International News Briefs for Wednesday, September 9, 2026
HAVANA TIMES – We bring you some of the top international news stories compiled by Democracy Now on Wednesday, September 9, 2026.
Canada, France and the U.K. Ban Trade with Israeli Settlements
Sep 09, 2026
The governments of Canada, France and the United Kingdom said Tuesday they will ban goods and some services from illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. They join several other U.S. allies, including Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway and Spain, who’ve already taken steps to ban imports from settlements. U.K. Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announced the sanctions in a speech to the House of Commons Tuesday, where he accused Israel of carrying out “ethnic cleansing” in the occupied West Bank.
Ed Miliband: “Ethnic cleansing is defined by the U.N. as a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove, by violent and terror-inspiring means, the civilian population of another ethnic or religious group from certain geographic areas. The British government agrees that there is ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in areas of the West Bank, perpetrated by settler terrorists, and all too often the Israeli government has turned a blind eye to this.”
Miliband also tightened restrictions on U.K. arms exports to Israel; however, the limited embargo does not exclude the transfer of F-35 fighter jet parts. Israel responded by closing the British Consulate in East Jerusalem. Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich declared the Oslo Accords “null and void” and demanded the expulsion of the British ambassador. Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports British diplomats privately told the U.S. that the sanctions are largely symbolic and will have no material impact on the U.K.’s wider relationship with Israel on trade or security.
Haaretz: Israeli Prime Minister Netayahu Failed to Heed Warning of October 7 Attacks
Sep 09, 2026
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised to sue the newspaper Haaretz after it reported he failed to heed a warning that Hamas was planning a major operation ahead of the October 7, 2023, attacks. Haaretz said in response that it stands by its reporting. On Tuesday, the paper published excerpts of a forthcoming book by its reporters that found that UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed warned Netanyahu a week and a half before the attacks, and that the Israeli leader failed to inform his security chiefs. On Tuesday, opposition politicians accused Netanyahu of evading responsibility for security lapses and called him unfit to serve. In a rare joint statement, four opposition party leaders called for “an immediate and thorough investigation” into Netanyahu’s “failures.”
U.S. Forces Bomb Five Iranian Tankers as Iran Retaliates by Firing Missiles at U.S. Base in Jordan
Sep 09, 2026
U.S. forces bombed five Iranian tankers Tuesday, including one near Iran’s main oil export terminal, Kharg Island. Iran retaliated by firing missiles at a U.S. base in Jordan. Jordanian forces say they intercepted nearly all of them. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards also claimed retaliatory strikes on U.S. and commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, which normally carries a fifth of the world’s oil and gas. U.S. Central Command denied Iran’s claims it struck two Navy destroyers. The Strait of Hormuz has been effectively closed since the U.S. war on Iran began in late February. On Tuesday, Brent crude oil futures topped $100 a barrel — the highest fuel prices since the U.S.-Iran ceasefire collapsed in July.
Dueling Court Rulings on Missouri’s Gerrymandered Voting Maps Pose Challenge to Midterm Elections Planning
Sep 09, 2026
In Missouri, a pair of court rulings has thrown planning for November’s midterm elections into chaos. On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to allow Republicans to use a Trump-backed map gerrymandered to target Democratic Congressmember Emanuel Cleaver’s Kansas City seat. The ruling left in place a Missouri Supreme Court ruling that sends the new map to a public referendum. Hours later, U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark, a Trump appointee, ordered Missouri to use the gerrymandered map anyway, ruling that switching maps after the August primary would lead to voter confusion. Judge Clark’s order has been appealed to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Postal Service’s Inspector General Says It Will Review Whistleblower Warning on Trump Admin’s New Mail-In Voting Rule
Sep 09, 2026
The Postal Service’s inspector general says it will review a whistleblower’s warning that the Trump administration’s new mail-in voting rule could result in thousands of legal ballots being discarded. The new rule would require states to hand over lists of mail ballot recipients and use approved envelopes with unique barcodes, allowing the agency to refuse ballots that don’t follow those standards. This comes as a federal judge has extended a block on the rule. The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to allow it to enforce the rule before the midterm elections.
Federal Appeals Court Blocks IRS from Sharing Taxpayer Data with ICE
Sep 09, 2026
A federal appeals court has blocked the IRS from sharing taxpayer data with ICE. ICE had demanded the last known addresses of 1.28 million people it says are in the U.S. unlawfully. The three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., found that ICE’s request violated laws passed after the Watergate scandal, when the Nixon administration weaponized tax files against its enemies. The IRS and ICE had set up a mechanism that allowed immigration officials to submit lists to tax authorities to check against their records. Judge Cornelia Pillard wrote, “The IRS is now on notice twice over regarding the legal inadequacies of its summer 2025 disclosures. The government and its personnel face steep civil and criminal consequences for willful disclosure of information.”
U.N. Report: Sharp Rise in Wildfires and Heat Waves Undercutting Air Quality Worldwide
Sep 09, 2026
U.N. experts warn a sharp rise in wildfires and heat waves, intensified by the climate crisis, is undercutting air quality worldwide. A new report finds that areas which had slashed pollution from vehicles and industry now face fresh risks from wildfire smoke, while higher temperatures brought by severe heat waves are driving up ground-level ozone. This is Lorenzo Labrador, a scientific officer of the World Meteorological Organization, which issued the report.
Lorenzo Labrador: “Wildfires have the potential to undermine progress made in — brought about by air quality measures in many countries, because no matter how clean your city or your region is because of reduced emissions due to whatever measures you put in place, if you have a lot of pollution brought about by wildfires, that has the potential to negatively impact air quality in those regions, as well. So, yes.”
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Federal Appeals Court Rules U.S. Constitution Does Not Guarantee Right to Clean Drinking Water
Sep 09, 2026
A federal appeals court has ruled that the U.S. Constitution does not guarantee the right to clean drinking water, rejecting a lawsuit by residents of Jackson, Mississippi, who say their city knowingly allowed them to drink tap water contaminated with lead. On Friday, a full panel of judges on the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 10-5 to uphold a lower court’s dismissal of the case, which argued city officials violated residents’ constitutional right to bodily integrity under the 14th Amendment’s due process clause.
Reuters: Trump Admin Seeking Access to Venezuela’s Minerals
Sep 09, 2026
The Trump administration is looking to obtain greater access to Venezuela’s minerals, including gold. That’s according to Reuters, which reports the move would open up Venezuela’s mining sector to U.S. investment, giving U.S. companies access to crucial minerals. President Trump has already taken steps to control Venezuela’s vast oil wealth, announcing that the U.S. would take majority control of more than 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan oil reserves. The deal has been widely condemned after the abduction of former President Nicolás Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores in January.
Trump Proposes Renaming State of New Mexico as “New America”
Sep 09, 2026
President Trump has proposed renaming the state of New Mexico as “New America,” in a series of memes shared on social media over the Labor Day weekend. Any such move would violate New Mexico’s state Constitution. In response, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham wrote, “New Mexico’s name isn’t up for debate — it’s been ours since before the United States existed.” In August, President Trump issued an executive order renaming Lake Ontario as “Lake America.” Google Maps and Apple Maps quickly complied, switching the lake’s name for U.S. users of their popular app. But after MapQuest refused to comply with the name change, it saw its app surge in popularity to become the number one download in Apple’s App Store.
Trump Gave Executive Assistant Natalie Harp and Two Other White House Aides $45,000 Each
Sep 09, 2026
Image Credit: Kevin Dietsch/Getty
President Trump gave his executive assistant Natalie Harp and two other young, female White House aides $45,000 each. According to financial disclosures, the payments are described as “Cash Gift for Holidays” and amount to a third of the aides’ $150,000 annual salary. Walt Nauta, the director of Oval Office operations, also reported a $20,000 gift from the president.
HHS Publishes Pseudoscientic Study Linking Trans Rights Advocacy to Political Violence
Sep 09, 2026
The Trump administration has published a new study purporting to show links between support for transgender rights, left-wing authoritarianism and political violence. The report claims without evidence that the killing of the right-wing activist Charlie Kirk was connected to so-called gender ideology. The unfinished report was commissioned by the Department of Health and Human Services and conducted by researchers with Rutgers University, the Manhattan Institute and the Network Contagion Research Institute think tank. It has neither been peer-reviewed nor accepted for publication in an academic journal. In response, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism said, “This study is not a neutral scientific inquiry … Instead, it attempts to reframe a healthcare consensus as a security and radicalization concern — furthering the administration’s aims of dehumanizing and abusing the transgender community.”
Researcher Quits Anthropic, Warning Self-Improving AI Poses Existential Risk
Sep 09, 2026
A researcher at the artificial intelligence firm Anthropic publicly resigned on Tuesday, warning that the race to produce frontier AI models could lead to self-improving superintelligent machines that pose an existential threat to humans. Jacob Coxon specialized in training new AI models on vast amounts of data. In a social media post explaining his resignation, he wrote, “The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade. This is not a marketing stunt. If anything, many executives and senior researchers will couch their phrasing in the press to sound sensible — but I hear the same people express fear privately. No other human activity poses this level of danger.” His warning comes just days after OpenAI released its most capable model yet, GPT‐6 Astra, which prompted Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to proclaim, ”AGI has arrived” — referring to artificial general intelligence.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon has asked OpenAI to provide it with a special version of its artificial intelligence technology designed to refuse commands as infrequently as possible. That’s according to The Intercept, which reports a large language model that would aid in the process of spying on, targeting and killing people would require a substantial relaxation of existing safeguards.
Protesters March on Albania’s Parliament to Oppose Kushner-Linked Luxury Resort Project
Sep 09, 2026
In Albania, police blocked protesters from reaching the Parliament on Tuesday, as demonstrations against the development of a luxury resort linked to U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner turned violent. In the capital Tirana, protesters pelted officers in riot gear with eggs and tomatoes. Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama supports Kushner’s development project, despite critics claiming that it would cause massive environmental damage. This is a protester at Tuesday’s demonstration.
Vasjon Done: “They were very violent, but they don’t understand that their violence is keeping us more pumped and will bring here more people. They think that by arresting us, by illegally keeping us in prison, they think that they can scare us, but it’s kind of the opposite. Like, we are not scared. Everyone is seeing the regime here, how it is operating, so we are not scared anymore. So we’ll keep going.”