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Military leaders in Gabon seized power on Wednesday shortly after reigning President Ali Bongo had been named the winner of last week's contested election. Bongo and his family have led the country for close to 60 years, during which they have been accused of enriching themselves at the expense of the country. The military junta announced General Brice Oligui Nguema would serve as transitional leader in what is the latest military coup in a former French colony, joining recent power shifts in Niger, Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Chad. The independence of Gabon has never been real," says Thomas Deltombe, French journalist and expert on the French African empire. I think we might be witnessing a second independence, a new decolonization process." We also speak with Daniel Mengara, a professor of French and Francophone studies and founder of the exiled opposition movement Bongo Must Leave, which he continues to head. This is a rare opportunity for the Gabonese people to engage in national dialogue," says Mengara, who warns that the intentions of the coup leaders are still unclear.

Tropical Storm Idalia Weakens After Lashing Florida, Still Carries Threat as It Moves North, Gabon's Military Rulers Announce Transitional Leader Following Coup, Johannesburg Building Fire Kills at Least 73 People, Including Children, U.N. Says Recent Fighting in Ethiopia's Amhara Region Killed 183 People, Migrant Death Toll Near El Paso Hit Record High as Heat Waves Scorched the Southern Border, Texas Judge Blocks Law Barring Cities from Requiring Worker Water Breaks, Labor Dept. Proposes Lifting Salary Threshold for Mandatory Overtime Pay from $35K to $55K, Mitch McConnell Freezes During Press Conference for Second Time in Two Months, NY Attorney General Says Trump Inflated His Wealth by $2.2 Billion, Rudy Giuliani Found Liable in Defamation Lawsuit Brought by Georgia Election Workers, Indigenous Groups Rally in Brazil as Top Court Considers Pivotal Challenge to Ancestral Land Rights

We go with Democracy Now! correspondent Juan Carlos Davila to the Dominican Republic, where many Haitian migrants and their descendants work on sugar plantations under conditions amounting to forced labor and live in heavily underresourced communities known as bateyes. Many bateyes do not have electricity or running water. We speak to local residents and members of the Reconocido movement, which fights for the rights of Haitians in the Dominican Republic, about the workers' inhumane treatment and their lack of legal status in the country, as well as about efforts to improve living conditions in the bateyes, such as an initiative spearheaded by the Puerto Rican environmental group Casa Pueblo to install solar panels in the communities. The right of energy has to be for everyone," says Casa Pueblo's executive director, Arturo Massol-Deya, who shares how his organization is working in solidarity with batey residents to disrupt the cycle of poverty and prepare for climate adaptation.

We continue our discussion with Congressmember Greg Casar of Texas about U.S. policy in Latin America by looking at one of its long-term effects: migration to the U.S. As people flee instability in their home countries brought about by U.S. trade and military policy, U.S. border authorities have implemented increasingly dangerous measures to stop migrants from traveling safely, including a deadly floating barrier of circular saw blades in the Rio Grande. This is all fueled by racist, anti-immigrant rhetoric spouted by right-wing extremists and politicians, whom Casar characterizes as the arsonists trying to blame the firefighters for the flames."

We speak to Congressmember Greg Casar of Texas, who has just returned from a congressional trip to meet with newly left-leaning governments in Brazil, Colombia and Chile ahead of the 50th anniversary of the U.S.-backed Chilean coup, which overthrew democratically elected President Salvador Allende and installed a 17-year military dictatorship led by Augusto Pinochet. Casar was joined by other progressive Latinx members of Congress, including New York's Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and fellow Texan Joaquin Castro. During the trip, the lawmakers called for the Biden administration to declassify more documents revealing the U.S. role in the coup. It was the first time an all-Latinx American congressional delegation traveled to Latin America, Casar says, and marked a historic" attempt by young, progressive lawmakers to break from Cold War-era American interventionism on the continent and to move toward a relationship based on mutual respect and supporting democracy."

The Biden administration has taken a major step to rein in price gouging for prescription drugs in the United States. Medicare will now be able to negotiate prices on 10 of the most expensive drugs used to treat diabetes, cancer, heart disease and more. That list is set to expand over the years. In what's seen as a blow to Big Pharma, the White House says the move, a part of the Inflation Reduction Act, will benefit more than 9 million people in the U.S. and lead to $100 billion in savings over the next decade. Pharmaceutical companies have already filed at least eight lawsuits contesting the new rule. We're paying far more than the rest of the world, and there's no rational basis for it," says Peter Maybarduk of the nonprofit consumer advocacy organization Public Citizen. Maybarduk joins us to discuss how the new negotiation process aims to break up drug monopolies and disband the pharmaceutical industry's profit incentive.

Military Officers in Gabon Seize Power, Place Pres. Bongo Under House Arrest Days After Reelection, Hurricane Idalia Slams Florida Coast as Officials Warn of Life-Threatening Storm Surge, Biden Admin Announces First 10 Medications That Will Be Subject to Medicare Negotiations, Uganda Sees First Charges of Aggravated Homosexuality" After Passing Homophobic New Law, Militia Kills 14 Villagers in Latest Violent Attack in Eastern DRC, Denmark Introduces Law to Criminalize Burning the Qur'an, Hundreds of Prisoners Are on Hunger Strike in Bahrain's Largest Prison, Pakistani Court Suspends Imran Khan's Corruption Sentence, But Ex-PM Remains Jailed in Separate Case, Dozens of States Consider Bills Barring Chinese Entities and Citizens from Buying Land, Air Pollution Shortens Average Life Span by 2.3 Years, Worse Than Being a Smoker, Greek Evros Wildfire Largest Ever Recorded in EU, Louisiana Wildfires Kill 2; Maui Search for Wildfire Victims Moves from Land to Water, Biden Administration Forced to Roll Back Wetlands Protections After SCOTUS Ruling, U.N. Body Says Governments Should Address Children's Demands to Fight Climate Crisis

Congressmember Maxwell Frost of Florida says this weekend's shooting in Jacksonville, carried out by a white supremacist who targeted Black people at a dollar store, did not happen in isolation. He points to Republican efforts to loosen gun laws and racist rhetoric from party leaders as part of the problem of far-right violence. All of these things are connected," says Frost, who also applauded people for booing Florida Governor Ron DeSantis at a prayer vigil in Jacksonville. In moments like these, we have to stand strong on ensuring that leaders who contributed to the problem can't use our communities as campaign stops."

As the Jacksonville community mourns the loss of three people killed Saturday in a racist shooting, more details are emerging about the white supremacist who went to a Dollar General store looking to target Black people before killing himself. Authorities say he left behind a suicide note and other writings outlining his racist ideology. The 21-year-old gunman had legally bought the two weapons he used in the shooting, including an AR-15-style rifle marked with swastikas. The shooting occurred as thousands gathered in Washington, D.C., on Saturday to mark the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington and Martin Luther King Jr.'s I Have a Dream" speech. Activists in Jacksonville had also been preparing commemorations of Ax Handle Saturday, when a white mob led by the Ku Klux Klan violently attacked Black civil rights protesters on August 27, 1960. This hurricane of racism that we've been dealing with in the Jacksonville community is not new," says Jacksonville-based historian and civil rights leader Rodney Hurst, who helped lead desegregation protests in the city during the 1960s.

We continue to look at Donald Trump's mounting legal battles with constitutional law professor Anthony Michael Kreis. Trump's federal trial for election interference is set to begin in Washington, D.C., in March, but his legal team argued this week for a two-year delay, citing the case of the Scottsboro Boys, nine young Black men who were falsely accused of raping a white woman and convicted in a rushed trial before the Supreme Court ultimately intervened. It's offensive," Kreis says of the comparison. To claim that Donald Trump is a victim of some unlawful, unruly criminal justice process akin to 1930s Alabama is simply false."

A judge on Monday set Donald Trump's federal trial for plotting to overturn the 2020 election to begin in Washington, D.C., on March 4 - at the height of the presidential primary season and one day before Super Tuesday. Meanwhile, Trump's former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows testified before a federal judge in Georgia on Monday as part of an effort to move his trial from state to federal court. Meadows is one of Trump's 18 co-defendants in the Georgia racketeering case, and any decisions on his fate could affect the others. Black Voters Matter co-founder Cliff Albright says at the heart of the Georgia case was an attempt to disenfranchise Black people who had helped push Joe Biden over the top in the state's presidential election. They were specifically going after Black voters," Albright says of Trump and his allies. We also speak with law professor Anthony Michael Kreis, who attended Monday's hearing in Georgia and says Trump's mounting legal battles present a real test for our constitutional order and our political system."

Trump's Federal Criminal Trial for Election Interference Set for March 2024, UNC-Chapel Hill Campus Locks Down After Faculty Member Shot Dead, Tennessee Republicans Vote Once Again to Silence Rep. Justin Jones, Sudan's Military Ruler Rules Out Peace Talks with Rival Paramilitaries, French Ambassador to Niger Rejects Junta's Ultimatum to Leave Within 48 Hours, Guatemalan Tribunal Certifies Bernardo Arevalo's Victory, But Electoral Registry Suspends His Party, Hurricane Idalia Strengthens and Takes Aim at Florida's Gulf Coast, Four Migrants Die as Boat Capsizes Off Greek Island of Lesbos, Biden Administration Knew Saudi Border Guards Were Killing Asylum Seekers, HRW: More Palestinian Children Will Be Killed" Unless Israel Pressured to Change Course, In Beijing, Commerce Chief Touts U.S. Trade Ties with China, Denver to Pay $4.7 Million to Settle Police Brutality Claims of Black Lives Matter Activists

The city of White Plains, New York, has settled a lawsuit by the family of a man who was shot in his home by police after accidentally pressing his medical alert badge in 2011. Kenneth Chamberlain repeatedly told police he was fine and asked them to leave, but they refused, called him racial slurs and broke into his home before killing him. After a decade of legal action, the family agreed to a $5 million settlement with the city, but the local police association blasted the agreement and said it was not an admission of misconduct. It doesn't equate to accountability," says Kenneth Chamberlain Jr., who now works to challenge police brutality and continues to ask for unsealed records related to his father's death. We need actual structural change," says Mayo Bartlett, a human rights lawyer representing the Chamberlain family, who argues police misconduct must be addressed through legislation. It has to be something that's codified in law."

After thousands gathered Saturday in Washington, D.C., to mark the 60th anniversary of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s historic I Have a Dream" speech at the 1963 March on Washington, we speak with Gary Younge, author of The Speech: The Story Behind Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Dream. There is this notion of King's dream speech as being folded into America's liberal mythology: America is always getting better, it's always getting more wonderful," says Younge, who wrote his book on the speech to reflect America's current struggle with white supremacy and attacks on people of color. As things can go forwards, so can they go backwards."

On Saturday, a white supremacist gunman killed three Black people at a store in Jacksonville, Florida, in a racially motivated attack. Authorities say the 21-year-old white gunman initially tried to enter the historically Black college Edward Waters University, but he was turned away by a security guard before driving to a nearby Dollar General and opening fire with a legally purchased attack-style rifle. America's gun problem makes its racism more lethal," says Gary Younge, author of Dispatches from the Diaspora: From Nelson Mandela to Black Lives Matter. There's been a significant increase in the number of hate crimes, particularly in anti-Black hate crimes, and one has to be able to connect that to the political situation that surrounds us," says Younge, who says the shooter's actions are reflective of the current attacks on Black history and represent a backlash to increased racial consciousness following the murder of George Floyd.

White Supremacist Shooter Kills 3 Black People in Jacksonville; DOJ Investigating as Hate Crime, Rallygoers, Rights Leaders Gather in D.C. on 60th Anniversary of March on Washington, Mnangagwa Declares Victory in Zimbabwe Presidential Election as Challenger Chamisa Calls Fraud, Gabon Shuts Down Internet, Imposes Curfew Following Voting Delays in Nationwide Elections, Niger's Coup Leaders Order Troops to Be on Maximum Alert, Expel French Ambassador, 7 People Shot Dead at Church Rally in Haiti as Gang Violence Spirals, Russian Officials Say DNA Analysis Confirms Yevgeny Prigozhin Died in Plane Crash, Ex-Guatemalan Colonel Sentenced to 20 Years for 1982 Indigenous Massacre, Judge Agrees to Release Imprisoned Ex-Guatemalan Pres. Otto Perez Molina to House Arrest, Texas, Missouri Bans on Trans Healthcare for Young People Take Effect, Hearings on Trump's 2 Election Interference Trials Have Major Implications for His Fate, 2024 Race, EU Legislation on Big Tech Takes Effect in Hopes of Regulating Harmful and Illegal Online Practices, Trump Returns to X with His Mugshot; Paying X Users May Have to Send Personal Data to Israeli Firm

Tennessee's Republican-dominated state Legislature is still facing public outcry over the state's permissive gun laws in the wake of Nashville's Covenant School shooting, which killed three 9-year-old children and three adult staff members in March. Since then, the state House, under the control of Republican House Speaker Cameron Sexton, has censured its own representatives and deployed state troopers to crack down on public participation. Earlier this week, Republicans imposed new penalties on lawmakers believed to be too disruptive and banned visitors from carrying signs - a ban that has since been challenged by the ACLU for violating the First Amendment. Amid the new rules, visitors can still carry guns into the building. For more, we're joined by Tennessee state Representative Justin Jones, one of three Democratic representatives expelled by the state Legislature earlier this year for joining gun violence protests on the House floor. We speak to him about his return to the Legislature after being reinstated in a special election last month, and his continued struggle in the people's house" against what he describes as authoritarian" rule.

While being booked for attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election, Donald Trump made history as the first former president to have his mugshot taken and released to the public. Shortly after the image of Trump scowling at a police camera started to circulate, the embattled real estate mogul and politician began using it to raise money for his 2024 presidential campaign. Mugshots have these various ways of being deployed ... to craft a narrative, or to reinforce a narrative," says Emory University professor Carol Anderson, who contrasts the novelty of Trump's mugshot with the usage of mugshots by the media and the state to convey an image of Black criminality. As L.A. Times reporter Keri Blakinger explains, the widespread distribution of mugshots undermines the presumption of innocence" and exacerbates racial bias. Blakinger is also the author of the memoir Corrections in Ink, which details her experience serving time in prison in upstate New York. If he were treated like any other defendant, [Trump] would have been given a bail amount he couldn't afford and left to die in a filthy cell," she notes, cautioning that the more that we celebrate some of these broken features of the system, the more ingrained they become."

Former President Donald Trump was booked Thursday at Atlanta's Fulton County Jail on 13 felony charges for attempting to overturn the 2020 election. He paid $20,000, or 10% of his $200,000 bond, through a local bail bondsman, allowing him to be released after about 20 minutes at the jail. He is expected to face trial as early as October. In Atlanta, we speak with two guests: Carol Anderson, a professor of African American studies at Emory University and the author of One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy, among other books on race and civil rights in American politics, and Hugo Lowell, a reporter for The Guardian who has closely covered Trump's criminal case in Georgia. Anderson discusses the Trump campaign's use of a long legacy of racism and voter suppression in an attempt to overthrow democracy" via an assault on Black humanity," while Lowell shares what's next for Trump and his 18 other co-defendants, including former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and lawyer Kenneth Cheseboro, who first suggested the plot to create fake electors.

Donald Trump Booked at Atlanta's Fulton County Jail, Released on $200,000 Bond, Ukrainian Forces Launch Amphibious Assault on Russian-Occupied Crimea, U.S. Intelligence Says Russian Mercenary Leader Yevgeny Prigozhin Was Assassinated, Opposition Leader Accuses Zimbabwe's President of Vote Rigging and Voter Suppression, China Bans Japanese Seafood After Release of Radioactive Wastewater from Fukushima, Record Heat Waves Put 2023 on Track to Become Hottest Year in Human History, Maui County Sues Hawaii's Largest Utility over Wildfires That Killed at Least 115, Fracking in Pennsylvania Linked to Cancer and Host of Other Health Issues, Tennessee Special Session on Gun Control Brings Chaos, No Concrete Measures, 150,000 Autoworkers Edge Near Strike as Workers Demand Wage Increases on Par with CEOs, Minnesota Mayor Vetoes Guaranteed Minimum Wage for App Drivers, Brazilian Supreme Court Says Homophobic Slurs Can Be Punishable by Prison, FIFA Looks to Discipline Spanish Soccer Head After He Forcibly Kissed Woman Player

The first Republican presidential primary debate highlighted deep divisions within the Republican Party about foreign policy," says The Nation's national affairs correspondent John Nichols. He says the nationalist America First" ideology championed by former President Donald Trump is now being pushed even further by Vivek Ramaswamy and Ron DeSantis, who are critical of U.S. funding to Ukraine, while more establishment candidates like Nikki Haley insisted on continued support for the country's defense against Russia.

On the same day a heat wave forced Milwaukee, Wisconsin, public schools to close for the day, moderators at the first Republican presidential debate in the city asked candidates if they believed climate change was caused by human activity. Their answers ranged from avoidance to outright denial. I think this sums up the Republican Party at this point," says John Nichols, national affairs correspondent at The Nation. The moderate position in the Republican Party is avoidance, but I think a very ... popular position within the party is one of actual denial." Nichols added that the heat index was 114 degrees in Milwaukee on the day of the debate. We saw peak climate denial in a Republican debate, and it's kind of amazing at this late stage in history."

We feature highlights on climate change, foreign policy and Trump from the first Republican presidential debate of the 2024 race and speak with John Nichols, The Nation's national affairs correspondent. We also look at how former president and front-runner Donald Trump refused to attend the debate ahead of turning himself in at the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta, Georgia, to face racketeering charges for running a criminal enterprise with 18 co-defendants to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia. The debate felt like an argument at the kids' table on Thanksgiving rather than a classic political debate," says Nichols, who says candidates were attempting to become Trump's vice president or project themselves as leaders in a post-Trump Republican Party.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, longtime leader of the private Russian mercenary Wagner Group, has reportedly died in a plane crash two months after his group launched a short-lived armed mutiny against Vladimir Putin. Several other key figures with the Wagner Group were also reportedly killed in the crash. The crash was not unexpected," says Kimberly Marten, Barnard College professor of political science, who has been researching and writing about the Wagner Group for years. We know that Putin takes revenge on people who are disloyal," says Marten, who expects the Wagner Group's operations in several African countries to continue, but says political infighting in Russia has weakened the country's invasion of Ukraine.

Yevgeny Prigozhin and Other Russian Mercenary Leaders Reportedly Die in Plane Crash, Bipartisan Senate Delegation to Kyiv Urges $21 Billion in New U.S. Aid to Ukraine, U.S. Approves $500 Million in Additional Arms Sales to Taiwan for F-16 Fighter Jets, BRICS Alliance Expands to Include Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and UAE, Protesters Demand China End Support for East African Crude Oil Pipe Line, Wildfires Rage in Turkey, Greece, as Heat Wave Bakes Much of U.S., British Columbia Premier Says Historic Wildfires and Global Climate Havoc Linked to Global Heating, Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell Surrender to Georgia Jail in 2020 Election Interference Case, 8 GOP Hopefuls Square Off in Primary Debate Shunned by Front-Runner Donald Trump, South Carolina Supreme Court Upholds Abortion Ban, Reversing Previous Ruling, Politico: D.C. Investigating Far-Right Judicial Activist Leonard Leo and His Dark Money Network, India Lands Spacecraft Near Moon's South Pole in First for Humanity

We look at the 70th anniversary of the August 19, 1953, U.S.- and U.K-backed coup in Iran, which took place two years after Iran's democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh nationalized Iran's oil industry that had been controlled by the company now known as British Petroleum. If nationalization in Iran of oil was successful, this would set a terrible example to other countries where U.S. oil interests were present," explains Ervand Abrahamian, Iranian historian and author of Oil Crisis in Iran: From Nationalism to Coup d'Etat and The Coup: 1953, the CIA, and the Roots of Modern U.S.-Iranian Relations. While the CIA has historically taken credit for Mosaddegh's overthrow, the British have not admitted their leading role," notes Iranian filmmaker Taghi Amirani, whose documentary film Coup 53 uncovers the influence of MI6 agents who sought to preserve their imperial-era access to Iranian oil and pulled in the Americans by promising a slice." Seventy years later, says Amirani, We are still living with the ripples of this disastrous event."

We speak to the author of a new Human Rights Watch report that details how border guards in Saudi Arabia have killed hundreds of Ethiopian migrants and asylum seekers - many of whom are fleeing human rights abuses in Ethiopia's Tigray region - trying to cross the Yemen-Saudi border since March 2022. The report documents Saudi border guards shooting women and children, firing explosive weapons at migrants and executing" people at close range. Ethiopia's Foreign Ministry announced Tuesday that it will conduct a joint investigation with the Saudi government, but Saudi Arabia has previously denied similar allegations. I don't have any faith that they would conduct an independent investigation on these mass killings," says Nadia Hardman, a researcher at Human Rights Watch and the author of the report, titled 'They Fired on Us Like Rain.'"

Bodies of 18 Asylum Seekers Uncovered in Greek Forest Ravaged by Wildfire as Europe Roasts, Zimbabwe Votes in Rematch of Presidential Race Between Incumbent Mnangagwa and Chamisa, African Union Suspends Niger over Military Coup, 500 Children Killed in Sudan Conflict; 30,000 Lose Access to Nutrition Centers After NGO Ends Services, Japan to Start Releasing Fukushima Nuclear Wastewater into Pacific Despite Major Objections, Hun Manet to Succeed Father as Cambodia's New PM After Transfer Approved by Cambodian Lawmakers, BRICS Expansion, Common Currency on the Agenda as World Leaders Meet in South Africa, Drone Strikes Kill 3 in Belgorod; U.S. Urges Citizens to Leave Belarus, 16 People Killed and Dozens Injured, Including Migrants to U.S., After Bus Crash in Mexico, Plainfield, NJ Official Removed from City Board After Video of Anti-Immigrant Rant Prompts Outrage, Trump Lawyer John Eastman Surrenders to Georgia Jail in 2020 Election Interference Case, Trump Skips First GOP Presidential Debate as 8 Hopefuls Take to Milwaukee Stage, Appeals Court Reinstates Alabama Ban on Gender-Affirming Care for Trans Youth, U.S. Judge Blocks Part of Georgia Ban on Gender-Affirming Care, Atlanta Mayor Orders Probe into Death of Black Man Who Died After Being Tased by Police

Ecuadorian voters have overwhelmingly supported a ban on future oil extraction in a biodiverse section of the Amazon's Yasuni National Park - a historic referendum result that will protect Indigenous Yasuni land from development. We speak with Helena Gualinga, a youth Kichwa Sarayaku environmental activist from Ecuador who has fought against oil drilling all her life and says the results of the vote not only set a crucial precedent" as the first time a country has voted by democratic ballot initiative on resource extraction in the Amazon, but also demonstrates that Ecuador is a country that is committed to protecting the Amazon rainforest and to protecting Indigenous peoples."

As a two-day BRICS summit gets underway in South Africa, we speak with author and analyst Vijay Prashad about whether the bloc - which comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - can meaningfully challenge U.S. and Western domination in world affairs by building an alternative forum for countries of the Global South. BRICS countries represent 40% of the world's population and a quarter of the world's economy, and the group is now considering a possible expansion to more than 20 other countries. "BRICS is an instrument to push forward their political views, which they feel are not taken seriously," says Prashad, director of the Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. Prashad explains the history of BRICS and its New Development Bank and responds to criticism that BRICS falsely portrays itself as an anti-imperialist project. The BRICS countries are not a socialist bloc," says Prashad, but they don't want to do what the West tells them - they're driving their own agenda."

Former President Donald Trump has agreed to turn himself in to authorities in Georgia on Thursday to face 13 felony charges related to his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. His bail is set at $200,000. Trump has now been indicted four times this year, even as he continues to dominate the Republican field for the 2024 presidential nomination. In Atlanta, we speak with independent journalist George Chidi, who helped expose the Trump campaign after witnessing a secret meeting of Republican operatives at the state Capitol in 2020. The gathering was part of a scheme to use fake electors to claim the state's Electoral College votes for Trump despite his loss to Joe Biden. Chidi was recently subpoenaed to testify before the Fulton County grand jury in the Trump investigation but did not end up testifying. We also speak to Chidi about Atlanta's efforts to build the massive Cop City police training complex.

As former President Donald Trump prepares to surrender in Atlanta on Thursday to face charges related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, we speak with journalist George Chidi, who has documented the inhumane conditions inside the Fulton County Jail, where Trump will appear before a judge. A lot of people are getting killed" inside the jail, says Chidi. The jail is the largest mental health provider in this county, and that's a tragedy all on its own." He also discusses the death of Lashawn Thompson, who was found dead inside his cell after being eaten alive by insects, according to family. Chidi writes The Atlanta Objective newsletter, and his recent piece for Atlanta magazine is headlined The real behind the wall: A look inside the infamous, deadly Fulton County Jail."

Biden Pledges Federal Support to Maui Wildfire Survivors, House Democrats Demand Probe of Prisoner Deaths Amid Unrelenting Summer Heat, Ukraine's Zelensky Wins Promise of F-16 Fighter Jets as War Toll Nears 500,000 Soldiers, Real Estate Tycoon Srettha Thavisin Selected as Prime Minister of Thailand, Trump to Pay $200,000 Bail After Surrendering to Georgia Authorities on Thursday, Mike Pence and Mark Meadows Dispute Trump's Claim He Declassified Documents, Texas Authorities Reposition Deadly Floating Barrier in Rio Grande Ahead of Court Hearing, Atlanta Activists Gather 100,000+ Signatures for Referendum to Stop Cop City, Video Shows Raid by Kansas Deputies on Home of 98-Year-Old Newspaper Publisher, California Store Owner Shot Dead by Man Who Tore Down Pride Flag and Shouted Slurs

In Canada, the province of British Columbia has declared a state of emergency where entire towns have been burned to the ground in the country's worst wildfire season ever. Evacuation orders are in place for more than 35,000 people, and 30,000 more have been told to be prepared to evacuate. Nearly all 20,000 residents have already left the city of Yellowknife, the capital of Canada's Northwest Territories. Scientists say climate change is increasing the risk of wildfires because they are fueled by the increasingly hot and dry weather. There's a symbiosis here between how the climate is changing relative to the length of a potential fire season and the fuels that provide energy to fires," says Bob Gray, a wildland fire ecologist, speaking to us from Chilliwack, British Columbia. Gray warns that Canada's firefighting workforce is stretched thin, relying on a network of provincial firefighters, contractors and international firefighters.

BRICS - the five-country bloc of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - is holding a monumental summit in Johannesburg this week where the group will discuss a number of major issues, including expanding membership and how to improve financial cooperation. Over 40 countries have expressed interest in joining BRICS, and 23 countries have formally applied to join the bloc, including Saudi Arabia, Iran, United Arab Emirates, Argentina, Indonesia, Egypt and Ethiopia. The summit is a very unstable situation," as member countries vary greatly on priorities and many potential candidates for membership are mostly tyrannies, carbon-addicted economies," says Patrick Bond, director of the Centre for Social Change at the University of Johannesburg. Some of these machinations are hegemonic projects to stop dissent at home and actually call for a unity that does not benefit the masses," says South African activist and scholar Trevor Ngwane, who criticizes BRICS as projecting a false hope to the masses" for posing as an alternative to U.S. and Western imperialism.

In Guatemala, progressive presidential candidate Bernardo Arevalo has won a landslide victory in a runoff election against former first lady Sandra Torres. Arevalo, a member of the Semilla party, took nearly 60% of the vote Sunday after months of political persecution. In June, Arevalo stunned many in Guatemala when he placed second in the first round of voting after running on an anti-corruption platform. Soon after, the attorney general's office suspended Arevalo's Semilla party, and police raided their offices. In Guatemala City, we speak with Guatemalan human rights lawyer Frank LaRue and award-winning investigative journalist Allan Nairn about this historic election. LaRue and Nairn agree this election proves that Guatemalans want a change from the country's history of corruption and military dictatorships, but the situation remains tense in the country as oligarchs will most likely attempt to disrupt Arevalo's transition to power. This could be the beginning of a turn in Guatemalan history," says Nairn, who predicts the next phase of this election process will be people demonstrating popular support to force a transition of power. They may have to take to the streets to defend the results of this vote."

Progressive Bernardo Arevalo Wins Guatemala Presidency in Landslide, Ecuador Sends Progressive Luisa Gonzalez and Businessman Daniel Noboa to Presidential Runoff, Ecuadorian Voters Back Referendum to Ban Oil Extraction in Yasuni National Park, Tropical Storm Hilary Lashes SoCal, Mexico as Wildfires Rage in Washington and Canada, Niger Coup Leader Proposes 3-Year Transition as Junta Supporters Remain Defiant of ECOWAS Threats, Six Children Killed by Fire at Camp for Congolese Displaced by Floods, Egyptian Arab Spring Activist Ahmed Douma Pardoned After Decade in Prison, Human Rights Watch: Saudi Border Guards Have Killed Hundreds of Ethiopian Asylum Seekers, Biden Pledges Deeper Ties with Japan and South Korea, Citing Threats by China and DPRK, Biden Administration Urges COVID-19 Booster Shots for All This Fall, New York Bans Release of Radioactive Water from Decommissioned Nuclear Plant

The Smithsonian has formed a task force to address the massive collection of human remains held by its museums, which includes 255 human brains that were removed primarily from dead Black and Indigenous people, as well as other people of color, without the consent or knowledge of their families. The so-called racial brain collection was revealed by a Washington Post investigation. It was mostly collected in the first half of the 20th century at the behest of Ales Hrdlicka, a racist anthropologist who was trying to scientifically prove the superiority of white people. We speak with reporters Nicole Dungca and Claire Healy about the series and what they found. Dungca is also president of the Asian American Journalists Association.

We speak with renowned Florida educator Marvin Dunn about the fight to protect the teaching of Black history in the face of racist curriculum changes in the state that justify slavery and downplay violence against African Americans. Ahead of the first day of school, Dunn helped lead a Teach No Lies" march to the Miami-Dade County School Board Wednesday to protest the new education standards. We are now in a confused, demoralized state of education in Florida," says Dunn, author, professor emeritus at Florida International University and co-founder of the Miami Center for Racial Justice. He has been leading tours of teachers and young people to places like Rosewood, site of a 1923 massacre of Black residents by a white mob.

With the death toll from the Maui wildfires at 111 and as many as 1,000 still missing, we speak with Hawaiian law professor Kapuaala Sproat about the conditions that made the fires more destructive and what's yet to come for residents looking to rebuild their lives. Decades of neocolonialism in Hawaii have redirected precious water resources toward golf courses, resorts and other corporate ventures, turning many areas into tinderboxes and leaving little water to fight back against the flames. Now many Hawaiians say there is a power grab underway as real estate interests and other wealthy outsiders look to buy up land and water rights on the cheap as people are still reeling from the loss of their family members, livelihoods and communities. Plantation disaster capitalism is, unfortunately, the perfect term for what's going on," says Sproat, who just published a piece in The Guardian with Naomi Klein. She is professor of law at Ka Huli Ao Native Hawaiian Law Center and co-director of the Native Hawaiian Rights Clinic at the University of Hawaii at Mnoa School of Law. The plantations, the large landed interests that have had control over not just the land, but really much of Hawaii's and Maui Komohana's resources for the last several centuries, are using this opportunity, are using this time of tremendous trauma for the people of Maui, to swoop in and to get past the law."

Canada Orders More Evacuations as Wildfires Rage Across the Country, Hawaii's Head of Emergency Quits as Hawaiians Warn of Climate Gentrification After Lahaina Tragedy, Hurricane Hilary Intensifies to Category 4 Storm, Thousands Evacuated as Tenerife Wildfires Burn Out of Control", Biden Hosts Leaders of Japan and South Korea as China Slams Summit as Provocation, U.S. Intelligence Predicts Ukraine Counteroffensive Will Fall Short, China Defense Minister Visits Belarus; Pres. Lukashenko Says He Would Deploy Russian Nukes, 1,000 Palestinian Prisoners Go on Hunger Strike as Israel Continues Deadly Attacks in West Bank, Progressive Presidential Candidate Bernardo Arevalo Seeks Change as Guatemala Heads to Polls, Ecuador Voting in Snap Election with Progressive Candidate Favored to Win, Outrage and Calls for Justice After Torching of Christian Homes and Churches in Pakistani City, Trump Asks to Push Jan. 6 Trial to 2026, Cancels Plans for Presser Exonerating" Him from GA Indictment, Prosecutors Seek 33-Year Prison Sentence for Ex-Leaders of Far-Right Proud Boys, Canadian Police Arrest Forest Defenders as Crackdown on Fairy Creek Activists Resumes, Latinx Children Living in States with Harsh Anti-Immigrant Laws More Vulnerable to Health Issues

An explosive leaked document obtained by The Intercept appears to show direct U.S. involvement in former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan's ouster in 2022 because of his stance on the war in Ukraine. Khan is currently jailed and facing trial over a slew of corruption charges that his supporters say are intended to keep him from running for office again. The former cricket star was elected in 2018 but lost power in 2022 after a no-confidence vote in Parliament, which he says was engineered by the country's powerful military with support from the U.S. The diplomatic cable published by The Intercept shows State Department officials pressured their Pakistani counterparts to push Khan out because of his neutrality over the war in Ukraine, promising that all will be forgiven" if he was to be removed. This document has been at the center of Pakistan's political crisis for the past year and a half," says Murtaza Hussain, senior writer at The Intercept. Now that we've seen this document for the first time, it does seem to validate many of [Khan's] claims."

Armenia is calling on the United Nations Security Council to address a worsening humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh, a region of Azerbaijan home to ethnic Armenians that has been under a blockade for eight months. Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought multiple wars over the territory since the collapse of the Soviet Union, most recently in 2020. Azerbaijan closed the only road into the region in December, severely restricting the movement of food, medicine and other supplies for the roughly 120,000 people living there. We cannot accept a new Armenian genocide in 2023," says Luis Moreno Ocampo, the Argentine lawyer who served as the first prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. He issued a report earlier this month on the blockade. We also speak with Anna Ohanyan, professor of political science and international relations at Stonehill College, who says Azerbaijan is relying on the use of hunger as a weapon" in order not to engage politically with the largely self-governing region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

As Egyptians mark the 10th anniversary of the Rabaa massacre, we speak with human rights advocate Hossam Bahgat about how the mass killing shaped the country in the ensuing years. On August 14, 2013, Egyptian security forces opened fire on a sit-in where tens of thousands of people had camped out in Cairo to protest the ouster of Egypt's first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood. An estimated 900 protesters were killed, but no one has been held responsible over the past 10 years. The minister of defense at the time, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, has since risen to the presidency, ruling Egypt for nearly a decade as a close U.S. ally while jailing tens of thousands of political prisoners. The massacre established a new normal" and inaugurated a decade of shame," says Bahgat, founder and executive director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, which has obtained a leaked copy of a government report on the massacre that implicated Egyptian authorities in the mass killing and found most victims were civilians.

Hawaii Officials Defend Response to Wildfires; Gov. Calls for Moratorium on Lahaina Land Purchases, Yellowknife Orders Evacuation of 20,000 Residents as Record Wildfires Continue to Devastate Canada, Appeals Court Backs Restrictions on Abortion Pill, Sending Case to Supreme Court, 60 Asylum Seekers Feared Dead Near Cape Verde, ECOWAS Military Chiefs Meet over Niger Coup Amid Mounting Humanitarian Concerns, Libya Fighting Kills 55 People, U.N. Warns of Spiralling" Humanitarian Situation in Sudan as Army Leader Says Talks Needed, NATO Official Apologizes for Saying Ukraine Could Give Up Territory in Exchange for Joining NATO, TX Woman Jailed for Threatening to Kill Judge in Trump Jan. 6 Case; Trump Supporters Dox GA Jurors, Kansas Prosecutor Withdraws Search Warrant Used in Last Week's Marion County Record Raid, North Carolina GOP Overrides Gov. Veto on 3 Anti-Trans Bills, Protesters Decry Erasure, Rewriting of Black History from Florida Schools, Children Are Locked Away in Cages": ACLU Demands Louisiana Remove Children from Angola Prison

In a landmark climate case, a judge in Montana has ruled in favor of a group of young people who had sued the state for violating their constitutional rights as it pushed policies that encouraged the use of fossil fuels. In her decision, Montana Judge Kathy Seeley wrote, Plaintiffs have a fundamental constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment, which includes climate." We speak with plaintiff Olivia Vesovich about the historic ruling, which she calls the most life-changing news that I've ever heard." It's a real watershed moment," adds Julia Olson, chief legal counsel and executive director of Our Children's Trust, a not-for-profit law firm representing the 16 youth plaintiffs between ages 5 and 22. There's going to be huge ripple effects as other courts start stepping up and doing their role in our democracy to be a check on the other branches of government."

In the wake of ProPublica's bombshell report detailing even more lavish gifts from right-wing billionaires to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, five House Democrats are calling on the Justice Department to investigate Thomas under the Ethics in Government Act for accepting the series of gifts from wealthy benefactors without following disclosure laws. Federal judges are required to disclose gifts worth more than $1,000 - including travel. ProPublica's report documents Justice Thomas accepting 38 destination vacations, 26 private jet flights, 12 VIP passes to sporting events and eight helicopter flights, all paid for by wealthy patrons. We speak with co-author of the ProPublica investigation Brett Murphy about the process of revealing these lavish gifts and why even other judges consider it an unprecedented amount of largesse for a justice to be accepting, let alone accepting and not disclosing."

The Kansas Bureau of Investigations has launched a probe into the shocking police raid on the newsroom of the Marion County Record and the home of its publisher and co-owner, Eric Meyer. Last week, police seized computers, hard drives, servers and phones. Eric Meyer lived with his 98-year-old mother, Joan Meyer, who was co-publisher of the family-owned newspaper. She died one day after the raids. We get an update from Sherman Smith, editor-in-chief of the nonprofit news outlet the Kansas Reflector, who was speaking to Joan Meyer on the phone as the raid was underway. If the police in Marion County are allowed to get away with this, it becomes open season on journalists everywhere in Kansas," says Smith. He discusses the reported dispute between the newspaper and a local restaurant owner who accused it of illegally obtaining information about a drunk driving incident, and how the paper had also been actively investigating Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody over sexual misconduct charges at a previous job in Kansas City. Details about that investigation were on a computer seized in the raid.

Hawaii Officials ID First 2 Victims of Maui Wildfires as Hawaiians Warn of Real Estate Vultures, 2 Years After Taliban Takeover, Women and Girls, Refugees and Ordinary Afghans Face Dire Conditions, Landslide Kills at Least 32 People at Burmese Jade Mine, North Korea Acknowledges U.S. Soldier Travis King Crossed the Border, Claims He Was Fleeing Racism, Paraguayan President Santiago Pena Pledges to Continue Taiwan Support at Inauguration, Rights Groups Challenge Imprisonment of Minors at Angola Prison, Woman Sentenced to 30 Years for Helping Cover Up Murder of Fort Hood Soldier Vanessa Guillen, Trump and Allies Expected to Surrender to Georgia Police by Aug. 25 in 2020 Election Indictment, 3 Candidates Have Not Yet Signed GOP Loyalty Pledge One Week Ahead of First Primary Debate, Planned Parenthood Arsonist Gets 10 Years in Prison, Arkansas Orders Credits Be Withheld for AP African American Studies in High School, Florida Colleges Drop AP Psychology as Chilling Effect from Draconian Censorship Law Takes Hold, Rights Groups Sue Oklahoma to Halt Funding of First Religious Public School in U.S.

Ralph Nader, the longtime consumer advocate, corporate critic and former presidential candidate, discusses serial law violator" Donald Trump's criminal indictments, particularly the second federal case brought by special prosecutor Jack Smith that accuses Trump of conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and of inciting the January 6 attack on Capitol Hill. Nader says there is a glaring omission in the charges, and says Trump should be additionally charged under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which could bar him from again running for political office due to having engaged in insurrection or rebellion" against the United States.