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Cuba suffered a nationwide blackout on Monday as it faces an ongoing energy crisis , worsened by an effective US blockade on fuel shipments. Cuba’s energy ministry said the national electrical grid had suffered a total collapse. The country’s grid operator said it is investigating the cause. Cuba has experienced several nationwide blackouts over the past few years, as the country’s aging electricity infrastructure struggles to meet demand. The country’s power crisis worsened this year after the US forced Cuba’s main suppliers to stop oil shipments. In March, it had at least two  total blackouts within a week. The energy crunch has strained essential services , including education, transportation and medicine. Fresh sanctions by the US have also further deteriorated the Cuban economy and prevented many tourists from visiting the island. The US says the economic stranglehold is meant to force the Cuban government to pry open the island’s hermeti...

LAGUAIRA/CARACAS, June 27 (Reuters) - The death toll from Venezuela's devastating twin earthquakes  rose ​above 1,400 on Saturday as foreign rescue teams poured into the country and authorities pressed on with the search ‌for survivors in the hardest-hit coastal areas. The updated toll came as rescuers fanned out across La Guaira and parts of Caracas, where families and volunteers have spent days pulling survivors  and bodies from the rubble, often complaining of scant heavy equipment and a limited official presence. Officials said more than 1,600 foreign rescuers had arrived ​and that additional teams were on the way, adding to a growing international response to the twin quakes that struck ​on Wednesday and unleashed hundreds of aftershocks. In La Guaira, a coastal state popular with beachgoers, residents said ⁠the disaster response had been uneven, with some people digging through collapsed buildings by hand in search of missing relatives. Top lawmaker ​Jor...

Russian-installed authorities declared a state of emergency in Crimea on Friday, as repeated, intensified Ukrainian strikes on the peninsula lead to widespread power outages and fuel shortages. Blackouts have plagued Sevastopol, the largest city in Russian-controlled Crimea, for days. The Kremlin-installed governor of the city, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said Friday that restrictions to electricity supply would continue because repair work to the power grid had been suspended following air raid alerts prompted by Ukrainian drone activity. Ukraine’s drone forces commander Robert Brovdi  said Kyiv had attacked Sevastopol’s main power substation seven times in the early hours of Wednesday. Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, a move widely condemned by the international community, after the Maidan protests ousted Ukraine’s then pro-Kremlin president, Viktor Yanukovych. The port city of Sevastopol was historically home to the headquarters for Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. Ukrainian Preside...

President Donald Trump has unveiled a new Boeing 747-8 jet for Air Force One that the Qatari government donated last year as an "unconditional" gift to the US. The US military has finished modifications to the luxury jumbo jet, which has been valued at an estimated $400m (£300m). "This plane was transformed into a flying White House at a level of luxury that nobody's ever seen before," Trump said in a speech at Joint Base Andrews on Friday. The US Air Force said in a press release that the jet will begin initial commissioning flights - a "final exam" to test out the aircraft's modifications - before it will be used to transport the president. Modifications to the jet included upgrades in security, mission communications, logistics support, and advanced technology, the Air Force said. Any potential threats from the previously owned aircraft have been "neutralised", it added. The interiors of the aircraft have been m...

When Tim Cook retires in September, he’ll close a remarkable 15-year chapter of the Apple brand story. When Cook succeeded Steve Jobs as CEO in 2011, many observers thought Apple’s best days were behind it. Few predictions have turned out so dramatically wrong. Under Cook’s leadership , Apple became the first publicly traded company worth $1 trillion and the world’s most admired brand. But numbers alone don’t explain Cook’s success. If Steve Jobs was the greatest business storyteller of our time, Tim Cook was the most consistent storyteller. The consistency was on display when Cook took his final bow  at the company’s annual worldwide developers conference (WWDC). After Apple executives introduced new services, software, and AI capabilities for Siri, Cook ended the opening day’s keynote by saying, “Creating the best products in the world that enrich people’s lives has always been our North Star.” The Difference Between a Mission Statement and a North Star The ...

Beijing/Hong Kong  —    When the wheels of Air Force One lifted up from Beijing on Friday, US President Trump was wrapping a three-day visit  with many questions still outstanding about what exactly he and Chinese leader Xi Jinping had agreed to. Over the weekend, statements from both sides have started to demystify the outcomes of a meeting that was largely about resetting the tone between the world’s top economies after a fractious year that drove both to the edge of decoupling. Now, the US and China are poised to set up two new institutions – a “board of trade” and a “board of investment” – to manage those economic ties, statements from the White House and China’s Ministry of Commerce confirmed Sunday. The White House also said that China would purchase at least $17 billion per year of US agricultural products and make an initial purchase of 200 American-made Boeing aircraft. Beijing’s readout did not directly confirm those deals, saying instead t...

Calls are growing among his MPs for UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to be replaced, while he has said he will "get on with governing". It is a dramatic turnaround for the man who won a landslide victory two years ago but has since made several U-turns on unpopular policies and faced a series of scandals. Several key government figures have resigned in a sign of growing discontent after the Labour Party lost almost 1,500 councillors in local elections across England last week. Former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, former Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham are seen as among the possible contenders to lead the UK. How did we get here? The current leadership crisis was triggered by a round of local elections last week, but discontent towards Sir Keir's leadership has been mounting for some time. Last year, Sir Keir's government changed direction on three major policies in a month  after pressure from within his ow...

The US leader was greeted with a gun salute, cheering children and a tour of the stunning 15th Century Temple of Heaven. Trump is also joined in Beijing by tech bosses, including Tesla's Elon Musk and Nvidia's Jensen Huang, and Trump's son Eric. On Thursday evening, a lavish banuquet at the Great Hall of the People was held in honour of the occasion. BBC reporters were able to see the banquet menu, with the main course including lobster in tomato soup, Beijing roast duck and pan-fried pork bun. Dessert options included trumpet shell-shaped pastry and tiramisu. In a banquet speech, President Xi called it a "historic visit", adding "the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation" and "Make America great again" can go hand in hand. China-US relations are the most important bilateral relations in the world, Xi says. Their relations concern the well-being of the two countries of 1.7 billion p...