Good morning from the Financial Times. Today is Monday, July 26th, and this is your FT news briefing.

First, we'll check in on the international reaction to the protests in Cuba,

and then look at why NASDAQ is beefing up its market for private companies.

Plus, every year the FT holds a stockpicking contest.

It is really just a bit of fun, but it does mean that you can be a total amateur and do amazingly

well and you can be a proper investment professional and absolutely bomb.

We'll look at how the game has turned out so far. I'm Mark Filipino, and here's the news you need to start your day.

Cuba's civil unrest has been driven by shortages, not enough work, not enough money, not enough food.

And thousands of people took to the streets on July 11th in Cuba's biggest anti-government protests

in decades. The government responded with a military crackdown and by restricting internet access

on most of the island. US President Joe Biden imposed economic sanctions on the head of Cuba's

military, but as the FT's Latin America editor, Michael Stop, points out other countries have reacted

much differently to the situation in Cuba. In Mexico, which has a leftist president,

Andres Manuel López Obrador, they have announced an aid program and they're sending

two Navy ships loaded with food and medical supplies to Cuba. So almost straight after Biden

announced the sanctions, López Obrador said there we're going to send aid, we're going to send

food and medical supplies. Naturally, it's the US embargo that's the problem. And then Russia,

the most important ally, perhaps of all of Cuba, said that it was also going to send aid to Cuba.

It was airlifting aid to Cuba. And the Spanish Prime Minister, who's again from the left,

has said the international community should show solidarity and donate vaccines to Cuba.

So we've seen very different responses from different countries.

Michael Stop is the FT's Latin America editor.

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