International News Briefs for Tuesday, November 18, 2025
HAVANA TIMES – We bring you some of the top international news stories compiled by Democracy Now on Tuesday, November 18, 2025.
U.N. Security Council Approves U.S.-Backed “International Stabilization Force” in Gaza
Nov 18, 2025
The United Nations Security Council has approved a U.S.-backed plan for a so-called international stabilization force in Gaza. On Monday, 13 council members voted in favor of the resolution, while China and Russia abstained, warning the plan excludes Palestinians from meaningful participation and fails to define any clear role for the U.N. in shaping Gaza’s future. Under the plan, soldiers from Arab and Muslim-majority nations would oversee the disarmament of Hamas and other armed Palestinian resistance groups in Gaza. The force would answer to a newly created, so-called Board of Peace chaired by President Trump. Hamas rejected the resolution, saying it imposes an international “guardianship mechanism” on the Gaza Strip, sidelining the will of Palestinians. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, praised U.N. approval of Trump’s plan but called a provision that provides a path to Palestinian statehood “unacceptable.”
On Monday, protesters gathered outside the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in Manhattan to reject the resolution. The Palestine Youth Movement wrote, “We see through this thinly veiled attempt to strip the Palestinian people of their sovereignty, self-determination, and right of return.”
Masked Israeli Settlers Attack Palestinian Communities in Occupied West Bank
Nov 18, 2025
In the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces arrested at least seven Palestinians earlier today during raids on Bethlehem and the Jalazone refugee camp. They also searched Palestinian homes in Nablus. The raids came as Israeli settlers carried out major arson attacks on Palestinian villages near Bethlehem and Hebron. This is Ali Abu Loha, a resident of the village of al-Jaba whose family fled the violence.
Ali Abu Laha: “We were at home when we heard banging. I went outside and saw masked men throwing rocks toward the house after they had broken the car window. We got scared, so we left, and it turned out they were settlers. They ran away from the street after they burned that car over there, my uncle’s car and my other uncle’s car, as well. They also burned two cars that belonged to my cousin.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a rare public rebuke of the settlers behind the attack. Netanyahu blamed a “small extremist group” for the violence. That’s despite his consistent support for the expansion of illegal settlements and his push to formally annex the West Bank. In October alone, the United Nations documented more than 260 settler attacks resulting in Palestinian casualties or damage to property in the West Bank. That’s the highest monthly toll since the U.N. began monitoring settler violence in 2006.
Tens of Thousands Go Missing from Sudan’s El Fasher as U.N. Warns of Mass Atrocities
Nov 18, 2025
Sudan’s military says it has repelled an attack by the rival Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group on the government’s last stronghold in the West Kordofan region. The fighting came as the UAE-backed RSF pushes further east after seizing most of Sudan’s Darfur region, where human rights groups say they carried out mass atrocities including rape and summary executions. On Monday, the U.N.’s humanitarian chief urged immediate and unhindered access for aid agencies as civilians continue to flee the besieged city of El Fasher. Tens of thousands of city residents remain unaccounted for. Survivors who escaped El Fasher are mostly women, many of whom were separated from male relatives who were shot or whose fate remains unknown.
Nazik Abdelrahman: “There’s no tent where you’ll find women saying their husbands came with them, except for the elderly men. … But a young man, it would be impossible for him to leave.”
The U.N. says more than two-and-a-half years of civil war in Sudan has left more than 150,000 people dead; about 12 million have been forced from their homes.
Ecuador Voters Reject Constitutional Rewrite and Return of Foreign Bases
Nov 18, 2025
Voters in Ecuador have rejected the proposed return of foreign military bases, including ones operated by the United States. About two-thirds of votes cast in Sunday’s election opposed the ballot measure backed by President Daniel Noboa, an ally of President Trump. Voters also rejected Noboa’s attempts to rewrite the constitution with weaker labor and environmental standards. This is opposition politician Luisa González.
Luisa González: “Today, Ecuador united and said, ‘No, you are not in charge here.’ Here, there is sovereign people who rise up with dignity and say, ‘Enough is enough.’ Today, the history of this country is being rewritten.”
Jamaica Leads Call of Island Nations for Urgent Action at COP30 Climate Summit
Nov 18, 2025
Here in Brazil at the COP30 climate summit, Jamaica is leading calls from vulnerable nations, like Mauritius and Cuba, to urge wealthier countries to cut emissions to help limit the effects of global warming. On Monday, Matthew Samuda, Jamaica’s economic minister, cited the devastating financial impact of Hurricane Melissa.
Matthew Samuda: “Preliminary estimates place damages around $10 billion U.S., or approximately a third, or just under a third, of our GDP. No small island state can absorb losses of this magnitude. Excellencies, Jamaicans are resilient, but resilience must not be defined as surviving the unbearable. We did not create this crisis, but we refuse to stand as victims. We choose action.”
Meanwhile, the Center for International Environmental Law identified over 500 carbon capture and storage lobbyists attending COP30. The center said in a statement,”The fossil fuel industry has found in AI’s energy demand a new narrative to justify its survival — and in carbon capture, the perfect illusion. Carbon capture and storage cannot make fossil fuels ‘clean’; it just keeps them burning. It doesn’t curb emissions; it locks them in.” We’ll have more from the COP30 climate summit here in Belém, Brazil, after headlines.
Ahead of Meeting with Crown Prince, Trump Says U.S. Will Sell F-35 Jets to Saudi Arabia
Nov 18, 2025
President Trump is welcoming Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the White House today. It’s the Saudi leader’s first trip to Washington since he ordered the 2018 killing and dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi insider-turned-critic and Washington Post columnist. Ahead of the crown prince’s arrival, Trump on Monday said he would authorize the sale of advanced F-35 jet fighters to Saudi Arabia, saying, “They have been a great ally.” The announcement came as the Trump family business announced plans to partner with the Saudi-based real estate developer DarGlobal to build a luxury resort in the Maldives, financed using cryptocurrency.
FEMA’s Acting Director Steps Down Amid Furor over Texas Flood Deaths
Nov 18, 2025
The acting head of FEMA is resigning after just six months on the job, amid growing backlash over his lack of responsiveness to the catastrophic flooding in Texas earlier this year that killed more than 130 people. David Richardson, who has no disaster response experience, is the second FEMA head to leave or be fired since May. Richardson’s predecessor was fired after pushing back against President Trump’s attempts to dismantle the agency. Back in June, Richardson baffled FEMA staff when he said that he was not aware that the U.S. has a hurricane season.
“Profound Investigative Missteps”: Judge Blasts Trump’s Hand-Picked Prosecutor in Comey Case
Nov 18, 2025
A federal magistrate judge overseeing former FBI Director James Comey’s case is blasting the Justice Department, detailing a “disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps.” On Monday, Judge William Fitzpatrick in Virginia ordered that grand jury materials be turned over to Comey’s lawyers, after ruling that Lindsey Halligan, an inexperienced prosecutor whom President Trump appointed to secure an indictment against Comey, may have made “fundamental misstatements of the law.”
Comey is one of three prominent critics of Trump to be indicted this year. Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton was indicted on federal charges of mishandling classified documents, and New York state Attorney General Letitia James is facing federal charges of mortgage and bank fraud. Earlier this month, Fannie Mae investigators were removed from their jobs as they were probing if the Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte — Trump’s appointee — had improperly obtained the mortgage records of Democratic officials, including Letitia James.
Trump Claims He’d Sign Bill to Release Epstein Files, But “Don’t Talk About It Too Much”
Nov 18, 2025
President Trump said Monday he would sign a measure to compel the Justice Department to release the Epstein files if it were to come to him, a day after he urged Republicans in the House to back the measure.
President Donald Trump: “Sure, I would. Let the — let the Senate look at it. Let anybody look at it. But don’t talk about it too much, because, honestly, I don’t want to take it away from us. It’s really a Democrat problem. The Democrats were Epstein’s friends, all of them, and it’s a hoax.”
Days before President Trump reversed his public stance on releasing the Epstein files, he snapped at a female reporter aboard Air Force One on Friday when she asked why he wouldn’t support their release.
Reporter: “If there’s nothing incriminating in the files, sir, why not act — why not” —
President Donald Trump: “Quiet! Quiet, piggy.”
“Quiet, Piggy,” Trump said to the female reporter.
Larry Summers Says He’s “Deeply Ashamed” as Emails Reveal Ties to Jeffry Epstein
Nov 18, 2025
Image Credit: larrysummers.com
House Republicans released 20,000 files from Epstein’s estate last week, putting a spotlight on the late convicted sex offender’s connections with wealthy and powerful men, such as former Harvard president and former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers. Summers had tried to forge a secret relationship with a woman he called his mentee, and in a series of texts and emails he asked Epstein for advice in pursuing the woman. In one text, Epstein wrote, “She is doomed to be with you.” Summers also wrote to Epstein, “U r better at understanding Chinese women than at probability theory.” Now calls are growing for Harvard to sever ties with Summers, who remains a professor. On Monday night, he told CNN that he’s “deeply ashamed” about his connection with Jeffrey Epstein and that he would pause all public engagements. Back in 2006, Summers was forced to step down as Harvard University president after he remarked that “innate” differences between the sexes explained why fewer women succeed in math and science careers.
“This Is Me When I Met Jeffrey Epstein”: Survivors’ Ad Calls on Congress to Release Files
Nov 18, 2025
Image Credit: World Without Exploitation
A group of Epstein survivors have released a national advertisement urging Congress to release the Epstein files. The one-minute ad begins with the women holding pictures of themselves as children.
Survivor 1: “I suffered so much pain.”
Survivor 2: “So much pain.”
Survivor 3: “So much pain.”
Survivor 4: “I suffered so much pain. I was 14 years old.”
Survivor 5: “I was 16 years old.”
Survivor 1: “Was 16.”
Survivor 6: “17.”
Survivor 7: “14 years old.”
Survivor 8: “This is me.”
Survivor 9: “This was me.”
Survivor 10: “This is me.”
Survivor 3: “When I met Jeffrey Epstein.”
Survivor 2: “This is me when I met Jeffrey Epstein.”
Survivor 1: “There are about a thousand of us.”
Survivor 5: “It’s time to bring the secrets out of the shadows. It’s time to shine a light into the darkness.”