About this Episode
Bolivia has been rocked by mass protests for a second week, forcing Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz Pereira to reshuffle his cabinet and propose a council after clashes left four people dead and dozens injured. The United States has warned the unrest looks like an ongoing coup d’état, while the government has expelled Colombia’s ambassador after President Gustavo Petro’s remarks. Roadblocks and shortages have paralysed parts of the country, protesters demand the president’s resignation, and officials accuse opponents of seeking to disrupt the democratic order.
Russia has delivered nuclear munitions to field storage sites in Belarus during joint nuclear drills, the Russian and Belarusian defence ministries have announced. The drills have deployed Iskander‑M systems and other forces across both countries. Belarus opposition leader has warned this amounts to nuclear blackmail, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has ordered stepped‑up northern border security amid rising NATO tensions after recent Baltic drone incidents.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has warned gonorrhoea and syphilis have reached decade highs in 2024, with gonorrhoea topping about 106,000 cases and syphilis around 45,000, marking large rises since 2015. The agency has said gaps in testing and prevention have driven transmission and noted congenital syphilis has nearly doubled. Men who have sex with men remain disproportionately affected, and the ECDC has urged condom use and testing for symptomatic people.
Former Cuban president Raúl Castro has been indicted in a US federal court in Miami on charges including conspiracy to kill US nationals, four counts of murder and aircraft destruction over the 1996 shootdown of exile planes, prosecutors have said. Castro, 94, was Cuba’s defence minister at the time and is accused of ordering the attack that killed four Americans, the indictment states. US officials have dispatched naval forces to the region while President Donald Trump has said he does not expect escalation, and Cuba’s government has condemned the move as political posturing.
