UN overwhelmingly supports lifting US embargo against Cuba

The UN General Assembly has overwhelmingly adopted its 27th annual resolution calling for an end to the US economic embargo on Cuba after a failed bid by Washington to amend the text to push the Caribbean island to improve its human rights record. 189 countries voted in support of the resolution, while the US and Israel voted against it, with Ukraine and Moldova abstaining. US envoy Nikki Haley said ahead of the vote that the resolution was an opportunity for countries "to feel they can poke the United States in the eye" and that those supporting it were “literally hurting the Cuban people.” The UN vote is non-binding, with only the US Congress having the power to lift the more than 50-year-old embargo.