International News Briefs for Wednesday, December 24, 2025
HAVANA TIMES – We bring you some of the top international news stories compiled by Democracy Now on Wednesday, December 24, 2025.
Russia and China Strongly Condemn U.S. Pressure Against Venezuela at the U.N. Security Council
Dec 24, 2025
Venezuela has accused the United States of the “greatest extortion in history” as the Trump administration ramps up economic and military pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. During an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting Tuesday requested by Venezuela, Russia and China strongly condemned the Trump administration’s escalating attacks, including the seizure of Venezuelan oil vessels and the relentless bombings of alleged drug boats in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean.
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz told the council the Trump administration would be imposing sanctions on Maduro “to the maximum extent,” as critics warn the United States is ushering in a regime change to appropriate Venezuela’s resources. Venezuela holds the world’s largest oil reserves.
Meanwhile, Venezuela’s National Assembly has passed a law enacting harsh penalties for piracy in response to the U.S. seizure of Venezuelan oil tankers.
This is Venezuelan Assemblymember Jorge Rodríguez.
Jorge Rodríguez: “In consideration, honorable deputies, those in favor of approving the second discussion of the bill for the protection of freedom of navigation and trade against piracy, blockade and other illicit international acts, please indicate with the usual signal. The law is approved unanimously.”
Israeli Defense Minister Vows Israel Will Build Settlements in Gaza
Dec 24, 2025
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz is walking back his comments that Israel plans to resettle the Gaza Strip, after suggesting that the Israeli military would never leave the besieged enclave. Speaking at a settlement in the occupied West Bank, Katz originally said that Israel could establish military outposts in northern Gaza.
Israel Katz: “We are deep in Gaza, and we will never leave Gaza. We are there to defend, to prevent what happened. We are standing, as we said. We trust the rock of Israel and the IDF in defending Israel in a fierce battle between jihadist enemies of this kind and Israeli enemies of this kind.”
Since the U.S.-brokered ceasefire went into effect in October, Israel has constructed at least 13 new military outposts inside Gaza, primarily located along the “yellow line” in eastern Khan Younis, according to satellite imagery reported by Drop Site News.
This comes as a former close aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Netanyahu asked him after Hamas’s October 7 attack to come up with a plan to avoid blame for Israel’s security failure. Netanyahu’s former spokesperson, Eli Feldstein, made the accusation in an interview as he faces trial for allegedly leaking classified information to the press. In the interview, Feldstein said that he was instructed by Netanyahu to silence calls for accountability. Meanwhile, Netanyahu appeared in court in Tel Aviv Tuesday. He’s facing charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. Protesters gathered outside the courthouse.
Elana Barzilay: “We are here this morning, the same as every week since the beginning of the trials of Binyamin Netanyahu, protesting to make sure that these trials go as planned, that Mr. Netanyahu does not receive a pardon, does not escape responsibility for the crimes that he’s being judged and the crimes that he’s going to be judged for, which are the more serious ones. But he’s going to pay.”
Greta Thunberg Arrested in London for Protesting in Solidarity with Palestine Action
Dec 24, 2025
Image Credit: Prisoners for Palestine
In Britain, Swedish activist Greta Thunberg was arrested in London Tuesday for taking part in a peaceful protest expressing solidarity with a group of Palestine Action political prisoners on hunger strike. Thunberg sat outside the building of an insurance company, holding a sign that said, “I support the Palestine Action prisoners. I oppose genocide.” Activists said the insurance company, Aspen, provides services to Elbit Systems UK, a subsidiary of an Israeli weapons manufacturer. Earlier this year, the British government banned Palestine Action under its Terrorism Act. The Palestine Action political prisoners started a hunger strike as they await trial, demanding, among other requests, to be released on bond. At least two of the hunger strikers have refused food for over 50 days, with doctors warning they’re at risk of death.
Epstein Files Mention 10 Possible “Co-Conspirators”
Dec 24, 2025
Days after the December 19 deadline for the release of all files related to the late serial sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and under enormous pressure, the Justice Department released more than 11,000 files Tuesday, totaling nearly 30,000 pages of documents. This includes emails sent between FBI personnel back in 2019 mentioning 10 possible “co-conspirators” of Epstein. One is described as a “wealthy business man in Ohio.” The emails also detail that “three have been located in Florida and served [grand jury] subpoenas; 1 in Boston, 1 in New York City, and 1 in Connecticut were located and served.” Ghislaine Maxwell is the only Epstein accomplice to be charged criminally and is currently serving a 20-year sentence on federal sex trafficking charges. The Justice Department is desperately looking to hire outside attorneys to work on redactions in the Epstein files. We’ll have more on this story later in the broadcast.
SCOTUS Blocks Trump’s Deployment of National Guard Troops to Chicago
Dec 24, 2025
The Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration’s deployment of hundreds of National Guard troops to the Chicago area. The high court sided with U.S. District Judge April Perry, who first blocked the deployment of troops to Illinois back in October. In a 6-3 decision, the majority wrote, “At this preliminary stage, the government has failed to identify a source of authority that would allow the military to execute the laws in Illinois.” Illinois Governor JB Pritzker hailed the ruling as “a big win for Illinois and American democracy.”
Just minutes after the Supreme Court blocked President Trump’s deployment of federal troops to Chicago, Louisiana’s Republican Governor Jeff Landry announced that 350 National Guard troops will arrive in New Orleans before New Year’s Eve and will stay through February. The troops are expected to join Border Patrol agents who have been cracking down on immigrants in New Orleans.
DOJ Sues Illinois Governor Pritzker over State Law Restricting Immigration Arrests
Dec 24, 2025
The Justice Department is suing Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, challenging state laws that restrict immigration arrests at courthouses, hospitals, daycare centers and public universities. ICE’s so-called Operation Midway Blitz has led to the arrest of more than 4,000 people in the Chicago area; data shows that only 15% had criminal offenses, which are mostly comprised of minor traffic offenses, misdemeanors or nonviolent felonies. Jillian Kaehler, a spokesperson for Pritzker, said, “The Trump administration’s masked agents are not targeting the ‘worst of the worst’ — they are harassing and detaining law-abiding U.S. citizens and Black and brown people.”
Federal Judge Rules Trump Admin Must Restore Disaster Aid to Democratic States
Dec 24, 2025
A federal judge ruled Tuesday that the Trump administration must restore federal disaster aid to 12 states that refused to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement. The Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency had reduced more than $233 million from Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. In a statement, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell said, “This victory ensures that the Trump Administration cannot punish states that refuse to help carry out its cruel immigration agenda, particularly by denying them lifesaving funding that helps prepare for and respond to disasters and emergencies.”
Trump Admin Bans Abortion Care for Veterans
Dec 24, 2025
The Trump administration has banned abortion care for veterans nationwide. The Department of Veterans Affairs on Monday issued an internal memo confirming it will no longer provide abortion assistance, even in cases of rape, incest or threats to life and health. The policy shift includes U.S. states where abortion is still legal. The move eliminates abortion protections issued for veterans by the Biden administration in 2022 after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The Center for Reproductive Rights said the rule change was ushered through by the White House budget director Russell Vought and VA Secretary Doug Collins, who are openly anti-abortion. Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a statement, “Everyone should be appalled by this heartless policy. President Trump said he would leave abortion to the states, but he continues to seize new opportunities to restrict it nationally.”
Trump Admin to Start Garnishing Wages of Defaulted Student Loan Borrowers
Dec 24, 2025
The Trump administration will resume garnishing the wages of people who are on default on their student loans starting in January. Billionaire Linda McMahon, head of the Education Department, told The Washington Post her agency has already notified some 1,000 student loan borrowers that their pay will be seized. Approximately 5 million people are in default. This comes after the Trump administration began withholding tax refunds and Social Security benefits from some student loan borrowers in default, as it also slashed affordable repayment options for millions of people. Persis Yu, deputy executive director of Protect Borrowers, said in a statement, “At a time when families across the country are struggling with stagnant wages and an affordability crisis, this administration’s decision to garnish wages from defaulted student loan borrowers is cruel, unnecessary, and irresponsible.”
Sudan’s Prime Minister Presents Peace Plan to the United Nations Security Council
Dec 24, 2025
Sudan’s prime minister presented a plan to the United Nations Security Council on Monday seeking to end Sudan’s devastating war, which has led to the world’s worst humanitarian crisis since it erupted in April of 2023. The plan would see the U.N., Arab League and African Union monitor a ceasefire and the withdrawal of Rapid Support Forces paramilitaries from territories under their control. RSF fighters would be placed in camps and disarmed; those not implicated in war crimes would be reintegrated into society. It’s highly unlikely the RSF will agree to such terms. Meanwhile, a senior U.N. official warned the continued flow of high-tech weaponry into Sudan is worsening an already-dire humanitarian crisis. This is U.N. Assistant Secretary-General Mohamed Khaled Khiari.
Mohamed Khaled Khiari: “Mr. President, the continuous supply of weapons, increasingly sophisticated and deadly, remains a key driver of the conflict. Sudan is saturated with arms. Calls to end these flows have gone unheeded, and there has been no accountability.”
Human rights groups have called on the Trump administration to end arms transfers to the United Arab Emirates until it stops arming RSF paramilitaries who’ve committed genocide, according to an assessment by the State Department. Meanwhile, fighting continues in Sudan. On Monday, the Sudanese army announced it had recaptured a town in North Kordofan state. Elsewhere, Doctors Without Borders is warning of a rapidly spreading measles outbreak in Sudan’s Darfur region, where hundreds of thousands have been displaced by an RSF offensive.
Longtime Immigrant Rights Activist Jeanette Vizguerra Released from ICE Custody
Dec 24, 2025
Image Credit: AFSC & Coloradans For Immigrant Rights
In Colorado, longtime immigrant rights activist Jeanette Vizguerra has been released from ICE jail after nearly 10 months of detention. Vizguerra reunited with her family on Monday following her release on bond. Vizguerra was arrested in March, ambushed by ICE agents during her work break, and later transferred to an immigration jail in Aurora run by the private prison company GEO Group. Jeanette Vizguerra gained national attention in 2017 when she took sanctuary at a Denver church along with her four children — three of whom are U.S.-born — to avoid deportation. Democracy Now! spoke with Vizguerra yesterday; we’ll have more on her release later in the broadcast.
Betty Reid Soskin, the Oldest U.S. Park Ranger, Dies at 104
Dec 24, 2025
Image Credit: Gregory Urquiaga
Betty Reid Soskin, the U.S.’s oldest park ranger, died at the age of 104. She first became a park ranger at 85 and worked at the Rosie the Riveter World War II Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond, California. During World War II, Soskin worked as a file clerk in a segregated union hall in the San Francisco Bay Area. And in the 1960s, Soskin held fundraisers to support the Black Panthers. In a 2015 interview with the Interior Department, Soskin said, “When I’m on the streets or on an escalator or elevator, I am making every little girl of color aware of a career choice she may not have known she had.”