Democracy Now!

Israel launched major airstrikes on Gaza, killing at least 104 people, including 46 children, in the deadliest attacks since the U.S.-brokered ceasefire was announced. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered powerful strikes" on Gaza Tuesday after Israeli officials accused Hamas of killing an Israeli soldier in Rafah - which Hamas has denied. Netanyahu is trying everything possible to resume the genocide in Gaza," says Muhammad Shehada, a writer and analyst from Gaza. The only condition is that he needs to maintain the facade of the ceasefire."

Israel Kills at Least 104 People in Gaza, Including 46 Children, Hurricane Melissa Makes Landfall in Cuba as a Strong Category 3 Hurricane After Battering Jamaica, Pentagon Carries Out Another Three Strikes Against Vessels in the Pacific Ocean, AP: U.S. Attempted to Capture Maduro by Bribing His Pilot, Amnesty International: U.S. Strike on Yemen Prison Killing Dozens of African Migrants May Be a War Crime, Dozens of States Sue Trump Administration over Suspending SNAP Benefits, ICE Agents Beat and Choke a Houston Teen and His Father During a Traffic Ambush, Masked ICE Agents Continue to Detain Immigrants Attending Court Hearings in Manhattan's 26 Federal Plaza, Chanthila Shawn" Souvannarath Deported to Laos Despite Court Order Blocking His Removal, Federal Judge Orders Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino to Report to Her Every Day, Wired: CBP Searched a Record Number of Phones at the U.S. Border Over the Past Year, President Trump Announces Trade Deal with South Korea, Reuters: Trump Organization Earned More Than $800 Million from Crypto Assets, At Least 64 People Killed in Brazil in Police Raid of Favela

We speak with journalist David Sirota about his new book, Master Plan: The Hidden Plot to Legalize Corruption in America. Co-authored with Jared Jacang Maher, the book is based on their award-winning investigative podcast of the same name for The Lever.Sirota says that while the United States is now immersed in corruption" in a way that seems like an inevitable part of politics, it is the result of a decadeslong agenda by the wealthy to deregulate the campaign finance system and to essentially make anti-bribery laws unenforceable. This is all part of a plan by a corporate movement that sees democracy - the government providing what people want - sees that as a threat."

The central fight in the U.S. federal government shutdown has been over healthcare costs, with Democrats demanding that Republicans agree to extend subsidies for the Affordable Care Act set to expire this Saturday. Without an extension of those subsidies, health premiums could more than double for millions of people across the country. The enhanced subsidies were first put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic.The purpose of healthcare has increasingly become profit-making rather than a public service," says Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, professor of public health at Hunter College and co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program. She says that while extending the Obamacare subsidies is vital, the United States should move toward universal public healthcare like every other major Western economy and away from our private, profit-oriented healthcare system."

More than 1.4 million federal employees missed their first full paychecks on Friday as the government shutdown enters its fifth week. Meanwhile, the Department of Agriculture warns that food aid to 42 million people could be cut off starting November 1, as the Trump administration refuses to use a $5 billion contingency fund to maintain SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, popularly known as food stamps.Gina Plata-Nino from the Food Research and Action Center says the loss of SNAP benefits will have cascading impacts as credit card debt soars, rent payments are delayed and food banks get overrun. We are going to see a decrease in people's well-being," says Plata-Nino.

Sudan's military has withdrawn from El Fasher, its last stronghold in the country's Darfur region, ceding control of the city to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces after an 18-month siege. The United Nations and the African Union have called for safe passage for civilians and an immediate ceasefire, condemning reports of war crimes by RSF fighters including summary executions of civilians. Fighting between the Sudanese military and RSF has killed more than 150,000 people and displaced about 12 million since 2023.This just shows us that what the Sudanese Armed Forces have been promising, which is a military victory that is going to end the war, is nowhere near happening," says Sudanese activist Marine Alneel, joining us from Nairobi, Kenya. She says the capture of El Fasher raises fears of basically two governments" and calls on external powers, including the United Arab Emirates, which backs the RSF, and the United States, to push for humanitarian measures.

Jamaica Faces Catastrophic" Winds and Flooding as Hurricane Melissa Strikes, U.N.'s Guterres Warns of Devastating Consequences" as Nations Fail to Cap Global Heating at 1.5C, Humanitarian Groups Say Israel Is Allowing Just a Fraction of Aid Promised Under Ceasefire Deal, Israeli Forces Kill 3 Palestinians Near Jenin, Call in Airstrikes, Beyond a Reasonable Doubt": U.S. Colonel Says Israeli Sniper Intended to Kill Shireen Abu Akleh, Venezuelan Government Says It Captured CIA-Backed Mercenaries Plotting False Flag Attack, Head of Federal Workers' Union Calls for End to Government Shutdown, GOP Governor Braun Calls for Special Legislative Session to Redraw Indiana's Congressional Maps, Trump Admin Instructs DOJ to Send Election Observers to New Jersey and California, Trump Meets with Japan's Newly Elected Ultra-Nationalist Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, World's Oldest President Paul Biya Reelected in Cameroon, Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara Wins Fourth Term After Rivals Disqualified

A record 164,000 people cast ballots in New York on the first two days of early voting in the city's mayoral race. If elected, Zohran Mamdani would be the city's first Muslim mayor. In recent days, he has faced a string of Islamophobic attacks. I see a dynamic that I think lots of Muslims have experienced in the United States, which is when they're given positions of power or are in a position of public scrutiny, that their faith is often the first thing that gets scrutinized," says Meher Ahmad, staff editor for The New York Times opinion section.

Israel has carried out repeated attacks in Gaza and killed about 100 Palestinians over the past two weeks since the U.S.-backed ceasefire deal with Hamas came into effect. Jeremy Scahill, co-founder of Drop Site News, is one of the few Western journalists in regular contact with Hamas leaders. It's utter malpractice on the part of all of these news organizations that have not regularly been interviewing the leaders, the negotiators of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. This is, by default, allowing the dehumanization narrative of Palestinians to just take hold," he says.

The Trump administration has now killed at least 43 people in 10 strikes against so-called drug boats in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean. The threat of war against Venezuela and the surrounding region is growing as the Pentagon deploys the world's largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald Ford, to the Caribbean. Alejandro Velasco, associate professor at New York University, says the Latin American policy is primarily Marco Rubio's ideological project," motivated by a desire to oust the government of Venezuela and weaken the allied government of Cuba.

Venezuela Denounces the U.S. for Docking Warship in Trinidad and Tobago, Israel Kills 2 People in Southern Gaza, Israel Strikes Lebanon, Killing 3 People, U.S. Federal Government Shutdown Enters 27th Day, U.S. and China Agree to Framework of New Trade Deal, Trump Announces 10% Tariffs on Canada in Response to Ad Featuring Ronald Reagan, Far-Right President Milei's Party Wins Decisive Victory in Argentina's Midterm Elections, Independent Socialist Catherine Connolly Wins Irish Presidency, RSF Claims It Has Captured Sudanese Army Base in Darfur, Hurricane Melissa Intensifies to Category 5 Hurricane, Honduran Immigrant Josue Castro Rivera Dies While Fleeing ICE Agents, Federal Judge Rules ICE Agents Illegally Detained Chicago Man Whose Daughter Is Fighting Cancer, Activists Call on Maryland to End State's Contract on Avelo Airlines Responsible for Deportation Flights, U.S. Detains Prominent British Muslim Journalist Sami Hamdi, Zohran Mamdani Holds Massive Rally in Queens as Early Voting in NYC Mayoral Race Begins

The new short film Criminal highlights the injustices of the criminal legal system with a look at how for-profit bail preys on the poor and mentally ill. We're joined by three contributors to the film, musician Stew Stewart and bail reform advocates Krish Gundu and Alec Karakatsanis, to discuss how what Karakatsanis calls the unconstitutional" system of cash bail leads to millions of coerced guilty pleas every single year all across the country, just because people are so desperate to get out." Criminal focuses on Texas's notorious Harris County Jail, where at least 15 people have died in pretrial detention just this year. Gundu explains, We have criminalized mental illness. We've criminalized homelessness. We've criminalized reproductive rights. And so, the jail has become the emergency room of our community."

The Republican Party has really become an extremist movement." Amid a growing political divide in the Republican Party over the release of federal documents related to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, we speak to former Republican political operative Stuart Stevens about the erosion of support for Donald Trump from some of his most prominent backers. Stevens traces the MAGA takeover of the Republican Party and shares how the Lincoln Project, a Republican-led anti-Trump organization where he is a senior adviser, is working to stop Trump's anti-democratic agenda.

Israel's Knesset has advanced legislation that would effectively annex the West Bank, prompting rare criticism from the Trump administration, which says it does not support annexation. We get a report on the state of illegal settlement activity in the Palestinian territory from the Norwegian Refugee Council's Jan Egeland, who has just returned from the occupied West Bank. I think the settler movement felt they had a free hand to do whatever they wanted on the West Bank, and it happened in the shadows of the war in Gaza," he says about the growth in settlements and widespread impunity for settlers. Every single day, Palestinian houses are demolished. Every single day, their communities are attacked. Every single day, people are beaten up, thousands of olive trees are uprooted. I mean, it's happening as we speak."

U.N. Urges Israel to Open Rafah Border Crossing to Allow Aid into Gaza, Trump: Israel's Not Going to Do Anything with the West Bank", Israeli Minister Smotrich Resorts to Stereotypes When Talking About Saudi Arabia, We're Going to Kill Them": Trump Claims Broad Authority to Launch Strikes Against Alleged Drug Boats, Trump Suspends Canada Trade Talks over Ad Criticizing Tariffs, Civil Rights Groups Demand ICE Stop Jailing Pregnant Immigrants Amid Reports of Medical Neglect, States Prepare to Cut Off Food Assistance as Government Shutdown Enters 24th Day, New York AG Letitia James Faces Arraignment in Federal Court as Trump Seeks Retribution", Trump Administration Opens 1.5 Million Acres of Alaskan Wildlife Refuge to Oil and Gas Drilling, Trump Pardons Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, Who Aided Trump Family's Crypto Firm, White House Releases List of Donors to Trump's Ballroom as Demolition Crews Raze East Wing, Trump Reverses Plans to Surge" Federal Forces to San Francisco at Request of CEO Friends"

New York mayoral candidates held their final debate Wednesday before the November 4 election, with early voting beginning Saturday. Democratic nominee and front-runner Zohran Mamdani faced off against Republican Curtis Sliwa and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, running as an independent after losing the primary to Mamdani. While the debate itself is unlikely to have much impact, the fact that a pro-Palestine democratic socialist is leading the race is very significant, says writer Ross Barkan. Assuming he wins, Zohran Mamdani is going to run one of the great and massive and important cities in the world. And all eyes are going to be on him," Barkan says. His latest book is Fascism or Genocide: How a Decade of Political Disorder Broke American Politics.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is the latest top U.S. official to visit Israel as part of a push to maintain the Gaza ceasefire. Reports suggest the Trump administration is worried about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu undermining the agreement, with the U.S. visits dubbed Bibi-sitting" missions to prevent any sabotage. Meanwhile, lawmakers in the Knesset have advanced a bill to apply Israeli sovereignty to all illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank - a move that would effectively annex the territory and kill already dim hopes for a future Palestinian state on that land.For more on the state of the Gaza ceasefire and the future of Palestine, we speak with Robert Malley, co-author with Hussein Agha of the new book Tomorrow Is Yesterday: Life, Death, and the Pursuit of Peace in Israel/Palestine. Malley is a veteran negotiator involved in previous U.S.-backed peace talks between Israel and Palestinian leadership. He says despite the many flaws in the Trump plan, including deciding everything for Palestinians without Palestinians having a voice," it has at least halted the worst of the violence. He also notes the double standard" in how all U.S. administrations have dealt with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as the search for a two-state solution became a gimmick" while the U.S. allowed Israel to entrench its occupation.

The International Court of Justice ruled Wednesday that Israel, as an occupying power, must allow United Nations humanitarian aid into Gaza and may not use starvation as a method of warfare. In its advisory opinion, the World Court also found that Israel had failed to provide evidence for its claims that UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, lacks neutrality or that a significant number of its staff are affiliated with Hamas. Israel denounced the ruling and said it would not comply with the court's instructions. The Trump administration also condemned the opinion.The opinion is unambiguous. It's an opinion by the highest legal authority of the U.N.," says UNRWA spokesperson Tamara Alrifai, speaking to Democracy Now! from Amman, Jordan. She adds that for the Trump-backed ceasefire to succeed, aid groups must have unrestricted access to Gaza and be allowed to flood" the territory with food and other basic supplies.

Starvation as a Weapon of War": ICJ Orders Israel to Restore Access to U.N.-Led Aid Agencies, Mass Funeral Held in Gaza for Unidentified Palestinians Whose Bodies Show Signs of Torture, Israeli Lawmakers Advance Bills to Annex West Bank, Drawing Rare U.S. Criticism, U.S. Lawmakers Call on Israel to Release 16-Year-Old Palestinian American Held Months Without Trial, Pentagon Says It Blew Up Two Boats Allegedly Carrying Drugs Near Colombia's Pacific Coast, Trump Administration Announces New Sanctions on Russia's Largest Oil and Gas Companies, Federal Government Shutdown Enters Its 23rd Day, Trump Administration Dispatches More Than 100 Federal Agents to San Francisco Bay Area, Protesters Confront Masked Federal Agents Carrying Out Arrests in Illinois, Protesters in New York March in Solidarity with Street Vendors Detained by Federal Agents, Cuban Man Deported to Eswatini Launches Hunger Strike, North Carolina Lawmakers Approve New Congressional Map, NYT: Amazon Plans to Replace More Than Half a Million Jobs with Robots, Peru's Interim President Jose Jeri Declares 30-Day State of Emergency, National Trust for Historic Preservation Asks White House to Pause East Wing Demolition for Ballroom

In recent weeks, the United States has conducted several deadly airstrikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean Sea, which the Trump administration has claimed, without providing evidence, were being used to traffic drugs. A group of United Nations experts said U.S. strikes targeting boats in the Caribbean off the coast of Venezuela amount to extrajudicial executions."There seems to be a much bigger political context behind this than really going after drug traffickers, which seems to be ... not at all the main goal of the U.S. administration," says Guillaume Long, senior research fellow at the Center for Economic and Policy Research and former foreign minister of Ecuador. Long says regime change in Venezuela" and anger over Colombian President Gustavo Petro's pro-Palestinian politics are also motivating factors in the U.S. campaign. Meanwhile, Manuel Rozental, a Colombian physician and activist, says the drug war is about economic control.

Tensions are escalating between Colombia and the United States as President Trump conducts deadly airstrikes on supposed drug boats" in the Caribbean. Colombian President Gustavo Petro accused the U.S. of committing murder for killing a Colombian fisherman in one attack in mid-September and just recalled the country's ambassador, Daniel Garcia-Pena.Even if they were in fact carrying drugs, the procedure is to capture them, to seize them, to arrest them and to find information about who was behind them, and not blowing them up," Garcia-Pena tells Democracy Now! from Bogota.

Virginia Roberts Giuffre's posthumous memoir has just been released, detailing how she was groomed by Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell, whom she met at Donald Trump's Mar-A-Lago resort. In Nobody's Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice, she writes that she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew three times, beginning when she was 17, and was beaten and raped by a well-known prime minister." Virginia Giuffre died by suicide earlier this year in Australia at age 41.Democracy Now! speaks with Amy Wallace, Giuffre's ghostwriter, who says Giuffre experienced the depths of hell" with Maxwell and Epstein. It's not just a catalog of horrors. It's a woman who is terribly abused as a child, escapes from that terrible abuse - valiantly - forms a family, which is in itself a triumph, and then becomes an advocate," says Wallace.

Israel Continues Deadly Attacks in Gaza Despite U.S.-Brokered Ceasefire, Israeli Forces Detain 45 People in the West Bank as U.N. Warns About Settler Violence, Mahmoud Khalil Files Appeals to Prevent ICE from Detaining Him Again, Federal Government Shutdown Has Entered Its 22nd Day, Jan. 6 Rioter Pardoned by Trump Arrested for Allegedly Threatening to Kill Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, Trump Demands DOJ to Pay Him $230 Million in Compensation for Federal Probes Against Him, Arizona Attorney General Sues Speaker Johnson for Refusing to Seat Rep.-Elect Adelita Grijalva, Trump's Special Counsel Nominee Withdraws Following Backlash over Racist Texts, Federal Agents Shoot U.S. Marshal and Undocumented Immigrant in Los Angeles, WaPo: Secretary of State Rubio Offered MS-13 Informants to Secure El Salvador Prison Deal, Guardian: CIA Played Central Role in Sharing Intel Used for U.S. Strikes in the Caribbean, Trump-Putin Summit in Budapest Is Canceled, Former French President Sarkozy Begins 5-Year Prison Sentence, Court Overturns Conviction of Colombia's Former President Alvaro Uribe, Flotilla Led by Indigenous Activists Heading to Brazil for COP30

Armed Only with a Camera, the documentary chronicling the life of the late filmmaker Brent Renaud, premieres Tuesday on HBO. Renaud was the first Western journalist killed during the war in Ukraine. He was shot by Russian soldiers during the 2022 invasion while filming Ukrainian refugees with another photojournalist, Juan Arredondo, who was wounded in the attack. Armed Only with a Camera, directed by Renaud's brother Craig, also a filmmaker, traces Brent Renaud's long career covering conflict and post-conflict regions around the world. We speak to Craig Renaud and Juan Arredondo about Brent's work and memory. He was a very compassionate person," says Renaud, emphasizing that Brent's focus on conflict zones was never about just trying to get to the frontlines ... He wanted to humanize the people that were there."

We look at the influence of Trump's top budget adviser and the architect of Project 2025, Russell Vought, over the Trump administration's policies and Trump himself. Vought is the driving force behind the [government] shutdown" and basically a second commander-in-chief, a shadow president," says ProPublica reporter Andy Kroll, who spent months researching Vought for an extensive profile on the Office of Management and Budget director. During this second Trump administration, Vought's deeply conservative ideology has been unchallenged by a compliant Congress, Kroll explains, placing unprecedented power into the hands of the executive branch.

We are under attack by our own federal government," says Democratic Congressmember for Illinois Delia Ramirez about Trump's immigration crackdown in Chicago. What we're seeing is an agency that has gone rogue, that has been emboldened and that thinks that they're above the law." She urges Americans to report and record ICE activity to strengthen future legal battles, because what ICE is stating and what we're seeing in the community in the streets is inconsistent." Congressmember Ramirez also comments on the ongoing federal government shutdown, which she calls a clear embodiment of Donald Trump's leadership: starve and let people die while the billionaires and his cronies enrich themselves," the Republican leadership's continued refusal to swear in new Democratic Congressmember-elect Adelita Grijalva, and the Trump-backed Gaza ceasefire.

Top U.S. Officials Travel to Israel for Talks as Netanyahu Threatens to Collapse Gaza Ceasefire, Palestinian Woman Beaten Unconscious as Israeli Settlers Attack West Bank Olive Farmers, Federal Court Gives Trump Green Light to Deploy Troops to Portland, Blatantly Immoral": DHS Secretary Kristi Noem Draws Fire for $170M Purchase of Luxury Private Jets, Colombia Recalls Ambassador to U.S. over Strikes in Caribbean as Trump Issues Threats, Sanae Takaichi, Opponent of Gender Equality, Becomes Japan's First Female Prime Minister, Trump Admin Fires Two Prosecutors Who Opposed Criminal Case Against Letitia James, DOJ Whistleblower Says He Received Illegal Orders from Trump Appointee Emil Bove, Politico: Trump Nominee Texts Group of Republicans He Has a Nazi Streak", Seven Universities Decline to Sign Trump Administration's Compact", White House Begins Demolishing Part of East Wing to Make Way for Trump's Ballroom

Immigrant rights and labor icon Dolores Huerta, now 95 years old, is continuing her lifelong activism as immigration raids intensify across the country. She addressed the No Kings rally in Watsonville, California, this weekend to speak out against the Trump administration's mass deportation agenda. This is ethnic cleansing," Huerta tells Democracy Now! We have never seen such horrific, horrific attacks on our people."Huerta is president and founder of the Dolores Huerta Foundation; she co-founded the United Farm Workers of America with Cesar Chavez in the 1960s. Amid intensifying immigration raids, she describes how she has joined with People for the American Way and the Dolores Huerta Foundation to release a short dramatized film that shows neighbors joining together in nonviolent civil disobedience to protect an immigrant elder from being disappeared by ICE.

An estimated 7 million people took part in No Kings rallies Saturday to protest President Trump's authoritarian policies. Organizers say protests were held at about 2,600 sites across all 50 states in what was one of the largest days of protest in U.S. history, surpassing the first No Kings day of action in June. One of the biggest mobilizations was in Washington, D.C., where Trump has fired thousands of federal workers and sent in National Guard troops to patrol the streets. Democracy Now! covered the action and spoke to people about what brought them out to protest. We need to make it clear that we can't have an authoritarian government, a government that's turned into nothing but a weapon," says Paul Osadebe, who says he was fired from his job as a HUD civil rights lawyer for challenging Trump's refusal to enforce the Fair Housing Act.

Even after having released almost 2,000 people last week, the Israeli military is still holding about 9,000 Palestinians, in what it calls security prisoners or detainees," says Sari Bashi, an Israeli American human rights lawyer and former program director at Human Rights Watch. Only about a thousand of them have actually been convicted of any crime. The vast majority of people being held are being held without trial."Bashi also says the genocide has been hell" for her Palestinian husband, whose family is based in Gaza. Their relationship is chronicled in Bashi's forthcoming memoir, Upside-Down Love.

We speak with Al Jazeera reporter Ibrahim al-Khalili in Gaza, where the shaky ceasefire between Israel and Hamas appears to be holding despite sporadic violence. Gaza officials say Israeli forces have repeatedly violated the agreement, including when they opened fire on a civilian bus, killing 11 members of a Palestinian family attempting to return home in Gaza City. Israel killed dozens more over the weekend when it unleashed a wave of airstrikes after it said militants attacked some of its soldiers, although there are reports the soldiers died when their bulldozer ran over unexploded ordnance. Israel also continues to restrict humanitarian aid into Gaza, despite its commitments in the ceasefire agreement.Israel is breaching the ceasefire," says al-Khalili. The war has not really ended for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who are still struggling to survive the next day with the lack of basic necessities."Al-Khalili, who has reported from Gaza since the outbreak of the war in October 2023, lost several family members in a deadly Israeli attack on their apartment building. His brother Mohammed was also taken captive by Israeli forces for 19 months and only released last week as part of the prisoner exchange.

No Kings: An Estimated 7 Million People Participate in Nationwide Anti-Trump Rallies, Israel Kills Dozens in Gaza and Temporarily Halts Aid Deliveries, President Trump Threatens to Send National Guard Troops to San Francisco, Federal Government Shutdown Enters 20th Day, Trump Threatens to Cut Off Foreign Aid to Colombia and Launch Attacks Inside Venezuela, Rodrigo Paz Wins Bolivian Presidential Election, Trump Urges Ukrainian President Zelensky to Accept Putin's Terms to End the War, Prince Andrew Announces He's Giving Up Royal Titles Ahead of the Publication of Virginia Giuffre's Memoir, Vermont Republican Legislator Resigns over Racist and Antisemitic Group Chat, Trump Commutes Sentence of Former Republican Congressman George Santos, Kaiser Permanente Healthcare Workers End Five-Day Strike

Even as President Trump has cracked down on dissent and sent troops into multiple cities, organizers of Saturday's anti-authoritarian No Kings" protests expect millions to join at least 2,500 rallies across all 50 states and several U.S. territories. The turnout could surpass the 5 million protesters who turned out for No Kings Day" events in June.We are engaging in the most American activity in the world, which is coming together in peaceful protest of our government," says Leah Greenberg, co-founder and co-executive director of the progressive organization Indivisible. Trump's threats against the protests are a classic exercise of the authoritarian playbook, to try to create fear, to try to threaten, to try to make people back off preemptively," she adds.There will be no fear, but the fear of what will happen to us if we don't mobilize," says Byron Sigcho-Lopez, alderperson of the 25th Ward in Chicago, where mass protests are expected.

There are growing questions over the legality of U.S. strikes on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean. These are sitting ducks, and we are simply engaged in cold-blooded murder of individuals who may or may not be drug smugglers," says David Cole, professor at the Georgetown University Law Center. Cole says that President Trump is committing homicide" by killing people without trial. These individuals who have now been sent to the bottom of the sea by this president, if they were tried, at most, would face a sentence of some period of years," says Cole. There would be no death penalty authorized under the Constitution for these individuals, even assuming they're guilty."This comes as Trump has authorized the CIA to carry out covert operations inside Venezuela aimed at regime change, raising fears of a military confrontation between the two countries.

Just days after the U.S.-backed ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas went into effect, President Trump has issued new threats against Hamas, saying Thursday the United States would back a military intervention against the group if it fails to uphold the ceasefire agreement.There is the fear all the time that the war will be renewed," says Amira Hass, Haaretz correspondent for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, who joins us from Ramallah. Hass is the daughter of Holocaust survivors and is the only Israeli Jewish journalist to have spent 30 years living in and reporting from Gaza and the West Bank.

Palestinians in Gaza Attempt to Identify Bodies Released by Israel, Israeli Defense Minister Calls on Military to Prepare a Comprehensive Plan" to Defeat Hamas If Ceasefire Fails, Jewish Voice for Peace Protesters Occupy Senator Cory Booker's Office Building Lobby, Trump's Former National Security Adviser John Bolton Indicted by a Grand Jury, U.S. Launches Another Strike on a Suspected Drug Boat Off the Coast of Venezuela, U.S. Admiral Overseeing Strikes on Alleged Drug Boats in the Caribbean to Step Down, Ukrainian President Zelensky to Meet with Trump Today and Request Tomahawk Cruise Missiles, Federal Judge Orders ICE Agents to Wear Body Cameras in Chicago, ProPublica: More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Detained by ICE Agents, Federal Judge Lifts Travel Restrictions for Mahmoud Khalil, Federal Government Shutdown Enters 17th Day, WSJ: Trump Admin to Overhaul IRS to Pursue Left-Leaning Groups and Major Democratic Donors, Organizers of No Kings" Protests Expect Millions of People to Join at Least 2,500 Rallies Nationwide, New York City Mayoral Candidates Face Off in First Debate Ahead of Nov. 4 Election

The Department of Defense has introduced a new press policy requiring the Pentagon to authorize any reporting on itself. Top TV news outlets have rejected the pledge; only the far-right outlet One America News has agreed to sign on. Dozens of reporters with the Pentagon Press Association turned in their government-issued press badges and left the building Wednesday rather than agree to the rules. The Trump administration has made the suppression of speech that it doesn't like a governing principle since it took office," says David Schulz, who advised the Pentagon Press Association on their response. He warns the desire of the Pentagon officials to control what is said about them" is alarming" and signals a major rupture in U.S. press freedoms.

The Supreme Court appears ready to strike down Section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, threatening the equal representation of Black voters, and potentially greenlighting Republican gerrymandering ahead of the 2026 midterm election. The case concerns Louisiana's six congressional districts, two of which are majority-Black, in approximate proportion to the Black population of the state. A previous map that gave Black voters only one district in which they were a majority was ruled to have violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act last year. Now a group of conservative activists have brought the battle to the Supreme Court, challenging Section 2 itself. The stakes of this case are enormous. This is a case about whether districts that represent all Americans fairly will remain possible in this country," says ACLU lawyer Megan Keenan, who is part of the legal team defending Louisiana's current congressional map. We have a wretched history of racial discrimination in voting in this country," and for 40 uninterrupted years, we have applied this rigorous, data-driven test to figure out when discrimination exists and how to stop it. That's the test that's at stake in this case."

We speak to Argentine journalist Pablo Calvi about the U.S. government's multibillion-dollar bailout for Argentina, which could grow from $20 billion to $40 billion as Argentina is rocked by an ongoing economic crisis. I don't see that the bailout would benefit the Argentine people or the American people, for that matter," says Calvi. Instead, he believes the tech industry will reap the financial rewards from its ties to U.S. President Trump and his ally, far-right Argentine President Javier Milei, who attended the conservative CPAC conference in the U.S., where he gifted billionaire Elon Musk a chain saw.

Palestinians who have been released from Israeli prisons as part of the hostage exchange with Hamas are describing physical and psychological torture, medical neglect, deprivation and more. Moureen Kaki, a Palestinian American aid worker with Glia International who has been interviewing the returnees, joins us from Khan Younis to share some of their stories. Most were captured and imprisoned without charge by the Israeli military in the past two years. They were being illegally imprisoned as captives by the Israeli military and then the Israeli government," Kaki explains. Some of them were held captive for as little as three months, and some of them for several years."

We get an update from Gaza as the ceasefire there concludes its first week. Despite the agreed-upon cessation of hostilities, the Israeli military has continued its deadly attacks on Palestinians. Israel's pledge to let in the 600 aid trucks needed daily to fill the dire need among the starving population has likewise fallen short. We do not have enough supplies entering Gaza," says Rachael Cummings, who is with Save the Children International in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza.

Israel Delays Reopening Gaza Border Crossing, Continues Deadly Attacks Despite Ceasefire, Palestinian Political Prisoners' Group Says Israeli Guards Brutally Beat Marwan Barghouti, Spanish Unions and Students Hold Nationwide Strike Demanding Government Sever Ties with Israel, Greta Thunberg Describes Israeli Guards' Torture of Gaza Aid Flotilla Activists, Maduro Says No to Regime Change" as Trump Says He's Ordered Covert CIA Operations in Venezuela, Reporters Turn In Badges and Vacate Pentagon En Masse Rather Than Sign Restrictive Press Policy, Supreme Court Appears Poised to Strike Down Key Provision of Voting Rights Act, Judge Puts Temporary Hold on Trump's Mass Firing of Federal Workers During Government Shutdown, U.S. to Deport Exonerated Prisoner Held 43 Years for Crime He Did Not Commit, Trump Admin Plans to Limit Refugee Admissions, Giving Preference to English Speakers, Democratic Women's Caucus Marches Through Capitol Demanding Rep.-Elect Grijalva Be Sworn In, WSJ: Ghislaine Maxwell Receiving Preferential Treatment at Minimum-Security Prison

There are just weeks to go before the November 4 New York City mayoral election, a virtual rematch of the Democratic primary from earlier this year, when democratic socialist state lawmaker Zohran Mamdani defeated former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo for the party nomination. Cuomo is now running for mayor as an independent, but former aide Lindsey Boylan says New Yorkers must not forget why he was forced out of the governor's mansion four years ago. She was the first of about a dozen women to accuse Cuomo of sexual harassment, setting in motion events that would lead to his fall from power - even as he continues to claim innocence.He resigned because he did these things," says Boylan, who backs Mamdani in the mayoral race. People powerful within his own party forced that resignation because they knew he did these things. So he's lying. ... We have to repeat it, because people have to know what an abuser he is."

As Israel and Hamas exchange living and dead captives as part of a U.S.-backed ceasefire agreement, questions are growing about how sustainable the truce is and whether the two sides will progress to the second and third stages of the plan.My family is very happy that the families of other hostages that have been returned, dead and alive, are reaching some degree of closure," says Middle East historian Joel Beinin, whose Israeli niece, Liat Beinin Atzili, was held captive in Gaza for 54 days after she was taken by Hamas militants on October 7, 2023, while her husband Aviv was killed. The family's story is the focus of a new documentary, Holding Liat.All of the rest of the 20-point plan is very dubious, and I have grave doubts about whether any of the rest of it will actually be implemented," says Beinin, who also discusses one-sided Western media coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and how he came to abandon Zionism" despite having family in Israel.

We speak with Rutgers University professor Mark Bray, who fled from the U.S. to Spain with his family after receiving death threats over his scholarship. He is the author of the 2017 book Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook, which explores the history and tactics of anti-fascist movements in Europe, the United States and beyond. Turning Point USA, the conservative campus group founded by Charlie Kirk, had called for Bray's firing and branded him Dr. Antifa." This comes as the Trump administration has dramatically escalated its war on dissent following Kirk's assassination, using his death as pretext to launch an assault on activists, organizations and speech it disagrees with.What we're seeing today in the U.S. is increasingly fascist. MAGA, I believe - and I study fascism, I don't say this lightly - is a fascist movement," says Bray, referring to Trump's political movement.President Trump signed an executive order designating antifa as a terrorist organization, but Bray stresses there is no such organization; anti-fascism is a loose political movement or ideology akin to feminism, but Trump is using the label to demonize resistance" to his policies.

Pressure Grows on Israel to Allow More Aid into Gaza, Amazon Fires Software Engineer Who Criticized Cloud Computing Project with Israel, Pro-Palestinian Protesters Clash with Authorities During Soccer Match Between Israel and Italy, ICE Agents Disperse Protesters with Tear Gas After High-Speed Chase in Chicago, State Department Revokes Visas of Foreign Nationals over Charlie Kirk Comments, I Love Hitler": Racist Messages by Young Republican Leaders Exposed in New Leak, Speaker Johnson Continues to Delay Swearing-In of Rep.-Elect Adelita Grijalva, Senate Fails to Pass Funding Bill as Federal Government Shutdown Enters Its 15th Day, Trump Conditions $20 Billion Bailout to Argentina on Milei's Party Winning Elections, Reuters: China Buying Argentine Soybeans Amid U.S. Tariffs, U.S. Strikes Another Boat Off Coast of Venezuela, Killing 6 People, Five Major Broadcast Outlets Refuse to Sign Pentagon's New Press Policy, Elite Military Unit Seizes Power After Ouster of Madagascar President, Reuters: Assad Regime Moved Mass Graves to Cover Up Killings, Tens of Thousands of Kaiser Permanente Frontline Medical Staff Go on Strike, Transgender Activist Miss Major Griffin-Gracy Dies at 78

As Trump threatens to send more federal troops to Chicago, grassroots movements have mobilized to protect immigrants from ICE raids. Democracy Now!'s Juan Gonzalez, who is based in Chicago, reports that there have been meetings all around the city, at college campuses and in neighborhoods, to build this self-defense group."

As President Trump celebrates his Gaza ceasefire deal, major questions remain over what happens next. Democracy Now! speaks with Khaled Elgindy, visiting scholar at Georgetown University's Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, who breaks down the U.S.-backed peace plan. Though the document includes vague statements" on how the peace process will unfold, Elgindy says it's wise for Palestinians to rebuild their national movement" at this time. At the same time, Israel has refused to release political leader Marwan Barghouti, who has spent decades in Israeli prison and is widely seen as a unifying leader" who could bring all Palestinian factions together.

Pressure is mounting for Israel to release many more detainees as part of the U.S.-backed Gaza ceasefire deal, including Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Gaza's Kamal Adwan Hospital, who has been held under harsh conditions without charge since December, when Israeli troops stormed the hospital - claiming without evidence it was a Hamas command center. Soldiers forced Dr. Abu Safiya out at gunpoint along with patients he had refused to abandon. Famous footage shows him wearing his white medical coat as he climbed over rubble to walk toward an Israeli tank before he was detained.Naji Abbas, director of the Prisoners Department at Physicians for Human Rights Israel, says that Abu Safiya is one of at least 19 doctors held in Israeli detention without charge. They are facing a very serious risk for their health and for their lives," says Abbas. They are being tortured. They are facing violence daily."

As President Trump addressed the Israeli Knesset on Monday, he was briefly interrupted by two lawmakers who waved signs reading Recognize Palestine." The two Knesset members, Ayman Odeh and Ofer Cassif with the Hadash-Ta'al alliance, were expelled from the chamber. Yesterday, there was a disgusting display of flattery and personality cult by two megalomaniacs who are hungry for power and blood," says Cassif. This was a minimum protest against the policy of the genocidal government of Israel."