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May 08, 2026
As Iran and the United States maintain rival blockades on the Strait of Hormuz and surrounding waters, we look at the more than 20,000 seafarers stranded on commercial ships since the outbreak of the war and unable to move out of the region. These maritime workers are often working-class men from developing countries across the Global South who form the crews on about 1,500 oil tankers, cargo ships and other vessels currently stuck on the water. Unpaid for several weeks, they lack the visas to disembark in any of the Gulf countries near the ships.
"There is lack of food, there is lack of provisions, there is lack of water," says Mohamed Arrachedi of the International Transport Workers' Federation, joining us from Bilbao, Spain. "The seafarers are just exposed and absolutely vulnerable."
We also speak with Manoj Yadav, general secretary of Forward Seamen's Union of India, who says the mental health of the workers is rapidly deteriorating as many have also lost connection to their families.
"They are trained for serving on board merchant vessels. They are not trained for the war," Yadav says.
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May 08, 2026
Construction crews in Arizona who are building President Trump's expanded border wall have razed a portion of a Native American archeological site in the Sonoran Desert estimated to be at least 1,000 years old. Aerial photos reveal that bulldozers caused extensive damage to a 280-by-50-foot etching in the desert sand known as an intaglio, which holds special significance for the Hia-Ced O'odham people.
Lorraine Marquez Eiler, co-founder of the International Sonoran Desert Alliance and an elder of the Hia-Ced O'odham, says locals informed both the work crews and Border Patrol officials about the significance of the intaglio.
"On Thursday, late afternoon, they were still talking about how to protect the area and went home feeling that they were still working together. On Friday, for whatever reason, the contractors bulldozed the area," says Marquez Eiler.
"This wall cuts through sovereign ancestral lands that existed long before the U.S.-Mexico border," adds Congressmember Adelita Grijalva, whose district includes the area. "The federal government is prioritizing this rapid construction of an unnecessary wall without any meaningful tribal consultation."
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May 08, 2026
As the Trump administration continues to expand the ICE detention system, concerns are growing over abuses inside immigration jails, including use of physical violence, pepper spray and electric shocks against detainees. Earlier this year, more than 70,000 people were being detained by ICE in jails across the country.
Congressmember Adelita Grijalva from Arizona, who visited two ICE jails recently, says detainees who spoke to her described dire conditions, medical neglect and more. "People are losing weight. Water is undrinkable," she says. "There are a lot of really significant abuses happening. There's no rhyme or reason as to what's going on."
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May 08, 2026
A new investigation by Reuters details how the Trump administration is seeking to gain federal control over elections in at least eight states, employing investigations, raids and demands for access to balloting systems and voter ID records for the campaign.
"What we're seeing is the Trump administration, in some ways, is seeking to relitigate the 2020 election, and they're also seeking to impose federal authority over the administration of elections," says investigative journalist Ned Parker.
Parker also discusses the Trump administration's campaign of retribution against the president's perceived enemies, for which he and his colleagues at Reuters just won a Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting. "What we found in our count of 470 targets was that it really cut across all aspects of American society," he says.
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May 08, 2026
Trump Downplays Renewed U.S. Strikes on Iran as "Just a Love Tap" and Claims Ceasefire Is Holding, UAE Expels Pakistani Workers as Strait of Hormuz Crisis Leaves 20,000 Sailors Stranded, Israeli Attacks Kill 12 in Lebanon, Including Paramedic and Two Children, U.S. Imposes More Sanctions on Cuba as Brazil's President Says Trump Ruled Out Military Action, Dozens Killed as al-Qaeda-Linked Insurgents Attack Villages in Mali, Tennessee Republicans Approve New Congressional Map Diluting Power of Black Voters, New York to Ban ICE Agents from Wearing Masks and Raiding Schools, Hospitals or Churches, Chicago Teen with Terminal Cancer Pleads to Reunite with Parents Who Were Jailed by ICE, U.S. and Israel Worked with Disgraced Ex-President of Honduras to Destabilize Leftist Governments, El Salvador's President Freezes Assets of Staffers at Newspaper That Reported on Corruption, U.K. Identifies Another Suspected Case of Hantavirus from Stricken Cruise Ship, Trump Economic Adviser Celebrates Soaring Credit Card Debt as Iran War Drives Rapid Inflation
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May 07, 2026
"The country's most important civil rights law no longer effectively exists, and that's going to have ramifications on American democracy for a very long time." Mother Jones correspondent Ari Berman reacts to the Supreme Court's recent 6-3 decision rejecting key principles of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Since the court issued its ruling last week, Republican-controlled states have begun to redraw their voting maps in a "gerrymandering arms race" that "could lead to the largest drop in Black representation since the Jim Crow era," explains Berman. "We're returning to the days of literacy tests and poll taxes — not through those devices, but through specifically trying to eliminate Black office holders. And Southern legislators are very clear they are going to do this. They feel unshackled by the Supreme Court ruling. They are being pressured by President Trump to do it, and they feel like all the guardrails are off right now."
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May 07, 2026
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won big in state-level elections this week, with the Hindu nationalist BJP now controlling over 70% of the country. Leading opposition politician and Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee has refused to recognize the results as legitimate, accusing the Modi government of mass disenfranchisement. Ahead of elections, 9 million names were deleted from the rolls under a process called "Special Intensive Revision" (SIR). The process, conducted by India's Election Commission, "vitiates and creates an electoral advantage by pitting Hindu voters against Muslim voters," says political scientist Gilles Verniers. Rather than the advertised purge of deceased and duplicate voters, SIR appears to have primarily affected Muslims and other minorities. Nearly 3 million voters in West Bengal, where more than a quarter of the population is Muslim, were unable to cast their vote.
From New Delhi, journalist Arfa Khanum Sherwani says blatant election interference has destroyed Indians' faith in democratic elections. "The general public does not think the elections are free and fair in India," she explains. "So this is a sad day for democracy, for people who believe that not only today — but tomorrow's — India should also be democratic."
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May 07, 2026
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won big in state-level elections this week, with the Hindu nationalist BJP now controlling over 70% of the country. Leading opposition politician and Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee has refused to recognize the results as legitimate, accusing the Modi government of mass disenfranchisement. Ahead of elections, 9 million names were deleted from the rolls under a process called "Special Intensive Revision" (SIR). The process, conducted by India's Election Commission, "vitiates and creates an electoral advantage by pitting Hindu voters against Muslim voters," says political scientist Gilles Verniers. Rather than the advertised purge of deceased and duplicate voters, SIR appears to have primarily affected Muslims and other minorities. Nearly 3 million voters in West Bengal, where more than a quarter of the population is Muslim, were unable to cast their vote.
From New Delhi, journalist Arfa Khanum Sherwani says blatant election interference has destroyed Indians' faith in democratic elections. "The general public does not think the elections are free and fair in India," she explains. "So this is a sad day for democracy, for people who believe that not only today, but tomorrow's India should also be democratic."
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May 07, 2026
Gaza is facing an "environmental and biological apocalypse" under Israeli bombardment and blockade, reports Palestinian aid worker Eyad Amawi of the Gaza Relief Committee. Israel's destruction of infrastructure has become a "generator for disease," with sewage contamination and rodent infestation now an everyday hazard for refugees living in tent camps. "[It's] no longer just bombardment or physical destruction. It is the collapse of every essential condition required for human survival: water, food, health, dignity, shelter, safety, everything." Amawi also comments on the extended detention of two international activists with the Global Sumud Flotilla. Thiago Ávila and Saif Abukeshek will not be released before this weekend, according to the latest update from the Israeli military. Neither has been charged with any crime.
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May 07, 2026
Israel Bombs Beirut in Further Violation of April Ceasefire, Trump Threatens Iran with Heaviest Bombing Yet, Then Predicts "It'll All Work Out", Trump Abandons "Project Freedom" After Saudi Arabia and Kuwait Suspend Access to Bases and Airspace, Satellite Photos Reveal Iran Has Hit Far More U.S. Military Targets Than Previously Reported, Israel Begins Bypass Road Linking Jerusalem to West Bank Settlements, U.N. Calls on Israel to Immediately and Unconditionally Release Abducted Gaza Flotilla Activists, U.S. Renews Deportation Proceedings Against Palestinian Student Activist Mohsen Mahdawi, Rutgers Rescinds Invitation to Graduation Speaker over Support for Palestinians, University of Michigan Apologizes for Professor's Commencement Address Praising Pro-Palestinian Student Activists, Protesters Gather Outside New York Synagogue to Demonstrate Against West Bank Real Estate Expo, Russia Fires Dozens of Drones at Ukraine, Hitting a Kindergarten, Tennessee Protesters March to State Capitol as Lawmakers Unveil Gerrymandered Congressional Map, FBI Raids Office of State Senator L. Louise Lucas, FBI Launches a Criminal Leak Probe on Atlantic Journalist Sarah Fitzpatrick, Commerce Secretary Lutnick Grilled by Congress over Epstein Ties, Federal Judge Releases Purported Suicide Note from Epstein
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May 06, 2026
Leading scholar in the field of critical race theory Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the term "intersectionality," which she has described as a "lens through which you can see where power comes and collides, where it interlocks and intersects." Crenshaw, a professor of law at UCLA and Columbia University and executive director of the African American Policy Forum, has just published a new book, Backtalker: An American Memoir.
"Backtalker is a frame that I use to encourage people to talk back against claims that the world as we have experienced it is the way it can only be, that there is no reason to continue to advocate for change," says Crenshaw. She also discusses the Supreme Court's recent gutting of the Voting Rights Act and the sociopolitical environment that allowed for Clarence Thomas to be appointed to the Supreme Court despite Anita Hill's claims of sexual harassment against him.
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May 06, 2026
The Israeli military issued new evacuation orders in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, warning residents of 12 towns and villages, including some north of the Litani River — beyond its current zone of occupation — to leave their homes. Those warnings were followed by reports of airstrikes in the south.
Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a fragile temporary ceasefire in mid-April that has since been extended, but fighting has continued at a lesser scale. More than 1 million Lebanese, nearly one-fifth of Lebanon's population, have been displaced.
"So this is dozens of villages that now no one can technically access. They're calling it a 'forward defensive zone,'" says Lylla Younes, an investigative journalist based in Beirut. "There's nothing defensive about it. It's an offensive operation, and they're using the word 'cleanse' to describe what they're doing there. They're just bulldozing homes."
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May 06, 2026
Reporters Without Borders warns press freedom has fallen to its lowest level since the group began publishing its annual World Press Freedom Index in 2002. The index has charted how press freedoms have deteriorated in the United States and elsewhere over the past 25 years. The U.S. was ranked 17th in the world in 2002. In the latest index, the U.S. is down to 64th, falling seven places since last year.
"It's tempting to lay all of this at the feet of President Donald Trump, and to be clear, he is the single biggest threat to American press freedom today," says Clayton Weimers, the North America director for Reporters Without Borders. "But the mere fact that we fell from 57th last year tells us that this isn't just a Trump problem. We have structural deficiencies that are imperiling the future of press freedom in this country." Weimers cites these deficiencies as the consolidation of U.S. media and loss of journalism jobs, "emboldened" politicians' attacks on reporters, and violence against journalists by law enforcement agents.
Weimers also comments on the January FBI raid on the home of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson, the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner shooting and Israel's attacks on journalists in Lebanon and Gaza.
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May 06, 2026
Trump Announces Pause of So-Called Project Freedom Operation in Strait of Hormuz, Husband of Imprisoned Iranian Human Rights Activist Narges Mohammadi Speaks Out After Her Hospitalization, Israeli Strikes Kill at Least Three Palestinians in Gaza, Israeli Court Extends Detention of Two Gaza Flotilla Activists, Four Palestine Action Activists Convicted over Raid at Factory Operated by Israeli Defense Firm Elbit, House Democrats Urge U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to Acknowledge Israel's Secret Weapons Program, Pentagon Launches Another Strike on a Vessel in the Eastern Pacific, Killing Three People, New Report Casts Blame on U.S. Sanctions for Cuba's Increasing Infant Mortality Rate, Guardian: ICE Hires Private Security Company Accused of Torture to Help Track Down Undocumented Children, CNN: Department of Veterans Affairs Probes Staffers Who Attended Vigils Honoring Alex Pretti, Senate GOP Tucks In $1 Billion for Trump's White House Ballroom in Immigration Enforcement Package, Trump-Backed Challengers Unseat Five Indiana GOP State Senators Who Voted Against Redistricting Plan, Activists Protest at the Philippines Consulate Calling for Probe into Killing of 19 People in Negros
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May 05, 2026
As more people cut the cord and drop their cable TV subscriptions, public access channels are losing a vital source of revenue. For decades, cable television companies have paid franchise fees to local municipalities as compensation for use of the public right of way, through which the companies route cables and utilities. Those fees have funded local stations focused on public, educational, and governmental access programming.
"As there's migration to digital entertainment and to streaming, there is no local investment — there's no local jobs, there's no local programming," says Michael Max Knobbe, executive director of BronxNet in New York.
We also speak with Joe Barr, executive director of Access Sacramento in California, who says the station is "of the community, by the community, for the community." He adds that as the corporate media continues to consolidate, "it really could be a dire situation for getting a broad spectrum of viewpoints."
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May 05, 2026
As President Trump continues to attack media organizations and journalists, we speak with a sitting member of the Federal Communications Commission about how the administration has weaponized the FCC to go after his perceived enemies in the media. Anna Gomez is the sole Democratic commissioner on the FCC, which is currently operating with just three commissioners instead of the usual five. She criticizes the agency's recently announced review of ABC television licenses, which comes after President Trump called for the firing of ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel. Under Chair Brendan Carr, the FCC has repeatedly gone after critics of the president by threatening to revoke valuable broadcast licenses.
"This administration is using any point of leverage that it has to go after its critics," says Gomez, who was appointed by President Joe Biden in 2023.
Gomez also discusses how media consolidation impacts public choice, including the pending merger between Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery, which would bring an unprecedented number of properties under the ownership of the Trump-aligned Ellison family.
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May 05, 2026
We speak with Middle East history professor Toby Jones about the ongoing crisis in the Strait of Hormuz, where overlapping blockades by Iran and the United States have disrupted shipping and the wider global economy since the start of the war in late February. Jones says this latest conflict is part of a decadeslong project by the United States to exert imperial control over the oil-rich region, but that it's now in danger of a strategic loss signaling a deeper imperial decline.
"Through an unprovoked assault on Iran, Trump has accelerated, or at least clarified, the real limits of American imperial power," says Jones. "He's definitely put the United States in a much more vulnerable and weakened position globally as a result of this war."
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May 05, 2026
Trump Threatens Iran Will Be "Blown off the Face of the Earth" If It Targets U.S. Navy Ships, Protester Remains on D.C. Bridge for Fifth Consecutive Day to Oppose Iran War, Iran Hangs Three Men over January Anti-Government Protests, Israeli Military Says It's Ready for Renewed Full-Scale Assault on Gaza, Israeli Forces in Nablus Kill Palestinian Man as His Wife Gives Birth, Pentagon Says It Blew Up Another Boat in Caribbean, as Claimed Death Toll Rises to 188, Ukrainian Attacks on Russian Refineries Trigger Black Sea Oil Spills and Toxic Rain, Federal Appeals Court Blocks Ex-Prisoner Who Won Election from Taking Office in New Orleans, Protesters Disrupt Alabama State Legislature over GOP Plans to Redraw Congressional Maps, WaPo: ICE Guards Used Physical Violence or Deployed Chemical Agents on Jailed Immigrants, SCOTUS Blocks Lower Court Ruling Cutting Access to Abortion Pill Mifepristone, Indian Prime Minister Modi's Nationalist Party BJP Wins Key Election in West Bengal, Palestinian Photographer Among 2026 Pulitzer Prize Winners, Animal Rights Advocates Reach Deal with Ridglan Farms to Release 1,500 Beagles, Labor Unions Stage "Ball Without Billionaires" as Bezos-Sponsored Met Gala Faces Protests
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May 04, 2026
We discuss the ongoing crisis in the Strait of Hormuz with the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft's Trita Parsi. U.S. officials are denying Iranian reports that a U.S. vessel was struck by Iranian missiles amid the two countries' dual blockade of the strait. The warring nations still say they are observing a fragile temporary ceasefire as negotiations continue for a possible longer-term deal. However, says Parsi, "both sides are making maximalist demands," so a diplomatic solution is unlikely. "As long as Trump continues to listen to those forces, the very same forces that also sold him this blockade that has backfired, we're not going to see a diplomatic breakthrough. It requires a far more disciplined and flexible approach to negotiations, and right now we're not seeing that from either side."
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May 04, 2026
We get a firsthand account of the violent raid, arrest and detention of members of the Global Sumud Flotilla, after Israeli forces intercepted the humanitarian mission in international waters Thursday. "We were held in a makeshift prison with shipping containers and barbed wire. Many people were subject to aggressive physical force. Of the 56 aid-carrying vessels attempting to break Israel's naval blockade of Gaza, more than a third were seized by the Israeli military," recounts flotilla member Hannah Smith. Some flotilla members had to be rescued after one boat was "left sinking," Smith reports.
Two members, Saif Abukeshek of Spain and Thiago Ávila of Brazil, are now being held without charges in an Israeli prison. "It is a favorite tactic of the Israeli regime to try to bully people into silence and submission, to threaten people, and they've gotten away with it for decades," says Rania Batrice, a Palestinian American member of the Global Sumud Flotilla's communications team. Abukeshek's wife, Sally Issa, says her husband "started a hunger strike, and he was treated very bad, so bad that all the activists on the boat could hear him screaming." The Spanish and Brazilian governments have denounced the arrests as "flagrantly illegal" and are demanding their citizens' release.
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May 04, 2026
In a major blow to abortion access, a federal appeals court decision siding with the state of Louisiana has placed major restrictions on the abortion pill mifepristone. The medication, used in roughly two-thirds of all abortions in the U.S., can no longer be sent by mail or prescribed through telemedicine. But previous abortion restrictions show that curtailing access doesn't reduce the prevalence of abortions. Instead, they make the procedure more dangerous, and even deadly. "They're trying to stop the unstoppable. And as a result, these restrictions are pretty draconian and increasingly absurd," says The Nation's abortion access correspondent Amy Littlefield, who also explains what alternate steps patients and providers can now take to access medication abortion. The decision is expected to be challenged at the Supreme Court, making the anti-abortion movement "top of mind once again in a midterm election year."
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May 04, 2026
U.S. Denies Warship Was Struck in Strait of Hormuz Despite Iranian Claim, Israel Kills 41 in Lebanon Despite Ceasefire, Issues New Displacement Orders for Southern Towns, Israel Jails Flotilla Activists Seized in International Waters, as Lawyers Report Torture, Beatings, Pentagon Pulls 5,000 Troops from Germany After Chancellor Cites U.S. "Humiliation" in Iran War, Reporters Without Borders: Press Freedom Falls to Its Lowest Level in 25 Years, Trump Expands Sanctions on Cuba's Government as U.S. Fuel Blockade Roils Cuban Economy, Cuban Immigrant Dies in Georgia ICE Jail, the 18th Such Death in 2026, 1,000-Year-Old Archaeological Site Damaged by Construction of Trump's Border Wall, FBI Reassigned a Quarter of Its Employees to Immigration Enforcement Under Trump, Appeals Court Blocks Distribution of Abortion Medication Mifepristone by Mail, Southern States Scramble to Redraw Congressional Maps After Supreme Court Guts Voting Rights Act, "No School, No Work, No Shopping": Millions Participate in U.S. May Day Actions
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May 01, 2026
On International Workers' Day, we take a look at the state of workers' rights and freedoms in India, where pressure on fuel supplies from the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran has deepened the cost-of-living crisis and labor unrest is on the rise. In mid-April, tens of thousands of workers from the industrial hubs around New Delhi blocked roads to demand a fair wage and better working conditions.
"Various governments in India and the central government have been trying to dilute labor laws," says Neha Dixit, an investigative journalist and author based in New Delhi. "And there have been constant protests and strikes against this."
Dixit's new book is The Many Lives of Syeda X: A People's History of Invisible India.
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May 01, 2026
As workers around the world rally to mark May Day, International Workers' Day, we speak with organizers in Los Angeles and Chicago. The May Day Strong coalition here in the United States says 3,000 protests and events are scheduled across the country with organizers calling for "no school, no work, no shopping."
The largest May Day protest in Los Angeles is planned at MacArthur Park. Pedro Trujillo, the coordinator of the Los Angeles May Day Coalition, says the July presence of immigration agents with SWAT gear and armored vehicles in MacArthur Park laid the foundation for a high May Day turnout. "That's why we see such a strong coalition coming together, over 120 organizations and unions here in Los Angeles endorsing this march. We haven't seen this level of support, of engagement, in a very long time," says Trujillo.
"We are creating a coalition to resist the tyranny of billionaires in this moment," adds Stacy Davis Gates, president of the Chicago Teachers Union and president of the Illinois Federation of Teachers. "Billionaires put a president in place to dismantle democracy, a right-wing Congress to watch it and a right-wing Supreme Court to block us doing anything about it."
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May 01, 2026
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments this week on President Trump's push to strip temporary protected status from 350,000 Haitians and 6,100 Syrians living in the United States. The TPS program grants protection from deportation and work authorization to immigrants whose home countries are deemed unsafe to return to, most often because of war or natural disaster. The case could ultimately have ramifications for more than 1 million TPS holders from over a dozen countries.
TPS holders from Haiti and Syria say their countries remain unsafe and that DHS did not follow proper procedure. The lawsuit brought by Haitian TPS holders also accuses the administration of being motivated by racism — an allegation supported by a lower court ruling in February.
"Haiti is still in bad shape, and [TPS holders] cannot return there. So, you can imagine now the uncertainty that they live with on a daily basis," says Vilès Dorsainvil, a plaintiff in Trump v. Miot, the case brought by Haitian TPS holders. Dorsainvil is the co-founder and executive director of the Haitian Support Center in Springfield, Ohio. President Trump targeted the Haitian community in Springfield in 2024, falsely saying Haitian residents were eating pet dogs and cats. "We've been scapegoated as a community," says Dorsainvil.
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May 01, 2026
Senate Republicans Block Iran War Powers Resolution for Sixth Time Ahead of 60-Day Deadline, Israel Continues Deadly Strikes on Southern Lebanon in Latest Ceasefire Violations, Israeli Military Claims Control of Two-Thirds of Gaza in New Maps, Israeli Ceasefire Violations Kill Three and Wound 10 in Gaza, Including Aunt of Poet Mosab Abu Toha, Physicians for Human Rights Petitions Israel to Release Gaza Doctors Jailed Without Charges, Palestinian Journalist Ali al-Samoudi Freed from Israeli Jail Showing Signs of Torture, Starvation, Columbia University Students Rally on Second Anniversary of "Hind's Hall" Protests, Congress Votes to Reopen Homeland Security Department, Ending Longest-Ever Partial Shutdown, Texas Court Interpreter Meenu Batra Walks Free After Weeks of Confinement in ICE Jail, Trump Swaps Nomination of MAHA Influencer Casey Means for Fox News Contributor Nicole Saphier, Maine's Governor Drops U.S. Senate Bid, Paving Way for Graham Platner to Win Democratic Nomination, Congressional Progressive Caucus Unveils "Affordability Agenda" Ahead of Midterm Elections, ProPublica: Trump Administration Seeks to Slash SSI Benefits for 400,000 Disabled Adults, New York Mayor Mamdani Snubs King Charles III: "Return the Koh-i-Noor Diamond", Antiwar Activist John Miller, Who Co-founded East Timor Action Network, Dies at 70
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Apr 30, 2026
We speak with author and activist Bill McKibben about the worsening climate crisis and why the world must rapidly transition to renewable energy in order to stave off the worst impacts. He says the Iran war has exposed the "utter folly" of fossil fuel dependence. "Sunlight has to travel 93 million miles to reach the Earth, but none of those miles go through the Strait of Hormuz," says McKibben. "That makes it a very appealing alternative, especially now that it's cheaper than burning coal and gas and oil."
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Apr 30, 2026
We speak with Lebanese-born academic Gilbert Achcar about the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, U.S. foreign policy under President Trump and more. Achcar says Trump's military actions in Venezuela and Iran are not as dramatic a departure from U.S. policy as some commentators have suggested, calling it "an old-new imperial doctrine." While the George W. Bush administration believed in "regime change," says Achcar, Trump is "just going back to 19th-century gunboat diplomacy: You bomb a country until they submit."
Achcar's new book is Gaza Catastrophe: The Genocide in World-Historical Perspective.
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Apr 30, 2026
Attorney and civil rights activist Maya Wiley responds to the Justice Department's fraud case against the Southern Poverty Law Center, which centers on the group's history of paying individuals to infiltrate white supremacist groups in order to monitor their activities. The SPLC has rejected the charges as politically motivated, saying its informant program was used to monitor threats of violence and that the information gathered was routinely shared with local and federal law enforcement.
"It's political persecution," says Wiley, head of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a civil rights coalition that includes the SPLC. "There's a pattern in the development of tyranny in countries across the globe where the person who wants to have that power finds ways to discredit the lawful advocacy of organizations that are fighting to ensure that democracy survives," she says.
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Apr 30, 2026
The U.S. Supreme Court has effectively gutted Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, the last remaining major provision of the landmark 1965 law that was a crowning achievement of the civil rights movement.
In a 6-3 decision along partisan lines, a majority of justices ruled Wednesday that Louisiana must redraw a congressional map that was designed to create a second majority-Black district in the state, where African Americans have long faced racial segregation and barriers to voting. They said the electoral map "relied too heavily on race," an interpretation that is set to usher in another wave of redistricting across the South to help Republicans win more seats in Congress.
"This is central to whether or not we maintain a multiracial democracy in this country," says lawyer and civil rights activist Maya Wiley, head of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. She calls Wednesday's ruling "a free pass to discriminate."
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Apr 30, 2026
Supreme Court Strikes Down Louisiana Congressional Map and Guts Key Provision of Civil Rights Act, Supreme Court Weighs Trump's Power to End Protected Status for Syrians, Haitians, Iran's Currency in Freefall as Trump Says U.S. Could Block Ports for Months, Hegseth Clashes with Congressmembers Who Accuse Him of Lying and Incompetence over Iran, Israel's Latest Attacks on Lebanon Kill 9 as U.N.-Backed Report Warns 1.2 Million Face Hunger, Israeli Military Intercepts Global Sumud Flotilla, Arrests 175 Activists, Two Jewish Men Stabbed in London Neighborhood of Golders Green, U.S. Prosecutors Indict Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya and Nine Other Mexican Officials, Senate Republicans Kill War Powers Resolution to Limit Trump's Blockade of Cuba, House Votes to Extend U.S. Surveillance Powers Under FISA's Section 702
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Apr 29, 2026
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Monday in a case that could determine whether thousands of cancer patients can keep suing the manufacturers of the popular weed killer glyphosate, known as Roundup. Critics of Roundup have long alleged a link between the herbicide and cancer. It was developed by Monsanto, which was bought by Bayer in 2018.
Mother Jones and the Center for Investigative Reporting recently released a major investigation by Nate Halverson that looks at how the U.S. Forest Service has been rapidly expanding its use of Roundup despite concerns about its safety. "The majority of glyphosate is still used in agriculture, but … we were able to show that the fastest-growing use is actually now for forestry," says Halverson.
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Apr 29, 2026
The United Arab Emirates announced Tuesday it would be leaving OPEC, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, on May 1. The UAE has long disagreed with Saudi Arabia over oil production quotas and says it is leaving the group to focus on "national interests" and increase its production capacity.
"The fact that the UAE has pulled out means that this cartel will have less ability to be able to push up the price when it wants," says Akshat Rathi, senior climate reporter at Bloomberg News. "We've already seen some of it not working, because there are all these other producers, like the U.S.A., but also places like Guyana, that are increasing their production a lot."
Meanwhile, Rathi adds that as countries across the globe brace for the ripple effects of the energy shocks created by the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, transitions to clean energy could be accelerated. "In the past, when countries were faced with this kind of energy shock, they had options that were quite limited," says Rathi. But now countries can "try and deploy as much renewables so that they can build energy supply at home."
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Apr 29, 2026
Negotiations between the United States and Iran to end the war are at an impasse as the conflict enters its third month. The Wall Street Journal reported late Tuesday that Trump has told aides to prepare for an extended blockade of Iranian ports to ramp up the pressure on Tehran.
Iran is saying it will enter into direct talks with the U.S. "when President Trump lifts what Iran considers to be the illegal military naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz," says Drop Site News co-founder Jeremy Scahill. "Iran has maintained that it's not shut down the strait, but that it's just shut it down for any vessels that are linked to the U.S. war in any way."
Scahill says a disorganized Trump administration is pushing a "total propaganda narrative" that it has the upper hand in negotiations, while Iran believes it has the "three M's" on its side: munitions, markets and the midterms.
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Apr 29, 2026
Trump Threatens Iran to "Better Get Smart Soon", Federal Grand Jury Indicts Former FBI Director James Comey a Second Time, FCC Orders Review of ABC Licenses After Trump Calls for Jimmy Kimmel to Be Fired, Trump Administration Fires All Members of the National Science Board, King Charles Urges U.S. to Continue Supporting Ukraine in Speech to Congress, Israeli Court Extends Detention of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, Director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza, WaPo: U.S. Issues New Rules Denying Visas for Immigrants Who Fear Returning to Their Home Countries, Daily Beast: ICE Agent Who Shot and Killed Renee Good Back on Duty, Arizona Sues DHS over Plans to Turn Warehouse into ICE Jail, Human Rights Groups in South Africa Raise Alarm over Vigilante Violence Against African Immigrants, Violence Erupts in Colombia Ahead of Next Month's Presidential Election
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Apr 28, 2026
More than 50 countries are gathered this week in Santa Marta, Colombia, in a groundbreaking effort to establish another forum of international cooperation on phasing out fossil fuels and halting the climate crisis. This comes after years of frustration over the United Nations-led COP process, which requires consensus. The initiative was launched in the final hours of the COP30 conference held in Belém, Brazil, last year, as fossil-fuel producing countries led by Saudi Arabia and Russia blocked the formal commitments sought by more ambitious nations.
"This gathering in Santa Marta is about breaking the deadlock, creating a space where mission is not held hostage, and where real pathways to phase out fossil fuels can be discussed openly and honestly," says South African activist Kumi Naidoo, president of the Fossil Fuel Treaty Initiative.
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Apr 28, 2026
As Democracy Now! broadcasts from Toronto, we speak with Avi Lewis, the new head of Canada's progressive New Democratic Party. Lewis was elected leader in a landslide last month, winning over party members on a democratic socialist platform that vowed to prioritize affordability, address the climate crisis, fight the Trump administration's attacks on Canada and more. Lewis takes over as the NDP has only five seats in Parliament and just as Prime Minister Mark Carney secured a majority for his Liberal government following three special elections in April.
Lewis acknowledges that "the NDP has a lot of rebuilding to do," but says there is "wide-open political space" in Canada for a populist left-wing agenda. "I think young people in particular are really responding to a vision where life just doesn't have to be so grindingly unfair," Lewis says. "We need nonmarket solutions to a time of market failure."
Lewis is a longtime activist and filmmaker whose late father Stephen Lewis led the Ontario NDP in the 1970s. He is married to the acclaimed author Naomi Klein.
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Apr 28, 2026
The Trump administration is continuing its attacks on DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, that has given deportation relief and work permits to immigrants who came to the United States as children. The Board of Immigration Appeals — an administrative court within the Justice Department — recently ruled that DACA status is not enough to spare someone from deportation, a decision that sets a precedent potentially putting hundreds of thousands of people at risk.
Democratic Congressmember Delia Ramirez from Illinois, whose husband is a former DACA recipient, calls the BIA decision "very concerning" and part of a larger effort "weaponizing the court system" against immigrants. She says Congress must act and pass legislation to end the legal limbo of DACA recipients and millions of other immigrants.
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Apr 28, 2026
Trump Appears Unlikely to Accept Iran's Proposed Deal to Reopen Strait of Hormuz, U.N. Warns of Global Food Emergency as Strait of Hormuz Remains Closed, German Chancellor Says Iran Has "Humiliated" U.S. in Its War with Iran, Israel Orders More Residents of Southern Lebanon to Flee Homes or Face Death, Palestinians Cast Ballots in First Elections in Two Decades, Ex-Biden Official Says Netanyahu Created a "Genocide" in Gaza with U.S. Participation, Human Rights Groups Warn of "Dire" Conditions in Sudan's Darfur Region, Florida Gov. DeSantis Unveils New Congressional Map to Create Four New GOP-Leaning House Seats, Supreme Court Appears Split over Roundup Weed Killer Case, Google Workers Urge CEO to Reject Classified Artificial Intelligence Work with the Pentagon, California Billionaire Tax Proposal Has Enough Signatures to Land on Ballot, Trump Welcomes King Charles and Queen Camilla to White House , Suspect in White House Correspondents' Dinner Shooting Charged with Attempted Assassination of Trump, Melania Trump Calls on ABC to Fire Jimmy Kimmel
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Apr 27, 2026
The Justice Department is bringing back the use of firing squads and lethal injection using pentobarbital as it seeks to expedite and expand federal death penalty convictions and executions. No federal executions have been carried out since 2020, when the first Trump administration broke with over a decade of precedent and executed 13 people on death row. The second Trump administration is now pursuing the death penalty in dozens more cases across the country. Renowned anti-death penalty activist Sister Helen Prejean says Trump's push to restart federal executions is entirely unsurprising. "His first instinct almost always seems to be demonize someone as an enemy and then kill them and destroy them."
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Apr 27, 2026
Writer Jeff Sharlet responds to the shooting event at White House correspondents' dinner this weekend. We discuss the motivations of Cole Allen, the man accused of breaching security in an attempt to assassinate members of the Trump administration, as well as gun access in the United States and the growing violence across the political spectrum of what Sharlet calls a "slow civil war."
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Apr 27, 2026
We speak to Congressmember Ro Khanna about the apparent assassination attempt against President Donald Trump and members of his administration at the White House correspondents' dinner. "Political violence strikes at the very heart of democracy. We cannot have a democracy if people are saying we're going to kill you if we disagree with your viewpoint. And that has to be condemned in the most strong, unequivocal terms," says Khanna. He also gives an update on his work calling for the full public release of the Epstein files and comments on Trump's attacks on press freedoms.
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Apr 27, 2026
White House Correspondents' Dinner Shooting Suspect Set to Be Formally Charged in Court Today, Trump Cancels Witkoff and Kushner's Trip to Pakistan for Ceasefire Negotiations with Iran, Israeli Strikes Kill 14 People in Lebanon Despite U.S.-Brokered Ceasefire, Israeli Forces Kill at Least 12 Palestinians in Gaza, Justice Department to Allow Firing Squads for Executions, Justice Department Makes It Easier to Deport People with DACA Status, ICE Detains Family Less Than Two Days After Court Orders Their Release, NYT: DHS Seeks to Deny Green Cards to Immigrants Who've Criticized Israel, Appeals Court Rules Trump Unlawfully Banned Asylum Cases at Southern Border, Pentagon Claims It Killed Three in Strike on Alleged Drug Boat in Eastern Pacific, Mexico Says CIA Agents Killed in Car Crash Were on Mexican Soil Without Authorization, Russian Drone and Missile Attacks Kill 16 Across Ukraine, Tuareg Separatists Join al-Qaeda Affiliate in Coordinated Attacks Across Mali, Maine Gov. Janet Mills Vetoes Statewide Moratorium on AI Data Centers
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Apr 24, 2026
In the new book, Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed, authors Quinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff look at the worldview that shaped Elon Musk and the ideology that has coalesced around him. They call Muskism "an operating system for the 21st century."
Musk runs rocket company SpaceX, AI startup xAI, electric car maker Tesla and the social media platform X, formerly Twitter. Musk's political influence extends from his use of X to advance controversial ideas, to his political donations, to the role he played leading the so-called Department of Government Efficiency. "He's not just building a rocket company or a satellite company — but what we see is a vertically integrated ideological stack where he can kind of build an echo chamber from low Earth orbit all the way back to Earth and create a kind of closed loop for the ideology that he wants to push out," says Slobodian, professor of international history at Boston University.
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Apr 24, 2026
Four people were arrested on Wednesday in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn after gathering in support of Carmella Charrington, a homeowner fighting eviction from her longtime family home. Charrington and local housing advocates say the sale of her property to investors in 2024 was a form of "deed theft," a criminal practice where predatory speculators use forgery, deceit or fraud to illegally transfer ownership of properties, without the knowledge or full understanding of rightful owners.
"In my soul, I could not let that take place. I could not see a family, a Black family within Bed-Stuy, removed from a home," says New York City Councilmember Chi Ossé, one of those arrested during the protest. He says his district has seen rapid gentrification and elderly Black homeowners have been repeatedly targeted by deed theft. Ossé is calling for a moratorium on evictions in cases where deed theft is suspected.
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Apr 24, 2026
Israeli forces killed the prominent Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil on Wednesday despite a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. Khalil and her colleague, photographer Zeinab Faraj, were reporting from southern Lebanon when an Israeli drone struck a car near them, killing two civilians. Khalil and Faraj sought shelter in a nearby building, but then Israel struck that building, as well. Emergency and medical workers rescued Faraj but came under fire before they could rescue Khalil, and were prevented by the Israeli military from returning for over six hours. Khalil died by the time her body was recovered from under the rubble.
The deliberate obstruction is "a war crime and requires an international investigation," says Sara Qudah, Middle East and North Africa regional director at the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Amal Khalil is the ninth journalist killed by Israel in Lebanon this year. She told local media in 2024 that she had received a death threat from Israel's Mossad spy agency warning her to leave southern Lebanon or risk decapitation. "This is what Israel is trying to do. It's trying to prevent the truth from being reached by a much, much wider audience to see the war crimes that are being carried out [in Lebanon] on a daily basis," says Steve Sweeney, Lebanon bureau chief for the Russian news channel RT, who survived an Israeli strike last month.
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Apr 24, 2026
Israel Continues Strikes on Southern Lebanon as Trump Announces 3-Week Ceasefire Extension, Trump Says He's Under No Pressure to End War with Iran, Israel Kills Palestinian Civilians, Including Children, in Latest Gaza Ceasefire Violations, Senate GOP Advances $70 Billion Funding Plan for ICE, Border Patrol, Justice Department Seeks to Denaturalize Hundreds of U.S. Citizens, Trump Administration May Deport Afghan Refugees Who Aided U.S. Forces to Congo, U.S. Seeks to Deport Iranian Doctoral Student Who Provided Media Commentary on Iran War, Iranian Asylum Seekers Jailed by ICE Are Not Related to Military Commander, as Trump Admin Claimed, Prisoners Launch Hunger Strike over Inhumane Conditions at Michigan For-Profit ICE Jail, Philadelphia City Council Passes "ICE Out" Bills Limiting Cooperation with Federal Agents, Kuwaiti Court Acquits Journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, Who Shared News of Downed U.S. Fighter, DOJ Arrests U.S. Army Soldier Who Made Over $400,000 Betting on Capture of Nicolás Maduro, Eric Trump Touts $24 Million Pentagon Contract Awarded to His Robotics Company, Palantir Calls on U.S. to Reinstate Draft in 22-Point "Supervillain" Manifesto Slammed by Critics, Warner Bros. Shareholders Approve Mega-Merger With Paramount Skydance, ICC Rules Philippines' Ex-President Rodrigo Duterte Must Stand Trial for Crimes Against Humanity, White House Formally Reclassifies Cannabis as a Less Dangerous Substance
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Apr 23, 2026
The rise of online prediction markets has allowed people to bet on virtually any news event. For a small group of traders, the war with Iran has been a windfall. A number of lucrative, well-timed bets related to the war totaling over $1 billion have raised alarm over people connected to the Trump administration possibly using inside information to profit.
Amanda Fischer, policy director and chief operating officer for Better Markets, says it's unclear how closely regulators are watching these online betting markets. The president's son Donald Trump Jr. is also an adviser to the two leading prediction markets, Polymarket and Kalshi, raising further questions about conflicts of interest.
"There is a strict prohibition on offering gambling related to war, assassination, terrorism, gaming, activities that are illegal under state law or anything that's contrary to the public interest. But the [Commodity Futures Trading Commission] under President Trump has completely retrenched from any enforcement of what kind of contracts are made available on these platforms," says Fischer.
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Apr 23, 2026
The U.S.-Israeli war on Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz have raised fuel costs and caused shortages of key fertilizers around the world, wreaking havoc on the agricultural industry. Adam Hanieh, director of the SOAS Middle East Institute at the University of London, says the effects could be felt for a long time, particularly in the Global South.
"About a third of the world's basic fertilizers now pass through the Strait of Hormuz," says Hanieh, who adds that the "coming food crisis" is compounded by the climate and debt crises in much of the developing world. "It's a perfect storm."
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Apr 23, 2026
The Senate on Wednesday rejected another bid to rein in President Donald Trump's ability to use further military force against Iran, marking the fifth failed attempt by Democrats to curb Trump's war powers since the start of the conflict in late February. The resolution was defeated in a vote of 46 to 51, with Democrat John Fetterman and Republican Rand Paul the sole dissenters in each caucus. The administration is facing a deadline of May 1 before it must seek explicit authorization from Congress for military force under the War Powers Act.
While Democrats have opposed Trump's military actions, they have done so largely on "procedural grounds" without making a forceful moral case against war, says Stephen Zunes, professor of politics and director of Middle Eastern studies at the University of San Francisco. "The climate that the Democrats have helped lay in these 20 years of hawkish statements and resolutions and the like really made Trump's job easier and has enabled him to, thus far, get away with it," says Zunes.
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Apr 23, 2026
Iran Says It's Collecting Tolls for Ships Transiting Strait of Hormuz, Senate Republicans Defeat Iran War Powers Resolution for Fifth Time, Pentagon Fires Navy Secretary John Phelan After Clashes with Hegseth, Despite Ceasefire, Israel Kills 5 in Lebanon, Including Journalist Amal Khalil, FBI Launched Probe of New York Times Reporter Following Unflattering Coverage of Kash Patel, Democratic Rep. David Scott of Georgia Dies at 80, Toxic Gas Release at West Virginia Metal Refining Plant Kills 2, Injures 30 Others, American Lung Association: Nearly Half of U.S. Children Are Breathing Dangerous Air Pollution, Houston City Council Votes to Gut an Ordinance Limiting Police Cooperation with ICE, U.S. Appeals Court Upholds Texas Law Requiring Classrooms to Display Ten Commandments, Pope Leo Wraps Up Four-Nation Visit to Africa, NYC Councilmember Chi Ossé Released After Violent Arrest at Anti-Eviction Protest
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Apr 22, 2026
More than 70 vessels and over 1,000 participants from all over the world have joined a second Global Sumud Flotilla en route to Gaza in order to challenge Israel's ongoing maritime blockade of aid. We speak to two participants aboard the Greenpeace ship, the Arctic Sunrise, which is providing technical support and accompanying the flotilla for part of the voyage in a show of solidarity. "When the system fails, civil society needs to step in," says Palestinian activist Saif Abukeshek, citing a history of nonviolent direct action within the Palestinian national struggle. The Arctic Sunrise's project lead, Pujarini Sen, explains the participation of Greenpeace as an extension of their work for the environment and holding companies that profit from climate change and pollution accountable. "Fossil fuel companies also benefit from wars, from genocide," says Sen. "We don't view these issues as separate." They also speak about how over a dozen vessels from the flotilla encircled and disrupted the MSC Maya, one of the largest cargo ships in the world, for several hours. They say the cargo ship was delivering raw materials for weapons to Israel. They say the action was inspired by protests by dockworkers.
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Apr 22, 2026
The artificial intelligence industry's data center boom is the latest chapter in a long history of environmental racism and resource exploitation in vulnerable Native communities, says Oglala Lakota and Northern Cheyenne activist Krystal Two Bulls, the executive director of Honor the Earth, an Indigenous-led environmental justice organization that is tracking over 100 proposed data center projects on tribal and rural lands. We speak to Two Bulls about the myriad impacts of what she calls a "modern-day iteration" of "settler colonialism," including noise pollution, cancers and respiratory illnesses, water depletion, energy grid overload and even "ecological collapse." As tech companies set their sights on Indigenous lands, Two Bulls says, "We're always the one that ends up having to sacrifice our relationship to land, air, water, our communities and our nonhuman relatives."
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Apr 22, 2026
As tech companies scramble to build massive new data centers to power artificial intelligence, marginalized communities are bearing the brunt of the environmental harms. In Memphis, Tennessee, Elon Musk's xAI operates over two dozen methane gas-burning turbines without legal permits to power its data centers, Colossus I and Colossus II, polluting the nation's largest majority-Black city with toxic emissions. The NAACP is suing xAI for violating the Clean Air Act. "We are, unfortunately, a cautionary tale about what will and possibly can happen if you don't have the right rules and guardrails in place," says KeShaun Pearson, the executive director of Memphis Community Against Pollution. Pearson says pollution from xAI's energy generation is already "at a level even higher than our Memphis International Airport." Meanwhile, the company has created far fewer jobs than it initially promised. "This has been terrible for our region, and it's terrible for our future, because our community is going to continue to suffer. Our children have the highest rate of ER visits for respiratory illnesses and issues in the state of Tennessee, and it's only going to continue to get worse."
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Apr 22, 2026
Communities across the United States are pushing back against resource-draining data centers being built to fuel artificial intelligence and crypto ventures. In Maine, state legislators recently passed a first-in-the-country statewide moratorium on large data centers. "Maine residents are concerned about the impacts of data centers on both their electric rates and other utility rates, as well as on our wonderful environment," says Democratic state Representative Melanie Sachs, who sponsored the bill designed to give legislators time to develop regulations around new data center construction. Sachs says developers have been operating in "complete secrecy," refusing to engage with community stakeholders, while their plans appear to provide "limited economic opportunity with very few local jobs." The bill goes to Maine Governor Janet Mills's desk next.
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Apr 22, 2026
Trump Extends Iran Ceasefire But Maintains Blockade as Iran Seizes Ships in Strait of Hormuz, Israel-Lebanon Ceasefire Frays as Hezbollah Fires on Israeli Forces, Israeli Army Reservist Kills Two Palestinians in West Bank Settler Attack, NYT: Two Senior Hamas Officials Say Group Could Give Up Some Weapons Belonging to Police Force, Justice Department Indicts Southern Poverty Law Center on Federal Fraud Charges, CIA Agents Among U.S. Officials Killed in Mexico Car Crash, Prompting Probe into Covert Operations, Indigenous Communities and Environmental Activists Vow to Fight Mexican President Sheinbaum's Reversal on Fracking Ban, Department of Homeland Security ??Warns of Payroll Crisis as Partial Government Shutdown Hits Record 67 Days, Rep. Cherfilus-McCormick Resigns from Congress Ahead of Ethics Sanctions Hearing, National Women's Defense League Reveals Dozens of Lawmakers Accused of Sexual Misconduct as Congress Faces Expulsion Votes, Virginia Voters Approve New Congressional Map Giving Democrats Chance to Pick Up Four More Seats in Congress
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Apr 21, 2026
Police fired tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets at hundreds of animal rights activists in Wisconsin on Saturday as they attempted to rescue about 2,000 dogs from a facility that breeds beagles for medical experimentation. The crackdown by Dane County sheriff's deputies left scores of activists injured; 25 people were arrested. Protesters were attempting to enter a property owned by Ridglan Farms, which agreed last fall to surrender its state breeding license and stop selling dogs to other laboratories by July 1 as part of a deal to avoid prosecution on animal mistreatment charges. A state judge found Ridglan Farms likely broke Wisconsin animal cruelty laws by housing beagles in brutal conditions, performing surgeries without anesthesia, and leaving wounds untreated, along with other violations.
The protesters who participated in Saturday's action were "teachers, veterinarians, students, software engineers," says Rebekah Robinson, a Wisconsin resident and longtime animal rights activist who was arrested during the action. "These were ordinary citizens who were trying to help these Ridglan dogs, to go in and take them to safety, get them the veterinary care that they needed. And what we were met with was overwhelming police brutality."
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Apr 21, 2026
In cities across the country, from Los Angeles to Chicago to Minneapolis, residents have taken to the streets to oppose the militarized immigration sweeps, enforcement tactics and violence of ICE and Border Patrol under President Trump's second term. A new ProPublica and Frontline investigation looks at law enforcement's heavy-handed response to these protests, resulting in legally dubious charges that later unravel.
"The Department of Justice was labeling the people who were in the streets as domestic terrorists, as agitators, as extremists. They were rounding them up in large numbers," says A.C. Thompson, investigative reporter with ProPublica and correspondent for PBS's Frontline documentary series. "So, we looked at 300 arrests in these various cities and found that more than a third of them had collapsed."
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Apr 21, 2026
As the Trump administration continues to rapidly expand its immigration jail system across the United States, we look at the rising death toll of people in ICE custody, the highest in over two decades. The causes of the deaths have varied, but they include at least one homicide. At least 17 people have died in ICE custody since January.
"I have never seen anything like this, where I'm seeing ICE reporting out at least one death per week," says Setareh Ghandehari, advocacy director at Detention Watch Network. "People are reaching the point of emergency for issues that could easily be dealt with if proper medical care was given."
Ghandehari notes the rising opposition to the Department of Homeland Security's conversion of "former industrial warehouses" into ICE jails. "It's been really inspiring to see people across the country standing up in solidarity with their immigrant neighbors and saying, 'We don't want these types of facilities in our communities,'" says Ghandehari.
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Apr 21, 2026
Confusion Reigns Over U.S.-Iran Talks as Trump Says a Ceasefire Extension Is "Highly Unlikely", Military Veterans and Family Members Arrested in Capitol Hill Protest Against Iran War, Lebanese and Israeli Diplomats Prepare for Second Round of Talks as Lebanon Buries Its Dead, Israel Continues Deadly Attacks in Gaza, Reestablishes Evacuated West Bank Settlement, Amnesty International Blasts "Predatory World Order" of Netanyahu, Putin and Trump, Japan Abandons Ban on Weapons Exports in Latest Shift from Postwar Pacifism, Cuba Confirms Meeting with Senior U.S. Officials for the First Time Since 2016, ICE Reports 17 Immigrants Have Died in Custody, Justice Department Demands Wayne County, Michigan, Turn Over 2024 Ballots, FBI Director Kash Patel Files $250 Million Defamation Lawsuit Against Atlantic Magazine, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer Steps Down Amid Misconduct Probe, Wired: Facial Recognition Technology Used to Monitor Sports Fans at Madison Square Garden, Delegates Arrive in NYC for United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Six Women Win Goldman Environmental Prize, Widely Known as the "Green Nobel"
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Apr 20, 2026
The Trump administration in late March announced an extensive reorganization of the Forest Service, the federal agency responsible for managing 193 million acres of public lands across 43 states, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. As part of the changes, 57 of 77 research stations across the country will be shuttered, with the headquarters relocating from Washington, D.C., to Salt Lake City. While the overhaul is billed as an effort to improve efficiency, conservationist Jim Pattiz says it will effectively destroy the agency.
"This is a critically important agency," says Pattiz, co-author of the newsletter More Than Just Parks that tracks threats to public lands across the country. "The intent here is obvious. It's to hollow out this agency and hand it to the resource extraction industry and prepare it for, potentially, the eventual transfer of our public lands to states."
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Apr 20, 2026
We speak with artist Shepard Fairey, best known for the Obama "Hope" poster, about the role of art in politics, the rise of fascism in the United States and more. Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman spoke with Fairey in Los Angeles last week and toured his studio. Some of his recent artworks depict ICE agents with labels like "Domestic Terrorist," used by Trump administration officials to describe protesters who oppose the administration's immigration crackdown.
Fairey says that while he doesn't think of his art as propaganda, he also doesn't shy away from the label. "If you want to call it propaganda, it's meant to initiate a conversation, a counternarrative that isn't happening in a robust enough way," he says.
Fairey created the film poster for Steal This Story, Please!, the new documentary about Amy Goodman and Democracy Now!, which had its theatrical opening earlier in April.
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Apr 20, 2026
While many Western countries have condemned Iran's restrictions on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz as a breach of international law, reaction has been relatively muted about the "clearly unlawful" war that the United States and Israel launched against Iran, says law professor Maryam Jamshidi.
"This says a lot about the ways in which international law is being deployed in this moment as a way of restraining and regulating Iranian behavior, while effectively allowing the United States and Israel a free hand to do what they want," says Jamshidi, a professor at the University of Colorado Law School and a nonresident fellow at the Quincy Institute.
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Apr 20, 2026
The Strait of Hormuz is closed to shipping traffic after Iran once again shut off access to the key waterway over the weekend in retaliation for the ongoing U.S. blockade on Iranian ports. This comes as the U.S. Navy intercepted and seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship in the Sea of Oman on Sunday. Iran said the seizure violated the ceasefire reached earlier this month. Despite the escalation, President Trump announced a U.S. delegation is heading to Pakistan for a new round of peace talks. Iran's Foreign Ministry says Tehran has "no plans" to participate.
There has been a "gradual escalation" in hostilities between the U.S. and Iran since the last round of talks in Islamabad, says Iranian American analyst Vali Nasr, professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Iran's leadership is "suspicious that President Trump was really using the talks in Pakistan as a cover for renewing war on Iran and that he was not serious about diplomacy."
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Apr 20, 2026
Iran Shuts Access to Strait of Hormuz as U.S. Navy Seizes Iranian-Flagged Cargo Ship, Israeli Soldier Filmed Destroying a Statue of Jesus in Southern Lebanon, British Authorities Probe Recent Arson Attacks on Jewish Sites in London, Oil and Gas Prices Surge After U.S. Navy Seizes Iranian-Flagged Cargo Ship, United Nations: More Than 38,000 Women and Girls Killed in Gaza from October 2023 to December 2025, Eight Children Shot and Killed by Louisiana Father, as Five People Injured in Shooting Near University of Iowa, At Least Six People Killed in Mass Shooting in Ukraine, U.S. Says It Killed 3 Aboard Alleged Drug Boat, Pushing Death Toll in Such Attacks to Nearly 200, Mexico Admits Gulf Oil Spill Was Caused by a Leaking Pemex Pipeline, Joe diGenova, Who Tried to Overturn 2020 Election Results, to Lead Probe of Trump's Critics, Appeals Court Allows Trump to Resume Construction of $400 Million White House Ballroom, Federal Judge Blocks $6.2 Billion Merger of Nexstar Media Group and Rival Tegna, Activists Attempting to Save Dogs from Medical Experimentation Met with Tear Gas in Wisconsin, Brazil's Lula and Spain's Sánchez Lead Progressive Push to Counter Rise of Far-Right Parties
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Apr 17, 2026
Aliya Rahman, a Minneapolis resident who was violently detained by ICE officers in January during "Operation Metro Surge," filed a federal tort claim against the Department of Homeland Security on Thursday, claiming the agency used excessive force and violated her rights. Rahman was never charged with any crime. "They battered Aliya. They assaulted Aliya. They were negligent in their medical care for Aliya," says Jessica Gingold, one of Rahman's attorneys. "All of those things are illegal, and this is our tool for making sure that they have to pay for that."
Aliya Rahman was on her way to a doctor's appointment when her route was blocked by ICE vehicles. Rahman's window was smashed, and she was violently pulled out of her car. She told the officers she is disabled and autistic, but says they mocked her. Rahman was brought to an ICE jail, where she was denied medical care. She eventually fell unconscious and woke up at a hospital. "My hope is that Americans can see that we have an option that might someday make mass acts of racial violence seem too expensive for these folks, even if they don't share our values," says Rahman.
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Apr 17, 2026
"We've seen now, in the last six weeks, Iran and Hezbollah almost single-handedly checking — not defeating, but checking — the two biggest military powers in the region, which is the U.S. and Israel," says Rami Khouri. Khouri says the U.S. and Israel have been "forced into" ceasefires in Iran and Lebanon. This is all a sign "of the evolving balance of power across the region" and demonstrates that Iran's Axis of Resistance "is still effective." Khouri is a Palestinian American journalist and public policy fellow at the American University of Beirut.
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Apr 17, 2026
A 10-day ceasefire has begun in Lebanon. The news is being celebrated across the country, but major questions remain over what happens next. President Trump announced the deal between Israel and Lebanon on Thursday. Hezbollah, which is not a party to the agreement, says it will observe the ceasefire. The Israeli military is occupying a large swath of southern Lebanon, about 10% of the country. Early on in the current war, the Israeli military announced the intention to create a "security zone" from the Lebanese-Israeli border all the way to the Litani River, 20 miles north of the border.
Many in the country are questioning whether Israel will abide by the ceasefire, says Beirut-based journalist Kareem Chehayeb. Israel continued airstrikes on Thursday right up until the ceasefire took effect, including blowing up the last bridge over the Litani River. "With this kind of military mobilization and this ground invasion of Lebanon, many in Lebanon do fear this could lead to some sort of long-term or even permanent occupation, similar to that from 1982 until the year 2000," says Chehayeb.
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Apr 17, 2026
President Trump on Thursday repeated his claim that a deal to end the war on Iran is "very close" and that direct talks with Iran could resume in Pakistan as soon as this weekend. Despite the claims, the Pentagon is surging thousands of additional troops to the Middle East, including an additional 6,000 sailors and aviators joining the USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier battle group. Around 4,200 others with the Navy and Marines are expected to arrive near the end of the month. Ali Vaez, Iran project director at the International Crisis Group, says "we might be, at some point, returning to a hot war" because the Iranians, too, have "preserved a degree of retaliatory capacity." The main question on the negotiating table is whether the Iranians, who "have been saying for years that they don't want nuclear weapons," will curb their nuclear activity, and if so, whether the U.S. would "be willing to provide them with economic incentives and sanctions relief."
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Apr 17, 2026
Israel Agrees to 10-Day Ceasefire in Lebanon After U.S.-Brokered Talks, Israelis in Tel Aviv Protest Settler Violence After High Court Lifts Wartime Ban on Gatherings, House Votes 213-214 to Reject War Powers Resolution as Trump Claims Deal with Iran Is "Very Close", Ukraine Strikes Black Sea Oil Refinery as Russian Attacks Kill 17, Progressive Democrat Analilia Mejía Wins Special Election for New Jersey House Seat, House Temporarily Extends FISA's Mass Surveillance Powers in Late-Night Vote , House Votes to Extend Deportation Protections for 330,000 Haitian Immigrants, Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, Who Oversaw Mass Deportation Efforts, to Resign in May, Minnesota Prosecutor Brings Assault Charges Against ICE Agent Who Pointed Gun at Motorists, Texas Governor Threatens to Cut Millions of Dollars from Cities That Limit Collaboration with ICE, Man Shot by ICE in California Last Week Arrested on Assault Charges, Advocates Demand Release of Texas Interpreter Meenu Batra from ICE Jail, Virginia's Former Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax Shoots Estranged Wife in Murder-Suicide, Hampshire College to Close at End of 2026 Amid Financial Woes and Falling Enrollment
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Apr 16, 2026
A new book tells the inside story of the second Trump administration's dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development, USAID. Its author, Nicholas Enrich, worked at USAID for over a decade before he was pushed out of the agency in early 2025, when the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency summarily cut its staff and funding. An estimated 14 million people are projected to die "unnecessarily" over the next five years due to these cuts, and nearly a million, mostly children, already have, says Enrich. His new memoir, Into the Wood Chipper: A Whistleblower's Account of How the Trump Administration Shredded USAID, is named after one of Musk's social media posts from that period, when the South African billionaire wrote, "We spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper." Since its establishment in 1961, USAID has saved the lives of tens of millions around the world by treating and preventing serious health issues such as HIV/AIDS, malnutrition, malaria and more. By slashing the agency, the U.S. "pulled the rug out from under people around the world," says Enrich. "We broke promises to millions who were relying on USAID services, and left them hanging out to dry. We broke promises to governments and broke partnerships that will have lasting effects for years to come."
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Apr 16, 2026
Sudan marked four years since a bloody civil war began between its national army and the powerful Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group. The RSF revolted against the Sudanese Armed Forces after a 2021 military coup left it with diminished political power. The coup itself upended the civilian-led democratic revolution that ousted Sudan's longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir in 2019. Both the RSF and SAF have been accused of major war crimes since the conflict began, reportedly carrying out ethnic cleansing, systemic sexual violence and starvation tactics on the country's civilian population.
"This war is not just fought on the bodies of civilians by happenstance. It's not incidental to the fighting. It is precisely the point. This war is a war of succession between those who want to inherit the military security state," says Sudanese political analyst Kholood Khair, "and they're doing so in large part not just by fighting each other, but also by diminishing as much as possible the revolutionary fervor and the calls for civilian democratic rule in Sudan." Khair adds that the burgeoning U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, separated from Sudan by the Arabian Peninsula and Red Sea, threatens to deepen the humanitarian crisis in Sudan, as supply chain disruptions make agricultural production even harder and opportunities for resource exploitation incentivize other countries to turn the conflict into even more of a "proxy war."
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Apr 16, 2026
Amid the ongoing crisis in the Strait of Hormuz, we speak with Laleh Khalili, a professor of Gulf studies who researches the shipping and logistics industry and its impact on the global economy.
The U.S. implemented a naval blockade on Iran earlier this week, which Khalili says could lead to its military "firing on ships that it assumes are Iranian or carrying oil from Iran or other cargo to Iran." Iran, in response, could "interpret this as a belligerent action," ending the fragile ceasefire agreed to by both parties. "Iran is going to defend itself against this imperial imposition, and how it's going to do that remains to be seen."
Meanwhile, explains Khalili, shipping disruptions in the Gulf have affected the supply chains of key resources including oil, aluminum, helium and fertilizer. "Transportation costs are going to be higher, so food prices are going to be higher; people's MRIs are going to be scheduled out by six months … semiconductor manufacturing is going to be affected," Khalili says. "The crisis is only going to get more horrific before it gets any better. "
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Apr 16, 2026
Senate Narrowly Rejects Resolutions to Halt Iran War and Arms Sales to Israel, Iran Warns It Will Blockade the Sea of Oman and Red Sea Unless U.S. Ends Its Naval Blockade, Israel Continues Deadly Strikes on Lebanon Even as Diplomats Hold First Direct Talks in Decades, Palestinians Hold Funeral Procession for Five Killed in Israeli Strike on Gaza City, Pentagon Announces Fifth Deadly Strike on Alleged Drug Boat in a Week, Democrats File Articles of Impeachment Against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, The Guardian: Top Oil and Gas Companies Made $30M Per Hour in Windfall Profits from Iran War, Nine Killed as Turkey Suffers Second School Shooting in Two Days, Oklahoma High School Principal Tackles School Shooter While Suffering Gunshot Wound, Jury Finds Live Nation and Ticketmaster Operated as a Monopoly, Overcharging Ticket Buyers, Tax Day Protesters Object to Funding Wars, Genocide and Mass Deportation
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Apr 15, 2026
Maoz Inon's parents were killed in the October 7 attacks in 2023. Aziz Abu Sarah's brother died after being tortured in an Israeli prison. The two have closely worked together calling for peace in Israel and Palestine over the past two years. They just released a book titled The Future Is Peace: A Shared Journey Across the Holy Land.
"I grew up angry. I grew up believing peace is impossible. But at some point, I realized — when I was 18 — that Maoz and I are not on the opposite side. To bring justice, to bring peace, to bring equality and dignity to all of us, we have to work together," says Abu Sarah.
"We need enough people that realize that we have the agency to change the future, to create the future we deserve to live within," adds Inon.
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Apr 15, 2026
Democratic Congressmember Eric Swalwell of California and Republican Tony Gonzales of Texas resigned Tuesday. Both of them faced potential expulsion votes after they were accused of sexual misconduct involving former staffers.
Swalwell's resignation came just days after CNN and the San Francisco Chronicle reported multiple allegations against him, including twice raping a former staffer. Swalwell denied the allegations. He dropped out of the California gubernatorial race on Sunday. Gonzales had been facing calls to resign since February, when the San Antonio Express-News revealed he had an affair with a staffer who later took her own life, and also sent explicit text messages to another staffer.
"Congress itself shouldn't see these resignations as the end of the story here," says Fatima Goss Graves of the National Women's Law Center. "They actually should see it as the beginning of investigating not only what happened with these two individuals, but they need to understand whether or not they have a problem that is more of a pattern."
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Apr 15, 2026
Israeli forces continue to bombard towns in southern Lebanon today, according to Lebanese state media. Several people were killed in a strike on the coastal town of Ansariya. According to Lebanon's Health Ministry, Israeli attacks have killed over 2,100 people, wounding nearly 7,000. Over 1 million Lebanese have been displaced, and 40,000 homes have been destroyed or heavily damaged. We go to Beirut, where we're joined by investigative journalist Lylla Younes. Her family's village in the southern border municipality of Bint Jbeil was bombed yesterday.
"It's not just real estate that is lost when these homes are destroyed. It's not just a house. Our grandparents built these structures," says Younes. "What the world should know is that we will return to these villages, and when we do, we'll return to rubble, and it will be an immense process of rebuilding." She notes the Israeli military is using the same tactics in Lebanon as in Gaza, having flattened not only homes, but "vast swaths of Gaza's cultural heritage, universities, mosques, archives."
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Apr 15, 2026
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio hosted the first direct talks between Israel and Lebanon in decades on Tuesday in Washington. Hezbollah, which was not a party to the talks, made clear it will not abide by any agreement that results from their negotiations.
Israel's demand that Hezbollah be disarmed is "anything but reasonable," says Daniel Levy, former Israeli peace negotiator under Prime Ministers Ehud Barak and Yitzhak Rabin. "What [Israel] is doing here is trying to put something that sounds reasonable on the table, but with the intention of embarrassing and humiliating the Lebanese government," which Levy says does not have the capacity to disarm Hezbollah.
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Apr 15, 2026
U.S. Naval Blockade of Iranian Ports Enters Third Day, Lebanon and Israel Hold First Direct Talks in More Than Three Decades, Israeli Forces Kill at Least 11 Palestinians in Gaza, Journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin Held in Kuwaiti Prison for Six Weeks, Italy Suspends Defense Cooperation Agreement with Israel, GOP Rep. Gonzales and Democratic Rep. Swalwell Resign from Congress as Another Woman Accuses Swalwell of Raping Her, DOJ Moves to Overturn Convictions for Members of Far-Right Groups in Connection to the Jan. 6 Insurrection, Appeals Court Judge to End Probe of Trump Admin Deportation Flights to El Salvador, Trump Administration Plans to Build Second Border Wall in Arizona, NAACP Sues Elon Musk's xAI for Polluting Black Neighborhoods
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Apr 14, 2026
The first-ever pope from the United States is clashing with the White House. Pope Leo XIV, head of the Catholic Church, which counts more than a billion people in the world as its members, has spoken out forcefully against war. He said in his Palm Sunday address that Jesus "does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war … [whose] hands are full of blood." In response, President Donald Trump said Pope Leo is "weak on crime, and terrible for foreign policy." Trump is also under fire for sharing an AI-generated image that appears to show himself as Jesus Christ. Pressed about the controversy in an interview on Fox News, Trump's Catholic Vice President JD Vance said the pope should "stick to matters of morality."
"I don't know any other more pressing moral issues than war and peace, taking care of the poor, the sick, the homeless, the stranger," says Father James Martin, a writer and Jesuit priest. "I don't understand how Vice President Vance cannot see that war is a moral issue. … This idea that some people don't deserve mercy is completely against the Christian message."
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Apr 14, 2026
After the first round of ceasefire negotiations in Pakistan collapsed over the weekend, we speak to two former nuclear negotiators about prospects for ending the ongoing U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, including what another nuclear deal might look like. Robert Malley, a U.S. negotiator for the 2015 nuclear deal (which President Trump withdrew from in his first term), says Trump's "mercurial" behavior makes it difficult to predict his objectives and the course of any future talks. "Iran was in full compliance with the JCPOA" and was blindsided by the U.S.'s decision to pull out of the deal, says Seyed Hossein Mousavian, who served as spokesperson for Iran's nuclear negotiation team from 2003 to 2005. Now its leaders "don't know whether the U.S. is really for diplomacy or not."
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Apr 14, 2026
After the first round of ceasefire negotiations in Pakistan collapsed over the weekend, we speak to two former nuclear negotiators about prospects for ending the ongoing U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, including what another nuclear deal might look like. Robert Malley, a U.S. negotiator for the 2015 nuclear deal (which President Trump withdrew from in his first term), says Trump's "mercurial" behavior makes it difficult to predict his objectives and the course of any future talks. "Iran was in full compliance with the JCPOA" and was blindsided by the U.S.'s decision to pull out of the deal, says Seyed Hossein Mousavian, who served as spokesperson for Iran's nuclear negotiation team from 2003 to 2005. Now its leaders "don't know whether the U.S. is really for diplomacy or not."
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Apr 14, 2026
"The Strait of Hormuz Is Open to Us": China Warns U.S. Against Blockading Iranian Ports, Hezbollah Rejects "Futile" U.S.-Brokered Talks Between Israel and Lebanon, Israeli Soldiers Tear-Gas Palestinian Children After Settlers Block Access to School, Another Whistleblower Describes "Indiscriminate" Israeli Violence Against Gaza Aid Seekers, Scores Arrested at Jewish-Led Protest Demanding New York Senators Vote Against Arms to Israel, Food and Agriculture Organization Warns Strait of Hormuz Crisis Could Lead to Hunger "Catastrophe", Mexican Immigrant Alejandro Cabrera Clemente Dies in ICE Jail, Republican Rep. Gonzales and Democratic Rep. Swalwell Announce Plans to Leave Congress, U.S. Military Says It Struck Alleged Drug Boat in Eastern Pacific, Killing Two People, Chevron Set to Expand Oil Extraction Operations in Venezuela, Hollywood Stars Sign Open Letter Opposing Merger of Paramount and Warner Bros., Federal Judge Tosses Out Trump's $10 Billion Lawsuit Against The Wall Street Journal
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Apr 13, 2026
The federal government is preparing to begin automatically registering eligible U.S. men ages 18 to 26 for the military draft pool. The U.S. hasn't had a military draft since 1973, but it still maintains a registry of eligible men in case the draft is restored. New rules around automatic military draft registration were tucked into the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act.
We are joined by Edward Hasbrouck, an organizer with the Anti-Draft Coalition, which opposes the plan for automatic draft registration and is calling for repeal of the Military Selective Service Act. "The important thing is to take the draft off the table, remove it from the arsenal of war planning. Forcing the government to confront the question, before they make wars, of whether enough people will fight them, actually constrains wars before they happen," says Hasbrouck.
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Apr 13, 2026
The federal government is preparing to begin automatically registering eligible U.S. men ages 18 to 26 for the military draft pool. The U.S. hasn't had a military draft since 1973, but it still maintains a registry of eligible men in case the draft is restored. New rules around automatic military draft registration were tucked into the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act.
We are joined by Edward Hasbrouck, an organizer with the Anti-Draft Coalition, which opposes the plan for automatic draft registration and is calling for repeal of the Military Selective Service Act. "The important thing is to take the draft off the table, remove it from the arsenal of war planning. Forcing the government to confront the question, before they make wars, of whether enough people will fight them actually constrains wars before they happen," says Hasbrouck.
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Apr 13, 2026
The Trump administration has fired six more immigration judges in its effort to reshape immigration policy and the immigration courts. Two of the fired judges, Roopal Patel and Nina Froes, had each dismissed high-profile cases brought by the government against international students who had advocated for Palestinian rights, Rümeysa Öztürk and Mohsen Mahdawi. Around 100 immigration judges have been fired by the Trump administration. Firings in previous administrations were rare.
The Trump administration is eroding "the concept of procedural due process, the idea that you get to have a hearing in the United States" by "firing judges that it perceived as being opposed to the administration's stated goal to deport as many people as possible with the least amount of due process possible," says Carmen Maria Rey Caldas, a former immigration judge in New York who was fired in August.
The firing of so many immigration judges is also "egregious" because noncitizens are "going to be subject to the ruling of judges that are under pressure," says Cyrus Mehta, an attorney who represents Palestinian activist Mohsen Mahdawi.
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Apr 13, 2026
Official election results in Hungary show Péter Magyar and his opposition Tisza party won Sunday's parliamentary election in a landslide, with more than the two-thirds majority needed to amend Hungary's constitution. Hungary's far-right Viktor Orbán has been prime minister of the country since 2010, making him the European Union's longest-serving leader. His campaign was supported by Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Trump administration.
Tens of thousands gathered in Budapest on Sunday to celebrate the victory over Orbán. "Everybody was partying on the streets. Strangers were hugging each other. Music, drinks, cars honking. So, basically, it was like a street carnival for the entire night," says Hungarian journalist and analyst Szilárd Pap, who also explains the rise of Péter Magyar and Hungary's new opposition party.
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Apr 13, 2026
Ship traffic has been halted again in the Strait of Hormuz after President Trump ordered the U.S. military to begin a naval blockade of all Iranian ports and coastal areas starting Monday at 10 a.m. ET. Iran denounced Trump's move as an illegal act amounting to "piracy" and has threatened to strike Gulf ports in retaliation. Trump ordered the blockade after the U.S. and Iran failed to reach a deal to end the war following 21 hours of talks in Islamabad, Pakistan. Global oil prices jumped after Trump announced the blockade.
Ervand Abrahamian, professor emeritus of history at the Graduate Center at the City University of New York, predicts "the U.S. will start bombing Iranian oil installations. Iran will retaliate by bombing the Gulf oil installations, gas installations. The oil prices then could really zoom up. Some people expect it to reach $200 a barrel." Abrahamian warns that soaring energy prices will have long-term implications for the world economy.
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Apr 13, 2026
President Trump Announces Naval Blockade of Strait of Hormuz, Israeli Strike Kills Infant Girl During Her Father's Funeral in Lebanon, At Least Seven Palestinians Killed in Israeli Strikes in Gaza, Police Arrest Over 500 Palestine Action Activists in London, President Trump Slams Pope Leo as Too Liberal and "Weak on Crime", Trump Admin Fires Immigration Judges Who Dismissed Cases Against Rümeysa Öztürk and Mohsen Mahdawi, Hungarian Far-Right Prime Minister Viktor Orbán Concedes Defeat in Parliamentary Election, Amnesty International: Nigerian Airstrikes Kill Over 100 Civilians, "All You Had to Do Was Pay Us Enough to Live": Worker Sets Fire to California Paper Warehouse, Saboteur at Ireland's Shannon Airport Uses Hatchet to Damage U.S. Military Aircraft, Rep. Eric Swalwell Abandons California Gubernatorial Campaign After Ex-Staffer Alleges Rape, Zohran Mamdani Touts Accomplishments After 100 Days as NYC Mayor
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Apr 10, 2026
Amid strains in U.S.-European relations, the Trump administration has worked to strengthen ties with Hungary and its far-right leader, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who is facing his biggest challenge in 16 years. With just days to go before parliamentary elections, Orbán's Fidesz party is trailing the center-right pro-EU Tisza party led by Péter Magyar. U.S. Vice President JD Vance traveled to Budapest this week and appeared alongside Orbán to openly campaign for his reelection.
"This election is really crucial, not just for Hungary, but for the international right wing," says Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of sociology and international affairs at Princeton University. "There's been a lot of American signaling that the U.S. would really love to have Viktor Orbán be reelected. The problem is the Hungarian people don't seem to agree."
Scheppele also discusses the role of Sebastian Gorka, a top counterterrorism official in the Trump administration, who has longstanding ties to the far right in Hungary and has been instrumental in forging closer ties between the two governments. According to a recent New York Times investigation, Gorka is also leading an effort to target left-wing groups in the United States and abroad as "terrorist organizations."
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Apr 10, 2026
The U.S.-Israeli war on Iran has deepened rifts with several European countries. The Spanish government has been most outspoken in its opposition to the war, and U.S. allies like Germany and the United Kingdom have voiced some criticism while providing logistical support for the assault on Iran. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has tried to smooth over differences and placate President Trump, even as he has mused about pulling the U.S. out of the military alliance and renewed his threats to seize Greenland.
"If there's one thing that actually one can say about President Trump, it's that he's been very consistent in his total disdain for Europe and for NATO," says Nathalie Tocci, an international affairs scholar based in Madrid, as well as a Guardian Europe columnist.
"Trust in the relationship seems to be broken. And, of course, once trust is broken, it's extremely difficult to put the genie back in the bottle."
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Apr 10, 2026
As the United States and Iran prepare to hold talks in Pakistan aimed at ending the war, Israel is continuing to bomb Lebanon, where the death toll from Wednesday's massive wave of attacks has topped 300.
"It was 10 minutes of terror, a day that the Lebanese are calling Black Wednesday," says Lebanese Australian journalist Rania Abouzeid, speaking with Democracy Now! from Beirut. "It was hard to tell what was blowing up where, because those hundred or so attacks were all happening simultaneously."
Israel and the U.S. have claimed the Iran ceasefire deal struck this week does not include Lebanon, contradicting Iran's position. Abouzeid says direct talks between Israel and Lebanon are very "divisive" as many Lebanese fear being left out of a regional settlement, with Israel allowed to continue its attacks, displacement and occupation in the country.
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Apr 10, 2026
Death Toll from Israel's "Black Wednesday" Attack on Lebanon Tops 300, Iran Warns Israeli Attacks on Lebanon Could Destroy Ceasefire Deal and Diplomacy with U.S., House GOP Blocks Democratic Effort to Force Vote on Iran War Powers Resolution, Israel Approves 34 Settler Outposts Amid Continuing Settler Violence in Occupied West Bank, 9-Year-Old Palestinian Girl Shot Dead in Front of Classmates in Gaza's Beit Lahia, Federal Court Blasts Pentagon for Ignoring Prior Order to Restore Reporters' Access, Federal Judge Postpones Cancellation of Protected Status for Ethiopian Immigrants, U.N. Warns Nearly 1,000 Asylum Seekers Have Died Attempting to Cross Mediterranean in 2026, Melania Trump Denies Past Ties with Jeffrey Epstein in Surprise White House Appearance, Acting CDC Head Blocks Publication of Research Showing COVID Vaccine Benefits, Protesters Rally to Protect Water Resources as Argentina Weakens Law Protecting Glaciers, Medical Workers Demand Lee Zeldin's Ouster from EPA as March Heat Wave Shatters U.S. Records, Taiwanese Opposition Leader Makes "Journey of Peace" to Chinese Mainland, Meets with Xi Jinping
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Apr 09, 2026
As Iran destroyed energy facilities and infrastructure in all six of its Persian Gulf neighbors and blocks their shipments of oil through the Strait of Hormuz, the Gulf states — Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates — are reevaluating their strategic alliances with the United States. We speak to Yasmine Farouk, the Gulf and Arabian Peninsula project director at the International Crisis Group, about where else the Arab Gulf is looking toward in Asia and Europe to diversify its defense relationships, and what exactly the war has put at risk in the region. "Let's remember the ceasefire came at a moment when energy infrastructures, desalination, power plants, nuclear plants could have been in the crossfire. So what is at stake here is an uncontrolled escalation that everyone, everyone wants to stop."
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Apr 09, 2026
Will Iran join China, Russia and the United States as a fourth major power on the world stage? Iran's resilience in the face of the U.S.-Israeli war is already shifting the global balance of power, says American political scientist Robert Pape. "What you are seeing with Iran is that its geography, in combination with a level of drone technology that we simply cannot destroy," is demonstrating to other countries that they may not have to stay beholden to U.S. hegemony. "What makes us think we're really going to stop Iran from becoming a nuclear power in the next six months or a year?" asks Pape. "Iran is far stronger than it was just 40 days ago. It is in control of 20% of the world's oil. It is now an emerging fourth center of power. … The United States is on one side, and the rivals are China, Russia and now Iran."
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Apr 09, 2026
On April 8, less than one day after the Trump administration agreed to a two-week ceasefire deal with Iran, Israel struck Lebanon in its heaviest and deadliest attack on the country since the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran began. At least 250 deaths have been reported. Israeli and U.S. authorities are insisting that the ceasefire proposal did not include Lebanon, where Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah. Iran and Pakistan, which brokered the deal, say the agreed-upon pause in hostilities applied to both countries. Since Israel's genocide of Gaza, "the silence of states and the continued flow of weapons has only emboldened Israel," says Beirut-based Human Rights Watch researcher Ramzi Kaiss. "The response from the international community has been limited by words of condemnation, but no effective action has been taken yet in order to stop these atrocities from happening."
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Apr 09, 2026
Israel Launches Devastating Attacks on Lebanon, Killing Over 250 and Imperiling Iran Ceasefire Deal, Trump Says U.S. Troops Will Remain in Mideast Until U.S. Reaches "REAL AGREEMENT" with Iran, Israeli Drone Strike Kills Al Jazeera Correspondent Mohammed Wishah in Gaza City, "We Are Losing Our Humanity in War": U.N. Told Over 1,000 Humanitarians Have Been Killed in 3 Years, Protesters Outside NYC Comptroller's Office Demand Divestment of Pension Funds from Israeli Bonds, Trump Threatens to Pull Out of NATO After Meeting with Secretary General, Trump Administration Proposes Eliminating Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, Georgia Voters Elect Republican Clay Fuller to Replace Marjorie Taylor Greene, Federal Prosecutors Charge a Former Civilian Employee at Fort Bragg for Sharing Classified Info, DOJ Says Former Attorney General Bondi Will Not Appear Before Congress for April 14 Deposition, ProPublica Employees Hold 24-Hour Strike to Demand Their First Collective Bargaining Agreement
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Apr 08, 2026
Amy Goodman, along with co-host Juan González and Pacifica Radio, launched Democracy Now! on WBAI 30 years ago as the only daily election show in public broadcasting. It grew from 9 community radio stations to television as well the week of the 9/11 attacks in 2001. There's a new Documentary about Amy and Democracy Now, called Steal this Story, Please!. We speak with the film's Oscar-nominated directors Carl Deal and Tia Lessin. Their previous films include Citizen Koch and Trouble the Water. The film's executive producers include Jane Fonda, Rosario Dawson, and Tom Morello. The documentary has won over a dozen audience favorite and jury prizes at major film festivals around the country and will be screened in theaters nationwide.
"People want to see and read and hear content that speaks to this grave political moment, and this film does just that," says Tia Lessin.
Democracy Now! "has been leading this effort in bringing stories in from the ground — the stories that are shut out of the mainstream quite frequently," adds Carl Deal.
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Apr 08, 2026
The United States and Iran have announced a two-week ceasefire, brokered by Pakistan, under which Iran has agreed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Israel is also part of the agreement, but it has said it will continue its attacks and occupation inside Lebanon. The deal was reached less than two hours before President Trump's 8 p.m. ET deadline Tuesday for Iran to reopen the strait under threat of destroying every power plant and major bridge in Iran.
Although both parties have "strong incentives" to maintain a ceasefire, the deal is "extremely precarious," says Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerdi, professor of international relations of the Middle East at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. "We're already seeing it being imperiled as we speak, with ongoing attacks in Lebanon, as well as reports of [Iranian] attacks in the Persian Gulf."
We are also joined by Naghmeh Sohrabi, professor of Middle East history at Brandeis University, who has been translating articles from Persian to English by writers inside Iran. Sohrabi speaks to the economic suffering — which had already led to protests in Iran earlier this year — that has been compounded by war. "People are losing their jobs. People are losing their homes. Food prices are going up," she says. "And the question is, even if the ceasefire holds, how they're going to pull this country out of the situation."
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Apr 08, 2026
U.S. and Iran Agree to Two-Week Ceasefire; Iran Warns Its "Hands Remain on the Trigger", Israel Says U.S.-Iran Two-Week Ceasefire Doesn't Apply to Lebanon, Iran Continues to Launch Retaliatory Strikes Throughout the Region, Oil Prices Plunge After Announcement of U.S.-Iran Ceasefire, American Freelance Journalist Shelly Kittleson Released by Iran-Backed Iraqi Militia, U.S. Soldier's Wife Released After Being Arrested by ICE Agents on Military Base, Trump Administration Still Seeks to Deport Kilmar Ábrego García to Liberia, DHS Threatens to Withdraw CBP Officers from Airports in So-Called Sanctuary Cities, U.N. Warns U.S. Waste Exports Are Fueling "Toxic Crisis" in Mexico, Vice President Vance Campaigns for Hungary's Right-Wing Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in Budapest
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