International News Briefs for Monday, December 8, 2025
HAVANA TIMES – We bring you some of the top international news stories compiled by Democracy Now on Monday, December 8, 2025.
Hegseth Defends Sept. 2 Double Attack That Killed 11 People Aboard an Alleged Drug Boat
Dec 08, 2025
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has defended the September 2 double attack that killed 11 people aboard an alleged drug-smuggling boat in the Caribbean, including two survivors of the initial U.S. strike. Hegseth defended the Pentagon’s actions even as he continued to deny reports he issued a verbal order to kill all crew members aboard. Hegseth spoke from the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California, on Saturday.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth: “What I understood then and what I understand now, I fully support that strike. I would have made the same call myself. Those who were involved in 20 years of conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan or elsewhere know that reattacks and restrikes of combatants on the battlefield happen often.”
Hegseth also refused to say whether the Pentagon would release video showing the follow-up attack on September 2. That’s despite President Trump’s statement last Wednesday that “whatever they have we’ll certainly release, no problem.” Meanwhile, CNN is reporting that Admiral Frank Bradley told lawmakers last week that the alleged drug boat on September 2 planned to link up with another, larger vessel that was bound not for the United States but for Suriname. On Friday, Amnesty International said the focus on the September 2 “double-tap” strike had obscured the fact that all of the strikes have been illegal under domestic and international law. Amnesty wrote, “All of them constitute murder because none of the victims, whether or not they were smuggling illegal narcotics, posed an imminent threat to life.” The Pentagon says it has carried out 22 strikes, killing at least 87 people.
Hamas Ready to Discuss “Freezing or Storing” Its Weapons
Dec 08, 2025
A senior Hamas official says the group is ready to discuss “freezing or storing” its stockpile of weapons as part of the ceasefire deal to end Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip. The overture came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said several key issues still needed to be resolved before he’d commit to the second phase of the U.S.-backed ceasefire plan, which he’s planning to discuss with President Trump at the end of December. On Saturday, Qatar and Egypt called on Israel to fully withdraw from Gaza and for an international stabilization force to be deployed. This is Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani.
Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani: “Now we are at a critical moment. It’s not — it’s not yet there. So what we have just done is a pause. We cannot consider it yet a ceasefire. A ceasefire cannot be completed unless there is a full withdrawal of the Israeli forces, there is stability back in Gaza, people can go in and out, which is not the case today.”
Israeli Forces Continue Violent Raids in Occupied West Bank
Dec 08, 2025
Israeli forces are continuing violent raids on Palestinian communities across the occupied West Bank. On Sunday, residents of Hebron held a general strike to protest the killing of two Palestinians by Israeli forces a day earlier. Separately, Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian in the town of Azzun on Sunday. The violence came as Israeli media reported Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has set aside approximately more than $830 million to fund 17 new settlements in the occupied West Bank over the next five years.
Meanwhile, human rights groups are expressing “grave concerns” about the fate of jailed Palestinian political prisoner Marwan Barghouti, after his son said he’d received news that his father had been severely beaten and tortured by Israeli prison guards, leaving him “physically shattered.”
RSF Drone Strikes Kill 116 People, Including 46 Children, in Sudan
Dec 08, 2025
In Sudan, the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group attacked a preschool, a hospital and other sites in the state of South Kordofan Thursday, killing at least 116 people, including 46 children, according to reporting by Al Jazeera. The war between the RSF and the Sudanese military has killed at least 40,000 people and displaced 12 million since 2023, though aid groups say the true death toll could be more than three times higher.
Hundreds Flee Fighting in Congo Within Hours of Trump’s Peace Deal Ceremony
Dec 08, 2025
Hundreds of people have fled heavy fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo after M23 rebels clashed with Congolese forces backed by thousands of Burundian soldiers. The violence erupted in the Ruzizi Plain near the DRC’s borders with Rwanda and Burundi. Survivors described bombs falling on civilians fleeing an initial attack on their communities.
Marie Mapenzi: “We were about to climb the mountain just after the Luberizi bridge. When we arrived at the first houses of Mutarule, those who were in front and behind us weren’t hit, but us who were in the middle, that’s where the bomb fell, in succession, the first, the second and the third. That’s when some people started falling and others died on the spot. I was injured and thought it was only me, but my child who was on my back was also hit.”
The fighting came just one day after President Trump hosted the leaders of the DRC and Rwanda in Washington, D.C., at the U.S. Institute of Peace, which the State Department has renamed Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace, where they signed an agreement aimed at ending the decades long conflict in the eastern DRC. Trump declared he’d brought peace to the region, describing it as a “glorious triumph” and a “miracle.”
Russia Launches Massive Wave of Drone Strikes on Ukraine Over the Weekend
Dec 08, 2025
Russia launched a massive wave of drone and missile strikes on Ukraine over the weekend that officials in Kyiv are calling one of the most devastating attacks since Russia’s full-scale invasion nearly four years ago. The strikes damaged power facilities in eight Ukrainian regions and once again severed outside power to the Zaporizhzhia power plant — the largest nuclear plant in Europe — forcing officials to use backup diesel generators to prevent a nuclear disaster. This is Olena Khomik, who witnessed a Russian strike that triggered a fire in a warehouse near her home near Kyiv.
Olena Khomik: “We critically need to be helped with weapons, for the world to unite, for the world to help us, to be heard, for Mr. Trump to hear us, that he is being deceived, that he is being led into a delusion. You can’t bargain with Russia. This is not the kind of country that will give in. If Ukraine falls, Russia will cling to something else. Look at what’s happening with Georgia’s Abkhazia, what they have turned this flourishing region into. They are doing this with Ukraine now.”
On Sunday, President Trump’s eldest son Donald Trump Jr. blasted Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky over a corruption scandal and said the Trump administration might walk away from peace talks.
His comments came as the Kremlin welcomed Trump’s new national security strategy, which seeks to reestablish “strategic stability” with Russia. The document also claims that Europe is facing the “stark prospect of civilizational erasure,” and urges U.S. support for far-right, anti-immigrant populists like the Alternative for Germany and Hungary’s authoritarian leader, Viktor Orbán.
SCOTUS to Hear Arguments on Trump’s Executive Order Ending Birthright Citizenship
Dec 08, 2025
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments on whether President Trump has the authority to undo automatic citizenship for people born in the United States. President Trump signed an executive order on his first day back in office declaring that children born to undocumented immigrants and to some temporary foreign residents would no longer be granted citizenship automatically.
CDC Advisers Vote to Stop Recommending Hepatitis B Shots at Birth for Most Newborns
Dec 08, 2025
Vaccine advisers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have voted against universal hepatitis B shots for newborns, recommending the vaccine only for infants born to women who test positive for the virus. The announcement reverses 35 years of CDC recommendations that all newborns receive the hepatitis B vaccine within 24 hours.
Leaked Memo Shows Attorney General Bondi Ordered FBI to Compile List of “Domestic Terrorism” Groups
Dec 08, 2025
Attorney General Pam Bondi is ordering the FBI to compile a list of what the Justice Department is calling “domestic terrorist” organizations. A memo obtained by journalist Ken Klippenstein says the DOJ’s target is those expressing “opposition to law and immigration enforcement; extreme views in favor of mass migration and open borders; adherence to radical gender ideology,” as well as “anti-Americanism,” “anti-capitalism” and “anti-Christianity.” The memo echoes language in President Trump’s directive known as NSPM-7, or National Security Presidential Memorandum 7, which Trump signed in September in the wake of the murder of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk. We’ll have more on this story later in the broadcast with investigative journalist Ken Klippenstein.
Rep. Grijalva Says She Was “Sprayed in the Face” by ICE Agents
Dec 08, 2025
Democratic Congressmember Adelita Grijalva of Arizona says that she was attacked by masked ICE agents Friday as she tried to find out more information about a raid taking place at a restaurant in her district in Tucson.
Rep. Adelita Grijalva: “I was here — this is like the restaurant I come to literally once a week — and was sprayed in the face by a very aggressive agent, pushed around by others, when I literally was not being aggressive. I was asking for clarification, which is my right as a member of Congress.”
Adelita Grijalva is the first Latina to represent Arizona in Congress. She’ll join us later in the broadcast.
Meanwhile, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara warned his police officers that they will be fired if they don’t intervene when ICE agents use unlawful force. The Trump administration recently launched an immigration crackdown on the Twin Cities, shortly after President Trump disparaged Minneapolis’s Somali community in a racist tirade, calling them “garbage.”
Trump Admin Changes Name of Transgender Leader on Her Official Portrait
Dec 08, 2025
The Trump administration has changed the name of the nation’s highest-ranking openly transgender official on her official portrait. Admiral Rachel Levine served for four years as President Biden’s assistant secretary for health and was the first transgender person to win Senate confirmation. Her official portrait was displayed at the federal Department of Health and Human Services building after she was confirmed in 2021. Recently, the Trump administration removed Levine’s name from her portrait and replaced it with her previous name.
Pentagon Awards $620M Contract to Startup Backed by Donald Trump Jr.’s Venture Capital Fund
Dec 08, 2025
A startup funded by a venture capital firm with backing from President Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. has been awarded a $620 million contract from the Pentagon, according to reporting from the Financial Times. It’s the largest-ever government contract issued by the Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital. Don Jr. joined the venture capital firm 1789 Capital as a partner last year, and since then at least four companies backed by the firm have received government contracts.
Judge Orders Release of Grand Jury Documents in First Federal Investigation into Jeffrey Epstein
Dec 08, 2025
A federal judge in Florida has ordered the release of previously sealed grand jury documents from a federal investigation into the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in the mid-2000s. Soon after the investigation ended, Epstein and federal prosecutors negotiated a non-prosecution agreement which resulted in Epstein pleading guilty in Florida state court to relatively minor charges. Friday’s ruling ordering the release of grand jury documents comes after Congress passed a law last month requiring the Justice Department to release all its files on Epstein by December 19.
President Trump Gets Gold Trophy as FIFA Awards Him Inaugural “Peace Prize”
Dec 08, 2025
FIFA awarded President Trump the organization’s new peace prize on Friday at the 2026 World Cup draw. FIFA President Gianni Infantino presented Trump with a gold trophy with his name on it, saying, “You definitely deserve the first FIFA Peace Prize for your action, for what you have obtained in your way.” Infantino is a close ally of Trump and has been a frequent visitor to the Oval Office. FIFA also established an office at Trump Tower in Manhattan.
Trump Hosts Kennedy Center Honors After Completing Takeover of Venue
Dec 08, 2025
President Trump hosted the annual Kennedy Center Honors on Sunday night after completing his takeover of the once-venerable arts institution in Washington, D.C. Trump even joked about the “Trump Kennedy Center.” The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts was established by Congress and had been run by a bipartisan board since its opening in 1971, but Trump upended that in February when he moved to install his loyalists in key positions and make himself chair. On Sunday, CBS carried a live broadcast of the ceremony, in which Trump paid tribute to his handpicked award winners: musicians George Strait and Gloria Gaynor; the rock band KISS; actor Sylvester Stallone; and Broadway actor Michael Crawford, the original Phantom in “The Phantom of the Opera.”