Today's top stories, with context, in just 15 minutes.
On today's podcast:
1) Cuba says a boat with 10 people near its coast early Wednesday was carrying weapons, and its occupants — Cubans living in the US — were intent on entering the country to fight against the government. Cuban forces killed four people who had opened fire from a speedboat with Florida tags, an incident with the potential to escalate an already tense standoff with the US. The vessel approached within one nautical mile off the coast of Villa Clara early Wednesday, Cuba’s Interior Ministry said in a statement. Six others on the speedboat were wounded and are being provided with medical care. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Wednesday afternoon that the Department of Homeland Security and Coast Guard would be looking into the incident.
2) The US and Iran started a third round of nuclear talks on Thursday with days to go until President Trump’s deadline for a deal. The two parties have been locked in a tense, months-long standoff over the Islamic Republic’s atomic activities and are negotiating through mediator Oman at its embassy in Geneva, the semi-official Iranian Students’ News Agency reported. Trump had given Iran a deadline of March 1-6 to strike a deal and has threatened military action if it fails to do so, sparking fears of a new Middle East war that could embroil Israel and Gulf Arab oil producers.
3) The US vowed to maintain high tariffs on China hours after Beijing warned against any future hikes, as President Trump’s sweeping levies return to the spotlight before his meeting with Xi Jinping. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Wednesday that Trump wants to keep tariffs on China steady at a range of 35% to 50%, while repeating earlier statements that the Supreme Court’s decision to invalidate broad emergency tariffs wouldn’t affect most levies. Earlier the same day, China threatened to take “all necessary measures” if the US imposed fresh tariffs, after Washington signaled a probe into their 2020 trade deal would continue. Beijing reiterated it wants to use the existing consultation mechanism to build consensus.