International News Briefs for Friday February 21, 2025
HAVANA TIMES – Here are some of the top international news stories compiled by Democracy Now on Friday, February 21, 2025.
White House Insists Ukraine Hand Over $500 Billion in Mineral Wealth and Stop Criticizing Trump
Feb 21, 2025
The White House has warned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to stop criticizing President Trump and sign an agreement to hand over $500 billion of rare earth minerals and other resources as payment for U.S. wartime aid. National security adviser Mike Waltz made the threat from the White House briefing room on Thursday.
Reporter: “Zelensky publicly rejected this deal about the rare earth minerals. Where does that stand?”
Mike Waltz: “Well, we’re going to continue to have — he needs to come back to the table, and we’re going to continue to have discussions about where that deal is going.”
This comes after Trump lashed out at Zelensky, mocking him as a “dictator without elections” in an error-riddled rant on social media. Zelensky met in Kyiv Thursday with Trump’s envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, but canceled a scheduled joint press conference after the talks. The U.S. has objected to a draft of a G7 resolution calling Russia the “aggressor” in its invasion of Ukraine; separately, Reuters reports the U.S. is refusing to co-sponsor a U.N. motion backing Ukraine on the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion.
Russian Forces Advance on Dnipropetrovsk, Bomb Kherson Apartment Complex
Feb 21, 2025
Russian forces have advanced to within three miles of the Ukrainian region of Dnipropetrovsk. On Thursday, a Russian missile killed at least one person and wounded three others when it slammed into an apartment high-rise in the city of Kherson. And the International Atomic Energy Agency is warning the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is currently operating with only one offsite power line due to fighting near the complex.
Israel Drops Leaflets on Gaza Threatening to “Impose Forced Displacement Upon You”
Feb 21, 2025
Image Credit: X/@tamerqdh
Israel’s military dropped leaflets across the Gaza Strip Thursday, openly threatening the territory’s entire population of more than 2 million people with forced displacement. The message, written in Arabic, references President Trump’s mass expulsion plan with a threat to “impose forced displacement upon you whether you accept it or not.” The message also read, “The map of the world will not change if all the people of Gaza disappear from existence, and no one will ask about you.”
Israeli Leaders Cast Doubt on Ceasefire Deal, Saying Body Returned from Gaza Was Not Shiri Bibas
Feb 21, 2025
Israeli officials are casting doubt over whether a prisoner exchange set for Saturday will proceed as planned, after Israel claimed one of the four bodies handed over by Hamas on Thursday was not the body of hostage Shiri Bibas. Hamas says the remains appear to have been mixed with other human remains taken from the rubble left behind by Israeli bombardment. Israeli President Isaac Herzog called it a “shocking and horrific violation of the ceasefire agreement,” and Trump’s special envoy for hostage affairs, Adam Boehler, threatened Hamas with “total annihilation.” Hamas is due to release six living Israeli hostages Saturday in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian captives held by Israel.
Netanyahu to Escalate West Bank Attacks After Buses Explode in Tel Aviv
Feb 21, 2025
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he’s ordered a stepped-up military operation across the occupied West Bank after three parked buses exploded in Bat Yam, near Tel Aviv. No one was hurt in the blasts.
U.S. Sanctions Rwandan Official and Militia Leader Tied to M23 Atrocities in DRC
Feb 21, 2025
The Trump administration has imposed sanctions on a Rwandan top official and a senior member of an armed group over their backing of M23 fighters in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The U.S. Treasury Department announced the sanctions Thursday, targeting Rwandan minister James Kabarebe and Lawrence Kanyuka Kingston, a member of the armed coalition Congo River Alliance, which includes M23. Both men are accused of being central to M23’s operations as the group carries out gross human rights abuses. The Treasury Department said in a statement, “Today’s action underscores the need for Rwanda to return to negotiations under the Angola-led Luanda Process to achieve a resolution to the conflict in eastern DRC.” Click here to see our coverage of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Mexico Warns U.S. Against Violations of Sovereignty as Trump Designates Cartels as Terrorist Groups
Feb 21, 2025
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum is warning the United States against any violations of Mexico’s sovereignty after the Trump administration designated several drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. Sheinbaum said Trump officials should refocus resources on investigating groups that are operating and laundering drug money inside the U.S. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has not ruled out threats of military action against cartels. This is Mexican President Sheinbaum speaking to reporters on Thursday.
President Claudia Sheinbaum: “The Mexican people will under no circumstances accept interventions, intrusions or any other action from abroad that are detrimental to the integrity, independence or sovereignty of the nation, such as coups, interference in elections or violations of Mexican territory, whether by land, sea or air.”
The terrorist designation also includes the MS-13 gang, which is predominantly based in El Salvador, and Tren de Aragua in Venezuela. Trump has made false claims about the groups’ potential threats, wrongfully accusing all asylum seekers and immigrants of being “gang members” to fuel his racist agenda.
Venezuela Refutes U.S. Claims That Deportees from Guantánamo Prison Camp Were Gang Members
Feb 21, 2025
The Trump administration said Thursday it had abruptly deported at least 177 Venezuelan immigrants who had been detained in a newly constructed prison camp at the U.S. naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Dozens of the Venezuelan immigrants who were forcefully transferred to Guantánamo were accused, without evidence, of involvement with Tren de Aragua, as Trump claimed to be targeting only “the worst of the worst.” But recent reports showed many of them had never been convicted of violent crimes. Venezuela’s interior minister was at the airport outside Caracas when the U.S. deportation flight arrived Thursday.
Diosdado Cabello: “The United States says that there are people from the Tren de Aragua gang and criminals. We checked the first group that were said to be from Tren de Aragua, and there was no one from there, not one. We are going to check the legal situation of each one of them. Those without a record will go home, and we will take them, and we will take them with care.”
Asylum seekers and immigrants have described torturous conditions while on U.S. deportation flights, including being shackled at the ankles, waist and wrists for hours. This comes as The Guardian reports the corporate conglomerate Akima, charged with running Guantánamo’s immigrant detention camp, has been accused of gross human rights abuses over conditions at three other immigration jails it oversees.
Trump Cancels Deportation Protections for Half-Million Haitian Immigrants
Feb 21, 2025
President Trump has rolled back a Biden-era program granting temporary relief from deportations to an estimated half a million Haitian immigrants living in the United States. Guerline Jozef, the executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, told the Miami Herald, “Slashing six months of protection while Haiti faces rampant insecurity and a humanitarian crisis is nothing short of a death sentence. This is racism in policy form, and we must resist it at every turn.”
Judge Orders Trump Admin to Comply with Previous Order on Frozen Funds, Balks at Contempt Charges
Feb 21, 2025
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has ordered the Trump administration to comply with his previous court order to at least temporarily unfreeze foreign aid funding. But U.S. District Court Judge Amir Ali stopped short of holding Secretary of State Marco Rubio and USAID Deputy Administrator-designate Pete Marocco in contempt of court. Among the many programs impacted by the freeze are HIV and tuberculosis treatment, maternal and newborn healthcare, and humanitarian aid to 2.6 million people in northeastern Syria. The Emergency Response Rooms in Sudan, a civilian aid group, said the aid freeze is already worsening famine and the world’s worst refugee crisis, with a spokesperson telling The New York Times, “A week of not finding food would actually mean a lot of death.”
Judge Declines to Halt Trump Administration’s Mass Firings of Federal Workers
Feb 21, 2025
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Thursday denied a request by unions to block efforts by Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency to drastically slash the size of the federal workforce. In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper acknowledged the mass firings have already caused “disruption” and “chaos,” but said the issue should first be adjudicated by the Federal Labor Relations Authority. Earlier this month, Trump fired the FLRA’s chairwoman, Susan Tsui Grundmann, whose tenure was not set to end until July.
CDC Report on Bird Flu Spreading Between Humans and Cats Was Delayed by Health Communications Pause
Feb 21, 2025
Image Credit: NIAID
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has detected H5N1 bird flu in rats for the first time, in a southern California county where two recent poultry outbreaks were reported. The discovery comes as the USDA is seeking to rehire bird flu experts recently fired by DOGE. Meanwhile, a newly published CDC study finds two dairy workers in Michigan may have infected their pet cats with bird flu — and that one of the infected cats likely passed the virus on to other people. The results of the study were supposed to have been published in January but were delayed by a blanket pause on CDC communications ordered by President Trump.
At CPAC, Elon Musk Wields Prop Chainsaw to Celebrate DOGE Cuts
Feb 21, 2025
Image Credit: Jack Gruber/USA TODAY via Imagn Images
Billionaire Elon Musk took the stage Thursday at the 2025 Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C. Musk was welcomed to the far-right gathering by Argentina’s President Javier Milei, who gifted Musk with a chainsaw to celebrate DOGE’s efforts to shrink the federal workforce while gutting entire government agencies.
Elon Musk: “Arghhhh! This is the chainsaw for bureaucracy! Chainsaw!”
Also appearing at CPAC on Thursday were Vice President JD Vance and Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson.
“I Cannot Imagine a Worse Choice”: Kash Patel Confirmed as FBI Director Over Democrats’ Objections
Feb 21, 2025
The Senate has narrowly confirmed Kash Patel as director of the FBI, replacing Trump’s former pick, Christopher Wray, who resigned his post just ahead of Trump’s inauguration. Patel is a Trump loyalist and far-right conspiracy theorist who previously called for the FBI’s D.C. office to be closed and turned into a “museum of the deep state.” Democratic Senator Dick Durbin spoke out against Patel ahead of Thursday’s vote.
Sen. Dick Durbin: “It is shocking that my Republican colleagues are willing to support him despite the serious threat he poses to our national security. And I’m sorry to say I believe they will quickly come to regret this vote. When I think of giving this man a 10-year tenure as director of the leading criminal investigative agency in the world, I cannot imagine a worse choice.”
Senate Approves $340B Budget Blueprint to Expand Military, Fund Mass Deportations
Feb 21, 2025
The Senate has approved a $340 billion budget blueprint to fund the first part of President Trump’s agenda. The resolution passed on a largely party-line vote of 52 to 48 after a marathon overnight voting session known as a “vote-a-rama.” It includes $175 billion for border operations and mass deportations, as well as $150 billion in new Department of Defense spending. This comes after the House Republicans unveiled a draft budget proposing $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and at least $1.5 trillion in spending cuts, including to Medicaid and food assistance.
Senators Advance Pro Wrestling Mogul Linda McMahon’s Nomination for Education Secretary
Feb 21, 2025
The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions voted along party lines Thursday to advance Linda McMahon’s nomination to serve as education secretary, bringing her closer to heading the agency President Trump has repeatedly threatened to shut down. McMahon is the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment. She and her husband Vince McMahon were recently sued for failing to stop a WWE ringside announcer from sexually assaulting young boys.
Gov. Hochul Declines to Remove Eric Adams as NYC Mayor
Feb 21, 2025
New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced Thursday that she would not invoke her authority to remove embattled New York City Mayor Eric Adams from office. Adams is up for reelection this year and faces a crowded primary in June. Murad Awawdeh, president of the New York Immigration Coalition, said in response, “Eric Adams sold out New Yorkers to avoid prosecution for corruption charges in a quid pro quo deal with the Trump administration, plain and simple. Now, he is working with the Trump administration to separate families in New York City in direct violation of our local sanctuary policies. All New Yorkers will face real and dire consequences from Governor Hochul’s refusal to hold the Mayor accountable for his actions.” Protests are planned for Saturday at noon in Washington Square Park to demand Eric Adams’s removal from office.
Luigi Mangione to Face Murder and Terror Charges as Trial Opens over Killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO
Feb 21, 2025
Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old suspect in the shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, will appear in a Manhattan court today as he faces murder and terror state charges. This is Mangione’s first hearing since his arraignment in December. A trial date has not been set.
Vatican Officials Say Pope Francis’s Health Is Improving, Won’t Rule Out Resignation
Feb 21, 2025
Officials at the Vatican say Pope Francis’s health is improving after the 88-year-old pontiff was hospitalized for double pneumonia and asthmatic bronchitis. But for the first time, cardinals acknowledged Pope Francis’s resignation due to his ailing health is a “possibility.”
Friday Marks 60th Anniversary of Assassination of Malcolm X
Feb 21, 2025
Image Credit: The Shabazz Center
Today marks the 60th anniversary of the assassination of Malcolm X , one of the most influential political figures of the 20th century. Malcolm X was shot dead as he spoke before a packed audience at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem on February 21, 1965. Malcolm X had just taken the stage when shots rang out, riddling his body with bullets. He was 39 years old. Two of the three men convicted of Malcolm X’s assassination were exonerated in 2021 after decades of advocacy on behalf of the men — Muhammad Aziz and Khalil Islam — and after a two-year investigation by the Manhattan DA’s Office and the Innocence Project found that prosecutors, the FBI and the New York Police Department omitted key evidence around the murder.