Crews restored power to more neighborhoods across Havana on Saturday after a second day of protests over ongoing blackouts in Cuba's capital, including some of the largest demonstrations since widespread anti-government rallies in July 2021.

At least one of the protests Friday night in the western seaside borough of Playa swelled in size to several hundred people who chanted "turn on the lights," as well as slogans disparaging President Miguel Diaz-Canel.

 Hollywood star Natalie Portman publicly supported defunding the police back in 2020, encouraging politicians to deprive police departments of taxpayer dollars. Now the Oscar-winning actress is benefiting from Baltimore police protection after drug dealers threatened gun violence on the set of her new Apple TV+ series.

Cuba struggled for a fourth day Monday to contain a massive blaze at a fuel depot in the northern part of the country. The depot supplies the largest power plant in the communist country -- there are no indications yet if crude supplies to the thermoelectric plant have been disrupted. 

ATMs in Cuba began to accept Russia’s Mir payment cards, Juan Carlos Escalona, adviser to the embassy of the republic on tourism, told the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) on Tuesday. He said that until the end of 2022 they will be accepted at all sale outlets in the country.

Dengue is a viral disease transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, and the government said the levels of mosquito infestation on the island are the worst in the past 15 years. In a meeting Tuesday, Cuban health authorities said they had confirmed 3,036 cases of dengue so far this year. But most people with symptoms, such as fever, vomiting or a rash, do not get tested, as the health system also lacks testing supplies.