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For Immediate Release
November, 12 2026, 08:13am EDT
Contact:
Valentina Stackl, Oil Change International (ET) - valentina@oilchange.org
Sen. Whitehouse at COP31 While Advancing Trump-Backed Fossil Fuel Giveaway at Home
In response to news that U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) is attending COP31 today, Oil Change International's United States Campaign Manager, Collin Rees, said,
“Senator Whitehouse is a reliably strong voice for climate action and a frequent presence at the climate talks. This makes it even more disappointing that he’s choosing to introduce and champion a Trump-backed bill that would accelerate massive buildout of fossil fuel projects and AI data centers by weakening environmental protections.
“Whitehouse is one of the lead sponsors of the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act (BAAJA). His involvement acts as a smokescreen for the Big Tech, Big Oil, and industry-funded front groups who have spent millions of dollars lobbying for the bill.
“BAAJA could fast-track construction of hundreds of proposed gas power plants and pipelines, polluting communities’ air and water, desecrating Tribal Nations’ sacred sites, and raising households’ energy bills. It would gut bedrock environmental laws in exchange for some weak promises Trump has already committed to breaking.
“Proponents’ own modeling shows that the bill’s transmission provisions would have no discernible benefit to our climate, while unlocking unprecedented fossil fuel development. At best, this bill leaves U.S. emissions over 2.1 billion tons short in 2040 of even a modest climate goal.
“Senator Whitehouse knows better than most the damage the fossil fuel industry has done to our climate and democracy. That's precisely why he should be standing up to Trump and Big Oil, not cutting deals that hand them even more power. Climate leadership at COP31 must be matched by climate leadership at home, and that means rejecting BAAJA.”
Oil Change International is a research, communications, and advocacy organization focused on exposing the true costs of fossil fuels and facilitating the ongoing transition to clean energy.
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As Fossil Fuel ISDS Claims Hit $443 Billion, Campaigners at COP31 Call for End to Shadowy Legal Tool
"It’s obscene that the very corporations which have created the climate crisis are demanding eye-watering payouts when governments take much needed climate action."
Nov 12, 2026
Ahead of an official side event at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Antalya, Türkiye, campaigners on Thursday released an analysis of UN data regarding secretive deals within trade agreements aimed at protecting the profits of corporations, including fossil fuel giants, which have now claimed at least $443 billion from the legal provisions.
Investor-state dispute settlements (ISDS), which allow corporations to sue governments over their investments and profit losses as the result of laws and regulations, have increasingly been used by the fossil fuel industry as countries have started taking action to regulate planet-heating oil and gas emissions, according to data from the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
The data was analyzed by the British campaign group Global Justice Now and the German research organization PowerShift, which found that based on 987 publicly disclosed ISDS cases, corporate investors have demanded a total of $1.177 trillion up to 2025.
That represents a 37.5% increase, or $321 billion more, from the amount investors were attempting to claim at the end of 2023.
$1.177 trillion is nearly equivalent to the total global climate finance needs, including mitigation costs, for 2021-22, said the campaigners.
The total compensation demanded by fossil fuel investors, $443.8 billion, "is equivalent to the estimated minimum amount of economic losses developing countries will face due to climate change in 2030," said Global Justice Now and PowerShift.
In fossil fuel cases, the amount demanded rose by $80 billion, or 22%, compared to 2023.
Fabian Flues, investment policy lead at PowerShift, pointed out that by "weaponizing" ISDS, fossil fuel giants are siphoning "money from public budgets that are already stretched," and Nick Dearden, director of Global Justice Now, compared the ISDS payouts to "the owners of enslaved people being compensated for their grotesque harms following abolition in the early 19th century.”
“We know fossil fuel corporations are making a fortune out of global crises, hitting ordinary people hard," said Dearden. "But they are also using obscure international agreements to bully governments out of responding and drain money from the public sector. It’s obscene that the very corporations which have created the climate crisis are demanding eye-watering payouts when governments take much needed climate action."
This week, US company ExxonMobil launched a legal challenge to the European Union's Net Zero Industry Act, under which the company is required to pay for carbon storage.
“We know fossil fuel corporations are making a fortune out of global crises, hitting ordinary people hard. But they are also using obscure international agreements to bully governments out of responding and drain money from the public sector."
The law would saddle Exxon with "unrealistic timelines," the company said in a statement.
A UK-based mining company and its Singapore-based majority shareholder also sued the UK government last year for £300 million ($398 million) after officials blocked their "unviable" coal mine planned for Cumbria.
“This legal challenge is a last, desperate attempt by investors to make some money out of a project which belonged in the last century," Niall Toru, a senior lawyer at Friends of the Earth, told Land and Climate Review in May.
According to Global Justice Now and PowerShift, the total amount of compensation awarded to corporate investors through ISDS cases reached $123 billion last year, with fossil fuel investors receiving "the lion’s share of $85.9 billion, representing almost 70% of all payouts to investors."
$123 billion is "equivalent to the entire bilateral development aid given by [Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development] countries in 2025," said the campaigners.
The groups are among those calling on leaders at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP31) to agree to a coordinated phase-out of ISDS.
Next Monday, Global Justice Now and the Netherlands-based group Both ENDS are organizing an official side event in Antalya featuring Vanuatu Climate Minister Ralph Regenvanu, representatives from communities at the center of ISDS disputes, and a senior government official from Australia, which announced a new policy in 2022 of excluding ISDS mechanisms from future trade deals.
"Governments need to stop this heist and cancel the international agreements that enable fossil fuel investors to sue over climate policies," said Flues. "Countries like Australia, South Africa, and Indonesia have taken significant steps to free themselves from ISDS, and others should follow suit.”
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'The South Is in Play': Scott Colom Wins US Senate Race in Deep-Red Mississippi
"If this is what Southern organizers and candidates can accomplish with limited investment, imagine what is possible when we meet their leadership and labor with the resources they deserve."
Nov 12, 2026
Local district attorney Scott Colom was declared the winner of a closely contested US Senate race in deep-red Mississippi on Wednesday after more than a week of ballot counting, a historic upset victory for grassroots organizing in a state that Republicans have dominated for decades.
"I had the courage to believe in Mississippi," said Colom, who will become the first Black senator from Mississippi since Reconstruction. Colom is also the first Democrat to win a US Senate election in Mississippi since 1982, succeeding despite ongoing attacks on voting rights across the state.
Incumbent Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), who in 2023 blocked Colom's nomination to serve as a federal district judge, conceded the race on Wednesday and congratulated the Democratic senator-elect.
Colom said in his victory speech at Tougaloo College, a historically Black college in Jackson, that he sometimes "couldn't get donors to answer the phone" when fundraising for his campaign, a jab at Democratic higher-ups' lack of investment in Mississippi and the South more broadly.
Senate Democrats' campaign arm, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), excluded Mississippi from a $40 million investment in battleground states across the country in July. The DSCC ultimately intervened in the final days of the race with a $500,000 ad buy for Colom, who campaigned on fighting the affordability crisis, raising wages and tying them to living costs, and reversing GOP cuts to federal healthcare programs.
Colom drew widespread attention with viral ad campaigns spotlighting Hyde-Smith's comments downplaying the rising cost of beef.
"You know, you have so many proteins to choose from," the Republican senator said in February.
"Pick another protein?" a Mississippi resident responds in one Colom campaign ad. "I'd rather pick another senator instead."
Britney Whaley, Southeast regional director of the Working Families Party, celebrated Colom's win as a challenge to "everything conventional wisdom tells us about Southern politics."
"This historic win in Mississippi should serve as a clarion call for the political establishment: It’s time to redraw the entire political map, reevaluate polling methods, and conduct a serious audit of investment portfolios. The South is in play, and it’s time to start acting like it," said Whaley. "This win belongs to the countless Black leaders and grassroots organizers who envisioned a future for Mississippi that much of the country could not imagine and spent years organizing, building, and fighting to bring that vision to life. And it belongs to the Mississippi voters who refused to have their voices silenced, showing up in the face of archaic and suppressive voting laws to make their voices heard."
"If this is what Southern organizers and candidates can accomplish with limited investment," Whaley added, "imagine what is possible when we meet their leadership and labor with the resources they deserve."
Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP, said in a statement that "Mississippi voters made history because they refused to be intimidated, discouraged, or counted out."
"Even in the face of efforts to remove voters from the rolls, attempts to intimidate voters and election officials, and bids to create fear around the electoral process, Mississippi voters showed up," said Johnson. "They showed up for their communities, for their families, and for the future of their state. They reminded the nation that we the people have the power."
With Colom's victory, Democrats are set to hold at least 55 seats in the US Senate come January. Alaska's Senate race, where Democratic candidate Mary Peltola is narrowly leading Republican Dan Sullivan, has yet to be called.
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‘Outrageous’: Omar's Office Slams DOJ Effort to Make Former Bodyguard an Informant
The targeting of Abdullahi Mohamed amounts to the "blatant weaponization of the full federal government to intimidate political opponents,” said a spokesperson for Omar.
Nov 11, 2026
"The country is run by a criminal syndicate," one progressive organizer said Wednesday in response to the news that the Trump administration, as part of its effort to build a criminal case against US Rep. Ilhan Omar, had tried to obtain incriminating information from her former bodyguard—even offering to protect him from deportation in exchange for the information.
As The New York Times reported, Abdullahi Mohamed briefly worked as a bodyguard for Omar (D-Minn.) during an overseas trip, and drew an unusual amount of attention of federal prosecutors when he interviewed with an immigration official for a green card application in October 2025.
Mohamed, who has Somali and British citizenship, was seeking to become a permanent resident after marrying an American citizen in Minnesota.
But his interview included questions that were not routine, including whether he had "any interactions with any government officials or politicians in the United States.”
Mohamed, did not understand the question due to his lack of fluency in English, his lawyer, Bruce Rivers, told the Times, and he answered no despite having worked for Omar.
His green card application was denied—a frequent occurrence if officials believe an applicant has lied or misrepresented themselves. But in a development that one immigration judge told the Times was "deeply unusual," Mohamed received a letter from the US Department of Justice several months later, in February, saying he was under criminal investigation for lying to a government official under oath—a crime punishable by up to five years in prison.
At a meeting with prosecutors the following month, the Times reported, it became clear why Mohamed had been targeted and why his case had been assigned to top officials in the US attorney's office in Minnesota who oversaw the criminal division and fraud and public corruption cases.
"The main focus of the meeting was Ms. Omar," according to the Times.
Around the same time, President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance were heavily focused on an anti-fraud task force led by Vance, and a social services fraud scandal in Minnesota. The administration pointed fingers at Somali American communities across Minnesota and the country, and Trump claimed Omar was “one of the ringleaders" of fraudulent activity in the US.
Vance also told a conservative podcaster that he hoped to hold the congresswoman accountable for immigration fraud.
“They asked him if he knew who she was married to and that kind of stuff. He didn’t know any information about that stuff.”
In October, agents with the Department of Homeland Security raided Omar's Washington, DC home as part of its investigation into her immigration history. Officials have said the White House aims to deport the progressive congresswoman.
At the meeting with Mohamed in March, the prosecutors asked him about Omar's immigration from Somalia to the US when she was a child and her 2009 marriage, which some right-wing politicians and commentators have claimed was a ploy to help a man suspected of being her brother to obtain a green card.
Rivers told the Times that several times during the meeting, prosecutors told him and Mohamed that the investigation into Omar was "100% being run by 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue"—the White House.
In an indication that the administration was also investigating Omar's financial records, the prosecutors also asked Mohamed if he knew anything about a $10,000 payment involving Omar and Mohamed's brother. The prosecutors called the payment a potential bribe; his brother later told Mohamed that the payment had settled a loan.
“They asked him if he knew who she was married to and that kind of stuff,” Rivers told the Times. “He didn’t know any information about that stuff.”
The prosecutors also offered to intervene in potential deportation proceedings against Mohamed if they provided the information they were looking for.
Jackie Rogers, a spokesperson for Omar, told the Times that the prosecutors' offer to Mohamed after his green card application had been denied was "outrageous."
“This is a staggering abuse of presidential power and a blatant weaponization of the full federal government to intimidate political opponents,” Rogers said.
The prosecutors then secured a grand jury indictment against Mohamed after their gambit to use him as a witness against Omar failed.
But in September, after Mohamed once again said he had no information about Omar's immigration history as part of testimony before a grand jury, prosecutors filed a motion to dismiss the indictment against the former bodyguard, because he had been placed in deportation proceedings.
“There is no longer a federal interest in continuing prosecution in light of his anticipated removal from the United States,” said the prosecutors.
Mohamed is now in Nairobi, Kenya, while his wife remains in the US.
Despite the administration's attacks on Omar, the congresswoman easily won her reelection campaign last week, with more than 76% of the vote.
"A couple of weeks ago when they decided that they were going to come for me, they thought that they were going to find someone who was going to cower," said Omar on election night. "They thought that if you attacked me and you silenced me, that my community wouldn't show up and vote."
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'A Guy Who Wants to Tinker Around the Edges': Sanders Makes the Case Against Schumer for Senate Leader
"In this moment in American history, Chuck's views are way out of touch with where the American people are at."
Nov 11, 2026
US Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday offered a blistering assessment of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's leadership, saying his approach to everything from Israel and artificial intelligence to economic inequality demonstrates why Democrats need new leadership.
"I think, in this moment in American history, Chuck's views are way out of touch with where the American people are at—and especially with where [the base of] the Democratic Party is," Sanders (I-Vt.) told John Nichols, executive director of The Nation.
"On issue after issue, I think he is just not in tune with where his constituents are at," he said of the New York Democrat.
Sanders—who acknowledges that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza as determined by a UN commission of inquiry and many other experts—took particular aim at Schumer's continued support for US military aid to the country. Sanders argued that the United States should not provide "another nickel" in weapons assistance to an ally that the International Court of Justice and others say is an apartheid state, and whose prime minister is a fugitive from the International Criminal Court, wanted for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The two-time social democratic presidential candidate also questioned whether Schumer would fight for a billionaire wealth tax to fund universal childcare, tuition-free public colleges, and affordable housing.
"And I think that basically on other issues Chuck is a guy who wants to tinker around the edges," Sanders said.
Schumer's decision last year to help advance a Republican government funding bill sparked intense backlash from progressives, who accused him of surrendering Democrats' leverage and called on him to resign.
Sanders also criticized Schumer for failing to meaningfully address the power of the technology industry's billionaire executives and the rapid proliferation of artificial intelligence and data centers.
The criticism comes amid mounting progressive dissatisfaction with the party's congressional leadership following Democrats' sweeping midterm victories. As Common Dreams has reported, progressive organizers have argued that the electoral results represent a mandate for transformative change, not simply a return to business as usual under establishment Democrats.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) has emerged as a potential alternative to Schumer—and one who Sanders said he would support.
"It's not a time for incrementalism," Van Hollen recently said. "It's a time to move forward a very bold kitchen table agenda."
Van Hollen has urged colleagues not to give Schumer a "blank check" without commitments to an ambitious economic program.
Schumer has sounded confident that he will be elected majority leader after Democrats retake control of Congress in January.
"I am going to be elected leader, OK, and we're united on the issues," Schumer told The Washington Sun on Wednesday. "We're united. We're united on costs and chaos."
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UN Expert Calls on Nations to 'Send Humanitarian Vessels' to Break Israeli Siege of Gaza
Israel is blocking around 150,000 tents and other recovery supplies from entering flood-ravaged Gaza.
Nov 11, 2026
A leading United Nations human rights expert said nations must prepare to send ships to break Israel’s “siege” of Gaza as it continues to block humanitarian aid—including tents, shelter materials, and repair supplies—from entering the territory as its population is inundated by deadly floods.
"Israel must immediately open all Gaza crossings and let humanitarian aid in, starting with new tents and modular housing, clean water, nutrient-rich food, medicines," Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, wrote on social media Tuesday. "If... Israel still refuses, any principled leader would send humanitarian vessels to break the siege."
Most buildings in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed by Israel's genocidal three-year military assault. About 1.4 million people now live in makeshift shelters, including flimsy tents.
According to Gaza's Government Media Office, about 70,000 tents were flooded when heavy rains struck the territory over the weekend, leaving tens of thousands of displaced people without shelter, defenseless against the elements. At least four children and two women have died as a result of the flooding.
As The Guardian reported Wednesday, the storms have also damaged sanitation infrastructure, causing sewage to flow into families' tents. About 940,000 people in Gaza live in makeshift tent areas at risk of flooding.
“All our clothes were soaked. My kids are all sick, and I can’t afford to buy them more clothes,” said Raed Jamal, a displaced Palestinian. “Watching them suffering in the cold is heartbreaking.”
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), more than 150,000 tents are awaiting Israeli authorization to enter Gaza, even as humanitarian organizations warn that Israel's restrictions on shelter supplies are exacerbating the deadly flooding emergency.
On Monday, the International Rescue Committee said aid groups had only about 2,800 tents available, compared with roughly 121,000 that are needed. Meanwhile, no emergency shelter kits were available.
"People are exhausted and have spent days trying to secure tarpaulins and scoop water from the floor of tents," said Beckie Ryan, the humanitarian group CARE Palestine's interim country director. "For these families, most of whom have been displaced repeatedly, a flooded tent means losing their last protection against the elements as winter approaches. It also means the loss of essential belongings, including clothing, bedding, medication, documentation, and personal items."
"Israeli authorities must facilitate full, rapid, safe, and unhindered humanitarian access," she said. "This includes opening all crossings for humanitarian aid and facilitating the entry of shelter and construction materials and machinery."
Israel's restrictions on shelter materials are part of broader limits on humanitarian aid entering Gaza, with only one crossing for humanitarian cargo currently operational. Relief organizations say the closures have created bottlenecks that have delayed deliveries of food, medicine, and desperately needed shelter materials.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denied responsibility for the conditions, blaming the militant group Hamas for allegedly diverting humanitarian aid for military use, a claim for which he provided no supporting evidence, according to The Associated Press.
His response came after some unusually pointed criticism from the US-led Gaza Board of Peace, which said Israel's restrictions had “exacerbated the consequences of a foreseeable humanitarian challenge.”
The crisis has also drawn pledges of action from foreign officials. Ed Miliband, the UK foreign secretary, said on Monday that the "humanitarian situation in Gaza is getting worse," adding that the British government would "not stand by" and "not rest until we bring an end to the intolerable suffering."
Albanese made her call for humanitarian vessels in direct response to Miliband's remarks, challenging world leaders to do more than condemn the worsening crisis.
Several governments have previously supported civilian efforts to break Israel's blockade—including Spain and Italy, which sent naval vessels to assist the activist-led Global Sumud Flotilla, which was intercepted by Israel last year. But no government has publicly committed to sending its own ships to force humanitarian aid through Israel's blockade.
Albanese and five other UN human rights experts made a similar appeal in May, saying that “states should take necessary action to prevent genocide and to support all efforts to deliver aid to the Palestinian population.”
Richard Burgon, a Labour member of the British Parliament, introduced a motion on Tuesday calling for his government to take more concrete action to compel Israel to allow in aid, which he said has received over 50 signatures.
He said, “Governments around the world should respond to the horrific scenes from flood-hit Gaza with a clear and coordinated message to Israel: We will impose sanctions on everyone responsible for blocking humanitarian aid from getting in.”
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Petition Aimed at Drafting Ayanna Pressley to Challenge Hakeem Jeffries for Speaker Picks Up Steam
"We believe that as speaker of the House, Ayanna Pressley would bring her innovative spirit and unwavering resolve to tackle the pressing challenges facing our nation."
Nov 11, 2026
With calls from progressives growing for congressional Democrats to choose new leaders, a movement is building to have US Rep. Ayanna Pressley challenge Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries for the speakership next year.
A Change.org petition launched this week is urging Democratic lawmakers to make Pressley speaker, arguing that the Massachusetts Democrat "represents a beacon of hope and integrity in a tumultuous political landscape."
"We believe that as speaker of the House, Ayanna Pressley would bring her innovative spirit and unwavering resolve to tackle the pressing challenges facing our nation," the petition states. "Her ability to foster meaningful conversations and build bridges across the political aisle makes her uniquely qualified for this pivotal role."
The petition also praises Pressley's leadership style, which it says is "marked by transparency and inclusivity"—traits that align "with what the majority of Americans want to see in their government."
As of this writing, the petition has gathered more than 18,000 signatures.
While Pressley has not shown any intention of launching a challenge to Jeffries' (D-NY) speakership bid, she said in a Tuesday social media post that Democrats need to act boldly to meet voters' expectations.
"Republicans have been flooding the zone with lawlessness, cruelty, and corruption," Pressley wrote. "And Democrats have a mandate to match their energy—boldly and unapologetically. It's not enough to be the adults in the room. We have to prove that we are the FIGHTERS in the room."
According to a tally published Wednesday by Drop Site, 49 House Democrats so far have pledged to support Jeffries for speaker, with 23 Democrats uncommitted and zero Democrats outright opposed. Jeffries needs to secure 218 votes in the next Congress to ascend to the speakership.
Following last week’s midterm elections, progressives have called for Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who aims to continue leading the Democrats in the Senate, to step aside and make way for leaders who better reflect the Democratic base.
Polls have shown a majority of Democratic voters support Medicare for All and an end to US military aid for Israel, for example, which both Jeffries and Schumer oppose.
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US Taxpayer Coalition Urges ICC to Issue Arrest Warrants for Trump, Rubio Over Gaza Genocide
"Let us be clear: The genocide of the Palestinian people would not have been possible without the unwavering support of the United States."
Nov 11, 2026
A coalition of American taxpayers, including human rights lawyers and activists, formally submitted video footage, firsthand eyewitness accounts, and other evidence to the International Criminal Court on Wednesday, making the case that the tribunal should issue arrest warrants for US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio for aiding Israel's genocidal assault on Gaza.
The evidence submission was organized by the Taxpayer Alliance Against Genocide (TAAG), which recently secured a preliminary court decision that blocked a Trump executive order sanctioning human rights groups and others who work with the ICC—an institution that the Trump administration is actively working to dismantle.
The 28-page document includes detailed accounts of Trump and Rubio's actions in support of the Israeli government's devastating and ongoing attacks on Gaza and the illegally occupied West Bank.
Trump, the submission states, "personally authorized and facilitated the release of approximately 1,800 previously withheld 2,000-pound MK-84 bombs" to the Israeli military and "rescinded West Bank sanctions on individuals and entities the United States had formally determined were involved in violence and dispossession."
"These acts of material assistance had a substantial effect on Israel’s ability to carry out military operations in Gaza and on the ability of sanctioned actors to continue violence in the West Bank," the document argues.
As for Rubio, "the evidence records State Department and [Defense Security Cooperation Agency] approvals of major arms sales to Israel after February 2025, including Hellfire missiles, munitions, guidance kits, fuses, munitions support, and large quantities of 2,000-pound bomb bodies and penetrator warheads."
"The [ICC] prosecutor should investigate whether Secretary Rubio approved or expedited the same categories of munitions whose prior use had generated known civilian harm and concerns about violations of international humanitarian law," the document states.
Seth Donnelly, a cofounder of TAAG, said at a press conference in The Hague on Wednesday, "We urge the office of the prosecutor to act quickly on this evidence."
"The evidence includes sworn affidavits from doctors who worked in Gaza, firsthand eyewitness accounts, whistleblower testimony, videos, and extensive documentation concerning US political, military, diplomatic, and financial support for Israel," said Donnelly.
Joining the delegation behind the ICC submission were human rights attorney Huwaida Arraf, Palestinian American author Susan Abulhawa, and Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, a trauma surgeon who has served in Gaza.
"American airplanes burning American jet fuel are dropping American bombs, which are guided by American guidance systems on targets that were picked largely by software developed in the United States," said Sidhwa. "I hope these attempts at reestablishing—or maybe establishing—the rule of law in the international system, these attempts to hold the powerful accountable, something that we unfortunately have failed to do in our own society, can be an effective resistance to the fascist forces that are spreading throughout the world now."
Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, applauded the delegation's submission, saying at Wednesday's press conference that "international law remains the last peaceful instrument we possess to confront injustice and pave the way forward."
"The legal tools are there. They are not the only ones, but they are peaceful tools," said Albanese. "What is missing is the political courage to use them. That political courage is [what] the Taxpayer Alliance Against Genocide is showing. And this is why today's gathering matters."
"The United States continues to arm Israel, protect those responsible for its crimes, and enable individuals and companies to profit from their commission," she added. "So let us be clear: The genocide of the Palestinian people would not have been possible without the unwavering support of the United States."
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'A Mobilization That No One Imagined': Furious Over Housing Costs, Millions Join General Strike in Spain
"The 11N is not only a labor strike or a strike of tenants," its organizers said, "it is a general strike for housing and against the cost of living."
Nov 11, 2026
Spain was rocked by its first general strike in years on Wednesday, as millions of housing rights defenders, students, and workers took to the streets in a nationwide revolt against an affordability crisis and a housing system that critics say prioritizes enriching property investors and landlords over providing homes for people.
The 24-hour walkout, known as the 11N, disrupted transportation, schools, businesses, ports, and industrial production, with demonstrations and picket lines reported in Madrid, Barcelona, and dozens of other cities.
Organized by a coalition of labor unions and tenant organizations, the unprecedented mobilization sought to unite historically separate struggles. The Madrid Tenants' Union said that, despite autumn storms throughout much of Spain, as many as 4 million people took part in the day of action.
"It's time to change the rules of the game. We must end a housing system based on speculation and create a rights-based system," 11N organizers said. "The 11N is not only a labor strike or a strike of tenants, it is a general strike for housing and against the cost of living."
The immediate trigger of the 11N strike was the September eviction of María del Carmen Abascal—popularly known as Maricarmen—an 87-year-old woman who had lived in her Madrid apartment for seven decades. The investment fund that bought her building jacked up her monthly rent by more than 400% from €500 to €2,650 a month—an amount far exceeding her modest pension.
Despite previous legal efforts to prevent her eviction, Maricarmen was forcibly removed from her home and taken away on a stretcher before a deal was reached amid mass protests and she was allowed to return. However, she died in a hospital two weeks later.
Millions of people in Spain who work full-time increasingly cannot afford a decent place to live. Average rents have nearly doubled over the past decade, while housing prices have risen substantially faster than wages.
According to Spain's central bank, the country faces a housing deficit of approximately 750,000 homes, potentially exceeding one million by 2028. Publicly owned rental housing accounts for less than 2% of the country's housing supply, compared with a European Union average of around 8%.
The consequences are particularly severe for younger workers. The Spanish Youth Council estimates that the average monthly rent of €1,176 consumes approximately 98.7% of a young person's average monthly salary.
"I doubt I'll ever be able to own a home, let alone have a family like my parents could have at my age," Elena Carmona, a young bookstore employee participating in the strike in Madrid, told Público.
Pablo Pérez, a spokesperson for the Madrid Tenants' Union, told Público that "what is at stake is who keeps the wealth we produce and who has the power to decide over our lives."
"This is a strike of everyone who is fed up with working so that others can enrich themselves at their expense," he continued. "It can't be that we work harder and harder and that much of our salary ends up directly in the pocket of those who live in our homes."
"What began with the fight against the eviction of Maricarmen has triggered a mobilization that no one imagined," Pérez added.
Anti-capitalist activist Beatriz Payo, 26, said Maricarmen's eviction marked a turning point for her. She described witnessing firsthand "the level of violence and injustice behind a system that makes business out of such basic necessities as housing."
That violence was on display Tuesday as police in cities across Spain attacked protesters with batons and pepper spray. At least four people were hospitalized in the capital, according to the Madrid Tenants' Union. Officers also assaulted some of the demonstrators who blocked the M-30 highway in Madrid's Vallecas neighborhood.
Video footage recorded in Granada also showed police literally beating back strikers.
LGBTQ+ activist Samantha Hudson said police pepper-sprayed her and other protesters including actress Laura Weissmahr and journalist María Barrier, in the face during a demonstration on Madrid's Gran Vía.
“Does it bother them that much that we exercise this basic, fundamental right?" Hudson asked after the assault. "A boy’s head has been split open. I’m having a terrible panic attack."
Amnesty International Spain said, "We are documenting concerning police conduct in Madrid, Alicante, Castellón, Vitoria, Valencia, Málaga, Granada, and Santiago."
"Force must be a last resort and can only be used proportionately," Amnesty asserted. "Blows to the head must be avoided because of the risk of serious injury, and police batons and pepper spray must only be used against people who are being violent. They must not be used indiscriminately against protests or to disperse peaceful demonstrations."
"We call on the authorities to guarantee the right to protest at this afternoon’s demonstrations, to ensure that officers visibly display their identification numbers, to ensure that pepper spray is not used and that police do not charge peaceful demonstrators, and to investigate the excessive use of force," the group added.
Despite police repression and stormy weather in many cities, the strike caused significant disruptions. Organizers reported 90% participation in the automotive and port sectors, with complete stoppages at Volkswagen and SEAT factories. There were also widespread shutdowns in waste collection, meat processing, and energy sectors.
“The strike has exceeded the labor unions’ expectations,” Workers' Commissions secretary-general Unai Sordo told The Associated Press. “It has been a success in terms of turnout.”
Following the protests sparked by Maricarmen's eviction, social-democratic Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called an early election on November 29 in a bid to secure four more years of rule for his leftist coalition government.
However, last month's high-speed train collision in Toledo province that killed 69 people—the second major rail disaster in the country this year—has complicated Sánchez's strategy.
“The Socialists need for the strike to be a success and for there not to be any violence so that the election campaign can swing back to being about housing,” Autonomous University of Barcelona political science professor Oriol Bartomeus told the AP.
Meanwhile on the right, the Popular Party and far-right Vox "both want the strike to be a flop and to end in scenes of burning dumpsters and shattered shop windows,” Bartomeus said, so that “they can say, ‘This is chaos, and we are coming to establish order.’”
Pepe Álvarez, general secretary of the General Union of Workers, told El Diaro that, after Wednesday's strike, “whoever governs, no matter what happens on the 29th, they will have to listen to the street."
N11 organizers expressed similar sentiments.
"Whoever governs," they said, "we will conquer the right to housing."
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Trump Lawyers Mocked Over 'Pathetic' Effort to Intimidate Congressional Investigators
US Rep. Robert Garcia vowed he and his colleagues "will not be deterred by baseless threats... from the president's lawyers."
Nov 11, 2026
Legal experts openly ridiculed White House counsel William Scharf on Wednesday after he sent a letter threatening congressional Democrats who are preparing to investigate the Trump administration.
In the letter, which was first obtained by Punchbowl News, Scharf warned Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), who is in line to become the next chairman of the House Oversight Committee, that his office is monitoring "the abusive and capricious threats" from Democrats "who seek to abuse the legislative process to intimidate and interfere with the lawful functioning of government."
"You and your congressional colleagues have asserted they will issue subpoenas to harass, threaten, and deter dedicated members of the administration from further service," Scharf wrote. "Several have compared their subpoena pledges to handing out 'candy.'"
Scharf further warned that "threats to executive branch officials designed to deter them from public service... may cross the line into blatant criminality" that could warrant prosecution.
Garcia responded to Scharf's letter with a statement asserting Congress' role as a co-equal branch of government with "wide latitude to conduct investigations and oversight" under Article I of the US Constitution.
Garcia further vowed that he and his colleagues "will not be deterred by baseless threats from a weaponized [US Department of Justice] or from the president's lawyers."
Some legal experts expressed bewilderment at Scharf's arguments that conducting congressional oversight could warrant criminal charges.
"The letter from Scharf threatening Garcia with criminal prosecution is a total bluff," wrote former federal prosecutor Harry Litman in a social media post. "The only requirement he cites is a valid legislative purpose, which the Dems have for miles. It's telling that the letter comes from the White House counsel and not the DOJ. And a threat prosecution is non-starter."
Deborah Pearlstein, director of the Princeton Program in Law and Public Policy, argued that the letter is "worth the paper it’s written on, not more."
"This strikes me as a particularly ham-fisted stab at intimidation," Pearlstein explained, "driven by fear and an attempt to appease wealthy friends of the president who benefited from the grift and now may be on the receiving end of a congressional inquiry."
Lee Kovarsky, a law professor at the University of Texas, offered a pithy dismissal of Scharf's letter: "Get D-team lawyers, win D-team prizes."
Ryan Goodman, a professor at the New York University School of Law, described the letter as a "legally repsulive" document that ignores the US Constitution's Speech or Debate clause, which provides lawmakers with broad protections from arrest for carrying out their official duties.
Goodman added that the Scharf letter is "also a self-own" that "will very likely damage the Trump administration in any litigation that Congress pursues in courts."
Goodman's analysis of the letter was echoed by Politico legal reporter Kyle Cheney, who argued that it "plays right into Dems’ hands."
"Threatening criminal process for oversight gives them ammo to go straight to subpoenas," he explained, "and tell a court, 'What’s the point of lengthy negotiations with a White House trying to criminalize congressional scrutiny?'"
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, said the Scharf letter is "a very clear sign of weakness" that "will be Exhibit 1" used by lawmakers' defense attorneys should the DOJ decide to bring any politically motivated criminal charges against them.
Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-Va.), a member of the House Oversight Committee, said the Trump White House's "continued threats and attempts to intimidate have become pathetic," adding that "I pay them no mind whatsoever."
"Congress’ authority to conduct oversight and investigations comes from the Constitution, and a letter from the Trump Administration has no bearing on that authority," Walkinshaw said. "We will do what the voters demanded: root out corruption and put in place reforms so the widespread graft and self-enrichment characterizing this Administration can never happen again."
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In Rousing COP31 Address, UN Chief Blasts Big Oil for ‘Making a Killing While Killing Our Planet’
“Fossil fuels must go the way of the dinosaurs, but that won’t happen on its own. The dinosaurs did not have a lobby, but fossil fuels do,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
Nov 11, 2026
At his last United Nations Climate Change Conference as secretary-general, António Guterres on Wednesday emphasized that he "will not stop telling the truth" about how the fossil fuel industry and the wealthy governments that continue to hand out oil and gas subsidies are allowing the sector to reap massive profits while people around the world suffer from the worsening impacts of the climate emergency.
“The last four years were the hottest ever, and fossil fuel interests keep making a killing while killing our planet," the secretary-general said bluntly.
"Climate disasters are pounding lives, livelihoods, and economies across the globe," he added. "This is the path to mutually assured destruction."
Guterres spoke two days after the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) released its "State of the Climate" report at the conference, known as COP31, which is being hosted by the Turkish government in Antalya this year. The report warned that while the past 12 years have been the Earth's warmest on record, the trend has particularly accelerated since 2022.
The impacts have been brutal, with more than 1,500 people killed this year in Nepal and Tibet after a glacier collapsed and caused sudden catastrophic flooding, an estimated 200,000 people killed across Europe by extreme heat over the past years, and tens of thousands of acres scorched by wildfires across Europe and in the COP31 host country this summer.
Last month, the UN released a report finding that avoiding a global temperature rise over 1.5°C above preindustrial temperatures is no longer possible. Experts now say governments must work toward a goal of ensuring that the overshoot is only temporary, just over a decade after the warming limit was agreed to in the Paris Agreement at COP21.
On Wednesday, Guterres emphasized that the failure to avoid passing the 1.5°C limit comes as planet-warming emissions from the oil, gas, and coal industries have continued climbing—and as already wealthy companies' profits have soared.
Meanwhile, those same companies have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on lobbying in an effort to delay a transition away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy sources.
“The brutal truth is that the climate crisis is outrunning us," said Guterres Wednesday. "Emissions in 2025 reached all-time highs. Heat records keep shattering."
“Fossil fuels must go the way of the dinosaurs," he added. "And that won’t happen on its own. The dinosaurs did not have a lobby. Fossil fuels do. And their strategy is simple: Distort the science. Delay policy. Delay action. Delay accountability.”
Guterres called on governments to tax oil and gas companies' windfall profits, like those the industry has reported since US President Donald Trump joined Israel in launching an illegal war in Iran. Since the conflict began in February, global energy prices have soared.
Last month, ExxonMobil reported $17.5 billion in adjusted earnings for the third quarter of 2026, while Chevron reported $10.4 billion. British company Shell earned $10.8 billion from July-September, and the French firm TotalEnergies brought in $9.1 billion.
The companies have reaped profits while the global Loss and Damage Fund, which experts and developing countries say needs about $400 billion annually from wealthier governments in order to help poorer countries adapt to emergency and repair damages, is woefully underfunded.
“Those who profit most from fossil fuels must help foot the bill for the damage they have caused," said Guterres. "In the last quarter alone, the nine largest oil companies pocketed $95 billion in profits. Meanwhile, the Loss and Damage Fund has received around $600 million. That is what these companies made in about 14 hours. It’s time for governments to tax these windfall profits—and use them to help vulnerable countries recover. Polluters must pay.”
David Tong, industry campaign manager for the global group Oil Change International (OCI), said in a statement that "trusting big oil to solve the climate crisis is like trusting big tobacco to cure lung cancer."
"Fossil fuel companies actively undermine a renewable energy future while trying to wring as much profits as possible out of fossil fuels while cashing in on conflict," said Tong. "It’s time to tax fossil fuel companies’ superprofits to pay for a transition to publicly owned renewable energy, governments must cut ties with fossil fuel companies and limit their influence on politics, and we must hold polluters accountable—legally and otherwise—for the damages they cause.”
OCI noted that Guterres' speech came shortly after YouGov released new polling that showed significant support in countries with large fossil fuel industries—the US, the UK, and France—for laws to phase out oil, gas, and coal production.
The climate action group 350.org said world leaders at COP31 must "turn growing international support for moving away from fossil fuels into a clear commitment at COP31."
Türkiye and Australia, which is serving as co-president of COP31, "will be to blame if this opportunity is allowed to slip away," said 350.org.
On Tuesday, said the group, attendees took part in "high-level events on roadmaps for transitioning away from fossil fuels," which "saw strong support from countries across negotiating blocs, alongside UN Secretary-General António Guterres, former COP presidents and ministers, for continuing the initiative launched by Brazil's COP30 Presidency in Belém last year."
"While Türkiye indicated it was open to considering the initiative, Australia offered no clear pathway for taking it forward," the organization continued.
Fenton Lutunatabua, Pacific and Caribbean program manager at 350.org, said that "the political mandate for a just and equitable transition away from fossil fuels is there."
"The world cannot afford another COP where governments acknowledge the need to move beyond fossil fuels but fail to agree on how to make it happen," said Lutunatabua. “If Australia is unwilling to advance this agenda, Türkiye must lead rather than allow one of the world's most fossil-fuel-dependent governments to hold back progress. The political support is there. What is missing is the leadership to turn it into action.”
This year's UN conference marks the second consecutive year without an official delegation from the US, the largest historic emitter of greenhouse gases, as Trump has refused to participate.
French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi are also skipping the summit, leaving UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham the only G7 leader attending.
“It really is a disgrace,” Mohamed Adow, the director of Power Shift Africa, told The New York Times of the absences. “The world’s biggest economies should be leading the response to the climate crisis, not leaving it to others.”
But Guterres stressed that despite the absence of leadership from the world's wealthiest economies, "science is not telling us to surrender. It is telling us to fight harder.”
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