International News Briefs for Friday, July 25, 2025
HAVANA TIMES – We bring you some of the top international news stories compiled by Democracy Now on Friday, July 25, 2025.
Israeli Attacks Kill 62 Palestinians Across Gaza as Malnutrition Cases Soar
Jul 25, 2025
Malnutrition cases are soaring across the Gaza Strip, where starving children are pouring into overwhelmed hospitals. Earlier today, the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City announced the death of Palestinian child Abdul Qader al-Fayoumi from malnutrition — the 115th starvation-related death since Israel reimposed its siege on Gaza in March.
Israeli attacks across Gaza killed at least 62 Palestinians on Thursday, 19 of them while trying to collect food from militarized aid sites run by the shadowy U.S.- and Israeli-backed so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, or GHF. On Thursday, displaced Palestinian women in Rafah were directed by GHF to a women-only distribution section, where they were attacked with tear gas and pepper spray.
Mervat al-Sakani: “The Americans said, ‘Go, go,’ so we went. Then they said, ‘No, leave.’ After a while, they started spraying pepper spray on us. They burnt our faces and hands. We went outside, and they distanced us further away, so we went away. Five minutes later, they started throwing tear gas. We were suffocating because of the gas. Then they called on the tank from a distance. They called on the microphone for the tank to come, and the quadcopter came, and everything was on us.”
U.N.: Over 1,000 Palestinians Killed Trying to Access Food
Jul 25, 2025
The U.N. Human Rights Office says over 1,000 Palestinians have been killed trying to access food since May — mostly near GHF sites. This comes as a U.S. military veteran who quit his job as a security contractor for GHF says he witnessed other guards using deadly violence against unarmed civilians. The guard requested to have his face blurred and his voice scrambled to remain anonymous. He described an attack by U.S. contractors on a starving Palestinian man who had dropped to his hands and knees to pick up noodles that had fallen to the ground.
Former GHF security contractor: “This guy wasn’t armed. He wasn’t a threat. So this UG contractor sprayed an entire — an entire can of pepper spray, an entire can into this guy’s face. That’s lethal. I was standing next to these two women, and this contractor throws this stun grenade, and it lands in between me and them. This thing hit her, and she just drops, just lifeless, collapsed to the ground. It looked like she had been killed. And to me, that was the — I could not be a part of that anymore.”
France to Formally Recognize Palestine as a State
Jul 25, 2025
The former United Nations humanitarian affairs chief has condemned Israel’s assault on Gaza as a genocide. In a wide-ranging interview with Middle East Eye, Martin Griffiths predicted, “My grandchildren will be learning in school about who did what in the worst crime of the 21st century.” He added, “There is no prior experience in my five decades of humanitarian experience that can come close to comparison to the horror we are all seeing in Gaza.”
Meanwhile, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney called Israel’s denial of aid to Palestinians a “violation of international law” and said Israel’s control of aid distribution must be replaced by international organizations.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese wrote in a statement, “Israel’s denial of aid and the killing of civilians, including children, seeking access to water and food cannot be defended or ignored.”
And French President Emmanuel Macron says France will formally recognize the state of Palestine during the U.N. General Assembly in September. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio “strongly” rejected what he called France’s “reckless decision [that] only serves Hamas propaganda.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said France’s recognition of Palestine “rewards terrorists.”
We’ll have more on Gaza after headlines with Dr. Nick Maynard, who just returned from volunteering at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, south of Gaza City. We’ll also speak with the only Palestinian American member of Congress, Rashida Tlaib.
Cambodia Claims Thailand Is Committing War Crimes in Border Clashes
Jul 25, 2025
Thailand’s prime minister says that border clashes with Cambodia could lead to war. Meanwhile, Cambodia is claiming that Thailand is committing war crimes, using cluster munitions and heavy weaponry inside its territory. The death toll has climbed to at least 16 people on the second day of fighting. Survivors say they had to flee attacks with nothing but the clothes on their backs.
Ngerntra Pranoram: “We were looking after my mother at home, and we heard gunshots, ‘bang, bang, bang,’ booming loudly, and then continuous ‘boom, boom’ sounds of explosions. I turned to my mother and said, ‘Oh my god, Mom!’ Then I quickly told her, ‘Mom, get in the car!’ And we rushed off. We got in the car so fast, we didn’t bring anything with us.”
Venezuelan Immigrant Sent to CECOT Sues U.S. for $1.3M
Jul 25, 2025
Image Credit: El Salvador Presidency Handout
An immigrant from Venezuela who was sent to El Salvador’s mega-prison CECOT by the Trump administration has filed a $1.3 million claim against the U.S. government over his wrongful detention. Twenty-seven-year-old Neiyerver Adrián Leon Rengel was among the more than 250 Venezuelan immigrants flown to El Salvador from the U.S. in March as Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. They were released and returned to Venezuela in a surprise prisoner swap with the U.S. Rengel was taken by federal agents from the parking lot of his apartment in Irving, Texas, with immigration officials wrongfully claiming his tattoos proved he was affiliated with the Tren de Aragua gang. Rengel came to the U.S. in 2023 and worked as a barber. He described being brutally beaten by guards at CECOT.
WaPo: ICE Directs Agents to Increase Use of GPS Ankle Monitors
Jul 25, 2025
The Washington Post reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement has directed its agents to skyrocket the use of GPS ankle monitors, which advocates have long denounced as “digital shackles.” The move will sharply expand ICE’s round-the-clock surveillance of some 180,000 immigrants under the so-called Alternatives to Detention program. Activists who’ve challenged the use of tech for immigration crackdowns say these programs amount to digital prisons, and have warned of privacy violations and the mass collection of personal data by ICE.
In related news, an Afghan interpreter who came to the United States after working with U.S. troops during the invasion of Afghanistan was taken by masked federal agents this week after an appointment related to his green card application. The person was identified only as Zia. Zia and his family fled Afghanistan following the Taliban’s return to power in 2021. They were granted humanitarian parole by the Biden administration in 2024.
This comes as thousands of Afghans in the U.S. face deportation after a federal appeals court refused to postpone the Trump administration’s move to end temporary protected status for Afghans. The termination went into effect on July 21.
CBP Says Immigrants Should Carry Green Cards and Proof of Immigration Status
Jul 25, 2025
Image Credit: U.S. Customs and Border Protection
The Trump administration has issued new threats against U.S. permanent residents. This week, Customs and Border Protection warned people must carry their green cards and proof of immigration status, or face criminal charges and fines if detained by federal law enforcement.
Senate Advances Nomination of Emil Bove to Lifetime Appointment on Federal Court
Jul 25, 2025
On Capitol Hill, the Senate voted 50 to 48 Thursday to advance the nomination of Emil Bove, bringing Donald Trump’s former criminal defense attorney one step closer to a lifetime appointment on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals. Two Republicans — Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins — sided with Democrats to oppose Bove’s nomination. Bove has been called an “extreme ideologue” and has reportedly directed Justice Department lawyers to ignore judicial orders that undermine Trump’s agenda.
Meanwhile, Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan said Thursday the independence of federal courts is under attack due to increasing threats of violence against judges and the refusal of Trump administration officials to follow court rulings. Justice Kagan spoke at a judicial conference in California.
Justice Elena Kagan: “This idea that litigants, and most especially I’m here — here I’m talking about government officials, needn’t obey the dictates of courts, needn’t obey court orders, and — and, you know, that’s just not the way our system works, not the way rule of law in this country works. And that’s true for the Supreme Court, and it’s also true for every district court.”
Trump Signs Rescission Bill Clawing Back $9B for Foreign Aid and Public Broadcasting
Jul 25, 2025
Image Credit: SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images
President Trump has signed a rescission bill clawing back $9 billion that had been previously approved for foreign aid and public broadcasting. Just over a billion dollars was slated for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds NPR and PBS. The rest of the money was destined for foreign assistance programs.
Amid the cuts to USAID, Doctors Without Borders slammed President Trump’s plan to destroy nearly $10 million worth of contraceptives that were set to be delivered overseas. In a statement, the organization decried the “callous waste that puts the health and lives of women and girls at risk.”
Meanwhile, public broadcaster GBH said Tuesday it is laying off staffers who produce the series “American Experience” and pausing the production of new documentaries. Stanley Nelson, the award-winning documentary filmmaker, said, “These cuts are especially devastating considering the current state of affairs in this country, when the preservation and teaching of American history is more needed — and more threatened — than ever before.”
Trump Administration Approves $8B Merger Between Paramount and Skydance
Jul 25, 2025
The Trump administration has cleared the way for an $8 billion merger between Paramount and Skydance. In approving the deal on Thursday, the Trump-appointed chair of the FCC, Brendan Carr, said, “I welcome Skydance’s commitment to make significant changes at the once storied CBS broadcast network.” The FCC’s approval comes less than a month after CBS’s owner Paramount agreed to pay Trump $16 million after he sued “60 Minutes” over how it edited an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris. And just a week ago, CBS canceled “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” after Colbert called the settlement a “big fat bribe.” Meanwhile, the cartoon satire show “South Park,” which has just signed a $1.5 billion streaming deal with Paramount, skewered President Trump, showing him sleeping with the devil. The White House in response called the show “fourth-rate.”