Ailments in Cuba now worry Canada
TORONTO -- Canada's Foreign Ministry said Monday that it is ordering families of diplomatic employees in Cuba to return home over questions about mysterious health symptoms detected in 10 people who were stationed on the island.
Canadian diplomats will no longer be accompanied by family members in Cuba because of what it called "ongoing uncertainty" over the cause of the ailments, the ministry said in a statement. Spouses, children or even parents of diplomats already with them in Havana will begin leaving immediately.
The move comes after 10 Canadians continue to show unexplained brain symptoms and after "medical information raised concerns for a new type of a possible acquired brain injury." Symptoms have included dizziness, headaches and lack of ability to concentrate.
The U.S. State Department cut its staff at its embassy in October because of similar symptoms affecting 24 American diplomats and dependents.
Russians cleared in Thai labor case
PATTAYA, Thailand -- A Russian sex guru and his followers, one of whom claims to have evidence of Moscow's interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, were acquitted Tuesday by a court in Thailand of labor-law violations, but they still face other charges.
Alexander Kirillov and follower Anastasia Vashukevich, a model and escort, told reporters that they placed the blame for their continued detention on U.S. officials, to whom they previously appealed for help and political asylum.
Vashukevich's earlier revelation of an alleged affair with Oleg Deripaska, a Russian oligarch close to President Vladimir Putin, fueled opposition allegations in Russia of official corruption and angered the Kremlin.
Vashukevich claims to have audio recordings of Deripaska that provide evidence of Russian meddling in the U.S. polls.
The group was arrested Feb. 25 in a hotel meeting room in Pattaya, a Thai seaside resort city. The sex lessons they hosted were attended by about 40 Russian tourists.
Britons say poison smeared on knob
LONDON -- The nerve agent used on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, was delivered in liquid form, British officials said Tuesday.
The U.K. Environment Department said nine sites need "specialist cleaning," including a restaurant visited by the Skripals on March 4, the day they were found unconscious on a park bench in Salisbury in southwest England.
About 190 specially trained troops are assisting environmental, health and defense officials with the cleanup, it said, adding that the effort will take "a number of months."
British officials say the Skripals were poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent that was smeared on a door handle at Sergei Skripal's house.
Yulia Skripal was released last week from a Salisbury hospital where her father continues to be treated.
A Section on 04/18/2018