Sunday 21 December 2014

Dunya TV

Dunya TV

Mexico competition watchdog signs off on AT&T's Iusacell buy

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Mexico City (Reuters) - Mexicos competition regulator on Sunday approved AT&T Incs $1.7 billion purchase of local cellphone company Iusacell, with unspecified conditions, a statement said.The Federal Competition Commission said it set conditions on the deal to avoid risks to the process of competition in markets where Iusacell would compete with Carlos Slims America Movil, which previously counted AT&T as a minority investor.AT&T sold its America Movil shares in the summer, before announcing its deal with Iusacell in November.Iusacell was previously being operated as a joint venture between Mexicos biggest broadcaster Televisa and Grupo Salinas, a holding company belonging to tycoon Ricardo Salinas.The competition watchdog also said in the statement it approved Televisas sale of its 50 percent stake in Iusacell back to Grupo Salinas, from which AT&T will then buy the operator in its entirety.Mexicos government earlier this year implemented reforms to shake up its telecom and broadcast market by weakening the dominance of broadcaster Televisa and billionaire Slims cellphone and fixed-line company America Movil.

Alleged Australia child killer 'coping as best she can'

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SYDNEY (AFP) - An Australian mother charged with killing eight children will have her case heard in January, a court said Monday, as she struggles to come to terms with what happened.Raina Mersane Ina Thaiday, 37, also known as Mersane Warria, is accused of eight counts of murder after the bodies of the children were found in a house in the northern city of Cairns on Friday morning.Seven of them were hers and she was an aunt to the eighth. The children -- four girls and four boys -- were aged between two and 14.The Cairns Magistrates Court refused an application by the womens lawyer Steven MacFarlane for the next hearing on January 30 to be in a mental health court.This is procedural as MacFarlane said she was currently on an involuntary treatment order and would be assessed, so once she gets assessed, then it may go to a mental health court at that stage.MacFarlane said Thaiday, who did not attend the hearing as she remained in a Cairns hospital under police guard with non life-threatening injuries, was still coming to terms with what happened.Ive spoken to her, shes coping as best she can at the moment, he told reporters outside the court.Im not a doctor, I think she probably knows whats happened but doesnt realise it, it hasnt sunk in, is my personal opinion only.The hearing came as the local member of the Queensland state parliament, Gavin King, said the public housing home in the suburb of Manoora where the bodies were found could be demolished and a permanent memorial instead built on the site.I started that conversation on Saturday morning down at the site with various family representatives and local residents and various agencies, he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.Police said Sunday that crime scene investigators were still working in the house, describing it as a long process.We still have experts there. It will be a long, hard road from here on in, detective inspector Bruno Asnicar said.Officers have not revealed the cause of death of the children but said they were looking into various scenarios, including suffocation. They also said knives were found at the house.

Obama says Sony hack was not 'an act of war'

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WASHINGTON (AFP) - North Koreas alleged hack of Sony Pictures was not an act of war, President Barack Obama said in an interview aired Sunday, as Pyongyang threatened reprisals if targeted with sanctions.Obama promised an unspecified proportionate response, and said he would review whether to return North Korea to the US list of state sponsors of terrorism, after a six-year absence.Republican critics have accused North Korea of waging cyber warfare by targeting Sony, urging the president to respond robustly to the crisis.But Obama shot back: I dont think it was an act of war. I think it was an act of cyber vandalism that was very costly, very expensive. We take it very seriously.Speaking in a pre-taped interview on CNNs State of the Union, Obama emphasized that any change to North Koreas status on the terror list could only happen after a careful evaluation of the facts.Weve got very clear criteria as to what it means for a state to sponsor terrorism. And we dont make those judgments just based on the news of the day, Obama said.We look systematically at whats been done and based on those facts, well make those determinations in the future.Obama faced fresh calls from Republican critics on Sunday to target North Korea with stiff sanctions.Its more than vandalism, its a new form of warfare that were involved in and we need to react and react vigorously, including reimposing sanctions, said Senator John McCain, the incoming chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.Washington accuses Pyongyang of being behind the hack that led to the release of embarrassing company emails and caused Sony executives to halt the debut of the madcap comedy action film The Interview.The film about a fictional CIA plot to kill the countrys leader infuriated North Korea, although Pyongyang has repeatedly denied it was behind the cyber-assault on Sony.North Korea has called for a joint probe into the investigation with the United States into the hacking -- an offer swiftly rebuffed by security officials in Washington.The hermit state threatened to hit back at the White House and other US targets if it was sanctioned over the alleged hacking.The Norths National Defense Commission, in a statement on the official news agency, said its army and people are fully ready to stand in confrontation with the US in all war spaces including cyber warfare space to blow up those citadels.Our toughest counteraction will be boldly taken against the White House, the Pentagon and the whole US mainland, the cesspool of terrorism, by far surpassing the symmetric counteraction declared by Obama, it said.The North, which has in the past made statements threatening the US mainland, accused the Obama administration of being deeply involved in the making of the The Interview at the center of the Sony hacking.It again praised the righteous action by the hacking group, which has styled itself Guardians of Peace, but said it was unaware where they were based.The FBI has cited significant overlap between the attack and other malicious cyber-activity with direct links to Pyongyang, including an attack on South Korean banks blamed on the North.The North said it has never attempted or made a cyberattack on South Korea.It is common sense that the method of cyber warfare is almost similar worldwide, it added.

20 jihadists killed in failed east Syria airport attack: monitor

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BEIRUT (AFP) - At least 20 Islamist State (IS) group members were killed in the second failed jihadist bid in a month to take over an air base in eastern Syria, a monitoring group said Sunday.The IS tried, starting late Saturday, to storm the air base. A total of 20 jihadists were killed in the attack, as well as two regime soldiers, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.Nineteen of the IS members were Syrian, while one was Moroccan.They were killed in fighting and heavy army shelling.The withdrawing jihadists seized and took with them several anti-aircraft missiles, said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.The attack was the second recent attempt by IS to take over the Deir Ezzor military air base, one of the last remaining regime positions in the eastern province.Deir Ezzor is located on the border with Iraq, where IS also controls large swathes of territory.The IS group emerged in Syrias conflict in the spring of 2013. Since then it has declared a caliphate straddling Syria and Iraq.Activists say it rules the people under its control through a reign of terror.

Jordan hangs 11 men after eight-year death penalty moratorium

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AMMAN (AFP) - Human rights groups took Jordan to task on Sunday as the country ended an eight-year moratorium on the death penalty by hanging 11 men convicted of murder.The men were executed at dawn in a prison some 70 kilometres (45 miles) from the capital, interior ministry spokesman Ziyad Zoobi was quoted as saying by the official Petra news agency.Authorities said the men were all Jordanians convicted of murder, with no links to politics or extremism, in 2005 and 2006. A source in the prison system said the men were mostly in their 40s. Some of the prisoners asked to have their final words passed on their families, others asked only to smoke a cigarette, the source said.Jordans last previous executions were in June 2006, and 122 people have since been sentenced to death.Interior Minister Hussein Majali had suggested recently that the moratorium might end, saying there was a major debate in Jordan on the death penalty and that the public believes that the rise in crime has been the result of the non-application of capital punishment.Experts said the government was responding to a rise in crime. The authorities have been confronted in recent years with a wave of violence, criminality and murders and want to meet the challenge by opting for deterrence and the renewed application of the death penalty, said Oraib Rantawi, head of Ammans Al-Quds Centre for Political Studies.But rights groups denounced the ending of the moratorium, saying it would make little difference to rising crime.We are surprised by this decision, which is a step back for Jordan, said Taghreed Jaber, the regional director for Penal Reform International.Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, said: Reviving this inherently cruel form of punishment is another way Jordan is backsliding on human rights.She said that by resuming executions, Jordan loses its standing as a rare progressive voice on the death penalty in the region.The head of Jordans Adallah (Justice) rights group, Assem Rababa, said the authorities would be better off tackling the root causes of crime.Political and economic problems are fostering crime, he said. The authorities should not make a headlong rush (into executions) while ignoring these problems.Londons ambassador to Amman, Peter Millett, said Britain believes use of the death penalty undermines human dignity, that there is no conclusive evidence that it has any value as a deterrent, and that any miscarriage of justice is irreversible and irreparable.A number of countries in the Middle East continue to impose the death penalty for serious crimes, including Jordans neighbour Saudi Arabia, which has executed 83 people so far this year.China by far carried out the most executions in 2013, numbering in the thousands, followed by Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the United States, rights group Amnesty International said in a report in March.

Gunman kills two NY police officers in Brooklyn

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NEW YORK (AFP) - An African American gunman with an apparent grudge killed two New York police officers in a cold-blooded attack after weeks of outrage over police killings of unarmed black men.President Barack Obama unconditionally condemned the murders, saying in a statement: Tonight, I ask people to reject violence and words that harm, and turn to words that heal.The two uniformed officers, one a newlywed, were shot in the head through the window of their patrol car in broad daylight in Brooklyn on Saturday in an attack that left Americas biggest city reeling just days before Christmas.Today, two of New Yorks finest were shot and killed with no warning, no provocation, said an emotional New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton.They were quite simply assassinated.Police named the shooter as 28-year-old Ismaaiyl Brinsley, who shot and seriously wounded his ex-girlfriend in Baltimore early Saturday before driving to Brooklyn to murder the two officers.Wenjian Liu, a seven-year police veteran who got married two months ago, and Rafael Ramos, who leaves behind a 13-year-old son, were ambushed and murdered as they sat in the front seats of a marked NYPD police car, officials said.Neither officer had a chance to draw his weapon before Brinsley opened fire with several rounds and fled to a nearby subway station.He shot himself in the head on the platform, where Bratton said a silver semi-automatic firearm was recovered near his body.Cities across the United States have seen weeks of protests condemning a string of recent police killings of unarmed black men and decisions by grand juries not to press charges against the white officers responsible.Bratton said social media postings showed that Brinsley had a very strong bias against police officers.Just hours before the shooting, Brinsley apparently boasted on Instagram of wanting to kill cops.Attorney General Eric Holder said the attack is a reminder of the dangers US police face regularly.As a nation we must not forget this as we discuss the events of the recent past, he said in a statement that appeared to refer to the countrys ongoing police controversy.New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city of 8.4 million was in mourning.When a police officer is murdered, it tears at the foundation of our society. It is an attack on all of us, he said.Our entire city was attacked by this heinous individual.The police chief said the motive was still under investigation, but did not rule out a connection to anti-police protests that have swept the country.One of the unfortunate aspects at times is some people get caught up in these and go in directions they should not, he said.In a cruel twist of fate, Bratton said Baltimore police warned New York colleagues that Brinsley may be on the loose just as the murder took place.In October, a man with a hatchet attacked four young New York officers in what police said was an act of terror by a self-radicalized Muslim convert.They Take 1 of Ours... Lets Take 2 of Theirs, read a comment seemingly written by Brinsley next to a photo of a silver handgun, referencing the police killings of unarmed blacks.In July, Eric Garner, an unarmed father of six, died after police held him in a chokehold while he was being arrested for selling individual cigarettes illegally in New York.Michael Brown, an 18-year-old in the Ferguson suburb of St Louis, Missouri, was shot dead by a police officer in August, sparking months of protests.Grand jury decisions not to indict either white officer responsible triggered mass protests in New York and other US cities.The Brown family swiftly condemned the latest killings as senseless.We reject any kind of violence directed toward members of law enforcement. It cannot be tolerated. We must work together to bring peace to our communities, they said in a statement.Civil rights activist Al Sharpton, who has used the deaths of Garner and Brown to campaign for sweeping police reform, also said he was outraged.Sharpton said he spoke to the Garner family who also condemned the violence and were outraged by the shooting.But the head of a New York police association blamed city officials for not going far enough to stop those who incited violence during protests against police.That blood on their hands starts on the steps of city hall in the office of the mayor, Patrolmens Benevolent Association head Patrick Lynch said about Saturdays shootings.Widespread dissatisfaction in relations between police and blacks have been inflamed not just by the Brown and Garner deaths.Last month, a rookie police officer fatally shot Akai Gurley, an unarmed 28-year-old black man, in the stairwell of a Brooklyn apartment building.A 12-year-old black boy holding a toy gun was also shot dead by police officers in a playground in Ohio in November.

Ronaldo unveils statue of himself in Portugal

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LISBON (AP) - Cristiano Ronaldo has unveiled a statue of himself on his home island of Madeira in Portugal.Ronaldo calls the larger-than-life bronze statue prettier than me, according to Spanish news agency Europa Press. The 29-year-old Real Madrid forward helped the Spanish team win the Club World Cup in Morocco on Saturday. Ronaldo already has a museum dedicated to his career on Madeira. He says I never expected to have a statue in my life.

Badminton: World champion Chen wins Superseries title

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DUBAI (AFP) - Chinas world champion Chen Long finished 2014 on a high by winning the World Superseries Finals title on Sunday, brushing past Hans-Kristian Vittinghus of Denmark 21-16, 21-10 in just 47 minutes.It was Chens fourth major title of the season and he secured it in some style with Vittinghus failing to win another point from 10-10 in the second game.Im happy with my game. This is the first time Dubai is hosting such a big event and Im very happy with the way it was organised, said Chen.I believe that with so many Chinese and Indian people living here, badminton has a great future in Dubai and Im looking forward to coming back.Taiwans Tai Tzu Ying claimed the womens title with a 21-17, 21-12 win over South Koreas Sung Ji Hyun.Tai is now as good as the top Chinese players, admitted Sung. She is very aggressive and powerful; I found it hard to return her smashes today.Tai played down her victory.I didnt expect it to be this easy. Maybe Sung was not at her best and she made many mistakes, said the Taiwanese player who found her form late in the season.I fell sick twice this year; thats why I could not compete at a high level. Having won the Hong Kong Open and this event, I expect that my opponents will study me closely, but thats something I cannot avoid. I will have to adjust accordingly.Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi handed China their first defeat in a major final in womens doubles for over a year by beating world champions Tian Qing and Zhao Yunlei 21-17, 21-14.This result was far from what we expected, said Tian.We need to study this game and find what went wrong. Our rivals were very good today; we just didnt employ the right tactics. We didnt make many mistakes, but we werent patient enough.Takahashi said their main goal this year had been the world championships, but they were happy to win the year-ending finale.We didnt have a specific strategy. The Chinese are hard to beat because they usually maintain the attack. We never expected to win in straight games, she said.South Koreas Lee Yong Dae and Yoo Yeon Seong claimed the mens doubles by beating Chinas Chai Biao and Hong Wei 19-21, 21-19, 21-16.World and Olympic champions Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei took just 41 minutes to beat Chinese compatriots Liu Cheng and Bao Yixin 21-15, 21-12 in the mixed doubles final.

Athletics: Kenyans Rotich, Timbilil win Taipei marathon

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TAIPEI (AFP) - Julius Chepkwony Rotich of Kenya beat his compatriot and defending champion Josphat Kamzee Jepkopol to win the mens title in the Taipei marathon Sunday.Rotich crossed the line in two hours, 14 minutes and four seconds to take home a prize of Tw$1.2 million ($38,130).Compatriot Hillary Yego came second on 2:17:00 while Jepkopol trailed on 2:20:03.A field of Kenyan big names also dominated the womens race, with Alice Jemeli Timbilil, the 2010 Armsterdam marathon winner, clocking 2:34:55. She was followed by Carolyne Chemutai Komen with 2:36:17 and Viola Chepleting Bor with 2:38:29.More than 100,000 runners took part in the event, with about 4,200 competing in the full 42-kilometre (26.2-mile) marathon and others running shorter distances.

IMF policies criticised over Ebola outbreak

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LONDON (AFP) - International Monetary Fund (IMF) policies left healthcare systems in the African countries worst affected by Ebola underfunded and lacking doctors, and hampered a coordinated response to the outbreak, researchers said Monday.Links between the IMF and the rapid spread of the disease were examined by researchers from Cambridge Universitys sociology department, with colleagues from Oxford University and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.They found IMF programmes held back the development of effective health systems in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the three countries at the epicentre of the outbreak that has killed over 7,370 people.Reforms advocated by the IMF hampered the ability of the health systems to cope with infectious disease outbreaks and other emergencies, the researchers found.A major reason why the Ebola outbreak spread so rapidly was the weakness of healthcare systems in the region, and it would be unfortunate if underlying causes were overlooked, said Cambridge sociologist and lead study author Alexander Kentikelenis.Policies advocated by the IMF have contributed to under-funded, insufficiently staffed, and poorly prepared health systems in the countries with Ebola outbreaks.The researchers examined policies enforced by the IMF before the outbreak, using information from IMF lending programmes from 1990 to 2014, and analysed their effects on Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.They found the healthcare systems were weakened by the IMFs requirement of economic reforms that cut government spending, a requirement of caps on the public sector wage bill, and a policy of decentralised healthcare systems.On the requirement to reduce government spending, researchers found that such policies have been extremely strict, absorbing funds that could be directed to meeting pressing health challenges.In 2013, just before the Ebola outbreak, the three countries met the IMFs economic directives, yet all failed to raise their social spending despite pressing health needs, said Cambridge sociologist and study co-author Lawrence King.The public wage cap meant the countries were unable to hire nurses and doctors and pay them adequately, while decentralised healthcare systems made it hard to mobilise coordinated responses to outbreaks of infectious diseases such as Ebola.A spokesman for the IMF said that the organisations mandate did not specifically include public health and that it was completely untrue that the spread of Ebola was a consequence of IMF policies.Such claims are based on a misunderstanding, and, in some cases, a misrepresentation, of IMF policies, the spokesman said.Since 2009, loans from the IMF to low-income countries have been at zero interest rate, which has freed up resources for countries to spend more on health and education.The spokesman added that the IMF had provided a $130 million financial package in September towards Ebola, and that they were working towards offering a package worth a similar amount to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone next year.

Australia, Ishant Sharma get Test fines

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BRISBANE (AFP) - Australia have been fined for maintaining a slow over rate and India paceman Ishant Sharma has been found guilty of breaching the ICC Code of Conduct during the second Brisbane Test, the ICC said Sunday.As punishment new skipper Steve Smith was fined 60 percent of his match fee for his teams slow over rate in the Test, which Australia won by four wickets on Saturday.Match referee Jeff Crowe imposed the fine after Smiths side was ruled to be three overs short of its target when time allowances were taken into consideration.In accordance with the ICC Code of Conduct relating to minor over-rate offences, players are fined 10 percent of their match fees for every over their side fails to bowl in the allotted time, with the captain fined double that amount.The other Australia players received 30 percent fines of their match fees.The ICC said if Smith was found guilty of one more minor over-rate offence as captain in Tests over the next 12 months, he will receive a one-match suspension as per the provisions of the Code.Sharma was fined 15 percent of his match fee for violating a section of the ICC Code of Conduct, which relates to language or a gesture that is obscene, offensive or insulting during an international match.Sharma was seen on the television broadcast using inappropriate words after dismissing Smith in Australias first innings.Sharma admitted the offence and accepted the sanction proposed by the match referee, the ICC said.All Level 1 breaches carry a minimum penalty of an official reprimand and a maximum penalty of 50 percent of a players match fee.It is the second Test match in the current Border-Gavaskar series that has led to code of conduct sanctions.Australias David Warner and India duo Shikhar Dhawan and stand-in skipper Virat Kohli were found guilty of breaching the ICC code of conduct and handed fines for bust-ups during the stormy first Adelaide Test.Warner and Dhawan were fined 15 and 30 percent of their match fees respectively for their roles in a confrontation, while Kohli was also fined 30 percent of his match fee for his involvement in a separate incident shortly before the close of play on the fourth day.

Canadian man to pay USD 1.5 million for credit card fraud

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FARGO, North Dakota: (AP) - Prosecutors described a Toronto mans massive credit card fraud scheme as high-tech bank robbery stealing the identities of 38,000 people in order to bilk dozens of banks. So when he was convicted of mail fraud in February 2011, the federal government began the arduous task of figuring out just how much each victim was owed.Years later, following the governments petition to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a federal judge ordered Adekunle Adetiloye to pay about $1.5 million in restitution and forfeiture. Adetiloye is appealing the Dec. 8 judgment.To be fair to everybody, the losses in this case are uncommon, Assistant U.S. Attorney Nick Chase said Thursday. Its a hard case in many ways to prove up. Theres just not a lot of law out there on any of this. Its a little uncharted.What isnt clear, Chase said, is whether anyone will see the restitution payments. Adetiloyes lawyer wouldnt comment on his clients financial situation.Adetiloyes 18-year prison sentence, issued in January 2012, capped a lengthy international investigation into fake debt-collection agencies. Bank officials, investigators and prosecutors called it one of the most complex schemes perpetrated in the financial industry. It took nearly eight years to investigate and litigate, including the restitution debate.The case wound up in North Dakota because U.S. Bank, one of the victims, is based in Fargo.Investigators said Adetiloye incorporated two different companies that claimed to be debt collection companies. He gained access to commercial data providers including large-scale outfits LexisNexis and ChoicePoint that only allow access to law enforcement, financial services and debt collection companies.U.S. District Judge Ralph Erickson in March 2012 set both restitution and forfeiture at just $1,700, saying the government did not provide enough specificity and reliability to support a larger award.Restitution is meant to compensate victims for actual losses directly caused by the criminal conduct and cant exceed the actual, provable loss realized by the victims. It is not meant to punish the defendant. Forfeiture covers proceeds of any kind obtained by the defendant from the scheme.The circuit court, on appeal from the government, sent the case back to district court for review.Erickson eventually ordered Adetiloye to pay about $770,000 to 17 banks. The largest award, nearly $220,000, was for Citi Cards, followed by more than $150,000 to U.S. Bank. The individual awards total about $16,000, with the largest for $1,910.A lot of the people didnt have money directly stolen from them. It was all the banks that had lost money, Chase said. People were out a lot emotionally, but you cant compensate for that.Adetiloye argued he should only be held responsible for proceeds he personally obtained, which he said was $0.My job is to take a look once again at what the district court did and determine if there are any appealable issues, said Adetiloyes appeal lawyer, Steven Morrison.Chase said its hard to predict whether any victims will get paid.If we can locate any of this, we are going to try and get the money back, he said.

7 more lose their lives to hunger in Tharparkar

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THARPARKAR: (Dunya News) – Hunger continues to claim lives in Thar as seven more died on Sunday, Dunya News reported. Kids suffering from food shortage in Mitthi and Deeplo lost their lives as relief activities in the area remain suspended.122 dispensaries and basic health units are out of order due to unavailability of staff. 30 doctors and 23 ambulances from other areas failed to reach the far flung areas of Thar. Poor residents are longing for food, pure drinking water and medicines.Relief Inspecting Judge has summoned DC Tharparkar and Social Officer on December 24 on the request of Tharparkar Bar Council.

Liverpool scores late for 2-2 draw vs Arsenal

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LIVERPOOL, England: (AP) - Martin Skrtel powered home a header deep into stoppage time to earn 10-man Liverpool a 2-2 draw against Arsenal in the Premier League on Sunday.In the seventh of nine minutes of injury time, Skrtel leaped high to head a right-wing corner from Adam Lallana into the bottom corner.Despite being mostly outplayed, Arsenal recovered from conceding a 45th-minute goal to Philippe Coutinho by scoring in first-half injury time through Mathieu Debuchy before Olivier Giroud swept home from close range in the 64th.Substitute Fabio Borini was sent off two minutes into stoppage time for picking up two quick bookings, yet there was still time for Skrtel to rescue a point for Liverpool, which climbed a place to 10th.Arsenal is sixth, four points of the top four.

Pope's role in Cuba deal fractures Cuban-American flock

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MIAMI (AP) -- The key role Pope Francis played encouraging talks between Presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro left fractures among his flock in South Florida, where many older Roman Catholics equate the Castro brothers with the devil.Many Catholics worldwide have expressed pride in seeing Francis stirring hopes of progress in communist Cuba, but some Cuban-Americans say their spiritual leader betrayed them.Im still Catholic till the day I die, said Efrain Rivas, a 53-year-old maintenance man in Miami who was a political prisoner in Cuba for 16 years. But I am a Catholic without a pope.Rivas said he cried when Obama surprisingly announced a reversal of a half-centurys efforts to isolate Cuba. Then, when he learned of Francis role, he got angry.Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski acknowledged that some Catholics are concerned or suspicious, but said many more exiles welcome the breakthrough, despite their suffering.The pain is real, but you cant build a future on top of resentments, Wenski told The Associated Press in an interview.The Vatican has been reaching out to Cuba at least since Pope John Paul II, who declared during his historic 1998 visit to the island, May Cuba, with all its magnificent potential, open itself up to the world, and may the world open itself up to Cuba. Discussions continued under Pope Benedict XVI, who visited Cuba in 2012. And Francis, the first Latin American pope, has advocated for an end to the U.S. embargo since participating in John Pauls visit to Cuba as the soon-to-be-named Cardinal of Buenos Aires.Cuban Cardinal Jaime Ortega, who is close to Francis, set up the papal visits and has been decisive in improving ties between the church and the officially atheist state since becoming Havana archbishop in 1981. This frustrates some older Catholics who wanted the church to use its unique position inside Cuba to take a harder line.The church is contaminated, said Miguel Saavedra, a 57-year-old Miami mechanic who leads an anti-Castro group and wears a gold cross as a sign of his Catholic faith.Exiles incensed by the diplomacy openly wonder: Was Francis strong-armed by President Barack Obama? Does he understand how terrible the Castro brothers are? Was he perhaps making a foolhardy bid to cement his change-making image?I dont know what the pope was thinking, said Jose Sanchez-Gronlier, a 53-year-old lawyer who said he was persecuted for his faith until leaving Cuba as a teenager, and will never forget watching the government seize a convent near his childhood home. I see a certain naivete in the pope, he said.Sen. Marco Rubio, a Cuban-American from Florida who has led the Republicans criticism of Obamas executive actions on Cuba, also took a swipe at the pope, telling reporters in Washington that he would ask His Holiness to take up the cause of freedom and democracy.All this is familiar territory for Francis, who has spent a lifetime navigating the after-effects of the Cold War in Latin America. In his writings before becoming pope, the Argentine church leader criticized Cuban state authoritarianism as well as the U.S. embargo, and called on both sides to talk out their differences. As pope, he wrote to both Obama and Castro suggesting that a thaw could begin by releasing prisoners.But Arturo Suarez-Ramos, a 50-year-old Miami waiter who was a political prisoner in Cuba for 27 years, said Francis is reaching for more headlines after insisting that homosexuals and divorced people are welcome in church.Hes trying to get a legacy at any price, Suarez-Ramos said.The Catholic Church remains the dominant religious force in Cuba, though attendance at Mass is low after decades of official atheism. It has long provided an alternative power center where at least some criticism of the government was possible. Its mediation role could be seen as a reason to trust the promises of change that both Obama and Castro made this week, but many remain wary.Jay Fernandez, a retiree who left Cuba in 1961, said Francis acted like a beggar, taking whatever scraps of concessions the Cuban government offered.He wants to be everywhere, he wants to be liked by everyone, Fernandez said. Thats his job to be a peace guy, but it doesnt accomplish a damn thing, especially in Cuba.U.S. bishops also have long called for an end to the embargo and for improved relations with Cuba. Engagement can do more than isolation to open up Cuban society and improve human rights and religious liberty, they said.That message seemed to connect with some attending midday Mass at Ermita de la Caridad, a church dedicated to Cubas patron saint.This is the best thing that could have happened, said Lucresia Leon, 70, who left Cuba during the 1980 Mariel boatlift, when 125,000 fled the island. She smiled widely, saying Everything will be fixed.Draped in the bright purple vestments of Advent, the Rev. Juan Rumin Dominguez, who arrived from Cuba nine years ago, said accepting change is not a simple thing.Its not easy, but the faithful people in these kinds of situations know to trust in God, the priest said. We are a faithful people. We have confidence because God has his plan.Historian Jesus Mendez, a Cuban exile who teaches at Barry University and has written about the Latin American church, said most Catholics will welcome the popes intervention as an effort to increase religious freedom on the island.Hes very concerned over the decline of Catholic fervor, primarily in Europe but also even in the United States and Canada, so of course he sees it important to have a high profile for the Catholic Church in Cuba, Mendez said.
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