International News Briefs for Thursday, November 13, 2025
HAVANA TIMES – We bring you some of the top international news stories compiled by Democracy Now on Thursday, November 13 2025.
Trump Signs Stopgap Spending Bill, Ending Longest-Ever U.S. Government Shutdown
Nov 13, 2025
President Trump has signed a bill to fund the government through the end of January, bringing an end to the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. His signature came hours after the House of Representatives approved the spending package largely along party lines, and 43 days after the shutdown furloughed hundreds of thousands of government workers, forced hundreds of thousands more to work without pay, caused the cancellation of thousands of flights and froze SNAP food stamp benefits for 1 out of every 8 people across the U.S. Ahead of the House vote, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries rallied Democratic lawmakers and promised to fight soaring health care costs, which are set to spiral even higher under the Republican spending bill.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries: “Now, Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the presidency. They own the mess that has been created in the United States of America. They own it.”
This comes after eight members of the Senate Democratic caucus joined Republicans to approve the legislation on Monday, even though the bill did not include Democrats’ key demand — an extension of the Affordable Care Act subsidies.
“Blatantly Corrupt Self-Dealing”: Spending Bill Rider Allows GOP Senators to Sue DOJ for Up to $1M
Nov 13, 2025
There’s growing backlash over a provision of the spending bill that would allow eight Republican senators to personally sue the government for up to $1 million if their phone records were seized as part of special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into the Jan. 6th, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Maryland Democrat Jamie Raskin called the measure “one of the most blatantly corrupt provisions for political self-dealing and the plunder of public resources ever proposed in Congress.” On Wednesday Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said he was “shocked” and “angry” after he learned of the provision and promised to schedule a vote next week to repeal it.
Speaker Johnson Swears In Arizona Congressmember Adelita Grijalva After 50 Day Delay
Nov 13, 2025
Arizona Democrat Adelita Grijalva was sworn into office by House Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday, 50 days after winning her seat in Congress. Soon after, Grijalva provided the final signature on a discharge petition to force a vote on the Justice Department’s full release of the Epstein files.
Congressmember Adelita Grijalva: For one individual to be able to silence 800,000 people, it’s unconscionable. It’s grosero. It’s just not OK. Speaker Johnson purposefully obstructed my swearing-in by canceling vote after vote. And the Epstein Files discharge petition sat one signature short. With my signing, we move one step closer to the truth, the truth that they will try to deny, but that survivors deserve their day of justice and the American people demand it.”
We’ll speak with Congressmember Adelita Grijalva later in the broadcast.
Trump “Knew About the Girls”: House Democrats Release New Jeffrey Epstein Emails
Nov 13, 2025
Grijalva’s signature came as Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released three emails by the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, in which he referenced Donald Trump. In one email from 2019, Epstein wrote that Trump “knew about the girls.” In another email from 2011 to his co-conspirator and convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein mentioned that Trump had “spent hours” at Epstein’s house with Virginia Giuffre; earlier this year, Trump had said Epstein “stole” her from his club’s spa. Soon after the release of the three emails mentioning Trump, Republicans released a trove of over 20,000 emails from the Epstein estate. In one of them, Epstein described Trump as a “dirty” businessman who was “borderline insane.” On Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked about Trump’s ties to Epstein as described in the emails.
Journalist: “Did the President ever spend hours at Jeffrey Epstein’s house with a victim?”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt: “These emails prove absolutely nothing, other than the fact that President Trump did nothing wrong.”
This comes as President Trump reportedly called Republican Congressmembers Lauren Boebert and Nancy Mace in a failed bid to have them remove their names from a discharge petition calling for a vote demanding that the Justice Department release the Epstein files. Congressmember Boebert was also reportedly summoned to the White House Situation Room Wednesday for a meeting with Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel to discuss the Epstein files. We’ll have more on this story after headlines, when we’ll speak with a lawyer who represents several survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s and Ghislaine Maxwell’s abuse.
Israeli Warplanes Continue to Bomb Gaza Cities Despite Ceasefire Deal
Nov 13, 2025
Israel has carried out fresh attacks on Gaza in its latest violation of October’s ceasefire agreement. Israeli airstrikes were reported in Beit Lehia, eastern parts of Gaza City, and in Khan Younis, where some areas are also under Israeli artillery fire. On Wednesday Israel reopened the Zikim crossing into northern Gaza for the first time in two months — following repeated pleas by U.N. aid agencies to allow food and other essential goods to flow to communities left hungry and destitute by Israel’s scorched-earth bombing campaign. Meanwhile Israel is increasingly barring foreign doctors from volunteering in Gaza – like California trauma surgeon Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, who says he was blocked from entering Gaza this week. The World Health Organization warns only half of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are even partially functioning. This is Mohammed Wael Helles, a 14-year-old Palestinian boy who’s gone months without proper care for a severe spinal cord injury he received when an Israeli airstrike struck the vehicle he was riding in.
Mohammed Wael Helles: “I have been waiting for surgery for 50 days, and my surgery shouldn’t be delayed because I have a severed spinal cord. Also, there are thousands of people waiting for surgery rooms. I also have vertebrae fractures and I can’t breathe.”
Israel’s Knesset Advances Death Penalty Bill for Individuals Charged With Terrorism
Nov 13, 2025
Israel’s parliament has advanced a bill that would introduce the death penalty for individuals charged with terrorism against the state, and against those who kill Israelis. Critics of the bill point out that the law would only apply to Palestinians charged with terrorism, and not Jewish extremists who target Palestinians.
United Nations Calls for Ceasefire and Humanitarian Aid Corridor in Sudan
Nov 13, 2025
The head of the United Nations migration agency has called for a ceasefire and a humanitarian aid corridor in Sudan to help civilians trapped in the city of El Fasher, which was captured by the paramilitary group the Rapid Support Forces last month. The U.N. is also warning that two out of three people in Sudan are in dire need of aid, and that the situation is “horrific for civilians”. Women fleeing El Fasher described widespread killings, sexual violence, rape, and the disappearance of their children. This is Anna Mutavati, U.N. Women Regional Director for East and Southern Africa.
Anna Mutavati: “Women’s bodies, ladies and gentlemen, have just become a crime scene in Sudan. There are no safe spaces that are left. No way for women to gather safely, to seek protection or even access the most basic psychosocial care.”
Climate Action Tracker: World on Pace to See Global Temperature Rise of 2.6 Degrees Celsius
Nov 13, 2025
A new report by the Climate Action Tracker finds the world is on pace to see the average global temperature rise by a catastrophic 2.6 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels – far above the 1.5 degree limit to global heating proposed under the Paris climate agreement. Separately the Global Carbon Project warned greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels are on track to rise by about 1 percent this year — with the growth of renewable energy failing to prevent record consumption of coal, oil and gas.
Climate Activists Launch People’s Summit Flotilla at COP30 U.N. Climate Talks in Brazil
Nov 13, 2025
On Wednesday thousands of climate activists in Belém, Brazil launched a People’s Summit Flotilla to demand urgent action at the COP30 U.N. climate talks. This is Carolina Pasquali, director of Greenpeace Brazil, which organized the flotilla of about 200 vessels.
Carolina Pasquali: “We are actually bringing climate negotiators and climate leaders to the heart of the forest to experience firsthand what it is to live here, remembering that the Amazon is at tipping point and that the population here are suffering. We are suffering from droughts. We are suffering from climate change, from fires. This forest is a rainforest that should not burn. It doesn’t burn naturally. It only burns because there is a human ignition and because the forest is drier.”
Detainees at For-Profit ICE Jail Accuse Prison Guard of Sexual Assault and Harassment
Nov 13, 2025
In immigration news, detainees at a for-profit ICE jail in California are accusing a prison guard of sexually harassing and assaulting them. In federal complaints, prisoners say a guard referred to as “Lieutenant Quin” summoned them from their dorms to an office late at night with no security cameras present and sexually assaulted them; one prisoner who threatened to defend himself says he was warned that “Quin” would summon prison guards and leave him facing charges of assaulting an officer. “Quin” was later promoted and sent to another ICE jail in Louisiana. Both facilities are run by the GEO Group, a Florida-based private prison company.
Brother of Detainee Who Died in ICE Custody Sues Government
Nov 13, 2025
The brother of an ICE detainee who died at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Pennsylvania is suing the government for more information about the jail’s conditions and the circumstances of his brother’s death. Chaofeng Ge, a citizen of China, was found hanging by his neck in a shower stall in August. His family said that his hands and legs were tied behind his back. This is his brother, Yanfeng Ge, speaking to reporters Wednesday.
Yanfeng Ge: “It filled me with great sadness to think of his final moments alone, scared, and in pain. I don’t know how he could have had the opportunity to take his own life, or what drove him to do so. But these sorts of things should not happen to people who are in the government’s custody.”