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TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS
March 26 - April 1, 2016
World News
Obama tells Raul Castro: Cuban embargo is going to end U.S. President Barack Obama put the authoritarian government in Havana on the spot Monday, taking questions from reporters and insisting that his Cuban counterpart also deliver answers to pointed queries on human rights, political prisoners and economic reforms. Though they both acknowledged deep disagreements on these issues, the two leaders found common ground on the topic of the economic embargo on Cuba, which both want lifted. Obama went so far as to declare that “the embargo’s going to end,” though he couldn’t say when. In an extraordinary sign of the shifting attitudes, Castro was willing to answer one question on why his regime was keeping Cubans incarcerated for expressing anti-government views. But his response only underscored the schisms between himself and Obama. “Did you ask if we had political prisoners? Give me a list of political prisoners and I will release them immediately,” Castro said defensively when asked by CNN’s Jim Acosta why his government was incarcerating dissidents. Unaccustomed to press conferences, Castro at first appeared confused at whether the question was directed to him and later asked for it to be repeated as he juggled the headphones he wore to hear its translation. Later, Castro delivered a litany of areas where he said the U.S. was
Francis has enjoyed enormous goodwill since his papacy began. Cuban President Raul Castro (L) poses for a photograph with U.S. first lady Michelle Obama and US President Barack Obama.
failing, from inadequate health care to lower pay for women. He ended the unprecedented question-andanswer session after a second inquiry on human rights, saying he’d said “enough.” Obama, meanwhile, appeared to relish putting Castro on the spot, winking at the assembled journalists when it appeared Castro wasn’t going to answer his question. “Excuse me?” Obama said to prompt the Cuban leader. In his own message on human rights, Obama defended his decision to come to Cuba even as government dissent is punished. “We have decades of profound differences,” Obama said when asked what his message on human rights was during his “frank conversation” on the issue with Castro. “I told President Castro that we are moving
forward and not looking backwards.” “We will continue to stand up for basic principles that we believe in,” said Obama, who at points insisted that Castro answer the questions posed to him by American journalists. “America believes in democracy. We believe that freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, are not just American values but universal values.” Obama was speaking following an hours-long meeting with Castro at the Palace of the Revolution in Old Havana, his third meeting with the Cuban leader since work began to reopen diplomatic ties to the island. Castro, making a statement before the reporters’ questions, said that work toward improving economic conditions in his country was progressing. But he added that a longstanding trade embargo prevents a full restoration of ties.
Pope more popular than world leaders - poll POPE Francis is more popular than any political world leader, an opinion poll has suggested. The poll by WIN/Gallup International indicates that Roman Catholics and Jews have the most favourable opinion of the Pope. More than half of the world’s protestants and even the majority of atheists and agnostics view him favourably. About 1,000 people were questioned in 64 countries. BBC religious affairs correspondent Caroline Wyatt says that, three years into his papacy, Francis has enjoyed enormous goodwill and won the hearts and minds not just of Roman Catholics but also of people from other religions and the non-religious. Those taking part in the poll were asked: “Irrespective of your
own religion, do you have a very favourable, somewhat favourable, somewhat unfavourable or very unfavourable opinion of Pope Francis?” The Pope was most popular with Roman Catholics, of whom 85% said they had a favourable opinion of him, and among Jews questioned the figure was 65%. Among the 64 countries polled, Portugal and the Philippines were most enthusiastic, with 94% and 93% thinking favourably of the Pope respectively. Pope Francis’s lowest ratings came in Tunisia, Turkey and Algeria, while most people in Azerbaijan said they did not know much about him. WIN/Gallup said that the Pope heads the rankings when compared to the global popularity of political world leaders.
Nixon aide reportedly admitted drug war Flydubai plane crashes in Russia; was meant to target black people AN EYE-OPENING remark from a former aide to President Richard Nixon pulls back the curtain on the true motivation of the United States’ war on drugs. John Ehrlichman, who served 18 months in prison for his central role in the Watergate scandal, was Nixon’s chief domestic advisor when the president announced the “war on drugs” in 1971. The administration cited a high death toll and the negative social impacts of drugs to justify expanding federal drug control agencies. Doing so set the scene for decades of socially and economically disastrous policies. Journalist Dan Baum wrote in the April cover story of Harper’s about how he interviewed Ehrlichman in 1994 while working on a book about drug prohibition. Ehrlichman provided some shockingly honest insight into the motives behind the drug war. From Harper’s: “You want to know what this was really all about?” he asked with the bluntness of a man who, after public disgrace and a stretch in federal prison, had little left to protect. “The Nixon
62 aboard reported dead
John D. Ehrlichman, appointed counsel to the White House, is seen in 1968. (AP Photo)
campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were
lying about the drugs? Of course we did.” In other words, the intense racial targeting that’s become synonymous with the drug war wasn’t an unintended side effect — it was the whole point. The quote kicks off Baum’s “Legalize It All,” the cover story for Harper’s April 2016 issue. Baum explained to The Huffington Post why he didn’t include the quote in his 1996 book, Smoke and Mirrors: The War on Drugs and the Politics of Failure.
Of those killed 44 were Russians, eight Ukrainians, two Indians and one Uzbekistani.
After circling a southern Russian airport for more than two hours because of high ground-level winds and poor visibility, a passenger jet from the United Arab Emirates crashed during a landing attempt, killing all 62 people aboard. The flydubai Boeing 737 took off from Dubai and was scheduled to land at the Rostov-on-Don airport at 1:20 a.m. Saturday (6:20 p.m. ET Friday), Russian Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov said. But it didn’t come down -- about 800 feet from a runway -- until 3:50
a.m. By that point, Russian state media reported, there were winds of about 60 mph. Authorities have ruled out terrorism as a cause of the crash. Instead, according to investigative committee spokeswoman Oksana Kovrizhnaya, they will be looking at three possibilities: technical issues, severe weather and human error. Kovrizhnaya said the investigations will take at least two months, as required by Russian law, but “could be prolonged,” according to state-run Sputnik news.