CUBA

Restrictions on medical supplies slammed

Cuba has denounced US measures restricting its access to medicines, medical supplies and raw materials needed by the country's biopharmaceutical industry. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said on Wednesday that restrictions on essential goods come on top of a US energy blockade and economic sanctions against Cuba, further aggravating a difficult situation. Rodriguez wrote in a post on X that amid the sanctions and an intensified blockade, scientists at the Center of Molecular Immunology have developed a potentially promising cancer treatment called 2C12, which has similar characteristics to pembrolizumab, a drug used internationally to stimulate the immune system's response against tumor cells. Cuba's Public Health Ministry has repeatedly denounced US sanctions for undermining cancer treatment by restricting access to medicines.

DPRK

Pyongyang vows response to hostilities

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea vowed to make a "powerful response" to the latest hostile US moves, which are "adversely affecting the security environment of the DPRK and the regional situation," the official Korean Central News Agency reported on Thursday. A spokesperson for the DPRK's Foreign Ministry lashed out at the US Department of State over its decision to sell the latest ultramodern tactical missiles operated by the US Army and related equipment worth $125 million to the Republic of Korea, said the KCNA report.

SOUTH SUDAN

49 people killed in armed cattle raid

At least 49 people were killed and 33 wounded in South Sudan after armed cattle raiders from Unity State in the country's north attacked a community of herders in neighboring Warrap State at dawn on Thursday, officials said. William Wol Mayom Bol, the state's information minister, expressed condolences to the families of the victims and appealed for "restraint as the two state governments establish cooperation to bring culprits to book".

XINHUA-AGENCIES