HAVANA TIMES – We bring you some of the top international news stories compiled by Democracy Now on Tuesday, September 22, 2026.
Iran War Dominates Talks as World Leaders Gather for U.N. General Assembly
Sep 22, 2026
World leaders are gathering in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, with the climate crisis and escalating wars in Europe, Africa and the Middle East topping the agenda. President Trump is taking center stage with an address to the General Assembly. It’s expected Trump will defend his decision to attack Iran. Trump’s speech comes a day after a U.N.-commissioned fact-finding mission on Iran presented a report to the Human Rights Council finding the U.S. was likely responsible for war crimes in two strikes on February 28. One assault on a sports center in the Iranian city of Lamerd killed and injured 22 civilians, while a second strike targeted a school in Minab. This is Sara Hossain, chair of the fact-finding mission.
Sara Hossain: “This building, a readily identifiable primary school, was struck by two cruise missiles, resulting, we have found, in 157 people killed, including 123 boys and girls, according to credible sources. We found reasonable grounds to believe that the airstrike conducted by the United States amounted to the war crime of making a civilian object the object of an attack.”
The U.N. fact-finding mission also found the Iranian government responsible for gross human rights violations amounting to crimes against humanity, including the murder, imprisonment and torture against civilians during protests that erupted across Iran last December.
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U.N. Warns Fighting in Yemen Could Displace 230,000 People
Sep 22, 2026
In Yemen, the U.N. Refugee Agency warns that up to 230,000 people could be displaced if fighting continues between Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces and Iran-backed Houthi militias. On Monday, Yemen’s military said it struck Houthi soldiers and supply lines near the Bab al-Mandab Strait. The claim came as video showed a massive explosion at a market in Yemen’s southern Lahj province; a second explosion tore through the same area an hour later. The Houthis said the blasts were the result of Saudi airstrikes, while Yemen’s government blamed Houthi ballistic missiles.
Meanwhile, The New York Times is reporting that President Trump ordered the Pentagon to prepare strikes on Yemen after a call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman last Thursday, only to reverse course at the last minute on Sunday, even as soldiers were loading bombs onto warplanes. The Times reports most of Trump’s inner circle was either deeply skeptical or outright opposed to joining the Saudi fight against the Houthis.
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Paramount Settles Antitrust Lawsuits, Setting Up Megamerger with Warner Bros.
Sep 22, 2026
Paramount has reached a settlement to resolve an antitrust case with a dozen U.S. states that sued to stop the Hollywood giant’s $111 billion takeover of Warner Bros. The Writers Guild of America also settled its own lawsuit over the merger. If the settlements win court approval, the deals would remove the last major hurdles to the megamerger, creating one of the largest news and entertainment companies in history. A combined Paramount-Warner Bros. would include two major film studios, dozens of cable channels, the CBS and CNN news operations, and competing streaming services Paramount+ and HBO Max. According to The New York Times, Paramount agreed under the deal to establish a board of journalists to ensure what it said would be “editorial independence” at CNN and CBS News, as well as other concessions related to film production and distribution.
Paramount is led by David Ellison, son of billionaire Oracle founder Larry Ellison. Both father and son are known to be supporters of Donald Trump. This is California’s Attorney General Rob Bonta.
Rob Bonta: “We got a strong antitrust outcome — more production, more choice and guardrails that keep this industry competitive. I don’t think these two companies should merge, but that’s not something that we are focused on with our resolution here.”
Jessica González of the media reform group Free Press said in response, “We are disappointed that Attorney General Bonta went back on his promise to enforce the law and protect consumers and workers. … Based on all reports, this weak deal contains nothing but unenforceable, empty Paramount promises. It abandons the thousands of creatives and workers who risked speaking out, and the tens of millions of consumers the attorneys general should be fighting for.”
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TV Networks Suspend White House Pool Coverage After Trump Expels CNN
Sep 22, 2026
Image Credit: Molly Riley
Four of the nation’s major TV networks — ABC, CBS, Fox News and NBC — suspended their coverage of President Trump Monday after he expelled CNN from the White House TV press pool. The five TV networks issued a joint statement saying, “The public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government. No administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting.” When the White House attempted to broadcast a ribbon-cutting ceremony for Trump’s new helipad on the White House lawn on Monday afternoon, the president’s words were inaudible. The moment was captured by the right-wing news outlet Newsmax.
Bianca de la Garza: “OK, so, there is no microphone, because — there’s no microphone, because the pool cameras aren’t there. So, maybe, Tim, this is one example of it backfiring just a little bit.”
On Monday, CNN, MS NOW and Politico sued the Trump administration, arguing Trump’s efforts to ban them from the White House violated their First Amendment rights.
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Illinois Authorities Probe Case of U.S. Citizen Hospitalized After ICE Detention
Sep 22, 2026
In Illinois, authorities are investigating a case in which a U.S. citizen was hospitalized with injuries on Sunday after he was detained by federal immigration agents. On the same day, ICE shot and seriously wounded a DoorDash driver in Austin, Texas. Twenty-eight-year-old Wilber Rafael Garcés Perez still has a bullet lodged in his back. Perez said doctors didn’t remove the bullet because it’s near his spine. He says ICE had demanded that he be released quickly from the hospital so he could be transferred to a detention center. He received no pain medication or treatment there. According to Perez’s attorney, he’s back in hospital.
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NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani Hosts Trump at Gracie Mansion
Sep 22, 2026
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani hosted President Trump at Gracie Mansion Monday as leaders converged on the city for the United Nations General Assembly. The two reportedly discussed housing and immigration policy, particularly the revoking of temporary protected status for many immigrants, including Haitians. Trump and Mamdani also discussed a proposal to build a new housing project atop a vast rail depot in Queens known as Sunnyside Yard.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani: “What we’re speaking about is 12,000 homes, 30,000 jobs, the prospect of an entire new neighborhood in a city where housing is the number one cost. And I appreciate the president, his interest in this, and we also know the president not just as the leader of the country, but also as someone who has built quite a lot of housing here in our city.”
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Israeli Attacks Kill Four Palestinians in Gaza
Sep 22, 2026
In Gaza, Israeli attacks have killed at least four Palestinians. Among the dead is Ismail al-Bardawil, an 11-year-old boy who was reportedly shot in his chest as Israeli forces opened fire on tents for displaced people in the al-Mawasi area of southern Gaza. Israel previously designated the area as a so-called safe zone. This comes as the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports Israel has blocked the importation of more than 900 wheelchairs donated by two charities to help children in Gaza for more than a year and a half. According to the U.N., Gaza has the highest concentration of child amputees in the world. As many as 4,000 children have had limbs removed after being injured in Israeli attacks since 2023.
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California to Drop Felony Charges Against Pro-Palestinian Stanford University Students
Sep 22, 2026
California will drop all felony charges against five Stanford University students who participated in a campus protest against Israel’s war on Gaza in 2024. The students were among a group that barricaded themselves inside the Stanford president and provost offices for hours, demanding the university divest from Israel.
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Jury Convicts Vermont Man in Shootings of Three Palestinian Students
Sep 22, 2026
In Vermont, a man has been convicted of attempted second-degree murder in the shootings of three 20-year-old students of Palestinian descent in November 2023. The attack near the University of Vermont campus in Burlington left Hisham Awartani paralyzed from the chest down and his two friends Tahseen Ali Ahmad and Kinnan Abdalhamid wounded. Two of them were wearing keffiyehs and speaking Arabic when Jason Eaton shot at them. All three testified at the trial. Eaton faces life in prison. Click here to see our interview with Elizabeth Price, Hisham Awartani’s mother.
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Sen. Bernie Sanders Delivers Major Foreign Policy Speech Ahead of U.N. General Assembly
Sep 22, 2026
Here in New York, Senator Bernie Sanders delivered a major foreign policy speech Monday evening at the historic Riverside Church in Harlem, warning that the rapid rise of wealth inequality around the world threatens democracy, human rights and the environment. Sanders also warned that artificial intelligence poses an existential threat similar to nuclear weapons. He called on President Trump to begin negotiating a comprehensive treaty to pause advanced AI development when Trump meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping later this week. And Senator Sanders called on the U.S. to end all military assistance to Israel.
Sen. Bernie Sanders: “We must continue to speak out against the extremist government in Israel and the genocide they have committed in Gaza, and why we in the United States must end all military aid to the Netanyahu government.”
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