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The Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) on Wednesday approved a package of reforms aimed at opening up more sectors to private investment.  The reform process coincides with increased economic pressure from the US and comes amid regular power outages and other resource shortages on the island.  The country's president and the first secretary of its only legal political party, Miguel Diaz-Canel, first presented the plans late last week.  Cuba faces most severe energy crisis in decadesTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video What did the PCC say as it approved the reforms?  The Central Committee of the PCC held an extraordinary plenary session on Wednesday to urgently evaluate the proposals.  The party wrote on social medi...

The European Commission said on Wedensday that it was building on a support program worth some €493 million (roughly $580 million) in humanitarian aid and health security amid the latest Ebola outbreak centered around Ituri province in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).  This came a day after assembled leaders at the G7 summit in Evian, France appealed for a strong and coordinated international response to the outbreak, praising support efforts from the US, EU and others.  According to the DRC's government late on Tuesday, the outbreak of the comparatively rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebolavirus has led to 837 confirmed cases and 196 deaths — 29 of those cases in a period of 24 hours.  What did the EU say about its assistance program?  The European Commission said that it...

The EU and Ukraine on Monday formally opened the first stage of accession negotiations with a view to Kyiv one day joining the 28-member bloc.  Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 turbocharged an idea that at one point was contentious among the country's electorate. Why had Hungary's former government delayed the process?  For the past two years, the process had been on hold. That's because starting it requires unanimous approval from existing EU governments, and Hungary's former Prime Minister Viktor Orban was blocking the move.  The talks had already started on a technical level despite the Hungarian obstruction.  Hungary's new prime minister, Peter Magyar, recently announced that he had reached an agreement with Ukraine on measures to strengthen the rights of the ethnic...

Voters in Switzerland on Sunday have voted against a proposal to cap the Alpine nation's population at 10 million by 2050. According to final results published by national broadcaster SRF the proposal has been rejected by 54.8% against 45.2% in favor. Under Switzerland's direct democracy system, referendums are mostly binding in their effect. The proposal was put forward by the Swiss People's Party (SVP), which has the most seats in the Swiss parliament. Currently, Switzerland has a population of 9.1 million. Divisive population proposal Those in favor of the SVP proposal say that immigration to Switzerland, where foreigners make up more than 25% of the population, has caused the small country to become overcrowded and clogged services. However, its critics say that if adopted, it w...

A private plane carrying skydivers crashed in the US state of Missouri on Sunday, killing all 12 people on board, authorities said. The crash occurred near the Butler Memorial Airport —  which lies 60 ⁠miles (100 kilometers) south of Kansas City —  shortly after the plane took off. The plane was operated by Skydive Kansas City. "Tragically, all 12 individuals aboard lost their lives in the accident," the skydiving company said in a statement. The pilot of the plane was among those killed. What do we know? The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) identified the aircraft as a single-engine Pacific Aerospace P750. Dennis Jacobs, the acting airport manager and Bates County emergency management director, told news agency Reuters that the plane took off around 11:20 a.m. CT (1620 UTC) . ...