International News Briefs for Thursday, February 20, 2025
HAVANA TIMES – Here are some of the top international news stories compiled by Democracy Now on Thursday, February 20, 2025.
Trump Calls Ukrainian President Zelensky a “Dictator” in Error-Riddled Social Media Tirade
Feb 20, 2025
President Trump has escalated his attacks on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, describing him as a “dictator without elections.” Trump went on to push Zelensky to negotiate with Russia, saying he “better move fast or he is not going to have a country left.” This comes a day after Trump falsely accused Ukraine of starting the war. Trump also falsely said Zelensky’s approval rating was “down at 4 percent,” when polls show about 57% of Ukrainians support him — far higher than Trump’s rating in a recent Reuters poll. Trump also falsely claimed the U.S. has supplied Ukraine with $350 billion worth of aid. In fact, government data show U.S. spending on Ukraine since 2022 has totaled about $185 billion, with 70% of the money going to U.S. weapons manufacturers. On Wednesday, Zelensky responded by saying Trump is “surrounded by disinformation.”
Trump’s attacks on Zelensky have shocked many across Europe and in Washington, where some Republican lawmakers have begun to criticize Trump’s shift toward Russia. Republican Senator Susan Collins said, “We must remember that the instigator of this war was President Putin, who launched an unprovoked attack on Ukraine.” Zelensky is meeting today in Kyiv with U.S. envoy Keith Kellogg.
Israeli Forces Storm U.N.-Run Schools and Raze Homes Amid Deadly West Bank Raids
Feb 20, 2025
In the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces shot and killed three Palestinians during an overnight raid on a house in the Faraa refugee camp. Elsewhere, Israeli forces shot and wounded a 15-year-old boy during a raid on the town of Beita and wounded two young men in a raid on Beit Furik. This follows Israeli attacks on several schools operated by the U.N.’s Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA, which Israel has banned. A spokesperson for the U.N. secretary-general condemned the raids.
Stéphane Dujarric: “The use of tear gas and sound bombs in educational environments while students are learning is both unnecessary and unacceptable. This is a clear violation of Israel’s obligation under international law.”
Tens of thousands of Palestinians have fled refugee camps in the West Bank amid Israel’s offensive. This week, residents of Tulkarm camp looked on as Israeli armored bulldozers razed their homes.
Mustafa Alwasi: “I am watching our home getting demolished, and it’s one of the oldest houses in Tulkarm camp. It was suddenly wiped off the face of the Earth. They wiped away all of our memories of life in that house, of all the good and not-so-good days, all gone. Thank God, nothing will move our steadfastness on this land.”
Hamas Returns Bodies of Israeli Hostages Including Israeli Peace Activist Oded Lifschitz
Feb 20, 2025
In Gaza, Hamas has returned the bodies of four hostages to Israeli authorities ahead of the planned release this weekend of six living hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian captives held in Israeli jails. Hamas says the four hostages were killed along with their guards by Israeli airstrikes. They include a mother and her two children, and Oded Lifschitz, an Israeli journalist and peace activist. Before his capture on October 7, 2023, Lifschitz volunteered with the Road to Recovery organization, which transports Palestinian children who are ill to hospitals in Israel. He once met with the late Palestinian leader Yassar Arafat and previously fought a successful legal campaign to restore ancestral land to Palestinian Bedouin villagers.
New Israeli Law Expands Visa Restrictions on BDS Supporters and Critics of War Crimes
Feb 20, 2025
Israel’s Knesset has approved a bill to further restrict entry to critics of Israel and its policies. Under the new law, people who deny or minimize the October 7 Hamas attacks will be refused visas; so, too, will people who’ve called for the prosecution of Israeli soldiers for war crimes or who are affiliated with groups calling to boycott, divest or sanction Israel.
Five Israeli Soldiers Indicted for Torturing Palestinian Prisoner at Military Base
Feb 20, 2025
On Wednesday, Israel’s military said it had indicted five reservists accused of torturing a Palestinian prisoner at the notorious Sde Teiman military base. The Association for Civil Rights in Israel reports prisoners there have routinely suffered sexual assault, beatings from guards, maulings from attack dogs, and are often made to sit on the ground, blindfolded and handcuffed, 24 hours a day, forbidden from moving or speaking.
Israeli Media Broadcasts Video of Palestinian Doctor Hussam Abu Safiya in Shackles
Feb 20, 2025
Image Credit: Channel 13
The Gaza pediatrician Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya has been seen in video footage for the first time since his abduction by Israeli forces outside the besieged and devastated Kamal Adwan Hospital last December, where he served as director. Video broadcast on Israeli TV appears to show Dr. Abu Safiya being led by masked and helmeted guards through a prison in shackles, appearing exhausted and fatigued. In a statement, Dr. Abu Safiya’s family condemned the broadcast, writing, “We … reject any media outlet publishing the video without addressing the psychological terrorism involved and exposing the manipulation of his statements. The sight of our father shackled and unable to move should prompt immediate and continuous action to ensure his immediate release.”
U.S. Deports Asylum Seekers, Including Children, to Detention Camp in Panama Jungle
Feb 20, 2025
Image Credit: X/@WhiteHouse
A group of migrants recently deported from the United States are now being held in a detention camp on the outskirts of the Darién jungle in Panama. The group includes eight children and immigrants from countries including Afghanistan, China, India, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. About 200 other people deported by the U.S. are being held in a hotel in Panama where they are barred from leaving.
White House Celebrates Deportation Flights with ”ASMR” Video of Asylum Seekers in Shackles
Feb 20, 2025
The White House posted a video online showing a group of shackled immigrants being loaded onto a deportation flight. The video was captioned ”ASMR” — a term that describes pleasant audio or visual stimuli. In other developments, the Trump administration has ordered legal and immigrant nonprofit groups to halt offering federally funded legal services and advice to unaccompanied migrant children.
Texas Observer Links ICE Prosecutor to White Supremacist Social Media Account
Feb 20, 2025
The Texas Observer has identified the operator of a racist and hate-filled anti-immigrant account on the social media platform X as 44-year-old James Joseph Rodden, assistant chief counsel for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the Dallas area. Among the account’s hate-filled messages were “Migrants‘ [sic] are all criminals,” “It is our holy duty to guard against the foreign hordes,” and “Nobody is proposing feeding migrants into tree shredders. Yet.”
11-Year-Old Texas Girl Dies by Suicide After Bullies Threaten to Call ICE on Her Parents
Feb 20, 2025
Image Credit: Boys & Girls Club of Cooke County
In Gainesville, Texas, a funeral was held Wednesday for Jocelynn Rojo Carranza, an 11-year-old girl who died by suicide after classmates bullied her and threatened to call immigration services to deport her parents. Jocelynn was in the sixth grade. Her family said she loved playing the French horn, making TikTok videos and swimming.
“LONG LIVE THE KING!”: Trump’s Claims Power of Monarch in Bid to Halt NY Congestion Pricing
Feb 20, 2025
New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority has sued the Trump administration over President Trump’s new order to halt New York City’s congestion pricing program just six weeks after it began. The toll program aimed to reduce traffic in Manhattan while helping to fund mass transit. On Wednesday, Trump wrote on Truth Social, ”CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!” The White House’s official X account then shared an image of a fake Time magazine cover of Trump wearing a golden crown, also with the headline ”LONG LIVE THE KING.” Separately, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Taylor Budowich shared an AI-generated image of Trump wearing a crown and royal mantle.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul responded Wednesday afternoon.
Gov. Kathy Hochul: “I’m here to say New York hasn’t labored under a king in over 250 years, and we are not — we sure as hell are not going to start now.”
Trump Executive Order Claims Power Over Independent Regulatory Agencies
Feb 20, 2025
President Trump’s monarchical claims, which are unprecedented in U.S. history, came a day after he signed an executive order giving himself greater power over independent regulatory agencies, which, by congressional mandate, are supposed to be shielded from interference by the chief executive. Agencies falling under Trump’s order include the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
IRS to Fire 6,700 as Elon Musk’s DOGE Seeks Access to Sensitive Taxpayer Records
Feb 20, 2025
The IRS says it will begin firing about 6,700 employees as part of the Trump administration’s sweeping efforts to gut the federal workforce. This follows a similar downsizing of the IRS during Trump’s first presidential term, when for the first time ever working families were audited at a higher rate than households with an income over $1 million. AP reports Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency is seeking access to the IRS’s Integrated Data Retrieval System, which contains sensitive taxpayer records for millions of people.
International Rescue Committee Lays Off Thousands of Workers Amid Trump’s Spending Freeze
Feb 20, 2025
The nonprofit NGO the International Rescue Committee says it is laying off and furloughing thousands of workers around the world, citing “the difficulty accessing funds disbursed through the US government’s payment system.” Aid organizations say the cuts will impact programs for HIV-positive children, feeding centers for malnourished people, and water sanitation, among others.
Federal Workers and Supporters Rally in Dozens of Cities to Stop Trump’s Mass Firings
Feb 20, 2025
Federal workers and labor activists held a national day of action in dozens of cities across the U.S. on Wednesday, demanding an end to mass firings ordered by President Trump and DOGE. Here in New York, protesters rallied at Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan. Chris Dols is president of Local 98 of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers.
Chris Dols: “The entire public sphere is under attack by a handful of billionaires who see an opportunity right now to smash and grab the entire civil service, take out the entire services that we provide in the process, and it’s going to take a long time to put it back together if we let them break it. So we have to stop them before they get away with it.”
Chris Dols will join us after headlines for more on federal workers’ pushback to Trump’s cuts.
Pentagon to Shift $50 Billion in Funds, Targeting “So-Called Climate Change” and “Woke Programs”
Feb 20, 2025
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered Pentagon officials to find ways to shift $50 billion in the Pentagon’s current budget to help fund President Trump’s priorities, including immigration operations on the southern border. While many press accounts claimed Hegseth is calling for an 8% budget cut, the Pentagon’s own statements indicate the agency is just looking to realign how its $850 billion budget is spent. One official said the Pentagon will be shifting money away from “so-called ‘climate change’ and other woke programs.”
Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces Declares Breakaway Government
Feb 20, 2025
In Sudan, the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group has announced plans to form a breakaway government, 22 months after it launched a civil war against Sudan’s military rulers. The conflict has sparked the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, with tens of thousands killed and over 12 million people uprooted from their homes. This week, the United Nations launched an appeal for $6 billion in aid to Sudan, where humanitarian groups say more than half of people have too little to eat and famine “is taking hold.”
M23 Fighters Expand Offensive, Advance on More Cities in Eastern DRC
Feb 20, 2025
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda-backed M23 fighters are marching on the eastern city of Uvira near the border with Burundi, triggering panic, with residents reporting widespread looting, bodies lying in the streets, and government forces commandeering boats to escape the insurgents’ advance. M23 is also advancing on the city of Butembo north of Goma, which the insurgents seized in late January in an offensive that killed some 3,000 people. The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights has accused M23 of killing children and attacking hospitals and warehouses storing humanitarian aid. This is a UNHCR spokesperson.
Ravina Shamdasani: “Our office has confirmed cases of summary execution of children by M23 after they entered the city of Bukavu last week. We are also aware that children were in possession of weapons. We call on Rwanda and M23 to ensure that human rights and international humanitarian law are respected.”
New York Calls Up National Guard as Prison Guards Hold Wildcat Strike
Feb 20, 2025
New York Governor Kathy Hochul has deployed 3,500 members of the New York National Guard to help run state-run prisons, including Attica, after prison guards launched a wildcat strike. Prisoners are now being kept on lockdown, and many are being denied family visits, legal meetings and religious services. Soffiyah Elijah of the Alliance of Families for Justice said, “Our family members and their incarcerated loved ones are gripped by fear of what may happen with the governor’s calling in of the National Guard.”