Democracy Now!
The botched execution of Christa Pike
- Title
- The botched execution of Christa Pike
- Runtime
- 2:17
- Date posted
- 16 hours ago
- Description
- Christa Pike was sentenced to death in Tennessee for a 1995 murder she committed when she was 18. Now in the hospital in critical condition, she is the first person to ever survive lethal injection in the United States. According to Pike’s lawyers, the botched execution spanned more than two hours.
Christa Pike "has just experienced the most agonizing attempt at lethal injection in the country's history," says Sandra Babcock, director of the Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide.
Babcock says Pike should have never been sentenced to death because she was an "immature 18-year-old" with a history of severe childhood and sexual trauma who "was not receiving medication for post-traumatic stress disorder and bipolar disorder at the time of [the murder], which she committed with her abusive boyfriend at the time."
- Title
- "Massacre at Minab": Drop Site News
- Runtime
- 2:52
- Date posted
- 18 hours ago
- Description
- 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.
"This was not a single bombing or collateral damage," says Drop Site's Jeremy Scahill, lead author of the investigation. "There were at least two direct hits on a school packed with children … and a couple of hours after those initial hits, as first responders came, as parents came, the U.S. launches more strikes."
- Title
- “The School That Became a Grave”: Jeremy Scahill on U.S Bombing of Minab, Killing 120+ Iranian Kids
- Runtime
- 23:28
- Date posted
- 20 hours ago
- Description
- Support our work: https://democracynow.org/donate/sm-desc-yt
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. strike was a war crime, but the Trump administration has not yet even acknowledged U.S. responsibility.
“This was not a single bombing or collateral damage,” says Drop Site News’s Jeremy Scahill, lead author of the investigation. “There were at least two direct hits on a school packed with children … and a couple of hours after those initial hits, as first respo...
- Title
- Christa Pike in Critical Condition After Botched Tennessee Execution
- Runtime
- 18:41
- Date posted
- 21 hours ago
- Description
- Support our work: https://democracynow.org/donate/sm-desc-yt
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. Pike was sentenced to death for a 1995 murder she committed when she was 18. Now in the hospital in critical condition, she is the first person to ever survive lethal injection in the United States.
“I have seen five executions in Tennessee,” says Steven Hale, a criminal justice reporter for the Nashville Banner, who witnessed Christa Pike’s botched execution. “And I’ve never seen anything li...
- Title
- Top U.S. & World Headlines — October 2, 2026
- Runtime
- 13:35
- Date posted
- 21 hours ago
- Description
- Support our work: https://democracynow.org/donate/sm-desc-yt
Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on over 1,500 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream at democracynow.org Mondays to Fridays 8-9 a.m. ET.
Subscribe to our Daily Email Digest: https://democracynow.org/subscribe
- Title
- How Germany's Holocaust "guilt" has led to suppression of pro-Palestine activists
- Runtime
- 1:15
- Date posted
- 2 days ago
- Description
- In Germany, the crackdown on pro-Palestine speech is shaped by the German policy of "Staatsräson," or “reason of state," a concept referring to Germany's political commitment to the existence of the Israeli state.
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.
“Germany’s guilt regarding the Holocaust” has been “abused to justify the support of the genocidal war of Israel against the population in Gaza,” says Berlin-based lawyer Alexander Gorski, who recently represented the “Berlin Four,” three European Union citizens and one United States citizen whom Germany attempted to deport for participating in pro-Palestine campus protest.
- Title
- Immigration Judge Rules Salah Sarsour Can Be Deported
- Runtime
- 1:16
- Date posted
- 2 days ago
- Description
- An immigration judge in Wisconsin has ruled that the president of the state's largest mosque can be deported. Salah Sarsour was arrested by immigration agents in March and held for more than 80 days in an Indiana jail. Sarsour came to the United States in 1993 and has been a legal resident of Milwaukee for over 32 years. He grew up in the occupied West Bank and was detained by ICE agents in March.
The Department of Homeland Security claims Sarsour was arrested for lying on his green card application about a conviction in Israeli military courts when he was a teenager, but Sarsour’s lawyers say he is being targeted by the federal government over his advocacy for Palestinian rights.
- Title
- Superintelligence or supervillains? What's the true existential risk of AI?
- Runtime
- 1:42
- Date posted
- 2 days ago
- Description
- President Trump and the world’s wealthiest tech executives have signed a set of voluntary safety standards for artificial intelligence. But a prominent AI researcher and leading critic of the AI industry, Timnit Gebru, says the agreement is a way for the industry to evade accountability under existing cybersecurity laws.
- Title
- Rise of the Far Right in Germany Raises Fear of an Even Wider Crackdown on Migration
- Runtime
- 7:33
- Date posted
- 2 days ago
- Description
- Support our work: https://democracynow.org/donate/sm-desc-yt
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. Judith calls the historic wins — won by margins not seen in German elections since the Nazi era — "deeply concerning for everyone who cares about our democracy," and says that the growing influence of the AfD's anti-immigration stance over the German political landscape poses grave risks to refugees, asylum seekers, immigrants and ethnic minorities in the country.
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- Title
- "Berlin 4" Lawyer on Pro-Palestine Protest Crackdown & Germany's Unconditional Support for Israel
- Runtime
- 9:23
- Date posted
- 2 days ago
- Description
- Support our work: https://democracynow.org/donate/sm-desc-yt
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.
"Germany's guilt regarding the Holocaust" has been "abused to justify the support of the genocidal war of Israel against the population in Gaza," says Berlin-based lawyer Alexander Gorski, who recently represented the "Berlin Four," three European Union citizens and one United States citizen whom Germany attempted to deport for participating in pro-Palestine campus protest. Gorski, who also represented the British Palestinian surgeon Ghassan Abu-Sit...
- Title
- "They're Not Superintelligent": Timnit Gebru Discredits Big Tech's AI Claims
- Runtime
- 25:12
- Date posted
- 2 days ago
- Description
- Support our work: https://democracynow.org/donate/sm-desc-yt
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.
"Instead of discussing faulty, unreliable systems," Gebru says tech leaders like SpaceXAI's Elon Musk, OpenAI's Sam Altman and Anthropic's Dario Amodei are "marketing their systems as all-knowing, superpowerful, superintelligent," and lobbying for "self-policing and self-regulation" to avoid being held "liable through existing laws." Gebru expresses skepticism over increasingly widespread claims that AI algorithms pose an existential risk to humanity, warning that such claims are overblown and that "what is actually happening is regulatory capture."
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- Title
- Top U.S. & World Headlines — October 1, 2026
- Runtime
- 13:01
- Date posted
- 2 days ago
- Description
- Support our work: https://democracynow.org/donate/sm-desc-yt
Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on over 1,500 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream at democracynow.org Mondays to Fridays 8-9 a.m. ET.
Subscribe to our Daily Email Digest: https://democracynow.org/subscribe
- Title
- Is international law still relevant?
- Runtime
- 1:47
- Date posted
- 3 days ago
- Description
- German human rights lawyer Wolfgang Kaleck discusses the hypocrisy and shortcomings of the Western-led architecture of international law, and why it's still worth preserving despite those flaws.
- Title
- 80 Years After Nuremberg Trials, U.S. Leads Assault on ICC & International Law: Wolfgang Kaleck
- Runtime
- 30:43
- Date posted
- 3 days ago
- Description
- Support our work: https://democracynow.org/donate/sm-desc-yt
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.
"It's so sad to remember that the core group behind the Nuremberg trials were Robert Jackson, Telford Taylor and Benjamin Ferencz, the U.S. prosecutors," says Wolfgang Kaleck, lawyer and founder of the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights. His new book is "The Power of Law: Reconciling Legality and International Justice."
Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on over ...
- Title
- Mahmoud Khalil's memoir details 104 days of ICE detention
- Runtime
- 2:37
- Date posted
- 3 days ago
- Description
- "No Land to Stand On" is Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil's new memoir detailing his 104 days in ICE detention after he was targeted for deportation over his organizing at Columbia University. The book illustrates the cruelty of the Trump administration's immigrant crackdown through the stories of people he met behind bars, "incredible men, fathers and workers who came here seeking safety and a better future, only to be snatched off the street."
- Title
- "No Land to Stand On": Mahmoud Khalil's New Memoir
- Runtime
- 26:41
- Date posted
- 3 days ago
- Description
- Support our work: https://democracynow.org/donate/sm-desc-yt
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. The administration is still trying to deport Khalil, who has launched civil rights lawsuits against the government and Columbia University over his treatment.
Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on over 1,500 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream at democracynow.org Mondays to Fridays 8-9 a.m. ET.
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- Title
- Top U.S. & World Headlines — September 29, 2026
- Runtime
- 16:10
- Date posted
- 3 days ago
- Description
- Support our work: https://democracynow.org/donate/sm-desc-yt
Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on over 1,500 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream at democracynow.org Mondays to Fridays 8-9 a.m. ET.
Subscribe to our Daily Email Digest: https://democracynow.org/subscribe
- Title
- Afghans "Have Been the Victims" of U.S. Military, Taliban, Cartels & More for Decades: Nagieb Khaja
- Runtime
- 18:52
- Date posted
- 4 days ago
- Description
- Support our work: https://democracynow.org/donate/sm-desc-yt
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. occupation during the war, "Western forces allied themselves with forces that in rural Afghanistan were considered worse than the Taliban," says Khaja. "The police forces and the warlords that were fighting side by side with American, Danish and British forces, they were drug cartels, they were ruthless criminals, they were rapists."
Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on over 1,500 TV and radio stations Monday throu...
- Title
- "Buying More Time for the Genocide": Muhammad Shehada on Trump's Gaza Plan 1 Year Later
- Runtime
- 18:19
- Date posted
- 4 days ago
- Description
- Support our work: https://democracynow.org/donate/sm-desc-yt
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.
"The [ceasefire] plan ended up just buying more time for the genocide," says Muhammad Shehada, a writer and analyst from Gaza speaking to Democracy Now! in Copenhagen. "Instead of suspending attacks on Gaza, Israel has been bombing Gaza every day."
"The idea of the plan was to divide the reconstruction, rehabilitation, Israeli withdrawal, decommissioning ...
- Title
- Greenland Deal: Trump Drops Threat to Annex Island in Favor of Greater U.S. Military Role
- Runtime
- 14:10
- Date posted
- 4 days ago
- Description
- Support our work: https://democracynow.org/donate/sm-desc-yt
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. Under the new agreement, signed shortly after President Trump's speech to the United Nations General Assembly last week, the U.S. can build two new bases. The deal keeps Greenland as part of Denmark and would still apply if Greenland chooses independence.
"In many ways, the deal is good, because the right for self-determination is approved," says Julie Rademacher, chair of U...
- Title
- Top U.S. & World Headlines — September 29, 2026
- Runtime
- 12:49
- Date posted
- 4 days ago
- Description
- Support our work: https://democracynow.org/donate/sm-desc-yt
Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on over 1,500 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream at democracynow.org Mondays to Fridays 8-9 a.m. ET.
Subscribe to our Daily Email Digest: https://democracynow.org/subscribe
- Title
- Do tech titans have too much power over U.S. warfare?
- Runtime
- 0:55
- Date posted
- 5 days ago
- Description
- Defense technology companies like billionaire Palmer Luckey's AI-powered drone company Anduril are increasingly shaping U.S. foreign policy. Here's why.
- Title
- 87-year-old woman’s eviction sparks mass protests in Spain
- Runtime
- 1:20
- Date posted
- 5 days ago
- Description
- 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.
- Title
- “Valley of Death”: Big Tech, AI Warfare & the CIA’s Secret Deal with Steve Jobs
- Runtime
- 33:29
- Date posted
- 5 days ago
- Description
- Support our work: https://democracynow.org/donate/sm-desc-yt
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. Weinberger explains that because “the government doesn’t own the underlying technology” peddled by “this new class of entrepreneurs,” these companies have upended the traditional procurement relationship between the U.S. government and older defense firms, and now unilaterally control access to the new weapons and systems — including drones and artificial intelligence — used in modern warfare.
Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on over 1,500 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream at democracyno...
- Title
- "Britain's Gaza Secrets Exposed": How U.K. Downplayed Israeli Crimes to Keep Selling Weapons
- Runtime
- 17:47
- Date posted
- 5 days ago
- Description
- Support our work: https://democracynow.org/donate/sm-desc-yt
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.
"We were looking at how our country, which prides itself on having an ethical foreign policy and as being one of the supporting members of the United Nations on human rights, was able to keep selling arms," says De Pear. "And basically, what we found was a doctored process … It's quite extraordinary the level of duplicity that was going on in order for us to keep selling Israel arms." Ben De Pear also produced the 2025 BAFTA-w...
- Title
- Forcible Eviction of 87-Year-Old Madrid Woman Sparks Protest Encampment over Spain's Housing Crisis
- Runtime
- 15:53
- Date posted
- 5 days ago
- Description
- Support our work: https://democracynow.org/donate/sm-desc-yt
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.
"What we have is a lot of furious people, enraged people, that are demanding from the government and from the public institutions that they give us give us some sort of solution," says Sabina Carrau, a spokesperson for the Madrid Tenants' Union, which is supporting the "Maricarmen decree" named after Abascal, set to be debated by Spain's government this week.
Housing in Spain, as in much of the world, "is really connected to tourism, really connected to having and buying a house to ma...
- Title
- Top U.S. & World Headlines — September 28, 2026
- Runtime
- 11:16
- Date posted
- 5 days ago
- Description
- Support our work: https://democracynow.org/donate/sm-desc-yt
Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on over 1,500 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream at democracynow.org Mondays to Fridays 8-9 a.m. ET.
Subscribe to our Daily Email Digest: https://democracynow.org/subscribe
- Title
- Elon Musk and Silicon Valley's right-wing radicalization
- Runtime
- 1:22
- Date posted
- 6 days ago
- Description
- Tech elites are “angry that they don't have free rein to enact the world they want to enact, and that includes areas like AI,” says Jacob Silverman, author of “Gilded Rage: Elon Musk and the Radicalization of Silicon Valley.”
- Title
- Trump vs. the ICC
- Runtime
- 1:06
- Date posted
- 7 days ago
- Description
- The United States is continuing its assault on the International Criminal Court. Can the world fight back?
- Title
- Netanyahu blames "juvenile delinquents" for Israeli settler violence
- Runtime
- 1:34
- Date posted
- 8 days ago
- Description
- Benjamin Netanyahu claimed at the United Nations that Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank is merely due to some "juvenile delinquents" causing trouble. But the actual cause is "the policy of the state and the government that [Netanyahu] leads," says analyst Daniel Levy.
- Title
- Protesters denounce Netanyahu ahead of U.N. speech
- Runtime
- 2:03
- Date posted
- 8 days ago
- Description
- Over 100 people were arrested in New York while protesting Benjamin Netanyahu's speech at the United Nations. The demonstration, organized by Jewish Voice for Peace, denounced Israel's genocide in Gaza and attacks across the Middle East.
- Title
- Nicolas Jaar: Interview & Performance at Democracy Now!
- Runtime
- 21:59
- Date posted
- 8 days ago
- Description
- Support our work: https://democracynow.org/donate/sm-desc-yt
Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on over 1,500 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream at democracynow.org Mondays to Fridays 8-9 a.m. ET.
Subscribe to our Daily Email Digest: https://democracynow.org/subscribe
- Title
- How Biden's team enabled Israel's genocide
- Runtime
- 1:24
- Date posted
- 8 days ago
- Description
- Akbar Shahid Ahmed's 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.
- Title
- "Crossing the Red Line": Akbar Shahid Ahmed on Biden, His Advisers, Harris & Israel's War in Gaza
- Runtime
- 14:31
- Date posted
- 8 days ago
- Description
- Support our work: https://democracynow.org/donate/sm-desc-yt
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 policies that we've seen entrenched and, frankly, worsened and become more dangerous and deadly under Donald Trump were really established by Biden's team," says Ahmed, who says there is "bipartisan continuity" on Israel-Palestine between the two presidents.
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- Title
- The Hague Group: South Africa Leads Coalition Against U.S., Israeli "Bullying" of the ICC
- Runtime
- 10:45
- Date posted
- 8 days ago
- Description
- Support our work: https://democracynow.org/donate/sm-desc-yt
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. Meanwhile, a coalition of nations has formed to defend international law in solidarity with the people of Palestine under the banner of the Hague Group, which was established last year by Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, Honduras, Malaysia, Namibia, Senegal and South Africa.
"It's an absolute low point for the sacred grounds of the United Nations that President Trump has shown up here and attacked the intern...
- Title
- "Grotesque": Ex-Israeli Negotiator Daniel Levy on Netanyahu's U.N. Speech & Israel's Impunity
- Runtime
- 13:11
- Date posted
- 8 days ago
- Description
- Support our work: https://democracynow.org/donate/sm-desc-yt
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.
Daniel Levy, a former Israeli peace negotiator under Prime Ministers Ehud Barak and Yitzhak Rabin, says Israel's growing diplomatic isolation "needs to be translated into action" like sanctions, arms embargoes and other forms of accountability.
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- Title
- "Stop Arming Israel": 100+ Arrested at Jewish Voice for Peace Sit-In Outside Netanyahu U.N. Speech
- Runtime
- 4:48
- Date posted
- 8 days ago
- Description
- Support our work: https://democracynow.org/donate/sm-desc-yt
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.
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- Title
- Top U.S. & World Headlines — September 25, 2026
- Runtime
- 12:16
- Date posted
- 8 days ago
- Description
- Support our work: https://democracynow.org/donate/sm-desc-yt
Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on over 1,500 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream at democracynow.org Mondays to Fridays 8-9 a.m. ET.
Subscribe to our Daily Email Digest: https://democracynow.org/subscribe
- Title
- What you need to know about this year’s COVID and flu vaccines
- Runtime
- 0:46
- Date posted
- 9 days ago
- Description
- Pediatrician and vaccine expert Dr. Paul Offit shares what you need to know about this year’s COVID and flu vaccinations.
- Title
- "Gilded Rage": Jacob Silverman on How a Radicalized Silicon Valley Shapes Trump's AI Policies
- Runtime
- 27:05
- Date posted
- 9 days ago
- Description
- Support our work: https://democracynow.org/donate/sm-desc-yt
"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.
Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on over 1,500 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream at democracynow.org Mondays to Fridays 8-9 a.m. ET.
Subscribe to our Daily Email Digest: https://democracynow.org/subscribe
- Title
- AI colonialism in Africa
- Runtime
- 2:32
- Date posted
- 9 days ago
- Description
- Seydina Moussa Ndiaye is a member of the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence, which is 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."
- Title
- "Colonial AI": African Countries Seek Tech Sovereignty But Fear a New Digital Colonialism
- Runtime
- 5:47
- Date posted
- 9 days ago
- Description
- Support our work: https://democracynow.org/donate/sm-desc-yt
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."
Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on over 1,500 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream at democracynow.org Mondays to Fridays 8-9 a.m. ET.
Subscribe to our Daily Email Digest: https://democracynow.org/subscribe
- Title
- Should U.N. Help Set Global AI Rules? AI Tech Billionaires Address Security Council
- Runtime
- 16:38
- Date posted
- 9 days ago
- Description
- Support our work: https://democracynow.org/donate/sm-desc-yt
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.
"I think we're headed in the right direction," says Malo Bourgon, CEO of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, who has participated in several AI-related meetings on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly this week. "I do think that the CEOs, while there's a bunch of reason to be cynical about them, are sincere that they think that the progress with this technology is moving too quickly and that they risk losing control of...
- Title
- Nobel Laureate Maria Ressa on Trump's Media Ban, Regulating AI & the "Tech Coup in Plain Sight"
- Runtime
- 11:21
- Date posted
- 9 days ago
- Description
- Support our work: https://democracynow.org/donate/sm-desc-yt
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."
Ressa is also co-chair of the United Nations Independent International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence. "A small group of countries and companies should not be determining the fate of the world," says Ressa about the current state of AI.
Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on over 1,500 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream at...
- Title
- Top U.S. & World Headlines — September 24, 2026
- Runtime
- 11:04
- Date posted
- 9 days ago
- Description
- Support our work: https://democracynow.org/donate/sm-desc-yt
Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on over 1,500 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream at democracynow.org Mondays to Fridays 8-9 a.m. ET.
Subscribe to our Daily Email Digest: https://democracynow.org/subscribe
- Title
- Indigenous activists from Nepal demand climate reparations
- Runtime
- 1:13
- Date posted
- 10 days ago
- Description
- 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.
Nepal, a mountainous country surrounded by glaciers, continues to be vulnerable to the effects of climate change, despite contributing less than 0.1% of global carbon emissions.
Recent studies estimate that global surface temperatures will likely exceed 1.5°C above preindustrial levels by the end of the decade, threatening additional glacier melts and more deadly disasters.
- Title
- Vaccine expert slams RFK Jr.’s handling of deadly measles outbreak
- Runtime
- 1:08
- Date posted
- 10 days ago
- Description
- 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. continue to defund public vaccination programs and push debunked claims that vaccines cause autism.
- Title
- Is the U.S. losing the war on Iran?
- Runtime
- 1:09
- Date posted
- 10 days ago
- Description
- President Trump continues to claim victory in Iran even as the conflict continues with no end in sight. Trita Parsi sorts through Trump’s self-congratulatory statements about Iran and what we know about the actual picture on the ground.
- Title
- "Secretary of Measlesland": Dr. Paul Offit Slams RFK Jr.'s Handling of Deadly Measles Outbreak
- Runtime
- 11:13
- Date posted
- 10 days ago
- Description
- Support our work: https://democracynow.org/donate/sm-desc-yt
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. continue to defund public vaccination programs and push debunked claims that vaccines cause autism.
Pediatrician and vaccine expert Dr. Paul Offit warns that the four reported measles deaths — which were reported by Pennsylvania health officials but have not yet been acknowledged by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — are likely a vast undercount. He estimates t...
- Title
- Nepali Activist at U.N. Rally Calls for Climate Justice After Deadly Glacier Floods Kill Thousands
- Runtime
- 6:36
- Date posted
- 10 days ago
- Description
- Support our work: https://democracynow.org/donate/sm-desc-yt
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. Nepal contributes less than 0.1% of global carbon emissions, yet as a mountainous country surrounded by glaciers, continues to be vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Recent studies estimate that global surface temperatures will likely exceed 1.5°C above preindustrial levels by the end of the decade.
We go to a rally outside of United Nations headquarters, where Nepali activists, including our guest Anisha Buda, are demanding climate justice, reparations and a just transition out of fossi...
