WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s outgoing administration on Monday returned Cuba to the US blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism, erecting a last-minute roadlock to expected efforts by President-elect Joe Biden to ease tensions.
The terror designation severely hampers foreign investment and can only be removed after a formal review by the Biden administration, meaning it may remain in force for months.
With nine days left in office, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo cited Cuba’s ties with Colombian rebels, alliance with leftist Venezuela and sanctuary to several US fugitives in justifying the blacklisting.
“With this action, we will once again hold Cuba’s government accountable and send a clear message: the Castro regime must end its support for international terrorism and subversion of US justice,” Pompeo said in a statement, referring to former leaders Fidel and Raul Castro.
“The United States will continue to support the Cuban people in their desire for a democratic government and respect for human rights, including freedom of religion, expression and association,” he said.
Then-president Barack Obama in 2015 delisted Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism as he moved to normalize relations and declared the half-century US effort to isolate the communist island to be a failure.
Trump has reversed many of Obama’s overtures to Cuba and also imposed sanctions on Venezuela, winning him support among immigrant communities in Florida, a crucial state in US elections.
Biden has indicated he wants to return at least to some engagement started under Obama and blocked by Trump, including allowing Cuban-Americans to visit family and send money.
Lawmakers from Biden’s Democratic Party had been outraged by signs that Pompeo would move ahead with the designation, saying he should be assisting the transition instead.
Representative Gregory Meeks, the Democrat who heads the House Foreign Affairs Committee, had warned that the decision “would clearly be another stunt by President Trump and Pompeo, trying to tie the hands of the incoming Biden administration on their way out the door.”
“President Obama’s rapprochement with Cuba reversed decades of failed foreign policy which neither advanced our goals or helped the Cuban people,” Meeks said in December.
To remove Cuba from the terror list, Antony Blinken — Biden’s nominee for secretary of state, who the Republican-led Senate is not expected to be confirm in time for the January 20 inauguration — would need to initiate a review that shows that Havana did not engage in terrorism over the previous six months.
The designation is the latest in a blitz of decisions by Pompeo in his final days in office, with most of Washington focused on whether to remove Trump for inciting a deadly riot at the US Capitol of supporters who sought to stop the ceremonial certification of Biden’s victory.
Since Saturday, Pompeo has also designated Yemen’s Houthi rebels as a terrorist group, defying warnings from aid groups, and relaxed rules on US engagement with Taiwan.
John S. Kavulich, president of the US-Cuba Trade and Economic Council that looks at commercial ties between the countries, said the immediate effects of Pompeo’s move would include discouraging financial institutions from dealing with Cuba.
Insurance companies could also suspend coverage or jack up rates for operators of ships and aircrafts to Cuba, he said.
“Transactions with the Republic of Cuba would have an increase in scrutiny, resulting in fewer governments and companies wanting to engage with it,” he said.
But he doubted the move would ultimately change Cuba’s policies, including its staunch support for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whom the Trump administration is seeking to topple.
Before Obama’s delisting, the legal grounds for Cuba’s terror designation had come under frequent question.
Providing a legal justification, Pompeo pointed to Cuba’s refusal to extradite commanders from Colombia’s National Liberation Army (ELN) over a January 2019 car bombing at a Bogota police academy that killed 22 people.
Cuba has said it will not hand them over due to its role mediating between the ELN and government.
Pompeo also pointed to Cuba’s sanctuary of Americans including Assata Shakur, a Black Power militant who fled to the island after escaping prison following a conviction over the killing of a New Jersey state trooper.
Only three other countries are on the blacklist — Iran, North Korea and Syria. Trump late last year removed Sudan after its democratic transition, compensation for past attacks and agreement to recognize Israel.
Days before Trump exit, US rebrands Cuba state sponsor of terror
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Days before Trump exit, US rebrands Cuba state sponsor of terror
- The terror designation severely hampers foreign investment
- Pompeo cited Cuba’s ties with Colombian rebels and alliance with Venezuela
France to ban smoking outdoors in most places: minister
The freedom to smoke “stops where children’s right to breathe clean air starts“
PARIS: France will ban smoking in all outdoor places that can be frequented by children, like beaches, parks and bus stops, the health and family minister said in an interview published on Thursday.
“Tobacco must disappear where there are children,” Catherine Vautrin said in an interview published by the regional Ouest-France daily on its website.
The freedom to smoke “stops where children’s right to breathe clean air starts,” she said.
The restrictions will enter into force on July 1 and will include all places where children could be, such as “beaches, parks, public gardens, outside of schools, bus stops and sports venues,” she said.
Violators could be fined up to 135 euros ($154), she said.
Cafe terraces will be excluded from the ban, which will also not extend to electronic cigarettes, she said.
Some 75,000 people are estimated to die from tobacco-related complications each year in France.
According to a recent opinion survey, six out of 10 French people (62 percent) favor banning smoking in public places.
Chinese students anxious and angry after Rubio vows to revoke visas
- China is the second-largest country of origin for international students in the US
- This is a “new version of Chinese Exclusion Act,” said Linqin, a Chinese student at Johns Hopkins University
HONG KONG: Chinese students studying in the US are scrambling to figure out their futures after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Wednesday that some students would have their visas revoked.
The US will begin revoking the visas of some Chinese students, including those studying in “critical fields,” and “those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party,” according to the announcement.
China is the second-largest country of origin for international students in the United States, behind only India. In the 2023-2024 school year, more than 270,000 international students were from China, making up roughly a quarter of all foreign students in the US
This is a “new version of Chinese Exclusion Act,” said Linqin, a Chinese student at Johns Hopkins University, who asked to be identified only by his first name out of fear of retaliation. He was referring to a 19th-century law that prohibited Chinese from immigrating to the US and banned Chinese people already in the US from getting citizenship. He said Wednesday was the first time he thought about leaving the US after spending one third of his life here.
Chinese international students are point of tension between US and China
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning, called the US decision unreasonable.
“Such a politicized and discriminatory action lays bare the US lie that it upholds the so-called freedom and openness,” she said Thursday, adding that China has lodged a protest with the US
The issue of Chinese students studying overseas has long been a point of tension in the bilateral relationship. During Trump’s first term, in 2019, China’s Ministry of Education warned students about visa issues in the US, with rising rejection rates and shortening of visas.
Last year, the Chinese Foreign Ministry protested that a number of Chinese students have been unfairly interrogated and sent home upon arrival at US airports.
Chinese state media has long hyped gun violence in the US and violent protests during the pandemic, and portrayed the US as a dangerous place that wasn’t safe for its citizens. The tense bilateral relationship has also meant that some Chinese students are opting to study in the UK or other countries over the US after the pandemic.
Zou Renge, a 27-year-old public policy master’s student at the University of Chicago, said she had planned to take some time off and work in humanitarian aid programs abroad after graduating at the end of this year.
But now, she will refrain from leaving the US and will look for jobs in the meantime. “In a very uncertain environment, I’ll try my best to find myself a solution,” she said.
Hong Kong seeks to draw in talent amid uncertainty
Some were eager to capitalize on the uncertainty facing international students in the US Hong Kong’s leader John Lee told lawmakers on Thursday that the city would welcome any students who have been discriminated against by American policies to study in the city.
“The students who face unfair treatment can come from different countries beyond the US I think this is an opportunity for Hong Kong,” he said. “We will work with our universities to provide the best support and assistance.”
That followed a widely shared post by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) inviting Harvard students to “continue their academic pursuits” there after Trump said he would revoke the university’s ability to accept international students.
Hong Kong, a former British colony that returned to China in 1997, is a popular destination for mainland Chinese students to pursue their university degrees because of its international image and relative freedoms.
The city launched a new visa scheme in 2022 to counter the exodus of expatriates and local professionals that occurred after Beijing imposed a national security law to quell dissent and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Multiple Hong Kong universities including the Chinese University of Hong Kong, HKUST, and City University of Hong Kong said they would streamline or facilitate applications for international students coming from top universities in the US
Will Kwong, managing director at Hong Kong’s AAS Education Consultancy, said his company was helping students with offers from American universities to apply to other institutions, predominantly in Britain and Australia, so that they had alternative choices.
US was known for diversity and this will hurt it, students say
“Having fewer international exchanges is definitely not good for America’s development,” said Zhang Qi, a postdoctoral fellow in Beijing. “This could be a positive change for China’s development. More talented individuals may choose to stay at Tsinghua or Peking University, or with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and other top institutions in China, which would benefit the development of domestic science and technology.”
For many, there is little they can do as they now wait for the fallout from the move.
Chen, an incoming Chinese student at Purdue University who only gave his last name out of concern for retaliation by the Trump administration, has been waiting anxiously for his visa approval. But he was also angry. Currently in China, he said this was the exact opposite of what he thought the US stood for.
“I was expecting freedom and tolerance. The US was known for its diversity which allows international students to fit in, but it is a pity to see such kind of change,” he said.
Russia says no response from Ukraine on Istanbul talks
- Moscow has shown no signs of easing its bombardment of Ukraine while rebuffing calls for an immediate ceasefire
- “We need to wait for a response from the Ukrainian side,” Peskov said
MOSCOW: Russia on Thursday said it was still waiting for Ukraine to say whether it would attend peace talks in Istanbul on Monday, after Kyiv demanded Moscow send its peace terms before agreeing to the meeting.
Diplomatic efforts to end the three-year conflict have gained pace in recent months, but Moscow has shown no signs of easing its bombardment of Ukraine while rebuffing calls for an immediate ceasefire.
Moscow has offered to hold a second round of direct talks with Ukraine in Istanbul on June 2, where it wants to present a so-called “memorandum” outlining its conditions for a long-term peace settlement.
But Ukraine said the meeting would not yield results unless it saw a copy of the memorandum in advance, a proposal that the Kremlin dismissed.
“As far as I know, no response has been received yet... we need to wait for a response from the Ukrainian side,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, calling Kyiv’s demand that Russia provide peace conditions up front as “non-constructive.”
Ukraine said it had already submitted its peace terms to Russia and demanded Moscow do the same.
Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on Russia and Ukraine not to “shut the door” on dialogue ahead of the anticipated meeting in Istanbul.
The warring sides previously met in Istanbul on May 16, their first direct talks in over three years.
Those talks failed to yield a breakthrough, but the two sides did agree to trade 1,000 prisoners each — their biggest POW swap since the beginning of the conflict.
Erdogan’s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, who met Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Monday, was expected to travel to Kyiv on Thursday to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
US President Donald Trump, who has been pushing for a peace deal, has become increasingly frustrated with Moscow’s apparent stalling and warned Wednesday he would determine within “about two weeks” whether Putin was serious about ending the fighting.
Moscow’s offensive, launched in February 2022, has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and the destruction of large parts of eastern and southern Ukraine.
Ukraine on Thursday criticized Russia’s refusal to provide the memorandum.
“The Russians’ fear of sending their memorandum to Ukraine suggests that it is likely filled with unrealistic ultimatums,” foreign ministry spokesman Georgiy Tykhy said.
The Kremlin has been grinding forward on the battlefield for over a year while pushing its demands for peace, which include Ukraine abandoning its NATO ambitions and ceding territory it already controls.
Local authorities in Ukraine said Thursday that Russia had fired 90 drones overnight, killing at
least five people across the country.
In southern Ukraine, a drone strike killed two civilians in the Kherson region, while a ballistic missile attack claimed the life of a farm worker in the Mykolaiv region.
In the eastern Donetsk region, shelling killed one civilian, according to a 24-hour tally from the National Police.
A 68-year-old man was killed by a drone strike on his home in the northeastern Sumy region, which borders Russia.
In his comments on Wednesday, Trump told reporters he was “very disappointed” at Russia’s deadly bombardment during the negotiating process, but rebuffed calls to impose more sanctions on Moscow.
Kyiv has accused Russia of deliberately stalling the peace process to pursue its offensive.
Zelensky said Russia was “amassing” more than 50,000 troops on the front line around Sumy, where Moscow’s army has captured a number of settlements as it seeks to establish what Putin has called a “buffer zone” inside Ukrainian territory.
On Thursday, the Russian army said it captured three villages in the Donetsk and Kharkiv regions and had repelled 48 Ukrainian drones, including three over the Moscow region.
A retired Russian commander who led air strikes on the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol died in a blast early Thursday in Stavropol in southern Russia, authorities said, adding that they did not rule out Ukrainian involvement.
US signals it may use administrative process against Harvard
- Harvard has 30 days to respond
- The notice came ahead of a scheduled court hearing
NEW YORK: The Trump administration signaled on Thursday it might back off plans to immediately revoke Harvard University’s ability to enroll foreign students because of several concerns, including its alleged failure to police antisemitism on campus, and would instead employ a lengthier administrative process.
According to a court filing, the US Department of Homeland Security sent Harvard a notice of intent on Wednesday to withdraw the university’s certification under the federal Student and Exchange Visitor Program. Harvard has 30 days to respond.
The notice came ahead of a scheduled court hearing on whether to extend a temporary ban on the revocation announced by US President Donald Trump’s administration last week.
Pope Leo XIV visits Vatican’s hilltop summer residence that Francis turned into museum
- The center is located in the gardens of the Vatican’s Castel Gandolfo property on Lake Alban
- Pope Urban VIII built the palace on the northern end of town in 1624
ROME: Pope Leo XIV visited the papal summer palace south of Rome on Thursday as questions swirled whether he will use it himself to escape the heat or follow in Pope Francis’ footsteps and keep the hilltop estate as a museum and environmental center.
Leo paid a visit to the Borgo Laudato Si, an educational sustainability project that grew out of Francis’ 2015 environmental encyclical “Praised Be,” the Vatican said. The center is located in the gardens of the Vatican’s Castel Gandolfo property on Lake Alban in the hills south of Rome.
Pope Urban VIII built the palace on the northern end of town in 1624, to give popes an escape from the sweltering Roman summers. It was enlarged over succeeding pontificates to its present size of 55 hectares (136 acres), which is actually bigger than Vatican City itself.
Popes past used it regularly in summer, and Pope Benedict XVI famously closed out his papacy in the estate on Feb. 28, 2013. But Francis, a homebody who never took a proper vacation during his 12-year pontificate, decided to remain in Rome in summer.
In 2014 he decided to open Castel Gandolfo’s gardens to the public, and later turned part of the palazzo itself into a museum, in part to help offset the economic downturn the town experienced with no popes holding weekly Sunday prayers there in summer.
Leo, a former missionary priest who spent the bulk of his priesthood in Peru, hasn’t said where he will live full-time in Rome, much less whether he will use the palace as a summer getaway.
The sustainability project, which is open to the public, has taken over operations of the working farm in the gardens of the estate, which includes 20 hectares (50 acres) of agricultural and farming land, greenhouses and service buildings.
The farm, which provides dairy and fresh produce to the Vatican, aims to create a “circular economy” in keeping with the call of Francis’ encyclical to better care for God’s creation.
