In a post on X, Diaz-Canel urged the United States to instead lift its blockade.
„The damage could be eased in a much simpler and faster way by lifting or relaxing the blockade, since it is known that the humanitarian situation is coldly calculated and induced,“ he said.
But, if Washington showed „true willingness“ to provide aid, he added, „it will encounter no obstacles or ingratitude from Cuba.“
(April 28, 2026)
The emerging discussions mark the clearest sign yet that Democrats, repeatedly blocked in their attempts to restrain the war through floor votes, are searching for new ways to force a constitutional reckoning over who decides when America goes to war.
(…)
While it’s unclear how Republicans will ultimately vote, Schiff urged caution about relying on the courts. “The Supreme Court has been very selective about offering Congress standing to any litigation,” he says. “It‘s not a strategy I would want to rely on…
Channel 13 also asked respondents how they would vote if Hadash and three Arab parties, Ra’am, Ta’al and Balad, ran together as the Joint List, as they have done in the past. In such a scenario, the Joint List would become the third largest parliamentary faction, with sixteen seats. Likud would shrink to 20 and Religious Zionism would rise to six, giving Netanyahu’s coalition a total of 53 seats, and Bennett’s party would shrink to 20 while Yashar Eisenkot’s and Democrats Golan’s parties would drop to eleven and seven, respectively, giving the Zionist opposition bloc a total of 51 seats. Hadash and the Arab parties pledged earlier this year to work to reestablish the Joint List, with little signs of progress.
Trump droht damit, Iran anzugreifen, so dass die gesamte Nation stirbt. Allein mit dieser verbalen Entgleisung normalisiert er Menschheitsverbrechen.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam held a phone call with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres amid ongoing Israeli statements and attacks in southern Lebanon.
During the call, Salam highlighted repeated threats from the Israeli defense minister regarding plans to occupy the area south of the Litani River, along with statements from the Israeli finance minister about annexing the region.
(February 18, 2026)
Former retail magnate Les Wexner was deposed Wednesday by the House Oversight Committee in Ohio, and no Republican members were present for the session, multiple news outlets reported — adding a new flashpoint in the congressional probe into Jeffrey Epstein’s network.
The questioning took place at Wexner’s home in New Albany, Ohio, where Democratic lawmakers led the deposition into the billionaire’s decades-long ties with Epstein following the release of justice department files under the Epstein Files Transparency Act
France has already sent a small military contingent to Greenland and has plans to send sea, air and land forces, though the details remain unclear.
CIA director John Ratcliffe met with Venezuela‘s interim President Delcy Rodríguez for two hours Thursday in Venezuela‘s capital, Caracas, to „deliver the message that the United States looks forward to an improved working relationship,“ a U.S. official told CBS News Friday.
The official described the trip as historic, noting that Ratcliffe was the first Cabinet-level official to visit Venezuela since the U.S. military operation to remove the country‘s autocratic leader Nicolás Maduro nearly two weeks ago.
A senior European official said Denmark must lead the effort to coordinate a response, but „the Danes have yet to communicate to their European allies what kind of concrete support they wish to receive,“ the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
„The governor has worked for years to crack down on fraud and ask the state legislature for more authority to take aggressive action,“ the spokesperson said. „He has strengthened oversight — including launching investigations into these specific facilities, one of which was already closed.“
The spokesperson added that Walz has „hired an outside firm to audit payments to high-risk programs, shut down the Housing Stabilization Services program entirely, announced a new statewide program integrity director, and supported criminal prosecutions.“
The ceasefire in Gaza is largely holding but recent violence by Israel and Palestinian militants put the truce at risk, the UN Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process told the Security Council on Monday.
Ramiz Alakbarov briefed on conditions in the battered enclave and the occupied West Bank, before touching on developments in Lebanon and Syria.
“Today we meet at a moment of renewed hope,” he said, speaking from Jerusalem.
“While progress on the ground is fragile and deep uncertainty persists, we must seize the opportunity before us to chart a better future for Palestinians, Israelis and the wider region.”
President Donald Trump is expected to sign the Epstein files bill later today, a White House official told USA TODAY.
The bill had not arrived at the White House as of Wednesday afternoon.
Lawmakers are also perplexed by the timing of the briefing. After an unsteady first 16 months in office left Starmer one of the most unpopular British prime ministers on record, Labour MPs had previously signaled that the prime minister would not face a serious leadership contest until after local elections in May 2026, giving his government time to reverse its decline in the polls.
The Secretary-General once again praised the mediation efforts of Egypt, Qatar, Türkiye and the United States, ….
The Australian Defence Force (ADF) has had discussions with the United States about potential involvement in a future International Stabilisation Force (ISF), as part of President Donald Trump‘s peace plan in Gaza.
However, the government insists no request for assistance has been made yet.
“No one expects that the force would fight Hamas,” a western diplomat told the Financial Times. They argued that the mere presence of the force would make it harder for either side to resume the conflict even if it did “absolutely nothing”.
There are reasons for scepticism about whether the ISF could reliably prevent either side from acting, as illustrated by a recent grenade attack by an Israeli drone near UN peacekeepers in Lebanon. There may be wider lessons from that deployment. You might have a model similarly mandated to patrol and report on ceasefire violations. But in southern Lebanon, they have been pretty toothless.
“There is little information available on the details or how the agreement will be implemented. However, we call for all crossings into Gaza to be open immediately so that humanitarian supplies can flow into the war-torn enclave,” said Juliette Touma, Director of Communications for the UN agency for Palestinians, UNRWA.
Her comments came as Israeli forces reportedly pulled back from parts of Gaza, in line with an agreement between Israel and Hamas, brokered in Egypt this week by US mediators and representatives from Qatar and Turkïye.
Trump also called US Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, „a Palestinian“ during the meeting. „Schumer is a Palestinian as far as I‘m concerned.“
Gathering in London at the invitation of Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain, the leaders vowed to bolster support for President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine after his bitter clash with Mr. Trump last week. But several also expressed hope that the two could repair their breach, underscoring Europe’s reluctance to cast off a trans-Atlantic alliance that has kept the peace for 80 years.
„The European Union is ready to work with all our European partners and other allies on a peace plan to Ukraine that will ensure a just and lasting peace for the Ukrainian people. We must learn from the past. We cannot repeat the Minsk experience. We cannot repeat the Afghanistan tragedy. And for that, we need strong security guarantees. Peacemaking goes hand in hand with peacekeeping,“ the President of the European Council said.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is calling on President Biden to utilize the U.S.‘s influence on the world stage to block the International Criminal Court‘s (ICC) reported plan to issue arrest warrants for top Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Wagenknecht hat sich mit der Parteispitze im Richtungsstreit zerstritten und erwägt die Gründung einer eigenen Partei. Eine Reihe eigener Anhänger könnten ihr folgen. Dennoch verneint Bartsch die Möglichkeit eines Zerbrechens der Linkspartei: „Es wird keine Spaltung der Linken geben. Wir sind in unserer Kernsubstanz stabil. Ich will, dass die Linke gemeinsam agiert.“ Eine Spaltung stärke nur Konservative und Rechte.
Zusammen mit vier Amtskolleg:innen aus Liechtenstein, Luxemburg, Österreich und Schweiz hat Bundesjustizminister Marco Buschmann einen Brief an die Justizminister:innen der EU-Länder geschrieben. Sie sollen sich gegen die Chatkontrolle in die Diskussion einbringen – auch wenn die Innenministerien die Verhandlung führen. Wir veröffentlichen den Brief im Volltext.
Asked at Yesh Atid‘s faction meeting if he still thinks his rotation as prime minister would happen if Netanyahu signs a plea deal, Lapid said: „This government will last because it does not depend on Netanyahu. It depends on working together & national unity.“
Explanations for Israel‘s vaccine effectiveness data
When Israeli researchers announced last month that people vaccinated in the winter were more likely to contract Covid than those who had been vaccinated in the spring, many assumed this demonstrated waning vaccine effectiveness.
The data from Israel‘s Ministry of Health suggested that vaccine effectiveness against both infection and symptomatic disease had decreased to around 40%, but this decline may have been due to other factors and not the vaccines, Wu writes
Iran says the IAEA‘s ‚counterproductive‘ stance may hinder nuclear talks, after report says Tehran is continuing to stockpile uranium and hinder its inquiries into past nuclear activities