Headlines May 29, 2026 from Democracy Now!

In New York, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the Hilton Midtown hotel in Manhattan Thursday evening to disrupt a pro-Israel, so-called real estate expo that promotes the sale of illegal Israeli settlements in Jerusalem. Activists have described the sales as “part of an initiative to bolster the pipeline of Americans settling on stolen Palestinian land.” Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion reportedly attended the event. This is Rosa Martinez, an activist with the Global Sumud Flotilla who just returned to New York after being abducted by Israeli forces in international waters.

Rosa Martinez: “I just arrived from the Gaza flotilla about four days ago. I had been missing a lot of these illegal land sales. But to me, just coming back and entering this space, it just kind of goes to show how interconnected and how global our work is. I mean, you know, we were detained by the Israeli occupation forces last week, and, you know, that is a military that trains the NYPD. The NYPD has a bureau in Tel Aviv, and you know, a lot of the tactics that the Israelis use on us are just the amplified tactics that the NYPD uses on, like, Brown, Black and immigrant communities here in New York City.”

Palestinians are bracing for a worsening humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered his army to seize 70% of the besieged territory. Already Israel controls about 11% more of Gaza’s land than it agreed to under a U.S.-brokered, so-called ceasefire deal it signed last October. Netanyahu’s latest plan would push Israel’s line of control further beyond the so-called yellow line, leaving even less land for Gaza’s more than 2 million Palestinians. His comments came one day after Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said his government would implement a plan to remove large numbers of Palestinians from Gaza under what he called a “voluntary emigration” scheme.

Vice President JD Vance says the U.S. is “very close” to a memorandum of understanding with Iran that would see both sides cease fire for 60 days while talks over Iran’s nuclear program continue. Vance said the emerging agreement would also reopen the Strait of Hormuz to commercial traffic, with Iran given 30 days to remove all sea mines. President Trump has yet to give his final approval, and Iran’s Tasnim ⁠News Agency reports the text of the framework has not yet been finalized or confirmed.

This comes as The New York Times reports the White House has been quietly working with Gulf Arab states to develop alternative financing mechanisms to pay for Iran’s postwar reconstruction, including unfreezing Iranian funds held in Qatar. On Thursday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent downplayed President Trump’s threat to “blow up” Oman, a U.S. ally, during a Cabinet meeting a day earlier.

Peter Doocy: “Are you guys back there in the West Wing making plans for a new war with Oman?”

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent: “Again, I think the president wanted to punctuate freedom of navigation in the strait. I had a call with the Omani ambassador this morning, and he assured me that there were no plans for tolling the strait.”

Israel intensified its assault on Lebanon on Thursday, bombing Beirut for the first time in three weeks, even as Israeli ground forces pushed deeper into southern Lebanon and issued new forced displacement orders for residents. The United Nations reports 15 children are among those killed by Israeli strikes on Lebanon over the past week. Sixty-two children have been wounded in the attacks, which continue despite the U.S.-brokered, so-called ceasefire agreement Israel signed with Lebanon in April.

The United Nations has added Israel to a blacklist of nations credibly suspected of engaging in systematic sexual violence. In its annual report documenting sexual violence in conflicts worldwide, the U.N. found Israel’s prisons engaged in systematic torture, rape, sexual humiliation and degrading treatment of detained Palestinians. In response, Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon said Israel would sever ties with U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres and his office.

In New Jersey, protests continue outside the Newark ICE jail known as Delaney Hall, where hundreds of detained immigrants have been on a hunger strike for a week demanding their immediate release and denouncing inhumane conditions. On Thursday, the families of detained immigrants spoke out against ICE’s retaliation on the hunger strikers, with activists saying they had received several calls from immigrants inside Delaney reporting guards had pepper-sprayed and beaten detainees. At least six people were reportedly arrested late Wednesday as activists and family members of detainees formed a barricade outside Delaney Hall despite repeated attempts by ICE and law enforcement to violently break up the demonstrations. Delaney Hall is operated by the for-profit prison company GEO Group. We will have more on this story later after headlines.

In climate news, a new study finds the planet is likely to experience record or near-record levels of heat over the next five years. The report by the U.N.'s weather agency and the U.K.'s Met Office projects global surface temperatures will exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, passing a limit set by the Paris climate accord to stave off the worst effects of global heating.

Meanwhile, temperature records are falling across Europe this week amid an extreme heat wave. Portugal reported its hottest-ever day in the month of May. Italy suffered blackouts around Turin, while in Paris, unhoused residents held a protest to demand emergency housing during the heat wave.

Melissa: “Honestly, I wouldn’t wish this on anyone. It’s awful. It’s not easy, especially at night when it comes to sleeping, finding shelter or even eating. It’s not easy.”

In Florida, a Blue Origin rocket exploded on the pad during an engine test on Thursday evening, sending a massive mushroom cloud high above the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The explosion shook homes and rattled windows along Florida’s space coast, casting an orange glow that could be seen 50 miles away in Orlando. It’s a major setback to NASA’s moon landing ambitions and for plans by Blue Origin CEO and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to build a satellite internet service to challenge SpaceX and its Starlink constellation.

The Commerce Department reports the U.S. inflation rate rose to 3.8% in April, its fastest pace in three years, as President Trump’s war on Iran triggered soaring fuel prices that added to the cost of producing and distributing products. This comes as a study by the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities finds 1.6 million fewer people are receiving SNAP food assistance benefits since the Republican Congress passed President Trump’s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which will slash food assistance by $187 billion over a decade. Nearly half of those losing SNAP — some 700,000 people — are children.

Government ethics watchdogs are sounding the alarm after the Pentagon granted a contract to the U.S. technology company Dell worth $9.7 billion. The contract was secured despite financial disclosures revealing President Trump purchased shares of Dell worth up to $5 million ahead of the deal. Trump has repeatedly urged people at public events to buy Dell computers. In response, Public Citizen’s Robert Weissman said, “It is impossible to know where personal profit making ends and policymaking starts with this president.”

In Massachusetts, nearly 70,000 drivers with ride-share services including Uber and Lyft have become the largest private workforce to win union recognition since 1941. Organizers are hailing certification of the drivers’ unionization efforts as a historic turning point for the modern-day labor movement as it seeks to hold big technology companies accountable. The App Drivers Union is a part of SEIU, the Service Employees International Union. On Tuesday, SEIU International President April Verrett joined a celebration for the drivers at the Massachusetts state House in Boston.

April Verrett: “For years drivers were told that they weren’t really workers, just independent contractors, whatever the hell that means, replaceable, disposable, on their own. Meanwhile, these so-called independent contractors carried billion-dollar platforms on their backs, while they struggled to survive. But drivers had a different vision. They said, 'Nuh-uh, not today.' They called BS.”

Guatemala’s government has denied reports that it agreed to allow the Trump administration to carry out military strikes against accused drug traffickers inside the Central American country. Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo was responding to a New York Times report that was published Thursday. The report cited a letter issued by the Guatemalan government addressed to U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and a reported phone call between Arévalo and Hegseth last week. Arévalo said Guatemala is seeking joint collaboration with Washington, D.C., in drug enforcement operations, but stressed his government would not approve U.S. military attacks on the ground.

Gretjen Clausing, the founding executive director of Philadelphia Community Access Media, has passed away at the age of 61. Clausing dedicated decades of her life advocating for public access to the media and freedom of expression and was actively involved in national campaigns in support of community media and local journalism. PhillyCAM’s staff and board issued a statement saying, “Gretjen dedicated herself to building PhillyCAM into a vital community institution where Philadelphians could learn, create, connect, and share their stories. Her vision, leadership, and belief in the power of community media shaped this organization in countless ways, and her loss is being felt deeply.”