- Germany into Nations League quarters, France and Italy win
- Nagelsmann lauds 'supercharged' Germany's 'best half of the year'
- 'Pandas are coming': Two new bears depart China for US capital
- Dodgers pitcher Kershaw plans to return for 2025
- Mbappe 'investigated for rape' in Sweden: report
- Revived Italy sweep past Israel in Nations League amid high security
- Trudeau slams India as tensions soar over Sikh separatist's murder
- Harris courts Black voters as Trump makes inroads
- Wall Street stocks hit fresh records as oil prices slide
- Nigerian team return home after boycotting AFCON qualifier in Libya
- Nigeria refuse to play in Libya as Algeria, Cameroon qualify
- Strike-hit Boeing leaves experts puzzled by strategy
- Leweling rockets Germany past Dutch and into Nations League quarterfinals
- Kolo Muani double fires France to win in Belgium
- Italy sweep past Israel in Nations League amid high security
- UN peacekeepers to 'stay in all positions' in Lebanon
- NASA launches probe to study if life possible on icy Jupiter moon
- 'Unique' Ronaldo an example to everyone, says Martinez
- New lawsuits against Sean Combs allege sex assault, including of minor
- Italy begins migrant transfers to Albania with first group of 16
- Google signs nuclear power deal with startup Kairos
- Carsley open to foreign England manager amid Guardiola links
- Pogba hungry to have his football cake after doping ban
- India and Canada expel top envoys in Sikh separatist killing row
- Mbappe says victim of 'fake news' after 'rape' report in Sweden
- Lebanon says 21 killed in strike on northern village
- Netanyahu vows no mercy after deadly Hezbollah drone strike
- Russia could be able to attack NATO by 2030: German intelligence
- EVs seek to regain sales momentum at Paris Motor Show
- Clarke backs Scotland to bounce back from 'tough' run
- Harris, Trump target crucial Pennsylvania as US vote looms
- NASA probe Europa Clipper lifts off for Jupiter's icy moon
- Lebanese Red Cross says 18 killed in strike in north
- Mendy borrowed money from Man City team-mates for legal fees
- Palestinian officials say Israeli forces kill two in West Bank
- Football leagues, unions file EU complaint against FIFA in calendar dispute
- Nigeria boycott AFCON qualifier in Libya after 'inhumane treatment'
- India to recall top envoy to Canada: foreign ministry
- Hezbollah, Israeli troops in 'violent clashes' after drone strike
- China insists won't renounce 'use of force' to take Taiwan as drills end
- Painkiller sale plan to US gives France major headache
- Italy begins landmark migrant transfers to Albania
- Russia jails French researcher for three years
- 'Unsustainable' housing crisis bedevils Spain's socialist govt
- Stocks shrug off China disappointment but oil slides
- New Zealand 4-0 up in America's Cup but British show signs of life
- Russian prosecutor demands 3 years prison for French researcher
- 'Innocent' British nerve agent victim caught in global murder plot: inquiry
- Afghan Taliban vow to implement media ban on images of living things
- Russian prosecutor demands 3 years, 3 months jail for French researcher
Cuba jails two dissident artists for nine, five years
A Cuban court has sentenced two artists critical of the communist state to nine and five years in prison, officials said Friday, the latest in a string of heavy penalties doled out to government dissenters.
Rapper Maykel Castillo, 39, better known as Osorbo, was sentenced to nine years, while 34-year-old performance artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara was given five years in prison, the attorney general's office said on Friday.
Alcantara, leader of the San Isidro (MSI) free speech protest movement, was found guilty of "offending the symbols of the homeland, contempt and public disorder," and Castillo of contempt and assault, it said.
Both men, considered prisoners of conscience by Amnesty International, have already spent months behind bars.
Washington and rights groups have repeatedly called for their liberation.
The ruling, Human Rights Watch America's investigator Juan Pappier said on Twitter: "is a sham that openly violates freedom of expression and association.
"We demand the immediate and unconditional release of Maykel and Luis Manuel."
Alcantara was arrested on July 11 last year when he set out to join thousands of Cubans who took to the streets in unprecedented protests against the government.
He has been held in prison ever since, awaiting trial, and his family has said he was in poor health.
Hundreds of people who took part in the July rallies, many chanting "Freedom!" and "We are hungry," have been prosecuted and given sentences of up to 25 years.
The charges against Alcantara, named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people of 2021, all related to events prior to the protests.
- Insulting State symbols -
Osorbo, for his part, is co-author of the song "Patria y Vida" ("Fatherland and Life" -- a play on Fidel Castro's "Fatherland or Death" slogan) which has become a refrain for protesters and government critics, but has angered the authorities.
The Latin Grammy winner has been in prison for over a year, charged for participating in another, smaller protest in Havana.
Prosecutors had asked for prison terms of seven and 10 years for the pair.
They were tried with three other people behind closed doors at the end of May.
This was not the men's first brush with the authorities.
To protest a decree governing the work of artists in 2018, Alcantara sought to cover himself in human excrement outside parliament, but was arrested before the work was complete.
Once, he wore the Cuban flag over his shoulders for a month and was sued for insulting State symbols.
Last year, he spent almost a month in hospital following an eight-day hunger strike after authorities seized several of his works when he was arrested during a demonstration.
He was freed but rearrested several more times for trying to leave his home, which had been surrounded by police who cut off his internet service and kept visitors away.
The Cuban government accuses Alcantara of fomenting a political revolt funded by the United States, which has had sanctions in place against Cuba for six decades.
Osorbo's "Patria y Vida" angered authorities with its rebellious message, denounced by the state-controlled Cuban press as an attempt at "gross political interference.
Lyrics include "It is over" and "We are not afraid," with images of poverty and police violence on the music video.
A photo of Osorbo, a handcuffed fist raised in resistance after he escaped a previous attempt to arrest him, has become a symbol of protest on the island.
M.Fischer--AMWN