International News Briefs for Monday, April 28, 2025
HAVANA TIMES – Here are some of the top international news stories compiled by Democracy Now on, Monday, April 28, 2025.
U.S. Airstrike Kills 68 African Migrants Jailed in Yemen; 800 U.S. Strikes Since March 15
Apr 28, 2025
At least 68 African migrants have been killed in a U.S. airstrike in Yemen. Houthi media outlets report the U.S. bombed a detention center in the western province of Saada. Another 47 migrants were injured in the attack. A separate U.S. attack killed at least eight people in Sana’a. The Pentagon says it had carried out 800 strikes on Yemen since March 15 after Houthi fighters vowed to resume targeting ships in the Red Sea in an attempt to pressure Israel to end its war and blockade on Gaza.
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At Opening of ICJ Hearing, Israel Accused of Using Aid as “Weapon of War”
Apr 28, 2025
In Gaza, Israeli attacks have killed 23 Palestinians so far today after Israeli forces killed at least 53 people on Sunday, including six who were killed when Israel bombed a cafe near the Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps. Meanwhile, the World Food Programme has announced it has run out of food to distribute in Gaza due to Israel’s two-month-long blockade.
Earlier today, the International Court of Justice began a five-day hearing on Israel’s obligations to provide aid to Gaza. Palestinian envoy Ammar Hijazi accused Israel of using humanitarian aid as “weapons of war.”
Ammar Hijazi: “That’s really the heart of why Palestine and over 40 other states are addressing the court today. It is not about the number of aid trucks Israel is or is not allowing into the Occupied Palestinian Territories, especially Gaza. It is not about Israel destroying the — it is about Israel destroying the fundamentals of life in Palestine while it blocks U.N. and other humanitarians from providing lifesaving aid to the population. It is about Israel unraveling fundamental principles of international law, including their obligations under the U.N. Charter. It is about Israel turning Palestine, and particularly Gaza, into a mass grave for Palestinians and those coming to their aid.”
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Lebanon Warns Israel Is Undermining Regional Stability After Attack on Beirut Suburb
Apr 28, 2025
On Sunday, Israeli fighter jets bombed Beirut’s southern suburbs again. The U.N. and Lebanese officials condemned the strike, with Lebanon’s president warning Israel’s actions are undermining stability in the region.
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Suspect Charged in Vancouver Car Ramming That Killed 11 People at Filipino Culture Festival
Apr 28, 2025
In Canada, police have charged a man with murder for the car-ramming death of 11 people during a music festival in Vancouver Saturday evening. It took place during the annual Lapu Lapu festivities, which celebrates the Filipino community and culture. The victims ranged in age from 5 to 65 years old. Dozens of people were wounded. This is a local community member.
Community member: “It’s kind of like you can be strong and weak at the same time, and, you know, the efforts with gathering with not just the Filipino community, but everybody. And if you’ve been to a Filipino event or organizer, there is a saying called Isang Bagsak, and it means when one falls, we all fall. But again, when one rises, we all rise.”
No motive for the mass killing has been identified, but authorities say the suspect, 30-year-old Kai-Ji Adam Lo, has a history of mental health-related interactions with Vancouver police.
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Canada Votes in Pivotal Snap Elections, with Liberal Mark Carney Expected to Remain in Power
Apr 28, 2025
Canadian voters today will decide between the ruling Liberal Party, now led by Justin Trudeau’s successor, Prime Minister Mark Carney, and Pierre Poilievre, who leads the Conservatives. Poilievre had been leading in the polls when Trudeau stepped down in January, but Carney’s defiant response to Trump’s tariffs and his threats to annex Canada have helped propel the Liberals’ chances of staying in power.
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Pope Francis Remembered for His Antiwar Messages During Vatican Funeral
Apr 28, 2025
On Saturday, hundreds of thousands of mourners gathered at the Vatican for the funeral of Pope Francis, who died last week at the age of 88. During the eulogy, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re remembered Pope Francis as a pope of the people and a peacemaker.
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re: “Faced with the raging wars of recent years, with their inhuman horrors and countless deaths and destruction, Pope Francis insistently raised his voice, imploring peace and calling for reason and honest negotiation to find possible solutions. War, he said, is only the death of people and the destruction of homes, hospitals and schools.”
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Putin Announces Unilateral 3-Day Ceasefire; Trump and Zelensky Meet Ahead of Pope Francis Funeral
Apr 28, 2025
More than 50 world leaders attended the pope’s funeral, including President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The two met at the Vatican prior to the funeral. The meeting came a day after Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin. On Sunday, Trump expressed disappointment with Putin for continuing to attack Ukraine while refusing to agree to a U.S.-brokered deal to end the war in Ukraine.
Earlier today, Putin announced a unilateral three-day ceasefire in Ukraine beginning on May 8. On Sunday, Russia fired nearly 150 drones at Ukraine, killing at least four people. Meanwhile, North Korea has confirmed for the first time that it had sent combat troops to fight alongside Russian forces.
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FBI Arrests Milwaukee Judge Accused of Helping an Immigrant Evade Authorities
Apr 28, 2025
Image Credit: Kash Patel via X
The Trump administration is escalating its attacks on judges. On Friday, FBI agents arrested a county judge in Milwaukee, Hannah Dugan, who was charged with obstruction and concealing an individual from arrest. The FBI accused her of allegedly helping an undocumented immigrant avoid arrest inside a Wisconsin courthouse. The judge’s arrest was widely criticized. Wisconsin Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin said, “This action fits into the deeply concerning pattern of this president’s lawless behavior and undermining courts and Congress’s checks on his power.”
FBI Director Kash Patel is facing accusations he broke DOJ policy by posting a photo online of Judge Dugan in handcuffs.
On Saturday, protesters rallied in Milwaukee to protest the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants and the arrest of Judge Dugan.
Casey Serrano: “We are out here today with a message for the FBI, for the DOJ, for President Trump himself. And that message is: Drop the charges, stop the raids, stop the deportations. We are also out here with a message for Judge Hannah Dugan. And that message is: We have your back.”
In related news, federal agents in New Mexico have arrested former Judge Jose Luis Cano and his wife. They have been accused of tampering with evidence linked to a former tenant who the government claims is a member of a Venezuelan gang.
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U.S. Deports Three U.S. Citizen Children to Honduras
Apr 28, 2025
The Trump administration has deported to Honduras three U.S. citizen children, including a 4-year-old who is actively receiving treatment for a rare form of stage 4 cancer. The boy was removed with his 7-year-old sister, who is also a U.S. citizen, and their mother. In a separate case, the U.S. removed a 2-year-old U.S. citizen along with her mother. In that case, U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty said the girl was sent away “with no meaningful process.”
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ICE Raids in Florida and Colorado End with 900 Arrests
Apr 28, 2025
ICE has conducted a number of high-profile immigration raids. In Florida, ICE worked with local officials to detain nearly 800 people. Meanwhile, in Colorado Springs, ICE agents raided a nightclub and made over 100 arrests.
In other immigration news, protesters rallied outside the Charles Schulz Airport in Santa Rosa, California, Saturday to protest Avelo Airlines, which recently signed a deal to work with ICE on deportation flights.
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White House Restores Status of Thousands of International Students
Apr 28, 2025
In a major reversal, the Trump administration has restored the ability of thousands of international students to study in the United States — at least for now. The Trump administration had been sued at least 65 times for terminating the status of students in a database called SEVIS, the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System. It is unclear how many students may have already left the country after the government changed their status. ABC reports some of the targeted students had supported pro-Palestine protests, but many had not.
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Major Blast at Iranian Port Kills at Least 46, Injures 1,000+
Apr 28, 2025
At least 46 people have died after a massive explosion at one of Iran’s main ports on Saturday. The blast injured over 1,000 people. Iranian authorities have not said yet what caused the blast. In January, the Financial Times reports, ships carrying missile fuel were headed to the port from China. The blast occurred as the U.S and Iran were holding a third round of talks over Iran’s nuclear program.
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India Detains 1,500 People in Kashmir in Wake of Pahalgam Massacre
Apr 28, 2025
Indian authorities have detained at least 1,500 people in India-administered Kashmir and razed the homes of suspected Kashmiri militants, as fears mount over a larger conflict between India and Pakistan following the massacre last week of 26 people in the resort town of Pahalgam. India has accused the Pakistani government of backing the perpetrators of the massacre, but Islamabad has rejected any involvement. Soldiers from India and Pakistan have continued to exchange gunfire along the barrier separating Kashmir between the two nuclear-armed powers.
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RSF Kill 31 People in Suspected “War Crime” in Omdurman Amid Mounting Tragedies in Sudan
Apr 28, 2025
The Sudan Doctors Network reports at least 31 people, including children, were executed by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in Omdurman, in what the group called a “war crime and a crime against humanity.” Omdurman is the sister city to the capital Khartoum, which the Sudanese army reclaimed control over last month after two years of a devastating civil war. Separately, at least 11 people were killed in an RSF drone attack Friday at a displacement camp in River Nile state.
Meanwhile, the U.N. reports at least 480 civilians were killed in Sudan’s North Darfur over the two-week period starting April 10, though the actual number is expected to be much higher. The U.N. also reports widespread sexual violence, including during the deadly attack on the Zamzam displacement camp between April 11 and 13. Many rape victims are children. Numerous deaths have also been caused by hunger, shortages of water or lack of medical care. The U.N. has described Sudan as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
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Far-Right Backers of Itamar Ben-Gvir Attack Palestinian Rights Protesters in New York
Apr 28, 2025
Protests continued Sunday in New York over a visit by Israel’s far-right security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who was once convicted for incitement to racism and support for a terrorist organization. On multiple occasions, supporters of Ben-Gvir attacked protesters and bystanders while chanting “death to Arabs” in Hebrew. On Thursday, a mob of over 100 men surrounded and attacked a Brooklyn woman who lived nearby, after they assumed she was a pro-Palestinian protester.
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Occidental Students End Hunger Strike, Decry Brutal Crackdown on Protest
Apr 28, 2025
In Los Angeles, student activists at Occidental College ended their hunger strike Friday after the school’s administrators called in LAPD and campus security to violently crack down on peaceful protesters outside the inauguration of Occidental President Tom Stritikus. Students had been demanding Occidental protect its students from immigration authorities and renounce any ties to Israel’s war on Gaza. The hunger strikers say Occidental has agreed to certain measures supporting immigrant and international students.
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DOJ Rescinds Journalist Protections in Leak Investigations
Apr 28, 2025
In a setback for press freedom, Attorney General Pam Bondi has rescinded a Biden-era policy that aimed to protect journalists in most cases from being forced to hand over their phone records in leak investigations. In a memo, Bondi described the conduct of government leakers as “treasonous.”
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“Paramount Began to Supervise Our Content”: “60 Minutes” Reporter Scott Pelley Speaks Out on Air
Apr 28, 2025
In other media news, longtime “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley rebuked CBS’s parent company Paramount at the end of Sunday night’s broadcast. This came days after the show’s top producer, Bill Owens, resigned, saying he could no longer make independent decisions about the show. This is part of Pelley’s remarks.
Scott Pelley: “Stories we pursued for 57 years are often controversial — lately, the Israel-Gaza war and the Trump administration. Bill made sure they were accurate and fair. He was tough that way. But our parent company, Paramount, is trying to complete a merger. The Trump administration must approve it. Paramount began to supervise our content in new ways. None of our stories has been blocked, but Bill felt he lost the independence that honest journalism requires.”
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George Santos Sentenced to 7+ Years in Prison
Apr 28, 2025
Expelled Republican Congressmember George Santos was sentenced Friday to more than seven years in prison for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. The disgraced former New York congressmember was ousted from the House in 2023 after less than a year in office. His brief political career was defined by numerous fabrications about his personal and professional lives, and campaign finance fraud.
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Virginia Giuffre, Prominent Epstein Accuser and Survivor Advocate, Has Died
Apr 28, 2025
Virginia Giuffre, an outspoken survivor of sex trafficking by Jeffrey Epstein, has died by suicide at age 41. Giuffre was the first survivor to come out publicly against Jeffrey Epstein, as well as his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell. She also sued Prince Andrew for sexually assaulting her when she was 17. The disgraced prince was forced to step away from his royal duties and settled with Giuffre in 2022. In a statement, Giuffre’s family said, “Virginia was a fierce warrior in the fight against sexual abuse and sex trafficking. She was the light that lifted so many survivors.”