Friday 27th February 2026. Cuba speedboat attack. Ecuador Colombia rift. Denmark election. Ukraine drones. Hungary poll. Ghana cocoa...

Good morning. This is Send 7 World News in 7 minutes. I'm Stephen Devyn Chenzie. Today is Friday the 27th of February, 2026. Starting in the Americas today, Cuba's government has said that four people that it killed on a speedboat on Wednesday were exiled Cuban citizens living in the United States. Cuban officials have said that people on the US registered boat began firing at a Cuban patrol boat, injuring one Cuban before the Cuban boat fired back, killing four people and injuring six. The boat was carrying guns, explosives and other military equipment. Cuba said, speaking at a meeting of Caribbean nations in St. Kits, a Nevis, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the US needs to verify the information given by Cuba. "I have found out still a lot of the information that's out there has been provided by the Cubans. We are going to verify that information independently and reach our own conclusions." Ecuador has said that it will raise tariffs on imports from Colombia from 30% to 50% on the 1st of March. Ecuador and Colombia have been exchanging tariffs this year after Ecuador said that Colombia was not doing enough to stop drug trafficking across their border. In Brazil, the death toll from recent floods has risen to 46 with another 21 people missing. Europe Denmark's Prime Minister Meta Frederiksen has called a general election for the 24th of March. Opinion polls generally show that Frederiksen has gained popularity since the US President Donald Trump threatened to take Greenland and overseas territory of Denmark. Ukraine's ambassador to the United Kingdom, Valeriy Zaluzni, has said that the first Ukrainian drone production plant in the UK has started operations. Germany also opened a Ukrainian drone production factory recently. Ukraine's Foreign Minister, Andrei Sibia, said yesterday that over 1,700 Africans are fighting for Russia's army against Ukraine. In Hungary, a recent opinion poll by Median has indicated that the opposition block Tijia is 20% points ahead of the governing Fidesz party six weeks before the general election. In Hungary, opinion polls are difficult to interpret as they are often very different from each other and are often partisan being funded by political parties. The media polls correctly predicted a big win for the Fidesz party of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in 2022. Orbán has been Prime Minister of Hungary for 16 years consecutively and 20 years in total. In Spain, the former Guardia Civil Head Antonio Tejero has died aged 93. In 1981, Tejero led an attempted coup to end Spain's new democracy and bring back a Franco-style dictatorship. Tejero entered the Congress of Deputies with 200 members of the Guardia Civil and took members hostage for 18 hours. When it became clear that the coup did not have the support of other branches of the Spanish military or from King Juan Carlos Tejero surrendered. In Italy, a court has awarded a woman workplace compensation after injuring herself while working from home. In 2022, the woman was on a Zoom meeting when she got up from her desk to get some documents when she fell and broke her ankle. Her employer said that they shouldn't pay for medical bills, but the court said that they should. In Africa, in Ghana, Cocoa Buying Businesses owed $750 million in loans according to the licensed Cocoa Buying Association of Ghana, with another $250 million owed to Cocoa farmers. The Cocoa industry in Ghana has been badly affected by two years of poor harvests which have resulted in higher prices for Cocoa and chocolate around the world. Senegal's Prime Minister, Usman Sanko, is supporting a draft law which would increase the maximum punishment for homosexuality from five years in prison to ten years in prison. In a speech in Parliament, Sanko blamed the West for promoting LGBT rights. Earlier this week, Uganda said it had arrested two women for kissing in public and they could be given life sentences. Asia. In China, Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz has met with President Xi Jinping last year. China became Germany's biggest trading partner, overtaking the United States during a speech. Merz criticized some Chinese economic policies as creating unfair competition. China's exports to Germany are worth about double Germany's exports to China. The Indian state of Kerala will have its official name changed to Kerala in order to reflect the way that the name is said in the most common local language Malayalam. Since the end of the British rule of India in 1947, there have been many name changes including changing the city names of Bombay, to Mumbai, Madras, to Chennai and Bangalore, to Bengaluru. That means the land of the coconuts. And adults who play are healthier, happier and less stressed a study from New Zealand has shown. The study said that playful activity is different in adults than it is in children, but it can be physical, social or creative and can involve physical activity, music, problem solving or just doing things for fun. The study showed that adults who play feel more positive emotions, report higher life satisfaction and show higher scores for empathy and emotional intelligence. A big thank you to Kinga in Poland and Francisco in Argentina for becoming our newest supporters. If you enjoy this podcast and you would like to have access to all of our transcripts, vocabulary lists, worksheets and world news quizzes, then you can become a supporter at send7.org. We give 10% of our profit to highly effective charities. Have a great weekend. See you on Monday.