News Briefs for Thursday January 2, 2025
HAVANA TIMES – Here are the top international news stories compiled by Democracy Now on Thursday January 2, 2024.
Israeli Assault on Gaza Continues as Data Show 6% of Palestinians Have Fled or Been Killed
Jan 02, 2025
In Gaza, Israeli attacks have killed at least 52 Palestinians since dawn, after a wave of strikes that killed 28 people on New Year’s Day, including children and women. Israeli attacks struck northern Gaza’s Jabaliya, the central Bureij refugee camp, Gaza City and a tent camp sheltering displaced families in al-Mawasi, in southern Khan Younis, in an area designated by Israel as a so-called humanitarian zone.
This comes as a seventh infant in Gaza has died from hypothermia while displaced people in tents struggle to keep warm amid days of heavy rain.
Samira Al-Ashqar: “We are living here in the cold in a state of hunger and thirst, lacking clothes, blankets and mattresses. The rain pours on us all night while the tarps leak, and no one acknowledges us. Last year, we lived in Rafah. Before that, we were in Beit Lahia. Then we moved to Rafah. And from Rafah, we came to Khan Younis. We still don’t know what our fate is or where we will be relocated next.”
New data show Gaza’s population has fallen by 6% since the start of Israel’s assault in October 2023. The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics estimates about 100,000 people have left Gaza, while more than 55,000 people have been killed by Israeli attacks or are missing and presumed dead.
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Palestinian Authority Bans Al Jazeera in West Bank After Critical Coverage
Jan 02, 2025
Image Credit: Al Jazeera
In the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Authority says it has “temporarily” halted the Al Jazeera TV network from operating or broadcasting in the territory, citing what it called “inciting material and reports that were deceiving and stirring strife.” This follows Al Jazeera’s critical coverage of the Fatah faction which dominates the PA, as well as recent deadly clashes between Palestinian security forces and armed Palestinian groups. Al Jazeera condemned the move to censor its coverage as “nothing but an attempt to dissuade the channel from covering the rapidly escalating events.”
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Biden Says Texan Who Killed 15 in New Orleans Pledged Allegiance to ISIS Before New Year’s Assault
Jan 02, 2025
Image Credit: 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division via Facebook
President Biden says the man who drove a pickup truck into throngs of New Year’s revelers in New Orleans early Wednesday had posted videos to social media hours earlier pledging allegiance to the militant group ISIS. The attack killed 15 people and wounded at least 35 others, carving a path of destruction down Bourbon Street before the assailant was killed in a firefight with police officers.
President-elect Trump responded on social media, writing, “When I said that the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in our country, that statement was constantly refuted by Democrats and the Fake News Media, but it turned out to be true.” However, President Biden revealed the suspect is a 42-year-old U.S. citizen from Houston named Shamsud-Din Jabbar, who was born in Texas.
President Joe Biden: “He served in the United States Army on active duty for many years. He also served in the Army Reserve until a few years ago. The FBI also reported to me that mere hours before the attack, he posted videos on social media indicating that he was inspired by ISIS, expressing a desire to kill.”
The annual college football game hosted at the nearby Superdome, the Sugar Bowl, was delayed until Thursday following the attack. The FBI said it found an explosive device in the Ford F-150 pickup truck used by the suspect. Shamsud-Din Jabbar had two prior criminal offenses: one in 2002 for theft and another in 2005 for driving with an invalid license. Jabbar obtained a real estate license in 2019; the following year, he posted a video to YouTube introducing himself as a professional real estate agent. Court documents show Jabbar struggled with his finances. In 2020, his second wife was granted a restraining order forbidding Jabbar from sending threatening messages or causing “bodily injury” to his spouse or their child.
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One Dead, 7 Injured After Tesla Cybertruck Explodes Outside Trump Hotel in Las Vegas
Jan 02, 2025
Image Credit: Alcides Antunes
In Nevada, one person was found dead and seven others were injured Wednesday morning when a Tesla Cybertruck filled with fuel canisters and fireworks exploded outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas. Surveillance video shows the vehicle parking directly in front of the hotel before suddenly erupting in flames moments later. The blast sent up a huge column of smoke but caused only minor damage to the hotel. The FBI said it was investigating whether the incident was an act of terrorism and whether it might be connected to the attack in New Orleans earlier Wednesday. The cybertruck was rented in Colorado by someone using the same car rental app used by the New Orleans assailant. But so far officials have not publicly identified the body found inside the vehicle and have not determined whether the explosion was intentional.
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FBI Finds 150+ Pipe Bombs in Home of Far-Right Extremist Who Used Biden’s Photo for Target Practice
Jan 02, 2025
Image Credit: FBI
The FBI says it collected more than 150 pipe bombs during a December raid on a 20-acre property in eastern Virginia. It was the largest cache of homemade explosives ever found by the agency. Federal prosecutors have described the accused bomb maker, 36-year-old Brad Spafford, as an anti-government extremist who used a photo of President Joe Biden for target practice as he pursued a sniper qualification.
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Pentagon Says It Targeted Houthis in U.S. Airstrikes That Followed Israeli Attacks on Yemen
Jan 02, 2025
The Pentagon says it launched a wave of airstrikes on Sana’a and other parts of Yemen on Tuesday. U.S. Central Command says it targeted Houthi command and weapons production facilities. The attacks came just after Israel bombed the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah and the main airport in Sana’a, killing at least six people. A Houthi spokesperson said Wednesday the movement would continue attacks aimed at ending Israel’s assault on Gaza.
Yahya Sarea: “The Yemeni armed forces affirm their continued operations in support of Gaza, and these operations will not stop until the aggression on Gaza is stopped and the siege is lifted.”
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Russian Attack Kills 2 In Kyiv on New Year’s Day as Ukraine Halts Flow of Russian Gas to Europe
Jan 02, 2025
Image Credit: State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Kyiv
In Ukraine, two people were killed and six others wounded Wednesday as Russia’s military began the new year with fresh airstrikes on the capital Kyiv. The attacks came as the Russian fossil fuel giant Gazprom said it had halted the flow of gas to Europe via pipelines crossing Ukraine. Until January 1, Kyiv had allowed Russian oil and gas to cross Ukrainian territory for decades — even after Russia’s 2022 invasion — providing a major source of revenue to both Ukraine and Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the halt of Russian gas shipments as “one of Moscow’s biggest defeats.”
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Russia Battles Massive Oil Spill Near Crimea
Jan 02, 2025
Russia says about 10,000 volunteers have joined efforts to contain a massive oil spill from two tankers in the Kerch Strait, near the Ukrainian territory of Crimea, which Russia invaded and annexed in 2014. Since mid-December, the storm-stricken tankers have spilled 200,000 tons of heavy fuel oil, fouling dozens of miles of shoreline. So far Russia says it has removed more than 70,000 tons of contaminated sand and soil.
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Honduras May Cancel Military Cooperation with U.S. Unless Trump Cancels Mass Expulsion Plans
Jan 02, 2025
Honduran President Xiomara Castro has warned that she might seek to cancel military cooperation with the United States if President-elect Trump makes good on his promises of mass deportations, denial of asylum claims and family separations at the U.S.-Mexico border. Castro made the warning in a New Year’s Day message in which she called for constructive dialogue with the incoming administration.
President Xiomara Castro: “Faced with a hostile attitude of mass expulsion of our brothers, we would have to consider a change in our policies of cooperation with the United States, especially in the military arena, where, without paying a cent for decades, they maintain military bases in our territory, which in this case would lose all reason to exist in Honduras.”
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Ivory Coast to Expel French Soldiers, Following Other Former French Colonies in Africa
Jan 02, 2025
The president of the Ivory Coast says he has asked France to withdraw its troops from the West African country. Ivory Coast officially gained independence from French colonial rule in 1960, but France has maintained a military presence for decades, with some 600 soldiers remaining in the country when President Alassane Ouattara announced they would have to depart.
President Alassane Ouattara: “My dear compatriots, dear brothers and sisters, we can be proud of our army, whose modernization is now a reality. It is within this framework that we have decided on the coordinated and organized withdrawal of French forces from Côte d’Ivoire.”
This follows the expulsion of French troops from several other African nations in recent months: Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Senegal and Chad. Of Africa’s former French colonies, only Djibouti and Gabon will continue to host French forces.
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South Korea’s Yoon Resists Arrest Warrant over Failed Martial Law Declaration
Jan 02, 2025
South Korea’s impeached former president has pledged to “fight until the end” as he resists a warrant for his arrest over his short-lived declaration of martial law in December. On Tuesday, a court in Seoul ordered Yoon Suk Yeol to be detained and for his office and residence to be searched. So far Yoon’s presidential security service has blocked investigators’ access amid objections by Yoon’s lawyers. Investigators have until January 6 to execute their search warrant but can request an extension. If convicted of leading a rebellion, Yoon faces life imprisonment or the death penalty.
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Flight Data Recorder Recovered from South Korean Airline Crash That Killed 179
Jan 02, 2025
In more news from South Korea, police have raided the offices of Jeju Air as officials probe the cause of the airliner crash at Muan International Airport on Sunday that killed 179 people. Officials say a flight data recorder recovered from the wreckage of the Boeing 737-800 aircraft was damaged and will have to be sent to the United States for analysis by the National Transportation Safety Board and Boeing.
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North Carolina Governor Commutes Death Sentences of 15 Death Row Prisoners
Jan 02, 2025
North Carolina’s outgoing Democratic Governor Roy Cooper has commuted the sentences of 15 people on death row to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Cooper announced the commutations on Tuesday as one of his final acts as governor, before Democratic Governor-elect Josh Stein took the oath of office on New Year’s Day.
The ACLU of North Carolina welcomed the commutations, writing, “We have long known that the death penalty in North Carolina is racially biased, unjust, and immoral, and the Governor’s actions today pave the way for our state to move towards a new era of justice.” The ACLU added, “With 121 people still on death row in our state, we know there is much more work to be done.”