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Cuba says Trump’s fresh sanctions on its economy amount to ‘collective punishment’

The US sanctions target people operating in broad sections of Cuban economy, including energy, defence and mining

Cuba’s government has said new sanctions imposed on the island by Donald Trump amounted to “collective punishment”, as an enormous 1 May procession outside the American embassy in Havana vowed to “defend the homeland”.

In an executive order on Friday, the US president said he would impose sanctions on people involved in broad sections of the Cuban economy, as he seeks to put more pressure on Havana after ousting Venezuela’s leader, Nicolás Maduro, earlier this year.

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© Photograph: Claudia Daut/Reuters

© Photograph: Claudia Daut/Reuters

© Photograph: Claudia Daut/Reuters

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Pentagon inks deals with seven AI companies for classified military work

OpenAI, Google, Nvidia and others agreed to ‘any lawful use’ of their tech. Anthropic, feuding with Pentagon over potential AI misuse, was not included

The Pentagon said on Friday it had reached agreements with seven leading artificial intelligence (AI) companies: SpaceX, OpenAI, Google, Nvidia, Reflection, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services.

“These agreements accelerate the transformation toward establishing the United States military as an AI-first fighting force and will strengthen our warfighters’ ability to maintain decision superiority across all domains of warfare,” the Pentagon said in statement.

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© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

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Unrest in Alice Springs after Jefferson Lewis arrested over death of Kumanjayi Little Baby

Dozens of people gather outside hospital where 47-year-old was being treated five days after the five-year-old girl disappeared

Warning: This article contains references to and images of Indigenous Australians who have died

An angry crowd has clashed with police outside a hospital in Alice Springs where a 47-year-old man arrested by police in connection with the death of five-year-old Kumanjayi Little Baby was being treated.

Council workers were assessing the damage on Friday morning, as fires smouldered in skip bins and a nearby service station had been pulled apart.

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© Photograph: Rhett Hammerton/AAP

© Photograph: Rhett Hammerton/AAP

© Photograph: Rhett Hammerton/AAP

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US father and daughter admit selling fake Picasso and Banksy works, duping art world

Pair apologise in court after being accused of defrauding buyers including some of New York’s most prominent fine art auction houses

A father and daughter in New Jersey have pleaded guilty to running a years-long counterfeiting scheme to trick art galleries and auction houses into buying forged paintings of works by prominent artists such as Andy Warhol, Banksy and Pablo Picasso.

Federal prosecutors said Erwin Bankowski, 50, and Karolina Bankowska, 26, commissioned an artist in Poland to create at least 200 of the fakes and ultimately defrauded buyers of at least $2m.

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© Photograph: U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of New York

© Photograph: U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of New York

© Photograph: U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of New York

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King Charles agrees with me on Iran nuclear weapon ban, claims Trump

Remarks by US president likely to cause embarrassment for aides of UK monarch, who usually remains neutral

Donald Trump has claimed King Charles agrees with him that Iran should never be allowed nuclear weapons.

Trump made the remarks at a White House state dinner on Tuesday in honour of the visiting Charles and Camilla, after the two men sat down to bilateral talks earlier that day.

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© Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

© Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

© Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

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Mexican special forces arrest top commander of cartel and his alleged money launderer

Arrests of Audias Flores and César Alejandro ‘N’ lead to gunmen blocking roads, as US embassy warns employees to avoid Reynosa after earlier arrest

The Mexican authorities have arrested two top criminals, one of them a close ally of the slain founder of the Jalisco New Generation cartel (CJNG), prompting gunmen to block roads in the western state of Nayarit.

Audias Flores, known as “El Jardinero”, is a regional commander in control of swathes of CJNG territory along Mexico’s Pacific coast. He was considered a potential successor to Nemesio Oseguera, alias “El Mencho”, who ran the cartel and was killed in a security operation in February.

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© Photograph: Mexican Secretariat of National Defense/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Mexican Secretariat of National Defense/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Mexican Secretariat of National Defense/AFP/Getty Images

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Bomb blast on Colombia highway leaves 21 dead amid pre-election violence

Cocaine-trafficking rebels blamed for worst attack on civilians in decades, which also left 56 people injured

The death toll in a Colombian highway bombing blamed on cocaine-trafficking rebels has risen to 21, the government said on Monday, in the country’s worst attack on civilians in decades and just ahead of elections.

The attack on Saturday left 56 injured and buses and vans mangled on the Pan-American Highway, in the restive south-western Cauca department.

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© Photograph: Ernesto Guzman/EPA

© Photograph: Ernesto Guzman/EPA

© Photograph: Ernesto Guzman/EPA

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Lebanon health ministry says Israeli strikes kill 14 in deadliest day since ceasefire began

The Israeli government and Hezbollah have traded blame over breaches to the truce, which is set to run for several more weeks

Lebanon’s health ministry said Israeli strikes on the country’s south killed 14 people on Sunday, the deadliest day since a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah came into force over a week ago.

The health ministry said the dead on Sunday included two women and two children, adding that 37 other people were wounded. Israel said one of its soldiers was also killed.

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© Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

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Roommate charged with murder in deaths of University of South Florida doctoral students

Hisham Abugharbieh was arrested after standoff with police and charged with killing Zamil Limon and Nahida Bristy

The man who was detained after two Bangladeshi doctoral students went missing from the University of South Florida (USF) has been booked with two counts of murder.

Hisham Abugharbieh faces two counts of premeditated murder in the first degree with a weapon in the deaths of Zamil Limon and Nahida Bristy, the Hillsborough county sheriff’s office announced on Saturday.

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© Photograph: AP

© Photograph: AP

© Photograph: AP

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High school senior identified as person killed in shooting at Lousiana mall

Martha Odom, 16, died from a gunshot wound to the chest according to the local coroner’s statement

A high school senior has been identified as the person killed in a mass shooting that also wounded five others when two groups exchanged gunfire inside the food court at a mall in Louisiana’s capital city on Thursday afternoon, according to officials.

Martha Odom, 16, died from a gunshot wound to the chest, according to a statement issued Friday by the local coroner’s office.

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© Photograph: Office of the Louisiana Attorney General

© Photograph: Office of the Louisiana Attorney General

© Photograph: Office of the Louisiana Attorney General

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Pentagon says navy secretary is leaving, marking another top leader’s departure

Exit of John Phelan, navy’s top civilian official, comes a week after Pete Hegseth fired army’s top officer

The Pentagon announced on Wednesday that the navy’s top civilian official, John Phelan, the secretary of the navy, is leaving his job.

In a statement posted to social media, Sean Parnell, a Pentagon spokesperson, said Phelan was “departing the administration, effective immediately”.

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© Photograph: Alex Brandon/AP

© Photograph: Alex Brandon/AP

© Photograph: Alex Brandon/AP

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Israeli strike kills journalist after ongoing attacks blocked rescuers, Lebanon says

Amal Khalil had been buried in rubble after an Israeli strike that also injured another journalist, Zeinab Faraj

Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon killed a journalist on Wednesday after rescuers were blocked from accessing the building where she was buried under rubble because of further Israeli fire, according to several witnesses.

Amal Khalil was covering developments near the town of al-Tayri with the photographer Zeinab Faraj when an Israeli strike hit the vehicle in front of them.

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© Photograph: Mohammed Zaatari/AP

© Photograph: Mohammed Zaatari/AP

© Photograph: Mohammed Zaatari/AP

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