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‘It’s the Cuban people who are suffering.’ How Cuba is struggling under U.S. oil blockade

HAVANA — Reggaeton boomed in a neighborhood bar in Old Havana on a recent night, when, suddenly, the music stopped and everything went dark. The customers groaned. Another blackout. A U.S. blockade on oil shipments to Cuba has plunged the island into its worst energy crisis in modern history. The country’s already cratering economy now teeters on…

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Trump cracks a joke about Pearl Harbor

WASHINGTON — Before Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi departed for Washington, she told her nation’s lawmakers that her Oval Office meeting with President Trump on Thursday would be “very difficult.” Actually, it was awkward. After a reporter questioned Trump about not warning Japan before launching his “surprise” offensive in Iran, Trump said that surprise was the point….

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6 U.S. airmen die in crash; Hegseth says Iran’s leader is ‘likely disfigured’

WASHINGTON — Six American airmen deployed to operations against Iran were killed after their refueling aircraft crashed in western Iraq, U.S. Central Command said Friday, bringing the U.S. death toll in the war to 13, as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the heaviest day of strikes yet. The crash involved two aircraft in “friendly airspace,” the Pentagon…

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One of the men who could replace ‘El Mencho’ is from Southern California

GUADALAJARA — The notorious drug kingpin was sick, his kidneys failing. To ensure smooth management of his multibillion-dollar cartel while he underwent dialysis, Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho,” delegated day-to-day control to several top lieutenants. Each managed a separate region, had his own group of hit men and developed his own fearsome reputation. Mexican…

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