Politics
U.S. human rights reports criticize NATO allies, minimize some abuses – National TenX News
The Trump administration on Tuesday released human rights reports for countries worldwide that eliminate mentions of discrimination faced by LGBTQ2 people, reduce a previous focus on reproductive rights and criticize restrictions on political speech by U.S. allies in Europe that American officials believe target right-wing politicians.
The reports, which cover 2024 before President Donald Trump took office, reflect his administration’s focus on free speech and restricting access to abortion.
However, the reports also offer a glimpse into the administration’s view of dire human rights conditions in some countries that have agreed to accept migrants deported from the United States under Trump’s immigration crackdown.
“This year’s reports were streamlined for better utility and accessibility in the field and by partners,” the U.S. State Department said.
The congressionally mandated reports in the past have been frequently used for reference and cited by lawmakers, policymakers, academic researchers and others investigating potential asylum claims or looking into conditions in specific countries.
The reports had been due to be released in March.
The State Department said in an overview that the delay occurred because the Trump administration decided in March to “adjust” the reports, which had been compiled during the Biden administration.
Among other deletions, the reports do not include accounts from individual abuse survivors or witnesses.
“Frequently, eyewitnesses are intimidated or prevented from reporting what they know,” the overview said.
“On the other hand, individuals and groups opposed to a government may have incentive to exaggerate or fabricate abuses. In similar fashion, some governments may distort or exaggerate abuses attributed to opposition groups.”
Human rights groups decried the changes in focus and omissions of certain categories of discrimination and potential abuse.
“With the release of the U.S. State Department’s human rights report, it is clear that the Trump Administration has engaged in a very selective documentation of human rights abuses in certain countries,” Amnesty International said in a statement.
“In addition to eliminating entire sections for certain countries – for example discrimination against LGBTQ+ people – there are also arbitrary omissions within existing sections of the report based on the country,” it said.
The reports do follow previous practices in criticizing widespread human rights abuses in China, Iran, North Korea and Russia.
The report on Russia, as well as a separate one on Russia-occupied areas of Ukraine, go much further in documenting its abuses in Ukraine — including acknowledging accusations of war crimes — than Trump or U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio have done in public.
It says Moscow “did not take credible steps or action to identify and punish most officials who committed human rights abuses.”
The Ukraine report admonishes the Ukrainian government of curtailing freedoms of the press and expression, though it notes many of the measures are due to martial law imposed during wartime.
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The report’s section on Israel was much shorter than last year’s edition and contained no mention of the severe humanitarian crisis or death toll in Gaza.
What does it say about NATO allies?
The reports take issue with what the Trump administration believes are restrictions on free speech imposed against generally right-wing voices in the United Kingdom, France and Germany.
The reports use identical language to say that human rights conditions in each of the three NATO allies “worsened during the year.”
The executive summaries for each of the three reports say “significant human rights issues included credible reports of serious restrictions on freedom of expression, including enforcement of or threat of criminal or civil laws in order to limit expression; and crimes, violence, or threats of violence motivated by antisemitism.”
These governments have rejected such assertions that have been made by senior U.S. officials, including Trump, Rubio and Vice President JD Vance.
The report on Canada is less critical and acknowledges no change in U.S. assessments of its human rights conditions. However, it repeats language alleging “credible reports of serious restrictions on freedom of expression” and accuses the federal government of limiting press freedom.
A mention of ongoing trials related to the 2022 “Freedom Convoy” protests says they protested against “draconian lockdown measures that substantially damaged the communities and economic livelihoods of many Canadians.”
Last year’s report, the final one issued by the Biden administration, said the Canadian government “did not restrict or disrupt access to the internet or censor online content” and allowed independent media to “express a wide variety of views without restriction.”
Past reports have taken particular issue with violence and threats against minority groups, including Indigenous and LGBTQ2 people.
Although such deportations did not begin until after Trump took office, the reports, with one notable exception, detail general poor human rights conditions in many of the countries that have agreed to accept migrants, even if they are not citizens of that nation.
The exception is El Salvador, which was the first of several countries in Latin America and Africa to agree to accept non-citizen migrant deportees from the U.S.
Despite claims from rights advocates to the contrary, the report about the country says “there were no credible reports of significant human rights abuses” in El Salvador in 2024 and that “the government took credible steps to identify and punish officials who committed human rights abuses.”
Human rights groups have accused authorities of abuses, including at a notorious prison where many migrants are sent.
However, for Eswatini — a small country in Africa formerly known as Swaziland — South Sudan and Rwanda, the reports paint a grimmer picture. All have agreed to accept third-country deportees from the United States.
In all three countries, the reports noted “significant human rights issues included credible reports of arbitrary or unlawful killings, torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment … serious restrictions on freedom of expression and media freedom, prohibiting independent trade unions or significant or systematic restrictions on workers’ freedom of association.”
Those governments “did not take credible steps or action to identify and punish officials who committed human rights abuses,” the reports said.
Singling out the treatment of white South Africans
South Africa was also singled out for its human rights situation “significantly worsening.”
The report pointed to unfair treatment of white Afrikaners following the signing of major land reforms that the Trump administration has said discriminate against that minority, which ran the country’s apartheid government.
That system brutally enforced racial segregation, which oppressed the Black majority, for 50 years before ending in 1994.
With the signing of that law in December, the report said that “South Africa took a substantially worrying step towards land expropriation of Afrikaners and further abuses against racial minorities in the country.”
It also said the government “did not take credible steps to investigate, prosecute and punish officials who committed human rights abuses, including inflammatory racial rhetoric against Afrikaners and other racial minorities, or violence against racial minorities.”
This year, the administration admitted as refugees some groups of white Afrikaners.
The South African government on Wednesday dismissed the report as “inaccurate and deeply flawed.”
What the report says about Brazil
Freedom-of-speech issues were also raised in Brazil, which has more recently provoked Trump’s ire by prosecuting his ally — former right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro — and led to the imposition of massive U.S. tariffs and sanctions against Brazil’s Supreme Court chief justice.
“The human rights situation in Brazil declined during the year,” the report said. “The courts took broad and disproportionate action to undermine freedom of speech and internet freedom by blocking millions of users’ access to information on a major social media platform in response to a case of harassment.”
It added that the government “undermined democratic debate by restricting access to online content deemed to undermine democracy” and specifically mentioned suppressing the speech of Bolsonaro and his supporters.
—With additional files from Global News and Reuters
The Trump administration said Friday it was denying and revoking U.S. visas from members of the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization.
That comes ahead of next month’s United Nations General Assembly, where Canada and several other countries have said they intend to officially recognize a Palestinian state.
The U.S. State Department cited the groups’ efforts to secure statehood recognition at the UN, along with their appeals to the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice to investigate alleged Israeli crimes in Gaza, as reasons for the decision by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“Both steps materially contributed to Hamas’s refusal to release its hostages, and to the breakdown of the Gaza ceasefire talks,” the department said in a statement.
“The Trump Administration has been clear: it is in our national security interests to hold the PLO and PA accountable for not complying with their commitments, and for undermining the prospects for peace.”
The statement did not name the officials being denied entry. It was not immediately clear if the list included Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who was expected to travel to New York for the UN gathering.
The Palestinians’ ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour, told reporters at the UN headquarters that they were checking exactly what the U.S. move means “and how it applies to any of our delegation, and we will respond accordingly.”
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Representatives assigned to the Palestinian Authority mission at the UN, led by Mansour, will be granted waivers so they can continue their New York-based operations, the U.S. statement said.
Mansour said Abbas still intends to lead the delegation to the high-level meetings and is expected to address the General Assembly — as he has done for many years — and to attend a meeting on the afternoon of Sept. 22 on a two-state solution co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia.
U.S. President Donald Trump will travel to New York and address the general assembly on Sept. 23, the White House said on Thursday.
Canada, Britain, Australia and France in recent weeks have announced or signalled their intention to recognize a Palestinian state during the meeting.
The countries have said their recognition is conditional on the Palestinian Authority — which has limited self-rule over parts of the occupied West Bank and has for years been positioning itself as a legitimate government alternative to Hamas in Gaza — undergoing reforms and new elections.
Abbas has signalled he will co-operate with the Western nations’ demands.
The Palestinian Liberation Organization is an internationally recognized coalition that represents Palestinian people in its occupied territories and abroad.
The Trump administration has staunchly backed Israel’s military offensive in Gaza. The U.S. has also refused to condemn expanded Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which Canada and other allies have said undermine two-state solution efforts.
Rubio hosted Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar in Washington on Wednesday “to reaffirm our two nations’ close cooperation,” the U.S. secretary said in a post on X.
Saar, asked after the meeting what the plan was for a Palestinian state, said there would not be any.
The Israeli minister on Friday thanked Rubio for holding the PA and PLO “accountable for rewarding terrorism, incitement and efforts to use legal warfare against Israel” in a social media statement.
Officials with the Palestinian Authority reject that they’ve undermined peace prospects.
Under the 1947 UN “headquarters agreement,” the U.S. is generally required to allow access for foreign diplomats to the UN in New York. But Washington has said it can deny visas for security, terrorism and foreign policy reasons.
Hamas earlier this month said it had accepted a U.S.-backed proposal on a ceasefire in Gaza that would see the release of some hostages in exchange for talks with Israel that would end the conflict and see the return of all remaining hostages.
But Israel has said it will only accept the full return of all the hostages and has pressed ahead with a plan to occupy Gaza City, which international monitors like the UN have warned could worsen a famine already afflicting the Palestinian territory.
Rubio last week announced sanctions against multiple International Criminal Court judges and prosecutors involved in the court’s investigation into Israel’s actions in Gaza and the issuing of arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant.
—With files from Reuters
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
Politics
Israel launches new offensive in Gaza, says remains of 2 hostages returned – National TenX News
Gaza City is now a dangerous combat zone, Israel says, adding that it is in the “initial stages” of a planned offensive that has drawn international condemnation.
Israel’s military said it suspended midday pauses to fighting, which had allowed food and aid supplies to enter from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. in Gaza’s largest city.
It also said it had recovered the body of a hostage and the remains of another, and vowed its military offensive would return more.
The shift comes weeks after Israel first announced plans to widen its offensive in Gaza City, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people are sheltering and enduring famine.
Father of hostage calls recovery operation a ‘bittersweet moment’
Israel’s recovery of more hostages Friday felt like a “stab in the stomach” for Rubi Chen, who believes his son is still in captivity in Gaza.
Israel said it had returned the body of one captive and the remains of another from Gaza Friday. It identified one as Ilan Weiss, a man killed in the initial Hamas attack.
“It’s a bittersweet moment that the Weiss family is reunited with their loved one, even though he’s coming back not as they would have wanted,” said Chen. “But at least they have closure … there are still 49 families waiting to have that closure.”
Chen said his family has received intelligence that his son did not survive the Oct. 7 attack but Hamas has not provided any information about his son’s whereabouts.
Netanyahu details hostage recovery operation
The Israeli prime minister said the body of a dead Israeli and the remains of another were recovered following an operation in the Gaza Strip by Israeli forces and the country’s internal security service Shin Bet.
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Netanyahu said Friday one set of remains belongs to Ilan Weiss who was killed on Oct. 7, 2023 while defending Kibbutz Be’eri against attacking Hamas gunmen.
The remains of the second Israeli are now being examined for positive identification at the Institute of Forensic Medicine.
Weiss’ wife Shiri and daughter Noga, also kidnapped in the Hamas attack, were released from captivity in November 2023.
He has two other daughters.
The Israeli Hostages and Missing Families Forum said the return of all hostages remains the “highest national priority” and urged the Israeli government to enter into negotiations “and stay at the table until every last hostage comes home.”
Israeli military says attack on Gaza City will intensify
A spokesman for the Israeli military says the country’s forces have started their attack on Gaza City which are operating “with great force” on the city’s outskirts.
Avichay Adraee, the Arabic-speaking spokesman for the Israeli Defense Forces, posted on X Friday that the military operation is in its initial phase, but that the Israeli military will “intensify our strikes” and “will not hesitate” until all Israeli hostages are returned and Hamas is dismantled “militarily and politically.”
Adraee said Israel is “not waiting” and is moving ahead with its attack against Hamas which has “transformed from a military organization into a defeated organization waging guerrilla warfare.”
The U.N.’s humanitarian agency said they were “deeply concerned” by the military’s statement that it would intensify its operation in Gaza City.
It predicted that the offensive would have a “horrific impact on people already exhausted, malnourished, bereaved, displaced, and deprived of basics needed for survival.”
It said UN and NGO teams would remain on the ground in Gaza City to provide life-saving support but maintained that its work would need to be facilitated.
Israel says hostage bodies recovered
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that the body of Ilan Weiss of Kibbutz Be’eri and the remains of another unnamed hostage were returned to Israel.
“The campaign to return the hostages continues continuously. We will not rest or be silent until we return all of our hostages home — both the living and the dead,” Netanyahu said.
Israel on Friday said its military had recovered the bodies of two hostages, including an Israeli man who was killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war.
Of the 251 hostages taken by Hamas-led militants almost 22 months ago, roughly 50 remain in Gaza including 20 that Israel believes to be alive.
Israeli military begins Gaza City offensive
Israel declared Gaza’s largest city a dangerous combat zone and said it was in the ″initial stages″ of a planned offensive that has drawn international condemnation.
The suspension comes weeks after Israel first announced plans to widen its offensive in Gaza City, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people are sheltering and enduring famine.
440 people are now sheltering inside Gaza’s only Catholic church, spokesman says
A spokesman for Gaza’s only Catholic church said some 440 people who have taken shelter there had unanimously agreed to stay, despite word that Israel was preparing to mount a new military offensive in the Palestinian territory.
Farid Jubran told The Associated Press Friday that their decision to stay in Gaza City’s Holy Family Catholic Church was made of their own free will and “wasn’t imposed on the people.”
He said five clergy have also stayed in the church to assist those sheltering that include women, children and older people.
But Jubran, who is currently outside of Gaza, said it’s “up to them” if they want to leave the church at some point later.
The spokesman said there are no additional measures that have been taken inside the church to bolster the safety of the people.
He said “when we feel danger, people get closer to the walls or whatever, it’s more protected” but that the church “doesn’t have any specific defenses.”
© 2025 The Canadian Press
Politics
Canada places further sanctions on Russia over Moldova interference claims – National TenX News
Ottawa is placing further sanctions on Russia after allegations that Moscow interfered to influence elections in Moldova, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand’s office said on Thursday.
Canada is imposing sanctions against 16 individuals and two entities under the Special Economic Measures (Moldova) Regulations for their role in “Russia’s malign interference activities in Moldova,” Anand’s office said.
“These individuals have actively participated in coordinated efforts aimed at destabilizing the democratically elected government in Moldova. They are associated with politician and businessman Ilan Shor, who has been sanctioned by Canada, and who fled Moldova in 2019,” the statement continued.
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The list of people who’ve been sanctioned include officials of the Shor Party, a political party led by Ilan Shor. The party was sanctioned by the Canadian government in June 2023.
The list also includes former officials of Moldova and officials of the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia, “a region in Moldova whose current administration has strong links to Russia.”
Canada is also placing sanctions on members of pro-Russian Moldovan media outlets accused of “disseminating disinformation,” as well as “other participants in Russia’s malign operations abroad.”
The two entities on which Canada placed sanctions Thursday include Victory/Pobeda, a political bloc led by the Shor Party, and a Shor-backed paramilitary group that Canada accused of being “involved in organizing a series of anti-government protests in Moldova in 2023.”
Anand’s office said Canada is rolling out these measures “as political actors and organizations under Mr. Shor’s influence are ramping up their efforts to interfere in Moldova’s next parliamentary elections, which will be held on September 28, 2025.”
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
U.S. scraps Palestinian officials’ visas ahead of UN General Assembly – National TenX News
Israel launches new offensive in Gaza, says remains of 2 hostages returned – National TenX News
Canada places further sanctions on Russia over Moldova interference claims – National TenX News
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