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Three Years into Genocide, “The IDF Is Still Hunting Gazans”: Palestinian Journalist Akram al-Satarri
In Gaza, October 7, 2023, is viewed as the beginning of the genocide. Over the past three years, Israel killed over 74,000 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, but many believe that number is a vast undercount. The killing continues despite a so-called ceasefire that took effect about a year ago. “Every single aspect of the life of the people of Gaza has changed once and forever,” since October 7, says Akram al-Satarri, a Gaza-based journalist.
“Origins of a Genocide”: Al Jazeera’s Marwan Bishara on “Twelve Days That Shook the Middle East”
Twelve Days That Shook the Middle East: Origins of a Genocide is the new book by Al Jazeera senior political analyst Marwan Bishara discussing the crucial 12 days between Benjamin Netanyahu’s October 7 speech and Biden’s “rare” Oval Office speech on October 19. “October 7 was bloody, and it was horrific. … But Netanyahu and his government had to go overboard, to exaggerate, to lie, to deceive about what exactly happened” in order to justify their actions in Gaza, says Bishara. “Genocides don’t start with bombs; they start with ideology.
Israeli Activist Maoz Inon Lost His Parents on Oct. 7, Decries Israel’s Ethnic Cleansing of Gaza
Israelis and Palestinians are marking three years since October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel. Nearly 1,200 Israelis were killed, and around 250 were taken hostage. It was the deadliest such attack in Israel’s history, after which Israel immediately began bombing the Gaza Strip, killing at least 5,000 people by October 23, 2023. At least 74,000 Palestinians have been killed. Israeli peace activist Maoz Inon lost both of his parents, who lived on a kibbutz just north of the Gaza border, in the Hamas attack.
Headlines for October 7, 2026
Israel Marks Three Years Since the Hamas-Led Surprise Attack on October 7, 2023; Israeli Forces Kill at Least Three Palestinians in Gaza; Houthi Militias Fire Drones and Missiles at the Aden International Airport in Yemen; Democratic Senator Chris Murphy Denied Access to U.S. Air Base in Qatar; More Than 250,000 People March in Student Protests in France; Spain’s Gov’t Approves Two Housing Decrees Rejected by Parliament; Death Row Prisoner Christa Pike Regains Consciousness After Surviving Execution Attempt;
“Incredible Moment for the Borderlands”: Judge Blocks Border Wall Expansion in Big Bend & West Texas
In a victory for environmentalists and immigration rights’ advocates, a federal judge in El Paso, Texas, has blocked further border wall construction inside Big Bend National Park. “We slammed the brakes on $7 billion worth of corrupt construction contracts,” says Laiken Jordahl, a national public lands advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity, which sued to block the expansion. “We have effectively stopped construction across West Texas, and it’s incredible.”
Ebola Death Toll in DRC Tops 4,000; Trump USAID Cuts Fuel Outbreak
We go to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the site of the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak in history. Health authorities believe the outbreak first began in January but was not detected until May, in part due to cuts in global health investments, like the dismantling of USAID. Since then, over 8,000 cases have been recorded, with more than 4,000 fatalities so far. From Bunia, Ituri province, the epicenter of the outbreak, we speak to Congolese journalist Akilimali Chomachoma.
French High School Students Lead Mass Protests over School Funding, Inequality; Thousands Arrested
Nearly 2,000 French high schools are blockaded or closed today amid massive student-led protests over school funding and inequality. The demonstrations began in September at a single school in the economically deprived suburbs of Paris, where students protested teacher shortages, overcrowded classrooms and dilapidated school buildings beset by rats, falling debris and more. But the scope of the protests has widened amid a violent crackdown by French police.
Headlines for October 6, 2026
Supreme Court Case Will Determine Whether State and Local Governments Can Sue for Climate Harms; Pentagon Says Latest Boat Strike Killed Four Narcotraffickers, Provides No Evidence; Turkey and Pakistan to Send Troops to Saudi Arabia as Yemeni Government Forces Battle Houthis; Trump Defends Decision to Attack Iran, Says “Let Them Take Out” Los Angeles and San Diego; Ukraine Launches Massive Drone Attack on Moscow, Blames Russia for Sinking Ship in Romanian Waters; Kenya Detects First Case of Ebola ;
Meet Issa Amro: Palestinian Human Rights Advocate Attacked by Settlers, Detained by Israeli Army
We speak with Palestinian human rights defender Issa Amro after he was detained at an Israeli military base for seven hours on Friday. Amro, the founder of the Hebron-based group Youth Against Settlements, was helping a Palestinian family that he says had been attacked by armed Israeli settlers at their farmhouse outside Hebron in the occupied West Bank. Amro says when Israeli soldiers arrived, they ignored the settlers and instead targeted the Palestinians, including him. Amro tells Democracy Now!
“I Am Jane Doe”: Cornell Case Reignites Debate over Rape Culture, Frats & Prosecuting Sex Crimes
Revelations of sexual assault at a Cornell University fraternity in 2024 and how the university responded have sparked national outrage, reigniting a public debate about “the extent to which fraternities, the extent to which athletics really support this kind of culture that allows perpetrators to escape with little or no accountability,” says law professor Deborah Tuerkheimer. In 2024, seven male students avoided criminal prosecution after allegedly drugging and gang-raping a female student at the Chi Phi fraternity house.
Far Right Makes Gains in Brazil as Flávio Bolsonaro Tops Lula in First Round of Presidential Race
Brazil’s presidential election is headed to a runoff between leftist incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and far-right Senator Flávio Bolsonaro after neither candidate cleared 50% in Sunday’s vote, in which the right made gains in Congress and in governor races across the country. Bolsonaro received 47% of the vote compared to Lula’s 45%.
Headlines for October 5, 2026
Brazil’s Presidential Election Heads to a Runoff; U.S. Pulls Bombs Out of RAF Fairford After New Warnings of an Iranian-Backed Plot Targeting the Base; Iran Says Strait of Hormuz Will Remain Closed; Yemen’s Saudi-Backed Forces Announce Major New Operation Against Houthis; Israeli Airstrike in Gaza Kills at Least Five Palestinians; U.K.’s Green Party Votes to Classify Zionism as a Form of Racism; Cornell University President Welcomes Independent Probe into Gang Rape of Undergraduate Student;
“The School That Became a Grave”: Jeremy Scahill on U.S Bombing of Minab, Killing 120+ Iranian Kids
Drop Site News released a major investigation this week into the U.S. bombing of the Shajareh Tayyebeh children’s school in the Iranian city of Minab on February 28, the first day of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. Drop Site spoke to survivors, first responders, parents and witnesses in one of the most in-depth reports on the massacre to date. The bombing killed at least 156 people — 120 of the victims were children, 26 were teachers, and the rest were parents. A United Nations fact-finding mission recently concluded that the U.S.
“Cruel & Torturous”: Christa Pike in Critical Condition After Botched Tennessee Execution
Tennessee’s Governor Bill Lee has halted executions for the remainder of the year after a death row prisoner survived two lethal injections on Wednesday. According to her lawyers, Christa Pike was still breathing after she was strapped to a gurney and injected with two syringes of pentobarbital in a botched execution that spanned more than two hours. Prior to the scheduled execution, Pike and her lawyers argued a single-dose lethal injection could be tantamount to torture due to Pike’s small veins.
Headlines for October 2, 2026
Christa Pike Hospitalized in Critical Condition After Surviving “Cruel and Torturous” Execution; Pentagon Deploys Third Carrier Strike Group and Marines to Middle East; Fighting Intensifies Between Houthis and Saudi-Backed Government Forces in Yemen; U.K. Police Arrest British Iranian Dual National as Questions Grow over Alleged Plot at Air Base; DoorDash Driver Shot by ICE Has Surgery to Remove Bullet from His Back After Agonizing 11-Day Wait; Family of Renee Good Sues ICE Agent Jonathan Ross and Top U.S. Officials;
Rise of the Far Right in Germany Raises Fear of an Even Wider Crackdown on Migration
As we continue our coverage on the rise of right-wing political parties across Europe, we speak to Wiebke Judith from the German organization for asylum seekers’ rights, PRO ASYL, about Germany’s far-right party Alternative für Deutschland, or AfD, and its recent wins in September’s state elections.
“Berlin 4” Lawyer on Pro-Palestine Protest Crackdown & Germany’s Unconditional Support for Israel
Democracy Now!‘s Amy Goodman is in Berlin, Germany, this week, where the crackdown on pro-Palestine speech is shaped by the German policy of Staatsräson, or “reason of state.” The concept refers to Germany’s commitment to the existence of the Israeli state in light of the Holocaust. Since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza in 2023, Staatsräson has manifested itself as German military aid to Israel and heavy policing of Palestine activism inside Germany.
The Real Existential Risk Is AI CEOs Avoiding Oversight: “Alternative Nobel” Winner Timnit Gebru
We speak to the prominent AI researcher and leading critic of the AI industry, Timnit Gebru, who was recently awarded a 2026 Right Livelihood Award for her work investigating the harms and hype behind the global buildup of artificial intelligence.
Headlines for October 1, 2026
Tennessee Halts Executions as Condemned Prisoner Christa Pike Survives Lethal Injections; Hegseth Announces “AutoWarCom” to Oversee Autonomous Drones and Robots; Judge Orders Pentagon to Provide Rationale for Lethal Boat Strikes; Passengers and Crew Say Pilot Tried to Crash Airliner Bound for Israel; Palestinians Hold Mass Funeral in Gaza for 105 People Killed by Israel; Cambridge for Palestine Delivers Open Letter Calling on City Officials to Divest from Israel; Immigration Judge Rules Salah Sarsour Can Be Deported;
80 Years After Nuremberg Trials, U.S. Leads Assault on ICC & International Law: Wolfgang Kaleck
Eight decades after the Nuremberg trials against Nazi war criminals, the Trump administration has launched an all-out assault on the International Criminal Court, primarily over the tribunal’s pursuit of Israeli leaders for war crimes committed in Gaza. In his recent address to the United Nations, President Donald Trump called the ICC a “rogue institution” and urged other states to abandon it, and his administration has vowed to dismantle it through sanctions and other pressure tactics.
“No Land to Stand On”: Mahmoud Khalil on His Memoir, Palestine, Fighting Deportation & Suing Columbia
We speak with Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil about his new memoir, No Land to Stand On: Notes from Detention. It details his 104 days of detention inside a Louisiana ICE jail after he was targeted for arrest and deportation by the Trump administration over his pro-Palestine campus advocacy at Columbia University. Khalil missed the birth of his first child, Deen, while he was separated from his wife, Noor Abdalla, who is a U.S. citizen.
Headlines for September 30, 2026
Pentagon Announces Withdrawal of All U.S. Troops from Iraq; Iranian Rial Hits Record Low Against the Dollar as War Takes Heavy Toll on Economy; Israeli Settlers Riot in Occupied West Bank, Stopping Palestinian Family from Returning Home; Israeli Airstrike Kills Senior Hamas Commander in Gaza; SCOTUS Temporarily Allows Trump Admin to Deport Immigrants to Third Countries; California Bans Law Enforcement Agents from Using Electric Shock Gloves; Trump Admin Files Criminal Charges Against Asylum Seeker Shot by ICE;
Afghans “Have Been the Victims” of U.S. Military, Taliban, Cartels & More for Decades: Nagieb Khaja
Award-winning Danish Afghan journalist and filmmaker Nagieb Khaja’s most recent documentary, Winning Heart and Minds, is an investigation into what went wrong in the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan. In the film, Khaja travels to Musa Qala, the capital of the southern Helmand province. Danish and British troops had been deployed to Musa Qala in 2006 to defend their allies, the local police, against Taliban insurgents. While urban areas benefited from U.S.
“Buying More Time for the Genocide”: Muhammad Shehada on Trump’s Gaza Plan 1 Year Later
The Palestinian death toll from Israel’s war on Gaza has surpassed 74,000, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. While this figure represents the official death toll as confirmed by local authorities, the true number could be much higher when missing people and indirect deaths are taken into account, such as from disease, exposure, denial of medical treatment and the destruction of civic infrastructure. And since the so-called ceasefire brokered by Trump last October, nearly 1,400 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks.
Greenland Deal: Trump Drops Threat to Annex Denmark Territory in Favor of Greater U.S. Military Role
After months of threatening to take over Greenland by force, President Trump last week signed a 10-page agreement with Greenland and Denmark that bolsters the U.S. military presence on the mineral-rich and strategically located island but falls short of his earlier demands to make it American territory. Under the 1951 Defense of Greenland Treaty, the United States already has wide latitude to station forces and build military bases in Greenland. The U.S. currently has one active military base and around 160 troops on the ground.
Headlines for September 29, 2026
U.S. and Iran Hold Indirect Talks on Deal to End Fighting, Lift Sanctions and Reopen Hormuz; Iran Denies Involvement in Alleged Plot to Bomb British Air Base Used by U.S. Bombers; Ukraine’s Academy of Sciences Struck as Russian Drones Kill 9, Wound Dozens; Trump Administration Slashes Biden-Era Fuel Economy Standards; White House Airs Taxpayer-Funded Ads Promoting Trump; Texas State Election Officials Send Delayed Voter Registration Applications After Error; Top FBI Official Steps Down After a Year on the Job;
“Valley of Death”: Sharon Weinberger on Big Tech, AI Warfare & the CIA’s Secret Backing of Steve Jobs
Longtime national security reporter Sharon Weinberger’s new book, Valley of Death: How Big Tech Is Fueling the Future of War, follows the rise of the military-industrial complex in Silicon Valley, where defense technology companies, like Palantir, Anduril and SpaceX, and their billionaire founders, are increasingly shaping U.S. foreign policy.
“Britain’s Gaza Secrets Exposed”: How U.K. Downplayed Israeli Crimes to Keep Selling Weapons
A new documentary titled Britain’s Gaza Secrets Exposed reveals new details about the U.K. government’s internal response to alleged Israeli war crimes in Gaza. Presented by journalist Ramita Navai and produced by Ben De Pear for Channel 4’s investigative program Dispatches, the documentary examines government records, some newly publicized, to show how the United Kingdom ignored or concealed mounting evidence of Israel’s genocidal actions in Gaza after the October 7 attacks.
Forcible Eviction of 87-Year-Old Madrid Woman Sparks Protest Encampment over Spain’s Housing Crisis
The eviction of 87-year-old María del Carmen Abascal Martín in Madrid, after an investment fund bought her apartment building and more than tripled her rent, has become a symbol of Spain’s rising cost of living and sparked nationwide protests against corporate greed and wealth inequality. Over 600 protesters are now camped outside Madrid’s regional government headquarters demanding new tenant protections.
Headlines for September 28, 2026
Five Men Arrested on Suspicion of Terrorism Near British Base Used by U.S. in Iran War; Trump Asked Chinese President Xi Jinping If He Would Like to Buy American-Made Weapons; White House Blocks CNN from Air Force One; OpenAI’s Artificial Intelligence Reportedly Meddled with U.S. Government Websites; Seven People Killed in Airstrikes in Yemen; Palestinian Death Toll in Israel’s War on Gaza Surpasses 74,000; U.K. Foreign Minister Ed Miliband Blasts Israeli Government at Labour Conference;
“Crossing the Red Line”: Akbar Shahid Ahmed on Biden, His Advisers, Harris & Israel’s War in Gaza
We speak with journalist Akbar Shahid Ahmed, whose new book, Crossing the Red Line, looks at how President Joe Biden and top figures in his administration supported Israel’s brutal war in Gaza despite the soaring death toll and growing alarm over widespread war crimes committed by the Israeli military.
The Hague Group: South Africa Leads Coalition Against U.S./Israel’s “Unilateral Bullying” of the ICC
At the United Nations this week, President Trump repeated his attacks on the International Criminal Court and urged other nations to pull out of the global tribunal. The United States earlier this year imposed sanctions on the president of the ICC and a senior prosecutor who was part of the team that issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for crimes against humanity in Gaza, and the Trump administration is reportedly preparing more sanctions against the institution itself.
“Grotesque”: Ex-Israeli Negotiator Daniel Levy on Netanyahu’s U.N. Speech & Israel’s Impunity
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed a half-empty chamber at the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, after dozens of delegations walked out in protest at the start of his speech. Netanyahu assailed his critics as “antisemites,” defended his country’s conduct in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon and Syria, and lavished praise on President Trump for joining Israel’s strikes on Iran.
“Stop Arming Israel”: 100+ Arrested at Jewish Voice for Peace Sit-In Outside Netanyahu U.N. Speech
Over 100 protesters were arrested near the United Nations in New York on Thursday ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to the General Assembly. The sit-in, organized by Jewish Voice for Peace, denounced Netanyahu for perpetrating a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, building more illegal settlements in the West Bank, occupying parts of Lebanon and bombing Iran alongside the United States. Democracy Now! spoke with participants, including some congressional candidates and other prominent figures.
Headlines for September 25, 2026
Dozens of U.N. Delegates Walk Out in Protest as Israel’s Netanyahu Addresses General Assembly; Over 100 Protesters Arrested Outside U.N. Demanding Arrest of Benjamin Netanyahu; Separatists Attack Government Forces in Ethiopia’s Worst Fighting Since 2022 Ceasefire; Opposition Groups Protest in Caracas as Venezuela’s Leader Promises Elections at the “Right Moment”; U.S. Senate Defeats Iran War Powers Resolution on Vote of 49-50; Trump Hosts Xi Jinping for State Dinner, Joined by U.S. Billionaires Worth $2.4 Trillion;
“Gilded Rage”: Jacob Silverman on How a Radicalized Silicon Valley Shapes Trump’s AI Policies
“One of the features we see in … a lot of the billionaire tech elites is a real kind of anger,” says Jacob Silverman, author of Gilded Rage: Elon Musk and the Radicalization of Silicon Valley. “They’re angry at what they see as the excesses of woke culture and liberal and lefty politics. … And they’re angry that they don’t have free rein to enact the world they want to enact, and that includes areas like AI.” Silverman also discusses how tech elites like Peter Thiel and David Sacks are shaping the Trump administration’s approach to technology.
“Colonial AI”: African Countries Seek Tech Sovereignty But Fear a New Digital Colonialism
Seydina Moussa Ndiaye is a member of the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence, working on a strategy with the African Union to address the risks and benefits of AI for the continent. African countries face the threat of “colonial AI,” says Ndiaye. “When we talk about colonialism historically, that involves the control of resources, the control of knowledge and the control of terms of exchange, and we see that in Africa when we talk about AI.”
Should U.N. Help Set Global AI Rules? AI Tech Billionaires Address Security Council
Leaders of top artificial intelligence firms, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, testified to the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday, urging nations to adopt international standards on the development of AI. This comes after AI agents at OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta and Google have gone rogue in recent months, hacking into other companies’ corporate systems and, in the case of OpenAI, into the portal of Australia’s public health insurance program.
Nobel Laureate Maria Ressa on Trump’s Media Ban, Regulating AI & the “Tech Coup in Plain Sight”
A federal judge has temporarily blocked President Trump’s ban on CNN, MS NOW and Politico, ordering the administration to restore their White House access for two weeks. CBS, Fox News and NBC had suspended their coverage of President Trump Monday after he expelled CNN from the White House TV press pool. “People are standing up for press freedom,” says Filipino American journalist Maria Ressa, who won the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize. “There are costs to standing up, but there are greater costs to giving up.”
Headlines for September 24, 2026
Judge Blocks White House Ban on CNN, MS NOW and Politico; Tech Leaders Urge U.N. to Regulate AI as Australia Says Rogue OpenAI Agent Hacked Website; Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Greg Casar Introduce “Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act”; Iranian President Condemns Trump’s Threat to “Annihilate” His Country; Navy Admits Eight Sailors Attempted Suicide Aboard Carrier Strike Group; “A Spectacle That Shames Us All”: Emmanuel Macron Condemns Israel’s Assault on Gaza;
“Secretary of Measlesland”: Dr. Paul Offit Slams RFK Jr.’s Handling of Deadly Measles Outbreak
2026 is already the deadliest year for measles in the United States since the virus was declared eliminated in 2000. Four people died over the last month in Pennsylvania amid an ongoing outbreak in the state, which had not seen a measles-related death in at least 35 years. All four victims, including two infants, were unvaccinated (children do not receive their first dose of the measles vaccine until they have reached a year old). The deaths come as President Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Nepali Activist at U.N. Rally Calls for Climate Justice After Deadly Glacier Floods Kill Thousands
In the wake of devastating flash floods triggered by glacial collapse in the Himalayas, Nepal is demanding climate reparations from polluter countries as it embarks upon the grueling process of rebuilding. Over 1,400 bodies have been recovered from the disaster, with around 6,000 others still missing. Nepal’s government estimates that the cost of infrastructure reconstruction is likely to exceed $4 billion.
Bernie Sanders: The World Is “Moving in the Wrong Direction” on War, Climate, Inequality & AI Tech
On Monday, the South African delegation to the United Nations, in collaboration with Progressive International and the Hague Group, hosted an event in honor of the U.N. Charter at the historic Riverside Church in New York City, less than a day before the U.N. General Assembly convened for its 81st annual session. We play excerpts of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders’s address at the event, in which he denounced the military-industrial complex fueling the U.S.
“New Low in U.N. History”: Trita Parsi on Trump’s Threat to Annihilate Iran at General Assembly
The annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly opened this week in New York City. On its opening day, President Trump in his address to all 193 U.N. member states threatened to annihilate Iran. “This is probably a new low in U.N. history,” says Trita Parsi of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, joining us in our New York City studio ahead of the second day of the General Assembly.
Headlines for September 23, 2026
Trump Calls for the Annihilation of Iran at the U.N. General Assembly; Fighting in Yemen Leaves 169 People Dead, as Houthis and Gov’t Troops Clash Along the Red Sea Coast; Netanyahu and Mamdani Trade Attacks Ahead of U.N. General Assembly; Lula Warns Against Foreign Interference in Brazil’s Election at U.N. General Assembly; GOP Sen. John Curtis Calls for Probe Into Donald Trump Jr.; ProPublica: FBI Probe of GOP Sen. Collins Ended After Trump Returned to Office; DOJ Backs Trump in Ban on CNN, MS NOW and POLITICO from the White House;
“Pedagogy of the Oppressed” Brazilian Educator Paulo Freire Profiled in Film, “Reading the World”
Reading the World is a remarkable new documentary about Paulo Freire, the acclaimed Brazilian educator whose revolutionary approach to teaching connected literacy to critical thinking and democratic participation. It draws on rare archival footage of 1960s Brazil and weaves together the memories of farmers, students and educators who took part in Freire’s culture circles, his method of teaching adults to read in as little as 40 hours by drawing on their own lives, communities and experiences.
Could Cuba Become a “Silent Gaza”? U.S. Fuel Blockade Aims to “Asphyxiate” Island: Top Cuban Diplomat
As the United Nations General Assembly opens in New York, we speak with senior Cuban diplomat Carlos Fernández de Cossío, who says the Trump administration is seeking to “asphyxiate the people of Cuba into submission.” On Friday, millions in Cuba lost power in what was at least the sixth major blackout since President Trump cut off fuel shipments to the island in January. The fuel blockade comes on top of the six-decade-long U.S. economic embargo and countless attempts to topple the communist government.
“Politics Are Desperately Important at the Moment”: Bill McKibben on Midterms, Trump & Climate Crisis
Ahead of the midterm elections, activist and writer Bill McKibben says he has been traveling across the United States with Third Act, the environmental group he founded to harness the power of seniors who care about the climate and democracy. “These elections are also starting to set the groundwork for 2028,” says McKibben, who calls the next U.S. presidential vote “maybe the last election that happens in a timeframe when we still really have an opportunity to affect some of the outcomes of these things.”
Climate Activists Target AI Data Centers & Amazon’s Plan to Build Largest U.S. Gas Power Plant
World leaders are in New York this week for the United Nations General Assembly, which coincides with Climate Week. It comes after months of climate-fueled extreme weather around the world, including heat waves in North America and Europe, wildfires in Africa, flash flooding in Asia and a record-breaking El Niño. Climate campaigner Bill McKibben says that while it’s too late to prevent the climate crisis from unfolding, solar and wind energy are now cheap enough “to blunt its worst excesses.”
Headlines for September 22, 2026
Iran War Dominates Talks as World Leaders Gather for U.N. General Assembly; U.N. Warns Fighting in Yemen Could Displace 230,000 People ; Paramount Settles Antitrust Lawsuits, Setting Up Megamerger with Warner Bros.; TV Networks Suspend White House Pool Coverage After Trump Expels CNN; Illinois Authorities Probe Case of U.S. Citizen Hospitalized After ICE Detention; NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani Hosts Trump at Gracie Mansion; Israeli Attacks Kill Four Palestinians in Gaza;
“America, Who Hurt You?”: Tony-Winning Performer Sarah Jones on New NY Solo Show & Art as Resistance
Sarah Jones has been described as “a one-woman global village” for her remarkable one-person, multi-character shows. The Tony- and Obie Award-winning writer and performer is best known for her Broadway hit Bridge and Tunnel. She is back in New York with her latest solo performance, America, Who Hurt You?, which is being presented by the National Black Theatre and the Theatre for a New Audience at Polonsky Shakespeare Center in Brooklyn. America, Who Hurt You?
“Extraordinary Rendition All Over Again”: U.S. Deportees Sent to Equatorial Guinea Beaten, Imprisoned
Two men deported from the United States to Equatorial Guinea were arrested by local police forces and transferred to a prison earlier this month, in apparent retaliation for speaking out about conditions they faced in the Central African country. Samson Birhane, who is from Eritrea, and Ahmed Soliman, a gay asylum seeker from Egypt, were both deported by the Trump administration despite U.S. immigration courts granting them protections.
“War on the Press”: Trump Bans CNN, MS NOW & Politico from White House over Critical Coverage
News organizations CNN, MS NOW and Politico are suing the Trump administration over the banning of their reporters from the White House on Friday. Their credentials were confiscated or deactivated when they attempted to enter White House grounds over the weekend.
Headlines for September 21, 2026
Iran Warns U.S. Against Launching a Major New Attack; Yemen’s Iran-Backed Houthis Launch Attack on Saudi Arabia’s Capital Riyadh; Trump Bans CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House; Trump Says Planned Triumphal Arch Near Arlington Cemetery Will Double as Military Complex; Hundreds of Protesters Rally Outside Kennedy Center to Oppose Trump’s Takeover; Israeli Airstrikes Kill at Least Three Palestinians in Gaza; Israeli President Pardons Soldier Who Killed Wounded Palestinian Attacker;
“We Are the 99%”: 15 Years Later, Occupy Wall Street’s Impact Is Still Being Felt
Fifteen years ago this week, thousands of activists marched on the Financial District in New York City. They formed the Occupy Wall Street encampment in Zuccotti Park, launching a movement focused on economic inequality that spread across the nation and globe under the slogan, “We are the 99%.” Protesters would go on to sleep in Zuccotti Park for nearly two months before police raided the encampment.
“Hope Is the Thing with Feathers”: Rhiannon Giddens on New Album, AI, Ed Sheeran, Macklemore & Trump
“If we don’t connect those dots between the struggles, we’re never going to get anywhere,” says Pulitzer Prize- and Grammy-winning multi-instrumentalist Rhiannon Giddens. “That’s what music is for. … We have to make music with people from different backgrounds, because then we have that conversation.” Giddens has had a wide-spanning career, including her time with The Carolina Chocolate Drops, an old-time Black string band, and her work as a musical consultant on Ryan Coogler’s landmark film Sinners.
“Inequality Emergency”: Ahead of U.N. General Assembly, Oxfam Urges Action on Climate, AI & Gaza
As world leaders prepare to head to New York for the United Nations General Assembly and Climate Week, Democracy Now! speaks with Amitabh Behar, executive director of Oxfam International. “We live in a very different world from 1945,” when the U.N. was formed, says Behar. “You cannot continue with the veto power.” And with António Guterres soon stepping down, Behar stresses that the United Nations’ next secretary-general must be a woman — “a fundamental shift we need to make.”
Headlines for September 18, 2026
U.N. Fact-Finding Mission Finds Evidence U.S. Committed War Crimes in Iran; Iran Strikes More Ships in Strait of Hormuz as Trump Dismisses Soaring Gas Prices; Yemen’s Humanitarian Crisis Grows as Houthis Battle Saudi-Backed Forces; “Drop the Genocide 20”: Progressives Target Biden Admin Officials Who Aided Israel’s Assault on Gaza; Russia Bombs Civilian Sites as Ukraine Continues Drone Attacks on Russian Oil Facilities; Congress Approves New Sanctions on Russia and Iran; White House Withdraws Nomination of Lance Schroyer to Lead ICE;
“Call It Evil”: Philosopher Susan Neiman on Why Moral Clarity Matters in the Trump Era
We speak with moral philosopher Susan Neiman, author of the new book Call It Evil: Understanding the Trump Era. Neiman argues that evil — far from being an outdated religious concept — is a vital way to understand how injustice works in the world. The Trump administration’s abusive policies have been aided by a general reluctance to call them out as evil, part of how people are “brainwashed … by the idea that morality is for losers, suckers, fools,” she says.
“Fast Food Nation,” Mystery Meat & Trump’s Dismantling of U.S. Food Safety System: Eric Schlosser
Amid growing concerns over food safety in the United States, President Donald Trump last month authorized the duty-free importation of 660 million pounds of cheap beef trimmings that will get mixed in with other cuts to make ground beef. Imported beef and pork were once labeled with their country of origin, but Congress voted in 2015 to end that requirement, so customers at the grocery store will have no way to identify this “mystery meat,” which is coming mostly from Brazil.
Headlines for September 17, 2026
U.S. Declines to Join Saudi Attacks on Yemen After Secretly Meeting with Houthis; Trump on Iran: “Hopefully We Are Towards the End of the War”; Fed Raises Interest Rates for First Time Since 2023 as Iran War Drives Inflation; Oil Prices Dip Slightly from 4-Month Highs as Saudi Arabia Offers Additional Oil Shipments; Palestinian American Journalist Naqaa Hamed Arrested by Israeli Authorities; Palestinians in Gaza Hold Funerals for People Killed in Building Collapse; Democratic Rep.
“Architects of Atrocities”: Amnesty Says Iran Committed Crimes Against Humanity in 2022 Crackdown
Four years ago today, the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising erupted in Iran after the death in custody of Zhina Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman who had been arrested by Iran’s “morality police.” Over the next three months, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets protesting against Iran’s discriminatory compulsory veiling laws. Amnesty International has released a new report concluding that the repressive measures used by Iranian authorities to crush the Woman, Life, Freedom protests in 2022 constitute crimes against humanity.
“The Elimination Project”: Israel’s Systematic Dismantling of Palestinian Life in West Bank: B’Tselem
A major new report by the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem titled “The Elimination Project” accuses Israel of “dramatically intensifying its attacks on every aspect of Palestinian life in the West Bank.” “For too long, Israel’s policies in the West Bank have been treated or looked at as isolated events,” says Ori Givati, director of international relations at B’Tselem. “We actually find that there is one very coherent logic behind all of them, and this is the logic of elimination of Palestinian collective life in the West Bank.”
A Russian Oligarch Secretly Funded Donald Trump Jr.’s Bahamas Wedding; Democrats Demand Probe
Congressional Democrats have opened an investigation after ProPublica revealed on Monday that a Russian oligarch close to Vladimir Putin bankrolled part of Donald Trump Jr.’s Bahamas wedding in May. ProPublica reports that Umar Kremlev paid hundreds of thousands of dollars on wedding expenses, including the rental of a private island. Just weeks before the wedding, Putin awarded Kremlev the Order of Friendship. Trump Jr.
Headlines for September 16, 2026
U.S. House of Representatives Votes to End War on Iran for a Third Time; Saudi Arabia Claims It Destroyed a Houthi Drone South of Mecca; GOP Congressmember Massie Introduces Impeachment Articles Against Defense Secretary Hegseth; U.S. Acknowledges Space Force Has Deployed Weapons in Orbit; Trump Admin Approves $2.8 Billion Package Selling 2,000-Pound Bombs to Israel; Building in Gaza Housing 100 People Collapses, Killing at Least 20 People; U.N. Warns of Israel War Crimes as Hundreds of Bodies Recovered from Rubble in Gaza;
“End Times Fascism”: Naomi Klein & Astra Taylor on Billionaires, Bunkers, AI, Gaza & the Far Right
Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor launch their new book, End Times Fascism: And the Fight for the Living World on Democracy Now! It examines how wealthy elites are preparing for “the end of the world,” even as they contribute to growing inequality, political instability and the climate crisis. The rise of modern-day fascism is “not simply a rerun,” explains Klein. “We don’t believe that history repeats on a loop.
Headlines for September 15, 2026
Supreme Court Blocks Trump’s Order Restricting Mail-In Voting; Whistleblower Says Federal Agents Broke Laws in Trump-Ordered Search for “Unlawful Voters”; Trump Rejects Calls to Regulate AI as a ”SICK Conspiracy” and ”HOAX”; Saudi Crown Prince MBS Meets CENTCOM Chief as Houthis Consolidate Control Over Red Sea Coast; Iran’s IRGC Claims It Shot Down Two U.S. Drones Over the Strait of Hormuz; Yield on 10-Year U.S. Treasury Bonds Passes 5% as Mideast War Drives Up Oil Prices;
Is Yemen Heading Back to All-Out War? Saudis Launch Strikes as Houthis Take Control of Red Sea Coast
Yemen is at risk of spiraling back into all-out war as Houthi forces and Saudi Arabia exchange new strikes amid a fight over control of the key Bab al-Mandab Strait, through which much of Saudi oil passes on its way to world markets. The Houthis, the Iran-allied force also known as Ansar Allah, has seized Yemen’s entire Red Sea coastline from the Saudi-backed Yemeni government. The United Nations says the latest escalation has displaced 86,000 people in Yemen as the U.S.
Trove of Evidence Sheds New Light on How Saudi Intelligence Asset Helped 9/11 Hijackers Before Attack
Did Saudi Arabia play a role in the planning and execution of the September 11 attacks of 2001? That question was raised immediately after the attack, when 15 of the 19 hijackers were revealed to be Saudi citizens, and it has only grown louder in the 25 years since as more evidence emerged of the attackers’ connections to Saudi figures inside the United States.
“One Betrayal After Another”: 9/11 Widow Blasts U.S. Cover-Up of Saudi Role in Attacks
A quarter-century after the September 11 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in the United States, a group of victims’ families is continuing a lawsuit against Saudi Arabia to hold the kingdom accountable for any role it played in the planning and execution of the plot. While the Saudi government has always denied advance knowledge of the 9/11 attacks, 15 of the 19 plane hijackers were Saudi citizens, including some with connections to Saudi officials and intelligence assets in the United States.
“NAZA” Film on Gaza Genocide Wins Venice Special Jury Prize; Israel Threatens Directors’ Citizenship
The film NAZA, which documents the Israeli military’s use of secret AI-powered systems to deliberately and systematically target and massacre civilians in Gaza, won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival Saturday. The film was directed by Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham and filmmaker Rachel Szor, both of whom won an Oscar for the documentary No Other Land in 2025 along with Palestinian co-directors Basel Adra and Hamdan Ballal.
Headlines for September 14, 2026
Anthropic’s CEO Calls for the Development of Artificial Intelligence to Slow Down; Head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization Blocked from Attending Annual IAEA Meeting; Houthis Claim Drone and Missile Attack on Military Base in Southern Saudi Arabia; B’Tselem: Israel Systematically Dismantling Palestinian Life in Occupied West Bank; Israeli Airstrike in Gaza Kills at Least Two People; Israeli Military Uses More Than 1,000 Tons of Explosives to Destroy Hezbollah Tunnels in Lebanon; Former U.S.