World Briefs: Castro pours scorn on Obama's visit to Cuba

Castro pours scorn on Obama's visit to Cuba

HAVANA • Cuba's Fidel Castro signalled continued resistance to rapprochement between Washington and Havana, writing in an opinion piece yesterday that his country "has no need of gifts" from the US. The former president, 89, remained out of sight during last week's historic visit to the communist island by US President Barack Obama aimed at cementing normalisation.

In his first published remarks about the visit, Mr Castro seemed unwilling to forgive and forget more than a half-century of enmity between the two countries, declaring in the Granma newspaper: "Listening to the words of the US president could give anyone a heart attack."

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE


Foreigners at spy hearing upset Turkey

ANKARA • Turkey has protested to foreign missions the presence of consuls from EU states at the espionage trial of two journalists, a diplomatic source said yesterday.

"We have conveyed our discomfort to the concerned countries' representatives over the comments shared on social media which may constitute interference in the independent judicial process," the source said.

The trial of two journalists from the Cumhuriyet daily last week was attended by top diplomats, including the British consul to Istanbul, who published pictures from the court on Twitter.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE


Iran defiant in face of US missile blacklist

DUBAI • Iran will pursue its development of ballistic missiles despite the US blacklisting of more Iranian companies linked to the programme, a senior Revolutionary Guards commander said yesterday.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps test-fired several ballistic missiles this month, drawing condemnation from Western leaders who believe the tests violate a UN resolution.

The US blacklisted two Iranian firms yesterday, cutting them off from international finance over their connection to the missile programme.

REUTERS

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on March 29, 2016, with the headline World Briefs: Castro pours scorn on Obama's visit to Cuba. Subscribe