Associated Press

Assata Shakur, a Black liberation activist who was given political asylum in Cuba after her 1979 escape from a U.S. prison where she had been serving a life sentence for killing a police officer, has died.

Sandi Streets filed the negligence lawsuit Wednesday in Orlando, a week after a man died from injuries on the same ride. Streets says she was invited to Universal's Epic Universe theme park before it officially opened in May.

Cuban teenagers Fabio and Diego Abreu are part of a new wave of musicians revitalizing Cuba’s music scene. They fill a void left by established artists who have emigrated during one of the island's worst economic crises in decades.

An Orlando restaurant owner has turned 49 parking spots outside her eatery into art spaces. This move is in response to a state mandate removing rainbow-colored crosswalks and other street art in Florida. On Monday, Trina Gregory of Se7en Bites hosted the event “Parking Space for Pride — A Rainbow Connection.” She received 1,000 applications from artists.

A Federal Aviation Administration ban on U.S. commercial flights to Haiti’s capital has been extended to March 7, 2026. The ban had expired on Monday. The FAA notes that Haitian gangs now control 90% of Port-au-Prince as well as nearby strategic routes and border areas. The FAA said in a statement Friday that Haitian foreign terrorist organizations maintain access to small arms and unmanned aircraft systems capable of reaching low-altitude phases of flight. In May, the U.S. government designated a powerful gang coalition known as Viv Ansanm as a foreign terrorist organization.

An emergency meeting is planned for Wednesday in Fort Lauderdale as that city and others across Florida are facing state orders to remove rainbow crosswalks by early next month. The state threatens to withhold funding if cities don't comply. These crosswalks celebrate LGBTQ pride and other causes.

The University of Florida has selected an interim president after their last choice was rejected by the state Board of Governors that oversees the university system. The school announced Monday that Dr. Donald W. Landry, a physician and chair emeritus of the Columbia University Department of Medicine, will take over the University of Florida helm on Sept. 1. His appointment also must be approved by the state Board of Governors, which is meeting Sept. 10-11.

Venezuelan opposition leaders and civil society groups said that the government released 13 people jailed in a crackdown by the government of President Nicolás Maduro following last year’s disputed elections. Venezuelan authorities did not immediately confirm the releases.

Tropical Storm Fernand is strengthening in the open Atlantic Ocean well east of Bermuda. It had maximum sustained winds of 50 mph late Sunday and was moving north-northeast at 13 mph. The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Fernand was expected to turn more to the northeast in the coming day and begin weakening on Tuesday. It poses no threat to land.

Florida has three executions set to take place over the next month, including man convicted of fatally shooting three people and wounding another person was added to the queue.

Venezuela's attorney general has launched an investigation into El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele for alleged mistreatment of Venezuelan migrants. The migrants were detained in a maximum-security prison after being deported from the United States.

The Trump administration has taken a harder line against Cuba's government than the Biden administration.