HAVANA TIMES – We bring you some of the top international news stories compiled by Democracy Now on Friday, March 6, 2026.
House Narrowly Rejects Resolution to Limit Trump’s Power to Wage War on Iran
Mar 06, 2026
The House of Representatives has rejected a war powers resolution to rein in President Trump’s ability to wage war against Iran. Four House Democrats joined nearly every Republican as the measure narrowly failed on a vote of 212 to 219. The vote came as the U.S. and Israel intensified bomb attacks across Iran, and one day after the Senate similarly rejected a war powers resolution. Just two Republicans voted in favor of the House war powers resolution. This is its co-sponsor, Kentucky Republican Congressmember Thomas Massie.
Rep. Thomas Massie: “The president says we had to strike first because an Iranian strike was imminent. Meanwhile, the Department of Defense conceded there was no evidence of an imminent Iranian strike. Some told us this war was about nuclear weapons, but six months ago we were assured our last strike on Iran decimated their nuclear program. So which is it? I think the most candid answer came from the secretary of state, who told the press that Israel forced our hand and dragged us into this war — again. And that truth is the very reason why it is Congress that must decide war.”
Iran Says U.S. and Israel Have Attacked 3,600 Civilian Sites
Mar 06, 2026
In Iran, massive explosions shook the capital Tehran overnight as the city’s 10 million residents endured the most intense night of bombing since the U.S. and Israel launched a joint attack on Saturday. There were airstrikes reported near Tehran University, on an Iranian military academy, on government buildings and on civilian sites, including residential buildings, car parks and gas stations. Iran says more than 3,600 civilian sites across the country have been damaged in U.S.-Israeli attacks, including ambulances and two dozen medical facilities. Among the casualties, according to state media, are 20 people killed and 30 injured in an attack on a residential area in the city of Shiraz.
Meanwhile, Sri Lankan officials have evacuated more than 200 sailors from a second Iranian navy ship off Sri Lanka’s coast. The evacuation came after a U.S. submarine fired a torpedo to sink an Iranian frigate that was unarmed and in international waters, killing 87 people.
Hegseth Says “We Have Only Just Begun to Fight” as CENTCOM Prepares for 100 Days of War
Mar 06, 2026
On Thursday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Iran was making a mistake if it believed that the United States could not sustain the war indefinitely.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth: “We’ve got no shortage of munitions. Our stockpiles of defensive and offensive weapons allow us to sustain this campaign as long as we need to. … We have only just begun to fight, and fight decisively.”
Politico reports U.S. Central Command asked the Pentagon to send more military intelligence officers to its Florida headquarters to support operations against Iran for at least 100 days — and likely through September. The Center for Strategic and International Studies reports the first 100 hours of U.S. attacks alone cost $3.7 billion.
On Thursday, President Trump told Axios in an interview that he needs to be personally involved in selecting Iran’s next leader — just as he was in Venezuela. Axios reports Trump acknowledged that Mojtaba Khamenei, son of assassinated Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, is the most likely successor, while making clear he finds that outcome unacceptable.
Iranian Strikes on Mideast Oil Sites Trigger Global Energy Chaos
Mar 06, 2026
Iran is continuing to fire retaliatory missiles and drones at Israel and nations across the Middle East that host U.S. military bases. Iranian missiles crashed down across Tel Aviv earlier today, sparking a fire and damaging several buildings, though no injuries were reported. One missile reportedly struck near Ben Gurion Airport, which hosts U.S. aerial refueling tankers used in the war on Iran.
In Iraq, a drone struck an oil field operated by a U.S. firm in the northern Kurdish region, causing a fire. Officials in Bahrain say an oil refinery fire from an Iranian missile strike has been contained. Meanwhile, Qatar has fully shut down natural gas liquefaction and won’t be able to restart operations for at least a month, adding to a growing energy crisis caused by the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran. On Thursday, U.S. stocks dropped dramatically, with the Dow falling nearly 800 points, as oil prices made their largest weekly gain since 2020.
Israel’s Renewed Assault on Lebanon Kills 123, with Hundreds of Thousands Displaced
Mar 06, 2026
Lebanon’s Health Ministry reports 123 people have been killed and 683 wounded since Israel began a massive wave of attacks across much of Lebanon on Monday. Among the dead are a 5-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy killed when the Israeli army raided their home in the town of Mashghara. Over the past 24 hours, Israeli jets bombed southern and eastern Lebanese towns and southern suburbs of the capital, Beirut, after threatening residents to leave their homes or face death. On Thursday, Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that all of Beirut’s southern suburbs will face devastation similar to Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip, which the Israeli military reduced to rubble.
Bezalel Smotrich: “We are now on the northern border, after the IDF instructed all residents of the area to evacuate. You wanted to bring hell upon us? You brought hell upon yourselves. The Dahiyeh will look like Khan Younis. Our northern residents will live in quiet, peace and security.”
Stocks of Medical Supplies in Gaza “Critically Low” as Israel Closes Gaza Border Crossings
Mar 06, 2026
In the Gaza Strip, the World Health Organization warns stocks of essential medicines, trauma and surgical supplies are running “critically low,” along with fuel needed to power medical equipment. The crisis was exacerbated after Israel closed all border crossings in Gaza as it launched attacks on Iran on Saturday. The Kerem Shalom crossing has since partially reopened, but most crossings remain shut. This is Amjad al-Shawa, head of the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network in Gaza.
bq. Amjad al-Shawa: “If the crossings remain closed and aid in all its forms is not allowed in, whether medical, food, shelter supplies and other basic necessities for Palestinian citizens at the forefront of the water sector and the maintenance of water networks, we will be facing a dangerous situation and a return to famine, maybe in a form worse than before.”
Trump Fires Kristi Noem as Homeland Security Secretary, Names Sen. Markwayne Mullin as Replacement
Mar 06, 2026
Kristi Noem has been ousted from her position as homeland security secretary. On Thursday, President Trump announced on social media he’d be firing Noem and replacing her with Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma. Mullin is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation.
Noem had faced intensifying calls to resign or be impeached over her disastrous handling of Trump’s immigration raids nationwide and the unchecked violent use of force by her federal agents, leading to the fatal shootings of at least four people, including U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, whom Noem then falsely labeled as domestic terrorists.
Noem was also widely accused of corruption. Last year, she was photographed wearing a gold Rolex Cosmograph Daytona that sells for about $50,000 as she toured El Salvador’s notorious CECOT mega-prison, where Trump had deported hundreds of Venezuelan immigrants. She posed in front of an overcrowded cell where dozens of men imprisoned at CECOT were seen wearing nothing but white shorts.
Noem also oversaw a multimillion-dollar self-promotional DHS advertising campaign. Trump told Reuters in an exclusive interview Thursday that he hadn’t signed off on the $220 million campaign. We’ll have more on Noem’s ouster after headlines.
This all comes as the Department of Homeland Security remains under a partial shutdown after Senate Democrats blocked a Republican-led bill to fund DHS. Noem’s firing was announced shortly before the vote. Earlier, Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut had reportedly said “it might be easier for us to negotiate” on DHS funding if Noem was fired.
ICE Arrests Nashville Journalist Whose Stories Criticized Federal Agents
Mar 06, 2026
Image Credit: Nashville Noticias
In Tennessee, a local Nashville journalist whose stories have been critical of ICE was arrested and detained by federal agents earlier this week. Estefany María Rodríguez Flores, with the news outlet Nashville Noticias, was reportedly taken during a traffic stop on Wednesday, despite the federal agents not having an arrest warrant. The Tennessean reported Rodríguez Flores is from Colombia, has lived in the U.S. since 2021 with a tourist visa and work permit, and has pending green card and asylum applications. She’s also married to a U.S. citizen.
169 Are Killed, Including Civilians, as Insurgents Raid Town in South Sudan
Mar 06, 2026
In South Sudan, at least 169 people were killed after dozens of armed assailants attacked a town near the border with Sudan. Victims included government soldiers and nearly 100 civilians, with women and children among the dead. A U.N. mission said it was sheltering more than 1,000 civilians who fled the violence. A local official said the attackers were fighters aligned with Riek Machar, one of two rivals for control of South Sudan during the five-year civil war that officially ended in 2018 after an estimated 400,000 people died from the fighting. Meanwhile, the medical charity Doctors Without Borders says 26 of its workers remain unaccounted for, a month after they fled attacks on two medical facilities in South Sudan’s Jonglei state.
More Than 200 Die as Heavy Rains Trigger Landslide at Coltan Mine in Eastern DRC
Mar 06, 2026
Image Credit: file photo
In the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, more than 200 people were killed after heavy rains triggered a landslide at a major coltan mining site. About 70 children were reportedly among the victims. The Rubaya mines are controlled by the M23 rebel group, which disputed the government’s death toll, claiming there had been a bombing at the mining site and that only five people were killed. Al Jazeera reports the Rubaya mine produces about 15% of the world’s coltan, an essential metal that is processed into tantalum to manufacture smartphones, electric car batteries and other devices. Child labor is rife at the mines, with workers facing what has been described as modern-day slavery conditions.
Bernard Lafayette, Who Joined Freedom Rides to Fight for Voting Rights, Dies at 85
Mar 06, 2026
The civil rights pioneer Bernard Lafayette, who joined Freedom Rides and fought for voting rights in the Jim Crow South, has died at the age of 85. In the 1960s, Lafayette was a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. He later became a faculty member at Auburn University in Alabama, where he lectured on nonviolent social change. Democracy Now! last spoke to Bernard Lafayette in 2020, when he described how a white mob beat Freedom Riders including Jim Zwerg and John Lewis at a Greyhound bus station in Montgomery, Alabama, in May of 1961 as they were protesting segregated interstate travel.
Bernard Lafayette: “Once we got to the bus station, all of the protection disappeared. And we were on the platform, and Jim Zwerg was beaten up, and John Lewis was clobbered. And I got kicked in the chest and had three broken ribs. So, there was nothing you could do with broken ribs, so I went through the entire Freedom Rides with three broken ribs. I didn’t tell my fellow Freedom Riders, because they might have insisted that I not go. So I just kept quiet. I quietly suffered the entire trip.”
Bernard Lafayette was 85 years old.
Family and Friends to Honor Rev. Jesse Jackson at Chicago Memorial Service
Mar 06, 2026
In Chicago today, family and friends of the Rev. Jesse Jackson are gathering for a memorial service celebrating the life of the late civil rights leader, who died in February at the age of 84. The service is open to the public.
Read more news here on Havana Times.