FIDEL CASTRO

Soon after Felix Llerena arrived in Miami in 2017, the Cuban activist was drawn to then-President Donald Trump by the Republican's aggressive approach toward Cuba’s communist government.

Scarcity and economic turmoil are nothing new to Cuba, but soaring inflation and deepening shortages have made holiday shopping even more difficult for Cubans this year.

One would have to go back hundreds of years to find a monarch who reigned longer than Queen Elizabeth II.

Comedian Freddie Roman, the former dean of The Friars Club and a staple of the Catskills comedy scene, has died.

Grammy-winning Cuban balladeer Pablo Milanés has died in Spain at age 79.

Democrats are increasingly concerned that Florida may be slipping away this fall — and perhaps beyond — as emboldened Republicans seize on divisive cultural issues and demographic shifts in crucial contests for governor and the U.S. Senate.

Cuban voters have approved a sweeping “family law” code that will allow same-sex couples to marry and adopt as well as redefining rights for children and grandparents.

Cuba is holding a rare referendum on an unusually contentious law — a government-backed code that would allow same-sex couples to marry and adopt.

Democrats in Florida are trying to make inroads with Latino voters by focusing on gun safety.

The Republican governors of Florida and Texas have delivered migrants on planes and buses to Washington, D.

After two years of virtual and hybrid summits, the world will once again convene in New York this week for the U.N. General Assembly.

Cuba’s deputy foreign minister is accusing the Biden administration of acting immorally and unfairly by keeping Cuba on the list of state sponsors of terrorism.

Italian journalist Eugenio Scalfari has died at 98.

While reviewing the photo archives left by Nobel Prize-winning Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez, one of his granddaughters came across a mysterious plastic box with the word “grandchildren” written on its label.

Governor DeSantis on Monday signed a bill designating Nov. 7 as an annual Communism Victims Day.

Ricardo Alarcón, who was for years the head of Cuba’s parliament and one of the country’s most prominent diplomats, has died in Havana.

Every year in Cuba, millions of crabs emerge from the forest at the beginning of the spring rains and head for the waters of the Bay of Pigs, crossing streets and highways on a perilous journey to mate and reproduce there.

For her third studio album, Camila Cabello immersed herself in the Cuban and Mexican music she listened to while growing up.

The turbulent ocean waters around Florida can be treacherous even on a calm, sunny day.

Bill de Blasio swept into the New York City mayor’s office eight years ago promising a liberal remolding of the nation’s largest city that would level deep inequities and reform police practices.

The National Archives has made public nearly 1,500 documents related to the U.S. government’s investigation into the 1963 assassination of President John F.

Fernando González, the head of Caribbean newsgathering for The Associated Press, has died in Havana.

The man once billed as the Michael Jordan and Tom Brady of policing ended up being “not the right fit” for the city of Miami.

Miami officials have decided to fire the city’s new police chief six months into his stormy tenure, after he was lambasted by the city commissioners he accused of meddling in the police department and internal affairs investigations.

Versailles is a place to see and be seen.

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez praised Art Acevedo as “America’s best chief” when he recruited him to lead Miami’s police force just six months ago.

Syed Ali Geelani, an icon of disputed Kashmir’s resistance against Indian rule and a top separatist leader who became the emblem of the region’s defiance against New Delhi, has died at 91.

For all the International Olympic Committee talks of staying neutral, its games have long proven to be essentially and sometimes overtly political.

Locals have taken to the streets in solidarity with those in Cuba protesting the island nation’s Communist leadership.

The slogan “¡Patria y vida!”.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel has acknowledged shortcomings in his government’s handling of shortages and of neglecting certain sectors, but he is urging Cubans to not act with hate — a reference to violence during recent street protests.

A small private security company in Miami faces questions about its role in the assassination of Haiti's president.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel has acknowledged shortcomings in his government’s handling of shortages and of neglecting certain sectors, but he is urging Cubans to not act with hate — a reference to violence during recent street protests.

Cuban officials say one person has died during demonstrations that have shaken the island in recent days by protesting over food shortages, high prices and other grievances against the government.

The problems of two tiny Caribbean states, Cuba and Haiti, have vexed U.S. presidents for decades.

One of the at least 90 people killed in a condominium collapse in Florida was among hundreds of Cuban exiles who in the 1960s signed up for a covert, CIA-funded operation to overthrow Fidel Castro’s Soviet-backed dictatorship.

Cuban officials say one person has died during demonstrations that have shaken the island in recent days by protesting over food shortages, high prices and other grievances against the government.

Thousands of people poured into the streets in Cuba on Sunday in what is becoming the largest anti-government protest in decades.

Large contingents of Cuban police are patrolling the capital of Havana following rare protests around the island nation against food shortages and high prices amid the coronavirus crisis.

Thousands of Cubans have marched on Havana’s Malecon promenade and elsewhere on the island to protest food shortages and high prices amid the coronavirus crisis.

Every morning Odalys de la Caridad Lara Reyes gets to work and starts to read out loud.

A former rebel leader in Colombia who would undo antinarcotics cooperation with the U.S. is looking to capitalize on the biggest antigovernment unrest in decades and ride it to the presidency next year.

Hundreds of thousands of Cubans have begun receiving new, locally produced vaccines against COVID-19 in the past few days as the socialist government ramps up an inoculation campaign.

In many ways, Cuba’s new maximum leader is nothing like those who have governed the island for the past six decades.

Raul Castro says he is stepping down as Cuban Communist Party leader, leaving the island without a Castro guiding affairs for the first time in more than six decades and handing control of the party to a younger generation.

For most of his life, Raul Castro played second-string to his brother Fidel — first as a guerrilla commander, later as a senior figure in their socialist government.

For most of his life, Raul Castro played second-string to his brother Fidel — first as a guerrilla commander, later as a senior figure in their socialist government.

Raul Castro says he is stepping down as head of Cuba’s Communist Party, ending an era of formal leadership by he and his brother Fidel Castro that began with the 1959 revolution.

This week’s Communist Party congress in Cuba could be the last with a Castro at the helm of the island's all-powerful political institution.

A surging pandemic that has brought new lockdown measures has pushed the upcoming elections to the background for many weary voters in the neighboring South American nations of Ecuador and Peru.

Dr. Ingrid Felix-Peralta, second from left, and her husband Dr. Victor Peralta, second from right, administer second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in New York, Friday, Feb. 5, 2021. From elderly Cuban Americans in Florida to farmworkers in California, Latinos face daunting barriers like fear, language and a lack of education and access as the COVID-19 vaccines roll out, creating risks for public health as the virus mutates and spreads. From elderly Cuban Americans in Florida to farmworkers in California, Latinos face daunting barriers to getting COVID-19 vaccines, creating risks for public health as the coronavirus mutates and spreads. The poll says Latinos' willingness to get the vaccine is similar to the American public overall. “As efforts to distribute the COVID-19 vaccine continue, trust and acceptance of Hispanics will be crucial," León said.

(AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)QUITO – A young leftist backed by a convicted-but-popular former president led the field of 16 candidates in early returns from Ecuador’s presidential election Sunday, which was held under strict sanitary measures due to the coronavirus pandemic. Arauz got 31.5% of the votes, while Pérez had 20.04% and Lasso had 19.97%, according to the Electoral Council of Ecuador. To win outright, a candidate needed 50% of the vote, or to have at least 40% with a 10-point lead over the closest opponent. Pérez's challenge to grab second place surprised some observers as he had trailed behind Arauz and Lasso in pre-election polls. That conviction barred him from running as Arauz's vice presidential candidate.

WASHINGTON – The Trump administration on Monday re-designated Cuba as a “state sponsor of terrorism,” hitting the country with new sanctions that could hamstring President-elect Joe Biden's promise to renew relations with the communist-governed island. Since Trump took office, after a campaign that attacked Obama's moves to normalize relations with Cuba, ties have been increasingly strained. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez condemned the U.S. action. The latest sanctions put Cuba alongside North Korea, Syria and Iran as the only foreign nations deemed state sponsors of terrorism. Obama’s removal of Cuba from the “state sponsors of terrorism” list had been a major target of Trump, Pompeo and other Cuba hawks in the current administration.

Argentine soccer superstar Diego Armando Maradona cheers after the Napoli team clinched its first Italian major league title in Naples, Italy, on May 10, 1987. The Argentine soccer great was among the best players ever and who led his country to the 1986 World Cup title before later struggling with cocaine use and obesity. The office of Argentina's president said it will decree three days of national mourning, and the Argentine soccer association expressed its sorrow on Twitter. “Maradona inspires us,” said then-Argentina striker Carlos Tevez, explaining his country’s everyman fascination with Maradona at the 2006 World Cup in Germany. He failed another doping test for stimulants and was thrown out of the 1994 World Cup in the United States.

MIAMI – As President Donald Trump recovers from the coronavirus, Joe Biden is capitalizing on having the campaign trail largely to himself by hitting critical swing states and investing in longtime Republican bastions that he hopes might expand his path to victory. Even Biden’s former primary rival, Bernie Sanders, has resumed in-person campaigning for the first time since the coronavirus outbreak in March. “They are running a solid race focused on the swing states we need to win but now have excess resources to expand the map." “The Trump campaign continues to run their presidential campaign, and we are going to continue to run our presidential campaign," said Biden campaign senior strategist Anita Dunn. Biden shared a stage with the president for 90 minutes during last week’s first presidential primary debate.

MIAMI – As President Donald Trump recovers from the coronavirus, Joe Biden is capitalizing on having the campaign trail largely to himself by hitting critical swing states and investing in longtime Republican bastions that he hopes might expand his path to victory. Even Biden’s former primary rival, Bernie Sanders, has resumed in-person campaigning for the first time since the coronavirus outbreak in March. “They are running a solid race focused on the swing states we need to win but now have excess resources to expand the map." “The Trump campaign continues to run their presidential campaign, and we are going to continue to run our presidential campaign," said Biden campaign senior strategist Anita Dunn. Biden shared a stage with the president for 90 minutes during last week’s first presidential primary debate.

In this Wednesday, June 17, 2020 photo Gunnar Dedio, German film producer and managing director of PROGRESS Film GmbH poses for a photo between rolls of film in the archive of PROGRESS Film, in Leipzig, Germany. A new project is underway to digitize thousands of East German newsreels, documentaries and feature films 30 years after Germanys reunification. The East German Augenzeuge, or Eyewitness, newsreel on the Kennedy visit trumpeted the prank as a triumph, scoffing that the American president got an “unexpected surprise instead of the great view into the East German capital promised by his Secret Service” and allegedly had to cut his visit from “20 minutes to five." Germany was divided into four occupation zones after World War II, the Soviet-influenced East Germany and West Germany's American, British and French sectors. In 1950, the year after East Germany was established as a country, the authorities formed another company, Progress, as a state monopoly to distribute DEFA films and to import foreign productions.

“He took a big chance,” said his oldest son, Dr. Jorge Vallejo Jr., who grew up hearing stories of the treacherous journey where waves rose as high as 12 feet (4 meters). Hours later, his son Dr. Carlos Vallejo, who had been treating elderly people with COVID-19, was taken to another hospital with shortness of breath from the virus. Jorge Vallejo opposed Castro's radical economic reforms but hoped they were only temporary. He cared a lot about his patients.”Jorge Vallejo was hospitalized June 20, and Carlos Vallejo went in the next morning, on Father’s Day. Jorge died six days later.

The action came as Trump is seeking to boost his appeal among Cuban Americans, a crucial Republican-leaning voting bloc in the all-important state of Florida. Trump said the new Treasury Department sanctions will ensure that U.S. dollars do not fund the Cuban government. He said U.S. sanctions will remain until Cuba releases all political prisoners, rights to free assembly and expression are respected, political parties are legalized and free elections are scheduled. Americans are allowed to visit Cuba to see family, for humanitarian visits and for several other reasons expressly outlined by the U.S. government. “This is a desperate and hypocritical attempt by Trump to pander to Cuban-American voters in Florida," Democratic Party spokesperson Enrique Gutierrez said in an email.

That's fueling an urgent effort by Biden, Harris and their allies to shore up older voters, suburbanites and African Americans to make up for potential shortcomings elsewhere. If Biden reclaims the upper Midwest for Democrats, he won’t need Florida to capture the presidency. Hispanic voters in Florida tend to be somewhat more Republican-leaning than Hispanic voters nationwide because of the state’s Cuban American population. Nationally, little public polling is available to measure the opinions of Latino voters this year and whether they differ from four years ago. “As we get closer to November you’re going to see an even greater amount of activity to turn out Latino voters," Alex said.

There is increasing concern about Democrats that their nominee, the former vice president, has not done enough to court Latino voters. Estimates from the Pew Research Center and AP VoteCast show that about 3 in 10 Latino voters supported Trump in 2016 and Republican candidates in 2018. That’s also consistent with long-term trends in party identification among Latino voters, according to Pew. Nationally, little public polling is available to measure the opinions of Latino voters this year and whether they differ from four years ago. After Nevada, Trump planned to visit California on Monday for a briefing on the devastating wildfires racing through the region.

Each step of the way, friends point to the influence of Gopalan Harris as a constant. Gopalan Harris defied generations of tradition by not returning to southern India after getting her doctorate, tossing aside expectations of an arranged marriage. Gopalan Harris mother took in victims of domestic abuse and educated women about contraception. Gopalan Harris relished roles in her daughters early campaigns but was gone before seeing her advance beyond a local office. There is no title or honor on earth Ill treasure more than to say I am Shyamala Gopalan Harris daughter, she wrote.

But the recent college graduate had long heard stories from his grandfather recounting the days of oppression in Cuba under Fidel Castro. Even for some young Cubans, the congresswoman's remarks are troubling and a reminder that Castro still stirs strong passions. The Pew Research Center estimates that nearly a third of Floridas Hispanic voters have roots in Cuba. Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, a Cuban American, has called the congresswoman a Castro sympathizer." But his real worry is that Republicans would use Bass' remarks as distraction from what he called the more important goal of electing Biden.

An army helicopter drops water at the scene of Tuesday's massive explosion that hit the seaport of Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2020. Residents of Beirut awoke to a scene of utter devastation on Wednesday, a day after a massive explosion at the port sent shock waves across the Lebanese capital, killing dozens of people and wounding thousands. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today:1. CHILDREN FLEEING DANGER EXPELLED Citing the coronavirus, more than 2,000 unaccompanied children have been expelled from the U.S. since March under an emergency declaration by the Trump administration. NORTH KOREA ESCALATES VIRUS RESPONSE Pyongyang is quarantining thousands of people and shipping food and other aid to a southern city locked down over coronavirus worries, officials say.

Our entire economy is at stake, Clyburn told The Associated Press in a Newsmakers interview. The third-ranking House Democrat said he's hopeful that negotiators on Capitol Hill can reach an agreement soon on a new virus aid package. Weve got a health care crisis wrapped into an economic crisis, and they are so interwoven, Clyburn said. And so that we can have a fair, unfettered election, said Clyburn, who is the House Democratic whip. You know, when I was a child, I spoke as a child and understood as a child.

At the same time, the Trump administration has opposed any significant efforts in the latest coronavirus rescue package to protect and strengthen mail voting. But this week largely belongs to Biden, who is days away from announcing the winner of the veepstakes. The question then becomes whether the Trump administration will do anything to address his concerns about mail voting. GOP officials said over the weekend that the vote to formally give Trump his party's 2020 presidential nomination will be conducted in private later this month. ___2020 Watch runs every Monday and provides a look at the week ahead in the 2020 election.

California Congresswoman Bass has emerged a leading contender to be Democrats' vice presidential candidate. Allies say her reputation as a bridge-builder would make her a strong partner to presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. Bass said she traveled to Cuba to help construct homes in her late teens and early 20's. She said her views of Cuba are in line with policy under former President Barack Obama, who sought to thaw U.S. relations with the country. As a matter of fact, I was honored to go to Cuba with President Obama.

California Congresswoman Bass has emerged a leading contender to be Democrats' vice presidential candidate. Allies say her reputation as a bridge-builder would make her a strong partner to presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. Enter Karen Bass, who became Assembly speaker that May, the first Black woman to hold the role. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee appeared with Bass for the first time at a fundraiser on Thursday. With Karen Bass' comments about Fidel Castro, it will be served up on a silver platter."

The speech delivered on the campus of Ripon College in battleground Wisconsin comes as polls show Trump trailing Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, in a state that Trump won by fewer than 23,000 votes in 2016. Pence said that if Biden wins the election, the country will spin into economic decline, be less safe and have open borders and taxpayer-funded abortions. Biden spokeswoman Kate Bedingfield countered that Trumps economic policies have harmed Wisconsin at every turn and that Pence glossed over Trumps economic record, both before the pandemic and since. The Pence visit came as COVID-19 cases were spiking in Wisconsin. Pence wore a mask when he entered the room but removed it for his speech.