Democracy Now!

An estimated 60,000 people from Morocco crossed into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, on the African side of the Strait of Gibraltar, in an unprecedented mass movement last week. At least 72 people died during the attempt. The sudden influx of migrants overwhelmed the city's residents, leading to a humanitarian crisis while border police deployed water cannons, tear gas and warning shots to deter people from crossing. According to Spain's Interior Ministry, nearly all of the migrants returned to Morocco just a day later.Miriyam Aouragh, an anthropologist and the daughter of Moroccan immigrants to Europe, says the driving factors for the mass movement are a combination of shifting entry policies to Spain and increasing economic inequality in Morocco that has given a sort of empowering incentive to people to try to go to Spain" via Ceuta. The city, which is surrounded by Morocco along a five-mile-long border, dates back to the Phoenician era and has been under Portuguese or Spanish control since 1415. The Moroccan government claims that Ceuta is occupied and colonized territory, while Spain considers it an integral part of the Spanish state.

U.S. to Hold Off on Attacking Iran as Negotiations over Iran's Nuclear Program Continue, Israeli Strikes Kill at Least 25 Palestinians in Gaza Over the Weekend, Acting Attorney General Blanche Formally Terminates Trump's So-Called Anti-Weaponization Fund, U.S. Experiencing Largest Measles Outbreak in 30 Years, Capital One Says It Closed the Trump Organization's Bank Accounts After an Internal Probe, Truth Social Launches New Service for Paid Users to Get Alerts on Trump's Posts, Trump Admin Drops Case Against U.S. Olympian Accused of Vandalizing Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Migrants Return to Morocco from the Spanish Enclave of Ceuta, Wildfires Rage in Greece as Heat Wave Grips Europe, Electricity Grid Collapses in Cuba, Causing Nationwide Blackout, 29-year-old Prisciliano Trejo Ricano Dies in ICE Custody in Georgia, Key Witness in ICE Fatal Shooting of Mexican Father Lorenzo Salgado Araujo Speaks Out, GOP Senator Moreno Calls on His Ex-Son-in-Law Congressmember Miller to Step Down, GOP Senate Candidate Collins Facing Scrutiny over Son-in-Law's Ties to White Nationalists, Dominican American Scholar, Historian and Prison Abolitionist Dr. Johanna Fernandez Dies at 55

During Thursday's segment about the risks of artificial intelligence, we shared a quote from author Naomi Klein that we later discovered was AI-generated. Klein has written about the proliferation of the fake quote on her Substack and joins Democracy Now! to discuss the growing difficulty of verifying online information.These companies are creating digital doppelgangers of us, trying to monetize our identities," says Klein. One wonders how we're ever going to get out of this house of mirrors unless companies are forced to label AI-generated work."

U.S. boat strikes across the Caribbean and eastern Pacific have killed at least 221 people since September, while the Trump administration has provided no evidence linking the vessels or their passengers to drug trafficking. Ecuadorian prosecutor Alexandra Bravo was fatally shot on June 14 by a hitman in the city of Manta. Bravo had been investigating U.S. strikes on three Ecuadorian boats in which 36 passengers survived, many of them recounting alleged torture by American gunmen in U.S. military uniforms aboard a U.S.-flagged patrol ship.The allegations of U.S. boat strikes and torture Bravo was investigating are a reflection of the growing U.S.-backed military dictatorship in Ecuador," says Camila Lourdes Galarza, an investigative journalist and labor organizer based in Quito. Lourdes Galarza says that during Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa's reelection last year, former Blackwater mercenaries patrolled voting sites at gunpoint.The Trump administration has deepened U.S. security cooperation with Ecuador as a response to the surge in violence in [Ecuador], particularly to the growth of organized crime groups," adds Juanita Goebertus, director of the Americas division at Human Rights Watch. None of the two governments have provided transparency about the nature of their security cooperation."

Democrats are calling for an ethics investigation into Republican Congressmember Max Miller of Ohio, who is facing allegations of domestic abuse as he runs for reelection. Miller's ex-wife Emily Moreno, daughter of Ohio Republican Senator Bernie Moreno, claims that Miller burned her by throwing hot water at her, held a gun to her head and fractured their 2-year-old daughter's collarbone. Miller is also accused of abuse by former Trump White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham, who was in a relationship with Miller prior to his marriage to Moreno.Mother Jones obtained around 2,000 pages of court filings and police reports pertaining to Miller, which include allegations dating back to high school. There is an established pattern of multiple women claiming that they were abused by Congressman Max Miller," says Abby Vesoulis, national politics reporter for Mother Jones.

President Trump said Thursday he may temporarily withdraw his nomination of Todd Blanche for attorney general after two Republican senators, John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, said they would not vote to advance Blanche's nomination until they received written assurances that he would limit some of the terms in the controversial deal reached between the Department of Justice and President Trump to settle his personal lawsuit against the IRS.Blanche, currently acting attorney general, is refusing to make a clear commitment that American tax dollars aren't going to go to the rioters of January 6th," says Democratic Congressmember Ro Khanna. He's refusing to make a clear commitment that Trump's family could still be held liable for violating financial laws."Khanna also speaks about his ongoing efforts to bring justice for survivors of Jeffrey Epstein's sexual abuse, about which he says Blanche has been the biggest obstacle to justice," his recent trip to the occupied West Bank where he was detained by armed Israeli settlers and more.

Trump Claims Hamas Has Agreed to Complete Disarmament" in Gaza, But Major Questions Remain, Senate Votes Down Iran War Powers Resolution After Fetterman Votes with GOP Majority, Saudi Arabia Forms New Military Alliance After Red Sea Attacks, Iran Clams Drone Attack on Egypt May Have Been False Flag, Oil Giants Report Huge Profits Due to Rising Gas Prices from Iran War, Trump May Temporarily Withdraw Blanche Nomination to Be AG, Climate Change Has Sparked Major Intensification" of Fires in Europe: Report, 34 Die as Thousands of Migrants Crossed from Morocco to Spanish Enclave of Ceuta, Trump Thanks Morocco's King for Naming Highway in Occupied Western Sahara After Him, U.S Displays Wildly Inaccurate Map of Africa, Misplacing Nigeria & Other Nations, Outrage Grows over FIFA Plan to Sell Stake in World Cup to Kushner-Linked Private Equity Firm, Father of Georgia School Shooter Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison, U.K. Police Arrest 117 at Protest Outside Palestine Action Court Hearing, Sen. Schumer Disrupted at D.C. Event over His Support of Israel

The Haitian community is bracing for mass deportations after the Supreme Court last month sided with the Trump administration to end TPS, or Temporary Protected Status, for over 300,000 Haitians as well as thousands of Syrians who fled violence in their home countries. According to an internal government document, the plans to round up and deport Haitian immigrants could start this week. President Trump has long expressed animus toward Haitians in the United States. During the 2024 presidential campaign, he amplified false claims that Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, were eating cats and dogs. The fear is so huge in our community," says Viles Dorsainvil, co-founder and executive director of the Haitian Support Center in Springfield, Ohio. Due to the risk of violence in Haiti, the U.S. government is warning American citizens not to travel to the country. For many Haitian immigrants who fled to the U.S. for safety, they do not have a country to go back to."

A coalition of social justice organizations is celebrating a recent decision by Citizens Bank to divest from private prison companies that operate immigration jails for the federal government. The financial institution has faced significant pressure from protesters for providing more than $2.5 billion in financing to CoreCivic and the GEO Group, which work directly with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. While the bank denied that activist pressure affected its decision, the De-ICE Citizens Bank Coalition counted it as a victory.It was absolutely thanks to the incredible work of the activists," says Jake Ephros, a Democratic Socialist member of Jersey City Council, who helped push the municipality to pull over $200 million in city funds from the bank.We also speak with Rev. John Edgerton, senior minister of Old South Church in Boston and a board member of the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization. He credits a broad movement" with the victory. The pressure became too much for Citizens to bear, and they had to do the right thing."

Artificial intelligence tools are quickly advancing in sophistication and capabilities, raising alarm among researchers and industry figures who say the technology needs to be more tightly regulated. This comes as OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT, recently disclosed that one of its experimental AI agents went rogue and secretly hacked into the infrastructure of several other companies in what was supposed to be a controlled test. Over 1,100 scientists and senior employees at top AI firms have called on the U.S. government to back international efforts to deliberately pace" the development of the world's most advanced AI systems.What we're talking about now are AI systems that also have goals on their own that they can actively go out and pursue in the world," says AI researcher Max Tegmark, a physics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Tegmark says OpenAI's rogue agent is a canary in the coal mine" of where the technology is headed as Silicon Valley leaders seek to replace humans."

U.S. Strikes IRGC Targets Inside Iran, Killing 3 People on Qeshm Island, Antiwar Rally in NYC Organized by Iranian Diaspora, Demonstrators in Libya Storm Energy Complex in Anti-Gov't Protests, U.N.: Israeli Settler Violence in the Occupied West Bank Hits All-Time High, Israel Continues to Move Its So-Called Yellow Line of Control in Gaza, Drop Site News: Trump's Former Campaign Manager Working to Influence How AI Chatbots Talk About Gaza, Russia Launches Missile and Drone Attack on Ukraine, Killing 8 People, U.N. Warns of Growing Hunger Crisis in Eastern Congo Amid Ebola Outbreak, Pakistani Authorities Accused of Killing 30 People in Pakistan-Administered Kashmir, Federal Reserve Votes to Maintain the Current Interest Rate at Around 3.6%, GOP Senator Cornyn and Tillis Threaten to Withhold Support for Blanche to Be Attorney General, U.S. Senate Unanimously Passes Bill Opposing Pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell, Trump Asks SCOTUS to Overturn $83.3 Million Jury Award Against Him for Defaming E. Jean Carroll, GOP Congressmember Miller Faces Allegations of Domestic Abuse from Ex-Wife, Fauci Invokes Fifth Amendment More Than 100 Times During Senate Hearing

We go to New Delhi for an update on India's youth-led, anti-government Cockroach" movement. After weeks of street protests against Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and the ruling BJP party, Pradhan tendered his resignation on Saturday. Now, however, protest leaders are accusing right-wing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of reneging on his promise to not take punitive action against demonstrators. Because this government and its policy is, and has always been, that of vengeance, ... we are witnessing a massive crackdown on student activists across the country," says Neha Bora, a doctoral student at Jawaharlal Nehru University and the national president of the All India Students Association. Bora spent 23 days on hunger strike during the protests.Indian writer and artist Shuddhabrata Sengupta points out that the movement is not the first major Gen Z"-led protest in the country. Six years ago, India's streets exploded in protest of the Citizenship Amendment Act, which purported to provide asylum seekers from religious minority groups a path to citizenship, but excluded Muslims, who face severe levels of persecution under the BJP's Hindu nationalist government. There's clearly a restlessness for change and an unwillingness to accept the lies and the slander that the regime produces on a daily and a nightly basis," says Sengupta.

The United States is facing a number of major disease outbreaks, from foodborne cyclosporiasis to vaccine-preventable measles. We speak to the former chief medical officer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Debra Houry. She resigned from her post one year ago in protest over political interference at the agency and the leadership of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine activist who has overseen the slashing of billions of dollars in public health funding during the second Trump administration.The U.S. is really at a tipping point, when you look at measles, whooping cough, all these vaccine-preventable diseases, as well, and the secretary is responsible for this," says Houry. Public health matters. When it works, you often don't know, because you're saving lives. But when you take it away, we see those consequences today."

We speak to Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, about Israel's continued impunity from international law. Despite an International Criminal Court warrant out for his arrest, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently visited the White House to meet with President Donald Trump. While the United States is not a member state to the ICC, It doesn't mean that they have to extend protection to a fugitive from international law," says Albanese, who joins widespread international calls for Netanyahu's arrest. The United States is actively contributing to make the international criminal law architecture that it has been building, from the Nuremberg trials up until now, crumble on our head."Albanese also comments on settler- and soldier-led pogroms" in the occupied West Bank and calls out the complicity of the governments of Greece, Italy and France, which, despite being party to the ICC, authorized Netanyahu's travel through their airspaces. It looks small in the context of a genocide, but every action matters, as every crime matters and will be accounted for," she says.

France and Spain Race to Contain Wildfires Amid Heat Wave, Death Toll Rises to 18 People in Japan Earthquake, Uganda Declares End to the Latest Outbreak of Ebola, Netanyahu and Zelensky Attend Sen. Graham's Funeral in Washington, Senate Votes to Confirm Jay Clayton as Director of National Intelligence, U.S.-Iran Negotiations Stall as Iran Attacks U.S. Base in Jordan, U.S. Walks Out of UNSC Meeting During French Ambassador's Remarks, Human Rights Groups Say Iranian Authorities Hanged Two Anti-Gov't Protesters, Israeli Jets Strike Mosque in Gaza City, Killing One Person and Wounding Dozens, Palestinians Released from Israeli Prisons Show Signs of Torture, Israeli Activists Protesting Settler Violence in the Occupied West Bank Clash with Police, Federal Judge Orders Release of Key Witness in ICE's Fatal Shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, Wired: Longtime DHS Officials Resigns over Trump's War on Immigrants", WSJ: Trump Pressuring RFK Jr. to Slash Childhood Vaccination Recommendations, Right-Wing Leader Keiko Fujimori Sworn In as President of Peru

A man drove a minivan into a crowd of people near Berlin's Pride celebrations on Saturday, killing one person and injuring 29 others. Authorities shot and killed the man during an operation on Sunday. The alleged suspect was identified as Abdul Ballout, a 21-year-old German citizen. According to authorities, Ballout tried to join the Islamic State in 2025 and was released from prison in May after being jailed for preparing an attack.The far right here in Germany is, of course, waiting for an attack like this one to use it in order to highlight that the foreigners are the problem," says Alfonso Pantisano, LGBTQ affairs commissioner for the Berlin state government. By doing so, they completely forget and avoid to look at how much queerphobia there is in this country in all various levels of structures."

A prominent Colombian activist left the United States after he was arrested by immigration agents and detained for over a month in an ICE jail. Franklin Humberto Coral Garrido, known as Beto Coral, was a frequent online critic of far-right President-elect Abelardo de la Espriella, a Trump ally, in the run-up to Colombia's election.In a memo obtained by The New York Times in June, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio pushed for Coral's deportation and accused the activist of undermining U.S. foreign policy and interfering in Colombia's democratic process by supporting current Colombian leftist President Gustavo Petro and attacking de la Espriella.Coral arrived in the United States in 2015 on a tourist visa and had a pending asylum application.The treatment I received was inhumane," says Coral of his time in ICE custody. He says that while in detention, he was beaten, denied food and water, and kept in solitary confinement.The problem that Marco Rubio and the Trump administration has," explains Elizabeth Shaw, one of Coral's attorneys, is that Coral's opinion is against what they are in support of."

The Republican-led House Ways and Means Committee subpoenaed BreakThrough News last week, demanding the independent online news outlet hand over internal communications and financial records. BreakThrough News says it's being targeted over its coverage of U.S. mass deportations, ICE abuses, Cuba and Palestine solidarity and U.S. foreign policy.They're attempting to criminalize dissent and an independent press," says BreakThrough News journalist Rania Khalek, comparing it to the McCarthy-era campaign against left-wing groups. Everybody who cares about a free press and cares about free speech should be alarmed about an attack like this."

As the Trump administration threatens to intensify its global campaign to crush radical left terrorism," we look at a new 100-page report issued by the State Department last week accusing the Cuban government of waging a sustained campaign of subversion against the United States." The report claims Cuba has backed a number of groups in the United States, including the National Lawyers Guild, Pastors for Peace, the National Network on Cuba and the feminist antiwar organization CodePink.CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin calls the State Department's report an incredible piece of garbage" for attempting to link U.S. peace movements to Cuba and for paint[ing] this picture of a tiny island nation that is trying to overthrow the United States."

France and Spain Brace for Another Heat Wave While Battling Historic Wildfires, Major Fires in Oregon Have Burned More Than 1 Million Acres of Land, Fires in Minnesota Have Burned Tens of Thousands of Acres, Trump Hosts Netanyahu at the White House as U.S. Weighs Next Steps Against Iran, Zelensky Set to Meet with Trump Before Attending Sen. Lindsey Graham's Funeral, Uganda Distributes Emergency Food Relief After 19 People Died Due to Drought, Trump Admin Files Emergency Application to SCOTUS to Allow Order Restricting Mail-In Voting, El-Sayed and Stevens Clash over AIPAC Funding in Final Debate Before Michigan Senate Primary, ICE Reportedly Stepping Up Plans to Deport Haitian Immigrants, Trump Admin Announces New Rules for Asylum Seekers, Justice Department Drops Case Against SEIU Leader David Huerta, Bolsonaro's Eldest Son Launches Campaign to Challenge Lula in Brazil's Next Election, Former Honduran President Returns Home After Receiving Trump Pardon, WaPo: Trump Admin's Campaign of Striking Boats in the Caribbean and Pacific Has Not Reduced Amount of Cocaine Entering the U.S., Chilean Police Capture Man Sentenced over Killing of Folk Singer and Activist Victor Jara, GOP Senator McConnell Releases New Photo Since Hospitalization, Powerful 6.8 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Southwest Japan

Israeli settlers torched two mosques over the weekend in a new wave of violence targeting Palestinian towns and villages across the occupied West Bank. Meanwhile, Israeli military forces on Saturday detained over 70 Palestinians in raids across the occupied territory. This follows the killing of at least four Palestinians in the village of Tal on Friday, when Israeli settlers and soldiers opened fire on residents attempting to protect their homes; two Israelis were also killed.Palestinian journalist Mariam Barghouti says the Israeli army and Israeli settlers should not be seen as separate" as they carry out a familiar pattern of collective punishment." She also stresses that anti-Palestinian violence in the occupied West Bank cannot be divorced from Israeli repression in Jerusalem and its genocide in Gaza.This is a colonial regime that is engaging in crimes against humanity," says Barghouti. How those crimes look may differ, but in the end they serve the same purpose, and that is ethnically cleansing Palestinians in order to build this Greater Israel in the region."

We speak with Democratic Congressmember Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, a longtime critic of U.S. foreign policy, in a wide-ranging conversation about Iran, Cuba, ending military funding for Israel and more. Last week, McGovern joined the entire Democratic caucus and four Republicans to pass a resolution calling on President Trump to withdraw U.S. forces from hostilities against Iran.It's just like Iraq," says McGovern. We're getting involved in a quagmire here, an endless war."

France and Spain are battling catastrophic wildfires that have forced more than 350,000 people to evacuate their homes. The fires began in the southwest of France on Wednesday before spreading to Spain, where they have consumed more than 120,000 acres in what is now the most destructive fire in Spain's recent history. Meanwhile, a new heat wave is expected to hit Europe this week, with temperatures soaring above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit).Professor Angel Luis Lara, who fled his home west of Madrid, says he considers his family very lucky" because they managed to escape to safety. He says the wildfires are not just about extreme weather, but also decades of neoliberal policies" that have diminished public services and the ability to respond to natural disasters.We also speak with journalist John Vaillant, author of Fire Weather, who says the climate crisis has created conditions that lead to destructive megafires" like those in Europe, North America and beyond. These conditions have been slowly building and worsening for decades, basically vindicating, unfortunately, the warnings of climate scientists and firefighters," says Vaillant.

U.S. Pauses Bombing Iran After Officials Warn Trump About Dwindling Munitions Stockpiles, Yemen's Houthi Rebels Strike Saudi Oil Sites on the Red Sea Coast, Devastating Wildfires Force More Than 360,000 People to Evacuate in France and Spain, Berlin Police Kill Suspect in Pride Festival Attack, Authorities Probe Stabbing Attacks in New York as Possible Hate Crimes, Three People Killed in Shooting at a Food Festival in Seattle, Israel Kills Two Hamas Security Officials in Gaza, Israeli Settlers Torch Mosques in Violent Attacks on Palestinian Towns and Villages in the Occupied West Bank, ICC Votes to Remove Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan Following Sexual Misconduct Allegations, Indian Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan Resigns After a Week of Mass Protests, Trump Teases Another Presidential Run at White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, Paramount Skydance Postpones Merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, Protesters in Houston Demand Justice After the ICE Killing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, Venezuelan Men Wrongfully Sent to CECOT Prison in El Salvador File Lawsuit Against Two U.S. Aviation Firms, Federal Health Officials Announce New Outbreak of Cyclosporiasis, Maine Democrats Select Troy Jackson to Replace Graham Platner as U.S. Senate Candidate

Filmmaker Juan Carlos Davila's new film for PBS, Farmers of the Sea, documents climate change's threats to the fishing industry and food security in Vieques, Puerto Rico. For islands in the Caribbean, explains Davila, we are situated geographically in one of the frontlines of climate change. [We're] not only facing stronger hurricanes now, [but] we could face food shortages, especially the islands that depend so much on the food that comes from the sea."

After failing to overturn birthright citizenship at the Supreme Court, Republican legislators are turning to new tactics to disenfranchise people born on U.S. soil. Their latest targets are those born to noncitizen or permanent resident parents in U.S. territories like Puerto Rico, where the Supreme Court has said citizenship is granted by statute and full constitutional protections do not apply. The proposed End Birthright Citizenship for the Territories Act" would create a subclass of people who can be discriminated against" and disregarded as human beings" in the U.S. territories, says Puerto Rican legal scholar Efren Rivera Ramos, who joins Democracy Now! from Puerto Rico's capital city, San Juan. While the bill's sponsor, Republican Congressmember Morgan Griffith of Virginia, says he's focused only on so-called birth tourism, Rivera Ramos says the language of the law is less clear.The quasi-colonial status of Puerto Rico is also being highlighted by the 10th anniversary of PROMESA, the Obama-era legislation that created a U.S.-appointed fiscal control board to manage the island's finances and restructure debt. In practice, PROMESA has been a failure," says Rivera Ramos, asserting the anti-democratic structure has imposed austerity measures and done little to address corruption, waste and inefficiency that plague the economy.

A youth-led protest movement in India is demanding an end to the country's status quo. Sparked by the leak of national exam questions, tens of thousands of young people have taken to the streets. They are protesting under the banner of the Cockroach Janta (People's) Party - a new party named to reflect the words of India's chief justice, who compared unemployed youth to cockroaches and parasites. The movement has only swelled in response to a violent crackdown on protesters. Although the protesters' initial demands were for the resignation of the country's education minister, everything has shifted to directly attacking [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi," says Indian writer Arundhati Roy, who joins us from New Delhi, the physical center of a movement that first found exponential success online. The erosion of democratic principles under Modi's right-wing Bharatiya Janata (Indian People's) Party is being contested on a large scale for the first time, says Roy. It's really a generation whose parents and grandparents wore those Modi masks and chanted 'Modi, Modi, Modi,' and got him into power. It is their children now who are saying the emperor has no clothes."

The status of a newly signed U.S.-Saudi nuclear deal is in question after President Trump made the surprise announcement that the deal is off unless Saudi Arabia normalizes relations with Israel. The deal paves the way for Saudi civil nuclear development, although critics warn that it could lead to the proliferation of nuclear weapons in the politically volatile Middle East.Saudi Arabia has long maintained that it would not officially recognize Israel by joining the Abraham Accords, the U.S.-negotiated diplomatic deal between Israel and a number of Arab states, until there is a pathway toward the creation of a Palestinian state. The Abraham Accords provision indicates that Israel is calling the shots again," when it comes to U.S. policy in the Middle East, notes Daniel Levy of the U.S./Middle East Project. Levy says it is unlikely that Saudi Arabia will agree to Trump's new conditions, at a cost to U.S. business interests, which stand to profit handily from the sale of nuclear energy technology to the oil-rich kingdom.

U.S. Bombs Iran for 13th Night as Pentagon Lowers" Iran War Death Toll from 18 to 14, House Approves Another War Powers Resolution Seeking to Rein In Trump's Attacks, Iran War Sends Diesel Prices Soaring, Costing U.S. Farmers Additional $1.4 Billion, FAO: Millions Face Prolonged Hunger as Iran War Drives Up Food Prices, Four Palestinians and One Israeli Are Killed as Dozens of Settlers Attack West Bank Town, WaPo: Trump Administration Is Considering Strikes on Mali, Trump Administration Cites Anti-Slavery Law to Impose Tariffs of Up to 12.5% on Trading Partners, DA Promises Criminal Probe as ICE Refuses to Name Officer Who Killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, Minnesota Man Who Murdered Democratic Lawmaker and Husband Gets Two Life Sentences, DOJ Drops Subpoenas Against New York Times Reporters After Grilling by Federal Judge, New York City Landlords Sue Mamdani Administration to Reverse Rent Freeze, Brooklyn Protesters Target Crye Precision, Supplier of Tactical Gear to ICE and Israel

Israeli American Holocaust scholar Omer Bartov says Israel's assault on Gaza predicts the future of genocide," with the perpetrator not only enjoying impunity for crimes against humanity but also profiting from the death and destruction. He says Israeli leaders will almost certainly escape accountability because international allies, including the United States and many European states, have failed to uphold international law.The denial of what Israel has done is ubiquitous because there is no [accountability] mechanism that kicks into place," he says. If you don't bring people to account, you're sliding back into what the international community tried to prevent after 1945."

Palestinian activist Mohsen Mahdawi, whose arrest by masked and hooded ICE agents when he arrived for his naturalization interview to become a U.S. citizen made national headlines last year, is facing a new deportation threat after a three-judge panel overturned a lower court ruling that had freed him from ICE custody. Mahdawi was involved in pro-Palestine protests at Columbia University, where he was a student, demanding an end to Israel's genocide in Gaza. He says he is being targeted solely for his advocacy.Enough is enough," Mahdawi says. Palestinian people deserve to have safety, freedom and equal rights between the river and the sea, and this government is trying to silence me."That is just textbook censorship, and the First Amendment doesn't allow it," adds ACLU attorney Nathan Freed Wessler, a member of Mahdawi's legal team.

We speak with Salah Sarsour, a Palestinian community leader in Wisconsin, president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee and a legal permanent resident of the United States for over 30 years. He faces possible deportation after being arrested in March and detained in an ICE jail for 80 days. The Department of Homeland Security claims Sarsour was arrested for lying on his 1993 green card application about a conviction in Israeli military courts when he was a teenager in the occupied West Bank, but Sarsour's lawyers say he is being targeted by the federal government over his advocacy for Palestinian human rights. Although a judge ordered Sarsour's release from detention in June, he still faces deportation proceedings set to resume next week.In ICE detention," says Sarsour, it brought to me these bad memories from my childhood, when I was under the Israeli military occupation and Israeli military rules in Palestine."

House GOP Approves $73B in New Pentagon Funding, $10B for Voting Restrictions, U.S. Strikes Southern Iran, Iraq Border Crossing on 12th Straight Night of Attacks, Nonproliferation Experts Warn U.S. Deal Could Lead to Nuclear-Armed Saudi Arabia, Judge Sets June 2027 Trial Date for Abducted Venezuelan Leaders Nicolas Maduro and Cilia Flores, Witnesses Say ICE Agents Rammed Their Van Before Fatally Shooting Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, Mexican Tourist Who Died Fleeing ICE Agents Was Visiting Florida on Vacation, Lawmakers Press ICE Officials on Training and Vehicle Stops After Killings of Immigrants, Police in Madison, Wisconsin, Fatally Shoot Black Man, Sparking Protests, Protests Erupt After Death of Moroccan-Born Man in Police Custody in Italy, GOP-Led House Ways and Means Committee Subpoenas BreakThrough News, NYC Mayor Mamdani Says He Does Not Have the Authority to Arrest Netanyahu

On February 28, the first day of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, missiles landed on Shajareh Tayyebeh primary school in the Iranian city of Minab, in a civilian area near the Strait of Hormuz. At least 121 schoolchildren were killed along with 26 teachers. Forensic Architecture and Sky News analyzed the attack, finding that the neighborhood was bombed a second time while families and rescuers were still on the ground. The Trump administration has repeatedly refused to take responsibility for the school strike, with President Trump even suggesting that images of the destruction were AI-generated.There were images and videos available from the time of the strikes," says Samaneh Moafi, assistant director of research at Forensic Architecture. A second wave of strikes hit, and it's in these ones that we do see the profile of a Tomahawk. And the only party within the war that has this missile is the U.S."

The U.S. is continuing to strike Iran for an 11th straight day. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday revealed the cost of the war on Iran has soared to over $37 billion during an appearance before the Senate Appropriations Committee. However, independent estimates and media reports based on internal leaks suggest the true figure is much higher. Hegseth is now seeking $80 billion more from Congress, including $67 billion for the war on Iran.You're requesting billions of dollars in supplemental funding for a war that you said would last for weeks and that the president has no plan or ability to end," said Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat from New York, during the hearing. You are asking for unlimited money for bombs when people can't feed their families."

Andrew and Tristan Tate have been arrested in Miami after British authorities issued new rape and sex trafficking charges against them. The brothers, dual British-U.S. citizens, are prominent in the far-right, hypermasculine online community known as the manosphere." They previously lived in Romania, where in 2023 prosecutors filed a criminal indictment against them for human trafficking, while Andrew faces a rape charge. Despite the charges, they were freed from travel restrictions in Romania early last year after White House officials reportedly took an interest in their case.Andrew Tate has become a really important political force for the MAGA movement," explains Heidi Blake, a reporter for The New Yorker. Despite the Tate brothers' popularity with prominent figures in the U.S. right wing, including Tucker Carlson and Elon Musk, Blake says the fact that the extradition request has been greenlit by the State Department suggests the Trump administration won't be protecting the Tates.Blake's recent investigation, Andrew Tate's Empire of Abuse," documents the Tate brothers' systematic exploitation of women over the past decade.What I was hearing from women I spoke to was an incredibly similar description of the way Andrew Tate would assault them, by choking them either 'til they passed out or 'til they couldn't breathe, raping them," says Blake. Often they describe being beaten over the head, as well, during these assaults."

Defense Secretary Hegseth Testifies U.S. War on Iran Has Cost $37.5 Billion, Yemen's Houthi Rebels Warn Shipping Companies Against Using Saudi Arabian Ports, Israeli Military Builds Giant Barrier Separating the Portion of the Gaza Strip It Controls, Three Villages in Southern Lebanon Begin to Implement Phased Withdrawal of Israeli Forces, Appeals Court Overturns Decision to Release Palestinian Rights Activist Mohsen Mahdawi, Trump Administration Arrests Record Number of Immigrants in June, Federal Judge Prohibits DHS from Deporting Key Witness in Fatal Shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, Federal Judge Blocks Trump Admin from Revoking Work Permits of Immigrants with Temporary Protected Status, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Ends Requirement for Employers to Collect Demographic Data, Police Detain Congress Party Leader Rahul Gandhi as Student-Led Anti-Gov't Protests Continue in India, Trump Admin Pauses More Than $1 Billion in Medicaid Funding to California and Minnesota, Cyclosporiasis Outbreak Sickens Thousands of People in the U.S., French Lawmakers Pass Bill Banning Social Media for Children Under 15, Njoki Njehu, Pan-African Feminist Educator and Advocate, Dies at 60

The tech company Flock, makers of traffic cameras that automatically record and log car license plates for law enforcement agencies, is facing increasing scrutiny over accusations that its vast, AI-sorted database has created a new, nationwide mass surveillance system. With few regulations or oversight on its use, Flock's data can be sold to third parties or shared with federal agencies such as ICE, says the ACLU's Chad Marlow, who works on efforts to regulate and cancel Flock's contracts with local law enforcement. Because Flock's indiscriminate system records information on all cars and drivers that pass its cameras, we have a company working to record the comings and goings of every single person in the country," in what Marlow calls a very un-American take on privacy."

The 2026 FIFA Men's World Cup has concluded, with Spain defeating Argentina to claim the coveted title. Spain's national team players accepted the championship trophy at New Jersey's MetLife Stadium alongside FIFA President Gianni Infantino and his close ally, United States President Donald Trump. Former professional soccer player Jules Boykoff, now a scholar who studies the political dimensions of the sport, joins us to discuss the various controversies that swirled around this year's tournament, held in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. this past month.While many of us were engrossed in this World Cup, Immigration and Customs Enforcement ramped up its violent deportation machine," says Boykoff. And so, the World Cup helped Trump advance his agenda. It deflected attention from a lot of people away from his brutal immigration program, and it sets him up well to do the same in Los Angeles in 2028 when the United States hosts the Summer Olympics."

As the Trump administration carries out its campaign against the International Criminal Court, imposing wide-reaching sanctions on judges, prosecutors and groups who have accused Israel of war crimes in front of the international tribunal, we're joined by veteran war crimes prosecutor Reed Brody. Brody says that the U.S. government's rejection of the ICC's jurisdiction is not about American sovereignty," as the Trump administration claims, but about impunity," for both U.S. allies, like Israel, and the U.S. itself. Marco Rubio knows that bombing Iran without Security Council authorization constitutes aggression under the U.N. Charter," says Brody. This is an insurance policy against accountability for crimes that the Trump administration is committing in plain sight."Brody also responds to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's statements that his office may attempt to carry out the ICC arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu when the Israeli prime minister attends the United Nations General Assembly later this year, and to the recent announcement by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega that his country will no longer hold elections, further entrenching the onetime revolutionary's authoritarian rule.

Yemen's Houthis Declare Naval Blockade of Saudi Arabia, Opening New Front in Mideast War, U.S. Bombs Iran for 10th Consecutive Night, Israeli Drone Strike Kills Family of 6 in Gaza City, Khalil al-Hayya, Who Survived Israeli Assassination Attempts, Selected as New Hamas Leader, Judge Halts Paramount Skydance's $110 Billion Takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, Trump Administration Sought Phone Records of New York Times Reporters and Their Families, State Department Alleges Cuba Infiltrated U.S. Politics Through Left-Wing Groups, Justice Department Activates Alien Terrorist Removal Court for First Time Ever, Open Letter by 120 Detained Immigrants Alleges Human Rights Abuses at Arizona's Eloy Detention Center, Former Army Vet Arrested After Setting Fire Near Manhattan ICE Office, Trump Announces 50% Tariff on Imports from Canada, Death Toll from Ebola Outbreak in the DRC Surges to 930, More Than 500 Rohingya Refugees Feared Dead After Boats Capsize Off the Coast of Burma, Youth-Led Protesters Rally Against Modi's Right-Wing Government, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega Declares His Nation Will No Longer Hold Elections

Millions of people across North America have experienced hazardous air pollution this month as nearly a thousand active wildfires continue to rage in Canada. In addition to releasing hazardous chemicals and smoke darkening skies across the continent, the fires in Canada have also disproportionately impacted Indigenous communities, forcing thousands to evacuate their homes. Republican politicians have been loath to acknowledge the role of the climate crisis in making extreme weather events like this more frequent and intense, instead blaming Canadian officials for poor forest management. President Donald Trump has even threatened to impose new tariffs on Canada over the record levels of hazardous air.Independent Canadian journalist Rachel Gilmore says that while Trump's comments are extremely offensive" to people in the country, Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney's policies - while acknowledging the science - also do little to mitigate the climate crisis as he approves new oil pipelines that would operate for decades.He's not exactly taking the climate action that we need here in Canada," Gilmore says of Carney.

As calls mount for accountability over the ICE killing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston, we speak with Democratic Congressmember Al Green, who represents Texas's 9th Congressional District. He demands an independent investigation into the shooting to stop an attempt to cover up" the killing by the Trump administration.Democratic lawmakers led by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus will hold a public hearing in Houston on Friday to gather testimony from community members about Salgado Araujo's killing. Green, one of the longest-serving Black members in Congress, highlights the importance of solidarity between different communities facing oppression.Invidious discrimination is the common enemy for Latinos and African Americans, and we have to confront this common enemy together," says Green. We cannot allow people to segregate us."

Houston community members continue to demand justice for Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, the 52-year-old Mexican father who was shot and killed by an ICE agent July 7. He had lived in the United States for nearly 35 years and had three U.S. citizen children. The ICE agents involved in his killing have not been identified, and it's unclear whether they remain on active duty.For more on the community response, we get a report from Democracy Now! producers on the ground in Houston. To many people in the city's immigrant communities, Salgado Araujo was Houston's dad," representative of their own families and not a dangerous criminal as the government has tried to portray him.He looks just like all of our parents. He has the same story, the same American dream," a resident named Sonia told Democracy Now!We are demanding justice for Lorenzo, but it's not just that," a mourner said at a rally. These terrorists coming from the government, it's not just in Houston, it's not just in Texas, it's not just in the United States. It's terrorism all over the world."

The United States is expanding its attacks on Iran after three U.S. soldiers were killed over the weekend, the first U.S. fatalities in the conflict since March. Two U.S. service members were killed in an Iranian attack on a base in Jordan, and a third soldier was killed in northern Iraq during a controlled detonation" of a downed Iranian drone. The United States has now bombed Iran for nine consecutive nights, and Iran has retaliated by striking U.S. allies across the Persian Gulf. The war, which has led to the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, has squeezed global supplies of oil and gas.The United States has considerable violence at its disposal, but it has limited political capacity to dictate terms," says Toby Jones, associate professor of Middle East history at Rutgers University. Jones says that while the United States has tried to inflict pain" on Iranian civilians in order to weaken the government, it's hard to say that it's working."

U.S. Continues Strikes Against Iran After Three U.S. Service Members Killed, Israeli Strikes in Gaza Kill Several Palestinians Over the Weekend, Dozens of Israeli Settlers Storm Palestinian Village in Occupied West Bank, Israel Strips Crocodiles of Protected Status to Pave Way for Crocodile-Infested Moat, Russia Launches Heavy Ballistic Missile Attack on Kyiv, Killing Six People, Colorado Prison Guard Faces Multiple Charges After Shooting Protesters Outside ICE Jail, ICE Agent Responsible for Fatal Shooting of Joan Sebastian Duran Guerrero Once Told Court of Head Injury, Manosphere" Influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate Arrested, Face U.K. Rape and Sex Assault Charges, Andy Burnham Succeeds Keir Starmer as U.K. Prime Minister, Trump Threatens Canada with Tariffs as Millions Suffer from Hazardous Wildfire Smoke, Troy Jackson Emerges as Front-Runner to Replace Platner as Democrat in Maine Senate Race, NYC Mayor Mamdani Seeks to Arrest Israel's Netanyahu: He's a War Criminal"

Hollywood's blockbuster adaptation of the ancient Greek epic The Odyssey premieres around the world today amid growing calls for a boycott. Human rights campaigners are criticizing director Christopher Nolan over his decision to film part of the film in Western Sahara, a vast territory in northwestern Africa that Morocco has occupied for the past half-century.This occupying force is practicing cultural genocide against the Sahrawi people, ethnic cleansing," says Maria Carrion, the executive director of the Western Sahara International Film Festival. By staying silent for one year and then using this footage, Nolan has basically become an accomplice to Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara."Abidin Mohamed Hamudi, a Sahrawi filmmaker speaking to Democracy Now! from Algeria, says he cannot return to his home in Western Sahara, but Nolan can just go there and film and be complicit in the occupation of my homeland." He calls it a metaphor of how the Western world uses human rights, democracy narratives whenever they want, and then ignore it in other parts of the world."

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and top White House adviser Stephen Miller are pushing for a global crackdown on leftist organizations. The State Department on Thursday hosted a summit on the resurgence of political terrorism," where Miller described the left as enemies of civilization" and described efforts to disrupt, identify, defund, debank, arrest and prosecute these political terrorists that are operating in our country." Rubio announced the U.S. would soon designate more left-wing groups as terrorist organizations. Also on Thursday, the State Department announced new visa restrictions targeting what it calls members of Far-Left Terrorist and other aligned groups."They're putting political groups in the United States and abroad on the same footing as groups like al-Qaeda and ISIS," says independent journalist Ken Klippenstein, who has been closely following the Trump administration's designation of left-wing activism as terrorism.This effort to designate left-wing groups as foreign terrorists, using these broad terms like 'antifa,' will allow them to go after people who are not committing violence but who are simply engaging in the political process," adds former FBI special agent Mike German.

Hundreds of community members gathered in Houston on Thursday evening for a public viewing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, the 52-year-old Mexican man shot and killed by an ICE agent on July 7. His sons stood by their father's casket for hours greeting mourners who wore blue, Salgado Araujo's favorite color. A mariachi band played, and several altars adorned the chapel: One table held Salgado Araujo's construction tools and hard hats, while another displayed two of his Mexico soccer jerseys. Photos and videos of some of the family's most joyful moments were projected in the background.Democracy Now!'s Maria Ines Taracena spoke to some of the attendees outside of the funeral home. Looking back at history, it brought back memories of Emmett Till, when his mom also let the community grieve with them," said Cesar Espinosa, a local immigrant rights activist. She wanted to show the world what they had done to her son, and I think today, this family also wanted to show the world what they had done to them."

In a primetime address on Thursday, President Trump accused China of meddling in U.S. elections in his latest effort to spread doubt about the U.S. voting system ahead of the midterm elections in November. Trump announced he was declassifying documents that show what he called shocking vulnerabilities in our election infrastructure," but offered no evidence that China or any other country directly interfered with recent elections.If Trump was trying to build ... a smoking gun case that the 2020 election was stolen, he failed miserably," says Ari Berman, the national voting rights correspondent for Mother Jones. I am still very concerned that this speech is intended to lay the groundwork for the administration to interfere in the midterms."Berman argues that U.S. elections are secure" and that results are audited extensively at the state level" and reviewed at the federal level. He says the 2020 election, which Trump lost to Joe Biden, was found to be the most secure in American history."