p dir=”ltr”>Investigators in Minneapolis are working to determine why a heavily armed 23-year-old opened fire at a Catholic school on Wednesday morning. The new Director of the Center for Disease Control has been fired less than a month after being sworn into the job. And, NPR reporters spoke with more than two dozen former senior Biden administration officials for a behind the scenes look at the discussions that shaped U.S. policy towards Israel’s war in Gaza.
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p dir=”ltr”>Want more comprehensive analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.
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p dir=”ltr”>Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Cheryl Corley, Jane Greenhalgh, Andrew Sussman, Lisa Thomson, and Adam Bearne. It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Chris Thomas. We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott. And our technical director is Carleigh Strange.
In 2025 America’s car industry is encountering a new reality and has quickly shifted priorities to reflect changing winds in politics and the market. While the Biden administration was fully invested in electric vehicles and incentivized manufacturers to increase EV production, the Trump administration has set out to put all those policies in reverse.
Today on The Sunday Story, NPR’s Camila Domonoske explains how the car industry is navigating the country’s changing priorities and what’s next for electric vehicles in America.
Rwanda’s move to accept immigrants from the United States has drawn criticism from Amnesty International.
The rights group now says that the deal contravenes the Refugee Convention. They also faulted the asylum process, claiming it is a risk of violating international law on migration and that there is still no certainty in its success.
“What we have raised as a concern with the UK deal, for instance, over the past years was the fact that there was a risk of refoulement of people who were deported from the UK to Rwanda,” stated Christian Rumu, who is the Senior Campaigner at Amnesty International.
“That is in contravention of the refugee convention and that risk is still there right now. We also had an issue around the asylum processes in Rwanda, in particular with regard to appeal opportunities. They tried to fix that with the reform that happened last year but that hasn’t been tested yet. So in all, there is a real risk of violation of international law that Rwanda is putting migrants through with this deal,” concluded Rumu.
Rwanda has argued it has space to help alleviate what many countries in Europe – and the United States Human rights advocates have long raised concerns over the deaths in Rwandan custody of some perceived government critics, as well as the alleged killings of others who sought exile in places like South Africa.
Rwanda at times has responded with angry denials to reports documenting human rights abuses – including the abduction and imprisonment of a U.S. resident who was tricked onto a Kigali-bound aircraft while visiting Dubai. He was later freed after Biden administration pressure.
Rwanda is also criticized over its aggressive military actions in the region. United Nations experts have documented Rwandan support for the rebel uprising that this year seized two cities in neighboring eastern Congo, an area rich in mineral wealth.
The unrest led to fears of a resurgence of regional war, and a number of Western countries cut relations or restricted aid. Rwanda has said it is defending ethnic Tutsis in Congo.
The Trump administration, which sanctioned a Rwandan government minister and cited links to the rebels, is trying to broker a peace deal. Agreeing to take in deportees from the U.S. could improve Rwanda’s standing with Washington and others.
Rwanda in 2019 struck a deal with the U.N. refugee agency to help take in migrants removed from Libya, where many people trying to reach Europe have reported abuses in detention.
The U.N. says the transit center in Rwanda has capacity for 700 evacuees. Late last year, it said over 2,400 people had been assisted in what is meant to be a temporary stay during efforts to find “long-term solutions” including resettlement elsewhere.
Before its deal with Britain collapsed, Rwanda showed off another transit center, a refurbished hostel in Kigali, that could host 100 people, with more accommodation made available as needed.
Rwanda said migrants would have their papers processed within three months. People could stay or authorities would assist those who wished to return to their home countries. Rwanda said it would bear full financial responsibilities for five years.
It is not clear whether such terms would be part of a deal with the United States.
Ukraine has been asking for permission to use Western-supplied long-range missiles to strike deep within Russian territory. The Biden administration has not given Ukraine the green light on that — we’ll look at what that means in this protracted conflict. Also, it’s been a year since a massive and coordinated United Auto Workers Strike secured better pay for workers – but a year on, workers are worried about job security. Plus, a new era in space tourism, with a civilian taking a space walk. He didn’t have any NASA astronaut training, but we’ll tell you what he DID have.
The Biden administration is expected to issue an executive order that could restrict crossings at the U.S. southern border. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to win a third term. A panel of FDA experts examines whether MDMA, found in the party drug ecstasy, could treat post-traumatic stress disorder.
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Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Alfredo Carbajal, John Helton, Jane Greenhalgh, Ally Schweitzer and Alice Woelfle. It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Ben Abrams and Milton Guevara. Our technical director is Zac Coleman, with engineering support from Arthur Laurent.
President Biden and former President Donald Trump have agreed to a pair of unusually early debates. The Biden administration is moving ahead with a $1 billion arms transfer to Israel a week after pausing a separate shipment of bombs to the country. And officials in Slovakia say that after hours of surgery following an assassination attempt, the country’s Prime Minister Robert Fico is in stable but serious condition.
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Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Megan Pratz, Roberta Rampton, Miguel Macias, Lisa Thomson and Claudia Peschiutta. It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Ben Abrams and Kaity Kline. We get engineering support from Arthur Laurent. And our technical director is Zac Coleman.
The Biden administration has proposed a change to immigration laws meant to discourage people from crossing the border illegally. An American-built floating pier off the coast of Gaza is nearly ready — and U.S. officials say it will help increase the flow of aid into the war zone. And two months after armed gangs took control of the capital of Haiti the country may finally be starting to stabilize.
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Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Kelley Dickens, Vincent Ni, Tara Neill, Ben Adler, Lisa Thomson and Alice Woelfle. It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Destinee Adams and Kaity Kline. We get engineering support from Arthur Laurent and our technical director is Stacey Abbott. Our executive producer is Erika Aguilar.
The Biden administration is weighing how hard to push back on Israel’s conduct of its war against Hamas. Stormy Daniels testifies in Donald Trump’s New York trial about an affair that the then-presidential candidate is accused of covering up in 2016. And TikTok wants a federal court to throw out Congress’s new “sell-or-be-banned” law.
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Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Vincent Ni, Dana Farrington, Kevin Drew, Lisa Thomson, Alice Woelfle and Ben Adler. It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Ben Abrams and Kaity Kline. We get engineering support from Hannah Gluvna. And our technical director is Stacey Abbott.
The Hugo Chavez International Foundation for Peace, Friendship and Solidarity (HCIF-PFS)joins millions around the worldto express strong solidarity with Cuba during these times when the United States government is pushing for regime change through continuing economic and commercial blockade, blackmail and baseless media propaganda. The Biden administration’s designation of Cuba as state sponsor of terrorism can at best be seen here as a despicable and senseless act of cowardice, which must be condemned in the strongest terms by all people of goodwill.
Like other baseless and unfounded allegations raised by the United States government, the claim that Cuba is a state sponsor of terrorism goes a long way to clearly expose the bankruptcy of Washington’s meddling mentality in the internal matters of the Caribbean nation, and this should not be allowed to continue. We reiterate our strongest condemnation of this episode of terrorism and external threats, which the US government posed towards Cuba.
Joe-Biden-sworn-in-as-46th-president-1
Through this statement, we want to remind the US government again that Cuba is an active member of the United Nations and a leading nation in the fight against terrorism wherever the evil is seen given expression. As a free and independent sovereign nation, Cuba owes it as a peaceful, friendly and freedom-loving country to condemn the terrorist acts that are being unleashed on the people of Palestine, Libya, Syria, Afghanistan, Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean regions. Cuba itself is a victim of terrorism, which started 65 years ago following the triumph of the 1959 revolution with the imposition of an unjust, unmandated, wicked and unwanted blockade; the invasion and occupation of its Island of Guantanamo Bay; the bombing of the Libyan passenger flight 455 in 1976, killing all passengers on board and other coercive policies that threaten the existence of the Cuban people.
In this March 14, 1957 file photo, Fidel Castro, the young anti-Batista guerrilla leader, center, is seen with his brother Raul Castro, left, and Camilo Cienfuegos, right, while operating in the Mountains… (AP Photo/Andrew St. George, File)
Today, the US government is still waging an economic and media war against Cuba and the Cuban people. The former Trump administration and its successor Joe Biden have reversed what their counterpart former President Barack Obama started in 2015, to normalize ties with Cuba, and instead they used the phrase ‘State Sponsor Of Terrorism’ list to embarrass the Cuban people and by extension to isolate Cuba internationally and justify continuation of the genocidal US blockade.
In May 2023, the Biden administration in Washington officially designated Cuba as a State Sponsor of Terrorism but failed entirely to provide evidence to support its allegations against Cuba.
It has become a ritual amongst US politicians in Washington to impose cruel sanctions against any member-state of the United Nations that is not willing to pawn its sovereignty and territorial integrity to the design and tastes of imperialism. The most cruel and punitive policy has been the current genocidal blockade against Cuba, which has been in place for over six and half decades now. Cuba has a right to its own self-determination, independent national sovereignty and democratic self-rule. Not even the US has the right to deny Cuba and the Cuban people of their inalienable rights and freedom to live their own life peacefully and without any foreign meddling mentality.
It is no more a secret to say here that the Government and people of Cuba will not succumb to blackmail in any form or manifestation and will not be cowed by US terror machine. The policy of blockade is a discriminatory policy. It is a heinous crime and crime against humanity, used by the US government to destabilize whole nations and whole regions, and should be abolished.
The campaign for ending the United States criminal blockade against Cubawill continue until we prick the conscience of US law makers and politicians. We urge the fifty million and more Americans that stand today against continuation of US blockade against Cuba to maintain those positions and renew their commitment to extend solidarity with the Cuban people.
To the Hugo Chavez International Foundation for Peace, Friendship and Solidarity, the US hatred for Cuba is a cause for alarm and this must be resisted. The citizens of the United States know that Cuba is a peaceful and friendly country, and not what the politicians in Washington want the public to believe. So, the Foundation is calling for Africa’s relationship with the Caribbean and Latin America regions to be reinvented to bridge our historic connections. Africa’s relationship with Cuba for instance is dated as far back as during the dirty slave trade, whereby over one and a half million retired African slaves were returned to Cuba, and today these group of Africans are very essential of Cuba’s history and revolutionary transformation.
It comes to say therefore that, the historic relationship between Africa and the Caribbean nation cannot be swept away and this, we have to fight hard for its growth and strength, just as when Cuba helped many countries to free themselves and gained national independence in Africa. The battle for the independence of African countries, such as Angola, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Namibia, South Africa, the list is endless, would not have been achieved within a shorter period had it not been the role of hundreds of thousands of Cuban combatants in the fight for justice and freedom on the continent. Thousands of Cubans paid the supreme sacrifice fighting for the liberation of Africa.
Thus, Cuba solidarity with Africa is a moral duty, so also Africa owes Cuba a moral responsibility to fight for an end to US blockade and other hostile behaviors against the Caribbean nation. Africa owes Cuba a historical duty since the end of the cruel slave trade. “From the African land in which they worked and fought voluntarily and selflessly, they only took back to Cuba the remains of their fallen comrades and the honor of having fulfilled their duty,” to borrow the words of Commandant Fidel Castro, when he commented about Cuba’s combatant role in the African liberation frontlines.
Cuba’s solidarity with Africa did not stop at the liberation frontlines, but its continuing in the midst of the wicked US blockade and collective punishment towards the Cuban people. The Foundation appreciates Cuba’s unflinching solidarity with Africa. This solidarity manifests in the form of sharing with the continent whatever little available to help the African people. Cuba has also committed herself to accompany Africa achieve peace, stability and prosperity.
It is understood that the US is the biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world. The US is the only country with over eight hundred unwanted and unmandated military occupation bases and spends more on its military than 144 countries combined. The only country that has used nuclear weapons against the people of Japan-Hiroshima and Nagasaki during Second World War in 1945.
The US has launched 251 foreign military interventions since 1991. The post 9/11 wars on terror the US waged in Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, and Pakistan killed at least four and half million and displaced over fifty million people. But this is not terrorism because the crime was unleashed by the US government. The term terrorism is used today as a political tool used to wage criminal wars against progressive nations, be it by bombs or blockades.
In o
ur view, the US government’s policy of blockade towards Cuba is at variance with the democratic will of the American people. Most American people have consistently opposed the blockade, especially restrictions on trading medicine and food with Cuba.
The Foundation condemns this false designation, which was designed and clinically executed to justify the blockade, terrorism and other coercive anti-Cuban policies championed by Washington. We call on the US to respect the sovereignty of Cuba and stop meddling in the internal matters of Cuba.
At this point, we, of the Hugo Chavez International Foundation for Peace, Friendship and Solidarity (HCIF-PFS) declare that the US should remove Cuba from the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism, and end blockade of the Caribbean nation.
Get US military out of Guantanamo Bay!
No to the killer US blockade against Cuba!!
Cuba must live!!!
Long live Cuba!!!!
Signed:
Alimamy Bakarr SANKOH
(Chief) Alimamy Bakarr Sankoh
International Executive Director (IED) and Interim President of the Governing Council of the Hugo Chavez International Foundation for Peace, Friendship and Solidarity (HCIF-PFS)
The UN’s top court will deliver its interim ruling on the genocide charges brought against Israel by South Africa. Campaign politics is putting a bipartisan Senate border deal in limbo as former President Donald Trump urges Republican lawmakers to reject it. And, The Biden Administration is pausing approval of new natural gas export facilities as it weighs their impact on climate change.
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Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Kelsey Snell, Sadie Babits, Ally Schweitzer and Mohamad ElBardicy. It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Ben Abrams and Kaity Kline. We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott and our technical director is Zac Coleman.
