The United Nations warns at least nine children were killed and more than 57,000 children have been displaced in Yemen, during two weeks of fighting between Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces and members of Ansar Allah, also known as the Houthis.
On Wednesday, the group released video backing its claims that it shot down a Saudi F-15 fighter jet using a surface-to-air missile. This follows hundreds of air strikes by the Royal Saudi Air Force over the past week.

Meanwhile Reuters reports that Trump administration officials met secretly with Houthi representatives at the US Embassy in Oman’s capital Muscat over the weekend. The Houthis reportedly pledged not to attack U.S. or Israeli vessels, and said they were committed to ​the 2025 ceasefire with the US. The Trump administration’s decision not to join Saudi attacks in Yemen comes as The Associated Press reports the Kingdom is running low on missile interceptors. Saudi officials have reportedly asked France, Pakistan, Egypt and the United Kingdom to help defend against missiles and drones, after the US saw its own stockpiles depleted during the Iran war.

President Trump said Wednesday that Iranian officials had reached out to the U.S. to negotiate a deal – telling reporters “hopefully we are towards the end of ​the war.” There was no confirmation of Trump’s claim from Tehran, where just one day earlier a top official publicly rejected talks unless all of Iran’s conditions are met. Since ordering attacks on Iran in February, Trump has claimed dozens of times that the war had been won, or was about to end.

The Federal Reserve has voted unanimously to hike interest rates for the first time since 2023. Fed chair Kevin Warsh announced the quarter-percentage point increase in the benchmark interest on Wednesday.

Kevin Warsh: “Inflation is the problem. Stable prices have been the problem for now more than five and a half years. So what the committee decided to do today was take an action to ensure a timelier return to our price stability objective.”

Warsh did not directly acknowledge the role the U.S. and Israeli war on Iran played in driving up the cost of energy and other goods and services. He declined to answer questions about how President Trump would react to higher interest rates. Following Warsh’s announcement, Trump blasted the Fed as “very hostile”, “very political” and called on it to lower its benchmark interest rate – from its current rate of up to 4 percent – to 1 percent, or lower.

The price of oil has fallen slightly after surging this week to its highest level since the 2022 energy crisis. Brent crude is trading at about $103 a barrel, following reports that Saudi Arabia was offering additional crude shipments via Oman, after drone attacks damaged the East-West oil pipeline to the Red Sea. According to estimates by Brown University researchers, the Iran war – along with fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – has cost U.S. consumers an extra $107 billion in fuel spending. On Wednesday U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright acknowledged what he called a “short-term” problem, during a Fox News interview.

Secretary Chris Wright: “Yes—this has taken some energy resources out of the marketplace. It is causing a short-term sacrifice for Americans right now. But this is to end Iran’s ability to forever drive up energy prices.”

In the occupied West Bank, Palestinian-American Journalist Naqaa Hamed was arrested by Israeli authorities as she returned from covering Israeli settler attacks in Masafer Yatta. She’s a freelance journalist and a Drop Site contributor. She was detained near a village in Bethlehem as she and two other Palestinian journalists were returning from reporting for Turkish news outlet TRT.

Meanwhile in Gaza, Palestinians in Gaza City held funerals Wednesday for people who were killed when a bombed-out apartment building collapsed. A relative of the victims said his uncle and his uncle’s entire family had been killed.

Bashir Abu Al-Shaar: “Let the world know that the war has not stopped yet, and the proof is here. They said that construction materials would be allowed in and that Gaza City would be rebuilt, or rather, that caravans would be brought in. But unfortunately, my uncle was killed along with his family, without having a safe place to protect himself and his family.”

Democratic congressmember Gregory Meeks has refused to clear President Trump’s $2.8 billion arms sale of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel. Congressmember Meeks is the top Democrat on the House foreign affairs committee. In a statement he said, “The Trump administration has not provided sufficient assurances that these weapons will be used by the Netanyahu government in accordance with US law and with appropriate protections for civilians. I therefore will not clear this sale at this time.” The sale is funded by foreign military financing, a program in which the U.S. gives Israel taxpayer money that Israel then spends on American-made weapons.

Here in New York, an interfaith coalition has unveiled a 330-foot memorial shroud bearing the handwritten names of 20,000 children killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since 2023. On Wednesday, groups including Priests Against Genocide; Doctors Against Genocide; and Justice for All presented the “Gaza Children’s Shroud” at the Church Center for the United Nations across from U.N. headquarters. This comes as the General Assembly is currently in session, ahead of high-level talks next week, when world leaders will gather for a General Debate. At Wednesday’s event, Democracy Now! spoke with Riyad Mansour, the Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the U.N.

bq.Riyad Mansour: “Losing 20,000-plus children in the Gaza Strip alone through this genocide, this is a huge crime against humanity and against the Palestinian people. And those who are responsible for that crime should be held accountable. In Gaza alone 1 million Palestinian children, who are still alive. They need food. They need humanitarian assistance. They need the evacuation of all of the Israeli army. They need freedom. They need dignity. Palestine has to be free.”

On Wednesday the State Department announced it would continue to deny visas to Palestinian officials, including Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority. Abbas is prevented from attending the annual United Nations General Assembly in New York next week.

In Florida, Palestinian human rights attorney Noura Erakat was arrested Tuesday as more than 100 people packed a public budget hearing to oppose plans by Palm Beach County to invest $1 billion in government-backed securities that fund the Israeli state. County Commissioners limited public comment to just one minute, and had sheriffs deputies remove people from the hearing when they spoke out against Israel bonds – claiming bond investments were a policy matter rather than a budget item. The commissioners then declared a recess to clear out even more members of the public. That’s when Noura Erakat says she was arrested.

bq.Noura Erakat: “They are evicting people for applauding. They are insulting their own constituents. They have shut down what people can talk about. This is a very clear and obvious overturn of any kind of democratic order, even the semblance of democratic order. They want us to leave. This sheriff is now telling us to leave. We are staying. We are staying. You are witnessing an absolute – an absolute assault on democracy in Palm Beach County in defense of Israel, against all of their constituents standing in the room who oppose genocide and against the slaughter of children.”

OpenAI has disclosed six more incidents involving what it’s calling “unexpected or concerning” behavior by AI agents. The disclosures announced Wednesday include instances where AI models cheated on tests; covered up mistakes; moved files onto the open internet without permission; and secretly used a makeshift bulletin board to share information with other AI agents. This follows other instances where frontier models self-organized into “swarms” and engaged in strategic deception, self-preservation and power-seeking. OpenAI said it was introducing a new framework for tracking, investigating and disclosing cases of what it calls “misalignment” – where an AI agent’s goals or actions diverge from human intentions, values, or instructions.

On Capitol Hill, the House overwhelmingly approved the Ratepayer Protection Act – a bill aimed at shielding customers from soaring electricity costs due to the rapid roll-out of AI data centers. Following its passage, Republican Speaker Mike Johnson canceled votes scheduled for Thursday and adjourned the House until after November’s midterm elections. That’s despite a letter written by more than 100 House Democrats urging Johnson to cancel the recess in order to craft new legislation on AI safeguards. The House will also avoid voting on articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that were introduced by Republican congressmember Thomas Massie.

The Pentagon said Wednesday it had blown up a vessel in the eastern Pacific after boarding it, abducting its crew, and handing them over to Ecuadorian authorities. As in previous boat strikes, U.S. Southern Command provided no evidence to back its claims the vessel was involved in narcotrafficking. The Trump administration has claimed at least 65 strikes on boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific since last September, reportedly killing at least 230 people. Amnesty International has condemned the attacks as illegal extrajudicial killings at sea, and murder.

In the Hague, former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte appeared in person at the International Criminal Court on Wednesday. He’s facing three counts of crimes against humanity over his drug war. ICC prosecutors allege Duterte created, funded and armed death squads that killed as many as 30,000 people in so-called anti-drug operations. This is the mother of one of Duterte’s victims.

Salvacion Ramos: “We pray that the ICC judges are wise and will not allow it to drag on any longer for our sake. Like me, I am already getting older. I do not know how long I have in this world, and when that happens, how can I continue fighting for my child?”

In Indonesia, El Niño weather conditions are driving up temperatures and causing punishing droughts, as the country is facing its most intense wildfire season in 11 years. Respiratory infections caused by hazardous wildfire pollution have ​more than doubled in just over a week. Volunteers are distributing oxygen cylinders to residents and firefighters. The air has also turned unhealthy in neighboring Singapore and Malaysia. This is Mimi Marlina, a mother of two children battling respiratory problems.

Mimi Marlina: “My child’s health has been affected by this bad air. Her health is declining, she’s coughing, has fevers and runny nose. I’m afraid she will have trouble breathing. We can still hold it off with medicines, but I’m concerned that if this persists, it will lead to worse illnesses.”

The Trump administration is moving to gut a key provision of the Endangered Species Act, according to an internal memo obtained by The New York Times. Under the memo’s reinterpretation, only intentionally harming an animal would break the law. Accidental killings or injuries due to economic activity would not. Andrew Mergen, a law professor at Harvard University, said: “What the administration is proposing to do is take all of the force out of what we have all understood the act to mean: Don’t kill endangered species. What they seem to be saying in this document is, it doesn’t matter if you killed an endangered species if you didn’t mean to.” Twenty-one attorneys general have filed a lawsuit seeking to block implementation of the new Endangered Species Act rules.