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Democracy Now!
- "This Regime Will Fall": Director Jafar Panahi on Deadly Iran Protests & Filmmaking Under Censorship
With Iran gripped by nationwide protests that activists say have left at least 2,600 people dead, we recently spoke with renowned Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, whose latest film, It Was Just an Accident, was shot entirely in secret inside Iran and won the Palme d’Or at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. The film has since been shortlisted for an Oscar in the international feature category. Panahi dedicated a recent New York Film Critics Circle Award to Iranian protesters. It Was Just an Accident centers on a group of former prisoners who kidnap a man they believe was their interrogator and grapple with whether to exact revenge, and Panahi says the film drew directly from his own experience with state violence and repression. Panahi has […]
- FBI Raids Home of Washington Post Reporter as Attacks on Press Freedom Intensify Under Trump
The FBI raided the home of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson this week and seized her electronic devices, part of a leak probe into a government contractor accused of mishandling classified government materials. Natanson has reported extensively on the Trump administration’s changes to the federal bureaucracy, including mass layoffs of government workers. This comes amid a broader pattern of attacks on the media, including lawsuits, funding cuts, and increasing media and technology consolidation. “It’s hard not to see [the FBI raid] as an effort to intimidate not just journalists, but the sources that would communicate with them,” says Jameel Jaffer, director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. […]
- Headlines for January 15, 2026
U.S. Pulls Back from Some Middle East Bases Amid Trump’s Threats to Attack Iran, State Department to Halt Processing Visas for Immigrants from 75 Countries, ICE Shoots Man in Minneapolis After Gov. Walz Decries Federal “Campaign of Organized Brutality”, ICE Jails Oglala Sioux Members at Fort Snelling, Site of 19th-Century Concentration Camp, Protester in Santa Ana Is Left Permanently Blind by “Less Lethal” Round Fired by Federal Agent, ProPublica: ICE Agents Used Potentially Fatal Chokeholds in 40+ Cases, Maine Officials Warn ICE Is Preparing Surge into Lewiston and Portland, Danish Foreign Minister: “Fundamental Disagreement” with Trump over Greenland, Trump’s Middle East Envoy Witkoff Says Gaza Truce Has Entered Its […]
- Supreme Court Appears Poised to Uphold State Bans on Trans Student Athletes
When Becky Pepper-Jackson started middle school, she wanted to join her school’s track and field team. Like many girls her age, she was excited to make new friends and cultivate a passion for a sport. But unlike the other girls on her school’s track and field team, Pepper-Jackson is trans. And because she lives in West Virginia, a state which has banned transgender girls from participating in public school sports, Pepper-Jackson was excluded from what for her classmates is a normal childhood experience. Pepper-Jackson sued, and her case is now before the conservative-majority Supreme Court — which, after oral arguments Tuesday, appears likely to uphold similar laws throughout the country. “The states have attempted to justify these […]
- ICE Detention Expands Dramatically; 70,000 Immigrants Now Jailed, Deaths Increase
A new report finds the number of people in ICE detention has nearly doubled in Trump’s first year back in office, driven by indiscriminate arrest policies that have locked up more and more people without criminal records, “an unprecedented situation for immigration detention.” We break down the numbers with Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, which published the report. Reichlin-Melnick explains that ICE’s annual budget has approximately quintupled, even as 2025 marked the agency’s deadliest year so far. Four more people have already died in detention in just the first two weeks of 2026. “Crucially, all of this has been slower than they wanted,” he adds. “Their hope was to have over […]
Anthropocene
- Researchers turn avocado toast into biodegradable food packaging
A strong yet degradable bioplastic made from avocado peels and stale bread tackles two global challenges: food waste and plastic pollution
- A tree’s bark can take a staggeringly large bite out of climate change
The trillions of microbes inhabiting tree bark can suck up planet-warming gases, scientists have discovered.
The Guardian
- US health officials reverse course and reinstate $1.9bn to mental health and substance use
Health department unexpectedly announced nearly $2bn in program cuts Tuesday before rolling back decisionUS health officials reversed course and began reinstating nearly $2bn in cuts to mental health and substance use programs on Wednesday night, one day after they unexpectedly announced the immediate shutdown of programs.The reversal is a blow to the agenda of Robert F Kennedy Jr, the secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services, who has made aggressive and legally contested cuts to health agencies in the first year of the Trump administration and has proposed folding the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (Samhsa) into a new agency he would call the Administration for a Healthy America (AHA). […]
- Trump imposes 25% tariff on Nvidia AI chips and others, citing national security
The order follows a nine-month investigation and includes broad exemptions for data centers and consumersDonald Trump on Wednesday imposed a 25% tariff on certain AI chips, such as the Nvidia H200 AI processor and a similar semiconductor from AMD called the MI325X, under a new national security order released by the White House.The proclamation follows a nine-month investigation under section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 and targets a number of high-end semiconductors meeting certain performance benchmarks and devices containing them for import duties. The action is part of a broader effort to create incentives for chipmakers to produce more semiconductors in the US and decrease reliance on chip manufacturers in places like […]
- Our American Queen review – ambition and allegiance on the eve of 1864 US election
Bridewell theatre, LondonThomas Klingenstein’s account of the formidable Kate Chase’s political plotting during the civil war has dense dialogue and a limited scope‘Sometimes she understands things better than I,” says Abraham Lincoln’s secretary of the treasury, Salmon P Chase, about his politically savvy, social heavyweight of a daughter, Kate.Kate Chase has a lot on her plate. She is helping Salmon prepare to challenge Lincoln in the 1864 elections – managing alliances and optics, and planning a party to announce his campaign, plus a lucrative marriage to finance it, despite her deep connection with Lincoln’s secretary, John Hay. Continue reading...
- Has Joe Rogan fully soured on Trump’s presidency?
With a huge audience and serving as an avatar for millions of centrist Americans, Rogan compares ICE raids to GestapoJoe Rogan’s comparison of US immigration raids to Gestapo operations, made during a podcast episode earlier this week, has sparked speculation about whether the wildly popular podcaster, who endorsed Donald Trump in 2024, has fully soured on Trump’s presidency – and what that might say of the millions of mainly young men who listen to Rogan’s show.Rogan’s views, as expressed in the podcast discussion, were more complicated than the Gestapo remark taken alone might make them seem. Yet even his more measured skepticism about ICE immigration raids feels somewhat significant, given Rogan’s cultural status and the […]
- Renaming US defense department the Department of War could cost $125m
Congressional Budget Office analysis says renaming – which Congress must approve – would cost US taxpayers millionsRenaming the Department of Defense the Department of War could cost US taxpayers as much as $125m depending on how broadly and quickly the change is made, according to an analysis released Wednesday from the Congressional Budget Office.Donald Trump signed an executive order in September that authorized the Department of War as a secondary title for the Pentagon. At the time, Trump said the switch was intended to signal to the world that the US was a force to be reckoned with, and he complained that the Department of Defense’s name was “woke”. Continue reading...
Aeon
- Red tape on a blue planet
All our laws and rules to protect coral reefs now stand in the way of radical action to save them from heat death- by Irus BravermanRead on Aeon
The Conversation
- Global power struggles over the ocean’s finite resources call for creative diplomacy
The expansion of Arctic shipping, scramble for seafloor mining and overfishing are all straining international relationships. But the powers of diplomacy go beyond ocean treaties.
- China’s new condom tax will prove no effective barrier to country’s declining fertility rate
The Asian giant is grappling with a dramatic population decline, with a fertility rate of 1.0, well below the 2.1 replacement rate.
- The hidden power of grief rituals
Grief can inspire concrete acts of loyalty and generosity.
- Refugee families are more likely to become self-reliant if provided with support outside of camp settings
With targeted support, refugees are more likely to gain employment, increase their savings and find safety if not housed in camps, study finds.
- How is China viewing US actions in Venezuela – an affront, an opportunity or a blueprint?
Beijing may benefit from the US retreat from international norms and a vision of a world split into ‘sphere of influence.’
Inter Press Service
- The Iranian Military Is the Only Institution Capable of Catalyzing the Downfall of the Regime
Unlike ever before, Iran’s Islamic regime is facing a revolt led by a generation that has lost its fear. Young and old, men and ...
- What Next? United States Exits Key Entities, Vital Climate Treaties in Major Retreat from Global Cooperation
President Donald Trump has escalated efforts to further distance the United States from international organizations and entities focused on climate, the environment, and energy. ...
- Gaza: Physicians Call For Unimpeded Aid To Restore Reproductive Healthcare
Israel must lift all restrictions on medicine, food and aid coming into Gaza, rights groups have demanded, as two reports released today (Jan 14) ...
Sludge
- GOP Leader’s Family Buys xAI Stock Days Before Pentagon Integration
House Republican Conference chairwoman Lisa McClain disclosed the purchase made just days before the Pentagon announced a major integration with xAI.
Grist
- This tech could keep EVs from stressing the grid — and save everyone money
Instead of lots of EVs juicing up their huge batteries all at once, "active managed charging" distributes the load throughout the night, helping stabilize the grid.
- These Finnish homes are being heated by a surprising source: Bitcoin
Can the reuse of crypto mining’s waste heat redeem its carbon footprint?
- Why almost none of the homes burned in LA have been rebuilt since last year’s fires
The wildfires destroyed 13,000 homes. In Los Angeles County, just seven have been rebuilt.
Truthout
- Leavitt Derides Reporters’ Concerns Over Trump’s Desire to Cancel Midterms
Polling shows Democrats have a wide lead over Republicans in the upcoming midterm races, at least for now.
- Iran’s Protesters Are Caught Between State Repression and Foreign Intervention
Both Trump and the Iranian government are treating Iranian protesters as political pawns.
- Fed Agent Shoots Second Person, Days After Miller Claims Agents Have “Immunity”
Miller lied to ICE agents, saying, “Anybody who lays a hand on you or tries to stop you … is committing a felony.”
Labor Notes
- Fifteen Thousand New York City Nurses Strike
Fifteen thousand nurses across 10 campuses in New York City’s three biggest hospital systems are on an open-ended strike. It’s the city’s largest nurse strike in decades. Picket lines stretched for blocks at Mount Sinai, Montefiore, and New York Presbyterian hospitals on January 12, thronged with nurses plus Teamsters, hotel workers, and university staff showing solidarity.
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