Spanish hotel chain ceases operations in Cuba under pressure from Washington

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Meliá group says Donald Trump’s sanctions make it ‘impossible’ to keep any of its 34 sites open

A Spanish hotel chain is to cease all operations in Cuba at the end of the week due to “major difficulties” in doing business on the island under growing pressure from Washington.

The latest US sanctions make it “impossible, de facto and de jure, to maintain even minimal operational stability”, the Meliá group explained in a statement on Tuesday to the Spanish stock market regulator.

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Zendaya faces backlash for wearing ancient Iranian jewellery at Odyssey event

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Film star promotes Christopher Nolan film epic wearing gold artefacts dating back almost 3,000 years

The Odyssey is a story about a Greek king’s long journey home. But a pair of earrings worn on the new film adaptation’s press tour – and their long separation from their homeland – is sparking controversy.

At a photocall in London, Zendaya, who plays the goddess Athena in the Christopher Nolan film, wore a pair of earrings fashioned from Iranian artefacts dating back to 700BC.

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The Queensland government promised to put victims first. Instead it buried a report from domestic violence survivors

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Exclusive: Report from LNP-convened panel heavily criticises police responses to family violence and calls for civilian oversight

The Queensland government has buried the findings of its own working group of domestic violence victim-survivors, after their report was heavily critical of police responses and called for a “civilian review mechanism” to escalate complaints about police.

The Liberal National government has repeatedly said it would “put victims at the heart” of the state’s justice policies.

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U.S Passport Power Declines—From No. 1 To No. 10 In 20 Years – Forbes

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  1. U.S Passport Power Declines—From No. 1 To No. 10 In 20 Years  Forbes
  2. The world’s most powerful passports of the 21st century  CNN
  3. These Are the Most Peaceful Countries With the Most Powerful Passports  Condé Nast Traveler
  4. Passport Power Doubles as Global Peace Declines  Henley & Partners
  5. US passport, once most powerful in the world, plummets in global ranking  The Hill
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US identifies soldier killed destroying downed Iranian drone in Iraq

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Sgt Michael Emmanuel Swinton died during controlled detonation, bringing total of US personnel killed in war to 17

The US military has identified an army soldier killed recently during a “controlled detonation” of a downed Iranian drone in Iraq as Sgt Michael Emmanuel Swinton, of Fayetteville, North Carolina.

According to a press release from the US defense department on Tuesday morning, the 30-year-old Swinton was supporting overseas contingency operations in Iraq – and he was “killed in action during a controlled detonation of a downed One-Way Unmanned Aerial System” on Saturday at Erbil airbase in northern Iraq.

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Trump’s HIV funding cuts having ‘severe and devastating’ impact around the world

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The President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief has saved 26m lives globally, but slashing of funds and dismantling of USAID have forced clinics to shut in dozens of countries

No part of the United States’ anti-HIV programme has escaped unscathed from Donald Trump’s funding cuts, despite pledges from the administration to protect care that saved lives around the world, a new report has found.

Funding cuts to the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar) have caused “severe and devastating” disruption globally, with thousands of staff laid off and many clinics closed, according to research being presented next week at the 26th International Aids Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It warns that changes in US policy risk reversing progress in the fight against HIV/Aids.

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Ukraine Hits Putin’s Economy With Strikes on Giant Warehouses – Bloomberg.com

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  1. Ukraine Hits Putin’s Economy With Strikes on Giant Warehouses  Bloomberg.com
  2. Ukraine bombs warehouses, targeting Wildberries — Russia’s version of Amazon  The Washington Post
  3. Ukraine war briefing: Moscow targeted as Wildberries warehouse attacks continue  The Guardian
  4. Ukraine fires 400 drones toward Moscow as Zelenskyy grapples with protests  AP News
  5. Three Chinese injured in drone attack on Moscow  Reuters
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Fourth person dies in New York City legionnaires’ disease outbreak

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US health officials say source of Upper East Side cluster has probably been eliminated after 76 people fell ill

An outbreak of legionnaires’ disease in New York City has claimed a fourth life, officials have said, as they again expressed confidence the source of the exposure had been eliminated.

A statement from the city’s health department on Monday said the outbreak, which was traced to cooling towers in buildings in Manhattan’s Upper East Side, had sickened 76 people – with 53 discharged after hospital treatment, and 12 others managing their recovery at home.

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Stand still, make eye contact: Denmark tells tourists how to behave in a wolf encounter

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Government urges visitors not to approach or feed wolves as it manages safety amid growing population

Danish authorities have advised tourists to stand still, make eye contact and put up “maximum resistance” in the event of attack if they encounter a wolf while on holiday.

After a 200-year absence, wolves started returning to Denmark in 2012. There are now estimated to be 49 wolves on the Danish peninsula of Jutland.

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US claims of Cuba’s ‘unique threat’ jar with reality of hunger and blackouts

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State department’s 100-page report is latest push in Trump administration campaign to bring down government

The US government’s latest allegations that Cuba is behind “many of the most significant upheavals in recent American political history” and that its leaders pose “a unique threat to American homeland security” have come as startling revelations to those living under the six-month-long US oil blockade in Havana, where desperate people search through piles of uncollected rubbish for food, or else swelter at home in 24-hour-plus blackouts.

The unsigned 100-page report, Cuba: Capital of 21st-Century Communism, published by the US state department on Monday, blames Havana for everything from “the George Floyd riots to the rise of antifa to the explosion of pro-terrorist activism on American college campuses”.

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Rescuers in Afghanistan search for scores missing after floods kill at least 23 – AP News

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  1. Rescuers in Afghanistan search for scores missing after floods kill at least 23  AP News
  2. Rescuers search for survivors amid risk of fresh floods in Afghanistan  Al Jazeera
  3. Flash Floods Kill at Least 23 in Afghanistan  The New York Times
  4. Flash floods kill at least 20 in Afghanistan and leave more than 100 missing  NBC News
  5. Afghanistan: Deadly flash floods hit Nuristan province  dw.com
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India’s youth-led Cockroach movement vows to continue protest after police crackdown – AP News

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  1. India’s youth-led Cockroach movement vows to continue protest after police crackdown  AP News
  2. India's youth-led Cockroach movement vows to continue protest after police crackdown  NPR
  3. ‘Won’t back down’: Indian student protesters return after police crackdown  Al Jazeera
  4. India’s youth-led 'cockroach movement' clashes with police in New Delhi  Reuters
  5. India police use tear gas to stop march on Parliament by Cockroach movement supporters  AP News
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We received no alert, say leaders of First Nations communities razed by Canadian wildfires

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Chiefs in Ontario say they were left to self-evacuate before homes burned to ground, after being told there was no imminent threat

Fast-moving wildfires have burned two First Nations communities in Canada to the ground, as members said they were left to self-evacuate without government help or emergency alerts.

Thirteen communities in Ontario province have been ordered to evacuate because of wildfires, most of them First Nations. The Ontario premier, Doug Ford, told reporters on Monday that close to 2,000 people had been evacuated so far to cities including Toronto and Niagara Falls.

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In less than 20 days of flying as the mighty Air Force One, the plush 747 donated by Qatar is heading back to a Texas hangar to install crucial security updates its rushed 10-month conversion missed, forcing the US leader into the older, far less luxurious Reag – Luxurylaunches

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  1. In less than 20 days of flying as the mighty Air Force One, the plush 747 donated by Qatar is heading back to a Texas hangar to install crucial security updates its rushed 10-month conversion missed, forcing the US leader into the older, far less luxurious Reag  Luxurylaunches
  2. Opinion | Surprise, surprise. Trump’s Qatar Force One already has issues.  The Washington Post
  3. GOP senator blocks Schumer request to stop Trump from using taxpayer money to ‘max out’ new Air Force One  The Hill
  4. GOP blocks Schumer's effort to ground taxpayer funding for Trump's Qatari Air Force One  Fox News
  5. White House Says New Air Force One Will Be Out of Service for a Month for ‘Upgrades’  The New York Times
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Greek-American tourists stabbed in rare attack near the Acropolis – CNN

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  1. Greek-American tourists stabbed in rare attack near the Acropolis  CNN
  2. Man stabs tourists near the Acropolis in Athens, Greece  ABC News - Breaking News, Latest News and Videos
  3. Family Announces Death of Soccer Legend at 75  The Daily Beast
  4. 2 U.S. Tourists Stabbed in Knife Attack Near Site of Ancient Acropolis in Greece  People.com
  5. Man Attacks Two Tourists With Knife Near Ancient Acropolis Site in Greece  U.S. News & World Report
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