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LONDON (AP) — A senior member of the British government said Tuesday that Ye should “absolutely not” play the Wireless Festival, as the rapper formerly known as Kanye West offered to meet members of the U.K.’s Jewish community and show he has changed since provoking outrage with antisemitic statements.

Ye, who changed his name in 2021, is booked to perform in front of around 150,000 revelers over three nights, July 10-12, at the open-air festival in London’s Finsbury Park.

Organizers are under mounting pressure from sponsors and politicians to cancel the gigs by the rapper, who has drawn widespread condemnation for making antisemitic remarks and voicing admiration for Adolf Hitler.

Last year, he released a song called “Heil Hitler” and advertised a swastika T-shirt for sale on his website. The 48-year-old apologized in January with a letter, published as a full-page advertisement in the Wall Street Journal. He said his bipolar disorder led him to fall into “a four-month long, manic episode of psychotic, paranoid and impulsive behavior that destroyed my life.”

Wireless sponsors Pepsi, Rockstar Energy and Diageo have pulled out of the festival since Ye was announced as the headliner, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the booking “deeply concerning.”

In a statement Tuesday, Ye said he “would be grateful for the opportunity to meet with members of the Jewish community in the U.K. in person, to listen.

“I know words aren’t enough — I’ll have to show change through my actions,” he said. “If you’re open, I’m here.”

Organizer Festival Republic stood by Ye. In a statement issued Monday, managing director Melvin Benn urged people to offer the performer “forgiveness and hope.”

“We are not giving him a platform to extol opinion of whatever nature, only to perform the songs that are currently played on the radio stations in our country and the streaming platforms in our country and listened to and enjoyed by millions,” the statement said.

U.K. Health Secretary Wes Streeting dismissed the organizers’ statement as “absurd” and said Ye should “absolutely not” perform at Wireless. He said Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is considering whether to ban the rapper from entering the U.K.

Benn acknowledged that Mahmood had the power to revoke Ye’s visa to come to Britain.

“If she does, she does, and then the issue is over,” he told the BBC on Tuesday.

A representative for Ye didn’t reply to a request for comment.

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By Khanh Vu, Phuong Nguyen and Francesco Guarascio

HANOI, April 7 (Reuters) – Vietnam’s lawmakers on Tuesday unanimously elected Communist Party Secretary General To Lam as the country’s state president for the next five years, making him the most powerful Vietnamese leader in decades.

The widely anticipated move marks a break from Vietnam’s traditional collective leadership system, consolidating authority in one figure in ways analysts say could tilt the one‑party state toward greater authoritarianism, while also enabling faster decision making, similar to its neighbour China.

The parliament said on its website that all 495 deputies present at Tuesday’s National Assembly session endorsed the Communist Party’s nomination, while five lawmakers were absent. Officials have said the nominations for top state leadership posts were finalised in a meeting in late March.

The former head of public security now has a double mandate to rule the country for the next five years, after he secured a second term as general secretary in January. 

In another largely expected move later on Tuesday, the parliament also unanimously elected Le Minh Hung as the country’s new prime minister.   

LAM PLEDGES NEW GROWTH MODEL  

After the vote, Lam told deputies in a televised address that it was an honour to hold both posts and pledged “a new growth model with science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation as the primary driving forces”.

He said his top priorities were to maintain stability, promote rapid and sustainable national development and improve “all aspects of people’s lives”.

“Concentrating greater power in To Lam’s hands could pose risks to Vietnam’s political system, such as increased authoritarianism,” said Le Hong Hiep, senior fellow at the ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore.

However, such consolidation “could enable Vietnam to formulate and implement policies more quickly and effectively,” supporting growth, he said.

The combination of the two roles “will shift Vietnam’s domestic politics to a new normal where most of the old assumptions about Vietnam’s politics, including those about collective leadership, are no longer valid,” said Alexander Vuving of the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in the United States.

Lam held both posts for a period of a few months following the death in 2024 of the late party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.

Even after relinquishing the state presidency in favour of army general Luong Cuong, Lam often acted as if he had retained the role, travelling extensively and representing the country in meetings with foreign leaders. 

REFORMIST, BACKS NATIONAL CHAMPIONS

In his first stint as party chief, 68-year-old Lam launched sweeping economic reforms designed to make Vietnam more competitive, which drew both praise and criticism. 

Lam wants to pursue double-digit growth through a new development model that is less reliant on low-cost manufacturing, long the backbone of Vietnam’s export-driven boom led by foreign multinationals.

His moves have at times unsettled the administration and businesses, but he has shown a pragmatic flexibility in executing them. 

He has supported the expansion of private conglomerates, but before his reappointment, also issued a directive emphasising the leading role of state-owned enterprises in a bid to reassure party traditionalists.

Foreign investors have often praised political stability and see Lam as a pro‑business leader. However, his backing of national champions and push for breakneck growth have raised concerns among some about favouritism, corruption risks, asset bubbles and waste.

In foreign policy, Lam has maintained Vietnam’s “Bamboo Diplomacy” and sought to balance relations with major powers while expanding international partnerships.

“Lam’s double-hat would not signal any changes in Vietnam’s foreign policy, even if there are concerns that Vietnam is concentrating more power in a single individual,” said Khang Vu, a visiting scholar at Boston College.

FORMER CENTRAL BANK HEAD BECOMES PM

Newly-elected prime minister Hung, 55, served as central bank governor from 2016 to 2020, becoming the youngest person to hold the post.

He replaces Pham Minh Chinh, 67, who presided over a fast-expanding economy during his five-year term, and was one of Vietnam’s most visible leaders, both at home and abroad, thanks to frequent overseas trips and participation in international summits. 

Hung has kept a low profile in his roles at the party and the central bank.

Though not formally trained as an economist, Hung’s nomination is seen by some officials as an attempt to inject economic expertise into the top layers of the administration, which has been dominated by politicians with security backgrounds.

In his post-election address to lawmakers, Hung pledged to pursue sustainable growth and do his best to meet the party’s ambitious annual economic growth goal of at least 10% through to 2030.

He has no personal background in security, but his family is closely linked to the ministry Lam once led: Hung’s father was public security minister, and two brothers are generals of security forces.

(Reporting by Khanh Vu, Phuong Nguyen and Francesco Guarascio; Editing by David Stanway)

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MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australia’s most decorated living veteran, Ben Roberts-Smith, faces war crime charges on allegations that he killed five unarmed Afghans while serving in Afghanistan from 2009 and 2012, police and media reported on Tuesday.

Police have not confirmed the name of the 47-year-old former soldier who was arrested Tuesday. But he has been widely reported in the media to be Roberts-Smith, a former Special Air Service Regiment corporal who was awarded both the Victoria Cross and Medal of Gallantry for his service in Afghanistan.

Police charged him Tuesday with five counts of war crime murder. He will remain in custody overnight and make his first court appearance on Wednesday, a police statement said.

He will potentially apply for release on bail Wednesday.

Roberts-Smith is only the second Australian veteran of the Afghanistan campaign to be charged with a war crime.

Former SAS soldier Oliver Schulz, 44, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of war crime murder. He is accused of shooting Afghan man Dad Mohammad three times in the head in an Uruzgan province wheat field in May 2012.

War crime murder carries a potential sentence of life in prison. It’s a federal crime in Australia, defined as the intentional killing in the context of armed conflict of a person who is not taking an active part in hostilities, such as civilians, prisoners of war or wounded soldiers.

Police arrested Roberts-Smith at Sydney Airport on Tuesday after he arrived on a flight from Brisbane, Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett said.

“It will be alleged that the victims were not taking part in hostilities at the time of their alleged murder in Afghanistan. It will be alleged the victims were detained, unarmed and were under the control of ADF members when they were killed,” Barrett told reporters, referring to the Australian Defense Force.

“It will be alleged the victims were shot by the accused or shot by subordinate members of the ADF in the presence of and acting on the orders of the accused,” Barrett added.

A civil court has already found similar allegations against Roberts-Smith credible in a defamation suit he brought after several newspapers published articles in 2018 accusing him of a range of war crimes. In 2023, a federal judge rejected Roberts-Smith’s claims and ruled that he likely killed four noncombatants unlawfully in 2009 and 2012. But while the civil court found the war crimes allegations were mostly proved on a balance of probabilities, the new charges would have to be proved in a criminal court to a higher standard of beyond reasonable doubt. In September, Australia’s High Court said it would not hear an appeal, ending his chances of overturning the ruling.

The charges follow a military report released in 2020 that found evidence that elite Australian SAS and commando regiment troops unlawfully killed 39 Afghan prisoners, farmers and other noncombatants.

Barrett said few soldiers were involved in the new allegations.

“The alleged conduct related to these charges is confined to a very small section of our trusted and respected ADF which helps keep this country safe,” Barrett said.

“The overwhelming majority of our ADF do our country proud. Today’s charges are not reflective of the majority of members who serve under our Australian flag with honor, with distinction and with the values of a democratic nation,” she added.

The Office of the Special Investigator was established to work with police on the war crime allegations. The office’s director of investigations Ross Barnett said allegations of 53 war crimes had been investigated and 39 of those investigations had concluded without charges. Around 40,000 Australian military personnel served in Afghanistan between 2001 and 2021, of whom 41 were killed.

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PARIS, April 7 (Reuters) – A French high-speed train crashed on Tuesday morning into a truck carrying military equipment at a level crossing near Calais, killing the train driver, a spokesperson for the local prefecture said.

The spokesperson said several others were injured, confirming an earlier report from a union representative.

French transport minister Philippe Tabarot also confirmed the train crash in a post on X, adding that he would be going to the scene of the accident.

State-owned railway operator SNCF said on its X account that the accident had occurred at a level crossing between the towns of Bethune and Lens, and that traffic had been interrupted.

(Reporting by Inti Landauro and Sophie Louet; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)

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By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK, April 6 (Reuters) – Venezuela’s government and its political opposition are seeking to coordinate their legal defense of the oil-rich country’s United States assets, after Washington’s official recognition of interim President Delcy Rodriguez raised questions about who could represent the country in U.S. courts. 

Lawyers for Rodriguez’s government and the opposition asked Manhattan-based U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn on Monday to pause for 45 days a case in which creditors are seeking to seize funds linked to state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela while they determined who would represent Venezuela’s interests. 

The letter signaled potential cooperation between the opposition and Rodriguez’s government in the safeguarding of U.S. assets including Houston-based oil refiner Citgo Petroleum from creditors, including holders of debt issued by PDVSA and Venezuela’s government, companies whose Venezuelan assets were expropriated, and victims of acts of alleged terrorism.

Venezuela’s information ministry, which handles media requests on the government’s behalf, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.  

Relations between the opposition and Venezuela’s socialist government have long been acrimonious. The opposition has controlled U.S. assets including Citgo since 2019, when Washington first imposed sanctions on PDVSA in a bid to pressure now-jailed President Nicolas Maduro to leave office. 

Washington in March recognized Rodriguez as Venezuela’s leader, following the capture of Maduro by U.S. forces. She is now preparing to take over the boards of PDVSA’s U.S. subsidiaries including Citgo, Reuters reported on April 1, citing four people close to the preparations.

The U.S. recognition of Rodriguez’s government prompted Netburn to ask the parties to the lawsuit to clarify who had authority to represent Venezuela in court.

Netburn on Monday granted the request to pause the case. Lawyers for the government and opposition are expected to update her on the selection of a lawyer to permanently represent Venezuela’s interests by May 21.  

(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Bill Berkrot)

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CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Delcy Rodríguez remained Venezuela’s acting president on Monday, exceeding the 90-day limit on her temporary role set by the country’s high court following the U.S. capture of Nicolás Maduro in January.

However, it’s unclear how much longer she will keep the post as lawmakers have not taken a public vote to extend her term past last Friday’s deadline.

According to the court order, Maduro is still officially Venezuela’s president and his “forced” absence resulting from a “kidnapping” makes it temporarily impossible for him to fulfill his duties.

Under Venezuela’s constitution, according to an article referenced by the court, temporary absences are to be filled by the vice president — which was Rodríguez’s former role — for up to 90 days. These interim appointments can be extended by the national assembly for an additional 90 days.

The National Assembly, controlled by Rodríguez’s party, can trigger a snap election if lawmakers declare the post permanently vacant.

The government’s press office did not respond to requests for comment.

Ronal Rodríguez, a researcher at the Venezuela Observatory in Colombia’s Universidad del Rosario, said the government, particularly after Maduro took office in 2013, has previously used legal interpretations to remain in power.

“And it would be no surprise if they did so again now,” he said. “They will most likely try to come up with some kind of explanation, such as it being Good Friday or the way the days were counted, but in the end, everything will be validated by a ruling from the Supreme Tribunal of Justice.”

Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured Jan. 3 in Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, and taken to New York to face drug trafficking charges. Both have pleaded not guilty.

Rodríguez and other ruling-party leaders have demanded that the pair be released from custody, calling their detention a kidnapping. Billboards and murals across Caracas also echo that same demand.

The Trump administration stunned Venezuelans by choosing to work with Rodríguez following Maduro’s ouster, instead of the country’s political opposition. She has since led cooperation with the administration’s phased plan to end Venezuela’s complex crisis, pitching her oil-rich nation to international investors and opening its energy sector to private capital and international arbitration. Rodríguez has also replaced senior officials, including Maduro’s faithful defense minister and attorney general.

U.S. President Donald Trump has praised her work.

The U.S. Treasury Department last week lifted sanctions on Rodríguez, while the U.S. State Department last month recognized her as the “sole Head of State” of Venezuela.

The United States stopped recognizing Maduro as Venezuela’s legitimate leader in 2019, the year after he claimed reelection victory in a contest widely considered a sham as opposition parties and candidates were barred from participating.

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WASHINGTON, April 6 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday told reporters that Iran could be taken out in one night, “and that night might be tomorrow night,” warning Tehran it had to make a deal by Tuesday night or face wider bombing raids.

Trump had earlier vowed to enforce a Tuesday night deadline for Iran to agree to a ceasefire deal or face broad attacks on power plants and other critical infrastructure. Trump is demanding Iran forswear nuclear weapons and reopen the Strait of Hormuz oil transit waterway.

“The entire country can be taken out in one night, and that night might be tomorrow night,” Trump told a White House press conference.

“I hope I don’t have to do it,” Trump said.

Critics have said Trump would be committing war crimes if the U.S. attacked civilian power plants, a point that Trump dismissed on Monday.

“I’m not worried about it. You know what’s a war crime? Having a nuclear weapon,” Trump said earlier on Monday during an Easter egg event for children on the White House South Lawn.

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth told the briefing that the largest volume of strikes since day one of the operation against Iran would take place on Monday and warned Tuesday would have even more.

RESCUE OPERATION

Trump, joined by Hegseth and other top national security advisers, described in detail the weekend U.S. operation to recover a downed American airman who hid in mountainous Iranian terrain and eluded capture by Iranian forces.

He said the airman, identified only by “Dude 44 Bravo,” kept climbing higher in order to improve the chances for recovery. He said the airman was seen moving via an unidentified U.S. camera link. “It was like finding a needle in a haystack,” Trump said.

Hundreds of American forces were involved in the search and recovery mission and to prevent the Iranians from finding him first, he said.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe, who joined Trump at the event, said the agency had engaged in a “deception campaign” to convince the Iranians the airman was somewhere else.

Ratcliffe said that on Saturday morning the CIA got confirmation that “one of America’s best and bravest was alive and concealed in a mountain crevice, still invisible to the enemy, but not to the CIA.”

The pilot, shot down on Friday, was recovered on Sunday morning.

“In a breathtaking show of skill and precision, lethality and force, America’s military descended on the area, the real area, engaged the enemy, rescued the stranded officer, destroyed all threats and exited Iranian territory while taking no casualties of any kind,” Trump said.

Hegseth said the lost airman used an emergency transponder to show where he was and his first message was: “God is good.”

General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the recovered airman had been the “back seater” on the downed aircraft.

“In this case, the back seater’s absolute commitment to surviving made much of our efforts possible,” Caine said.

‘WILLING TO SUFFER’

Trump said, without providing evidence, that the United States has “numerous intercepts” from Iranian civilians urging the U.S. not to let up in trying to dislodge the Iranian government from power.

“They would be willing to suffer that in order to have freedom,” Trump said.

Speaking to reporters earlier at a White House Easter event, Trump said a proposal offered by Iran was inadequate.

“They made a proposal, and it’s a significant proposal. It’s a significant step. It’s not good enough,” Trump told reporters during the Easter event at the White House.

Trump said the five-week conflict could end quickly if Iran does “what they have to do.”

“They have to do certain things. They know that, they’ve been negotiating I think in good faith,” he said.

(Reporting by Nandita Bose and Steve Holland; Editing by David Ljunggren, Michelle Nichols and Deepa Babington)

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By Max Hunder and Daniel Flynn

April 6 (Reuters) – Fire Point, maker of Ukraine’s Flamingo cruise missile, is in talks with European companies to launch a new air defence system by next year, a senior executive told Reuters, creating a low-cost alternative to the increasingly hard-to-get Patriot system.

With governments seeking to defend their skies as the wars in Ukraine and Iran sow global instability, Fire Point’s co-founder and chief designer Denys Shtilierman said it aimed to slash the cost of intercepting a ballistic missile to below $1 million.

Shtilierman also said Fire Point was awaiting government approval for an investment by a Middle Eastern conglomerate that valued the company at $2.5 billion and would open the door to new business opportunities, including low-orbit satellite launches.

Years of know-how gained on the battlefield fighting Russian forces have made Ukraine a leading innovator in low-cost defence tech. With the outbreak of war in the Gulf, Kyiv has leveraged that expertise to sign security agreements with governments across the region.

Many Ukrainian defence firms are now seeking to export their excess capacity and cash in on a global boom in military spending. While the government recently loosened wartime export restrictions, each proposed deal is still subject to stringent checks and state approval.

DEVELOPING AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE PATRIOT SYSTEM

Ukraine and many other Western-allied nations rely heavily on the U.S.-made Patriot system to stop ballistic missiles.

But Patriot missiles are in increasingly short supply amid extensive deployment in the Gulf against Iranian attacks. And Europe’s only anti-ballistic system, the Italo-French SAMP/T, is produced in relatively small numbers.

To bring down a ballistic projectile, the Patriot system – manufactured by Raytheon and Lockheed Martin – often requires two or three air defence missiles, each costing several million dollars, Shtilierman said. 

“If we can decrease it to less than $1 million, it will be … a game changer in air defence solutions,” he said in an interview. “We plan to intercept the first ballistic missile at the end of 2027.” 

Shtilierman declined to name the European companies involved in the discussions to develop the new system but said Fire Point is “deeply interested” in collaboration on radar, missile target-seeking and communications systems – areas where it lacks expertise.

European companies including Weibel, Hensoldt, SAAB and Thales have good radar solutions, he noted.

Founded after Moscow’s 2022 invasion, Fire Point is Ukraine’s biggest maker of the long-range drones used in the majority of strikes deep inside Russia.

In recent months, its FP5 long-range cruise missile – commonly known as the Flamingo – has also been used to hit Russian military facilities and arms factories, including a ballistic missile plant nearly 1,400 km (870 miles) inside Russian territory.

Shtilierman said Fire Point was now in the final stages of developing two supersonic ballistic missiles. 

The smaller FP-7 missile, with a range of around 300 km, will have its first military deployment “in the close future”, he said, describing it as similar to Lockheed Martin’s ATACMS short-range ballistic system.

The larger FP-9, capable of carrying an 800 kg warhead up to 850 km, is about to enter testing and would place Moscow within range of Ukraine’s ballistic arsenal, he added.

Shtilierman said strikes on Moscow, which is ringed by some of the world’s most formidable air defences, would cause a “mass shift in the Russian mind and the mind of top guys in Russia.”

Russia’s defence ministry did not respond to a request for comment. 

Fabian Hoffmann, a missile expert and senior researcher at the Norwegian Defence University College, said that, while Russia has experience in successfully downing ATACMS, more widespread use of ballistic missiles could stretch Russian air defences, already degraded by Ukrainian strikes.

And while Fire Point’s 2027 target for launching a low-cost air defence system was “ambitious”, he said that, beyond Ukraine’s own military needs, there would be strong demand from governments even if its kill rates per missile were less effective than the Patriot’s.

UAE INVESTMENT COULD START SATELLITE VENTURE

Ukraine’s anti-monopoly authority has until around October to decide on the proposed $760-million acquisition of a 30% stake in Fire Point by the Middle Eastern investor, Shtilierman said.

Ukrainian media have identified the suitor as Emirati defence firm Edge Group. Edge Group and Ukraine’s anti-monopoly authorities did not respond to a request for comment. 

The investment would be the first step in a project to build a space launch terminal in the UAE, with the aim of eventually establishing a constellation of low-orbit European satellites. Shtilierman said the country’s location next to the Indian Ocean and geographical conditions were favourable for space launches. 

“We built a carbon winding machine, which allows us to wind a big solid rocket booster for satellite delivery,” he said, noting the project remained at the conceptual stage although there were already agreements “with a couple of Western companies”.

Regardless of whether the UAE deal proceeds, Shtilierman said Fire Point would not take on further investors until after it had demonstrated success with its missile defence system, which will use the company’s FP7 missile. .

Fire Point has, meanwhile, received interest from Gulf states for purchases of its existing drone products and is awaiting approval from Ukraine’s government to begin exports. Shtilierman said the company has monthly capacity to export up to 2,500 long-range drones.

Exporting the Flamingo missile, however, is much more difficult due to regulatory barriers, he said.

Fire Point says it makes hundreds of long-range strike drones a day, each costing about 50,000 euros ($57,775) to produce, and three Flamingo missiles, at a cost of about 600,000 euros apiece. He acknowledged some “bottleneck” issues with the Flamingo, including with engine production.

Fire Point will increase production of the Flamingo when a new, in-house engine goes into mass production in October and a rocket fuel plant in Denmark comes online later this year, he said. The plant is awaiting two final approvals from Danish authorities.

($1 = 0.8654 euros)

(Editing by Joe Bavier)

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HAVANA (AP) — Two U.S lawmakers called for a permanent solution to Cuba’s crises after witnessing the effects of a U.S. energy blockade during an official visit to the island.

Democratic Reps. Pramila Jayapal of Washington and Jonathan Jackson of Illinois met with Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez and members of Parliament during a five-day trip that ended Sunday.

Díaz-Canel wrote on X Monday that upon meeting with Jayapal and Jackson, he “denounced the criminal damage caused by the #blockade, particularly the consequences of the energy embargo imposed by the current U.S. administration and its threats of even more aggressive actions.”

Díaz-Canel added: “I reiterated our government’s willingness to engage in serious and responsible bilateral dialogue and find solutions to our existing differences.”

Both the U.S. and Cuba have acknowledged recently that talks are ongoing at the highest level, but no details have been disclosed.

Jayapal told reporters she believes that recent steps taken by Cuba, such as opening the economy to certain investments by Cuban Americans living abroad; the recent announcement that more than 2,000 prisoners would be pardoned; and the arrival of an FBI team to collaborate in the investigation of a fatal shooting involving a U.S.-flagged boat, “indicate that the moment is here for us to have a real negotiation between the two countries and to reverse the failed U.S. policy of decades, a Cold War remnant that no longer serves the American people or the Cuban people.”

Cuba’s government has released the pardoned prisoners who were accused of a variety of crimes, although none so far appear to be political prisoners.

In late January, U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on any country that would sell or provide oil to Cuba, although he made an exception for a Russian ship that reached the island last week with 730,000 barrels of crude oil. It was the first petroleum shipment in three months to dock in Cuba, which produces only 40% of the oil it needs.

“This is cruel collective punishment — effectively an economic bombing of the infrastructure of the country — that has produced permanent damage. It must stop immediately,” Jayapal and Jackson said in a statement released Sunday.

Critical oil shipments from Venezuela were halted after the U.S. attacked the South American country in early January and arrested its then-leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Cubans already suffering from five years of economic crisis have acutely felt the impact of the fuel shortage: national blackouts, gasoline shortages and rationing, lack of public transport, cuts in working hours, paralyzed hospitals and surgeries, and suspension of flights, among other things.

Russia has promised a second delivery of petroleum, although it’s not clear when it might arrive. Experts have said that the first shipment could produce about 180,000 barrels of diesel, enough to feed Cuba’s daily demand for nine or 10 days.

Jayapal said that while such shipments are critical, they are only temporary solutions: “We need a longer, permanent solution for the Cuban people and the American people.”

Meanwhile, Jackson compared the blocking of the Strait of Hormuz off Iran’s coast to the oil blockade in Cuba, adding that the island “is the most sanctioned part of Earth.”

“Our government is fighting to keep the Strait of Hormuz open so there is a free flow of oil around the world. We want, for humanitarian reasons, a free flow of oil, fuel, and energy in our own hemisphere,” he said.

Jackson and Jayapal said they would prepare a report and continue to work on initiatives proposed by fellow members of the U.S. House of Representatives to lift sanctions against Cuba to alleviate the ongoing humanitarian crisis.

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Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

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By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Mahmoud Issa

CAIRO/GAZA, April 6 (Reuters) – An Israeli airstrike killed at least 10 people and wounded several others outside a school housing displaced Palestinians on Monday, health officials said, in the latest violence overshadowing the fragile U.S.-backed Gaza ceasefire deal.

Before the strikes, some Palestinians had clashed with members of an Israeli-backed militia, who they said attacked the school in an attempt to abduct some people, medics and residents said.

In the midst of the clashes, east of the Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, Israeli drones fired two missiles into the area, killing at least 10 people and wounding several others, they added.

It was not immediately clear how many civilians had been killed in the strikes, which hit in a closely packed neighborhood of mostly displaced Palestinians.

Ahmed al-Maghazi, an eyewitness, said their area was attacked by members of the Israeli-backed militia who operate in the territory adjacent to where the Israeli forces are in control, before the militia opened fire.

“The residents tried to defend their homes, but the occupation forces targeted them directly,” he told Reuters.

Later on Monday, a leader of one of the Israeli-backed militias said in a video, which Reuters couldn’t immediately authenticate, that they killed some five Hamas members .

There was no immediate comment from Hamas, which brands those groups that operate in areas under Israeli control as “Israeli collaborators.”

Earlier on Monday, an Israeli airstrike killed one Palestinian and wounded a child as they traveled on a motorbike in Gaza City, medics said. 

Medics said that Israeli forces killed another Palestinian when they opened fire on a vehicle in central Gaza, taking Monday’s death toll to at least 12.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment on any of the three incidents on Monday.

The Palestinian group Hamas, which has run Gaza since 2007, and Israel have traded blame over violations of the ceasefire that kicked off in October.

The Gaza health ministry says Israeli fire has killed at least 700 people since the ceasefire began. Israel says four soldiers have been killed by militants in Gaza over the same period.

The violence comes as Hamas has continued to resist relinquishing its weapons, a major obstacle in talks to implement the next steps in U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposed peace plan for Gaza. 

On Sunday, Hamas’ armed wing said that discussing the group’s disarmament before Israel fully implements the first phase of Trump’s Gaza plan was an attempt to continue what it called a genocide against the Palestinian people. 

Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel’s ensuing two-year campaign killed more than 72,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to Gazan health authorities.

The offensive spread famine, reduced most of the strip to rubble, and displaced the majority of its population.

(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo and Mahmoud Issa in Gaza.Editing by Keith Weir)

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