International News Briefs for Thursday, December 18, 2025
HAVANA TIMES – We bring you some of the top international news stories compiled by Democracy Now on Thursday, December 18, 2025.
House Rejects Resolutions Seeking Congressional Approval for Boat Strikes or Attack on Venezuela
Dec 18, 2025
The Pentagon said Wednesday it had blown up another boat suspected of carrying drugs in the eastern Pacific. U.S. Southern Command released video showing a speedboat erupting in flames, saying the attack killed “four male narco-terrorists.” If the Pentagon’s numbers are accurate, it would be the 26th such strike, bringing the death toll to 99 people.
It came as House Republicans on Wednesday rejected a pair of war powers resolutions introduced by Democrats that would have forced the White House to seek congressional approval for the boat strikes — and for any attack against Venezuela. The resolution was co-sponsored by Massachusetts Congressmember Jim McGovern.
Rep. Jim McGovern: “When we go to war, our troops have no choice but to follow the orders that are given to them, right? But the bottom line is, we have a responsibility to make sure they don’t get sent into a mess, that we know what the hell we’re doing, that there’s a clearly defined mission, that this is the right thing to do. And it is the wrong thing to do, in my opinion. You know, we have homeless veterans. We can’t provide people in this country healthcare. People don’t have adequate housing. People are hungry, you know? And you want to spend billions and trillions of dollars on another war. Well, I don’t want any part of it.”
Senate Overwhelmingly Approves Record $901 Billion Military Spending Bill
Dec 18, 2025
The Senate overwhelmingly passed the $901 billion National Defense Authorization Act Wednesday. It’s the largest military spending bill in U.S. history. It pledges $800 million for Ukraine and a 4% pay raise for U.S. troops. A majority of Democratic senators joined most Republicans to pass the spending bill, but 16 Democrats, three Republicans and Vermont’s independent Senator Bernie Sanders voted no on the package. Democratic Senator Ron Wyden said, “I cannot support a bill that increases military spending by tens of billions of dollars and fails to include guardrails against Donald Trump and Hegseth’s authoritarian abuses.”
Israeli Army Shells Gaza Residential Area in Latest Violation of U.S.-Brokered Ceasefire
Dec 18, 2025
Image Credit: file
In Gaza, Israel’s military is continuing to violate the U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement. On Wednesday, Israeli troops fired a mortar shell over the “yellow line” dividing the Palestinian territory, wounding at least 10 people. Separately, Gaza health officials confirmed the death of 1-month-old Saeed Asaad Abdeen due to extreme cold, raising the number of recent weather-related deaths to 13, as Palestinians are forced to decide between sheltering in bombed-out buildings or makeshift tents.
House Passes Healthcare Bill That Does Not Address Skyrocketing Insurance Premiums
Dec 18, 2025
On Capitol Hill, four House Republicans defied Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday and joined Democrats backing a discharge petition to force a vote on extending healthcare subsidies for three years. Their defection came as the House passed a GOP-backed healthcare spending bill that does not address the subsidies, which means millions of Americans will likely see their health insurance premiums rise in January. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the Republican healthcare bill would result in about 100,000 more Americans uninsured per year over the next decade. This is Democratic Congressmember Emilia Sykes.
Rep. Emilia Sykes: “It is unacceptable that Congress is about to head home having done nothing — nothing — to protect the millions of Americans who will lose coverage on January 1st. The heartbreaking stories from my constituents who have no clue how they’re going to make ends meet as we enter into what should be a merry holiday season.”
House Advances Bill That Would Criminalize Gender-Affirming Care for Minors
Dec 18, 2025
Image Credit: NYC-DSA
Civil rights groups are blasting a bill narrowly approved by the House on Wednesday that would criminalize providing gender-affirming medical care for any transgender person under 18 and subject providers to hefty fines and up to 10 years in prison. In a statement, the ACLU wrote, “Families often spend years considering how best to support their children, only to have ill-equipped politicians interfere by attempting to criminalize the health care that they, their children, and their doctors believe is necessary to allow their children to thrive.”
Trump Touts Economic Record in Primetime Address as U.S. Unemployment Ticks Higher
Dec 18, 2025
President Trump touted his economic record in a primetime address Wednesday, despite voters’ growing concerns over affordability and the job market.
President Donald Trump: “One year ago, our country was dead. We were absolutely dead. Our country was ready to fail, totally fail. Now we’re the hottest country anywhere in the world.”
This comes as the latest jobs report showed that unemployment in November ticked up to 4.6%, the highest level since September 2021. After headlines, we’ll speak with Dean Baker, senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research.
Dan Bongino Announces Resignation as FBI’s Second-in-Command
Dec 18, 2025
The FBI’s Deputy Director Dan Bongino announced he’s resigning from the bureau next month. Bongino had clashed with the Justice Department over its handling of the Epstein files. Bongino, a podcast host, was picked by President Trump to serve as second-in-command at the FBI despite having no ties to the agency. The FBI Agents Association, which represents around 14,000 current and former agents, had opposed Bongino’s appointment to the position.
Pentagon Opens Formal Inquiry into Sen. Mark Kelly, Who Told Service Members to Defy Illegal Orders
Dec 18, 2025
The Pentagon announced Wednesday that it would open an administrative investigation into Democratic Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona. Senator Kelly is a retired Navy captain. The probe would focus on his participation in a video released last month with other Democratic lawmakers urging service members to refuse illegal orders from the Trump administration. At the time, President Trump had called for the execution of the Democratic lawmakers in the video.
Jack Smith Had “Proof Beyond a Reasonable Doubt” Trump Conspired to Overturn 2020 Election
Dec 18, 2025
Former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith told lawmakers in a closed-door session Wednesday that his team of investigators had “developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt” that President Trump had conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Smith also said that his team had gathered “powerful evidence” that Trump broke the law by taking classified documents from his first term in office to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Smith’s investigation had led to two criminal indictments against Trump, which were shortly dropped by the Justice Department after he won the 2024 election.
Trump Attempts to Pardon Colorado Clerk Who Tampered with Voting Machines After 2020 Election
Dec 18, 2025
Image Credit: Mesa County Sheriff’s Office
President Trump issued a pardon to Tina Peters, a former Colorado county clerk convicted of tampering with voting machines during the 2020 election. She is currently serving a nine-year prison sentence in Colorado, and state officials say that President Trump does not have the legal authority to overturn her conviction in state court. A lawyer for Peters, who attempted to present the formal pardon at the prison where Peters is being held, was met by armed corrections officers who denied him access. Peter Ticktin, a lawyer for Peters and a longtime friend of Trump, told The New York Times, “For all I know, the president may send a marshal to the prison to have her released.”
White House Says It’s Breaking Up National Center for Atmospheric Research
Dec 18, 2025
Image Credit: NSF NCAR & UCAR
White House budget director Russell Vought says the Trump administration will break up the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, known as NCAR. Vought announced the plan Wednesday on the social media site X, calling it “one of the largest sources of climate alarmism in the country.” A follow-up White House statement accused NCAR of wasting taxpayer funds on “woke” research and “green new scam research activities.”
Climate scientists and meteorologists reacted with alarm. Texas Tech professor Katharine Hayhoe said, ”NCAR supports the scientists who fly into hurricanes, the meteorologists who develop new radar technology, the physicists who envision and code new weather models, and yes — the largest community climate model in the world.” This is Daniel Swain, a weather and climate scientist who studies extreme weather events as a research partner at NCAR.
Daniel Swain: “This would be a terrible blow to American science writ large. It would decimate not only climate research, but also the kind of weather, wildfire and disaster research underpinning half a century of progress in prediction, early warning and increased resilience.”
On Wednesday, authorities evacuated the headquarters of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder due to an extreme wind storm that created a critical wildfire risk. This follows weeks of near-record high temperatures and almost no precipitation.
Senate Confirms Billionaire Private Astronaut Jared Isaacman as NASA Chief
Dec 18, 2025
Image Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky
The Senate has confirmed billionaire private astronaut Jared Isaacman as the new administrator of NASA. Isaacman is a close associate of Elon Musk who has twice flown aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft. He’s a strong advocate for nuclear power and propulsion in spaceflight. His confirmation comes as the Trump administration has proposed slashing NASA’s 2026 science budget nearly in half.
NYT: Trump Admin Ramping Up Efforts to Denaturalize Immigrants
Dec 18, 2025
The Trump administration is ramping up efforts to strip hundreds of naturalized immigrants of their citizenship each month. That’s according to a report in The New York Times, which found internal guidance issued this week to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services field offices asks that they “supply Office of Immigration Litigation with 100-200 denaturalization cases per month” in the next fiscal year. The Times reports it would represent a massive escalation of denaturalization in the modern era.
Minneapolis Police Chief Criticizes Federal Immigration Agents for Dragging Woman Down Street
Dec 18, 2025
Image Credit: IG/ @yapwlauryn
Minneapolis’s police chief is criticizing federal immigration agents after they were caught on video kneeling on the back of a woman as they held her facedown in a snow bank, before dragging her by the arm to an unmarked vehicle. Video shows protesters confronting the agents as they sought to arrest the woman, shouting that she was pregnant and couldn’t breathe, and pelting them with snowballs. The federal agents responded by pointing weapons at the protesters and pepper-spraying them.
In California, immigrants jailed at the state’s largest immigration detention center have asked a federal court to require access to medical care, which they say is needed to prevent immediate death or irreversible harm. One plaintiff held at the California City Detention Facility says he was denied access to cardiac specialists, even though he suffers from pulmonary hypertension and congestive heart failure. Another plaintiff who shows symptoms of prostate cancer has been denied a cancer screening for nearly four months.
Federal Judge Rules Trump Admin Broke Law by Limiting Congressmembers from Visiting ICE Jails
Dec 18, 2025
Image Credit: X/@RepLaMonica
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday ruled the Trump administration broke the law by limiting members of Congress from visiting ICE jails. Officials introduced the policy in June, after federal agents interfered with a visit by three Democratic congressmembers seeking to tour a private prison in Newark, New Jersey, run by GEO Corporation under contract to ICE. New Jersey Democratic Congresswoman LaMonica McIver still faces charges of assaulting an immigration officer during the confrontation, even though she insists she was the one roughed up by federal officers.
Federal Judge Rules in Favor of Human Rights Activist Jeanette Vizguerra
Dec 18, 2025
Image Credit: John Moore/Getty
A federal judge has ruled in favor of human rights activist Jeanette Vizguerra, stating her detention by ICE is unconstitutional, and ordering an immediate bond hearing. Wednesday’s ruling came nine months to the day after ICE detained the well-known immigrant rights activist and mother of four in Colorado. Click here to see our interviews with Jeanette Vizguerra.
FCC Chair Brendan Carr Says Agency Is Not Independent
Dec 18, 2025
Image Credit: Bill Clark/ Sipa USA
The Republican chair of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, contended in a Senate hearing Wednesday that the agency under the Trump administration was not independent. Carr was grilled by Democrats over his criticism of the late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel and his threats against TV networks that broadcast content that President Trump did not like.
Sen. Ben Ray Luján: “Is the FCC an independent agency?”
Brendan Carr: “Senator, thanks for that question. I think the” —
Sen. Ben Ray Luján: “Yes or no is all we need, sir. Yes or no, is it independent?”
Brendan Carr: “Well, there’s a test for this in the law. And the key portion of that test” —
Sen. Ben Ray Luján: “Just yes or no, Brendan!”
Brendan Carr: “The key portion of that test is” —
Sen. Ben Ray Luján: “OK, I’m going to go to Commissioner Trusty. So, just so you know, Brendan, on your website, it just simply says, man, ‘The FCC is independent.’ This isn’t a trick question.”
Brendan Carr: “OK, the FCC is not” —
Sen. Ben Ray Luján: “Is it yes or no?”
Brendan Carr: “Is not.”
Sen. Ben Ray Luján: “OK.”
Brendan Carr: “Is not an independent” —
Sen. Ben Ray Luján: “So, is your website wrong? Is your website lying?”
Brendan Carr: “Possibly. The FCC is not an independent agency.”
Before Carr spoke, the FCC had a mission statement on its website that said the agency was “an independent U.S. government agency overseen by Congress.” But in a screenshot taken by Axios, the word “independent” was removed during Carr’s testimony.