Cuba
"As long as I live I will be ready with my foot in the stirrup to defend the homeland, the revolution and socialism with more force than ever."
A major milestone in Cuba as, for the first time in 60 years, there will be no Castro in government. Raul, Fidel’s brother and current figurehead of the Communist Party, has announced his resignation. More information from Deutsche Welle here.
Iran
Iran has named a suspect in last week’s attack on a nuclear enrichment facility in the country. Tehran has accused Israel of orchestrating what it says was an act of sabotage involving an explosion, which led to a power outage. State television named the suspect as 43-year-old Iranian national, Reza Karim. The report said he fled the country just hours before the explosion. Lots of detail in this Euronews write-up.
Global
"Vaccine equity is the challenge of our time - and we are failing.”
A heartbreaking Reuters photo from a funeral in India accompanies this BBC piece on a heartbreaking milestone: More than three million people have now died worldwide from COVID-19. While a small number of nations are quickly vaccinating their populations, many other countries have yet to even begin vaccination programs. According to the head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom, one in four people in rich countries have received a vaccine, compared with only one in 400 in poorer countries. He is calling vaccine equity the major challenge of our lifetimes.
This New York Times piece is also worth your time.