International News Briefs for Tuesday, April 1, 2025
HAVANA TIMES – Here are some of the top international news stories compiled by Democracy Now on Tuesday, April 1, 2025.
Israeli Attacks on Gaza Kill 42 Palestinians as Army Orders Rafah Residents to Flee
Apr 01, 2025
Israel’s army has ordered the mass expulsion of Palestinians from some of the Gaza Strip’s most populated areas, including the southern city of Rafah and parts of Khan Younis. The order is uprooting hundreds of thousands of people who’ve previously had to flee Israel’s repeated forced evacuation orders. This comes amid stepped-up Israeli attacks that, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, killed at least 42 people and injured over 180 in just 24 hours.
Haifa Duhair: “There are bombings, there are missiles, and there are projectiles. But there are no means of transportation to leave. We prepared our things but had no means to transport them. We walked. We walked to protect our children’s souls. We wanted to take our children and leave with them, not caring about the house or anything. The crossing is closed. And life, do you know? Life is hell. Hell, hell, hell. You know, the Gaza Strip is no longer fit for the living. That’s true.”
Israel’s military has assassinated another journalist in Gaza — at least the 209th Palestinian media worker killed since October 2023. Radio journalist Mohamed Al-Bardawil was killed along with his wife and their three children in an Israeli strike on their home in Khan Younis just before dawn.
Israel Bombs Beirut Suburb, Killing at Least 4
Apr 01, 2025
In Lebanon, at least four people were killed and seven others wounded overnight when Israel attacked a southern suburb of the capital Beirut. The airstrike reportedly came without warning. It was the second such attack in less than a week and came despite a ceasefire agreement Israel signed with Hezbollah in November.
Top Netanyahu Aides Arrested on Corruption Charges as Anti-Government Protests Continue
Apr 01, 2025
In Jerusalem, Israeli police arrested a dozen protesters Monday as thousands marched calling for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resign, accusing him of sabotaging the release of remaining hostages held in Gaza and subverting efforts at a ceasefire.
Michelle Zohary: “The government has decided to go into holiday, the parliament, while we’re still in a war, there’s still a bad situation going on. The hostages are still in Gaza. And this is an absurd situation, and we want it to end. We’re also here to call for elections. We don’t trust this government. Most of the people don’t trust this government, and it has no more authority to rule.”
The continuing protests came as Israeli police arrested two of Netanyahu’s top aides, Yonatan Urich and Eli Feldstein, charging them with accepting bribes from Qatar and then laundering the money. On Monday, Netanyahu’s separate corruption trial was interrupted when he was summoned to testify in his aides’ case.
Cornell Doctoral Student Momodou Taal Leaves U.S. Amid Deportation Threats
Apr 01, 2025
Image Credit: X/@MomodouTaal
A dual citizen of the United Kingdom and the Gambia who was twice suspended for joining pro-Palestinian and anti-genocide campus protests at Cornell University has left the United States, following ongoing threats of deportation by the Trump administration. Momodou Taal explained his decision to leave, writing on social media, “The repression of Palestinian solidarity is now being used to wage a wholesale attack on any form of expression that challenges oppressive and exploitative relations in the U.S. … For every person that has remained silent, just know that you are not safe either. Is the imprisonment of those who speak out against a genocide a reflection of your values? Is this the kind of nation you want to live in?” Click here to see our interviews with Momodou Taal when he was in Ithaca.
Columbia Grads Tear Up Diplomas to Protest University’s Capitulation to Trump over Gaza Protests
Apr 01, 2025
Image Credit: The Indypendent/Nina Berman
Several alumni from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs have publicly ripped up their diplomas to protest the Trump administration’s jailing of Mahmoud Khalil, the Palestinian Columbia student protest leader who was abducted by ICE and flown to an immigration jail in Louisiana, even though he’s a permanent U.S. resident. Protesters accuse Columbia’s administration of putting collaboration with federal agencies ahead of protecting students and their rights to free speech.
Jasmine Sarryeh-Jemeršić: “Columbia loves to celebrate its Vietnam-era legacy. It loves to talk about how brave students were for protesting. But why was it courageous then and criminalized now?”
Trevor Kenmure: “Columbia’s vicious crackdown on protest, its attempts to silence pro-Palestinian students and faculty, has helped pave the way for the American fascism we see unfolding around us.”
Trump Administration Threatens to Withhold $8.7 Billion in Grants to Harvard over Gaza Protests
Apr 01, 2025
The Trump administration has launched an investigation into Harvard University, threatening to cut off more than $8.7 billion in federal grants and contracts over the school’s response to student-led campus protests in solidarity with Gaza. A federal antisemitism task force is expected to visit the Harvard campus soon. A scathing op-ed in The Harvard Crimson student newspaper condemns the response of university administrators as “shameful,” adding, “Students are being hurt, threatened, and snatched off the street in real time as our administrators — whose primary responsibility should be defending the wellbeing of students — stay silent, leaving students to feel that they must fend for themselves.” Last week, the Harvard chapter of the American Association of University Professors joined a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its deportation of international students on ideological grounds. Meanwhile, 70% of Harvard Law School professors have signed a letter condemning the Trump administration for attacking law firms that represent causes and clients opposed by the Trump administration.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Promises “Reciprocal Blow” to Trump’s Threat of Violence
Apr 01, 2025
President Trump on Sunday threatened to bomb Iran unless it reaches a new agreement with the U.S. over its nuclear program. Trump’s threat comes even though he unilaterally withdrew the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal known as the JCPOA in 2018. On Sunday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian ruled out direct talks with the United States but said Iran remained open to indirect negotiations. Meanwhile, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei promised a punishing response to any U.S. attack.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: “The enmity from the U.S. and Israel has always been there. They threaten to attack us, which we don’t think is very probable. But if they commit any mischief, they will surely receive a strong reciprocal blow.”
China Holds War Games Off Taiwan After Hegseth Pledges Military Cooperation with Japan
Apr 01, 2025
Image Credit: X/@SecDef
China staged large-scale military drills Tuesday off the coasts of Taiwan, surrounding the island with land, air and sea forces in what the Chinese Foreign Ministry called a “stern warning” against Taiwanese independence. As it launched the war games, China’s Eastern Theater Command called Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te a “parasite” and released a video depicting him as an insect held by chopsticks over a burning Taiwan. Earlier today, China’s Foreign Ministry called Taiwan’s eventual reunification with China “an unstoppable historical trend.”
Guo Jiakun: “The Democratic Progressive Party authorities stubbornly adhere to a separatist stance on Taiwan independence and attempt to seek independence by relying on external forces. Such efforts are doomed to failure, as they are like a mantis trying to stop a chariot. China’s reunification is an unstoppable historical trend. It will happen, and it must happen.”
China’s military drills come after U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrapped up his first official visit to Asia Sunday with reassurances to Japan that President Trump is seeking to boost military cooperation with its allies in the region to counter China’s power.
Sen. Cory Booker Holds All-Night Filibuster Against Trump Agenda
Apr 01, 2025
Image Credit: C-SPAN2
On Capitol Hill, New Jersey Democratic Senator Cory Booker is continuing a marathon speech from the Senate floor warning the U.S. faces a crisis over President Trump’s disregard for the rule of law and his efforts to dismantle entire government programs and agencies. Booker’s all-night filibuster came after the State Department formally notified Congress that it is dissolving the U.S. Agency for International Development, USAID. Also on Monday, the Trump administration announced it would place the entire staff of the Institute of Museum and Library Services on administrative leave. The independent federal agency provides grants to libraries and museums across the U.S. Meanwhile, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has ordered the closure of the National Environmental Museum at the EPA’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Federal Court Temporarily Restores Protected Status for 350,000 Venezuelan Immigrants
Apr 01, 2025
A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s efforts to end deportation relief and work permits for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan immigrants with temporary protected status. Approximately 350,000 Venezuelans with TPS could have faced mass deportation by early April, but the decision will allow them to remain in the United States while the measure is challenged in court. In his ruling, San Francisco Federal Judge Edward Chen said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s move to terminate TPS for Venezuelans would “inflict irreparable harm on hundreds of thousands of persons whose lives, families, and livelihoods will be severely disrupted, cost the United States billions in economic activity, and injure public health and safety in communities throughout the United States.”
U.S. Transfers More Immigrants to Salvadoran Prison, Admits to “Error” in Deportation of Maryland Dad
Apr 01, 2025
Image Credit: Salvadoran Presidency Handout
The Trump administration has transferred another group of immigrants to a supermax mega-prison complex in El Salvador — the second such removal from the U.S. in two weeks. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday 17 immigrants from Venezuela and El Salvador accused of being gang members had been sent to the Salvadoran mega-prison Sunday after previously being detained at the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. Hundreds of immigrants and asylum seekers have been expelled to El Salvador without due process, with many accused of belonging to gangs largely on the basis of having tattoos. One Venezuelan asylum seeker currently languishing in the Salvadoran supermax prison was detained and removed for tattoos on each forearm — one that read “mom” and one that read “dad.”
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has admitted in a court filing that a Salvadoran father with protected status was among the hundreds of immigrants who were transferred to El Salvador’s mega-prison complex earlier this month. Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, who lived in Maryland with his family, was granted protected status in 2019, prohibiting the federal government from sending him back to El Salvador after he fled gang violence. The Trump administration said Garcia was removed to El Salvador “because of an administrative error” and that it could not bring him back to the U.S. because he’s now in Salvadoran custody.
On Transgender Day of Visibility, Activists Condemn MAGA Attacks on Trans and Nonbinary People
Apr 01, 2025
People around the world marked International Transgender Day of Visibility Monday. Here in the U.S., thousands gathered nationwide as trans and nonbinary communities fight back against repeated attacks by the Trump administration. This is 17-year-old Lorelei Crean.
Lorelei Crean: “They are trying to criminalize our existence. You see that even on Trump’s first day in office. He passed an executive order declaring that there’s only male and female and eliminated the option of X gender markers on passports. That was a direct attempt to erase trans people. Then you saw it with his ban on gender-affirming care for people under 19. That’s again trying to erase the existence of trans people, by denying them lifesaving healthcare. We see over and over again that the Trump administration is targeting trans people in order to attempt to erase us. And that’s why we are showing up, to show them that this is not going to happen, that we are visible, showing our visibility, that he is not going to erase us, no matter how hard he tries.”