International News Briefs for Thursday, March 20, 2025
HAVANA TIMES – Here are some of the top international news stories compiled by Democracy Now on Thursday, March 20, 2025.
Israel Kills Another 100 Palestinians; Death Toll Tops 700 in 3 Days Since Gaza Ceasefire Withdrawal
Mar 20, 2025
Israel’s army has reinvaded the Gaza Strip, reclaiming control over the Netzarim Corridor, which splits the besieged Palestinian territory in two. Israel is also continuing to bombard Gaza by land, air and sea for a third straight day, after Israel unilaterally shattered the Gaza ceasefire on Tuesday.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says Israel’s renewed attacks have killed 710 Palestinians, including at least 95 people since daybreak today. One of those was a newborn baby. Another 900 Palestinians have been injured, a majority of them children and women. Some of the wounded died due to severe shortages of medical equipment from Israel’s total blockade of Gaza, which took effect on March 2.
Israel Forces Gazans to Flee Once Again in Renewed Genocidal Campaign
Mar 20, 2025
On Wednesday, Israeli planes dropped leaflets over Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza and parts of Khan Younis in the south, ordering residents once again to leave their homes. The order affects thousands of people who’d previously been expelled multiple times by Israel’s army.
Jalal Dabbour: “We were feeling safe. We couldn’t believe we had just started having stability in our lives. And suddenly the situation has been turned around under the threat of the Israeli aggression. They forced us to leave Beit Hanoun. I swear to God, we don’t have any shelter except in Beit Hanoun. We had just started having some stability in the 40 days of ceasefire.”
“This Was Not an Accident”: U.N. Condemns Deadly Israeli Attack on U.N. Facility
Mar 20, 2025
The United Nations has condemned the Israeli killing of one its workers Wednesday. Five others were wounded, several severely, in the airstrike on a U.N. building in Deir al-Balah. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called for a full investigation. U.N. official Jorge Moreira da Silva said the U.N. compound is located in a deconflicted zone “well known by the Israeli Defense Forces.”
Jorge Moreira da Silva: “In my opinion, this was not an accident. It cannot be categorized as an accident. It is at least an incident. What is happening in Gaza is unconscionable. I’m shocked. I am shocked and devastated by this tragic news.”
International Legal Coalition Will Pursue Israelis Involved in Gaza War Crimes
Mar 20, 2025
A group of lawyers has launched a global coalition that will seek to pursue legal action against Israeli dual nationals accused of being involved in war crimes in Gaza. The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians said it’ll use domestic and international law against Israeli soldiers and others “spanning the entire Israeli military and political chain of command.”
U.S. Continues Attacks on Yemen and Houthi Movement
Mar 20, 2025
The U.S. is continuing its bombing of Yemen. On Wednesday, Trump vowed to “annihilate” the Houthi group after it announced it would resume strikes on commercial targets in the Red Sea following’s Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza ceasefire. Israel said it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen earlier today.
Global Protests for Gaza Continue After Israel Resumes All-Out War
Mar 20, 2025
Thousands of protesters across the U.S. and around the world are taking to the streets after Israel unilaterally pulled out of the Gaza ceasefire. This is a demonstrator who joined a rally in Tunisia’s capital Wednesday.
Fathi Abada: “We call on Arab people to take to the streets and bear their historical responsibilities, because Palestine is the fortress, the fortress of struggle and the fortress of steadfastness, and the Yemeni people are the last wall of resistance in the face of American aggression and in the face of Zionist aggression.”
Zelensky Agrees to Pause Energy Attacks; Trump Says He Wants Ownership of Ukraine’s Nuclear Plants
Mar 20, 2025
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday he is ready to pause attacks on Russian fuel depots and energy infrastructure, following a phone call with President Trump. His pledge came a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin similarly agreed to halt attacks on Ukrainian energy sites during a call with Trump; however, Putin rejected a proposed 30-day ceasefire and insisted any deal should include an end to military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine.
During Wednesday’s call with Zelensky, Trump reportedly proposed the U.S. could take ownership of Ukraine’s nuclear power stations, like the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia plant, the largest nuclear power facility in Europe.
Meanwhile, Russia and Ukraine each exchanged 175 prisoners of war Wednesday in one of the largest prisoner swaps since Russia invaded over three years ago. Some of the POWs had been held in Russian jails since the start of the war.
Serhii: “Where haven’t I been imprisoned? I’ve been in Luhansk. Then I was sent to Bashkirostan, very far away. It was the hardest there. We were tortured there very hard. Boys didn’t make it there. Some even lost their minds.”
A new report from the U.N.’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine finds Russia has committed “widespread and systematic” attacks on Ukraine’s civilian population, including enforced disappearances and torture that constitute crimes against humanity.
“An Attack on the 1st Amendment”: Greenpeace Ordered to Pay $667M over Standing Rock Protests
Mar 20, 2025
Image Credit: Greenpeace/Stephanie Keith
A North Dakota jury ruled against Greenpeace Wednesday, ordering the environmental group to pay $667 million in damages in a defamation case brought by Energy Transfer. The pipeline company claimed Greenpeace organized the historic Standing Rock protests in 2016 and 2017, which were led by Indigenous water and land defenders. Lawyers for Greenpeace are appealing the ruling. This is Deepa Padmanabha.
Deepa Padmanabha: “I’m not surprised. I mean, when you look at the original complaint and this revisionist history of how Standing Rock came about and Greenpeace’s role, this is another revisionist history of what this case was about and what the outcome symbolizes. This is a an attack on the First Amendment. This is a very blatant attack.”
We’ll have more on this story after headlines.
Trump to Issue Executive Order to Dismantle Education Department
Mar 20, 2025
President Trump is expected to sign an executive order today to begin dismantling the Education Department, according to reports. The department cannot be formally shut down without congressional approval, but Trump’s order would further slash its workforce, restrict its authority, redistribute some of its key functions and hand over more decision-making authority to states and local school districts. The Trump administration has already cut the Education Department’s workforce roughly in half.
Education Department Sued for Freezing Student Loan Repayment Plans
Mar 20, 2025
In other education news, the American Federation of Teachers is suing Trump’s Department of Education for shutting down income-driven student loan repayment plans, used by millions of borrowers. The union accused the Trump administration of “effectively freezing the nation’s student loan system.”
Separately, two parents and a national disability rights group last week filed a lawsuit accusing Trump and Education Department head Linda McMahon of sabotaging civil rights enforcement in education by firing the agency’s investigators and lawyers who handled discrimination complaints at schools.
Justice Department Removes Guidance to Businesses on Disability Rights
Mar 20, 2025
Image Credit: Flickr / MTAPhotos
The Justice Department has removed a number of guidelines explaining how businesses can comply with the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act. The ADA.gov website had pages removed explaining accessibility requirements for shops, as well as guidance on mask wearing to protect against COVID.
ICE Detains Georgetown Researcher Who Spoke Out for Palestinian Rights
Mar 20, 2025
Image Credit: georgetown.edu
Federal immigration agents detained a Georgetown University postdoctoral researcher in peace and conflict studies this week, told him his visa was revoked, and are trying to deport him. Badar Khan Suri is an Indian national on a student visa. Suri’s wife is Mapheze Saleh, a U.S. citizen from Palestine and a Georgetown student who in recent weeks came under online attacks by pro-Zionist websites. She is the daughter of a former political adviser to the Hamas government. Suri’s lawyer says the pair is being targeted because they have spoken out for Palestinian rights.
Trump Administration Freezes $175 Million in Funds to UPenn over Trans Athletes
Mar 20, 2025
Image Credit: Brett Davis – USA Today Sports
The University of Pennsylvania is the latest school to be targeted by the Trump administration, which announced it’s suspending $175 million in federal funding to the Ivy League university as a penalty for allowing transgender athletes to compete in women’s sports.
This comes as Columbia is reportedly on the verge of acquiescing to Trump’s nine demands issued in order for his administration to restore $400 million in funding. The demands include banning face masks, ramping up Columbia’s law enforcement authority and placing the Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies Department under “academic receivership,” or external oversight. Trump set a deadline of today for Columbia to respond.
Princeton University President Christopher Eisgruber is calling on “universities and their leaders [to] speak up and litigate forcefully to protect their rights.” In a piece for the The Atlantic, Eisgruber calls Trump’s attack on Columbia the “greatest threat to American universities since the Red Scare of the 1950s.” He added, “Robust federal funding helped make American universities the world’s best, but it also created a huge risk.”
Meanwhile, the University of California said Wednesday it will stop requiring diversity statements in its hiring and imposed a systemwide hiring freeze amid threats by President Trump to withhold federal funds.
Judge Transfers Case of Jailed Palestinian Activist Mahmoud Khalil to New Jersey
Mar 20, 2025
In more news about Columbia, a judge has transferred Mahmoud Khalil’s case to New Jersey, where it will be overseen by President Biden-appointed Judge Michael Farbiarz. U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman cleared the way for Khalil to stay in the U.S. and challenge his arrest and the Trump administration’s attempts to deport him for protesting for Palestinian rights while he was a student at Columbia. Khalil is a permanent U.S. resident. He was arrested in Manhattan but detained in New Jersey when his lawyers filed suit. He was subsequently transferred to an ICE jail in Jena, Louisiana.
CAIR Calls on Harvard and UNH to Cancel Professorships of Former Biden Advisers
Mar 20, 2025
The Council on American-Islamic Relations has launched a campaign calling on the University of New Hampshire and Harvard to withdraw their hirings of former President Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan and former White House coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa Brett McGurk. CAIR said in a statement the two men “spent four years acting as shadow presidents and executing foreign policy disaster after foreign policy disaster, from the botched U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan to President Biden’s embrace of dictators he once pledged to ostracize to the horrific genocide in Gaza.”
Immigrant Rights Groups Sue ICE over “Enforced Disappearance” of 48 People
Mar 20, 2025
Image Credit: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
A coalition of rights groups and community advocates in New Mexico has filed a civil rights complaint, warning 48 people have been disappeared after a wave of immigration raids in Santa Fe, Roswell and Albuquerque. This is Rebecca Sheff, attorney for the ACLU of New Mexico.
Rebecca Sheff: “We know that enforced disappearance is unlawful under the U.S. Constitution. We know that disappearing people is also prohibited under international human rights law. We know that when a government apprehends somebody and conceals what’s happened to them or their whereabouts, that’s a human rights violation.”
The coalition of groups is calling on New Mexico legislators to pass two bills to protect residents: HB 9, the Immigrant Safety Act, and SB 250, the No State and Local Resources for Immigration Enforcement Act.
Pentagon Appeals Judge’s Order Freezing Purge of Transgender Military Members
Mar 20, 2025
Image Credit: Pentagon Handout
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said he is appealing a ruling by a federal judge Tuesday which blocked the Trump administration’s ban on transgender military members. U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes ruled the sweeping ban violates the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause, and called it “soaked in animus.”
Pentagon Purges Thousands of Articles About Minority and LGBTQ+ Personnel
Mar 20, 2025
Image Credit: defense.gov
In more military news, the Pentagon has removed or earmarked for removal at least 24,000 articles from its website. They include historical content on military members of color, women, and military members from the LGBTQ community, as well as pages on Holocaust remembrance, cancer awareness, sexual assault and suicide prevention. A page on groundbreaking African American baseball player Jackie Robinson’s military career had recently disappeared, and then reappeared after public backlash.