Cuban parliament hands second presidential term to Díaz-Canel
Cuban lawmakers elected President Miguel Díaz-Canel to a second five-year term April 19, handing him 459 of 460 votes in the National Assembly, the official Communist Party newspaper Granma reported. Vice President Salvador Valdés Mesa was also re-elected. In 2018, the 62-year-old Díaz-Canel succeeded the brothers Fidel and Raúl Castro, making him the first non-Castro ruler of the one-party Caribbean island state since the revolution in 1959.
Jet bridge collapse at an Atlanta airport injures several employees
Multiple people were injured on the evening of April 21 when a jet bridge collapsed at the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia, officials said. Several employees were on the jet bridge on Concourse F when the bridge malfunctioned shortly before 7 p.m., a spokesperson for the Atlanta airport said. The bridge dropped approximately 15 feet with the employees inside. The airport workers were checked by emergency personnel, but officials did not release the extent of their injuries. The exact number of employees injured was also not provided. The incident had no impact on the airport’s operations. Officials did not say what caused the malfunction or what airline was using the gate at the time.
Ugandan president does not sign anti-homosexuality law
Uganda’s draconian new anti-gay legislation, which would allow for homosexual acts to be punished by long prison sentences and even the death penalty, is being revised after heavy international criticism. President Yoweri Museveni refrained from signing the law, which had already been passed by parliament, within the required deadline. The ruling National Resistance Movement party will revise and propose “improvements” of the text after consultations with Museveni, a party official wrote on Twitter on April 20.
Three injured in an accidental Russian firing in Belgorod city
Three people have now been reported injured after a Russian fighter jet accidentally fired at the Russian city of Belgorod near Ukraine on April 20, regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said. Nobody’s life is in danger, Gladkov wrote on Telegram on April 21. On the evening of April 20, a heavy explosion had occurred in the middle of a Belgorod crossroads, leaving a hole with a 20-yard radius in the ground. Later, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said a Russian fighter jet had experienced an “unplanned launch of ammunition” over the city. Initially, there had been talk of two injured women. All residents of a damaged apartment building have been temporarily relocated, Gladkov wrote. Some were staying with relatives, others in a hotel. At least three people were injured in the accidental firing.
