Top U.S. & World Headlines — March 30, 2026

AMY GOODMAN, CORRESPONDENT, TRNN, AFP NEWS HOUR, WELCOME TO DEMOCRACY NOW!, democracynow.org, THE WAR AND PEACE REPORT, I'M AMY GOODMAN. An estimated 8 million people took to the streets of cities across 50 U.S. states and more than a dozen countries around the world Saturday in thousands of protests against President Trump under the the banner No Kings. Organizers say it was the largest single day of protest in U.S. history. In St. Paul, Minnesota, about 200,000 protesters gathered at the state capitol, just miles

from where federal immigration agents killed Rene Good and Alex Preti in January. After headlines, we'll air speeches from the St. Paul rally. You'll hear from Joan Baez and Bruce Springsteen, Ilhan Omar and others. And we go to the streets of New York, throughout the five boroughs. The U.S.-Israeli war on Iran has entered its fifth week. President Trump told the Financial Times Sunday.

He would prefer, quote, to take the oil and seize Iran's oil export, Habqarg Island. Shortly after his comments, the price of oil surged to $116 a barrel. Separately, President Trump spoke to reporters aboard Air Force One and boasted about regime change in Iran. We've had regime change in Iran. It's a whole different group of people. President Trump's comments come as 3,500 U.S. troops began arriving in the region Friday. The Washington Post reported Saturday night the Pentagon is preparing for weeks of potential

ground conflict in Iran. Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal is reporting President Trump is considering a military operation to seize nearly 1,000 pounds of uranium from Iran. This is Ibrahim Zolfakari, the spokesperson for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

In response to Trump's recent threats of ground operations or occupation of any part of Iranian territory, which, of course, is nothing more than a wish, we announce that the warriors of Islam have been waiting for such actions for a long time to prove that aggression and occupation will not result in anything other than humiliating captivity and dismemberment and disappearance of the aggressors."

CENTCOM says more than 300 U.S. troops have been wounded in the Iran war so far. Thirteen U.S. service members have died. According to a consortium of human rights groups in Iran, nearly 1,500 Iranian civilians, some say more than 2,000, have been killed. At least 217 children have been killed in the U.S. in Israeli strikes. U.S. officials say Iran fired six ballistic missiles and 29 drones at Prince Sultan Air

Base in Saudi Arabia, wounding at least 15 U.S. service members Friday. The Iranian strike also destroyed the U.S. military's E-3 Sentry radar aircraft, the first time the $300 million plane has been lost in combat. On Saturday, Yemen's Houthi rebels fired a barrage of missiles at southern Israel for the first time since the war began, targeting what the group called sensitive Israeli military sites.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed air defense cooperation agreements with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates Saturday, after signing a similar deal with Saudi Arabia during his visit to the kingdom Thursday. Ukraine has sent anti-drone experts to all three Gulf countries, as Iran has been targeting infrastructure in the region using drones similar to ones used by Russia against Ukraine, on Sunday, Zelensky also visited Jordan for security

talks. An Israeli strike targeted a marked press car in southern Lebanon Saturday, killing Ali Shoaib of Al-Manar TV, reporter Fatima Fattouni of Al-Mayadeen TV, and her brother, freelance cameraman Mohamed Fattouni of Amayedin TV, and her brother, freelance cameraman Mohamed Fattouni. Israel's military said it targeted Shuaib, accusing him of being a Hezbollah intelligence operative without providing evidence.

Israel made no mention of the two other journalists killed. Protesters gathered in Martyr Square in Beirut Saturday, holding photos of the dead journalists killed in the Israeli airstrike.

The important thing we all want to draw attention to is that the Israeli enemy, once they find anyone standing for rights and supporting the oppressed, tries to silence that voice. And the voice of the oppressed cannot be stopped, despite the enemy trying to overpower it,

or no matter how many killings they carry out.

Lebanon's information minister said the government would file a complaint with the U.N. Security Council over what he called Israel's deliberate and blatant war crime against the media, unquote. Meanwhile, the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, UNIFIL, said a peacekeeper was killed Sunday when a projectile exploded at one of its positions in southern Lebanon.

Another peacekeeper was critically injured on Saturday. The World Health Organization said nine paramedics were killed in five separate Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon, bringing the total number of health workers killed by Israel in March to 51. The attacks come as Prime Minister Netanyahu ordered the Israeli military to further expand the security buffer zone in southern Lebanon.

The United Nations says Israeli strikes and evacuation orders in Lebanon have displaced more than 370,000 children. More than 120 children have been killed, and nearly 400 have been injured in Israeli attacks this month. In Gaza, Israeli airstrikes on two checkpoints in Khan Younis killed at least six Palestinians, including a child Sunday, according to local health officials.

The Israeli military has killed over 680 Palestinians in Gaza since a U.S.-brokered ceasefire with Hamas came into effect last November. This is the mother of Samer El-Faises, who was killed in Israeli airstrikes on Sunday.

This is the fourth martyr. I do not have any sons left. No sons are left. That's enough. That's enough. Enough.

Enough. Enough. What is the fault of this woman? What is the fault of this child? This child? Two and a half years old and orphaned? There is a fetus in her womb who will enter the world without a father."

Israeli police prevented Cardinal Pierre Batista Pizabala, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Palm Sunday to celebrate Mass, due to Israel's ban on gatherings at religious sites during the Iran war. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said Iranian missiles had repeatedly targeted Jerusalem's holy sites, with missile fragments landing near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

The Latin patriarchate said it was the first time in centuries the heads of the Church were prevented from celebrating Palm Sunday Mass at the site, calling the incident a grave precedent. EU foreign policy chief Kajikalis called it a violation of religious freedom. Following the backlash, Prime Minister Netanyahu said the Latin patriarch would receive full and immediate access to the church.

Pope Leo has reprimanded U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for using Christian scripture to justify waging war and slaughtering people. During a Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter's Square, the pope said God refuses the prayers of leaders who have hands full of blood. Meanwhile, leaders of the Democratic Women's Caucus and Congressional Black Caucus have condemned Hegseth for personally intervening to block the promotion of four Army officers

to become one-star generals. Two of the four denied promotions are black. Two are women. The remaining officers on track for promotions are overwhelmingly white men. A New Jersey man has been arrested and charged with plotting to firebomb the home of a prominent Palestinian American activist in Brooklyn. Alexander Heifler is accused of assembling Molotov cocktails and planning an arson attack

against Nardin Kiswani, the co-founder of Within Our Lifetime. Kiswani has led protests in support of Palestinians and against Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip. Investigators say Heifler is a member of the Jewish Defense League, a pro-Israel group designated as a terrorist group by the FBI. He allegedly planned to flee to Israel after launching the attack.

We'll speak with Nardin Kiswani later in the broadcast. President Trump Sunday bragged to reporters his planned White House ballroom is, quote, ahead of schedule and under budget, unquote. He also described the ballroom as a shed for a massive military complex being built underneath. The National Trust for Historic Preservation has sued the Trump administration, alleging the ballroom construction ignored required reviews and public input.

Bank of America has agreed to pay more than $72 million to settle a federal lawsuit brought by hundreds of survivors of rape and sexual abuse by the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Survivors filed the lawsuit last October, alleging Bank of America overlooked clear signs Epstein was using a pair of bank accounts to carry out crimes. The suit claimed Bank of America had, quote, a plethora of information regarding Epstein's

sex trafficking operation, but chose profit over protecting the victims," unquote. It's the third settlement of its kind after Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan Chase paid out a combined $365 million to settle lawsuits brought by Epstein survivors. The shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security is now the longest shutdown of any federal agency in U.S. history. On Friday, a record number of TSA workers called out of work. Since the shutdown began, more than 500 TSA officers have quit.

Last week, the House passed its own short-term bill to fund the entire Department of Homeland Security, after the Senate passed a bill excluding funding for ICE and Border Patrol. The House bill now heads to the Senate, which is currently in a two-week recess. And here in New York, Senator Bernie Sanders rallied support Sunday for a proposed income tax increase on New Yorkers earning over a million dollars a year. The tax would impose a 2 percent increase on New York City's wealthiest residents,

helping to close the looming budget deficit, as Mayor Mahmdani seeks to establish universal free early child care, free bus rides and more affordable housing. This is Senator Sanders speaking at a rally at Lehman College.

The people of this city, the people of this state, the people of this country do not want to see our kids go hungry, do not want to see people sleep out on the street, lack health care. They want the very rich to start paying their fair share of taxes.

And those are some of the headlines. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. on notifications to make sure you never miss a video. And for more of our audience-supported journalism, go to democracynow.org, where you can download our news app, sign up for our newsletter, subscribe to the Daily Podcast and so much our news app, sign up for our newsletter, subscribe to the Daily Podcast and so much more.