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Cuba Vows ‘Unbreakable Resistance’ as US Pressure Mounts

A man walks on a street in the rain as Cuba reconnected its electrical grid across much of the island, according to the Energy and Mines Ministry, following a nationwide blackout that left about 10 million people without electricity, in Havana, Cuba, March 17, 2026. (Reuters)
A man walks on a street in the rain as Cuba reconnected its electrical grid across much of the island, according to the Energy and Mines Ministry, following a nationwide blackout that left about 10 million people without electricity, in Havana, Cuba, March 17, 2026. (Reuters)
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Cuba Vows ‘Unbreakable Resistance’ as US Pressure Mounts

A man walks on a street in the rain as Cuba reconnected its electrical grid across much of the island, according to the Energy and Mines Ministry, following a nationwide blackout that left about 10 million people without electricity, in Havana, Cuba, March 17, 2026. (Reuters)
A man walks on a street in the rain as Cuba reconnected its electrical grid across much of the island, according to the Energy and Mines Ministry, following a nationwide blackout that left about 10 million people without electricity, in Havana, Cuba, March 17, 2026. (Reuters)

Cuba's leader on Tuesday said the US would face "unbreakable resistance" if it tries to take over the impoverished island nation, as communist authorities scrambled to fix a nationwide electricity blackout.

Cuba's government is under increasingly crushing pressure, with Washington enforcing an oil blockade and openly stating it wants to end the nearly seven-decade-old US standoff with the one-party communist state.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Cuba's decision announced this week to let exiles invest and own businesses did not go far enough to allow free-market reforms that the Trump administration demands.

"What they announced yesterday is not dramatic enough. It's not going to fix it. So they've got some big decisions to make," Rubio, a Cuban-American and vociferous critic of the country's ruling party, told reporters at the White House.

President Donald Trump, who has heaped pressure on Cuba's communist government, said Monday he would "take" Cuba, adding: "We'll be doing something with Cuba very soon."

But his Cuban counterpart Miguel Diaz-Canel was defiant in the face of Washington's threats.

"Faced with the worst-case scenario, Cuba has one guarantee: any external aggressor will encounter an unbreakable resistance," he wrote in a statement on X.

Cuba is open to broad talks with Washington and allowing more investment, but it will not discuss changing its political system, an envoy told AFP on Tuesday.

Tanieris Dieguez, Cuba's deputy chief of mission in Washington, said the two neighboring countries "have a lot of things to put on the table" but that neither should ask the other to change its government.

"Nothing related with our political system, nothing with our political model -- our constitutional model -- is part of the negotiations, and never will it be part of that," she said.

"The only thing that Cuba asks for any conversation is respect to our sovereignty and to our right to self-determination."

The New York Times, quoting unnamed US officials, said the Trump administration has called for Cuba to sack Diaz-Canel, who is seen as resistant to change.

Rubio denied the report late Tuesday, writing on X that the article was "fake" and was among media reports that relied on "charlatans and liars claiming to be in the know" as sources.

- 'Taking Cuba' -

A total electricity breakdown Monday underscored the parlous state of Cuba's economy.

The country lost Venezuela as its chief regional ally and oil supplier this January after a US military operation toppled Venezuela's socialist leader Nicolas Maduro.

Power was restored to two-thirds of the country early Tuesday, including to 45 percent of the capital Havana, home to 1.7 million people.

"What we fear all the time is that the blackout will drag on and we will lose the little bit that we have in the fridge, because everything is so expensive," said Olga Suarez, a 64-year-old retiree.

"Otherwise, we are used to it because here almost all the time you go to bed and wake up without electricity," she told AFP.

Adding another scare, a 5.8-magnitude earthquake struck off Cuba's coast early Tuesday. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

Cuba's ageing electricity generation system is in shambles, with daily power outages of up to 20 hours the norm in parts of the island, which lacks the fuel needed to generate power.

But since Maduro's January 3 ousting, the island's economy has been further hammered by a de facto US oil blockade.

No oil has been imported to Cuba since January 9, hitting the power sector while also forcing airlines to curtail flights to the island, a blow to its all-important tourism sector.

And Trump is explicitly saying he wants the Cuban government to fall.

"You know, all my life I've been hearing about the United States and Cuba. When will the United States do it?" Trump told reporters Monday.

"I do believe I'll be... having the honor of taking Cuba," Trump said.

"Whether I free it, take it -- think I could do anything I want with it, you want to know the truth. They're a very weakened nation right now."

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World

Takaichi to Attend APEC in First China Trip as PM

Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi attends a ceremony for the exchange of signed documents at the Akasaka State Guest House in Tokyo, Japan, 09 November 2026. (EPA)
Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi attends a ceremony for the exchange of signed documents at the Akasaka State Guest House in Tokyo, Japan, 09 November 2026. (EPA)
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Takaichi to Attend APEC in First China Trip as PM

Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi attends a ceremony for the exchange of signed documents at the Akasaka State Guest House in Tokyo, Japan, 09 November 2026. (EPA)
Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi attends a ceremony for the exchange of signed documents at the Akasaka State Guest House in Tokyo, Japan, 09 November 2026. (EPA)

Japan said Friday that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi would visit China next week for the first time since she took office last year, attending an Asia-Pacific summit in Shenzhen.

The trip comes at a time of particularly fraught relations between the rival nations after Takaichi suggested in November last year that Japan may intervene in any attack on the island of Taiwan, which China claims as its territory.

"Prime Minister Takaichi is scheduled to visit the Philippines and China from November 16 to 19 to attend ASEAN-related summit meetings and the APEC summit," said deputy chief cabinet secretary Masanao Ozaki.

The visit to China will be her first since becoming prime minister in October last year.

Ozaki said that while at APEC, Takaichi will discuss issues such as "trade and investment, regional economic integration, economic and energy resilience, the digital economy... and present Japan's position on these matters".

But all eyes will be on any interaction with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Analysts say that a bilateral summit between the two leaders is very unlikely.

Multiple Japanese media reported that Tokyo had also asked Russia for a meeting with President Vladimir Putin at the gathering.

Relations between Tokyo and Moscow are at a low point after a Japanese journalist was arrested in Russia on spying allegations last month and assets belonging to Japan Tobacco were seized in the country.

Before the Shenzhen trip Takaichi will head to Manila for a meeting of the 11-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Ozaki said a Quad meeting -- including the leaders of Australia, India, Japan and the United States -- is being arranged on the sidelines of ASEAN.

China reacted furiously to Takaichi's comments on Taiwan, which came just weeks after she took office.

Beijing warned its citizens against travel to Japan and imposed trade restrictions that have reportedly led to big drops in supplies of vital rare earth minerals to Japanese firms.

Takaichi last month called China an "important neighbor" and pledged to build a stable relationship in a policy address.

But she added that Japan would also "firmly assert our country's positions" and "strongly call for responsible behavior".

While Beijing has refused to have ministerial talks with Takaichi's government, Xi sent a message of condolence to the family of former Japanese prime minister Yasuo Fukuda after he died last month, describing him "a longtime friend of the Chinese people".

In September, China's top diplomat Wang Yi said ties with Tokyo were "waiting to be normalized again" as he met former Japanese foreign minister Takeshi Iwaya, who was leading a trade delegation in Beijing.

World

Europe Pushes for Seat at Ukraine Peace Talks ‌but Lacks Unified Voice

A police officer inspects the site of a residential house damaged by a Russian military strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine November 13, 2026. (Reuters)
A police officer inspects the site of a residential house damaged by a Russian military strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine November 13, 2026. (Reuters)
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Europe Pushes for Seat at Ukraine Peace Talks ‌but Lacks Unified Voice

A police officer inspects the site of a residential house damaged by a Russian military strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine November 13, 2026. (Reuters)
A police officer inspects the site of a residential house damaged by a Russian military strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine November 13, 2026. (Reuters)

European nations are seeking an envoy to represent them in talks on ending the Russia-Ukraine war, concerned that a US-backed process will leave them sidelined and Kyiv vulnerable as Moscow and Washington decide the fate of a conflict that has roiled the continent.

Whether Europe should be represented by one person or a team — and who should take on the role — is being debated Friday as leaders from the 27-nation European Union meet at a summit in Dublin. Senior EU officials and politicians have been suggested, but there is not yet a consensus.

What the job might entail is also unclear and contested. But there is broad agreement by governments from the UK to Ukraine on the need for Europe to join the ongoing negotiations involving Moscow, Kyiv and Washington.

“This needs to be resolved," Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin said as he arrived at the summit, which will include talks on AI as well as the Russia-Ukraine war.

“I would hope that today’s discussions bring clarity around this,” he said. "It needs to be, in my view, finally decided upon within the next week or two.”

Ukraine is eager for support from its European allies, as it's reluctant to leave the talks solely in the hands of a US administration that has often seemed to lean toward Moscow’s views. Russia does not want European countries involved in direct negotiations, complaining they are financing and supplying Ukraine’s military effort.

European leaders also distrust US President Donald Trump to negotiate on their behalf after a series of tense standoffs over trade, Greenland and conflicts in Iran and Ukraine.

“Without Europeans, there is no support for Ukraine,” French President Emmanuel Macron said at a meeting of the European Political Community in Dublin on Thursday. “There is no more US support."

“At the end of the day, we will be the ones to define and decide for our future security as Europeans,” he said.

Europe is broadly aligned but not unified

European leaders fear Russian President Vladimir Putin will press Trump to back a peace settlement that weakens not just Ukraine but broader European security. Putin has demanded NATO troops be pulled back from Russia’s borders and that no European forces be deployed in Ukraine.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham rejected the idea that Europe was being sidelined during peace negotiations, saying European countries were determined to “put a bit of a ring of steel around Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.”

As envoys from Washington, Moscow and Kyiv met in Abu Dhabi, several European countries, including the UK, France and Germany, attended discussions nearby.

US envoy Jared Kushner and Zelenskyy said after they met in Dublin late Thursday that Europe would be part of the next round of talks. Zelenskyy said Europe would send a negotiating team, adding, "They will have a voice.”

“We cannot conclude this deal without the Europeans being at the table,” Kushner said. He said Putin "is willing to give it a try.”

Supporters of a single envoy, like Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, argue that the absence of a united European voice has allowed individual countries or small groups to engage in freelance diplomacy.

“There are too many different groupings discussing the issue,” she said.

Meloni has criticized a series of seemingly uncoordinated initiatives, including a call to Putin by Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, that she said could undermine European interests.

She has increasingly pushed for a common EU representative for Europe to speak with “a single, authoritative voice” and requested a decision by Friday in Dublin to be formalized in December in coordination with non-EU partners in Europe like Britain and Norway.

Martin said that European representation at the negotiations “can't just be European Union” because the Coalition of the Willing — a group of over two dozen countries that have pledged military support to help maintain a future peace in Ukraine — “has involved far more than the European Union.”

“It's a European continentwide issue,” he said.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov argued that for Europe to join peace talks, it first must name a representative. “The Europeans squabble like spiders in a jar. If someone takes the initiative to establish contact with the Russian side, those people face ostracism.”

An old question with no clear answer

The question of who represents Europe is an old one. Europe itself is loosely defined. Is it the 27-nation EU, the 32-nation NATO military alliance made up mostly of European countries, the 29-nation Schengen zone, or the 47-nation European Political Community?

That has frustrated Washington in the past and present.

After this week's US-brokered talks between Ukraine and Russia in the United Arab Emirates, Kushner said that “if Europe could identify one person to speak on their behalf, that would be a bigger achievement than getting the Russians to include them in the negotiation.”

That echoes the famous question often mis-attributed to former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger: “Who do I call if I want to call Europe?”

Potential candidates from within the EU France, Germany and the UK, the region’s top three economies collectively known as the European trio or E3, have so far been the most engaged European body in negotiations. But while London is deeply involved with Ukraine, the UK left the EU in 2020.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Thursday that the E3 is “a proven format” for diplomacy.

But an E3 envoy would leave out the other 25 EU nations and rankle smaller nations like those that border Russia and Belarus on the bloc’s “eastern flank,” which face constant hybrid threats, including influence campaigns and disruptive drones.

Some back a top EU official for the job. Even inside Brussels, however, there are two leading contenders: European Council President Antonio Costa and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.

Costa's current role is to represent national leaders. A former prime minister of Portugal, he spent much of the past year visiting capitals across the bloc.

“European security cannot be discussed without a European voice at the table,” Costa said in Dublin on Thursday. “That European voice needs to be a team effort between European nations, the European Union and NATO.”

But earlier this year, Costa faced criticism within the EU after his office set up a hush-hush back-channel with Moscow.

Kallas, a former prime minister of Estonia, could also lay claim to the envoy role.

She said in Dublin that the E3 represents the “big countries” but then asked “who is representing the European Union?"

"Americans are representing American interests. Europeans are representing European interests,” Kallas said, adding that the EU’s foundational treaties are “very, very clear” that she and Costa were appointed in 2024 to represent the bloc in “security matters.”

Kallas, however, has had a bumpy track record with US diplomats as Washington and Brussels sparred over trade and Ukraine. She's also acknowledged tensions between her office, the EU's External Action Service, and the European Commission.

Another name that has been floated is Stubb, the Finnish president. He has warm relations with Trump and met in Oslo with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Kushner in October. A week after that, he called Putin with Støre, the Norwegian prime minister. Stubb spoke with Zelenskyy by phone on Tuesday.

But some leaders deeply distrust the US-brokered talks. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk was critical of the negotiations, reflecting a regional pessimism among EU countries formerly dominated by the Soviet Union.

“In my opinion, calling them negotiations is an exaggeration," Tusk said Thursday. “We will not build a new security architecture simply because the Russian president, or someone in the United States, wishes it."

World

Russia Says Ukraine Drones Kill Four, Kyiv Reports Hospital Hit

Firefighters work at the site of a reported Russian attack, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in a location given as Odesa Region, Ukraine, November 9, 2026, in this screengrab taken from a handout video.(State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Handout via Reuters)
Firefighters work at the site of a reported Russian attack, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in a location given as Odesa Region, Ukraine, November 9, 2026, in this screengrab taken from a handout video.(State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Handout via Reuters)
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Russia Says Ukraine Drones Kill Four, Kyiv Reports Hospital Hit

Firefighters work at the site of a reported Russian attack, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in a location given as Odesa Region, Ukraine, November 9, 2026, in this screengrab taken from a handout video.(State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Handout via Reuters)
Firefighters work at the site of a reported Russian attack, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in a location given as Odesa Region, Ukraine, November 9, 2026, in this screengrab taken from a handout video.(State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Handout via Reuters)

Russia said on Friday that it shot down nearly 1,200 Ukrainian drones overnight, one of the largest swarms sent by Kyiv that killed four people.

Ukrainian authorities reported that another night of Russian attacks had set a hospital ablaze and killed at least three people.

The deadly attacks came a day after intense shuttle diplomacy in US-led talks to end the war approaching its fifth year.

US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held hours of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday before jetting to Dublin to huddle with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

"In the course of the previous night... aerial defense systems intercepted and destroyed 1,198" Ukrainian drones over more than 15 Russian regions, Russia's defense ministry said in a statement.

Four people working in an industrial zone, home to an oil refinery and a chemical factory, died in the southern Volgograd region, local authorities said.

In Ukraine, a hospital in Kyiv was damaged after a Russian attack triggered a fire and forced people to seek shelter. One person was wounded.

In Odesa, two people were killed and five wounded in the overnight barrage, with "private residential houses and cars" damaged, regional governor Oleg Kiper said on Telegram.

A Russian attack on Zaporizhzhia in the southeast killed a 17-year-old boy, acting regional governor Mykhailo Semikin said.

Four people, who rescuers managed to pull from under the rubble, were wounded.

Another Russian strike hit the city of Rivne, in a northwestern region far from the frontline, damaging a kindergarten and wounding six people, including two children.

Ukraine has intensified its retaliatory drone attacks on Russia's energy industry over the past year-and-a-half, seeking to cut the Kremlin's revenues and undermine its ability to finance the war Moscow launched in February 2022.

Russia is heavily targeting Ukraine's own energy grid with aerial barrages, leaving residents across the country without power as temperatures plunge ahead of winter.