International News Briefs for Wednesday, June 25, 2025
HAVANA TIMES – Here are some of the top international news stories compiled by Democracy Now on Wednesday, June 25, 2025.
Trump Rejects Pentagon Assessment That U.S. Strikes Failed to “Obliterate” Iran’s Nuclear Program
Jun 25, 2025
A classified report by the Defense Intelligence Agency has concluded that U.S. air strikes on Iran ordered by President Trump failed to collapse Iran’s nuclear facilities buried deep underground. That’s according to three sources familiar with the report, who say the Pentagon assessed that Trump’s attacks only set back Iran’s nuclear program by months — rather than the “total obliteration” claimed by the White House. President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio rejected the DIA’s findings, but on Tuesday the Trump administration canceled Congressional briefings on the Iran attack, prompting frustration from Republicans and Democrats alike. Illinois Democrat Mike Quigley told The Washington Post, “They don’t delay briefings that have good news.”
Israeli Attacks on Gaza Kill Dozens, Including Palestinians Seeking Humanitarian Aid
Jun 25, 2025
In Gaza, Al Jazeera reports at least 41 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since midnight, including more Palestinians targeted by Israeli forces while seeking food and humanitarian aid. This comes as Israel has issued new forced displacement orders for northern Gaza. Palestinians say there is no safe place left for them to go.
Matar Azak: “We are scared and terrified by these new and repeated Israeli threats that have been ongoing since the start of this war — ordering us to go to the south of the strip. But there is no safe area that we can go to! At this stage, we prefer to die where we are, rather than leave the north of the strip for the south.”
Israel’s repeated targeting of Palestinians seeking aid also comes as the Trump administration has approved $30 million in funding for the new shadowy U.S.- and Israeli-backed aid operation, the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which is run by private contracting firms led by former U.S. intelligence and military officers.
Russian Missile Attack on Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk Region Kills 19, Wounds Hundreds
Jun 25, 2025
In Ukraine, a barrage of Russian missiles struck in and around the southeastern city of Dnipro on Tuesday, killing at least 19 people and injuring more than 270, including children. It was among the deadliest attacks on Ukraine since Russia’s invasion, causing extensive damage to schools, a cathedral, a sports arena, a music venue, and eight medical centers — along with residences and even a passenger train. Tuesday’s attack came just one day after Russian strikes on the capital Kyiv killed nine people and wounded more than 30 others. Russia’s stepped-up violence came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy traveled to the NATO summit in The Hague, where he’s set to meet today with President Trump and other leaders of NATO member countries.
Leaders of NATO Member Nations Agree to Boost Military Spending to 5% of GDP
Jun 25, 2025
President Trump has shared personal messages from NATO chief Mark Rutte praising his “decisive action” against Iran’s nuclear program and claiming U.S. strikes were not a violation of international law. Non-NATO nations have widely condemned the U.S. attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites, which U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres says will cause “serious damage to the international order.” On Tuesday, Rutte welcomed leaders of NATO’s 32 member nations to a summit in The Hague where he echoed President Trump’s call for a radical increase in military spending.
Mark Rutte: “The defense investment plan that allies will agree in The Hague introduces a new baseline: Five percent of GDP to be invested in defense. This is a quantum leap that is ambitious, historic, and fundamental to securing our future.”
Protesters Reject NATO’s Call to Vastly Boost Military Spending
Jun 25, 2025
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called NATO’s 5 percent target “unreasonable” and said Spain would hold its military spending at just over 2 percent of gross domestic product. Meanwhile, protests are growing among citizens of NATO member nations. On Tuesday, demonstrators marched through Slovenia’s capital to oppose NATO expansion.
Laura Vrhovnik: “This means for us that the remnants of social security that we still have — from kindergartens and schools to the collapsing health system, and now pension reform — all of this will continue to be eaten away at, supposedly, because we would rather OUT: give it to militarization.”
Zohran Mamdani Claims Historic Victory Over Andrew Cuomo in NYC Democratic Mayoral Primary
Jun 25, 2025
Here in New York, in a stunning victory, Democratic Socialist and New York State Representative Zohran Mamdani has defeated disgraced former Governor Andrew Cuomo in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary. Cuomo conceded Tuesday night after Mamdani took a commanding lead, with over 43 percent of voters in the ranked-choice election. Mamdani took to the stage Tuesday night as supporters burst into applause at his election party.
Zohran Mamdani: “Today, eight months after launching this campaign with the vision of a city that every New Yorker could afford, we have won.”
If elected in November’s general election, Mamdani would become the first Muslim mayor of New York, and at 33 years old, its youngest mayor in over a century. We’ll have more on Mamdani’s historic victory later in the broadcast.
Court Orders Return of Salvadoran Immigrant Deported Due to “Administrative Errors”
Jun 25, 2025
A federal court in New York has ordered the Trump administration to “facilitate” the return of a Salvadoran immigrant who was wrongfully sent to El Salvador last month — despite the same court instructing Trump officials in May not to remove the man from the U.S. The Trump administration admitted it had removed Jordin Melgar-Salmeron due to “a confluence of administrative errors.”
This comes as immigration rights advocates nationwide are speaking up against the growing collaboration between local police and Immigration and Customs Enforcement as the Trump administration intensifies its mass raids. In Los Angeles, community organizers rallied on Tuesday, decrying the LAPD’s complicity with ICE. This is Ron Gochez, member of the grassroots community defense group Unión del Barrio, speaking outside the LAPD headquarters in downtown Los Angeles as he showed footage of police officers standing in line with ICE agents during a recent raid.
Ron Gochez: “I think the world is seeing the repression that we’re living in Los Angeles, where people are kidnapping our community. They’re masked gunmen running around kidnapping people. And today, the police department collaborated, participated, protected these operations, so that’s why we’re out here today — to denounce the police department. This city is supposed to be a sanctuary city, but today it was proven that it’s not.”
Click here to see our recent interview with Ron Gochez. Nearly 60,000 people are believed to be currently detained at ICE jails across the country — a record high as Trump adviser Stephen Miller announced “Operation At-Large,” a program to aggressively target immigrants with a daily quota of 3,000 ICE arrests per day.
Trump Adviser Stephen Miller Holds Six-Figure Investment in Tech Firm Profiting from Deportations
Jun 25, 2025
A damning new report has exposed Stephen Miller’s financial interests at Palantir, a tech and AI company that stands to make millions of dollars off Trump’s immigration raids and mass detention. The public report says Miller owns between $100,000 and $250,000 in assets at Palantir, which has been tapped by the Trump administration to compile information on U.S. residents for a “master database” based on tax returns, immigration records, and more. Palantir also has a $30 million contract with ICE to provide almost real-time visibility into immigrants’ movements. Palantir was co-founded by the far-right billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel.
Senate Health Committee Chair Criticizes “Unqualified” Vaccine Advisory Panel Named by RFK Jr.
Jun 25, 2025
The chair of the Senate health committee has called on a panel of vaccine advisers to delay plans to meet this week, after accusing Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of stacking the panel with unqualified members and vocal vaccine critics. Republican Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana — a medical doctor who spent decades promoting vaccinations for children — wrote that the group Kennedy appointed lacks experience studying microbiology, epidemiology, or immunology. Cassidy infamously voted to confirm RFK Jr. in February, despite Kennedy’s long history of promoting public health conspiracy theories and anti-vaccine disinformation. On Tuesday, RFK Jr. appeared before a House subcommittee where he was grilled over his pledge to Senator Cassidy that he would not change the makeup of the vaccine advisory panel. This is Democratic Congressmember Kim Schrier of Washington.
Rep. Kim Schrier: “You lied to Senator Cassidy. You have lied to the American people. You have lied to parents about vaccines for 20 years. And I also want to be clear that I will lay all responsibility for every death from a vaccine-preventable illness at your feet.”
Kenyans Mark One-Year Anniversary of Youth-Led Uprising That Was Violently Suppressed
Jun 25, 2025
In Kenya, thousands of protesters have taken to the streets of Nairobi and other cities to mark the one-year anniversary of a youth-led uprising against high taxes, poor economic conditions, and the rule of President William Ruto.
Sarah Wanjiri: “For me today it means that revolution today is coming to Kenya. I pray that this is the day that will change everything — that [President William] Ruto will go today.”
In response to this week’s peaceful protests, Kenyan police blocked major roads leading to Nairobi’s central business district and draped government buildings with razor wire. The brutal crackdown on protests a year ago killed at least 60 people, with hundreds more injured.
Nigeria Posthumously Pardons the “Ogoni Nine,” Including Slain Environmental Activist Ken Saro-Wiwa
Jun 25, 2025
Nigeria’s government has posthumously pardoned nine activists known as the Ogoni Nine, who were hanged in 1995 after a sham military trial that targeted peaceful protesters demanding an end to oil drilling and environmental damage in the Niger Delta. Among those receiving a pardon is the late Ken Saro-Wiwa, who led the movement against the Shell Oil Company’s practices in Ogoniland. In a statement, Amnesty International’s Nigeria director said the pardons fall far short of the justice the Ogoni Nine need and deserve. He added, “The execution of these activists nearly 30 years ago has given the Nigerian government and oil companies, including Shell, license to crack down on protests and intimidate people in the Niger Delta who have been demanding justice and an end to their toxic pollution.”