International News Briefs for Monday, November 17, 2025
HAVANA TIMES – We bring you some of the top international news stories compiled by Democracy Now on Monday, November 17, 2025.
Bangladesh Former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Sentenced to Death
Nov 17, 2025
Bangladesh’s former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was sentenced to death by a tribunal today for ordering a deadly crackdown on student protesters who successfully toppled her government last year. According to a U.N. report, 1,400 people were killed and thousands were injured after security forces opened fire on demonstrators last year. The verdict came as Hasina has been living in exile in India. Bangladesh has been rocked by 30 bomb explosions and dozens of arson attacks over the past few days in the lead-up to the verdict. This comes as Bangladesh is expected to hold parliamentary elections in February of next year.
Israeli Forces Kill at Least 3 Palestinians Despite U.S.-Brokered Ceasefire
Nov 17, 2025
In Gaza, Israeli forces have killed at least three Palestinians as Israel continues to violate the U.S.-brokered ceasefire. Since the start of the truce on October 10, at least 266 Palestinians have been killed and 635 wounded by Israeli attacks. Physicians for Human Rights-Israel is reporting that at least 98 Palestinians have died in Israeli custody since October 2023, and that the real death toll is likely to be much higher because hundreds of people detained in Gaza are still missing. Meanwhile, UNICEF estimates more than 600,000 Palestinian children have missed out on school during the war, and only 100,000 have managed to return to classrooms. Humanitarian NGOs say Israel is still restricting the entry of food aid and other critical supplies into the Gaza Strip. Here’s Zahia Al-Shambari, who waited in line to buy bread in Khan Younis.
Zahia Al-Shambari: “After two hours of struggle at the supermarket to get a bag of bread, thank God, I finally got one bag of bread for about eight people. I’m really happy that I’m returning with a bag of bread. And I hope the suffering doesn’t happen again, not today, not tomorrow, not any other day.”
U.N. Security Council to Vote Today on U.S. Proposal to Establish International Stabilization Force in Gaza
Nov 17, 2025
This comes as the U.N. Security Council is set to vote today on a U.S. proposal to establish an International Stabilization Force to enforce the Gaza ceasefire. The U.S.-drafted resolution also mentions the possibility of a future Palestinian state. But on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu outright rejected any path for Palestinian statehood.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “Our opposition to a Palestinian state in any territory west of the Jordan River, this opposition exists, is valid and has not changed one bit. I have been rebuffing these attempts for decades, and I am doing it both against pressure from outside and against pressure from within. So I do not need affirmations, tweets or lectures from anyone.”
Meanwhile, new details are emerging about a shadowy organization called Al-Majd Europe that’s been taking Palestinians in Gaza to South Africa. The organization reportedly has ties to Israel. Last week, a chartered plane carrying 153 Palestinians landed in Johannesburg. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said, “It does seem like they were being flushed out” of Gaza.
Trump Open to Talks with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro
Nov 17, 2025
President Trump said Sunday he was open to talks with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro as he considers whether to launch a unilateral attack on Venezuela. In brief remarks to reporters, Trump did not offer details about the possible discussions but said, “Venezuela would like to talk.” Trump’s remarks came as Secretary of State Marco Rubio designated the organized criminal group Cartel de los Soles as a foreign terrorist organization. U.S. officials have claimed without evidence Maduro and other government officials lead the cartel. Trump has claimed that allows the Pentagon to target Maduro’s assets and infrastructure inside Venezuela. Meanwhile, the Pentagon said it had killed another three people in the eastern Pacific accused of smuggling drugs by sea, though officials offered no evidence. That brings the reported toll to 83 people killed across 21 strikes since early September.
This comes amid the largest buildup of U.S. forces in the Caribbean since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, involving nearly a dozen Navy ships and about 15,000 sailors and Marines. In Caracas, President Nicolás Maduro warned the U.S. public against allowing the Trump administration to lead the U.S. into a new “forever war” in South America.
President Nicolás Maduro: “Do we want another Gaza, now in South America? What do the people of the United States say? Do you want a new Afghanistan? Do you want Vietnam again? Do you want Libya once more? Or worse, do you want a new Gaza in South America? Let me tell you: no, no and no. Here peace will triumph, international law will triumph.”
Tens of Thousands March Outside COP30 Demanding Climate Action
Nov 17, 2025
Here in Brazil, tens of thousands of protesters marched outside the COP30 climate summit in Belém Saturday to demand urgent action on the climate, including the rapid phaseout of fossil fuels. The “Great People’s March” was the first major protest of its kind in four years, after authorities in Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Azerbaijan banned large-scale demonstrations at prior U.N. climate summits. This is Indigenous protester Cristiane Puyanawa.
Cristiane Puyanawa: “We are here today at the global climate march. Women, youths, Indigenous peoples, riverine communities and quilombolas are united to demand social justice and the demarcation of Indigenous lands. Our land and our forest are not commodities. Respect nature and the people who live in the forest. Demarcation now!”
We’ll have more from Saturday’s protests and the action inside the COP30 climate summit here in Belém, Brazil, after headlines.
Protests Erupt After Trump Admin Targets Charlotte, North Carolina, for Mass Deportation Campaign
Nov 17, 2025
Masked federal immigration officers fanned out across Charlotte over the weekend, sparking protests as the Trump administration shifted its mass deportation campaign to North Carolina’s largest city. Democratic Governor Josh Stein said the agents were carrying out racial profiling and stoking fear.
Gov. Josh Stein: “We’ve seen masked, heavily armed agents in paramilitary garb driving unmarked cars, targeting American citizens based on their skin color, racially profiling and picking up random people in parking lots and off of our sidewalks.”
Among those targeted were landscapers decorating Christmas trees and congregants of an east Charlotte church volunteering to tend a garden. In another incident shared widely on social media, masked federal agents pulled over Willy Wender Aceituno Medina, a Honduras-born U.S. citizen, and forced him from his vehicle.
Willy Wender Aceituno Medina: “No. If you break it, you will pay for it. If you break it, you will pay for it. If you break my window.”
CBP agent: “Get out!”
Willy Wender Aceituno Medina: “Why did you do this, sir? Why are you doing this?”
Aceituno told reporters he warned the agents he was a U.S. citizen but that they didn’t believe him. He suffered cuts to his arm and a neck injury. He later filed a police report over the broken glass.
Trump Calls on House GOP to Approve Discharge Petition Compelling DOJ to Release Epstein Files
Nov 17, 2025
President Trump has called on House Republicans to approve a measure compelling the Justice Department to release the Epstein files. Trump’s reversal late Sunday came after he unsuccessfully lobbied Republican Congresswomen Lauren Boebert and Nancy Mace to remove their names from a discharge petition seeking the files’ release. This follows months of stonewalling by the Trump administration over the files’ release, and after Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson adjourned the House early to prevent a vote on the Epstein files. On Friday, Trump demanded the Justice Department investigate a list of powerful Democrats discussed in a trove of newly released emails from Jeffrey Epstein — but omitted his own name. The list includes former President Bill Clinton, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and Democratic donor Reid Hoffman. Trump wrote on social media, “Epstein was a Democrat and he is the Democrats problem, not the Republicans problem!”
New Prosecutor Takes Over Georgia Election Interference Case Against Trump and His Allies
Nov 17, 2025
The Georgia election interference case against President Trump and his allies will now have a new prosecutor after Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was removed from the case. The executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, Pete Skandalakis, is set to take over the case. Georgia State University law professor Anthony Michael Kreis told the Associated Press, “I doubt anything will ever move forward with the president.” But the case could proceed against 14 other Trump allies, including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. Trump has pardoned Giuliani, Meadows and dozens of other Republican officials and activists accused of helping him overturn the results of the 2020 election, but the pardons only apply to federal cases, not the Georgia election interference case, which is a state-level prosecution.
Hundreds of Thousands of Demonstrators in the Philippines Call for Accountability in Flood Corruption Scandal
Nov 17, 2025
In the Philippines, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets Sunday to demand accountability over a corruption scandal that exposed how top government officials were receiving kickbacks from construction companies responsible for faulty and incomplete flood defense projects. The three-day protest rally comes after typhoons battered the Philippines earlier this month, leaving at least 259 people dead.
Armelyn Bandril: “Almost a hundred days has passed since the process began, yet no one has been jailed. There already is plenty of proof. A lot of evidence has come out. But our question is: How come no one has been jailed yet?”
32 People Killed After Bridge Collapses at a Copper and Cobalt Mine in DRC
Nov 17, 2025
Image Credit: Siddharth Kara
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, at least 32 people were killed after a bridge at a copper and cobalt mine collapsed due to overcrowding. A government agency report said gunfire from soldiers at the site sparked panic among the miners, who rushed to the bridge, causing it to collapse. The DRC is the world’s largest producer of cobalt, which is used to make batteries for electric vehicles.
BBC: Investigation Implicates 2 U.S. Marines in the Killing of Iraqi Civilians in Haditha
Nov 17, 2025
A BBC investigation has uncovered new evidence that implicates two U.S. Marines in the killing of Iraqi civilians in Haditha two decades ago. The BBC reports statements and testimony given in the aftermath of the Haditha massacre raise doubts about the investigation into what happened November 19, 2005, when U.S. forces slaughtered 24 Iraqis, posing significant questions over how U.S. armed forces are held to account. Just one U.S. soldier was convicted of a crime over the massacre. Marine Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich was found guilty of negligent dereliction of duty in 2012 and served no jail time.
Disability Rights Activist and Author Alice Wong Dies at 51
Nov 17, 2025
Image Credit: Facebook/Alice Wong
Disability rights advocate and writer Alice Wong has died at the age of 51. When Wong was born with muscular dystrophy in 1974, doctors said she wouldn’t live to the age of 18. Despite that prognosis, Wong went on to earn an undergraduate degree at Indiana University and a master’s degree from the University of California, San Francisco before founding the Disability Visibility Project, an online community dedicated to creating, sharing and amplifying disability media and culture. This is Alice Wong speaking with Democracy Now! in 2021.
Alice Wong: “I think a lot of people in the public do not know what ableism is, and if they hear about it, they actually deny that it exists. … You know, ableism is systemic. And it’s really bound up with hypercapitalism and white supremacy.”