Democracy Now!

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.

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."

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 1 and Colossus 2, 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."

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.

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

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."

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."

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.

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"

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."

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.

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.

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."

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 Sanchez Lead Progressive Push to Counter Rise of Far-Right Parties

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.

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.

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.

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."

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 Mejia 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

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."

Sudan marked three 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 the SAF and the RSF, 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."

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. "

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

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.

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."

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."

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.

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

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."

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."

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

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.

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, Rumeysa Ozturk 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.

Official election results in Hungary show Peter 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 Orban 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 Orban. 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 Szilard Pap, who also explains the rise of Peter Magyar and Hungary's new opposition party.

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.

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 Rumeysa Ozturk and Mohsen Mahdawi, Hungarian Far-Right Prime Minister Viktor Orban 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

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 Orban, who is facing his biggest challenge in 16 years. With just days to go before parliamentary elections, Orban's Fidesz party is trailing the center-right pro-EU Tisza party led by Peter Magyar. U.S. Vice President JD Vance traveled to Budapest this week and appeared alongside Orban 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 Orban 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."

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."

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.

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

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."

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."

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."

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

Amy Goodman, along with co-host Juan Gonzalez and Pacifica Radio, launched Democracy Now! on WBAI 30 years ago as the only daily election show in public broadcasting. It grew from nine 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.

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."

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 Abrego Garcia 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 Orban in Budapest

The White House is seeking a record-shattering Pentagon budget of $1.5 trillion for the next fiscal year, the largest year-over-year increase in a presidential military spending request since World War II. The United States already has the world's largest military budget at roughly $1 trillion, more than the combined budgets of the next nine highest-spending countries. The Trump administration's budget request includes funding for F-35 stealth fighter jets, new warships and President Trump's Golden Dome" missile defense shield, among other priorities.All it means is buying more weapons for more," says Robert Weissman, co-president of Public Citizen. It's beyond the wildest dreams of the military-industrial complex." The budget proposal also includes deep cuts to social programs.We also speak with Josh Paul, a former State Department official involved in arms sales who resigned in 2023 over Israel-Palestine policy. He notes that the $1.5 trillion figure does not even include the costs of the Iran war. It's just a vast amount of money in a way that is reckless by an administration that is corrupt," says Paul.

Democracy Now! co-host Juan Gonzalez discusses the Latinx Freedom Movement Conference, taking place this week at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York. The conference will be a landmark gathering of 1960s movement veterans, scholars, cultural leaders and more.Gonzalez, who co-founded the Young Lords, a revolutionary group that fought for Puerto Rican rights in the 1960s and '70s, says the CUNY conference will kick off a series of events in cities across the United States, presenting sort of an alternative view of the 250th anniversary of Declaration of Independence" that aims to bring to a new generation this story of how the Latinx freedom movement developed."

We speak with two Iranian scholars ahead of an 8 p.m. ET deadline set by President Donald Trump for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face destruction of all its power plants, bridges and other civilian infrastructure. Twelve hours ahead of the deadline, the president posted on social media, A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don't want that to happen, but it probably will."Iran has blocked most maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz since the start of the U.S.-Israeli war, leading to a sharp increase in oil and gas prices around the world. Mohammad Eslami, a research fellow at the University of Tehran, and Zeynab Malakouti, a senior fellow at the Global Peace Institute at the National University of Singapore, say Iran is likely to maintain long-term control over the strait even after the fighting stops.While Donald Trump and the U.S. Army and the Israeli army are focused on the battle, Iranians are thinking about the war," says Eslami, adding that Iran has prepared for at least three months of war," while rising oil prices will make it increasingly difficult for the U.S. to sustain the fighting.Iran sees the Strait of Hormuz as a longer-term strategic lever, especially for the postwar period," adds Malakouti, speaking from Shanghai.