Headlines

 Miami, June 16 (CBS).─ Surrounded by Cuban dissidents and U.S. lawmakers, President Donald Trump signed off on changes to the United States’ policy with Cuba – a move meant to empower the Cuban people as opposed to enriching the Castro regime.

The president had vowed to undo parts of President Barack Obama’s policy that restored relations with Cuba especially when it came to travel and business.

“I am cancelling the previous administration’s completely one-sided deal with Cuba,” said President Trump while in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood. “Our policy will seek a much better deal for the Cuban people and for the United States of America…Our new policy begins with strictly enforcing U.S. law.”

Prague, June 15 (DP.net).─ Responding to the World Movement for Democracy’s 2015 Call for Democratic Renewal, the formation of a dynamic coalition of democratic leaders was announced in a statement entitled the “Prague Appeal for Democratic Renewal”, adopted on May 26, 2017. This statement comes ahead of the 21st Annual Forum 2000 Conference on "Strengthening Democracy in uncertain times", scheduled for October 8-10, 2017, which members of the coalition and other prominent intellectuals will attend.  

The coalition was formed in response to the alarming democratic recession observed in established democracies. As a result, “widespread anxiety, hostility to political elites, and cynicism about democracy” have been on the rise, paving the way for undemocratic political movements and parties to proliferate. To reverse the anti-democratic wave, the statement calls upon the global coalition to support the renewal of traditional democratic principles and fundamental freedoms.

Egypt is ceding control of the islands of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia   

Cairo, June 15.─ Egypt's parliament on Wednesday backed plans to hand over two uninhabited Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia under an agreement that has attracted widespread public criticism.

House of Representatives Speaker Ali Abdelaal said the required majority of lawmakers had voted for the agreement, which the government signed last year, despite a court striking it down in March.

US secretary of state testified that Barack Obama’s reforms effectively removed pressure from Raúl Castro’s regime to alter its behaviour

Rex Tillerson: ‘If we’re going to sustain the sunny side of this relationship, Cuba must –absolutely must– begin to address its human rights challenges.'

Washington DC, June 13.─ Cuba must end human rights violations if it wants the US to continue normalising relations, secretary of state Rex Tillerson has warned.

Donald Trump is expected to travel to Miami on Friday to announce reversals to elements of Barack Obama’s Cuba policy, which saw embassies reopen, direct flights resume and companies do business after half a century of cold war hostility.