King Felipe VI has asked caretaker Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to try to form a government, after his conservative rival was unable to.

Elián González has the same big, expressive eyes he did 23 years ago when an international custody battle transformed him into the face of the long-strained relations between Cuba and the United States. Now 29, González is stepping into Cuban politics. He recently entered his country’s congress with hopes of helping his people at a time of record emigration and heightened tension between the two seaside neighbors. “From Cuba, we can do a lot so that we have a more solid country, and I owe it to Cubans,” he said during an exclusive interview with The Associated Press. “That is what I’m going to try to do from my position, from this place in congress — to contribute to making Cuba a better country.” González has given only a handful of interviews since he was unwittingly thrust into the geopolitical spotlight as a boy. In 1999, at just 5 years old, he and his mother were aboard a boat of Cuban migrants headed toward Florida when the boat capsized in the Florida Straits. His mother and 10 others died while González, tied to an inner tube, drifted in open water until his rescue. Granted asylum under U.S. refugee rules at the time, González went to live with his great uncle, a member of the Cuban exile community in Miami that is often a center of fierce criticism of Cuba's government. In Cuba, his father begged then-President Fidel Castro for help. Castro led protests with hundreds of thousands of people demanding little Elián's return. Anti-Castro groups in Miami pressed for him to stay in the U.S. The tug-of-war quickly gained the world’s attention and became emblematic for the testy feelings between the two neighboring nations. Then-U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno ruled the boy should be returned to his father, but González’s relatives refused. AP photojournalist Alan Diaz captured the moment when armed immigration agents seized González in a Miami home, and the photo later won a Pulitzer Prize. “Not having my mom has been difficult, it has been a burden, but it has not been an obstacle when I have had a father who has stood up for me and been by my side," González told AP. He is a father himself now, of a 2-year-old daughter. He works for a state company that facilitates tourism to the island nation his mother left, underscoring the alternate track his life has followed since his homecoming. What’s more, he recently became a lawmaker. In April, González was sworn in as a member of Cuba’s National Assembly of People’s Power, effectively Cuba’s congress. He represents Cárdenas, a town in Matanzas province about 80 miles east of Havana where he lived until his mother took him to sea. He still lives in the province. Dressed in black pants and T-shirt, with a discreet braided bracelet on his right hand and his wedding ring on his left, González was interviewed in Havana’s Capitol, the renovated seat of congress. “I think the most important thing is that I have grown up like other young people. I have grown up in Cuba,” he said. For years, his father made it nearly impossible to get close to the child. From afar, the boy could sometimes be seen playing with other children or accompanying his father to political events. Castro would visit him on his birthday. Over the years, González was a military cadet and later became an industrial engineer. Because Cuba's congressional positions are unpaid, he will continue to work his tourism job. The legislative body has faced criticism for lacking opposition voices and for carrying out the agenda set by the country’s leadership. González's legislative term comes amid historic emigration from the crisis-stricken Caribbean island, as many young Cubans seek a new life in the U.S. — just as his mother did. It also comes at a moment of heightened tensions between the two nations. There have been allegations that Cuba hosted a Chinese spy base, which Cuba adamantly denies. Meanwhile, Cuba claims Biden has yet to ease tough policies enacted by Donald Trump that target the island, while the U.S. points to resumption of some flights and sending of remittances. Amid a deepening political and energy crisis in Cuba, González cast blame on decades of American sanctions stifling the island's economy as the root of many of Cuba's problems, echoing many in the government. He said he believes in Cuba's model of providing free access to education and health services among other things, but acknowledged there is a long way to go for that to be perfected. Despite harsh prison sentences doled out by Cuban courts, punishments defended by the communist government, González said his people have the right to demonstrate. But he added that the causes of current crises should be analyzed before condemning the state. He also had kind words for the hundreds of thousands of Cubans who, like his mother, chose to emigrate. “I respect all those who made the decision to leave Cuba, I respect those who do so today, just as I do my mom,” he said. “My message will always be that (those who leave) do all they can to ensure that Cuba has a status (without sanctions) equal to any country in the world.” Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Jersey Shore towns say state's marijuana law handcuffs police and emboldens rowdy teens AP Week in Pictures: Latin America and Caribbean In workaholic Japan, 'job leaving agents' help people escape the awkwardness of quitting

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Fresh explosions struck Sevastopol and smoke was seen rising from a prominent landmark just kilometres away from the Crimean city as Ukrainian forces announced they were carrying out a joint intelligence operation in the region illegally annexed by Russia in 2014. Pro-Russian Telegram channel ChP Sevastopol reported explosions in the area of Cape Fiolent late on Sunday night, while another Telegram channel reporting on Crimea shared visuals of an explosion and smoke arising from the same area. This comes as Russia launched its own airstrikes on Ukraine, with the Ukrainian air force saying it downed 18 cruise missiles and 17 drones across the country overnight. The location, on the Crimean peninsula’s southern coast about 16km away from Sevastopol, has a marine radio engineering unit and a radio engineering station with a dozen radar antennas, an unnamed intelligence source told Ukraine’s Suspilne public broadcaster. The war-hit nation’s intelligence agency said it carried out a joint operation of its Defence Intelligence (DIU) and the Ukrainian navy. Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Russia-installed governor of Sevastopol, however, claimed everything was calm in the city which houses Russia’s Black Sea fleet. He said three Ukrainian drones were seen in the area, but were brought down by Russia’s air defences. The official said no damage was done. He said that if people saw smoke in the South Bay area, it was due to a standard harmless aerosol camouflage being used by the Black Sea fleet. “Yes, the smell is unpleasant, but it is absolutely safe. Everything is calm in the city,” the Russia-installed official said. “Our enemies today will try with all their might to pass it off as a ‘victory’,” he said on his Telegram channel. At least three Ukrainian drones were downed over southwestern Crimea on Sunday evening, according to the Russian defence ministry. It claimed Russian air defence systems destroyed one drone at about 9.30pm Moscow time, an hour after it said its forces downed another two Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles in the same area. Debris from the downed third drone fell over farmland and no damage was done, their governor Razvozhayev said. This comes just five days after Ukraine carried out what was said to be its largest attack yet on the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea fleet since the start of Vladimir Putin’s invasion. The attack on the Sevastopol shipyard in Russian-annexed Crimea wounded 24 people and set ablaze two ships that were under repair, according to Russian authorities. The Sevastopol shipyard attack is one of the biggest in recent weeks, even though the Crimean peninsula, illegally annexed from Ukraine by Russia in 2014, has been a frequent target in the 18-month old war. Russia’s defence ministry said Ukraine launched 10 cruise missiles at the shipyard and three sea drones at Russian ships in the Black Sea. Seven missiles were shot down and all the sea drones have been destroyed, the military said, but some of the missiles damaged two ships that were being repaired in the shipyard. While Ukrainian officials have not confirmed the means of the strike, military sources said the attack used Storm Shadow missiles, which were delivered to Kyiv by the UK earlier this year. Read More Nato chief warns Putin eyes ‘long war’ as Ukraine claims eastern village Ukraine-Russia war – live: Kyiv says its retaken Klishchiivka as drones target Crimea and Moscow Ukraine is the spotlight at UN leaders' gathering, but is there room for other global priorities? Ukrainian troops move through destroyed Donetsk settlement as Kyiv announces recapture UK’s top agenda at UN General Assembly: Ukraine, AI and sustainable development