Contributing Writers

Colombian President Gustavo Petro joins Democracy Now! for an exclusive broadcast interview after his address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where he spoke of the need to end wars and stop the climate crisis. Petro is the first leftist to ever govern Colombia. He was elected in 2022 after campaigning to fight inequality and poverty, increase taxes on the wealthy, expand social programs, restore peace and end Colombia’s dependence on fossil fuels.

A Minnesota judge has dismissed criminal charges against three Indigenous water protectors who were arrested for protesting oil extraction on treaty-ceded Anishinaabe land. Winona LaDuke, Tania Aubid and Dawn Goodwin were arrested in January 2021 after police saw video shared on social media of the three women singing, dancing and praying near construction crews for Canadian energy company Enbridge’s Line 3 tar sands oil pipeline.

A delegation of Australian lawmakers has arrived in Washington, D.C., to urge the Biden administration to halt its prosecution of WikiLeaks founder and Australian citizen Julian Assange. More than 60 members of Australia’s Parliament from across the political spectrum have called for Assange’s release.

At the United Nations General Assembly this week, multiple world leaders voiced support for the imprisoned founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, including Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Colombian President Gustavo Petro. We air an excerpt of Democracy Now!’s exclusive interview with Petro, who calls Assange’s continued incarceration “the greatest mockery of freedom of press … brought to bear by the country that built the concept.

We speak to Arjun Sethi, a Sikh community activist, civil rights lawyer and professor at Georgetown Law, about Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s public accusations that the Indian government arranged the assassination of a prominent Sikh leader and Canadian citizen outside a Sikh temple in British Columbia in June. India has denied the allegations.

As climate activists from around the world gather in New York for the annual Climate Week, which coincides with the new session of the United Nations General Assembly, an estimated 75,000 people marched on the U.N. headquarters Sunday with a demand for President Biden to “end fossil fuels.” They escalated their demands by targeting financing for fossil fuel projects, with a series of direct actions at major U.S. financial institutions and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Congress is almost certainly headed for another government shutdown due to Republican infighting that is preventing budget measures from being passed, says Ryan Grim, the D.C. bureau chief for The Intercept. The revolt is led by far-right members who oppose Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

The Biden administration helped Pakistan get a controversial new bailout from the International Monetary Fund after Pakistan agreed to secretly sell arms to the United States for the war in Ukraine, according to a new blockbuster report by The Intercept.

As the Biden administration and Tehran carry out a prisoner swap that also includes the unfreezing of $6 billion in Iranian oil revenue, we look at the state of U.S.-Iran relations with journalist Negar Mortazavi, host of The Iran Podcast. The deal represents a major diplomatic breakthrough between the two countries since the end of the Iran nuclear deal, from which the Trump administration unilaterally withdrew in 2018.

For the first time in U.S. history, the Justice Department has criminally charged the child of a sitting president. Federal prosecutors have indicted President Biden’s son Hunter Biden on felony charges of illegally possessing a handgun and making false statements in order to obtain a revolver in 2018.

During the rally at Sunday’s March to End Fossil Fuels in New York City, activists decried President Joe Biden’s continued investment in fossil fuels and his refusal to declare a national emergency over the worsening effects of climate change.

We continue our coverage of the March to End Fossil Fuels, where protesters noted the United States is projected to account for more than one-third of planned global oil and gas expansion from today through 2050. It is the top oil and gas producer in the world, one of just 20 countries that will be responsible for 90% of new fossil fuel production over the next few decades.

Tens of thousands of people filled the streets of midtown Manhattan Sunday to send a clear message to the world and leaders coming to the city for the U.N. General Assembly this week: End fossil fuels.

For the first time in U.S. history, the Justice Department has criminally charged the child of a sitting president. Federal prosecutors have indicted President Biden’s son Hunter Biden on felony charges of illegally possessing a handgun and making false statements in order to obtain a revolver in 2018.

New York University announced it plans to divest from fossil fuels in an August letter addressed to Sunrise NYU. We speak with co-founders of the campus climate group, Alicia Colomer and Dylan Wahbe, about the university finally divesting after decades of pressure from student advocates.