US, Cuba reach understanding on restoring flights
US, Cuba reach understanding on restoring flights
HAVANA (AP) — The United States and Cuba reached an understanding on restoring regularly scheduled commercial flights, Cuban and American officials said Wednesday on the eve of the anniversary of detente between the Cold War foes.
The diplomatic advance helps open the way for U.S. airlines to begin flying to Cuba within months in what would be the biggest business deal struck as the two countries try to normalize relations.
Officials on both sides described it as an understanding on aviation but not yet a formal agreement.
Teams who have been meeting since Monday in Washington “have made important advances in negotiating a memorandum of understanding on establishing regular flights between Cuba and the United States, and shortly they will be ready to announce a preliminary agreement on this issue,” said Josefina Vidal, director of North American affairs for Cuba’s foreign ministry.
Group: Israel used ‘excessive’ force against Palestinians
JERUSALEM (AP) — An Israeli rights group Wednesday accused Israeli security forces of using “excessive and unwarranted” force in the killing of some Palestinians who attacked or were suspected of attacking Israelis during the current wave of violence.
Israeli officials rejected the charges by the B’Tselem group. The watchdog’s statement said Israeli officers used excessive lethal force against Palestinians in at least 12 cases in Jerusalem and the West Bank during the past two months.
According to the group, Israeli soldiers and police officers fired at some Palestinian assailants even after they were wounded and posed no further threat.
In some cases, it claimed officers carried out what the group called “summary executions,” killing Palestinians instead of arresting and trying them in court.
N. Korea sentences Canadian pastor to life in prison
PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korea’s Supreme Court on Wednesday sentenced a Canadian pastor to life in prison with hard labor for what it called crimes against the state.
Hyeon Soo Lim, who pastors the Light Korean Presbyterian Church in Toronto, was given the sentence after a 90-minute trial. He has been in detention since February.
The crimes he was charged with included harming the dignity of the supreme leadership, trying to use religion to destroy the North Korean system, disseminating negative propaganda about the North to the overseas Koreans, and helping U.S. and South Korean authorities lure and abduct North Korean citizens, along with aiding their programs to assist defectors from the North.
State prosecutors sought the death penalty.