International News Briefs for Monday, November 10, 2025
HAVANA TIMES – We bring you some of the top international news stories compiled by Democracy Now on Monday, November 10, 2025.
Trump Pardons Top Allies Involved in Efforts to Overturn Results of 2020 Election
Nov 10, 2025
President Trump has issued sweeping and unconditional pardons to his top allies who aided him in his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election–that’s according to the Justice Department’s pardon attorney. Among those pardoned were Rudy Giuliani, who tried to pressure state legislatures to reject Joe Biden’s victory in key swing states; Mark Meadows, Trump’s chief of staff in 2020; John Eastman and Kenneth Chesebro, two attorneys who conspired to pressure Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the election results on Jan. 6; Boris Epshteyn, an adviser to Trump; and Sidney Powell, who filed lawsuits challenging election results in key swing states. The pardons only apply to federal charges and don’t include state charges. Both Powell and Chesebro had pleaded guilty to state charges. Giuliani has been indicted in Georgia and Arizona. On Sunday, Trump also pardoned dozens of other Republicans who were involved in the plan to organize fake electors and promote conspiracies of alleged voter fraud during the 2020 election. Earlier this year, Trump had pardoned more than 1,000 Jan. 6 rioters.
7 Democratic Senators Join Republicans to Pass Key Bill to End Government Shutdown
Nov 10, 2025
The U.S. federal government shutdown has entered its 41st day. On Sunday night, seven Democratic senators broke away from their party to vote alongside Republicans on a key bill to end the shutdown and fund most government agencies until January 30. The Democratic senators include Tim Kaine of Virginia, Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen of Nevada, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, and Dick Durbin of Illinois, as well as Maine’s Independent senator Angus King. The measure does not include an extension of the expiring Affordable Care Act tax credits. The bill still needs to pass the House before the government can be reopened, and that would require Speaker Mike Johnson to call a House session and finally swear in Representative Elect Adelita Grijalva of Arizona; she would be the final vote on a discharge petition to release the Epstein files.
Trump Admin. Orders States to Stop Providing Full Benefits to SNAP Recipients
Nov 10, 2025
The Supreme Court on Friday granted the Trump administration’s request to temporarily block full payment of food benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The decision means that SNAP recipients will receive only partial benefits. The U.S. Department of Agriculture ordered states that were filling in the gap to stop providing full benefits to SNAP recipients, stating they should “immediately undo” the distributions.
Tens of Thousands of Travelers Nationwide Impacted by Flight Cancellations
Nov 10, 2025
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned that air travel would be “reduced to a trickle” if the shutdown continues. U.S. airlines canceled more than 3,500 flights over the weekend, impacting tens of thousands of travelers nationwide. Travelers expressed outrage over the delays.
bq.Traveler Delia Nau: “I’m shocked and I’m shocked. And I’m…it is definitely a Republican shutdown. It’s not the Democrats. I understand why they don’t want to take all those people off, you know, health and wellness and insurance. It’s just, it’s ridiculous.”
Israel Continues Striking Gaza Despite U.S.-Brokered Ceasefire, Killing 2 People
Nov 10, 2025
Israeli air raids and drone attacks continue in Gaza despite the U.S.-brokered ceasefire that went into effect a month ago. Al Jazeera reports 2 people, including a child, were killed in southern Gaza today. This is Nidal Abu Arqoub from Khan Younis.
bq.Nidal Abu Arqoub: “The future is bleak and uncertain. Given our current situation, things remain as they are. Truce, no truce, we do not see a truce. The war is ongoing, and the horizon is dark. We see the country’s situation as very difficult.”
Meanwhile, Hamas handed over the body of Hadar Goldin, an Israeli soldier who was killed in a 2014 war in Gaza. It comes as Reuters reports U.S. officials gathered intelligence that Israeli military lawyers warned there was evidence that war crimes charges could be brought against Israel for its war on Gaza. The former U.S. officials who spoke to Reuters said the material was not broadly circulated within the U.S. government until late in the Biden administration. Lawyers with the State Department also reportedly flagged to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Israel might be committing war crimes.
Israeli Settlers Attack Palestinian Villagers, Activists and Journalists in Occupied West Bank
Nov 10, 2025
Image Credit: David Reeb
In the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces killed a Palestinian man in the Far’a refugee camp. It comes as Israeli settlers attacked a group of Palestinian villagers, activists and journalists on Saturday who had gathered during an attempt to harvest olives near a settler outpost. Two Reuters journalists–including photographer Raneen Sawafta–were injured in the attack in an area close to the Palestinian village of Beita. This is Mohammed Al-Atrash, a journalist with Al Jazeera, who recounted the attack by Israeli settlers.
Mohammed Al-Atrash: “I found myself alone and all the farmers walked down, so I decided to leave the area, during that they hurled stones toward us, like nothing I have witnessed before.”
Federal Judge Permanently Blocks Trump Admin From Deploying Troops to Portland
Nov 10, 2025
In Oregon, a federal judge has permanently blocked the Trump administration from deploying National Guard troops to Portland. In her ruling U.S. District Court Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump-appointee, said the president “did not have a lawful basis to federalize the National Guard” and that “there was neither ‘a rebellion or danger of a rebellion’” in Portland, as claimed by the federal government. The ruling is the latest legal blow to the Trump administration as it attempts to crackdown on protests against immigration raids nationwide.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson Calls on UN to Probe U.S. Gov’t Over Immigration Crackdown
Nov 10, 2025
In related news, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is calling on the United Nations to investigate the U.S. federal government over its “abusive immigration crackdowns” in the city. Johnson addressed members of the U.N. Human Rights Council on Friday.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson: “I call on this council to hold the federal government of the United States to the same standards of accountability you apply elsewhere in the world. No country should be above international law. Human rights are universal–or they are meaningless. Chicago has long been part of this struggle. I invite the U.N.’s independent experts to visit Chicago to witness both our challenges and our progress firsthand. And I urge the Human Rights Council to consider additional measures of accountability, including a special session to examine the worsening human rights crisis in the United States.”
Video Shows Man Having a Seizure During ICE Arrest
Nov 10, 2025
Image Credit: via Social Media
In Massachusetts, a video obtained by the Boston Globe shows a man having what appears to be a seizure after federal immigration agents pushed, hit and pressed on his neck when the man attempted to hold on to his wife and crying child after the agents ambushed their car. Carlos Zapata, who is from Ecuador, reportedly lost consciousness as a bystander is heard saying on the video, “They’re trying to rip the baby out of [his] hand.” His wife was taken into custody by federal agents in front of their daughter, who is 1 and a half years old.
The Homeland Security Department later mocked the video of Zapata and his family, saying he faked a seizure to try to stop his wife’s arrest. She now faces deportation.
Top BBC Executives Resign Following Backlash Over Edit of Trump Speech
Nov 10, 2025
Two top executives at the BBC on Sunday abruptly resigned following backlash over the public broadcaster’s edit of a speech made by President Trump on January 6, 2021, before a mob of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. The resignation of BBC director general Tim Davie and news CEO Deborah Turness came just days after The Daily Telegraph published details of a leaked internal memo that said a BBC documentary edited Trump’s remarks in a way that it appeared he explicitly encouraged the Capitol insurrection. The BBC is reportedly planning to formally apologize to Trump, who celebrated the resignations saying on Truth Social: “These are very dishonest people who tried to step on the scales of a Presidential Election…What a terrible thing for Democracy!”
Trump has repeatedly defended unfounded claims that his 2020 loss to Joe Biden was rigged.
Trump: U.S. to Boycott G20 Summit Hosted by South Africa
Nov 10, 2025
President Trump says the United States is boycotting the G20 summit hosted by South Africa, over what he claims is the persecution of white farmers. Trump has repeatedly accused the government of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa of failing to protect Afrikaners, the white minority that ruled the country during apartheid, and has falsely stated a “white genocide” is taking place in South Africa. Trump said on Truth Social the U.S. would be hosting the 2026 G20 summit in Miami.
UN COP30 Climate Summit Opens Today in Belém, Brazil
Nov 10, 2025
And the UN Climate Summit opens today in Belém, Brazil where the United States will be notably absent after the Trump administration declined to send a high-level delegation. The U.S. is still expected to influence the climate talks as Trump officials use lobbyists and economic threats to attempt to sabotage environmental initiatives and efforts to cut emissions proposed by representatives from around the world. The United States is one of the largest greenhouse gas emitters, while Trump has called the climate crisis a “con job.” Meanwhile, representatives from the Alliance of Small Island States are again urging leaders of the Global North to commit to stronger action in order to prevent the worst impacts of global warming, including the phase-out of fossil fuels. This is Tuvalu’s Environmental Minister speaking in Belém Friday.
Tuvalu’s Environmental Minister Maina Vakafua Talia: “We had high hopes that this new agreement would give us the necessary legal measures to protect Tuvalu from the worst impacts of climate change related sea-level rise. Ten years on from Paris, we are gravely concerned about the slow progress in delivering significant emission reductions to ensure our survival.”
Democracy Now! will be broadcasting from COP30 in Belém next week.