The US government has paid out nearly $3m (£2.2m) in compensation to victims of so-called Havana Syndrome, a mysterious neurological condition reported by spies, diplomats and their families. These are the first such payments made to US agency staff over the illness, and they matter because they represent official recognition of the sufferers' experiences after a decade of uncertainty about the condition's cause. The compensation was paid under the Havana Act, which was signed into law in 2021.

The syndrome was first publicly reported in 2016, when US diplomats in Cuba described falling ill and hearing piercing sounds at night, with symptoms including a low hum, clicks, squeals, skull pressure, dizziness and nausea. Similar cases have since been reported worldwide, from Washington to China, and in 2017 the US withdrew more than half of its embassy staff from Havana, while Canada also cut its personnel there in 2019. There has been long-running speculation that a foreign power used a microwave or sonic weapon, but last year most US intelligence agencies concluded this was "very unlikely", while still affirming that staff experienced genuine and sometimes traumatic symptoms.