Cuba: Castro threatens to cut more U.S. ties

Fidel Castro warned Wednesday that limited Cuba-U.S. relations could be cut further and the American mission here could be closed if U.S. diplomats persist in “violations of our sovereignty.”

Migration agreements between the two countries also were being put at risk by American diplomats “who go around the country as they like, organizing networks and conspiracies,” the Cuban president said.

Castro’s warning comes as Washington steps up programs it says are aimed at bringing democracy to the communist island, such as distributing radios here so Cubans can tune in to U.S. government programming and increasing funding for dissident support groups in the United States.

Moscow: Former KGB general sentenced for treason

A Moscow court sentenced former KGB Gen. Oleg Kalugin in absentia Wednesday to 15 years in prison for revealing secrets about U.S.-based agents in a book about his Cold War career.

Kalugin, who ran the KGB’s counterintelligence department from 1973 to 1980, was found guilty of treason for “damaging national security,” the Interfax and ITAR-Tass news agencies reported.

In a telephone interview with Russia’s Radio One shortly after the verdict, Kalugin, who has lived in the United States since the mid-1990s, insisted that “no guilt was proven” and that the trial was an act of revenge by his former colleagues.

“This day shows that the Soviet system is still alive in Russia,” Kalugin said. He said he had no fears that he would be extradited to Russia.

Afghanistan: Wife of former king dies at age 84

Homaira Shah, the former queen of Afghanistan and wife of ex-monarch Mohammad Zaher Shah, died Wednesday in Rome. She was 84.

Shah suffered a heart attack after having been hospitalized earlier this week with a fever, said her granddaughter, Homaira Wali.

Homaira Shah, who had lived with her husband in Rome since he was ousted from power in 1973, didn’t follow the king on his historic return to Afghanistan in April because of her deteriorating health.

She had, however, planned to return to her homeland, Wali said.

Now, the family is trying to bring her body back to Kabul for burial hopefully in the next three to four days, Wali said, adding that her grandmother would be buried in the bullet-scarred royal tomb on a hill overlooking the capital.