WASHINGTON: The United States delivered an ominous warning to Americans on Friday to stay away from Cuba and ordered home more than half the US diplomatic corps, acknowledging neither the Cubans nor America’s FBI can figure out who or what is responsible for months of mysterious health ailments.
No longer tiptoeing around the issue, the Trump administration shifted to calling the episodes “attacks” rather than “incidents.”
The US actions are sure to rattle already delicate ties between the longtime adversaries who only recently began putting their hostility behind them. The US Embassy in Cuba will lose roughly 60 percent of its American staff and will stop processing visas for prospective Cuban travelers to the United States indefinitely, officials said. Roughly 50 Americans had been working at the embassy.
President Donald Trump said that in Cuba “they did some very bad things” that harmed US diplomats, but he didn’t say who he might mean by “they.”
Though officials initially suspected some futuristic “sonic attack,” the picture is muddy. The FBI and other agencies that searched homes and hotels where incidents occurred found no devices.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who reviewed options for a response with Trump, said, “Until the government of Cuba can ensure the safety of our diplomats in Cuba, our embassy will be reduced to emergency personnel in order to minimize the number of diplomats at risk of exposure to harm.”
In Friday’s travel warning, the State Department confirmed earlier reporting by The Associated Press that US personnel first encountered unexplained physical effects in Cuban hotels. While American tourists aren’t known to have been hurt, the agency said they could be exposed if they travel to the island — a pronouncement that could hit a critical component of Cuba’s economy that has expanded in recent years as the US has relaxed restrictions.
At least 21 diplomats and family members have been affected. The department said symptoms include hearing loss, dizziness, headache, fatigue, cognitive issues and difficulty sleeping. Until Friday, the US had generally referred to “incidents.” Tillerson’s statement ended that practice, mentioning “attacks” seven times; the travel alert used the word five times.
Still, the administration has pointedly not blamed Cuba for perpetrating the attacks, and officials have spent weeks weighing how to minimize the risk for Americans in Cuba without unnecessarily harming relations or falling into an adversary’s trap.
If the attacks have been committed by an outside power such as Russia or Venezuela to drive a wedge between the US and Cuba, as some investigators have theorized, a US pullout would end up rewarding the aggressor. On the other hand, officials have struggled with the moral dimensions of keeping diplomats in a place where the US government cannot guarantee their safety.
The administration considered expelling Cuban diplomats from the US, officials said, but for now no such action has been ordered. That incensed several lawmakers who had urged the administration to kick out all of Cuban’s envoys.
“It’s an insult,” said Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a vocal critic of Cuba’s government, in an interview. “The Cuban regime succeeded in forcing Americans to downscale a number of personnel in Cuba, yet it appears they’re going to basically keep all the people they want in America to travel freely and spread misinformation.”
The US travel warning said, “Because our personnel’s safety is at risk, and we are unable to identify the source of the attacks, we believe US citizens may also be at risk and warn them not to travel to Cuba.”
Canada, which also has reported diplomats with unexplained health problems, said it had no plans to change its diplomatic posture in Cuba.
The US moves deliver a significant setback to the delicate reconciliation between America and Cuba, countries that endured a half-century estrangement despite only 90 miles of separation. In 2015, President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro restored diplomatic ties, embassies were re-opened and travel and commerce restrictions were eased. Trump has reversed some changes but has broadly left the rapprochement in place.
After considering options that ranged all the way to a full embassy shutdown, Tillerson made the decision to reduce all nonessential personnel and all family members. Also included in the recall is Scott Hamilton, currently the highest-ranked diplomat at the mission. Staffing at the embassy in Havana was already lower than usual due to recent hurricanes that whipped through Cuba.
Cubans seeking visas to enter the US may be able to apply through embassies in nearby countries, officials said. The US will stop sending official delegations to Cuba, though diplomatic discussions will continue in Washington.
The United States notified Cuba early Friday via its embassy in Washington.
Cuba blasted the American move as “hasty” and lamented that it was being taken without conclusive investigation results. Still, Josefina Vidal, Cuba’s top diplomat for US affairs, said her government was willing to continue cooperation with Washington “to fully clarify these incidents.” Her government took the rare step of the inviting the FBI to the island after being presented with the allegations earlier this year.
To medical investigators’ dismay, symptoms have varied widely. In addition to hearing loss and concussions, some people have experienced nausea, headaches and ear-ringing. The Associated Press has reported some now suffer from problems with concentration and common word recall.
Some US diplomats reported hearing loud noises or feeling vibrations when the incidents occurred, but others heard and felt nothing yet reported symptoms later. In some cases, the effects were narrowly confined, with victims able to walk “in” and “out” of blaring noises audible in only certain rooms or parts of rooms, the AP has reported
Though the incidents stopped for a time, they recurred as recently as late August.
US to Americans: Stay away from Cuba after health ‘attacks’
US to Americans: Stay away from Cuba after health ‘attacks’
Trump administration welcomes 59 white South Africans as refugees
- South Africa’s government says the US allegations that the white minority Afrikaners are being persecuted are “completely false,” the result of misinformation and an inaccurate view of the country
DULLES, Virginia: The Trump administration on Monday welcomed a group of 59 white South Africans as refugees, saying they face discrimination and violence at home, which the country’s government strongly denies.
The decision to admit the Afrikaners also has raised questions from refugee advocates about why they were admitted when the Trump administration has suspended efforts to resettle people fleeing war and persecution who have gone through years of vetting.
Many in the group from South Africa — including toddlers and other small children, even one walking barefoot in pajamas — held small American flags as two officials welcomed them to the United States in an airport hangar outside Washington. The South Africans were then leaving on other flights to various US destinations.
A group of 49 Afrikaners had been expected, but the State Department said Monday that 59 had arrived.
“I want you all to know that you are really welcome here and that we respect what you have had to deal with these last few years,” Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said.
President Donald Trump told reporters earlier Monday that he’s admitting them as refugees because of the “genocide that’s taking place.” He said that in post-apartheid South Africa, white farmers are “being killed” and he plans to address the issue with South African leadership next week.
That characterization has been strongly disputed by South Africa’s government, experts and even the Afrikaner group AfriForum, which says farm attacks are not being taken seriously by the government.
South Africa’s government says the US allegations that the white minority Afrikaners are being persecuted are “completely false,” the result of misinformation and an inaccurate view of the country. It cited the fact that Afrikaners are among the richest and most successful people in the country.
The view from South Africa
Speaking at a business conference in Ivory Coast, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said Monday that he spoke with Trump recently and told him his administration had been fed false information by groups who were casting white people as victims because of efforts to right the historical wrongs of colonialism and South Africa’s previous apartheid system of forced racial segregation, which oppressed the Black majority.
“I had a conversation with President Trump on the phone and he asked me, ‘What’s going on down there?’ and I told him that what you are being told by those people who are opposed to transformation back in South Africa is not true,” Ramaphosa said.
Afrikaners make up South Africa’s largest white group and were the leaders of the apartheid government, which brutally enforced racial segregation for nearly 50 years before ending it in 1994. While South Africa has been largely successful in reconciling its many races, tensions between some Black political parties and some Afrikaner groups have remained.
The Trump administration has falsely claimed white South Africans are having their land taken away by the government under a new expropriation law that promotes “racially discriminatory property confiscation.” No land has been expropriated.
Trump has promoted the allegation that white farmers in South Africa are being killed on a large scale as far back as 2018 during his first term.
Conservative commentators have promoted the allegation about a genocide against white farmers, and South African-born Trump ally Elon Musk has posted on social media that some politicians in the country are “actively promoting white genocide.”
South Africa has extremely high levels of violent crime, and white farmers have been killed in rural Afrikaner communities. It has been a problem for decades. The government condemns those killings but says they are part of the country’s problems with crime.
“There is no data at all that backs that there is persecution of white South Africans or white Afrikaners in particular who are farmers,” South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola said Monday. “White farmers get affected by crime just like any other South Africans who do get affected by crime. So this is not factual, it is without basis.”
Trump administration says white South Africans have been targeted
Landau said many of those who arrived Monday experienced “threatening invasions of their homes, their farms and a real lack of interest or success of the government in doing anything about this situation.”
They all had met stringent vetting standards, including the ability to assimilate into American culture, Landau said. Critics of the refugee program suggest that refugees aren’t properly vetted, though supporters say they go through some of the strictest vetting of anyone seeking to come to America.
Trump indefinitely suspended the refugee resettlement program — which historically had widespread bipartisan support — on his first day in office. A month later, he announced a plan to resettle white South African farmers and their families as refugees.
Supporters of the refugee program question how the administration can justify admitting this small group while keeping out others from conflict zones around the world.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat, called it an effort to “rewrite history.”
“The Administration must clarify why these individuals qualify for refugee status and resettlement in the US and why they have been prioritized over refugees like Afghans, Burmese Rohingya and Sudanese who have fled their homes due to conflict and persecution,” she said in a statement Monday.
Who can come from South Africa under Trump’s order
According to the US Embassy in South Africa, applicants have to be South African citizens who are of Afrikaner ethnicity or a member of a racial minority, and they have to be able to show a history of or a fear of persecution.
Afrikaners, who are the descendants of mainly Dutch and French colonial settlers, number around 2.7 million among South Africa’s population of 62 million, which is more than 80 percent Black.
The US refugee program was created by Congress in 1980, and groups have sued to restart it after Trump’s halt.
Traditionally, to qualify as a refugee, applicants must demonstrate a well-founded fear of persecution due to race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. Refugees are distinct from asylum-seekers because refugees must be outside of the US to qualify.
A network of resettlement agencies generally helps refugees settle in their new homes, and they get 90 days of federal assistance for things like rent. The Episcopal Church’s migration service, however, is refusing a directive from the federal government to help resettle the white South Africans, citing the church’s longstanding “commitment to racial justice and reconciliation.”
Five European defense ministers to meet in Rome on Friday
- Defense ministers to discuss support for Ukraine
- They will also discuss ways to strengthen European defense
ROME: Defense ministers from five major European military powers will meet in Italy on Friday to discuss support for Ukraine, the host country said.
Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto will host his counterparts from Britain, France, Germany and Poland, his ministry said Monday in a statement.
The announcement came after Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky said he was ready for direct talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Istanbul on Thursday.
US President Donald Trump said Monday he was “thinking” about flying to Turkiye for the talks but Russia did not indicate whether Putin would take part.
Aside from Ukraine, the European ministers will also discuss ways to strengthen European defense — a priority for them following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The five will hold a joint press conference at the end of their meeting at 1245 GMT on Friday, the Italian statement said.
Kyiv and its European allies called on Saturday for a 30-day ceasefire starting Monday — calling it a prerequisite for direct peace talks between the two countries.
Moscow rejected their call on Monday, despite threats of “massive sanctions” in case of refusal.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said during his daily briefing that “the language of ultimatums is unacceptable to Russia.”
He later said that Moscow wanted “serious” negotiations to achieve peace in the conflict, which has left tens of thousands of people dead.
Police probe fire at UK PM Starmer’s former home
- Starmer still owns the property in Kentish Town, north London, British media said, but he has since moved into the prime minister’s official residence in Downing Street
LONDON: Police in London on Monday said they had launched an investigation into a fire that caused damage outside the former family home of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Starmer still owns the property in Kentish Town, north London, British media said, but he moved into the prime minister’s official residence in Downing Street after his Labour party’s election victory last year.
At 1:35 am (0035 GMT) on Monday “police were alerted by the London Fire Brigade to reports of a fire at a residential address,” the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.
“Officers attended the scene. Damage was caused to the property’s entrance, nobody was hurt. The fire is being investigated and cordons remain in place while enquiries continue.”
London Fire Brigade described the incident as “a small fire outside a property in Kentish Town.” “The brigade was called at 01:11 and the fire was under control by 01:33,” it added.
Starmer’s official spokesman said: “The prime minister thanks the emergency services for their work and it is subject to a live investigation. So, I can’t comment further.”
India PM Modi warns Pakistan of more strikes if there is a ‘terrorist attack’
- Modi was speaking two days after the nuclear-armed neighbors agreed to a ceasefire, announced by US President Donald Trump
- Pakistan denies Indian accusations that it supports militants who attack it and says the locations hit by India last week were civilian sites
NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned Pakistan on Monday that New Delhi would target “terrorist hideouts” across the border again if there were new attacks on India and would not be deterred by what he called Islamabad’s “nuclear blackmail.”
Modi’s first public comments since Indian armed forces launched strikes on what New Delhi said were “terrorist camps” across the border last week indicated a hardening of India’s position on ties with its neighbor, which were icy even before the latest fighting.
Pakistan denies Indian accusations that it supports militants who attack it and says the locations hit by India last week were civilian sites.
Modi was speaking two days after the nuclear-armed neighbors agreed to a ceasefire, announced by US President Donald Trump.
The truce was reached after four days of intense exchanges of fire as the old enemies targeted each other’s military installations with missiles and drones, killing dozens of civilians.
The military confrontation began on Wednesday, when India said it launched strikes on nine “terrorist infrastructure” sites in Pakistan and Pakistani Kashmir following an attack on Hindu tourists by militants in Indian Kashmir last month that killed 26 men.
Islamabad denied any links to the attack and called for a neutral investigation.
“If there is a terrorist attack on India, a fitting reply will be given... on our terms,” Modi said, speaking in Hindi in a televised address. “In the coming days, we will measure every step of Pakistan... what kind of attitude Pakistan will adopt.”
“India will strike precisely and decisively at the terrorist hideouts developing under the cover of nuclear blackmail,” he said, and listed New Delhi’s conditions for holding talks with Islamabad and lifting curbs imposed after the Kashmir attack.
“India’s position is clear: terror and talks cannot go together; terror and trade cannot go together. And water and blood cannot flow together,” he said, referring to a water sharing pact between the two countries New Delhi suspended.
There was no immediate response to his comments from Islamabad.
Military talks
Hindu-majority India and Muslim Pakistan both rule part of the Himalayan region of Kashmir, but claim it in full. They have fought two of their three wars since independence in 1947 over the region and there have been several other more limited flare-ups, including in 2016 and 2019.
The latest military conflict between the South Asian neighbors spiralled alarmingly on Saturday and there were briefly fears that nuclear arsenals might come into play as Pakistan’s military said a top body overseeing its nuclear weapons would meet.
But the Pakistani defense minister said no such meeting was scheduled.
Military analysts said this may have been Pakistan’s way of hinting at its nuclear option as Islamabad has a “first-use” policy if its existence is under threat in a conflict.
Modi’s address came hours after the military operations chiefs of India and Pakistan spoke by phone, two days after they agreed to the ceasefire.
“Issues related to continuing the commitment that both sides must not fire a single shot or initiate any aggressive and inimical action against each other were discussed,” the Indian army said.
“It was also agreed that both sides consider immediate measures to ensure troop reduction from the borders and forward areas,” it added.
There was no immediate Pakistani readout of the military operations chiefs’ talks.
In Washington, Trump said the leaders of India and Pakistan were “unwavering,” and the US “helped a lot” to secure the ceasefire, adding that trade was a “big reason” why the countries stopped fighting.
“We are going to do a lot of trade with Pakistan... and India. We are negotiating with India right now. We are soon going to negotiate with Pakistan,” he said, just ahead of Modi’s speech.
Pakistan has thanked the US for brokering the ceasefire while India, which opposes third-party involvement in its disputes with Pakistan, has not commented on Washington’s role.
Markets soar
Pakistan’s international bonds rallied sharply on Monday, adding as much as 5.7 cents in the dollar, Tradeweb data showed.
Late on Friday, the International Monetary Fund approved a fresh $1.4-billion loan and also the first review of its $7-billion program.
Pakistan’s benchmark share index closed up 9.4 percent on Monday, while India’s blue-chip Nifty 50 index closed 3.8 percent higher in its best session since February 2021.
In Beijing the foreign ministry said China, which also controls a small slice of Kashmir, was willing to maintain communication with both its neighbors, and play a “constructive role in achieving a comprehensive and lasting ceasefire” and maintaining peace.
India blames Pakistan for an insurgency in its part of Kashmir that began in 1989, but Pakistan says it provides only moral, political and diplomatic support to Kashmiri separatists.
Bangladesh investigators say ousted PM behind deadly crackdown
- “Investigation team has found Sheikh Hasina culpable in at least five charges,” chief prosecutor at Bangladesh’s domestic International Crimes Tribunal said
DHAKA: Bangladesh’s former prime minister Sheikh Hasina masterminded a deadly crackdown on mass protests that prompted her ouster last year, prosecutors at a domestic war crimes tribunal said Monday.
Up to 1,400 people died in July 2024 when Hasina’s government launched a brutal campaign to silence the opposition, according to the United Nations.
Hasina lives in self-imposed exile in India, where she fled by helicopter, and has defied an arrest warrant from Dhaka over charges of crimes against humanity.
“The investigation team has found Sheikh Hasina culpable in at least five charges,” Mohammad Tajul Islam, chief prosecutor at Bangladesh’s domestic International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), told reporters.
“They have brought charges of abetment, incitement, complicity, facilitation, conspiracy, and failure to prevent mass murder during the July uprising.”
Tajul Islam said the prosecution had submitted its first report to be presented at the court set to try Hasina and two of her aides — former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and ex-police chief Abdullah Al Mamun.
“Sheikh Hasina directly ordered law enforcement agencies and auxiliary forces aligned with her party to kill and maim, and to burn corpses and even people who were still alive at certain points,” he added.
The ICT was set up in 2009 by Hasina to investigate crimes committed by the Pakistani army during Bangladesh’s war for independence in 1971.
Investigators have collected video footage, audio clips, Hasina’s phone conversations, records of helicopter and drone movements as well as statements from victims of the crackdown as part of their probe.
Bangladesh’s interim government on Saturday banned Hasina’s party, the Awami League, pending the outcome of the trial.
The decision was taken to ensure the country’s “sovereignty and security” as well as the safety of the protesters, plaintiffs and witnesses of the tribunal, Asif Nazrul, a government adviser on law and justice, told reporters.
Bangladesh has requested India to extradite her but has not yet received a response.
