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President Barack Obama’s first official trip to China resulted in no firm agreements and has been criticized as being tightly scripted by Beijing. British journalist Martin Jacques, author of “When China Rules the World: The End of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order,” discusses Obama’s visit and the future of US–Chinese relations. Iraqi political analyst Raed Jarrar talks about plans for Iraq to hold elections in January which are now up in the air after Iraq’s vice president vetoed part of an election law over the allocation of seats to Iraqis displaced by the U.S.

Leaders from most of the world are gathered in Rome to tackle hunger on a global scale at the UN World Food Summit, but leaders of the world’s richest countries are largely absent. We talk with author Raj Patel about why that is. In the news: University of California regents are meeting Thurs. to vote on a major tuition hike; students and staff, meanwhile, prepare for system-wide strikes that day to protest funding cuts. And a coalition of more than 80 environmental, family farm and consumer advocacy organizations has asked the Senate Finance Committee to reject Pres.

On a special Veteran’s Day program: a new study estimates more than 2,200 U.S. veterans died in 2008 due to lack of health insurance, and we talk to the report’s co-author, Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, professor of medicine at Harvard University; a report on sexual assaults, inadequate healthcare and other issues facing women servicemembers; and we hear from Greg Keesling, who received a letter last week from the VA asking that his son "complete Post Deployment Adjustment." But Chance Keesling had killed himself in Iraq five months earlier. "Democracy Now!" is a daily independent newshour.

We talk with Private Michael Kern from Fort Hood, Tx. and independent journalist and author Dahr Jamail about last week's mass shooting, and ousted Honduran Pres. Zelaya joins us from the Brazilian embassy after the latest deal with the coup government collapses. In the news: House passes healthcare bill with anti-abortion amendment attached. "Democracy Now!" is a daily independent newshour.