economic sanctions to disruptions caused by recent hurricanes and the impoverished state of the island’s infrastructure.In a televised address on Thursday that was delayed by technical difficulties, Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz said much of the country’s limited production was stopped to avoid leaving people completely without power.“We have been paralyzing economic activity to generate (power) to the population,” he said.The country’s health minister, José Angel Portal Miranda, said Friday on X that the country’s health facilities were running on generators and that health workers continued to provide vital services.

    HAVANA, Cuba —

    Hurricane Oscar’s arrival to eastern Cuba Sunday has impacted millions of residents already facing days without power, as fresh attempts to restore much of the nation’s electric grid have failed.

    In the capital city of Havana early Monday, people were seen outdoors in poor lighting, a few playing dominoes to kill time. Children are opting to sleep outside to cool off from the stifling heat indoors – schools have also been canceled until Thursday.

    Oscar made landfall near Baracoa along Cuba’s eastern shores around Sunday afternoon as a Category 1 storm with winds of 80 mph. By Sunday night, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) announced that Oscar had weakened to a tropical storm and was moving toward the west-southwest of the country at 6 mph.

    “Through Wednesday morning, rainfall amounts of 6 to 12 inches with isolated amounts of 18 inches are expected across eastern Cuba,” the NHC said, adding that as much as 8 inches of rain will appear in isolated amounts in the southeast Bahamas.

    Earlier Oscar made landfall on Inagua Island in The Bahamas, with maximum estimated sustained winds of 80 mph, the NHC said.

    On Sunday afternoon the Cuban Electrical Union announced that more than 216,000 people in Havana, a city of 2 million, had power restored. The power grid collapsed again later in the day — for the fourth time since Friday.

    Some Cubans have taken to the streets, to protest the three-day-long blackout — many banging pots and pans and disrupting traffic.

    Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel criticized demonstrators for causing public disorder, saying in a video posted on X that “we are not going to allow acts of vandalism and much less alter the tranquillity of our people.”

    Cuba descended into darkness on Friday, when one of the country’s major power plants failed, according to the Energy Ministry. Since then, most people in the 10 million-strong country have had their access to power interrupted, while also struggling to maintain fresh food and a steady supply of water.

    Havana residents queue for bread

    Some people began flooding WhatsApp chats with updates on which areas had power, while others arranged to store medications in the fridges of those who briefly had power – or were lucky enough to have a generator.

    In Havana, residents waited for hours to buy a few loaves from the handful of locations selling bread in the capital. When the bread sold out, several people argued angrily that they had been skipped in line.

    Many wondered aloud where Cuba’s traditional allies were, such as Venezuela, Russia and Mexico. Until now, they had been supplying the island with badly needed barrels of oil to keep the lights on.

    Meanwhile, tourists were still seen circling Havana’s main avenues in classic 1950s cars, although many hotel generators had run out of fuel.

    One foreign visitor told CNN that Havana’s José Martí International Airport was operating in the dark on emergency power only, adding that printers did not work to issue tickets and there was no air conditioning in the terminal.

    Reuters reporters witnessed two small protests overnight into Sunday, while videos of protests elsewhere in the capital have also surfaced.

    The Cuban government is cancelling classes for students from Monday until Wednesday, having previously cancelled them on Friday. It has also instructed non-essential workers to stay home. The U.S. Embassy in Havana will be open only for emergency services on Monday.

    Cuban officials have blamed the energy crisis on a confluence of events, from increased U.S. economic sanctions to disruptions caused by recent hurricanes and the impoverished state of the island’s infrastructure.

    In a televised address on Thursday that was delayed by technical difficulties, Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz said much of the country’s limited production was stopped to avoid leaving people completely without power.

    “We have been paralyzing economic activity to generate (power) to the population,” he said.

    The country’s health minister, José Angel Portal Miranda, said Friday on X that the country’s health facilities were running on generators and that health workers continued to provide vital services.

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  • Oscar has weakened to a tropical storm after making landfall in Cuba

    Oscar has weakened to a tropical storm after making landfall in Cuba

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    Tropical Storm Oscar brought heavy rains and winds to Cuba, an island already beleaguered by a massive power outage, late Sunday after brushing the Bahamas.It made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kph) in the eastern Cuban province of Guantanamo, near the city of Baracoa, on Sunday evening. Oscar had weakened to a tropical storm with 70 mph (110 kph) winds by late Sunday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.Related video above: Hurricane Oscar strengthens in the Greater Antilles, while Tropical Storm Nadine makes landfall in BelizeThe storm was 40 miles (65 kilometers) east of Guantanamo, moving west-northwest at 6 mph (10 kph).Thunderstorms and rain, along with moderate flooding in low-lying areas, were reported in the country’s eastern provinces. Cuban media said 2-meter (6.5-feet) swells were hitting the coast and roofs and walls in Baracoa had been damaged. Authorities have set up 20 centers for evacuees.The system is expected to move across eastern Cuba on Sunday night and Monday. Forecasters said 6 to 12 inches (15 to 31 centimeters) of rain are expected across eastern Cuba through early Wednesday, with some isolated locations getting up to 18 inches (46 centimeters). A storm surge of up to 3 feet (almost 1 meter) in some areas of Cuba’s north shore in the area was possible, the center said.Oscar was expected to weaken over eastern Cuba before making a turn to the northeast and approaching the central Bahamas on Tuesday, the center said.Oscar made landfall on Great Inagua island in the Bahamas earlier Sunday. A storm surge that could cause coastal flooding was forecast, along with heavy rain.The hurricane’s arrival comes as Cuba tries to recover from its worst blackout in at least two years, which left millions without power for two days last week. Some electrical service was restored Saturday.Philippe Papin of the National Hurricane Center said it was somewhat unexpected that Oscar became a hurricane Saturday.“Unfortunately, the system kind of snuck up a little bit on us,” Papin said.Hours earlier, Tropical Storm Nadine formed off Mexico’s southern Caribbean coast. It degenerated into a tropical depression as it moved over land.

    MIAMI —

    Tropical Storm Oscar brought heavy rains and winds to Cuba, an island already beleaguered by a massive power outage, late Sunday after brushing the Bahamas.

    It made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kph) in the eastern Cuban province of Guantanamo, near the city of Baracoa, on Sunday evening. Oscar had weakened to a tropical storm with 70 mph (110 kph) winds by late Sunday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

    Related video above: Hurricane Oscar strengthens in the Greater Antilles, while Tropical Storm Nadine makes landfall in Belize

    The storm was 40 miles (65 kilometers) east of Guantanamo, moving west-northwest at 6 mph (10 kph).

    Thunderstorms and rain, along with moderate flooding in low-lying areas, were reported in the country’s eastern provinces. Cuban media said 2-meter (6.5-feet) swells were hitting the coast and roofs and walls in Baracoa had been damaged. Authorities have set up 20 centers for evacuees.

    The system is expected to move across eastern Cuba on Sunday night and Monday. Forecasters said 6 to 12 inches (15 to 31 centimeters) of rain are expected across eastern Cuba through early Wednesday, with some isolated locations getting up to 18 inches (46 centimeters). A storm surge of up to 3 feet (almost 1 meter) in some areas of Cuba’s north shore in the area was possible, the center said.

    Oscar was expected to weaken over eastern Cuba before making a turn to the northeast and approaching the central Bahamas on Tuesday, the center said.

    Oscar made landfall on Great Inagua island in the Bahamas earlier Sunday. A storm surge that could cause coastal flooding was forecast, along with heavy rain.

    The hurricane’s arrival comes as Cuba tries to recover from its worst blackout in at least two years, which left millions without power for two days last week. Some electrical service was restored Saturday.

    Philippe Papin of the National Hurricane Center said it was somewhat unexpected that Oscar became a hurricane Saturday.

    “Unfortunately, the system kind of snuck up a little bit on us,” Papin said.

    Hours earlier, Tropical Storm Nadine formed off Mexico’s southern Caribbean coast. It degenerated into a tropical depression as it moved over land.

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  • Power goes out on the entire island of Cuba, leaving 10 million people in the dark

    Power goes out on the entire island of Cuba, leaving 10 million people in the dark

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    Electricity went out on the entire island of Cuba on Friday, affecting its population of 10 million after one of its main power plants failed, according to Cuba’s energy ministry.

    The government had tried to keep the lights on earlier in the day by closing schools and having most state workers stay home in an effort to conserve energy. But it wasn’t enough and by 11 a.m. the largest power plant went offline, causing a grid failure.

    The communist-run country’s president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, wrote on X that they are giving “absolute priority” to solving the problem, and “there won’t be any rest” until the power comes back on.

    Cubans have been grappling with rolling blackouts for months. In some provinces outside the capital, Havana, many people have been facing power outages that last up to 12 hours at a time.  

    Cuba’s prime minister, Manuel Marrero, on Thursday blamed the ongoing blackouts on the deteriorating infrastructure, fuel shortages and rising demand among its people.

    While demand for electricity has gone up, the supply of oil has been greatly limited. Cuba’s ally and main oil supplier, Venezuela, has decreased the amount of shipments it sends to the island. Oil shipments from other countries, like Russia and Mexico, have also been greatly diminished.

    Authorities said they did not know how long it would take to reestablish power.

    This particular moment has been worrying for many Cubans. During a walk in a Havana neighborhood people expressed alarm at the situation and one resident said they felt the country had reached the “bottom of the barrel.”

    “This is incredible,” said a Havana resident who declined to provide his name. “I don’t see a solution to this problem.”

    A woman in a neighborhood in Old Havana said she was fearful the situation would get worse. “It really worries me that we may not yet be at the bottom of this electricity crisis,” she told NBC News.

    Cuba’s government has long blamed the decades-old U.S. embargo on the island for many of its economic shortcomings. Former President Donald Trump increased sanctions while he was in office, and the coronavirus pandemic had a devastating impact on the island’s tourism industry, one of the most lucrative sources of income for the state-dominated economy.

    The economic crisis has already made life difficult for the average Cuban with shortages in food, medicine and fuel.

    This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

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    Carmen Sesin and Orlando Matos | NBC News

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  • Power goes out on the entire island of Cuba, leaving 10 million people in the dark

    Power goes out on the entire island of Cuba, leaving 10 million people in the dark

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    Electricity went out on the entire island of Cuba on Friday, affecting its population of 10 million after one of its main power plants failed, according to Cuba’s energy ministry.

    The government had tried to keep the lights on earlier in the day by closing schools and having most state workers stay home in an effort to conserve energy. But it wasn’t enough and by 11 a.m. the largest power plant went offline, causing a grid failure.

    The communist-run country’s president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, wrote on X that they are giving “absolute priority” to solving the problem, and “there won’t be any rest” until the power comes back on.

    Cubans have been grappling with rolling blackouts for months. In some provinces outside the capital, Havana, many people have been facing power outages that last up to 12 hours at a time.  

    Cuba’s prime minister, Manuel Marrero, on Thursday blamed the ongoing blackouts on the deteriorating infrastructure, fuel shortages and rising demand among its people.

    While demand for electricity has gone up, the supply of oil has been greatly limited. Cuba’s ally and main oil supplier, Venezuela, has decreased the amount of shipments it sends to the island. Oil shipments from other countries, like Russia and Mexico, have also been greatly diminished.

    Authorities said they did not know how long it would take to reestablish power.

    This particular moment has been worrying for many Cubans. During a walk in a Havana neighborhood people expressed alarm at the situation and one resident said they felt the country had reached the “bottom of the barrel.”

    “This is incredible,” said a Havana resident who declined to provide his name. “I don’t see a solution to this problem.”

    A woman in a neighborhood in Old Havana said she was fearful the situation would get worse. “It really worries me that we may not yet be at the bottom of this electricity crisis,” she told NBC News.

    Cuba’s government has long blamed the decades-old U.S. embargo on the island for many of its economic shortcomings. Former President Donald Trump increased sanctions while he was in office, and the coronavirus pandemic had a devastating impact on the island’s tourism industry, one of the most lucrative sources of income for the state-dominated economy.

    The economic crisis has already made life difficult for the average Cuban with shortages in food, medicine and fuel.

    This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

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    Carmen Sesin and Orlando Matos | NBC News

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  • News organizations seek unsealing of plea deal with 9/11 defendants

    News organizations seek unsealing of plea deal with 9/11 defendants

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — Seven news organizations filed a legal motion Friday asking the U.S. military commission at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to make public the plea agreement that prosecutors struck with alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two fellow defendants.

    The plea agreements, filed early last month and promptly sealed, triggered objections from Republican lawmakers and families of some of the nearly 3,000 people killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, al-Qaida attacks. The controversy grew when Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced days later he was revoking the deal, the product of two years of negotiations among government prosecutors and defense attorneys that were overseen by Austin’s department.

    Austin’s move caused upheaval in the pretrial hearings now in their second decade at Guantanamo, leading the three defendants to suspend participation in any further pretrial hearings. Their lawyers pursued new complaints that Austin’s move was illegal and amounted to unlawful interference by him and the GOP lawmakers.

    Seven news organizations — Fox News, NBC, NPR, The Associated Press, The New York Times, The Washington Post and Univision — filed the claim with the military commission. It argues that the Guantanamo court had failed to establish any significant harm to U.S. government interests from allowing the public to know terms of the agreement.

    The public’s need to know what is in the sealed records “has only been heightened as the Pretrial Agreements have become embroiled in political controversy,” lawyers for the news organizations argued in Friday’s motion. “Far from threatening any compelling government interest, public access to these records will temper rampant speculation and accusation.”

    The defendants’ legal challenges to Austin’s actions and government prosecutors’ response to those also remain under seal.

    The George W. Bush administration set up the military commission at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo after the 2001 attacks. The 9/11 case remains in pretrial hearings after more than a decade, as judges, the government and defense attorneys hash out the extent to which the defendants’ torture during years in CIA custody after their capture has rendered evidence legally inadmissible. Staff turnover and the court’s distance from the U.S. also have slowed proceedings.

    Members of the press and public must travel to Guantanamo to watch the trial, or to military installations in the U.S. to watch by remote video. Court filings typically are sealed indefinitely for security reviews that search for any classified information.

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  • Latin cafe and cevicheria’s second location is now open in Charlotte’s SouthPark area

    Latin cafe and cevicheria’s second location is now open in Charlotte’s SouthPark area

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    Calle Sol’s Apex Drive dining room.

    Calle Sol’s Apex Drive dining room.


    Calle Sol

    Get ready, SouthPark — FS Food Group has opened a second location for Calle Sol Latin Café & Cevicheria.

    The popular restaurant’s original location is in the Commonwealth neighborhood near Plaza Midwood. Charlotte Business Journal first reported the news of the newest opening, which was also quietly announced on the restaurant’s website.

    Calle Sol offers booth seating.
    Calle Sol offers booth seating. Calle Sol

    You can expect to find Cuban and Peruvian cuisine, including:

    • Peruvian ceviche
    • Croquetas
    • Vaca frita — braised shredded beef crisped with garlic, onions and fresh lime
    • Shrimp mojo — Argentinian red shrimp sautéed with dry white wine, diced tomatoes, cilantro, mojo and butter
    • Chaufa — Latin stir-fried rice cooked in a wok with snow peas, red peppers, egg, onions, ginger, garlic, scallions, dark soy, jasmine rice and toasted sesame seeds
    • Lomo saltado — stir-fried strips of marinated beef, red onions, tomatoes, soy sauce, cilantro, French fries, ginger and white rice

    Calle Sol’s chicken chaufa.
    Calle Sol’s chicken chaufa. Remy Thurston

    “We have had great success with our restaurants in SouthPark and are excited to bring Cuban and Peruvian cuisine to a whole new demographic,” owner Frank Scibelli said in a statement when the restaurant was announced in 2022.

    The 3,800-square-foot location sits along Apex Drive next door to the Hyatt Centric SouthPark. For now, the restaurant will open at 4 p.m. daily, with lunch service to come later. A 40-seat patio will open later, as well.

    Calle Sol Latin Café & Cevicheria will open a SouthPark location next year on Apex Drive.
    Calle Sol Latin Café & Cevicheria will open a SouthPark location next year on Apex Drive. Remy Thurston/Calle Sol

    Calle Sol Latin Cafe & Cevicheria

    Location: 3100 Apex Dr, Charlotte, NC 28211

    Location: 1205 Thomas Ave, Charlotte, NC 28205

    Menu

    Cuisine: Peruvian, Cuban, Latin

    Instagram: @callesolcafe

    This story was originally published May 31, 2024, 3:36 PM.

    Related stories from Charlotte Observer

    Heidi Finley is a writer and editor for CharlotteFive and the Charlotte Observer. Outside of work, you will most likely find her in the suburbs driving kids around, volunteering and indulging in foodie pursuits.
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    Melissa Oyler is the editor of CharlotteFive. When she’s not writing or editing, you’ll find her running, practicing hot yoga or snuggling with her rescue dog, X. Find her on Instagram or Twitter: @melissaoyler.
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  • Raul Masvidal, a Cuban-American banker and developer, dies at 82

    Raul Masvidal, a Cuban-American banker and developer, dies at 82

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    CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Raul Masvidal, a banker and real estate developer who The New York Times referred to as a Cuban-American civic leader and The Miami Herald as “the most powerful Cuban in Miami” in the 1980s, died on Tuesday. He was 82.

    Before earning a business degree from the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University, Masvidal trained with other Cubans in the U.S. Army at Fort Knox.

    Masvidal also served in the CIA on logistics when he was a University of Miami student, and he worked at the former Everglades Hotel in valet parking at 244 Biscayne Boulevard, in downtown Miami.

    He was a self-made man. The son of a physician in Havana, moved to Miami as a teenager after Fidel Castro took power. Masvidal became a vice president at Citibank and lived in New York City and Europe.

    The Miami Herald reported Masvidal ran the Royal Trust Bank and owned Biscayne Bank and Miami Savings Bank. He was among the original members of the Cuban American National Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded in 1981.

    At 43, as a newcomer in local politics, Masvidal campaigned to become Miami’s first Cuban-American mayor. He lost to Xavier Suarez, the father of Miami Mayor Francis Suarez.

    “He was, at the time we spoke, one of two Cuban members (the other being Armando Codina, a Miami entrepreneur and member of the advisory board of the Southeast First National Bank) of The Non-Group, an unofficial and extremely private organization which had been called the shadow government of South Florida,” Joan Didion wrote in 1987 for The New York Review.

    In 1992 The Washington Post reported a split among Cuban exiles in Miami. A $150,000 sculpture depicting a giant watermelon and Miami-Dade Housing Agency funds prompted years of legal trouble for Masvidal in 2007 until the case was dismissed in 2014.

    Records show Masvidal Partners, a real estate development firm, was based in Coral Gables where he lived for decades and where family and friends plan to say goodbye at 10 a.m., on Thursday, at the Church of the Little Flower in Coral Gables. The inurnment will be at the Caballero Rivero Woodlawn North.

    Copyright 2024 by WPLG Local10.com – All rights reserved.

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    Andrea Torres

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  • Ambassador, Pentagon official among the Americans who spied for Cuba | 60 Minutes

    Ambassador, Pentagon official among the Americans who spied for Cuba | 60 Minutes

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    Ambassador, Pentagon official among the Americans who spied for Cuba | 60 Minutes – CBS News


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    Former U.S. Ambassador Victor Manuel Rocha spent decades spying for Cuba. Before Rocha there was Ana Montes, a Pentagon analyst who spent 17 years spying for Cuba.

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  • 5/19/2024: Pope Francis; Cuban Spycraft; The Album

    5/19/2024: Pope Francis; Cuban Spycraft; The Album

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    5/19/2024: Pope Francis; Cuban Spycraft; The Album – CBS News


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    First, Pope Francis: The 60 Minutes Interview. Then, a report on the Americans spying for Cuba in the United States. And, a look at a play based on Nazi’s photo album from Auschwitz

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