Protests erupt in Havana as Cuba struggles to restore electricity

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By Dave Sherwood and Ayose Naranjo Reuters Scattered protests broke out across Havana on Tuesday evening, with residents banging pots, honking horns and shouting “turn on the lights” as millions ‌of Cubans remained without power amid a six-month-long U.S. fuel blockade. Cuba experienced a nationwide outage on ‌Monday — its third this year — but while authorities said most of the country had been reconnected to the island’s grid by late ​Tuesday, many remained in the dark and without electricity as the island doesn’t have enough fuel. The country’s grid operator UNE said it had reconnected the grid from Pinar del Rio, in far western Cuba, to Holguin in the east. Santiago de Cuba, the island’s second-largest city, remained disconnected and without power, authorities said. The U.S. in January ‌cut off Cuba’s fuel supply, then ⁠imposed fresh sanctions that have prompted an exodus of foreign businesses and a near-complete collapse o...
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South Korean wildfires spread, three more disaster zones named

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Deadly wildfires spread further across South Korea on Monday as authorities designated three more counties ‘special disaster zones’.

At least four people have been killed and hundreds forced to flee their homes since blazes broke out in several areas on Saturday, stoked by strong winds and dry weather.

Kim Byung-wook, a 64-year-old farmer in Sancheong County in the southern part of the country, said the house he had lived in for more than 30 years had been destroyed.

“Things that remind me of my youth disappeared without a trace – photos of my children when they were young,” he told Reuters.

“The biggest priority is to quickly come up with measures to support and allow disaster recovery as soon as possible,” he said.

Sancheong was already a special disaster zone – a designation that triggers extra funding and other measures. Acting President Han Duck-soo added another county in South Gyeongsang Province and two others in Ulsan and North Gyeongsang Province to the list.

Han, who returned to the post following a ruling by the Constitutional Court earlier in the day, visited Uiseong County, one of the affected areas, and met residents who had taken shelter, his office said in a statement.

SOURCE: REUTERS AND AGENCIES



from The Times Of Earth https://ift.tt/Zt9qvUK

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