landmark

Cuba-US Relations Backslide Five Years After Landmark Thaw

December 15, 2019 3:07 pm

Five years ago this week, Washington and Havana surprised the world when they agreed to reopen diplomatic ties severed in 1961, but relations have since slid downhill as if on a fresh layer of Cold War ice.

United States President Donald Trump has regularly assailed Cuba on Twitter and tightened sanctions over the Communist-run island’s human rights record and its support for Venezuela’s socialist regime.

President Miguel Diaz-Canel, who assumed power last year amid high hopes of reform, has in turn cracked down on dissidents.

Relations are at “a very low point” the top Cuban diplomat with responsibility for relations …

Indian Town Anxiously Awaits Landmark Babri Mosque Verdict

November 7, 2019 3:36 pm

Ayodhya, India – Ayodhya and its twin city Faizabad in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh (UP) are in a state of heightened anxiety as the country’s top court is expected to deliver its verdict in the seven decades old legal dispute over a spot of land that Muslims and Hindus both claim as theirs.

The Supreme Court, which concluded its hearings in the case last month, will decide by mid-November whether a Hindu temple should be built in place of the medieval era Babri mosque, which was demolished by Hindu mobs in 1992.

Hindu groups claim the site

…

Vietnam, EU sign landmark free trade deal

June 30, 2019 8:16 am

The European Union signed a landmark free trade deal with Vietnam on Sunday, the first of its kind with a developing country in Asia.

The agreement, paving the way for tariff reductions on 99 per cent of goods between the bloc and the Southeast Asian country, the countries announced the deal in a statement.

It still needs the approval of the European Parliament, which is not given as some lawmakers are concerned about Vietnam’s human rights record.

The European Union has described the EU Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) as …