CUBA
End to embargo urged
Colombian Vice President Francia Marquez on Thursday began her two-day visit to Havana with a call for Washington to remove Cuba from its list of state sponsors of terrorism and to lift its decades-long embargo on the Communist nation. Attending the inaugural Havana International Book Fair, Marquez said that “a country that bets on peace cannot be a country that finds itself on a war list.” Cuba has contributed “enormously to Colombia’s progress in finding peace,” said Marquez, a former human rights activist who is her nation’s first Afro-Colombian vice president and who once fled to the island nation after facing death threats. She referred to Cuba’s hosting of peace talks that ended more than five decades of civil war in Colombia.
PAKISTAN
IMF talks sputter
An IMF team yesterday left Pakistan after crisis talks with the government failed to deliver a deal on financial aid that would have helped the South Asian country avert economic collapse. After months of deadlock, the IMF arrived last week for last-ditch negotiations with a government fearing the political consequences of enforcing bailout conditions in an election year. Pakistan’s economy is in dire straits, stricken by a crisis in balance of payments as it attempts to service high levels of external debt amid political chaos and deteriorating security. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called the conditions for the US$1.2 billion loan instalment “beyond imagination.” Analysts said that rejecting conditions and pushing Pakistan to the brink risks bankruptcy and default on loan repayments. The IMF wants Pakistan to boost its low tax base, end tax exemptions for the export sector, and raise artificially low gasoline and prices meant to help low-income families.
SOUTH KOREA
China COVID-19 curbs end
South Korea yesterday said it would resume issuing short-term visas to travelers from China, ending a COVID-19 restriction that sparked a furious response and tit-for-tat measures from Beijing. Seoul last month imposed travel requirements, including visa restrictions and testing, on all visitors from China. However, the rate of passengers from China testing positive on arrival had dropped to 1.4 percent last week, down from 20 percent when the curbs were first introduced, Seoul said. The restrictions are to be removed today, the country’s disease control center said in a statement. The removal reflects that China has shown “no signs of new coronavirus spread or mutations after the Lunar New Year holidays,” it said.
UKRAINE
Zelenskiy honored by France
France’s highest medal of distinction, the Legion of Honor, has been bestowed on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin holding the same medal poses a dilemma for French President Emmanuel Macron, who pinned the Grand Cross medal on Zelenskiy’s chest after the two met in the French presidential palace on Thursday. Some French legislators and activists have called on Macron to rescind Putin’s award because of the war. Macron did not rule out stripping Putin of the honor bestowed by then-French president Jacques Chirac in 2006. Macron yesterday told reporters that such a decision “has serious meaning, and it should be taken at the right moment.’’ It would not be the first time Macron has rescinded the honor, as he did with Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, who was convicted of several instances of rape and sexual assault, and disgraced Tour de France cyclist Lance Armstrong.
Brazil, the world’s largest Roman Catholic country, saw its Catholic population decline further in 2022, while evangelical Christians and those with no religion continued to rise, census data released on Friday by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) showed. The census indicated that Brazil had 100.2 million Roman Catholics in 2022, accounting for 56.7 percent of the population, down from 65.1 percent or 105.4 million recorded in the 2010 census. Meanwhile, the share of evangelical Christians rose to 26.9 percent last year, up from 21.6 percent in 2010, adding 12 million followers to reach 47.4 million — the highest figure
A Chinese scientist was arrested while arriving in the US at Detroit airport, the second case in days involving the alleged smuggling of biological material, authorities said on Monday. The scientist is accused of shipping biological material months ago to staff at a laboratory at the University of Michigan. The FBI, in a court filing, described it as material related to certain worms and requires a government permit. “The guidelines for importing biological materials into the US for research purposes are stringent, but clear, and actions like this undermine the legitimate work of other visiting scholars,” said John Nowak, who leads field
Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg was deported from Israel yesterday, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, the day after the Israeli navy prevented her and a group of fellow pro-Palestinian activists from sailing to Gaza. Thunberg, 22, was put on a flight to France, the ministry said, adding that she would travel on to Sweden from there. Three other people who had been aboard the charity vessel also agreed to immediate repatriation. Eight other crew members are contesting their deportation order, Israeli rights group Adalah, which advised them, said in a statement. They are being held at a detention center ahead of a
‘THE RED LINE’: Colombian President Gustavo Petro promised a thorough probe into the attack on the senator, who had announced his presidential bid in March Colombian Senator Miguel Uribe Turbay, a possible candidate in the country’s presidential election next year, was shot and wounded at a campaign rally in Bogota on Saturday, authorities said. His conservative Democratic Center party released a statement calling it “an unacceptable act of violence.” The attack took place in a park in the Fontibon neighborhood when armed assailants shot him from behind, said the right-wing Democratic Center, which was the party of former Colombian president Alvaro Uribe. The men are not related. Images circulating on social media showed Uribe Turbay, 39, covered in blood being held by several people. The Santa Fe Foundation
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