be broadened joining me to talk about cuba's financial future is john kavanagh president of the u.s. cuba trade and economic council john we wanted to bring this up at our team because cuba is essentially fallen off the media landscape since trump's promise to enact stricter regulations on the country so i wanted to ask you what is the current situation in cuba. cuba is undergoing again a severe economic crisis primarily brought on by the implosion in venezuela and for the last seventeen years cuba has looked to venezuela to provide much of its energy as well as financing and now that is at risk substantially its decreased fifty to seventy percent in the last three years and so cuba is finding that it's the increase in its tourism revenues decrease in commodity prices decrease in production of commodities is all providing a of a very bad situation well if cuba and venezuela are so closely tied in we've been hearing so much about venezuela why do you think more people have not connected these dots to talk about cuba as own economic crisis. i don't know why people are connecting the dots bu

u.s. visit. to cuba have the highest net profit margin of any visitor to cuba and those half a million visitors to cuba mostly of cuban descent primarily from south florida or northern new jersey they spend a lot of money in cuba and so the trump administration is basically trying to grab as much cash as possible keep it out of the cuban government's hands put it into the cuban private sector hands but ironically some of these changes may do the opposite of bad let's talk about what's happening on the islands though because cuba has its own struggles promoting private enterprise from within you know people can work independent of the state as long as they aren't too successful and that results in a lot of professionals choosing to leave the island do you see cuba changing its tune on private enterprise in the future especially with a change in leadership. i'm not certain the change your leadership the odds are that next february when raul castro retires he's going to retain his position as first secretar

u.s. employees in cuba. >> but he stresses the u.s. responsible for the safety of american diplomats. patrick has more on the mysterious incidents that left at least five americans sick. >> for diplomats at the u.s. embassy in havana, cuba has gone from a former posting to a possible crime scene. at least eight diplomats in 2016 mysterious fell ill, some suffering from concussion-like symptoms and hearing loss. >> our americans were not safe, they were not secure obviously because something has happened to them. we take that very seriously. >> u.s. officials blame acoustic attacks, carried out by sophisticated devices that emit a sound that isn't audible but can cause physical harm. who carried out the attacks isn't known but the u.s. says cuba didn't do enough to protect the american diplomats and expelled two cuban diplomats working in the u.s. cuba denies any involvement in the attacks and says it is cooperating with the investigation, even allowing fbi agents to travel to the island. one u.s. official says the united states is look

of them in the house and in the senate and the goal is to make an attractive travel to cuba and make unattractive u.s. companies engaging with cuba and what their plan need to do which is a brilliant strategy is to say we are going to dissuade you from engaging with companies in cuba that are controlled by the cuban military and that puts u.s. companies in a bind because no c.e.o. wants to be on r t defending why they want to have business with a military run company as opposed to a civilian run company so the trump administration is planning to roll this out the good news for u.s. companies is that the regulations and the policy initiatives are going to be far less severe than many had expected but they come at a critical time for cuba because u.s. visitors to cuba have the highest net profit margin of any visitor to cuba and those half a million visitors to cuba mostly of cuban descent primarily from south florida northern new jersey they spend a lot of money in cuba and so the trump administration is basically trying to grab as much cash as possible keep it out of the cuban government's hands put

cuba. but when the u.s. authorities moved in, they tried to make cuba along the lines of the north american mainland, like florida, which they had taken over from spain circa 1820. to make a long story short, part of the argument of this book is that in order to understand the cuban revolution and why the u.s. authorities were kicked out of cuba, you have to understand the revulsion toward the militant ferocious form of jim crow the u.s. authorities had attempted to implant upon the island of cuba, which did not go down very well. it would be like you all trying to eat grass and your system is not able to digest it adequately and it goes out. well, the cubans threw out the yankees because they cannot digest very well that ferocious jim crow. this book starts in the middle of 18th-century. i already made reference to the fact that as part of the competitive competition between catholic spain and protestant britain, that the spanish had been trying to stir up the africans on madrid's behalf. and that is one of

u.s. embassy in havana, cuba u.s. authorities believe sonic authorities were targeting state department employees working in had van a they suffered physical symptoms similar to a concussion. two diplomates left with serious health problems. since late 2016. >> we don't have any definitive answers about the source or the cause of what we consider to be incidents. we asked two officials who were credited at the embassy of cuba in the united states, to depart the u.s. >> more questions there but cuba denied any involvement in the mistreatment of u.s. diplomates. the u.s. removal of the two cuba diplomates back in may, quote an over reaction. >>> time right now is 4:44. katie, we have such a glorious day yesterday. i took a walk. >> so nice. >> yes. >> feels so nice. >> i hope everybody had an opportunity to get out, enjoy what we had while we had it. even though today is a repeat performance, we have got to get it to go away and something need to move through and that will start to happen by this weekend, but for now, y

u.s. and cuba. vestigators are examining whether american diplomats in havana were the victims of a hidden attack that may have caused hearing loss. more from andrea mitchell. >> reporter: tonight, u.s. government officials tell nbc news they suspect american diplomats in cuba were the target of acoustic attacks, ultrasonic sound waves or some investigators say possibly even poison. the bizarre incidents last october left a group of u.s. diplomats with hearing loss. blamed on what one says could have been a surveillance device inside or outside the residences all owned by cuba's government. several u.s. agencies, the cia and diplomatic security service are all investigating. >> we don't know exactly where this came from. we can't blame any one individual or a country at this point yet. an investigation is underway. we take that very seriously. >> reporter: canada also says some of its diplomats in havana also suffered symptoms. in havana a cuban news caster says the government is investigating and qu

u.s. diplomats in cuba reportedly suffering hearing loss, are they right? hear about this, it's bizarre, the u.s. accusing cuba of of attack. diplomats were sent there after obama administration open relations with the communist country and this proves that deal with castros was a bad deal. >> david, with e knew we should have left cubna the 50's when the family left and moved business back to the united states. that was a clear signal. >> so, john, this opening was a bad idea? >> no, the way to win with cuba is to get more open to it, show the cubans how we americans live, how cuban americans live, that's the way to regime. >> you think back when president obama went to cuba and shook hands with recall castro, high hopes but they haven't come to pass, have they? >> no they've not. the regime is oppressive as usual. when you spend money to cuba, it doesn't go to workers, it goes to cuban government, they get worthless pesos. it's a bad deal and recall castro taken full advantage of it. we get nothing except injured diplomats. >> keep it open or close it down

u.s. institutions in the early 20th century. and cuba throughout the region, the world bank of canada has more branches than citibank. they always competed for deposits in cuba. when the -- when the cuban revolution there was a negotiated settlement with the castro government on behalf of the canadian banks. the u.s. banks had to get out and the canadian banks had to work something out. we see in the caribbean, the canadian banks are still prevailing specially in former british colonies of jamaica, et cetera, et cetera. the retreat from caribbean, though you see citibank returned to haiti after many years, the larger legacy was less of the actual presence of wall street and of u.s. bankers in the caribbean than their understanding of what this history meant for them to the present and if you look at the kind of corporate biographies of citibanks, you understand that they looked at the 1920's and -- 1910's, 1920's of expansion when they were able to create new financial institutions and financial instruments that would -- were largely unr

cuba or jamaica. calling his surrogates of u.s. capital the world baying of canada. >> host: office on what wall street but also serving wall street interest to some degree in the region. but at one point chicago business interest has the huge chunk from the royal danish of canada even now with these banks in the region. >> professor of african-american studies at ucla author of bakers and empire. booktv on c-span2. cook . >>

u.s. and cuba after the u.s. expelled two cuban diplomats in retaliation for a those incidents took place at the u.s. embassy in havana and other facilities. several u.s. diplomats suffered unexplained hearing losses. they've now been attributed to some secret sonic device that was deployed. cuba says it's looking into the matter. >>> and authorities are trying to determine what caused a house explosion in milwaukee. neighbors saw flames shooting 75 feet into the air. the home was being renovated but is now just a pile of rubble. no injuries have been reported. investigators say there's no indication this was caused by a gas leak. >>> now to a tragic construction accident in austin, texas. a worker crushed to death under slabs weighing up to 40,000 pounds. they were being lifted by a crane when they shifted and fell. local and federal authorities are investigating the cause of that accident. >>> and mexico is bracing for the first hurricane hurricane season. >> we're talking about franklin, which has already trig

u.s. and are even allowing fbi agents to come to cuba to help investigate u.s.. they believe some individuals in the cuban government must have been involved to allow these attacks to go forward. and what we're told though, wolf, is that for the time being, there does not appear to have been any further attacks. >> so basically what you're suggesting is some very high-pitched audio with, was sent out to the homes of these u.s. diplomats, that they couldn't hear anything but it would have an impact on their hearing, is that right? >> that's correct, it's a sonic weapon. this is a new tool that countries use to disrupt and cause injuries. none of these devices as far as we know have been discovered. again, sources telling us that these devices were placed in diplomat's homes or around their homes to try to cause them great distress, wolf. >> i'm sure it's an ongoing mystery that needs to be fixed. thanks so much, patrick oppman, our man in havana, appreciate it very much. >>> that's it for me. to all of our viewers in the united states and around the world, thanks

u.s. seems to be pointing the finger at cuba and said once again u.s. ats are facing some sort of harassment here in havana, enough so that two had to leave and we've seen this expulsion response expelling two cuban diplomats back to cuba. a difficult situation, brooke. >> let's go back a step. we were listening to the state department briefing the past hour. we were really listening for the threads on north korea and what arose was what happened in havana. here's a spokeswoman. >> some u.s. department personnel that were working at our embassy in havana, cuba on official duty, so they were working on behalf of the u.s. embassy there. they reported some incidents which have caused a variety of physical symptoms. i'm not going to be able to give you a ton of information about this today but i'll tell you what we can provide so far. we don't have any definitive answers about the source or the cause of what we consider to be incidents. we can tell that you on may 23rd, the state department took further action. we asked two officials who were accredited at t

u.s. and cuba.look at. >> quickly, just to be clear, we don't know or do we know who the third party may be? what country we are talking about? >> reporter: obviously, a country that has no love for the united states. we are trying to narrow that down. it was described to me as a country that could benefit from ending the improved relations between the united states and cuba. the u.s. investigating. it's been allowed to do work in cuba. the government says they will cooperate. so far, that cooperation is not enough, the united states is telling us. >> patrick, thank you very much. >>> emotional testimony from taylor swift's mother as she takes the stand in the pop star's sexual assault trial. jurors are expecting taylor swift to take the stand any moment. right now, when you get the incredible iphone 7 from at&t you can get unlimited data and live tv. the channels you love. your favorite shows and movies. making your iphone into more of a... oh my tv is ringing. hey...i'm in the middle of a...a seco

cuba. but after the bay of pigs disaster the u.s.o fly more. >> they needed to be able to prove to the world it you russians that were building the sites. >> the job fell to richard hiezer of florida. the air force pilot began to fly cia missions to find photographic proof of missiles. he was no stranger to nuclear weapons. he had been at lagoon on 1 march, 1954. >> i was allowed to fly on the day they set off bombs. >> as he piloted the u-2 at high altitude over cuba, he could remember what he had seen. >> if hundreds of them were detonated all over the world, it'd make swiss cheese out of the earth. >> u-2 pilot richar august of '62 soviet ships were pour nothing cuba secretly carrying massive amounts of military hardware. they were hell bent on a massive arms build up just 90 miles from america's shores. >> kennedy's people are watching. >> the soviets were always shipping military equipment in crates. they began to photograph them at sea. >> senior analyst at the national photographic interpretation center studied the photographs

u.s. embassy in cuba. >>> 5:24. new details on an update to an apparent sonic attack at the u.s. cuba. the state department says 16 government workers and their family members started suffering symptoms late last year. they are now being treated in the u.s. and in cuba. the state department says multiple agencies are investigating activity that could have cause that had severe hearing loss. >>> 5:24 and leaders at yosemite are ramping up the campaign to reduce paint. rangers posted video about what park visitors can do to lighten the load of garbage to landfills. that amounts to 2,200 tons per year. >>> a look at the observing coliseum this morning where the a's today will honor one of their legendary pitchers. the team will dedicate stadium d gate for hall of famer dennis eckersley. fans will go through the dennis eckersley gate. the former a's star will be on and tomorrow the team is giving out 15,000 eck bobble heads. the new star wars movie may still be months away but that doesn't mean won't feel the force of the hype sooner than that. >> maybe even as soon as next friday. t

u.s. and cuba and another country. intelligence officials suspect a secret weapon. >>> the search is on for a gunman after several people are shot in cumberland. we'll be right back. at ikea, we believe your perfect student deserves the perfect room for the perfect price. and... who's there? hey. a boy? oh, on the bed? you never told your dad and i about any... twub you get our fastest... internet. with download speeds up to 940 megs - 20 times faster than most people have. switch to fios gigabit connection with tv and phone for $79.99 a month online for the first year. plus hbo for one year and multi-room dvr service for two years, all with a two-year agreement. and switching has never been easier. get out of your contract with up to a $500 credit to help cover your early termination fee. go to fiosgigabit.com at ikea, we believe your perfect student deserves the perfect room for the perfect price. and... who's there? hey. a boy? oh, on the bed? you never told your dad and i about any... wait, what's going on now? mov

u.s. embassy in cuba targeted with a covert device? hearing loss for some in havana and an acusick attack. >> bizarre. >>> good morning, welcome to "early start," i'm christine romans. >> i'm miguel marquez in for dave briggs. it is august 10th, 5:00 a.m. here -- 4:00 a.m. here in the united states. a day after president trump promised fire and fury, pyongyang does that, leveling a fierce, very specific threat to attack a u.s. territory, taking some personal shots at the president in the process. now the world waits to see if anything the commander in chief decides to do in response. >> north korea says it is "seriously examining a plan to launch a missile strike targeting the sea 20 miles off the coast of guam," where the u.s. has two military bases. state-run media says the launch of four ballistic missiles would signal a crucial warning to the u.s. north korea says the plan to launch missiles will be in place in days. >> the statement mailbox president trump for speaking from a golf range where it says he "let out a load of nonsense

. >>> plus mystery in cuba what caused u.s. diplomate to suffer hearing loss. >>> we will find out how these friends turned a garage business into big business, tonight on the "cbs evening news". but first here on "eyewitness news" books with a purpose, it is part of a new city initiative. >> when we come back how they hope to get more kid tonight at 11:00 is there plenty happening in the taste with tori, bucks county popcorn spot that skips butter for more untraditional flavors new hope's new spin on classic snack, summer fest style, tori takes to you cluster's popcorn tonight on "eyewitness news" at is 11:00. >>> fun continues in new hope starting tomorrow morning right here on "eyewitness news". summer fest takes us to the charming bucks county town and will be exploring the history and pretty much everything that makes it so special. i will broadcast live starting tomorrow on "eyewitness news" at 5:00 right here on cbs-3. >> bring me back some of that popcorn. on. h, man that looked great. couple bags. >> i'll do that for y

u.s. and cuba.ave been a string of bizarre incidents that left a group of american diplomats with severe hearing loss. >> it's being blamed on a covert sonic device. maggie ruly with the details. >> reporter: with the diplomatic relationship between the u.s. and cuba still fresh, today a new test. >> they're responsible for the safety and security of our diplomats while they're serving in that country. >> reporter: the state department says diplomats in havana began to suffer from physical ailments in fall of 2016. the symptoms got so serious for some that at least two were sent back home. >> our americans were not safe and secure, obviously, because something happened to them. we take it very seriously, the safety and security of americans at home and abroad. >> reporter: the ap reports the conditions include severe hearing loss, and that u.s. officials with knowledge of the situation concluded the diplomats were exposed to a covert sonic weapon that operates outside the range of audible sound. it'

she became a visiting fellow at the brookings institute where she co-led the project on u.s.-cuba relations. writing arently memoir on cuba. obviously, very lucky to have the ambassador here. finally, steven hayward. he is currently senior resident scholar at the university of calgary and a visiting lecturer at a law school. he was previously the ronald reagan distinguished professor at pepperdine. he wrote to wonderful book on ronald reagan. he was also the inaugural visiting scholar at the university of colorado boulder. forhen writes frequently "the new york times," "washington post," "national review," and other publications. he is the author of six books, including a two-volume chronicle on reagan that i already mentioned. he writes a periodic online column performs. -- for forms. rights for one of the nations most political red websites. let's give a round of applause to our four fantastic panelists. [applause] the way we usually do this .ere is explain the format each panel member will have 10 to 15 minutes to make a statement about the topic. after the statements, the pane

department she became a visiting , fellow at the brookings institute where she co-led a project on u.s.-cuba relations. she is currently writing in my more on cuba "the long struggle to overturn castro's revolution." obviously, very lucky to have ambassador here. finally, stephen hayward. he is currently a senior resident scholar at the institute of governmental studies at the university of california berkeley, and a visiting lecturer at both hall law school. he was previously in the ronald reagan distinguished professor at pepperdine graduate school for public policy. two wonderful books on ronald reagan. inauguralo a visiting scholar and conservative and policy of the university of colorado boulder in 2013-2014. and stephen writes frequently for "the new york times,"" the washington post,"" wall street journal," "national review," "weekly standard," "from a review of books," and other publications. he is the author of six books, one on churchill, and chronicle on reagan which i only mentioned. and he writes for "forbes." one of the nations most read websites. these give a round of applause

u.s. and cuba were secretly talking about this. >> so the u.s.as a third country that was involved and you know, it could be some actors such as russia, venezuela, iran. they haven't identified anybody yet, but it's very perplexing to the u.s. and to the canadians who were also investigating and it's very serious. they think that this is some kind of sonic weapon or sonic attack that was affecting diplomats as they were sleeping. so very scary for diplomats and for the u.s. operating in cuba right now. >> scary, douno doubt, speciall where this is coming from. i want to ask you about interesting comments made by rex tillerson in the wake of charlottesville. here's what he had to say. >> we do honor, protect and defend freedom of speech first amendment rights. it's what sets us apart from every other government regime in the world, and allowing people the right of expression. these are good things, but we do not honor nor do we promote or accept hate speech in any form and those who embrace it poison our public discourse and they damage the very c

cuba. an acoustic attack against u.s. diplomats. started having trouble hearing last fall, according to the ap, and some of them had symptoms so severe, they had to come back to the u.s. early. the ap also reporting, investigators are blaming a secret sonic device for it all. nbc's peter alexander has been following this story and has more for us from bridgewater, new jersey. peter, this sounds like some cold war spy stuff, man. >> reporter: yeah, hallie, this is the kind of thing you would read on a bookstore shelf one day, but this is the real deal, dating back to the fall of 2016, this unexplained loss of hearing, first complained about by some u.s. diplomats at the u.s. embassy in havana. the ap first reporting on this. that the diplomats, as they reported, according to the ap officials with knowledge of that probe, that they were exposed to advanced devices operating outside the range of audible sound, that they say were deployed either inside or outside the u.s. embassy there. it's not clear whether it was a weapon or it was s

u.s. embassy in cuba. known what caused the health symptoms in the 16 americans, but the state department's spokesperson is calling them unprecedented. the u.s. is still not assigning blame, saying is ongoing and the cuban government has denied directing any action against the u.s. >>> amazon is wasting no time making changes at whole foods that's sure to make a lot of customers out there smile. the online giant announced thursday it will immediately slash prices on certain items starting monday, the same day its $13.7 billion takeover deal of the grocer closes. customers will see prices drop on grocery staples like bananas, eggs, beef and rotisserie chicken. they're looking into a whole foods reward program for its prime members. >> pretty smart. the only thing holding them back is how much whole foods usually costs >>> yeah >>> national parks are celebrating 100 years today, but a major deadline looms if you want to go to one. it could be the most lucrative fight in history, but will mcgregor versus maywe

u.s. government employees. they were serving in an official capacity in cuba. those incidents have caused a variety of physical symptoms. >> reporter: the u.s. is now looking into whether the diplomats were victims of targeted sonic or acoustic attacks with some type of audio device directed at their homes. >> the investigation is still ongoing. it is an active investigation. >> reporter: a number of victims have been evacuated to the u.s. to be treated with some having to get hearing aids. >> some we asked to leave because their condition necessitated that. there were others that have chosen to stay there, and some of them are still there. >> reporter: at this point the u.s. has warned the cuban government of its responsibility to protect diplomats. cuba has denied any involvement in the episodes. so far retaliation has involved ex spelling two officials from washington. >>> the first major hurricane of the season now barreling towards texas. we will have an update for you on harvey. >>> and harvey is going to be a big story especially going into the weekend. o

u.s. government personnel who were working at our embassy in havana, cuba on official duty. were there on behalf of the u.s. embassy there. they've reported incidents that have caused a variety of physical symptoms. we don't have any definitive answers about the source or the cause of what we consider to be incidents. we can tell you that on may 23rd, the state department took further action. we asked two officials who were accredited at the embassy of cuba in the united states to depart the united states. those two individuals have departed the united states. we take the situation very seriously. >> okay. so patrick, those are some very vague comments from the state department. can you help us make sense of what went down, what's going on here. >> absolutely. and this is very mysterious. sounds like something straight out of a spy novel. when they talk about acoustic attacks, these are a little misleading. these are actually frequencies we're told the diplomats were being bombarded with, that they could not hear. the human area cannot hear these frequencies, but they had a p

u.s. embassy employees were target ed in an attack while working in had van, cuba u.s. officials say cezanne i can devices caused 22 employees to leave with health problems since last last year. u.s. officials removed two cuban officials from the country in may. it is unclear what caused the accoustic attack, authorities say that victims had a variety of physical symptoms, similar to a concussion. >> we don't have any definitive answers about the source or the cause of what we consider to be incidents. we asked two officials who were accredited at embassy of cuba in the united states to depart the united states. >> cuba denied any involvement in the mistreatment of u.s. diplomates, one official called u.s. removal of the cuban diplomate, an over reaction. >>> sparks fly, quite literally in a city council meeting in nevada when a woman 's purse explodes. >> you heard split, explosion stole the show at boulder city council meeting tuesday night, luckily cities top fire fighter was at the meeting and helped extinguish the flames. woman's cell phone wasn't the culprit but a

u.s. government personnel who were working at our embassy in havana, cuba on official duty. so they were there on behalf of the u.s. embassy there. they've reported incidents that have caused a variety of physical symptoms. we don't have any definitive answers about the source or the cause of what we consider to be incidents. we can tell you that on may 23rd, the state department took further action. we asked two officials who were

cuba. color="#ffff00">something caused u.s. diplomats there to suffer hearing loss. and three college pals sink all their dough into a pizza place and help a nboeighdrhoo rise. >> we're about creating opportunities. this is the "cbs evening news."