奥巴马将终止对古巴人的庇护优惠政策
奥巴马总统星期四表示，他将立刻终止允许所有没签证但踏上美国土地的古巴人都留在美国的所谓“湿脚，干脚” 政策。
奥巴马总统在一份声明中说，这个执行了20年的政策是一个不同时代的产物。
奥巴马说：“我们采取这个步骤就是要把古巴移民和其他国家的移民同等对待。”
奥巴马总统称，这是与古巴关系正常化的重要一步。
奥巴马说，古巴已经同意，将按照接收美国海岸警卫队在海上截获的古巴人一样接收那些未经许可抵达美国的古巴人。
奥巴马总统说，国土安全部也将终止一项允许在第三世界国家服务的古巴医务人员进入美国的项目。
奥巴马总统说，他们今后将和其他国家公民一样向美国大使馆申请庇护。
美国前总统克林顿1995年批准了“湿脚，干脚”政策。当时，试图逃离的古巴人返回后可能会遭遇严酷的对待和进一步压制。
2015年美国和古巴恢复了外交关系。尽管对古巴的贸易禁运仍然在继续，不过华盛顿和哈瓦那之间的敌对已经大幅降低。
Obama Ends Preferential Asylum Policy for Cuban Migrants
U.S. President Barack Obama said Thursday he is immediately ending the so-called "wet foot, dry foot" policy that let any Cuban who steps foot on U.S. soil remain in the United States without a visa.
Obama said in a statement that the 20-year-old policy was designed for a "different era."
"By taking this step, we are treating Cuban migrants the same way we treat migrants from other countries," he said. "
Obama called it an important step in normalizing relations with Cuba.
The president said Cuba has agreed to take back Cuban migrants who arrive in the U.S. without permission the same way it has been accepting migrants whom the U.S. Coast Guard picks up at sea.
Obama said the Department of Homeland Security also is ending the Cuban Medical Professional Parole Program, which allowed Cuban doctors and medical professionals working in a third-world country to enter the U.S.
Obama said they may now apply for asylum at U.S. embassies the same way any foreign national would.
Former President Bill Clinton approved the "wet foot, dry foot" policy in 1995, when Cubans who were returned home after trying to escape were subjected to harsh treatment and more repression.
The U.S. and Cuba restored full diplomatic ties in 2015. Although the trade embargo against Cuba continues, hostilities between the Washington and Havana have eased substantially.
美国将放松对苏丹的经济制裁
美国高级官员星期四说，奥巴马政府准备放松对苏丹的某些经济制裁。
白宫将于星期五正式宣布这个决定。放松制裁的原因是苏丹政府采取积极措施打击恐怖主义，减少冲突，拒绝给南苏丹反叛组织提供庇护，以及改善人道救援发放。
美国1997年第一次因侵犯人权和恐怖主义事宜向苏丹实施贸易禁运和封锁政府资产等制裁。2006年美国又因达尔富尔的暴力冲突对苏丹增加了制裁措施。
苏丹新闻部长阿赫麦德·比莱尔对美国之音表示，苏丹欢迎美国放松制裁的消息，他说这些制裁对于苏丹以及苏丹人民：“造成了灾难性的影响”，增加了人们的痛苦，让他们无法出国治病或是尽快高科技产品。
美国官员说，放松制裁不影响美国把苏丹列为支持恐怖主义的国家。苏丹总统巴希尔由于战争罪和种族灭绝而受到国际刑事法庭通缉。
US Set to Lift Some Sanctions Against Sudan
The Obama administration is set to lift some financial sanctions against Sudan, senior U.S. officials said Thursday.
The White House is expected to make the announcement Friday. The easing of sanctions is in response to positive actions by the Sudanese government in fighting terrorism, reducing conflict, denying safe haven to South Sudanese rebels and improving humanitarian access to people in need.
The United States first imposed sanctions on Sudan in 1997, including a trade embargo and blocking the government's assets, for human rights violations and terrorism concerns. The United States layered on more sanctions in 2006 for what it said was complicity in the violence in Darfur.
Sudanese Information Minister Ahmed Bilal, speaking with VOA's James Butty, welcomed the news of the lifting of the sanctions because, he said, they "have had a devastating impact on the country and its people." He said sanctions increased "the misery of the people" who could not leave the country to get medical treatment or import technology.
U.S. officials said the lifting of the sanctions had no bearing on Sudan's designation by the United States as a state sponsor of terrorism. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and genocide.