International News Briefs for Friday, December 19, 2025
HAVANA TIMES – We bring you some of the top international news stories compiled by Democracy Now on Friday, December 19, 2025.
Mexico’s President Calls for Dialogue and Peace as Pentagon Strikes More Alleged Drug Boats
Dec 19, 2025
The Pentagon says it killed five people in a pair of airstrikes on boats in the eastern Pacific, alleging they were carrying drugs, though it, again, provided no evidence. The latest attacks bring the Pentagon’s claimed death toll in similar attacks to over 100 since September. This comes as leaders of the United Nations and Latin American nations are calling on the Trump administration to halt the extrajudicial killings — and to end its threats of a regime change war against Venezuela. This is Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, speaking Wednesday.
President Claudia Sheinbaum: “We reiterate Mexico’s position according to our constitution of nonintervention, no foreign interference, self-determination of peoples and peaceful resolution of controversies. We call for dialogue and peace to resolve any international controversy, not intervention.”
Suspect in Brown University Shooting Found Dead as Investigators Link Him to MIT Murder
Dec 19, 2025
Image Credit: X/ U.S. Attorney Massachusetts
The suspect in the Brown University mass shooting was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound Thursday night in a New Hampshire storage unit he had rented. The suspect was identified as Claudio Neves Valente, a 48-year-old Portuguese national, who attended Brown over two decades ago. He was reportedly enrolled as a graduate student from the fall of 2000 to the spring of 2001. Brown President Christina H. Paxson said in a statement, “During his time at Brown, Neves Valente was enrolled only in physics classes, and it is likely that he would have taken courses and spent time in Barus & Holley,” referring to the building where the shooting took place.
Authorities said they believe Neves Valente is also responsible for the murder of MIT physics professor Nuno Loureiro at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts, just 48 hours after the Brown shooting that killed two students and wounded nine others. Neves Valente was reportedly a teaching assistant in the same university Loureiro attended between 1995 and 2000 in Portugal. Investigators say tips from a Brown campus custodian helped to narrow down the dayslong search for the suspect. Neves was reportedly spotted at Brown’s Barus and Holley building in the days before the shooting, including at least twice by the custodian, who said he’d seen a person wearing a surgical mask and whose clothing matched the individual’s seen in surveillance footage released by police.
In the wake of the killings, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the Trump administration is suspending its diversity visa lottery program. Neves Valente entered the country on a student visa in 2000 and was granted a green card through the visa program in 2017.
Another Infant Freezes to Death in Gaza as Israel Continues to Violate Oct. 10 Ceasefire
Dec 19, 2025
In Gaza, Israeli airstrikes on a town east of Khan Younis have killed four Palestinian civilians, including a woman, over the past 24 hours. This follows air and artillery strikes on the cities of Rafah and Khan Younis, the latest in a series of near-daily ceasefire violations by Israel’s military. Separately, a child in the Nuseirat refugee camp died after triggering unexploded Israeli ordnance. And Doctors Without Borders said Thursday a 29-day-old baby died of hypothermia at Nasser Hospital, the latest Palestinian to freeze to death as Israel prevents aid convoys from bringing tents and other portable shelters into Gaza. Nursing team supervisor Bilal Abu Saada said, “Children are losing their lives because they lack the most basic items for survival. Babies are arriving to the hospital cold, with near-death vital signs: even our best efforts are not enough. They say the war has ended, but people are still having to fight for their lives.”
Steve Witkoff Hosts Gaza Talks in Miami as U.S. Further Sanctions ICC over Israel War Crimes Probe
Dec 19, 2025
The Trump administration’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff is hosting talks in Miami today with senior officials from Qatar, Egypt and Turkey focused on the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement — which Gaza officials say Israel has violated more than 800 times since it took effect on October 10. The meeting comes after the Middle East Eye reported the U.S., Israel and UAE have discussed using profits from Gaza’s undeveloped offshore natural gas supplies to help pay for the reconstruction of the territory. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has announced a new round of sanctions on staff members at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, citing the court’s ongoing probe into Israeli war crimes.
Palestine Action Members Hospitalized While on Hunger Strike to Protest Indefinite Detention in U.K.
Dec 19, 2025
In Britain, advocates are calling on the immediate release of six political prisoners awaiting trial for supporting the banned protest group Palestine Action. More than 800 doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals have warned the activists are at risk of dying, as they have not received proper medical attention, some after over 40 days on hunger strike protesting their treatment in prison and calling for their release on bail. This is the sister of Palestine Action political prisoner, 28-year-old Kamran Ahmed.
Shahmina Alam: “He is on day 39 of his hunger strike. He has had two hospitalizations since the start of his hunger strike, having only come out of the hospitalization last week. Whilst they were able to stabilize his ketones, they are steeply on the rise again. But what is mostly concerning is that his heart is giving in, and his pulse is slowing down, and at the moment, he is losing half a kg every day.”
DOJ Races to Redact Documents Ahead of Deadline to Release Epstein Files
Dec 19, 2025
House Democrats have released more photos from the estate of the convicted serial sex offender Jeffrey Epstein ahead of today’s congressionally mandated deadline for the Justice Department to release the Epstein files. The uncaptioned photos show Epstein with film director Woody Allen, Trump’s former adviser Steve Bannon, New York Times opinion columnist David Brooks, MIT linguist and activist Noam Chomsky and billionaire tech mogul Bill Gates. Some of the photographs show what appear to be lines from Vladimir Nabokov’s “Lolita” — a novel about a pedophile — written on parts of a woman’s body. Ahead of today’s deadline, CNN reported the Justice Department was racing to redact thousands of pages in the Epstein files.
ICE Entered NYC Shelters Without Judicial Warrants and Despite Sanctuary City Laws
Dec 19, 2025
Here in New York, Gothamist is reporting federal immigration officers were able to enter private areas of city shelters or obtained resident information without presenting judicial warrants at least five times earlier this year. That’s despite sanctuary city laws barring city staffers from allowing immigration officers to enter private areas of city property.
Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch is calling on Congress to investigate the brutality of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement activities, writing, “Allowing masked, unidentified agents to roam communities and apprehend people without identifying themselves erodes trusts in the rule of law and creates a dangerous vacuum where abuses can flourish, exacerbating the unnecessary violence and brutality of the arrests.”
Milwaukee Judge Found Guilty of Felony Obstruction for Helping Immigrant Evade ICE
Dec 19, 2025
In Wisconsin, a jury on Thursday convicted Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan of obstructing federal agents from arresting an undocumented immigrant, while jurors acquitted her of a misdemeanor charge. Dugan was accused of helping an undocumented immigrant leave her courtroom in April to avoid arrest by agents waiting in the hallway.
HHS Moves to Slash Federal Funds to Hospitals That Provide Gender-Affirming Care to Minors
Dec 19, 2025
The Trump administration has announced new policies aimed at denying gender-affirming care to transgender youth. The proposed new rules would cut off all Medicare and Medicaid funding to hospitals offering such care to anyone under 18. Medicare and Medicaid cover nearly half of all hospital spending. After headlines, we’ll speak with Chase Strangio of the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project, and a pediatrician and adolescent medicine specialist who works with transgender youth in New York City.
Trump Signs Executive Order Speeding Reclassification of Cannabis
Dec 19, 2025
President Trump signed an executive order Thursday fast-tracking the reclassification of cannabis as a “Schedule III substance,” which would pave the way for the Food and Drug Administration to study its medicinal uses. It’s currently listed under the U.S. Controlled Substances Act as a Schedule I substance — a list that includes heroin, ecstasy and peyote.
Trump Appears to Fall Asleep Again in Public, Further Fueling Speculation About His Health
Dec 19, 2025
During Thursday’s signing ceremony, Trump struggled to stay awake; it’s the latest in a series of recent public events where Trump appeared to fall asleep in front of cameras. That’s fueled further speculation about his health. California Congressmember Sydney Kamlager-Dove wrote on social media, “The Alzheimer’s drug Leqembi: Is administered through an infusion (for example, through the hand); can cause swelling, bleeding, or fluid leakage in the brain, requiring regular MRIs; can cause tiredness. Curious.”
Trump’s “Presidential Walk of Fame” Now Features Bronze Plaques with Hyperpartisan Captions
Dec 19, 2025
President Trump has redecorated a stretch of the White House he’s calling the “Presidential Walk of Fame” with plaques offering hyperpartisan descriptions of past presidents — and his own time in office. The portrait gallery along the West Wing Colonnade now features Trump’s words, cast in bronze, in the style of his social media posts. One plaque reads, “Sleepy Joe Biden was, by far, the worst President in American History,” and claims the 2020 election was the most corrupt in U.S. history. Another reads, “Barack Hussein Obama was the first Black President, a community organizer, one term Senator from Illinois, and one of the most divisive political figures in American History.” The plaques also tout Trump’s achievements, claiming he tackled inflation and ended eight wars, while Ronald Reagan’s plaque reads, “he was a fan of President Donald J. Trump before President Trump’s historic run for the White House. Likewise, President Trump was a fan of his!”
This week, President Trump said the cost of his planned ballroom project at the White House could reach $400 million — that’s double his earlier claim it would cost $200 million. On Monday, his administration argued in a court filing that the ballroom’s construction is a matter of national security.
Trump’s Hand-Picked Board Adds Trump’s Name to John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Dec 19, 2025
The board of trustees at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts voted Thursday to rename the facility. Its new name will be The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts. The board members were hand-picked by President Trump in February, after he named himself chair. Democratic lawmakers called the move illegal, saying in a statement that any name change would require an act of Congress.
Trump Media Company Announces Merger with Nuclear Fusion Firm Amid AI Data Center Boom
Dec 19, 2025
Image Credit: TAE Technologies
The media company run by Donald Trump Jr. and former Republican Congressmember Devin Nunes has announced a $6 billion merger with a firm that hopes to build the world’s first viable nuclear fusion power plant. The merger between the Trump Media & Technology Group and TAE Technologies comes after President Trump signed an executive order seeking to bar states from regulating artificial intelligence and the energy-intensive data centers needed to power AI.
This comes as Vermont independent Senator Bernie Sanders is continuing to speak out against AI data centers amid a construction boom that’s led to protests over skyrocketing electricity costs and strains on communities’ water supplies.
Sen. Bernie Sanders: “I will be pushing for a moratorium on the construction of data centers that are powering this unregulated sprint to develop and deploy AI. This moratorium will give democracy a chance to catch up with the transformative changes that we are witnessing, and make sure that the benefits of these technologies work for all of us, not just the wealthiest people on Earth.”
Protests Erupt in Bangladesh After Student Leader Is Murdered by Masked Assailants
Dec 19, 2025
Protests have erupted across Bangladesh after the death of prominent youth activist Sharif Osman Hadi, a leader in last year’s uprising that ousted Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Police and paramilitary forces have been deployed to the capital Dhaka and other cities, as hundreds of people took to the streets overnight Thursday.
Last week, Hadi, an outspoken critic of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was shot in the head by masked assailants as he launched his campaign for the first elections since the 2024 ouster of Sheikh Hasina, who remains in self-imposed exile in India and was sentenced to death for crimes against humanity last month. Sharif Osman Hadi died of his wounds Thursday at a hospital in Singapore.