Democracy Now!

Coronavirus Spikes Across U.S. as Tensions Mount over Plans to Reopen Schools, Labs Show Promising Results in COVID-19 Vaccine as Cases Surge in Countries Around the World, Trump Threatens to Send More Feds into Cities Across U.S. to Crack Down on Protests, Georgia Dems Select State Senator Nikema Williams to Run for Late John Lewis's Congressional Seat, Suspect in Killing of NJ Judge's Son Is Found Dead, Was an "Anti-Feminist," Racist Lawyer, U.K. Suspends Extradition Treaty with Hong Kong, Iran Executes Man Convicted of Spying, After Halting Killing of Protesters Following Public Outcry, Rights Groups Call for Jailed Zimbabwean Reporter Hopewell Chin'ono to Be Released, Jacksonville Sheriff Says City Is Not Prepared for RNC Next Month, St. Louis Prosecutor Charges White Couple Who Brandished Guns at BLM Protesters, Michigan Judge Says 15-Year-Old Who Was Jailed for Not Doing Homework Should Not Be Freed, Workers "Strike for Black Lives" Across the Country, New Study Finds Black Children Far More Likely to Die After Surgery, Louisiana Court Rules Bayou Bridge Pipeline Tramples Rights of Landowners, Former Fox News Producer Accuses Ex-Host Ed Henry of Rape, Journalist and Commentator Michael Brooks Dies at 37

Reverend C. T. Vivian, whom Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once described as "the greatest preacher to ever live," died July 17 at age 95. Vivian was a giant of the civil rights movement and a leading proponent of nonviolent struggle against injustice. He spoke to Democracy Now! in 2015 outside the historic Brown Chapel AME Church in Selma, Alabama, on the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in 1965. Vivian describes how he was assaulted on the steps of the courthouse as he tried to escort a group of African Americans inside to register to vote. "There is nothing we haven't done for this nation," Vivian said of the civil rights movement and the ongoing fight for voting rights. "But we kept knowing the scriptures. We kept living by faith. We kept understanding that it's something deeper than politics that makes life worth living."

Civil rights movement icon and 17-term Democratic Congressmember John Lewis, who died July 17 at the age of 80, helped found SNCC, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and was the youngest of the so-called Big Six who addressed the March on Washington in 1963. Before that, he was among the 13 original Freedom Riders who rode buses across the South to challenge segregation laws. He spoke to Democracy Now! in 2012 about his activism and that historic campaign, during which they were beaten and attacked by white mobs and the Klu Klux Klan, including by Klansman Elwin Wilson, who apologized to Lewis decades later. "It is so important for people to understand, to know that people suffered, struggled. Some people bled, and some died, for the right to participate," Lewis told Democracy Now!

As the United States mourns the loss of civil rights icon and 17-term Democratic Congressmember John Lewis, we feature his 2012 in-studio interview, when he tears up remembering the historic 1965 Selma to Montgomery march he helped lead in 1965 as a 25-year-old man, when he was almost beaten to death by police in what came to be called "Bloody Sunday" and helped push the country toward adopting the Voting Rights Act. "They came toward us, beating us with nightsticks and bullwhips, trampling us with horses," he told Democracy Now! "All these many years later, I don't recall how I made it back across that bridge to the church."

Coronavirus on the Rise Around the World, with the U.S. Leading the Charge, Trump Seeks to Block Billions in Federal Funds for Testing as He Continues to Downplay Virus, Civil Rights Icon and Long-Standing Congressmember John Lewis Dies, C. T. Vivian, Civil Rights Legend, Dubbed "Greatest Preacher to Ever Live" by MLK, Dies at 95, Protesters Rail Against Federal Officers' Violent and Covert Attacks in Portland, Charges Dropped Against BLM Protesters as New Info Emerges About Police Killing of Breonna Taylor, Police in Chicago Punch Black Teenage Activist in Face, Knocking Out Her Teeth, Two Men Charged over Racist Attack, Attempted Lynching of Indiana Activist Vauhxx Booker, Pentagon Bans Confederate Flag on U.S. Military Bases Despite Trump's Opposition, Floods in India and Nepal Kill 200 People and Displace Millions, Bodies of 59 Refugees Pulled from Turkish Lake Weeks After Shipwreck, Garífuna Land Defenders Kidnapped in Honduras, Honduran Reporter David Romero, Who Exposed Gov't Corruption, Dies in Prison of Suspected COVID-19, Michigan Supreme Court to Review Case of 15-Year-Old Student Jailed for Not Doing Schoolwork, Progressive NY Congressional Candidate Jamaal Bowman Officially Ousts Eliot Engel, Gunman Attacks Home of NJ Federal Judge, Killing Her Son and Injuring Her Husband, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Says Her Cancer Is Back But She Will Remain on the Court, Workers to Walk Off the Job in Nationwide "Strike for Black Lives"

As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says unhoused people living in encampments should be allowed to remain where they are to help stop the spread of COVID-19, we go to Philadelphia, where the mayor has postponed the eviction of an encampment planned for this morning. "The Philadelphia Housing Authority has about 5,000 vacant properties," notes Sterling Johnson, an organizer with Black and Brown Workers Cooperative, who joins us from the camp. "We want to use them to create a community land trust. What they want to do is auction them off to private developers." The move comes as many cities have continued to criminalize their unhoused communities despite the recommendations of public health officials.

The United States hit an all-time high of 75,600 new COVID cases Thursday — the largest number recorded in a single day since the pandemic began. Top U.S. infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci says the spike in cases resulted from states rushing to reopen their economies. We speak with investigative journalist Sonia Shah about the government's failed response, the false idea that the virus is a "foreign incursion," and "vaccine nationalism." In her latest piece for The Nation magazine, she argues, "It's Time to Tell a New Story About Coronavirus — Our Lives Depend on It."

As the coronavirus spreads in Yemen, where the population already devastated by the world's worst humanitarian crisis faces growing hunger and aid shortages, the Saudi-led, U.S.-backed coalition continues to drop bombs in the country. We speak to Yemeni scholar Shireen Al-Adeimi, who calls the ongoing crisis "Trump's war." "We're seeing death rates that are just astronomical," Al-Adeimi says. "The war continues, the bombing continues, the blockade is still enforced."

United States Hits Daily Record of 75,600 Coronavirus Cases as Death Rate Rises, Colorado & Arkansas Mandate Masks as Georgia's Governor Sues to Overturn Atlanta Mask Ordinance, Detroit Protesters Block School Buses in Bid to Halt In-Person Summer Classes, "Science Should Not Stand in the Way" of School Reopenings, Says Trump's Spokesperson, India and Brazil Pass Grim Coronavirus Milestones, Colombia's Hospitals Near Capacity as Paramilitaries Enforce Coronavirus Lockdowns with Violence, Thousands Still Planning to Attend Scaled-Back Republican National Convention in Florida, Trump Administration Wins Reprieve in Bid to Keep Migrant Children Locked Up, Customs and Border Protection Fires 4 Agents over Hateful Social Media Posts, Guatemalan Asylum Seeker Dies in ICE Custody, 13th Such Death This Year, Federal Agents in Unmarked Cars Snatch Black Lives Matter Protesters from Portland Streets, SCOTUS Decision Could Strip 1 Million Formerly Incarcerated People in Florida of Voting Rights, Protesters Camp Outside Amazon CEO's Penthouse to Demand Billionaires' Tax, U.S., U.K. and Canada Accuse Russian Hackers of Targeting COVID-19 Vaccine Data, Research Links Record-Breaking Heat in Siberia Directly to Climate Change, Federal Judge Bars Trump from Gutting Obama-Era Rule on Methane Emissions, "An Existential Crisis": Greta Thunberg Leads Call for End to Fossil Fuel Extraction, Marilyn Cazares, 22-Year-Old Transgender Woman, Found Killed in Southern California, At Least 15 Women Accuse Washington NFL Team Executives of Sexual Harassment, Mary Trump's Book About Her Uncle Donald Breaks Sales Record, Game Show Host Whose Coronavirus Conspiracy Theory Trump Retweeted Says Son Has COVID-19

As health experts warn the coronavirus is on the rise in 41 states, many governors are reimposing restrictions after attempts at opening up the economy, but President Trump wants schools open. We speak with public health historian John Barry, who warns "The Pandemic Could Get Much, Much Worse" if we don't take bolder action now. Barry is a professor at the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and author of "The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History."

In Louisville, Kentucky, civil rights groups are calling on prosecutors to drop felony charges against 87 people who held a peaceful sit-in protest Tuesday outside the home of Attorney General Daniel Cameron. The demonstrators were demanding the arrest and prosecution of the officers who killed Breonna Taylor, a Black Louisville resident who was shot inside her own home in March. Among those arrested: the president of the Minneapolis NAACP, Houston Texans wide receiver Kenny Stills and Women's March co-founder Linda Sarsour. If convicted on felony charges, they could face up to five years in prison. "What they're attempting to do is intimidate protesters," says Marc Lamont Hill. "They're attempting to send a message that nobody should be out here investigating something that clearly needs investigation."

In Minneapolis, newly released police body camera footage reveals devastating new details of George Floyd's killing on Memorial Day, showing that officers pulled a gun, swore at George Floyd to "get out of the f—ing car," as he wept and pleaded, "Please don't shoot me." The video also showed that medics did not appear to rush to Floyd's aid after they arrived on the scene. We discuss the latest developments in the case that sparked an ongoing national uprising against racism and police violence, with Marc Lamont Hill, author of "Nobody: Casualties of America's War on the Vulnerable, from Ferguson to Flint and Beyond." Lamont Hill also discusses how he has tested positive for COVID-19.

U.S. Army Deploys to Houston as Hospital Beds Fill to Capacity, Florida Coronavirus Cases Top 300,000 as Miami Hospitals Run Out of ICU Beds, Alabama's Republican Governor Mandates Masks After Record COVID-19 Death Toll, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp Greets Maskless Donald Trump, Bans Local Mask Mandates, Oklahoma Governor Tests Positive for COVID-19, Won't Require Masks in Public, White House Backs Down After Adviser Peter Navarro Attacks Dr. Anthony Fauci, India Posts Record Coronavirus Toll; Cases Explode in Nairobi Maternity Hospital , Members of Remote Amazon Tribe Test Positive for Coronavirus, President Trump Guts Landmark Environmental Law to Speed Infrastructure Projects, Republican Leaders Delay Talks on New Stimulus as Expanded Benefits Are Set to Expire, "Please Don't Shoot Me": Police Bodycam Footage Shows George Floyd's Final Moments, 87 Face Felony Charges After Peaceful Protest Calling for Arrest of Police Who Killed Breonna Taylor, Unhoused Man Beaten by Police in New York Subway Faces Charges, Asheville, NC Apologizes for Slavery, Offers Reparations to Black Residents, Berkeley, CA Police Reforms Would Replace Traffic Cops with Unarmed Civilian Force, Black Lives Matter Statue Replaces Toppled Monument to British Slave Trader, At Least 25 Dead in U.S.-Backed, Saudi-Led Airstrikes on Yemen, U.N. Warns of Looming Disaster from Abandoned Oil Tanker Near Yemen's Coast, Russian Police Arrest Dozens of Protesters Demanding Putin's Resignation, Twitter's Biggest Users Hacked in Massive Security Breach, Ivanka Trump Violates Federal Ethics Laws in Endorsement of Goya Foods

As COVID-19 cases soar in the U.S. South and Southwest, we go to the hot spot of Arizona, where 88% of ICU beds are full and the family of one man accuses Arizona Governor Ducey and President Trump of being directly responsible for his death, after they downplayed the threat of the virus and obstructed local officials from requiring masks even as Arizona's case numbers were exploding. "We have been in a state of crisis since Governor Ducey decided to hastily reopen the state," says Tucson Mayor Regina Romero, who has been standing up to Ducey and is the first Latina and the first woman to be elected mayor of Tucson, and the daughter of migrant farmworkers.

We look at another looming crisis for the American public: mass evictions. More than four months into a pandemic that has left millions unemployed, eviction freezes across the country are ending, even as case numbers rise and states reimpose lockdown measures. As the Cancel the Rent movement inspires rent strikes and protests nationwide, a coalition of labor unions, workers and racial and social justice groups in 25 states plans to stage a mass walkout this Monday called the "Strike for Black Lives." We speak with Amna Akbar, law professor at Ohio State University, who wrote about how to respond to all of this in her op-ed in Sunday's New York Times headlined "The Left Is Remaking the World."

As the U.S. reports its highest one-day spike in infections and 11 states report record hospitalizations, the Trump administration is demanding states stop sending COVID patient data to the CDC, which then releases it to the public. We speak with Dr. Ali Khan, epidemiologist and the dean of the College of Public Health at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, about the Trump administration's handling of the crisis and his hopes for a vaccine. "The road to an uncertain vaccine is paved in death," notes Dr. Khan. He is the former director of the CDC's Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response, where he oversaw the Strategic National Stockpile. We also ask him about the ongoing shortages of masks and tests.

U.S. Sets Another Single-Day Record with 67,000+ Coronavirus Cases, Trump Admin Orders Hospitals to Bypass CDC on Reporting COVID-19 Data, GOP Convention in Jacksonville May Move Outdoors, as COVID-19 Skyrockets in Florida, U.N. Chief Warns Pandemic May Set Back Global Economy by "Decades", Trump Admin Rescinds Plan to Strip International Student Visas, Jeff Sessions Loses Bid to Reclaim Alabama Senate Seat, Democrats Pick Challengers to GOP Incumbent Senators in Texas & Maine, Progressive Challenger José Garza Unseats District Attorney of Travis County, TX, Joe Biden Unveils $2 Trillion Clean Energy and Jobs Plan, U.S. Retailers End "Hero Pay" for Essential Workers Amid Record Coronavirus Surge, Illinois Nurses Strike, Demanding Safe Staffing Levels Amid Pandemic, China to Retaliate as U.S. Ratchets Up Sanctions over Hong Kong Security Law, Israeli Protesters Demand PM Netanyahu Step Down Amid Corruption Trial, Honduran Land Defender Marvin Damián Castro Found Murdered, Belarusian Election Commission Bars Challengers to President Lukashenko, Phoenix Police Footage Shows Motorist's Violent Arrest over Minor Traffic Violation, Trump Says Police Kill "More White People" Than African Americans, Black Michigan Teen Jailed for Failing to Do Online Schoolwork, Ghislaine Maxwell Denied Bail After Pleading Not Guilty to Sex Trafficking Charges, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hospitalized

The lead writer for President Trump's favorite Fox News TV show, "Tucker Carlson Tonight" — the most popular cable show in history — has resigned for posting disturbing racist and misogynist messages to an online forum under a pseudonym. Now Tucker Carlson says he's going on vacation, and his advertisement blocks "are a wasteland," says Matt Gertz, senior fellow at Media Matters, where he documents the relationship between Fox News and the Trump administration.

The Washington NFL team, whose name and mascot have been a slur against Native Americans for nearly 90 years, announced Monday it will change its racist name, facing mounting pressure from corporate sponsors. The decision is a hard-fought victory for Indigenous activists who for years have demanded the team remove the R-word from its name. It also comes as the Black Lives Matter movement has forced a reckoning about monuments and tributes to racism around the country. We get response from Amanda Blackhorse, a Navajo activist who has led the fight to change the name and logo of the Washington R-dsk-ns football team.

As the United States leads the world in coronavirus infections, we go behind the walls of immigrant jails, where infection rates are also soaring, and also look at how thousands more jailed migrant parents may be separated from their children starting Friday. "Release is the only way to save the lives of people in custody," says reporter Jacob Soboroff, who went inside these ICE jails and first witnessed kids in cages in 2018, which he writes about in his new book, "Separated: Inside an American Tragedy."

California Shuts Down Again as COVID-19 Cases Surge, L.A., San Diego, Atlanta to Hold All Classes Online, "Shame on You!": Protester Disrupts Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Mexican Man Dies of COVID-19 a Month After Being Detained by ICE, Report: 5.4 Million Lose Health Insurance Due to Job Losses During Pandemic, WHO Warns Pandemic Could "Get Worse and Worse and Worse", Amnesty: 3,000 Health Workers Have Died from COVID-19, China: 2 Million Displaced, 141 Missing in Historic Flooding, Federal Government Carries Out First Execution in 17 Years, Judges Block Restrictive Abortion Laws in Tennessee and Georgia, Oregon Officials Decry "Occupying Army" After Federal Agent Shoots Portland Protester in the Head, Protests in Allentown, PA, After Officer Filmed Kneeling on Man's Neck Outside a Hospital, Seattle Mayor Proposes Shifting $76 Million from Police Budget, Arkansas Cop, Who Threatened to Shoot Protesters, Faces Charges for Shooting Fellow Officer, Tucker Carlson Takes "Vacation" Days After Chief Writer Resigned over Racist Posts, Search Begins for Mass Graves from 1921 Race Massacre in Tulsa, Judge Rules Mary Trump Can Publish & Promote Book About Her Uncle Donald, Alabama, Maine and Texas Hold Primary Elections, Imprisoned Egyptian Journalist Dies from COVID-19, Zindzi Mandela, Daughter of Nelson & Winnie, Dies at 59

Two months after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis sparked an international uprising, we look at the underreported but devastating impact police violence has on people with disabilities, especially Black disabled people. According to at least one study, up to one-half of people killed by law enforcement in the U.S. have a disability. "People with disabilities have always been attacked by police. And people with disabilities and poor people have our own answers," says Leroy Moore, a Black disabled activist and artist, POOR Magazine co-founder and founder of the Krip-Hop Nation. "Our own answer is to really get rid of police." We also speak with POOR Magazine co-founder Lisa "Tiny" Gray-Garcia and discuss challenges they've faced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We go to Bloomington, Indiana, to speak with the African American human rights commissioner for Monroe County, Vauhxx Booker, who says he survived an attempted lynching when a group of white men pinned him against a tree over the Fourth of July weekend. "You have to be aware of George Floyd and how many other Black folks in our history have heard their executions spoken before them in real time," Booker recalls. "I felt myself want to cry out 'I can't breathe' with these men on top of me, and I just couldn't say the words." Police were called, but no arrests were made. "These men remain loose in my community," says Booker. The FBI is investigating the encounter as a potential hate crime, and Bloomington's mayor has condemned the incident in a statement. But Booker is now calling on the U.S. District of Southern Indiana to convene a grand jury to take up the case. "At this point, I'm not sure that we can find justice in our local system," he notes, "so we've asked for the federal government to step in."

As the world and the United States shatter the daily records of COVID-19 infections, President Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos continue to push for public schools to reopen in the fall without a plan to adhere to CDC guidelines. "We need to be doing this safely," responds emergency physician Dr. Leana Wen. "We've already seen what happens when we use shortcuts." Meanwhile, the White House continues to attack the nation's top infectious disease specialist, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and Wen says, "I fear that at this point we are not even seeing the peak of this epidemic."

U.S. & World Mark Record Number of New COVID-19 Cases, Trump Accuses CDC of Lying & Attacks Dr. Anthony Fauci , COVID-19 Death Toll at San Quentin State Prison Reaches Nine, JBS Meat Processing Workers Stage Wildcat Strike, 300 Workers Infected, 4 Die at Los Angeles Apparel Factory, Mexico's COVID-19 Death Toll Tops 35,000, Surpassing Italy as World's Fourth Highest, India, Hong Kong, Colombia Reimpose Lockdowns Amid New Surges, Trump & DeVos Threaten to Cut Funding If Schools Stay Closed During Pandemic, Trump Commutes Sentence of Friend & Adviser Roger Stone, Washington Rdskns to Change Name; Will the Chiefs Be Next? , First Federal Execution in 17 Years Set for Today in Indiana, Tucker Carlson's Chief Writer Resigns for Posting Racist Messages Online, Trump Claims Damaged Border Wall Funded by Backers Was Done to "Make Me Look Bad", Border Agents Admit Running Over Man Near Border , "Can We Sell the Island?" Trump Proposed Selling Puerto Rico After Hurricane Maria, Goya Foods Boycott Launched After CEO Lavishes Praise on Trump, U.N. Security Council to Allow Limited Humanitarian Aid to Syria's Idlib Province, Poland's Trump-Supporting, Anti-LGBTQ President Wins Reelection, U.K. Animal Rights Protesters Demand Plant-Based Diet to Prevent Future Pandemics, Family of COVID-19 Victim Blames Death on "Carelessness" of Arizona Officials

In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court has ruled that much of eastern Oklahoma, constituting nearly half the state, is Native American land, recognizing a 19th century U.S. treaty with the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. Justice Neil Gorsuch, a Trump nominee, joined the court's liberal wing in a narrow 5-4 ruling that found state authorities cannot criminally prosecute Indigenous peoples under state or local laws. The court's bombshell decision — which also impacts the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw and Seminole Nations — is a major victory for Indigenous sovereignty and treaty rights. "It's a landmark case, and probably the most important Indian law case in the last half a century to come down from the court," says lawyer Sarah Deer, a citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma and a professor at the University of Kansas. "The language of the decision itself goes far beyond Oklahoma."

In a new book, Mary Trump — the president's niece — describes Donald Trump as a "sociopath" who grew up in a dysfunctional family that fostered his greed and cruelty. Donald Trump's younger brother, Robert, is seeking to block the sale of the book on the grounds that it violates a confidentiality agreement, but publisher Simon & Schuster says 600,000 copies of the book have already been distributed ahead of its July 14 publishing date. Investigative journalist David Cay Johnston, who has reported on Trump for three decades, says the book is "very, very important" and helps to answer how Trump got to the White House.

In a pair of 7-2 rulings, the Supreme Court rejected President Trump's claim of absolute immunity under the law. The court ruled a Manhattan grand jury could have access to the president's tax returns, but it remains unlikely any of Trump's tax records will be seen before the election. "Legally, Trump had a big loss," says investigative reporter David Cay Johnston, founder and editor of DCReport.org. "Politically, he got a big win out of this court."

As Brazil faces the world's second-worst COVID-19 outbreak after the United States, Trump ally and far-right President Jair Bolsonaro has tested positive, after months of downplaying the severity of the pandemic. Brazil has gone almost two months with no health minister. "Bad political leadership is a major risk factor for the spread of the pandemic," says leading Brazilian epidemiologist Cesar Victora, who coordinates the International Center for Equity in Health at the Federal University of Pelotas.

Supreme Court Rejects Trump's Claim of Absolute Immunity, Court Says Much of Oklahoma Remains Indian Country in Landmark Indigenous Sovereignty Case, Hospitals Face Surge as U.S. Reports Record 65,000 New Coronavirus Cases, Surge in Cases Directly Tied to Early Reopenings in Florida, Arizona, Texas, Bolivia's Interim President Tests Positive; India, S. Africa & Mexico Report New Record Highs, 1.3 Million More File for Unemployment as GOP Rejects Extending Jobless Aid, Biden Unveils $700 Billion "Buy American" Economic Recovery Plan, St. Louis Police Break Up City Hall Protest Encampment, With Veto-Proof Majority, Seattle City Council Pledges to Defund Police by 50%, Protests Erupt in Salt Lake City After Police Cleared in Fatal Shooting, Report: Dataminr Firm Used Twitter Data to Help Police Monitor BLM Protests, NYC Paints "Black Lives Matter" Outside Trump Tower, Hate Groups Receive Federal Loans Under COVID-19 Stimulus Program, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Breaks with Trump on Renaming Bases with Confederate Names, Pentagon: Reports of Russia Paying Bounties to Kill U.S. Troops Is Not Corroborated, Mayor of Seoul Dies in Apparent Suicide, Immigration Rights Groups Raise Alarm over ICE Plan to Host "Citizens Academy", Trump Immigration Filing Could Lead to More Children Being Separated from Parents, Robert Fuller's Death Ruled Suicide in California

Black Lives Matter protests in the U.S. have sparked a reckoning about racism and colonialism across the world, including in Belgium, where a growing movement is demanding the country address systemic racism and make amends for its violent colonial legacy. King Philippe issued an unprecedented statement "expressing regret" for Belgium's brutal colonial rule in Congo under Leopold II, who ran the country as his personal fiefdom and under whose command millions of Congolese were enslaved and killed. "It's an erased history," says Belgo-Congolese journalist and activist Gia Abrassart. We also speak with Princess Esméralda, a member of the Belgian royal family and great-grandniece of Leopold II, who says the country has taken an important first step, but adds that "we have to go much farther."

As the unprecedented global health emergency continues to unfold, a new United Nations report says humans must lower stress on the natural environment to prevent the next pandemic. COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, has a zoonotic origin, meaning it jumped from animals to humans, and the U.N. report finds that such diseases are spreading with greater frequency due to human activity, including industrial farming and the climate crisis. "Rather than focusing on the symptoms, we were looking at the causes," says Delia Grace, lead author of the report, veterinary epidemiologist at the International Livestock Research Institute in Kenya and professor of food safety at the U.K. Natural Resources Institute.

The Supreme Court dealt a major blow to reproductive rights when it sided with the Trump administration in letting employers deny people access to free birth control based on religious or moral grounds, hollowing out a mandate under the Affordable Care Act that requires most private health insurance plans to provide cost-free birth control. "It's a really deeply disappointing ruling," says Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women's Law Center. "These individuals are effectively on their own to find and pay for their contraception."

U.S. Posts Another Record Daily High in New Coronavirus Cases, Anthony Fauci Absent from Coronavirus Task Force Briefing After Drawing Criticism from Trump, Trump Attacks CDC Guidance on School Reopenings During Pandemic, Hundreds Test Positive for COVID-19 at Arizona For-Profit Immigration Jail, Tulsa, OK Health Official Links Explosion of Coronavirus Cases to Trump Rally, HHS Secretary Claims Medical Workers "Don't Get Infected" After 95,000 Test Positive for Coronavirus, COVID-19 Cases Spike in Africa, While Melbourne, Australia, Is Placed Back on Lockdown, Bolivians Buried in Mass Graves as Hospitals "Collapse" Amid COVID-19 Surge, Oxfam Warns COVID-19 Pandemic Could Push 122 Million to Brink of Starvation, 126,000 Could Lose Birth Control After SCOTUS Overturns Contraceptive Care Mandate, Man Convicted of Murder at 18 Put to Death in Texas's First Execution Since Pandemic Began, Owner of Dakota Access Pipeline Threatens to Defy Federal Court Order to Stop Oil Flowing, Mexican Labor Leader Released from Jail But Barred from Visiting Maquiladora Workers, U.N. Special Rapporteur Calls U.S. Assassination of Iranian General Illegal Under International Law, Minneapolis Police Bodycam Transcripts Reveal George Floyd's Dying Words, Autopsy Finds L.A. Sheriff's Deputies Shot Andrés Guardado in the Back 5 Times, California Couple Who Defaced Black Lives Matter Mural Charged with Hate Crimes, Jackson, MS to Remove Andrew Jackson Statue, May Replace It with Medgar Evers Memorial, Tucker Carlson Echoes White Nationalists in Attack on Lawmakers of Color, Federal Court Upholds Endangered Species Protections for Yellowstone Grizzly Bears

The coronavirus continues to hit communities of color the hardest, with federal data showing African American and Latinx people are nearly three times more likely to be infected and twice as likely to die from the virus compared to their white neighbors. There were "pretty significant racial health disparities" even before COVID-19 ravaged the country, says Dr. Uché Blackstock, emergency medicine physician in New York and founder and CEO of Advancing Health Equity, a company working to fight racism and bias in health services. "What we saw in the pandemic these first few months is these really significant racial health inequities being exposed and even amplified." We also continue to speak with award-winning New York Times correspondent Dr. Sheri Fink.

As COVID-19 cases rise and hospitalizations are soaring, hospitals in Florida, Texas, Arizona and California are running out of ICU beds. On Tuesday, Texas set a grim new record of 10,000 new cases in a single day. "It's been astonishing," says Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times correspondent Dr. Sheri Fink, who has been reporting from Houston's largest hospital. "They've been adding unit after unit after unit just to care for coronavirus patients."

As President Trump pressures states to reopen schools in the fall despite an alarming surge in new coronavirus cases, ICE says international students studying at U.S. universities could face deportation if their schools switch to online-only courses. The U.S. issues more than a million student visas a year, and international students account for as much as a third of the undergraduate student body at many colleges and universities and often constitute the majority of graduate students. "I have yet to see a justification for this," says immigration attorney Fiona McEntee, who notes that international students contribute about $41 billion to the U.S. economy per year. We also speak with Jian Ren, a Chinese international student pursuing a Ph.D. at Rutgers University.

Trump Begins Formal U.S. Withdrawal from World Health Organization, Brazil's Official Coronavirus Death Toll Tops 65,000 as Jair Bolsonaro Tests Positive, U.S. Confirms Record 60,000+ Coronavirus Cases as Trump Demands School Reopenings, Houston Mayor Pleads with Republicans to Cancel Texas Convention Amid Coronavirus Surge, Prominent GOP Senators to Skip Republican National Convention Amid Pandemic, Serbian Anti-Lockdown Protesters Storm Parliament; Spanish Study Questions "Herd Immunity", Mexican President to Meet with Trump; Canadian PM Won't Attend over COVID Concerns, Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley Introduce BREATHE Act, Backed by Black Lives Matter, Phoenix, AZ and Columbus, OH Latest U.S. Cities to Ban Police in High Schools, New York Protesters Demand Broad Moratorium on Evictions Amid Pandemic, Black Lives Matter Protesters Struck by Motorists in Indiana, New York, New Jersey Incumbents Fend Off Progressive Primary Challengers, New Data Show 12-Month Period Ending in June Tied Warmest Year on Record, U.N. Investigators Find All Factions Committed War Crimes During Offensive in Idlib, Syria, Bone Fragment from Disappeared Student Casts Doubt on Official Account of Ayotzinapa Massacre, Police in Kenya's Capital Fire Tear Gas to Clear Protests Against Police Brutality , Facebook Ad Boycott Leaders Say CEO Zuckerberg Is Failing to Crack Down on Hate Speech, WNBA 2020 Season Will Honor Black Lives Matter, Say Her Name Movements

As COVID-19 infections continue to rise behind bars, we go inside the Otay Mesa Detention Center in California to speak with Anthony Alexandre, a longtime U.S. resident of Haitian descent, who describes conditions at the for-profit jail, run by private prison company CoreCivic, which has seen a mass outbreak of COVID-19, leading to at least 167 infections and one death. "Basically, CoreCivic is telling us they do not care about our health," says Alexandre. "They do not care about anything else but their bottom line."

Anti-pipeline activists are celebrating after Duke Energy and Dominion Energy announced they are dropping plans to build the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a 600-mile pipeline that would have carried fracked gas from West Virginia to North Carolina and threatened rural Indigenous, Black and Brown communities. "There was an awful lot of opposition to this," says Donna Chavis, senior fossil fuel campaigner for Friends of the Earth and an elder of the Lumbee Nation, whose territory the pipeline would have crossed. She says the communities that would have suffered "irreparable harm" from the pipeline "now have that cloud lifted from them."

Following years of resistance, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and Indigenous organizers across the country scored a massive legal victory Monday when a federal judge ordered the Dakota Access Pipeline to be shut down and emptied of all oil, pending an environmental review. "You ever have a dream, a dream that comes true? That is what it is," responds LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, an elder of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and founder of Sacred Stone Camp, where resistance in 2016 brought tens of thousands of people to oppose the pipeline's construction on sacred lands. We also speak with Ojibwe lawyer Tara Houska, founder of the Giniw Collective.

Judge Rules Dakota Access Pipeline Be Shut Down Pending Review, Trump Admin Moves to Deport and Bar International Students If Colleges Go Online in Fall, Coronavirus Surges Across Country as Dr. Fauci Warns U.S. Still "Knee-Deep" in First Wave, Jair Bolsonaro Gets Tested for COVID-19; WHO Warns AIDS Deaths in Africa Could Rise Amid Pandemic, Congressmembers, Trump Associates Among Beneficiaries of Coronavirus Stimulus Funds, Anti-Asian American Hate Crimes Have Been Soaring Since the Start of the Pandemic, Indiana Civil Rights Activist Says He Was Victim of Attempted Lynching, Video Shows Police Officers Fatally Shooting Phoenix Man in His Parked Car, White Woman Who Claimed Black Man in Central Park Threatened Her, Charged with Filing False Report, GA Governor Declares State of Emergency Days After Fatal Shooting of 8-Year-Old Girl, Pentagon Considering Banning Confederate Flag at Military Bases, Questions Remain After Fire at Iranian Nuclear Facility Caused "Significant Damage", Prominent Iraqi Security and Political Expert Hisham al-Hashimi Shot Dead, Sec. State Pompeo Says U.S. Considering Banning TikTok and Other Chinese Apps, Political Outsider Luis Abinader Wins Dominican Republic Presidential Election, Germany Votes to End Coal Use by 2038; Activists Say It's Not Enough to Stop Climate Catastrophe, SCOTUS Rules States Can Require Electoral College Members to Back Popular Winner, #BlackoutDay2020 Encourages Consumers to Support Black Business Owners

Egyptian authorities have arrested scores of people, including doctors, medical workers, journalists, lawyers and activists, as the country grapples with the coronavirus outbreak. "Unlike nearly every other country in the Middle East, Egypt has not released thousands of prisoners as a precaution against the coronavirus. Instead, it's arrested more people and cut off communication," says Democracy Now! correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous. One of the most high-profile arrests is that of Sanaa Seif, a film editor and the youngest member of one of Egypt's most prominent activist families. Sanaa's brother, Alaa Abd El-Fattah — a leading figure of the 2011 revolution — was released from prison last year after serving a five-year sentence on trumped-up charges, but was rearrested in September and remains behind bars in pretrial detention. In an exclusive interview, we speak with their mother, Laila Soueif, who is a professor of mathematics at Cairo University and one of the most outspoken and active advocates for prisoner rights in Egypt.

President Trump's visit to Mount Rushmore comes after months of escalating coronavirus infections in Native communities, but Indigenous scholar and activist Nick Estes says South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, like many of her Republican counterparts across the U.S., has taken a "hallucination-based approach to the COVID-19 pandemic," and notes she refused to enforce social distancing at this weekend's event that attracted thousands of people. He also reacts to growing pressure on the Washington Redskins and Cleveland Indians to change their racist names.

Amid ongoing protests against systemic racism and state violence, Trump attacked protesters, vowed to defend statues of colonizers and white supremacists, and ignored Indigenous sovereignty over the area, when he held an Independence Day rally at Mount Rushmore, sparking even more protests that led to 15 arrests. "The Black Hills, or what we know as He Sápa, is the cultural center of our universe as Lakota people," says Indigenous scholar and activist Nick Estes, a citizen of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe and assistant professor of American studies at the University of New Mexico. "More than 50 different Indigenous nations actually have origin stories or ties or spiritual connections to the Black Hills."

As Coronavirus Surges, States Blame Hasty Reopenings, and Trump Falsely Claims 99% of Cases "Harmless", COVID-19 Spikes Around the World Force Countries to Reimpose Lockdowns, Indigenous Land Defenders Arrested as They Blocked Highway to Mt. Rushmore Ahead of Trump Speech, Antiracist Activist Summer Taylor Killed by Driver Who Targeted Crowd of Protesters, Protesters Topple Columbus Statue in Baltimore, BLM Uprising Continues Over July 4 Weekend, 3 Colorado Officers Fired for Photo Reenacting Killing of Elijah McClain, Pressure Mounting to Change Racist Names of Washington and Cleveland Sports Teams, 160+ People Killed in Ethiopian Unrest Following Murder of Popular Singer, Pro-Democracy Books Pulled from Hong Kong Libraries as New National Security Law Takes Effect, Philippine President Duterte Signs Anti-Terror Law in Further Blow to Freedom of Speech, Landslide at Burmese Jade Mine Kills Over 170 People, Family of Vanessa Guillén Confirms Remains Found Last Week Belong to Missing Fort Hood Soldier, Merci Mack and Brayla Stone, a Black Trans Woman and Girl, Were Killed in Late June, FBI Arrests Epstein Co-Conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell; NYT Reports Prince Andrew Contacted D.C. Lobbyist, Atlantic Coast Pipeline Canceled in Major Win for Land Defenders, Environmentalists

Scholars Cornel West and Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor respond to the global uprising against racism and police violence following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. "We're seeing the convergence of a class rebellion with racism and racial terrorism at the center of it," said Princeton professor Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor. "And in many ways, we are in uncharted territory in the United States."

Amid a worldwide uprising against police brutality and racism, we discuss the historic moment with legendary scholar and activist Angela Davis. She also responds to the destruction and removal of racist monuments in cities across the United States, and the 2020 election.

In a Fourth of July holiday special, we hear the words of Frederick Douglass. Born into slavery around 1818, Douglass became a key leader of the abolitionist movement. On July 5, 1852, in Rochester, New York, he gave one of his most famous speeches, "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro." He was addressing the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society. This is actor James Earl Jones reading the speech during a performance of historian Howard Zinn's acclaimed book, "Voices of a People's History of the United States." He was introduced by Zinn.

The U.S. Army says it has a suspect in custody in connection with the disappearance of Vanessa Guillén, a missing 20-year-old Fort Hood soldier whose family says her remains were likely found in a shallow grave near the Texas Army base. A second suspect in the case — a soldier who the Guillén family lawyer named as Aaron Robinson — killed himself in Killeen, Texas, as officers approached. The news comes after months of anguish for Vanessa Guillén's family, who say she was sexually harassed by a higher-up prior to her disappearance and that the military was slow to investigate when she went missing. We get an update from the family's attorney, Natalie Khawam.