French workers strike against austerity as Macron faces pressure over budget cuts
Hundreds of thousands of workers, students and pharmacists walked out across France on Thursday in nationwide protests against austerity plans, piling...
Cuba has called for the United Nations to stop the United States from starting a war in the region, amid rising tensions due to a military build-up in the Caribbean to counter drug cartels.
Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez made the announcement on Wednesday (17 September).
“I call on the United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council to fulfill their obligations and to exercise their prerogatives under the mandate of the Charter to preserve peace in our region,” Rodriguez told a press conference in Havana to launch its annual campaign for a United Nations resolution condemning the trade embargo.
The foreign minister said fighting drug trafficking in the name of U.S. national security was a “crude and ridiculous pretext” for aggression.
“The United States is today the main financial centre and the primary centre for money laundering of foreign assets that originate from transnational organised crime, fundamentally drug trafficking,” he charged.
Tensions have been mounting between Washington and Venezuela, Cuba’s most important political and economic ally, after U.S. military strikes in the Caribbean on three boats out of Venezuela that it claimed were carrying drugs.
“The interception and destruction of boats, the extrajudicial killing of civilians, the interception of fishing vessels ... create a dangerous situation that threatens peace and security,” Rodriguez said.
For the last 32 years the United Nations General Assembly has overwhelmingly passed a non-binding resolution calling on the United States to lift its comprehensive sanctions regime on Cuba.
Rodriguez said “what is new this year is an international context characterised by increasing unilateralism ... and the strengthening of the U.S. aggressive policy against Cuba and against virtually every country on the planet.”
President Donald Trump has doubled down on sanctions, returning Cuba to a U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism, tightening financial and travel restrictions and sanctioning third country nationals who host Cuban doctors.
Rodriguez blamed sanctions for the gruelling crisis the country is mired in, the worst economic downturn in decades characterised by shortages of basic goods, collapsing infrastructure and runaway inflation.
The Trump administration blames Cuba’s Communist system.
AnewZ has learned that India has once again blocked Azerbaijan’s application for full membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, while Pakistan’s recent decision to consider diplomatic relations with Armenia has been coordinated with Baku as part of Azerbaijan’s peace agenda.
A day of mourning has been declared in Portugal to pay respect to victims who lost their lives in the Lisbon Funicular crash which happened on Wednesday evening.
A Polish Air Force pilot was killed on Thursday when an F-16 fighter jet crashed during a training flight ahead of the 2025 Radom International Air Show.
At least eight people have died and more than 90 others were injured following a catastrophic gas tanker explosion on a major highway in Mexico City’s Iztapalapa district on Wednesday, authorities confirmed.
Hundreds of thousands of workers, students and pharmacists walked out across France on Thursday in nationwide protests against austerity plans, piling pressure on President Emmanuel Macron’s government.
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief: here are the top news stories for the 18th of September, covering the latest developments you need to know.
Thai police have fired tear gas and rubber bullets at Cambodian civilians in a disputed border area on Wednesday, authorities in both countries said. It's the most significant escalation since they declared a ceasefire to end a deadly five-day conflict in July.
Denmark did not invite the U.S. military to take part in Arctic Light 2025, the largest military exercise in Greenland's modern history, as NATO allies step up defence cooperation in the Arctic amid U.S. interest in the island.
NATO has strengthened its security to safeguard undersea infrastructure, since a suspected sabotage in January this year in the Baltic Sea. The alliance now deploys air and naval patrols, and warns that attacks will not go unpunished.
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