Democracy Now!

As Israel prepares to launch a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, we continue our coverage of escalating conflict in the Middle East. We're joined from Ramallah by Mustafa Barghouti, a Palestinian physician, activist and politician who serves as general secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative, also known as al-Mubadara, and is a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization Central Council. I don't want any Palestinian or Israeli civilian to be killed," says Barghouti, who argues that a ground operation in Gaza would constitute a campaign of ethnic cleansing, and condemns Israeli occupation and settlement under far-right Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as having destroyed any prospective for a two-state solution." Barghouti also discusses President Biden's abnegation of responsibility toward Palestinian Americans, Egypt's role in the conflict and the relationship within Palestine between the totally marginalized" Palestinian Authority and groups like Hamas.

Death Toll in Israel and Gaza Tops 2,200 as Gazans Face Total Energy Blackout and No Safe Refuge, Journalists Hold Funeral Procession for Their Colleagues Killed in Attacks on Gaza, Families of Israeli Hostages Speak Out as Survivors Grapple with Hamas Attack, Biden Does Not Urge Restraint in IDF Attacks Against Gaza as New U.S. Weapons Arrive in Israel, Another 6.3-Magnitude Earthquake Rattles Afghanistan, 29 People Killed in Burmese Military Attack on Refugee Camp in Kachin State, Dutch Lawmakers Move Toward Phasing Out Fossil Fuel Subsidies After Highway Blockade, World Food Programme Resumes Food Distribution in Ethiopia; U.N. Warns of Genocide Risk, French Soldiers Begin Withdrawal from Niger as U.S. Labels Military Takeover a Coup, George Santos Hit with 10 More Charges Around Campaign Financing Fraud, Hughes Van Ellis, One of the Last 3 Survivors of 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, Dies at 102

As we continue to cover Israel's war on Gaza, we speak with Middle East scholar Shibley Telhami, who says this latest violence is likely to have a major impact on the wider region, especially if other actors like Lebanon's Hezbollah fighters get involved in the conflict. He says U.S. President Joe Biden's support for Israel following the Hamas attack on Saturday was understandable, but that focus must shift to finding a long-term solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This is not a military challenge," says Telhami. This is a political problem, and the occupation has to be addressed."

Palestinian writer Mohammed El-Kurd says Western reaction to Israel's assault on Gaza has once again highlighted the double standard when it comes to how Israeli and Palestinian lives are valued. Israel is bombarding the densely populated coastal territory in retaliation for Saturday's Hamas attack on southern Israel, as well as tightening the existing siege even further. Israeli officials have vowed to wipe out Hamas despite warnings of massive civilian casualties inside Gaza. One wonders how much bloodshed, how much Palestinian death is necessary for people to realize that violence begets violence and that the occupation and the colonization of Palestine, the blockade of the Gaza Strip needs to end for all of this violence to end." El-Kurd also accuses Israeli officials and Western media outlets of using Islamophobic tropes by spreading as-yet-unverified claims of sexual violence and beheadings by Hamas fighters, while downplaying the documented death and devastation being inflicted on Gaza residents.

Israel has mobilized some 300,000 army reservists as it ramps up its war on Gaza following a devastating surprise attack by Hamas militants on Saturday that killed hundreds inside Israel, including many civilians. Journalist Haggai Matar of +972 Magazine says that while the violence shocked Israelis, the unending military occupation and apartheid set the stage for this weekend's events. There is no military solution. These recurring attacks on Gaza bring nothing but death and destruction, and no hope for any of us," says Matar, a conscientious objector who refused service in the Israel Defense Forces.

As hospitals in Gaza are overwhelmed by those killed and wounded in Israel's massive bombing campaign, we go to Gaza City to speak with Palestinian academic and writer Refaat Alareer about conditions inside the besieged territory. Israel announced Monday it was completely cutting off all food, fuel and electricity to Gaza amid airstrikes of unprecedented intensity, launched in response to Saturday's surprise attack by Hamas militants on southern Israel. Hamas has threatened to begin killing hostages if civilians inside Gaza are targeted without warning. No one is safe. No place is safe. Israel is bombing everywhere," says Alareer, who describes his own children as shaking out of fear" amid the assault. Why is this happening? Because we refuse to live under occupation. We refuse to live in total submission. We want freedom."

Gaza Death Toll Tops 770 as Israeli Strikes Hit Schools, Hospitals and a Market, Israel Says Death Toll from Hamas Attack Has Climbed to 900, No Electricity, No Food, No Fuel": U.N. Condemns Israel's Complete Siege" of Gaza Strip, Cross-Border Fighting Between Israel and Hezbollah Sparks Fears of Wider War, Biden and Western Leaders Pledge Steadfast and United" Support to Israel, Protesters Rally to Demand End to U.S. Military Aid to Israel, Afghanistan Earthquake Survivors Plead for Aid as Death Toll Nears 3,000, Guatemala's Attorney General Demands Crackdown on Pro-Democracy Protesters, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Breaks from Democratic Party, Announces Independent Bid for Presidency, California Gov. Gavin Newsom Vetoes Bill to Cap Out-of-Pocket Insulin Costs, California Gov. Gavin Newsom Vetoes Bill to Ban Caste Discrimination, Claudia Goldin Wins Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics for Research on Gender Gap

In New York, we speak with Rashid Khalidi, author of The Hundred Years' War on Palestine, who lays out how this weekend's extreme violence between Hamas and Israel will force a paradigm shift." Colonial powers will no longer believe they can force people to live under the conditions Israel has subjected Palestinians to and expect no retaliation of the oppressed, says Khalidi. That idea has exploded as a result of the horrific events over the past two-and-a-half days," says Khalidi, who calls the blockade of Gaza a pressure cooker. It had to explode." In response to the escalated conflict, the U.S. promised Israel would have what it needs to defend itself," pledging more military aid and munitions to Israel, already the largest annual recipient of U.S. military funding, as the Biden administration moved warships toward Israel. We finance this occupation. We finance this violence," says Khalidi, who calls on Biden to defuse the situation instead of escalating it. You cannot make peace over the bodies of Palestinians."

We speak to Ofer Cassif, an Israeli Jewish Knesset member with the Hadash-Ta'al coalition, about Hamas' surprise attack and Israel's response. Cassif condemns the violence and killing of civilians on both sides," adding that both Israelis and Palestinians pay the price of the arrogant, criminal, ongoing occupation that Israel refuses to end." He then calls for an immediate end to occupation and of Israel's fascist subjugation" of Palestinians, an act which he says will also liberate the Israelis."

Do you hear the bombing?" asks our guest Raji Sourani in Gaza City, as Israel reportedly bombed the Islamic University of Gaza nearby him and intensified its bombardment after it declared war against Hamas. The award-winning human rights lawyer and director of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights in Gaza describes the situation in Gaza, where Israel has now cut off food and electricity, and responds to the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu telling Gazans to leave, calling it nonsense," and asks, Where to? We don't have safe passage."

Israel has declared war on Hamas after Hamas fighters launched a surprise coordinated attack over the militarized border, the largest in decades. In a military operation titled Al-Aqsa Storm," as many as 1,000 fighters from Hamas broke out of the blockaded Gaza Strip and carried out an unprecedented attack inside Israel on Saturday morning. Hamas cited the desecration of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, the blockade of Gaza and increasing settler violence in the occupied West Bank as reasons for the move. Israel responded by pounding the Gaza Strip with airstrikes, which hit housing blocks, tunnels and a mosque. Over the past three days at least 1,300 people have died, including over 800 inside Israel and almost 500 in Gaza. We spend the hour discussing the unprecedented developments, starting in Jerusalem with Orly Noy, chair of the Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem and editor of the Hebrew-language news site Local Call. There is a really strong sense of demanding revenge within the Israeli public," reports Noy, who says the attack catching Israel off guard is a massive military intelligence failure. Once the immediate crisis is over, the Israeli public will be demanding answers from the government and Netanyahu."

Death Toll in Gaza and Israel Tops 1,300 as Israel Declares War on Hamas Following Surprise Attack, U.S. Beefing Up Military Support to Israel; U.N. Expert Blasts Selective Outrage" over Conflict, Apartheid Resistance Is Not Terrorism": Protesters Stand in Solidarity with Palestinians, Over 2,000 People Killed in Afghan Earthquake, Suspects in Killing of Ecuadorian Presidential Candidate Found Dead in Prison, Colombia and Dissident Rebel Faction Agree to Ceasefire Ahead of Peace Talks, Colombian Court Allows Fraud Trial of Ex-President Alvaro Uribe to Move Forward, Tens of Thousands Rally Across Guatemala to Defend President-elect Bernardo Arevalo, U.N. Warns Worsening Climate Crisis Will Displace Millions More Children, Study Finds U.S. Children Are Most at Risk of Eviction, Mack Truck Workers Reject Contract Offer and Strike as UAW Makes Gains in Strike Against Big 3, Officers Who Fatally Shot Stop Cop City" Activist Won't Be Charged, Lawmakers Reintroduce Bill to Replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples' Day

In the largest strike of healthcare workers in U.S. history, 75,000 Kaiser Permanente healthcare workers across the country walked off the job this week, seeking higher pay, better staffing, improvements in their pension plans and other benefits. We go to the picket line in Clackamas, Oregon, to speak with Meg Niemi, president of SEIU Local 49, and Keven Dardon, a patient access representative and a member of the union local's bargaining team, on the final day of the strike outside of Kaiser Permanente's Sunnyside Medical Center. Kaiser can do better," says Dardon, explaining how the union's demands for better working conditions will allow its employees to provide patients with better care. Adds Niemi, If we cannot reach an agreement, we'll be out here again."

We speak to the attorney suing Columbia University and its affiliated hospitals on behalf of some 300 more patients who say they were sexually assaulted by former Columbia University obstetrician Robert Hadden over two decades while Columbia shielded the sexual predator. Anthony T. DiPietro filed a new lawsuit against the university and its affiliated hospitals earlier this week. Columbia knew from the beginning," DiPietro says of Hadden's abuse and its subsequent cover-up. Survivors, he continues, shouldn't be having to carry this burden around with them for their entire lives."

On Wednesday, hundreds of medical students and sexual assault survivors of former university obstetrician Robert Hadden protested at Columbia University's campus calling for accountability during the inauguration ceremony of the university's first woman president. We speak with medical students and survivors demanding Columbia take action to notify all former patients of Hadden about his previous sexual assault convictions by the November 23 deadline of New York's Adult Survivors Act. Wouldn't you want to know if your OB-GYN had sexually assaulted 500 other patients?" asks survivor and activist Evelyn Yang, who has been sharing her experience publicly since 2020.

We get an update on Donald Trump's civil fraud trial with Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter David Cay Johnston. New York Attorney General Letitia James is seeking to fine Trump $250 million and is asking for a permanent ban on Trump family members running a business in New York. The outcome of the trial could put the future of the Trump Organization in jeopardy. Trump himself has already been barred from posting or speaking publicly about the trial after his public comments about James, which she described as race-baiting," and about Judge Arthur Engoron. Johnston, the author of three books on Trump, including The Big Cheat: How Donald Trump Fleeced America and Enriched Himself and His Family, says that though this trial doesn't carry with it the potential for incarceration that his criminal trials do, it is just as threatening to the Trump empire because Donald Trump is his money."

Iranian human rights activist Narges Mohammadi has been awarded this year's Nobel Peace Prize for her work fighting against women's oppression in Iran. Mohammadi will not be able to personally receive the prize because she is currently incarcerated in Iran for her protest activities. To share more about Mohammadi, the Woman, Life, Freedom" movement and the potential impact of the Nobel on Mohammadi's imprisonment, we speak with Negar Mortazavi, an Iranian American journalist, host of The Iran Podcast and senior fellow at the Center for International Policy.

Biden Defends Decision to Waive Federal Laws to Speed Construction of Border Wall, Mexico's AMLO Rejects Border Wall as U.S. Plans New Deportation Flights to Venezuela, Mayor Eric Adams Tours Latin America to Warn Asylum Seekers Against Coming to New York, Ukraine Says 51 Killed in Russian Missile Attack on Kharkiv Village, Drone Attack Kills Scores at Graduation Ceremony for Syrian Military Cadets, U.S. Downs Turkish Drone Over Syria as Turkey Escalates Attacks on Kurdish Fighters, Iranian Guardians of Hijab" Force Accused of Beating Teenage Girl into a Coma, Iranian Human Rights Activist Narges Mohammadi Receives 2023 Nobel Peace Prize, Manish Kunwar Becomes 9th Rikers Prisoner to Die This Year, Brooklyn Subway Shooter Receives 10 Life Sentences, Federal Court's Selection of Alabama Congressional Map Enhances Power of Black Voters, Julia Ormond Sues Weinstein for Sexual Assault; Disney, Miramax and CAA for Enabling Him

We spend the hour with Nathan Thrall and Abed Salama, the author and subject of a remarkable new book detailing the many bureaucratic barriers and indignities that make the lives of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation even more difficult. A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy focuses on the 2012 death of Salama's son, 5-year-old Milad, who was killed in a fiery bus crash during a school field trip to a theme park. What followed was a desperate daylong search by Salama and his family to locate Milad's body across different cities and hospitals, encountering numerous barriers due to the Israeli occupation system, like different ID cards giving varying levels of access through military checkpoints, and lack of help from any Israeli authorities. This awful event allowed me, in telling the story, to describe the entire elaborate system of segregation and subjugation and apartheid in which all of these people live," says Thrall, who first wrote about the tragedy in a 2021 essay for The New York Review of Books. Salama says his main motivation in participating with Thrall was to keep Milad's memory alive. When I start to talk about him, I feel that his spirit is behind me, around me," he says. I hope if anyone from the American government hears me ... we want only justice. This is what we want as Palestinians."

Reps. Jim Jordan and Steve Scalise to Run for Speaker of the House After McCarthy's Ouster, Biden Suggests He Might Circumvent Congress to Continue Arming Ukraine, 11 Arrested at Protest Demanding Sen. Bernie Sanders Support Peace Talks for Ukraine, Record-Shattering September Heat Keeps 2023 on Track as Hottest Year on Record, Biden Administration Waives 26 Laws to Hasten U.S.-Mexico Border Wall Construction, Israelis Kill Two in West Bank, Days After Settlers Destroy Farm of Palestinian American Family, Gaza Medics See Increase in Ankle Injuries as Israeli Forces Shoot at Protesters' Legs, Candidates Challenging Egyptian President el-Sisi Face Attacks, Intimidation, Sen. Bob Menendez's Wife Nadine Killed a Man with Her Car in 2018. She Was Then Gifted a New Car, Biden Administration Cancels Another $9 Billion in Student Loans

The United Nations Security Council has approved an international armed force to address spiraling gang violence in Haiti, where street battles have paralyzed the capital Port-au-Prince since the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in 2021. The U.N. mission, which came at the repeated request of Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry, is being led by Kenya, marking the first deployment of international security forces to Haiti in nearly 20 years. The U.S.-backed proposal received 13 votes in favor, with Russia and China abstaining, and allows foreign troops to remain in Haiti for one year. This validates the criminal government of Ariel Henry," says Haitian pro-democracy advocate Monique Clesca, who says the $100 million the U.S. has pledged to support the U.N. mission would have been better used to support civil society. The big problem right now is the governance system." We also speak with UC Irvine's Mamyrah Prosper, host of the podcast Haiti: Our Revolution Continues, who says many Haitians are rightly skeptical given the history of foreign interventions in the country, including by U.N. troops. This is not the first time that the Security Council has voted to send what Haitians are calling an occupation force," says Prosper. These missions don't really come in, in fact, to protect the population. They are there to protect multinational investments."

Laphonza Butler was sworn in Tuesday to fill the California Senate seat of the late Senator Dianne Feinstein, who died last week at age 90. This makes Butler the only Black woman currently in the Senate and the first out Black lesbian in Congress - but the appointment also frustrated many progressives who had been pushing for Congressmember Barbara Lee to get the nod. Congressmember Ro Khanna, co-chair of Lee's Senate campaign, says it was unfortunate" that California Governor Gavin Newsom didn't name her. Although Butler would be a formidable candidate" if she runs for the seat in 2024, Khanna predicts that Lee can still win. She has a record that speaks volumes for the type of country we need to be," says Khanna.

Democrats united Tuesday to join a revolt by far-right Republicans to oust House Speaker Kevin McCarthy after just nine months on the job. No other speaker in U.S. history has ever been voted out, and the unprecedented development has thrown the House into deeper chaos and ground legislation to a halt. Republican Patrick McHenry of North Carolina has taken up the speaker's gavel temporarily, but who can unite the party's fractious caucus remains a mystery. Congress is at a halt, at a standstill," says Congressmember Ro Khanna, who blames far-right Republicans for being more focused on theatrics than on governing. There is no effort to actually address the economic issues, the kitchen-table issues that affect the American public."

U.S. House Is Without a Leader After Historic Vote to Remove Kevin McCarthy as Speaker, Judge Places Gag Order on Trump After He Posts Attack on Law Clerk During Civil Fraud Trial, Hunter Biden Pleads Not Guilty to Federal Gun Charges, Colombia Issues Apology for Extrajudicial Killings in False Positives" Affair, Indian Police Raid Journalists in Ongoing Crackdown on Press, Pakistan Tells Undocumented Immigrants to Leave by Nov. 1, Sen. Cardin Halts U.S. Military Funding for Egypt in Wake of Menendez Bribery Indictment, Sahel Unrest: Attack in Niger Kills 29 Soldiers; Siege on Timbuktu Puts Malians on Edge, Oil Blast at Nigerian Homemade Refinery Kills 37 People, Climate Groups Sue TotalEnergies over East African Pipeline, Climate Destruction, Climate Activists Descend on Insurance Forum to Demand Industry Stop Funding Fossil Fuels, Shooter on the Loose After Injuring 5 People at Morgan State Homecoming Event, Baltimore Archdiocese Files for Bankruptcy as Maryland Enacts Child Victims Act, 75,000 Kaiser Permanente Healthcare Workers Walk Off Job Across Half a Dozen States

The newly released Raza Database Project reveals the number of Brown and Black people killed by police in the United States may be more than double the amount that is widely reported. Statistician and demographer Jesus Garcia explains how the team merged data sets from independent research projects on police violence to more accurately determine the ethnicities of victims. These are terrible numbers to look at," says Garcia. The results are stark and bare." Project manager Ivette Xochiyotl Boyzo calls the research groundbreaking" because of the lack of federal data collection on police violence. It's so unfortunate that there's not any type of actual collection of information against these types of violences," says Boyzo, who calls for accountability. What's the most disturbing out of all of this, it's the impunity rate."

In New Mexico, a 23-year-old gunman wearing a red MAGA hat opened fire last week on Jacob Johns and other Indigenous activists opposing plans to reinstall a statue honoring the 16th century conquistador Juan de Onate, New Mexico's first colonial governor. Johns, the prominent climate activist, was airlifted from Espanola to an Albuquerque hospital and required emergency surgery. We speak with Malaya Peixinho, who participated in Thursday's gathering, about how the statue of the colonial leader has divided the local community. It is a really controversial thing to talk about Onate," says Peixinho, who believes funds for the statue could go to social programs instead. That feels more important than funding a statue being resurrected." The shooter, Ryan Martinez, was arrested and charged with attempted murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for shooting Johns and aiming the gun at Peixinho, who calls the charges fair" and blames police for not intervening. They didn't show up for us," says Peixinho.

Over 50 years since the United States forced them out in order to build a military base on the island of Diego Garcia, exiled residents of the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean continue to pressure Britain and the U.S. to pay reparations and apologize for expelling residents. We speak with prominent Chagossian activist Olivier Bancoult, who is visiting the United States to meet with lawmakers and State Department officials. The U.S. is fully responsible for what happened to our people," says Bacoult. We want the Biden administration to apologize and to make reparation for what they did wrong to our people." Located halfway between Africa and Indonesia and about 1,000 miles south of India, the military base on Diego Garcia played a key role in the U.S. invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. This is a crime against humanity," says author of Base Nation David Vine, who adds that there are more than 20 cases of the U.S. displacing local populations for military bases. The Chagossians are not alone."

U.N. Approves Armed Intervention Force for Haiti, U.N. Mission Arrives in Nagorno-Karabakh as Some 120,000 Ethnic Armenians Flee Azerbaijan's Takeover, Supreme Court Opens New Term with Case on Reduced Sentences for Nonviolent Offenders, Supreme Court Won't Halt Execution of Texas Prisoner Sentenced over Junk Science" Testimony, Clarence Thomas Recuses Self from Appeal of Trump Legal Adviser Who Communicated with Ginni Thomas, GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz Files Resolution to Remove Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker, Laphonza Butler to Be Sworn In as First-Ever Out Lesbian Black Senator, Trump Assails Judge and Prosecutors as Civil Trial Opens in Manhattan Court, Labor Department Opens Probe of Child Labor at Perdue and Tyson Foods, WHO Approves Second Vaccine Against Malaria for Children, Dolores Sanchez, Publisher of Bilingual Newspapers for L.A.'s Latinx Community, Dies at 87, Journalists Mark 5th Anniversary of Jamal Khashoggi's Murder with Calls for Accountability

October is National Domestic Violence Awareness and Prevention Month, and we look at how Black and Brown survivors of domestic abuse are further criminalized by police and prisons - and how activists have been organizing to win their freedom. In her first broadcast interview, we speak with Tracy McCarter, a nurse and grandmother who was jailed after her abusive husband, a white man, died of a stab wound when she defended herself during an altercation. McCarter, who is Black, describes being a criminalized survivor of both domestic violence and the criminal legal system. She was held at the notorious Rikers jail for nearly seven months and had her murder charges dropped in November after a campaign led by the grassroots abolitionist organization Survived and Punished. This comes as one-third of women imprisoned in New York for homicide were abused by the person they killed. It became clear to me that I wasn't going to be considered a person whose life was important enough to defend," says McCarter, a registered nurse and graduate student at the time of her arrest, who shares her story and explains how racism affected her case. We also speak with Brooklyn Law School professor Jocelyn Simonson, a member of the I Stand With Tracy" solidarity campaign and author of the new book, Radical Acts of Justice: How Ordinary People Are Dismantling Incarceration.

California Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, the longest-serving woman to ever serve in the Senate, has died at the age of 90. Feinstein had previously announced plans to retire at the end of this term, sparking an ongoing race to replace her open seat that's been led by California Congressmembers Barbara Lee, Katie Porter and Adam Schiff. California Governor Gavin Newsom has tapped Laphonza Butler, the president of the Democratic pro-abortion organization EMILY's List and a former leader of the California SEIU, as Feinstein's temporary replacement. Butler will become the only Black woman in the Senate and California's first openly LGBTQ+ senator. For more on Newsom's choice of Butler, the race to replace Feinstein and the late senator's political legacy, we continue our conversation with journalist Sasha Abramsky, whose latest piece for The Nation is titled Dianne Feinstein's Empty Seat."

Congress passed an 11th-hour short-term funding bill this weekend, narrowly avoiding a government shutdown for the next 45 days, but the House is in a state of turmoil as far-right lawmakers threaten to oust House Speaker Kevin McCarthy for working on the bipartisan bill. It's a crisis entirely of Kevin McCarthy's own making," says our guest Sasha Abramsky, the West Coast correspondent for The Nation, who also calls McCarthy's impeachment inquiry into President Biden the most ill-prepared, ill-thought-out, poorly advised Republican inquiry you could possibly imagine," and discusses Republicans' embrace of Vladimir Putin to contrast with establishment Democrats' support of Ukraine in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.

Kevin McCarthy Reverses Course, Passes Deal with House Democrats to Avert Gov't Shutdown at 11th Hour, Gavin Newsom Picks EMILY's List President Laphonza Butler to Fill Dianne Feinstein's Senate Seat, Dianne Feinstein, Longest-Serving Woman Senator, Dies at 90 After Months of Declining Health, Record Rains Turn NYC Streets into Rivers as Gov. Hochul Warns Extreme Weather Is New Normal", Labor News: UAW Ramps Up Strike; Kaiser Permanente Health Workers Inch Closer to Major Strike, Migrants Killed Near U.S. Border; Traffic Deaths Expose Dangers for Migrants Traveling Through Mexico, Russia-Friendly Candidate Wins Slovakia's Parliamentary Election, Right-Wing Opposition Leader Loses Bid to Form New Spanish Government, Mohamed Muizzu Wins Runoff Election to Become Maldives President, Protesters Rally to Oppose Police Training Center in San Pablo, CA, Donald Trump Arrives in New York for Start of Civil Fraud Trial, Nobel Prize in Medicine Awarded to Scientists Whose Work on mRNA Led to COVID Vaccines

Cuba has released footage showing an individual throwing two Molotov cocktails inside the Cuban Embassy compound in Washington, D.C., last Sunday, condemning it as a terrorist attack. An investigation is underway, but no arrests have been made. Cuba's Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio says the country is demanding a speedy investigation, adding that it is the latest in a series of attacks against Cuban diplomatic missions in recent years. Meanwhile, international pressure continues to grow for the Biden administration to lift the embargo on Cuba and remove it from a list of state sponsors of terrorism. Cuba's relationship with terrorism is as a victim," Fernandez de Cossio says of the terror designation. The reason is not very clear to us, beyond the wish of trying to make life as unbearable as possible for the people of Cuba as a way of trying to extract from Cuba political concessions."

Poland says it's preparing to seek the extradition of a 98-year-old Ukrainian Nazi after he received a standing ovation in the Canadian House of Commons last week following a speech by visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Yaroslav Hunka was invited by the speaker of the House, who has since resigned his post, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau formally apologized for the episode on Wednesday. Hunka fought during World War II with a Nazi unit composed of Ukrainian volunteers who were involved in numerous atrocities, including massacres of Jewish civilians. But Hunka is not an outlier, according to Ukrainian American journalist Lev Golinkin, who says Canada took in many Ukrainian Nazi collaborators after the war. That includes the grandfather of Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, who spent years painting him as a victim rather than the Nazi propagandist he was. Of course Hunka didn't think anything would happen, because you had the deputy prime minister who was caught whitewashing a Nazi collaborator, and nothing happened," says Golinkin.

The government of Nagorno-Karabakh is dissolving itself after decades of struggle for autonomy from Azerbaijan, just days after Azerbaijani forces carried out a military blitz to seize the breakaway region, which has a majority of ethnic Armenians. More than half the territory's 120,000 people have reportedly fled to Armenia, while thousands more remain without food, shelter and clean drinking water. Basically, this is ethnic cleansing," says Roubina Margossian, managing editor of EVN Report, an independent media outlet based in Armenia. This is the victory of a dictatorship over a democracy."

Ahead of Shutdown, Biden Says GOP Extremists Are Trying to Burn the Place Down", Biden Warns Trump & MAGA Movement Are a Threat to Democracy, Activist Disrupts Biden Speech, Urges Him to Declare Climate Emergency, 18 Youth Climate Activists Arrested for Occupying Speaker McCarthy's Office, GOP Witnesses Admit No Evidence Yet to Support Impeaching Biden, GOP Lawmakers Refuse to Say Trump Should Be Held Accountable If Convicted, NY Appeals Court Rejects Trump Effort to Delay Civil Fraud Trial, Dozens Killed in Two Blasts in Pakistan, U.N.: Over 2,500 Migrants Have Died or Gone Missing This Year Trying to Cross the Mediterranean, Protesters in Niger Rally Outside French Military Base Demanding Immediate Troop Withdrawal, Former Bolivian President to Pay Damages for 2003 Indigenous Massacre, Mexico: Three Arrests Made After Bodies of Six Kidnapped Teenagers Found, Texas Man Pleads Guilty for Role in Death of 53 Migrants Trapped Inside Truck, MAGA Gunman Attacks Protest in New Mexico over Reinstallment of Conquistador Statue, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Sues Tesla over Racial Abuse of Black Workers, California: Gov. Newsom Raises Minimum Wage for Fast-Food Workers to $20, Rep. Bowman and Sen. Markey Introduce Green New Deal for Public Schools Act

Senator Bob Menendez appeared in court Wednesday to face corruption charges yet refused to resign. A growing number of politicians have called for Menendez to step down, after federal agents discovered large amounts of cash, gold bars and a Mercedes-Benz in the Democrat's New Jersey home. There's a possibility that this cycle that we see will not recur," says David Dayen, executive editor of The American Prospect, who says even the New Jersey political machine is shunning" Menendez after his second corruption indictment in less than 10 years.

On Tuesday, the Federal Trade Commission and 17 states filed a sweeping antitrust lawsuit against Amazon, but the details of the suit remain unclear as much of it is redacted to the public. We speak with David Dayen, author of Monopolized: Life in the Age of Corporate Power, about the significance of this lawsuit, which comes just two weeks after the opening of a landmark antitrust trial against Google. Suddenly there is all this activity in the antitrust space after a period of dormancy for about 40 years," says Dayen, who says the charge is being led by FTC Chair Lina Khan. Khan represents an aggressive set of antitrust enforcers that the Biden administration has put in and really reversed this troubling trend of the last 40 years."

Former presidential candidate Ralph Nader responds to Wednesday's second Republican debate, saying, It's pretty embarrassing that this is what they put forward to become the president of the most powerful country in the world." Nader discusses the debate's topics of social media, former President Donald Trump and wealth inequality in America. Nader also calls for the Democratic Party to stop engaging in candidate suppression" and respect third-party candidates such as Cornel West to run for public office as a constitutional right.

Donald Trump skipped the second Republican presidential debate of the 2024 race on Wednesday, declining once again to share a stage with competitors for the nomination whom he leads in the polls by double digits. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie criticized Trump for his absence, but most of the seven candidates avoided direct attacks on the front-runner. Instead, they largely aimed their fire at President Joe Biden - and each other. We air highlights from the debate, including the candidates' remarks on the UAW strike, immigration and the economy.

GOP Presidential Candidates Attack an Absent Trump, Each Other at Chaotic Debate, Trump Calls on Unions to Support Him in 2024 as He Addresses Nonunion Auto Plant, Las Vegas Hotel and Casino Workers Overwhelmingly Vote to Authorize Strike, U.S. Gov't on Cusp of Shutdown Amid Republican House Dysfunction, Nagorno-Karabakh's Gov't to Self-Dissolve by Jan. 1 as 50,000 People Flee, Burkina Faso Military Coup Leaders Say They Thwarted Another Coup Attempt, North Korea Expels Soldier Travis King Back to the U.S., Palestinian Rights Advocates Condemn U.S. Visa Waiver for Israeli Travelers, Ethiopian Researchers Verify at Least 1,329 Hunger Deaths in Tigray, Justin Trudeau Apologizes over Nazi Soldier Applause After House Speaker Steps Down, Dutch Climate Activists Have Been Blocking a Major Highway for 20 Days, Environmentalists Slam U.K. Approval of Rosebank Oil Project in North Sea, European Court Hears Historic Case from Portuguese Youth Suing 32 Nations over Climate Crisis, Bob Menendez and Co-Defendants Plead Not Guilty to Bribery as 30 Dems Calls for His Resignation, Outrage in Philadelphia After Judge Dismisses Charges Against Cop Who Shot and Killed Eddie Irizarry

In a historic show of support for striking autoworkers, President Biden became the first sitting U.S. president to join a picket line Tuesday when he joined UAW members outside a General Motors facility in Wayne, Michigan. The American Prospect's executive editor David Dayen says the Biden administration's support for the union is a big shift from how the Democratic Party has treated organized labor in recent decades. The mentality of the Obama administration and the Biden administration, as far as it relates to worker power, couldn't be more stark," he says. The union launched a strike against the Big Three manufacturers - Ford, GM and Stellantis, parent company of Chrysler - earlier this month in a bid to raise pay and benefits amid record profits for the companies. There are now 18,000 workers on strike at 41 facilities across 21 states, and UAW President Shawn Fain has threatened to keep expanding the strike if needed. Dayen recently went to a picket line in Ontario, California, and reported that striking workers have twice had guns pulled on them by nonunion truckers seeking to use a distribution center to move auto parts to dealers.

As we mark Hispanic Heritage Month in the United States, Congressmember Jesus Chuy" Garcia says it's important to celebrate the contributions of activists who fought racial and economic inequality. The Illinois Democrat is the first Mexican immigrant from the Midwest elected to Congress and recently delivered a speech on the House floor to mark the 40th anniversary of the killing of Chicago activist Rudy Lozano, whom Garcia considered a friend and mentor. Lozano was murdered in 1983, after working to build multiracial support for the historic election of Chicago's first Black mayor, Harold Washington. Activists like Rudy Lozano ... were responsible for movements that have empowered Latino, African American, Asian and other discriminated communities over a 40-year span," says Garcia. He also recalls the work of Bert Corona, who started the Mexican American labor organization CASA, which had nationwide chapters that served as organizing hubs and protested the Vietnam War.

A sharp increase in the number of people attempting to cross into the United States is straining resources in border communities, as thousands of asylum seekers arrive at the southern U.S. border each day seeking safety from violence, conflict, extreme poverty and the impacts of the climate crisis. Congressmember Jesus Chuy" Garcia of Illinois says decades of U.S. military interventions, sanctions and the war on drugs are all important factors" in what is driving the migration, particularly from South and Central America. We need a system that responds both compassionately and responds to the root causes of why people come to this country," he says. We also speak with Fernando Garcia, founder and executive director of the Border Network for Human Rights in El Paso, who says the lack of leadership from the federal government is causing hardship along the border for both asylum seekers and local communities struggling to welcome the newcomers. Nothing has been done - not by this administration, obviously, and much less from the previous administration. So we are seeing the same situations over and over," he says.

Stick with It": Biden Joins Striking Autoworkers on Picket Line in Michigan, WGA Ends 148-Day Strike After Reaching Tentative Deal as Writers Prepare to Vote on Ratification, SCOTUS Again Rejects Alabama's Gerrymandered Maps, Judge Rules Trump Illegally Inflated Value of Assets Ahead of NY Attorney General Trial, FCC to Reinstate Net Neutrality Rules Repealed Under Trump, FTC, 17 States Sue Amazon over Illegal Practices to Maintain E-Retail Monopoly, Senate Advances Stopgap Funding Deal as House Remains at Stalemate over Far-Right Demands, Hunter Biden Sues Giuliani for Illegally Accessing His Private Data, At Least 100 Killed in Iraq as Blaze Tears Through Wedding Party, Death Toll from Fuel Depot Blast Climbs to 68 as Tens of Thousands Flee Nagorno-Karabakh, Canada's House Speaker Steps Down After Leading Applause for Former Nazi Soldier, Ukraine Is Clarifying" Whether Russian Black Sea Commander Is Dead After Claiming He Was Killed, Saudi Arabia Simultaneously Tightens Ties with Both Israel and Palestine, JPMorgan Chase Settles Jeffrey Epstein Lawsuit with U.S. Virgin Islands for $75 Million

A political battle is brewing in Washington, D.C., over plans to build a National Museum of the American Latino and the portrayal of American Latino history. Last year, the Smithsonian Institution opened a temporary preview exhibition inside the National Museum of American History that has become the focus of controversy within the Latino community, as Republican lawmakers and others challenge what one conservative writer described in The Hill as an unabashedly Marxist portrayal of history." We speak to two historians who were hired to develop a now-shelved exhibit on the Latino civil rights movement of the 1960s for the museum. Felipe Hinojosa is a history professor at Baylor University in Texas, and Johanna Fernandez is an associate professor of history at the City University of New York's Baruch College. We discuss their vision for the first national museum dedicated to Latino history, which Hinojosa describes as complex" and nuanced," and how conservative backlash has sought to stymie and rewrite their work. These conservatives are using fear to essentially push through their agenda," says Fernandez, who warns that the rising wave of censorship throughout the U.S. could be a repeat of the Red Scare."

As part of events marking the 50th anniversary of the U.S.-backed military coup in Chile that ousted democratically elected socialist President Salvador Allende and led to the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet, Chilean President Gabriel Boric visited Washington, D.C., Saturday to deliver a historic address. He spoke at the site where former Chilean diplomat Orlando Letelier was assassinated in 1976 by agents of the Pinochet dictatorship, along with his co-worker Ronni Moffitt. We feature excerpts from the address and speak with Letelier's son, Juan Pablo Letelier, a former member of the Chilean House and Senate with the Socialist Party, about his father's assassination and the Boric administration's work toward redress for the families of victims of Pinochet's regime.

Fuel Depot Explosion Kills 20 Amid Exodus of Refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh, Russia Strikes Black Sea Port in Odesa, Damaging Grain Silo, U.N. Commission Finds Russian Forces Have Committed Rape and Widespread and Systematic" Torture, Mexico Accedes to U.S. Demands to Deport Migrants from Northern Border Cities, Sen. Bob Mendendez Refuses Calls to Step Down, Says He'll Fight Federal Bribery Charges, Donald Trump Suggests Gen. Mark Milley Should Be Put to Death, Fulton County Judge Moves to Protect Jurors in Trump Election Interference Case, Trump Campaign Reverses Claim Trump Purchased Handgun, Which Would Be Illegal, British Regulator Clears Path for Microsoft's Acquisition of Activision, SAG-AFTRA Video Game Actors Authorize Strike, Libya Charges Officials Over Dam Collapse That Killed Thousands, Protesters at Indian Embassies in Canada Demand Justice for Assassinated Sikh Leader, Molotov Cocktail Thrown at Cuban Embassy in Washington, D.C.

On Friday, Democratic Senator Bob Menendez and his wife were accused by federal prosecutors of accepting bribes in exchange for using his position to increase U.S. assistance to Egypt and to do favors for three New Jersey businessmen, including Wael Hana, an Egyptian American who ran a lucrative business certifying halal meat exports. Egypt is a major meat importer," says Lina Attalah, publisher of the independent Cairo-based news website Mada Masr that investigated the monopolization of halal certification in 2019. What was straightforward financial corruption had this major political tentacle that affects bilateral relations to a great extent." Menendez has stepped down as head of the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee, but as he faces growing pressure to resign from his role as senator, New Jersey-based reporter Bob Hennelly says, the state's political establishment that enabled him for years now appears ready to let him fend for himself. Democrats really can't afford to have Bob Menendez hanging around," says Hennelly, who reports that Menendez has faced serious corruption charges in the past but retained his Senate seat. This is what he does."

A new damning investigation from ProPublica reveals Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas attended multiple fundraisers in connection with the billionaire Koch brothers, who have spent millions on conservative causes and funneled vast donations into Republican campaigns. None of this was disclosed as it should have been on his annual financial disclosures," says Justin Elliott, reporter for ProPublica covering Supreme Court corruption and ethics. He's spending time with people like the Kochs who have active interest and, in fact, cases at the Supreme Court." This comes as a Supreme Court precedent known as Chevron is set to be revisited, with conservatives seeking to limit the power of federal agencies to issue regulations in areas ranging from the environment to labor rights to consumer protection. If this Chevron doctrine is overturned by the Supreme Court, it's going to make it much, much easier to challenge a regulation if you, as a company, don't like it," says Elliott.