This week in news: U.S. flag raised over embassy in Cuba, China’s stabilizes currency after 3-day slide, Greek parliament approves $95 billion bailout deal, former president Jimmy Carter announces he has cancer, and Japan cannot apologize forever.
1. U.S. flag raised over embassy in Cuba
With tensions remaining, and after 54 years, Secretary of State John Kerry watches as U.S. flag is raised at American embassy reopening in Cuba.
“For the first time in 50 years, Cuba and the U.S. are treating each other as equals,” Cuba’s Radio Reloj said of the event, according to NBC News. “While we cannot refer to each other yet as friends or allies, we are on the path to normalizing relations that will benefit the people of both countries.”
2. China’s stabilizes currency after 3-day slide
China is responding to its growing economy by making its currency more competitive in the Global Forex Market. In mid-June, China’s stock markets experienced a major sell-off, and the country proved incapable of facing a bubble. The Chinese Central Bank does not see a reason to devalue the currency any further.
3. Greek parliament approves $95 billion bailout deal
On Friday, Greece’s parliament approved a $95 billion (€85 billion) bailout deal with the country’s main creditors, the euro zone and and the International Monetary Fund. The move was called a “necessary choice” by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras who was forced to rely on opposition members to pass the bailout deal.
4. Former president Jimmy Carter announces he has cancer
“Recent liver surgery revealed that I have cancer that now is in other parts of my body. I will be rearranging my schedule as necessary so I can undergo treatment by physicians at Emory Healthcare. A more complete public statement will be made when facts are known, possibly next week,” Carter said in a statement.
5. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe: “Japan can’t keep apologizing forever”
“I express my feelings of profound grief and my eternal, sincere condolences,” said Abe. “In Japan, the postwar generations now exceed eighty per cent of its population. We must not let our children, grandchildren, and even further generations to come, who have nothing to do with that war, be predestined to apologize. Still, even so, we Japanese, across generations, must squarely face the history of the past. We have the responsibility to inherit the past, in all humbleness, and pass it on to the future.”
