Voting rights

Sen. Cory Booker first brought up voting rights when speaking about abortion and the importance of voters having their voices heard after Brian Kemp beat Stacey Abrams in the Georgia governor's race.

• Buttigieg: “We need federal leadership to establish voting rights for the 21st century because this affects every other issue that we care about.”
• Sen. Amy Klobuchar: “This is a good example where [Buttigieg] has said the right words but I actually have the experience and of leading 11 of the bills that are in that House-passed bill [Buttigieg] just referred to.”
• Rep. Tulsi Gabbard: “Securing our elections is essential for our democracy.”

Abortion

The Democrats debated to which extent abortion rights should be protected, with many candidates calling for Roe v. Wade to be codified.

• Klobuchar: “I just can't wait to stand across from Donald Trump and say this to him. You know what? The people are with us. Over 70% of the people support Roe v. Wade.”
• Warren: “I believe that abortion rights are human rights. I believe that they are also economic rights.”
• Sanders: “If there's ever a time in American history where the men of this country must stand with the women, this is the moment.”

Legalizing marijuana

Booker pushed Biden on his stance about legalizing marijuana, saying it negatively impacts African Americans.

• Booker: “I heard [Biden] literally say that ‘I don't think we should legalize marijuana.’ I thought you might have been high when you said it. And let me tell you because marijuana…marijuana in our country is already legal for privileged people. The war on drugs has been a war on black and brown people.”
• Biden: “I think we should decriminalize marijuana, period. And I think anyone who has a record should be let out of jail, their records expunged, be completely zeroed out. But I do think it makes sense based on data that we should study what the long-term effects are for the use of marijuana.”

Race

Sen. Kamala Harris again called out Buttigieg for using a stock photo of a Kenyan woman to promote his anti-racism plan, the Douglass Plan.

• Harris: “I think candidates have taken for granted the constituencies that have been the backbone of the Democratic Party, and have overlooked those constituencies. They show up when it's, you know, close to election time and show up in a black church and want to get the vote but just haven't been there before.”
• Buttigieg: “While I do not have the experience of ever having been discriminated against because of the color of my skin, I do have the experience of sometimes feeling like a stranger in my own country.”
• Warren: “ I believe everyone on this stage should be embracing student loan debt forgiveness. It will help close the black-white wealth gap.”
• Gabbard: "It's important that we set the record straight and correct the racial injustices that exist in a very institutional way in our country. Beginning with things that have to do with our criminal justice.”
• Andrew Yang: “We have to designate white supremacist terrorism as domestic terrorism.”

Go deeper:

• Medicare for All: Where the Democratic candidates stand
• All 2020 Democrats want to impeach Trump
• What you need to know about the 2020 presidential candidates, in under 500 words
• Biden attacks Warren’s approach to politics as elitist
• Where the 2020 presidential candidates stand on the Green New Deal

Between the lines: "The regime feels under siege from U.S sanctions as well as protests which are challenging Iranian interests in Iraq and Lebanon. Leaders in Tehran fear the U.S. and its allies in the region would interpret any sign of Iranian compromise as weakness," Ali Vaez of the International Crisis Group told Bloomberg.

• The Iranian government continues to feel economic pressure from the U.S. sanctions, though protesters also blame the government for allowing corruption to run rampant, CNN reports.
• The sanctions have "crippled Iran's economy, causing its currency to tank, prices to spiral, and trigger shortages in food and medical equipment," per CNN.
• The Iranian government says the increase in oil prices will raise $2.55 billion per year to be used to subsidize the cost of living for 18 million families, Reuters reports.

What they're saying: The Trump administration has come out in support of the Iranian protesters.

• Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted, "The Iranian people will enjoy a better future when their government begins to respect basic human rights, abandons its revolutionary posture and its destabilizing activities in the region, and simply behaves like a normal nation. The choice is with the regime."
• The White House also issued a statement saying the protests were spurred by Iran's decision to take funds away from the domestic economy in order to pay for its "fanatical" pursuit of nuclear weapons and to fund terrorist groups across the Middle East, Bloomberg writes.

Go deeper:

• Protests around the world aimed squarely at existing governments
• Deadly Iran gasoline protests: Khamenei blames foreign enemies
• Protests burning in Iraq and Lebanon could singe Iran

Context:

• King and Weeks were teaching at the American University in Kabul when they were abducted in 2016, the Times notes.
• Anas Haqqani is one of the key Taliban leaders being released. He helped lead fundraising efforts and military operations.
• Senior Taliban commanders Abdul Rashid and Hajji Mali Khan are also being released. Rashid predominantly works with suicide bombers, according to the Times.

Go deeper:

• Pentagon chief travels to Afghanistan to assess state of peace process
• At least 69 killed in Afghanistan mosque attack as violence targets civilians
• U.S. service member killed in Afghanistan as Taliban peace talks fizzle