Democracy Now!

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.

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 from doing anything about it."

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 Viles 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.

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

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."

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.

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.

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."

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 Ruben 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

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.

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."

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.

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

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 Belem, 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.

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.

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.

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 Gaza Election 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

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."

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."

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.

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

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.

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 Osse, 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. Osse is calling for a moratorium on evictions in cases where deed theft is suspected.

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.

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 Nicolas 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

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.

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."

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.

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 Osse Released After Violent Arrest at Anti-Eviction Protest

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."

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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."

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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."