Briefly

RUSSIA

Tanker carrying crude arrives at Cuban port

Russia said on Monday that an oil tanker carrying 100,000 metric tons of crude oil had arrived in Cuba and that Moscow would stand by its friends by working on further supplies despite a US blockade of the island. The US had cut off Venezuela's oil exports to Cuba after forcefully seizing then-president Nicolas Maduro on Jan 3, and US President Donald Trump threatened to slap punishing tariffs on any other country that sent crude to Cuba. But Trump on Sunday signaled he was reversing course and expressed sympathy for the Cuban people's need for energy. The Anatoly Kolodkin was waiting to off-load at the port of Matanzas, Russia's transport ministry said. Cuba has not received an oil tanker in three months, according to President Miguel Diaz-Canel, and its energy crisis has caused blackouts across the country of 10 million.

CAMBODIA

Parliament adopts law to combat scams

The National Assembly of Cambodia on Monday passed a draft law to combat online scams, which will deliver up to 30 years or life imprisonment to scam bosses. A total of 112 lawmakers in attendance unanimously approved the draft bill. According to the bill, online scam bosses will face between 15 and 30 years or life imprisonment if their operations lead to one or many deaths. Ringleaders of online scam centers will face between five and 10 years in prison and a fine of up to 1 billion riels ($250,000).

ITALY

Renoir, Cezanne, and Matisse's works stolen

Thieves stole paintings by Renoir, Cezanne and Matisse from a museum in Italy a week ago, police said on Sunday. Four masked men entered the villa of the Magnani Rocca Foundation, near Parma in northern Italy, and made off with the artworks overnight between March 22 and March 23, a police spokesman told AFP, confirming a report on the Rai television network. They made off with Fish by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Still Life with Cherries by Paul Cezanne, and Odalisque on the Terrace by Henri Matisse worth several million euros, said Italian media reports. The whole operation took less than three minutes and was structured and organized, the museum told broadcaster SkyTG24.

AFRICA

More than 70 killed in South Sudan

Gunmen killed more than 70 people in South Sudan over a gold mining row on the outskirts of the capital over the weekend, a police spokesperson confirmed on Monday. A video of dozens of bodies at an open ground was shared online, and a local journalist said many other victims are believed to have fled to the bushes. The gold mining site at Jebel Iraq in Central Equatoria State has in the past been the site of violent clashes between illegal miners and mining companies.

Agencies - Xinhua