The U.S. military judge at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has scheduled hearings in early January for alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two co-defendants to enter guilty pleas in exchange for life sentences.

Cuba has been left reeling after a fierce Category 3 hurricane ripped across western portions of the island, knocking out the country’s power grid, downing trees and damaging infrastructure.

A military judge has ruled that plea agreements struck by alleged Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two co-defendants are valid.

A hurricane watch for the Cayman Islands and a tropical storm warning for Jamaica have been issued as a weather system in the Caribbean is expected to strengthen.

Tropical Storm Oscar has disintegrated as it heads toward the Bahamas after making landfall in Cuba as a Category 1 hurricane, killing at least seven people.

A few things to know after millions of people in Cuba were left without electricity for two days when the nation's electrical grid collapsed.

Cuba’s government says some electricity has been restored on the island after one of the country’s major power plants failed and left millions without electricity for two days.

Cuba’s electrical grid went down after one of the island’s major power plants failed, leaving millions without power.

Although there are no official figures or estimates of how many pets have been left behind by their owners who leave Cuba, the number of abandoned cats and dogs has spiked in the last two years as Cubans migrate in record numbers, animal activists say.

Florida residents are already evacuating and filling sandbags days ahead of anticipated flooding from Tropical Storm Helene.

Nicaragua’s government has closed another 151 nongovernmental organizations, among them some of the most important trade organizations, including the American Chamber of Commerce.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has overridden a plea agreement reached earlier this week for the accused mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and two other defendants, reinstating them as death penalty cases.

South Korea’s spy agency says a North Korea diplomat based in Cuba has defected to South Korea.

An array of advanced tests found no brain injuries or degeneration among U_S_ diplomats who suffer mysterious health problems once dubbed “Havana syndrome.”.

The National Hurricane Center will add inland predictions to its forecast of the location and ferocity of tropical storms.

Mexican immigration officials are moving to clear a migrant encampment on the banks of the Rio Grande river, as U.S. officials met with Mexico’s president to press for measures to limit a surge of migrants reaching the U.S. southwestern border.

A decade after swimming nonstop for more than two straight days from Cuba to Florida, Diana Nyad has returned to the Key West beach where she completed her epic journey.

Russia has been defeated in its bid to regain a seat in the United Nations premiere human rights body by a significant majority in an election in the General Assembly, which voted last year to suspend Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine.

In a story published September 20, 2023, about a hearing regarding a 9/11 defendant held at Guantanamo Bay, The Associated Press erroneously reported that the hearing took place on Wednesday, It was Tuesday.

Forecasters predict more activity in the Atlantic Basin from August through at least October

At the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, the aging men known by their serial numbers arrived at the meeting shackled.

An Associated Press reporter whose coverage of the State Department and international relations spanned more than four decades has died.

The U.S. has transferred Guantanamo detainee Said bin Brahim bin Umran Bakush back to his home country of Algeria citing that his continued detention was no longer necessary, the Department of Defense announced Thursday.

Russia and Venezuela have reviewed some of their hundreds of bilateral agreements covering the financial, energy, agricultural and several other sectors during discussions between their top diplomats.

Trea Turner homered twice to give him a tournament-leading four, and the defending champion United States romped over Cuba 14-2 to reach its second straight World Baseball Classic final.

A sharp drop in illegal border crossings that started in January after the Biden administration announced stricter immigration measures continued in February.

A Saudi man long held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as a suspected al-Qaida operative has been returned to his home country.

The 20-team World Baseball Classic got underway after a six-year absence with Panama defeating Taiwan 12-5 for its first win in tournament history and the Netherlands beating Cuba 4-2 in the opening Group A game as Didi Gregorius drove in the tying run and scored the go-ahead run.

In the last 18 months, an estimated 250,000 migrants and asylum-seekers, mostly from Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Haiti, have arrived in the Miami area, often only on temporary legal status that doesn't allow them to work.

Officials say two Pakistani brothers who were held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility for two decades have been freed and reunited with their families after returning home to Pakistan.

U.S. officials at Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba have returned two Pakistani brothers to their home country.

An underground market has emerged for migrants seeking U.S. sponsors since the Biden administration announced last month that it would accept a limited number of people from Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and Haiti.

The Biden administration says U.S. authorities have seen a 97% decline in illegal border crossings by migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela since Mexico began accepting those expelled under a public health order.

Cuban migrants are still arriving by boat in the Florida Keys even as the Biden administration promises a crackdown.

The U.S. government says it will appeal a court ruling that would lift asylum restrictions that have become the cornerstone of border enforcement.

Ever-widening access to the internet is offering a new opportunity for Cubans looking for hard-to-obtain basic goods: online shopping.

A federal judge has granted the Biden administration a five-week delay to end far-reaching asylum restrictions, writing in upper-case letters that he was doing so “WITH GREAT RELUCTANCE.”.

Tropical Depression Lisa has moved into southern Mexico a day after making landfall as a hurricane in the Central American nation of Belize and heading inland over northern Guatemala.

Hurricane Lisa has made landfall on the Caribbean coast of Belize.

A few hundred Cubans have taken to the streets in Havana demanding the restoration of electricity, protesting more than two days after a blackout hit the entire island following the passage of Hurricane Ian.

There are many ways to categorize a hurricane. The storm’s central pressure is one way. The height of its storm surge is another. How much rain it drops is another. And, of course, the strength of its wind is another. But what causes a hurricane to strengthen or weaken? The answer is simple enough, but multifaceted.

A 2009 planning exercise dubbed Project Phoenix eerily anticipated the potential damage the Tampa Bay area is facing from Hurricane Ian.

Hurricane Ian tore into western Cuba as a major hurricane Tuesday and left 1 million people without electricity.

Hurricane Ian is nearing Cuba on a track to strike Florida as a Category 4 as early as Wednesday.

Cuba is holding a rare referendum on an unusually contentious law — a government-backed code that would allow same-sex couples to marry and adopt.

Where Ian goes beyond Florida next week is still up for speculation

The Biden administration says the U.S. Embassy in Cuba will begin processing full immigrant visas in early 2023.

U.S. authorities say the number of Venezuelans taken into custody at the U.S. border with Mexico soared in August.

California prosecutors say a man with a criminal history has been charged with assaulting a former Olympic volleyball player last week in downtown Los Angeles.

A former Olympic volleyball player says she was attacked in downtown Los Angeles when a man threw a metal object at her face in an assault that fractured multiple bones in her face and left one of her eyes swollen shut.

There were some cheers for “The Star-Spangled Banner” before USA Basketball’s game in Cuba on Independence Day.

President Joe Biden plans to meet on July 12 at the White House with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

The State Department is preparing to compensate victims of mysterious brain injuries colloquially known as “Havana Syndrome" with six-figure payments, according to officials and congressional aides.

U.S. border authorities stopped migrants more often on the southern border for a fourth straight month in May, apparently unaffected by expectations that pandemic-era limits on asylum may be lifted.

An Iraqi man who has been held at the Guantanamo Bay detention center for more than 15 years has pleaded guilty to war crimes charges for his role in al-Qaida attacks against U.S. and allied forces along with civilians in Afghanistan.

When leaders gather this week in Los Angeles at the Summit of the Americas, the focus is likely to veer from policy issues like migration, climate change and inflation and instead shift to something Hollywood thrives on: the drama of the red carpet.

The first named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season is headed toward Bermuda after killing three people in Cuba and flooding roads in Florida.

Much of the Florida peninsula, along with parts of Cuba and the Bahamas, are under a tropical storm warning as a system that battered Mexico moves through the Gulf of Mexico, killing at least two in Cuba and bringing threats of heavy rain and wind for the weekend.

The Biden administration has renewed a license partially exempting Chevron from sanctions on Venezuela so it can keep operating in the oil-rich, socialist-run nation.

A single vessel carrying 842 Haitians who apparently were trying to reach the United States has landed instead in central Cuba.

In one of the busiest corridors for illegal border crossings, Cubans, Colombians and Venezuelans are often released to pursue asylum in the United States.

The explosion that devastated Havana's Hotel Saratoga and killed 45 people also badly damaged Cuba's most important Baptist church, which is next door.

A powerful explosion apparently caused by a natural gas leak has blown away outer walls from a five-star hotel in the heart of Cuba’s capital, killing at least 22 people and injuring dozens.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has started a five-day tour to four Central American countries and Cuba by lashing out at the U.S. government.

The Defense Department says an Algerian man imprisoned at the Guantanamo Bay detention center for nearly 20 years has been released and sent back to his homeland.

Pope Francis is denouncing the “perverse abuse of power” on display in Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Prosecutors have initiated discussions on a potential plea agreement to resolve the long-stalled case of five men held at the Guantanamo Bay detention center who have been charged with planning and providing assistance for the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

A Saudi prisoner at the Guantanamo Bay detention center who was suspected of trying to join the 9/11 hijackers has been sent back to his home country for treatment for mental illness.

The Biden administration has been quietly laying the groundwork to release prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay detention center and at least move closer to being able to shut it down.

A panel of intelligence experts hasn’t identified a single culprit for apparent brain injuries reported by U.S. personnel that have been linked to so-called “Havana syndrome.

Russia has been threatening to expand military ties with allies Venezuela and Cuba amid rising tensions with the U.S. over Ukraine.

Cuba has released the draft of a new family code that would allow same-sex couples to marry and adopt as well as give children greater participation in decisions that affect them.

Three men held at the Guantanamo Bay detention center were formally charged Tuesday in the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings and other plots in Southeast Asia 18 years after they were taken into U.S. custody.

Newly formed Hurricane Nora is brushing the Pacific coast of Mexico's Jalisco state near the Puerto Vallarta area for an overnight pass-by.

Forecasters say tropical depression Fred is slowly strengthening and could regain tropical storm status on Saturday.

Tropical depression Fred is heading for a drenching of Cuba and the Bahamas on a forecast track that would carry it toward South Florida as a tropical storm by Saturday.

The Justice Department’s inspector general says it did not find evidence that FBI agents shared inside information about the Hillary Clinton email investigation with Rudy Giuliani.

Investigators say the loss of braking power on a rain-soaked flooded runway caused a plane chartered by the Pentagon to slide into a Florida river in 2019.

Allyson Felix at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics

Three of the eight quarterfinalists in women's beach volleyball are North American.

A report released Wednesday shows philanthropic funding to promote global human rights reached a record $3.7 billion in 2018.

Civil unrest in Cuba continues as people continue to protest in the streets, demanding change from the Communist government.

Former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide has returned to Haiti after nearly a month in Cuba.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other officials are pressing the White House to support efforts to preserve internet service to antigovernment protesters in Cuba.

The problems of two tiny Caribbean states, Cuba and Haiti, have vexed U.S. presidents for decades.

Demonstrators backing rare street protests by thousands in communist Cuba have blocked a stretch of a major South Florida highway.

Thousands of people poured into the streets in Cuba on Sunday in what is becoming the largest anti-government protest in decades.

North Korea has told the World Health Organization it tested more than 30,000 people for the coronavirus through June 10 but has yet to find a single infection.

The Biden administration faces increasing pressure to respond to a sharply growing number of reported injuries suffered by diplomats, intelligence officers and military personnel that some suspect are caused by devices that emit waves of energy that disrupt brain function.

The U.S. military says most prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention center have now received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

A senior defense official tells The Associated Press that prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention center can now begin getting the COVID-19 vaccine.

For most of his life, Raul Castro played second-string to his brother Fidel — first as a guerrilla commander, later as a senior figure in their socialist government.

For most of his life, Raul Castro played second-string to his brother Fidel — first as a guerrilla commander, later as a senior figure in their socialist government.

Raul Castro says he is stepping down as head of Cuba’s Communist Party, ending an era of formal leadership by he and his brother Fidel Castro that began with the 1959 revolution.

Anti-coup protesters display pictures of deposed Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Yangon, Myanmar, Tuesday, March 2, 2021. The Obama administration reveled in the restoration of civilian rule in the longtime U.S. pariah as a top foreign policy achievement and a potential model for engaging with other adversaries, such as Iran and Cuba. But today, Myanmar is once again an international outcast, facing a new wave of U.S. sanctions. Still, the Obama administration continued to have faith in her. Despite Kerry’s two trips to Myanmar, the administration became rapidly consumed with the Iran nuclear deal and normalization of ties with Cuba.

The Caribbean is hunting for visitors and vaccines to jump-start the stalled economy in one of the worlds most tourism-dependent regions (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)SAN JUAN – The Caribbean is hunting for visitors and vaccines to jump-start the stalled economy in one of the world’s most tourism-dependent regions. Clear waters and warm sand attracted a record 31.5 million tourists to the Caribbean in 2019, but visits plummeted by an estimated 60% to 80% as the pandemic hit last year. “Many countries prefer hurricanes compared to what has happened with the pandemic,” said Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace, a former Bahamian tourism minister who also led the Caribbean Tourism Organization. Cuba — the largest Caribbean nation and the only one working on its own vaccines — choked off arrivals after seeing infections surge. Neil Walters, acting secretary general of the Caribbean Tourism Organization.

They waved flags to catch the attention of a Coast Guard helicopter crew that flew over the island while on a routine mission Monday. A Coast Guard helicopter earlier this week spotted the two men and one woman and hoisted them in baskets from a rocky cliff in Anguilla Cay, a Bahamian islet close to Cuba. The Associated Press requested interviews with the survivors, but Coast Guard and immigration officials have not released their identities and did not grant access for interviews. The U.S. Coast Guard did not respond to requests clarifying what considerations were made before the group was flown into the United States. However, the rocky, uninhabited island is routinely monitored by the Coast Guard for strandings of migrants hoping to reach U.S. soil.

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)WASHINGTON – The U.S. is backing off for now on a plan to offer COVID-19 vaccinations to the 40 prisoners held at the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The plan drew some criticism after The New York Times reported that the vaccination of prisoners would start in the coming days. At the time, U.S. Southern Command said it expected to have enough vaccine for all of the approximately 1,500 personnel assigned to the detention center. AdThere have been no reported cases of coronavirus among the detention center prisoners. The U.S. opened the detention center in January 2002 to hold detainees suspected of links to al-Qaida and the Taliban.

In this photo reviewed by U.S. military officials, the Office of Military Commissions building used for Periodic Review Board hearings is seen, Thursday, April 18, 2019, in Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. Gen. Lloyd Austin, Biden's nominee to be secretary of defense, this week reaffirmed the intention to close Guantanamo to the Senate committee considering his nomination. The case was rejected by the Pentagon legal official known as a convening authority for reasons that aren't publicly known. Obama reduced the prisoner population but his effort to close Guantanamo was blocked by Congress, which prohibited transferring anyone from the base to the U.S. for any reason. “I believe it is time for the detention facility at Guantanamo to close its doors," he said.

Location 85 miles SE of Wilmington North Carolina Wind 45 mph Heading ENE at 21 mph Pressure 29.65 Coordinates 76.8W, 33.3NDiscussionAt 400 AM EST (0900 UTC), the center of Post-Tropical Cyclone Eta was located near latitude 33.3 North, longitude 76.8 West. The post-tropical cyclone is moving toward the east-northeast near 21 mph (33 km/h) and this motion is expected to continue with an increase in forward speed through Saturday. On the forecast track, Eta is expected to gradually pull away from the southeast U.S. Coast today. Eta could intensify a little as an non-tropical cyclone during the next day or so before it becomes absorbed by a larger non-tropical cyclone on Saturday or Saturday night. Land HazardsSURF: Swells generated by Eta will affect portions of the southeastern United States coast today.