Daily News Channel
In a major shake-up the likes of which Cubans have not seen for decades, President Raul Castro on Monday reorganized his Cabinet, replacing long-time aides to his brother Fidel, who resigned from office a year ago, citing poor health. Some analysts said the changes appear to be an attempt by Raul Castro to replace long-time Fidel Castro loyalists with his own supporters
President Raul Castro on Monday reorganized his Cabinet, replacing some long-time aides to his brother Fidel, who resigned from office a year ago citing poor health. The state-run newspaper Granma published an official notice from the State Council that said the changes were intended to form a structure that is “more compact and functional, with fewer organisms of the central administration of the state and a better distribution of the functions that they carry out.” Among the changes: Felipe Perez Roque, the 43-year-old foreign minister, was replaced by his deputy, Bruno Rodriguez Aprilla. Carlos Lage Davila, who helped guide the nation through its “special period” of dire economic times in the aftermath of the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the loss of billions in subsidies, lost his job as Cabinet secretary, but no mention was made of removing him from his other post as vice president of the Council of State
The Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes at then-President George W. Bush told a judge Thursday that he was protesting against the U.S. "occupation" of Iraq.
A court in Zimbabwe charged a senior opposition official Tuesday over an alleged plot involving terrorism and insurgency, as President Robert Mugabe chaired the first Cabinet meeting of a coalition government. Roy Bennett, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) treasurer and the country’s agriculture deputy minister-designate, is charged with illegally possessing firearms for the purposes of trying to commit acts of insurgency, banditry and terrorism and to illegally leave the country last week, his lawyer said. Trust Maanda told CNN on Tuesday: “The charges were changed from treason which the state had initially charged Bennett, I am sure they discovered it could not stand
Zimbabwe’s former opposition leader spent his first full day as prime minister of the deeply troubled African nation Thursday, and called it "hectic." Morgan Tsvangirai, of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), met with union leaders and political detainees at a maximum-security prison, and planned to talk later to donors, he told journalists. He was sworn in as head of government Wednesday under a power-sharing agreement with the country’s long-time president, Robert Mugabe who he was also scheduled to meet Thursday.