Democracy Now!

U.K. High Court Rules Assange Can Request Appeal of Extradition to U.S., U.S. Judge Blocks Vaccine Mandate for Federal Workers, U.S. Reduces Kyiv Embassy Staff, Weighs Sending Troops to Region as Tensions Mount with Russia, Saudi-Led Airstrikes Kill at Least 82 People in Yemen, Including African Migrants, 150 People Killed in Attack on Syrian Prison, Bus Bomb Kills 7 People in Afghanistan; Taliban Officials Arrive in Oslo for International Talks, Reports: Burkina Faso's President Detained by Soldiers Amid Growing Unrest, Armed Men Detain Sudanese Women's Rights Activist Amira Osman, Palestinians Call for Probe into 1948 Tantura Massacre, January 6 Committee Has Been Speaking with Trump's Attorney General William Barr, Justice Dept. Task Force Makes First Indictment over Threatening Election Officials, Arizona Dems Censure Kyrsten Sinema for Opposing Filibuster Exception for Voting Rights Legislation, Black Lawmakers Protest as Mississippi GOP Senators Vote to Ban Critical Race Theory, $15-an-Hour Minimum Wage for Federal Workers Takes Effect, New Laws Protecting Labor Rights of Delivery Workers Go into Effect in NYC, Hundreds Evacuated in Northern California as Firefighters Battle Rare January Wildfire

As the Biden administration marks its first year in office this week, we look at the president's ongoing defense of Trump-era anti-immigration policies. Department of Justice lawyers were in court Wednesday to defend the Trump-era order known as Title 42, which has been used to expel hundreds of thousands of migrants at the border without screening them for asylum. The policy was touted as a way to control the spread of COVID-19, even though top CDC officials say it's not needed to contain the virus. We speak with the ACLU's Lee Gelernt, who is the lead lawyer challenging the Biden administration's use of Title 42. He accuses the Biden administration of "trying to hide behind CDC" to play politics and says the policy violates international law and is inhumane, as it forces migrants back into dangerous situations they fled from. "The U.S. government is pushing them back over the border," he says. "The cartels are sitting there at the end of the bridge waiting for them, and yet we continue to push them over." Gelernt discusses how he was also a part of negotiations to financially compensate migrant parents separated from their children under Trump's "zero tolerance" policy, but Biden cut off the talks after facing Republican criticism.

The World Food Program has warned Afghanistan faces a "tsunami of hunger" as the economy continues to collapse, due in part to U.S. sanctions and the freezing of Afghan assets following the Taliban takeover of Kabul. Meanwhile, President Biden once again defended his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan on Wednesday without acknowledging the humanitarian crisis that followed his exit. We speak with journalist Jane Ferguson, who recently traveled to Afghanistan to report on the collapse of basic government services and the various factors that led to the collapse of the economy, which she says was "completely reliant on international aid." She also speaks about the "massive pressure" the White House is under to respond to the humanitarian crisis, as well as the Taliban's handling of the growing women's rights movement. "What these women really need is more eyes on their movement, more of them on air, more of their voices being put on television and in the newspapers," she says. Her most recent New Yorker piece is titled "Afghanistan Has Become the World's Largest Humanitarian Crisis."

As many of the world's wealthiest people wrap up virtual talks today at the World Economic Forum based in Davos, Switzerland, Oxfam reports the incomes of 99% of the world's population dropped during the pandemic while the world's 10 richest men saw their wealth double. Meanwhile, vaccine profits have minted at least nine new billionaires at Moderna, BioNTech and China's CanSino, amassing a combined new wealth of over $19 billion. To discuss the rise of billionaires and the policies that got us here, we speak with New York Times global correspondent Peter Goodman, author of the new book "Davos Man: How the Billionaires Devoured the World." Goodman says billionaires' championing of "stakeholder capitalism" is ruining U.S. democracy, and attributes the Omicron variant to "our unwillingness to challenge patents."

U.S. Secretary of State Meets Russian Counterpart Amid Impasse over Buildup on Ukraine Border, Jan. 6 Committee Asks Ivanka Trump to Testify; Georgia DA Requests Grand Jury for Trump Probe, Jamaal Bowman Among 28 Arrested at Peaceful Voting Rights Protest, Sen. Mitch McConnell Suggests Black Voters Are Not "Americans", Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Proposes First-of-Its-Kind Election Police Force, FBI Searches Home of Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar, U.S. Bombed Syrian Dam in 2017 Despite Warning That Tens of Thousands Could Die, Market Explosion in Lahore, Pakistan, Kills 3 People, Massive Blast and Fire Kills at Least 17, Causes Major Destruction in Ghanian Town, 14-Year-Old Indigenous Colombian Environmentalist Shot Dead in Ambush, Pope Benedict Mishandled at Least 4 Sexual Abuse Cases When He Was an Archbishop, SCOTUS Dismisses Another Legal Challenge to Unconstitutional Texas Abortion Law, Civil Rights Trial of Ex-Cops Involved in George Floyd Murder Begins in St. Paul, DOJ Drops Case Against Chinese American MIT Professor Amid Accusations of Ethnic Profiling, Antibiotic-Resistant Infections Kill Millions Worldwide, Protesters Decry Femicides, Anti-LGBTQ Murders in Juárez

As President Biden marks one year in office, we speak with former four-time presidential candidate Ralph Nader and The Nation's Katrina vanden Heuvel, who say Biden has failed so far to sell his agenda to the American people and bring about the transformative policy he campaigned on — from quelling the pandemic to passing his landmark Build Back Better legislation. The two also critique the U.S. mainstream press for asking "war-inciting questions," with Nader saying "the self-censorship of the press is overwhelming."

As President Biden marked one year in office this week, conservative Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema joined with Republican senators to block a proposed change to filibuster rules that would have allowed two voting rights bills to move forward, foreclosing the chance to stop hundreds of anti-voting laws passed after the 2020 election. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders blasted his colleagues for opposing the rules change, and Georgia's Raphael Warnock likened the fight for voting rights to the civil rights movement. We air excerpts from their speeches.

President Biden said Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin will pay a "serious and dear price" if he orders his reported 100,000 troops stationed along the Russian-Ukraine border to invade Ukraine, a scenario Biden says is increasingly likely. This comes as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Ukraine's president on Wednesday, similarly warning Russia could attack Ukraine on "very short notice." We speak with The Nation's Katrina vanden Heuvel, who says the hawkish U.S. approach to the Russia-Ukraine conflict is a waste of national resources, and says the U.S. should pursue diplomacy instead of throwing around threats of expanding NATO into Eastern Europe. "More attention should be paid to how we can exit these conflicts, how we can find a way for an independent Ukraine," says vanden Heuvel, who calls the Ukraine conflict a civil war turned into a proxy war. "If there is creative diplomacy, I think you could see a resolution of this crisis."

Voting Rights Bill Dies in Senate as Democrats Manchin & Sinema Allow GOP Filibuster, Biden Predicts Russia Will Invade Ukraine, Says Putin "Will Regret Having Done It", Supreme Court Rejects Trump's Bid to Shield Records from January 6 Committee, Global Coronavirus Cases Hit Record High, Czech Singer Hana Horkad Dies After Deliberately Infecting Herself with Coronavirus, West Virginia's Republican Governor Urges Vaccinations After Bout of COVID-19, Florida Health Dept. Puts Top Official on Leave for Promoting COVID Vaccine to Staff , Aid Flights Land in Volcano-Stricken Tonga Amid Water Shortages, Threat of COVID-19, Judge Clears Indigenous Land Protector Amber Ortega over 2020 Protest at U.S.-Mexico Border Wall, University of Michigan to Pay $490 Million to 1,000+ Survivors of Sexual Assault by School Doctor, Kansas DA Says No One Will Face Charges for Killing Black Teen Cedric Lofton, Prisoners Say They Were Unwillingly Given Ivermectin as Medical Experiment, New York Housing Activists Call for Passage of Good Cause Eviction Bill as Eviction Moratorium Ends, Theodore Roosevelt Statue Removed from Outside NYC's Natural History Museum

Activist and scholar Angela Davis has released a new edition of her 1974 autobiography, first published and edited by Toni Morrison nearly 50 years ago. The book details Davis's remarkable early life, from growing up in a section of Birmingham, Alabama, known as Dynamite Hill due to the frequency of bombings by the Ku Klux Klan, to her work with the Black Panther Party and the U.S. Communist Party. It also follows her 16-month incarceration, during which she faced the death penalty and was eventually acquitted on all charges, which influenced Davis's focus thereafter on transforming the criminal justice system and building a movement for abolition. The edition includes a new introduction, which links the racial justice uprisings and events of the past decade to her lifelong learnings and work. "What struck me was how much has changed," says Davis, on her process of publishing the new edition. "Both how much has changed and how little has changed."

Abolitionist scholars Angela Davis, Beth Richie and Gina Dent discuss their new book, published Tuesday, titled "Abolition. Feminism. Now." As abolition becomes increasingly mainstream following the racial justice uprisings of 2020, they argue feminism is at the root of the politics and practice of abolition, which they define as the elimination of carceral and interpersonal gender-based violence paired with social investments in more "opportunities for freedom" and safety within communities. The book, which was also co-authored by scholar and activist Erica Meiners, highlights feminist histories — particularly from queer, grassroots and women of color — that have been erased but are central to the movement. "We want to be able to imagine a world in which that violence has been reduced and eventually eradicated," says Davis. "Abolition feminism is the perspective that allows us to move in that direction."

In a major development, a federal judge on Tuesday approved a plan to restructure Puerto Rico's massive debt. The proposal was presented by the territory's U.S.-imposed Fiscal Control Board, and it reduces the biggest portion of the island's debt, about $33 billion, by some 80%. Last year, union leaders pressured the board to remove cuts to pension plans from the current version of the debt restructuring deal. Opponents of the agreement say it will only worsen Puerto Rico's economic struggles. "In terms of whether it really resolves the financial crisis of Puerto Rico going forward, that remains to be seen," says Democracy Now! co-host Juan González, a close observer of Puerto Rican history and politics, who warns the unelected fiscal board could remain in charge of the island's finances for years to come. "There's some positives in this, but there's a lot of uncertainty still to go."

U.S. Gov't Launches Site to Mail Free COVID Tests, Issues N95 Masks Amid Winter Surge, Sonia Sotomayor Tends to SCOTUS Business Remotely After Neil Gorsuch Refuses to Wear Mask, Japan Sets New Curbs, Hong Kong Culls 2,000 Exposed Hamsters, as Asian Nations See COVID Surges, WHO Warns Only 7% of African Population Fully Inoculated Amid Ongoing Vaccine Apartheid, Blinken Meets with Ukrainian President Zelensky Ahead of Talks with Russian Counterpart, Israel Demolishes Sheikh Jarrah Home, Arrests Palestinians Resisting Displacement, Saudi-UAE Airstrikes Kill 20 People, Following Houthi Attack on UAE Target, Suicide Bombing in Somalia Kills 4 People, Days After Another Blast Targets Gov't Spokesperson, Mexican Journalist Margarito Martínez Shot Dead in Tijuana, Senators Debate Voting Rights Legislation Which Appears Doomed to Fail, House Jan. 6 Cmte. Subpoenas Trump Legal Team; NY Says It Has Evidence of Trump Org. Fraud, New Yorkers Gather to Mourn Michelle Go, Condemn Attacks on Asian American Community, NJ Public Schools to Start Teaching AAPI History; Florida Expands Efforts to Ban Teaching of Racism, Portland Police Under Fire for Training Materials Which Mock Protesters, Advocate Violence, Airlines Cancel Flights over Concerns About Expansion of 5G Service in U.S.

During Saturday's synagogue attack in Colleyville, Texas, the gunman Malik Faisal Akram repeatedly called for the release of Pakistani neuroscientist Aafia Siddiqui, who is serving an 86-year sentence in a U.S. federal prison located just miles from the synagogue. Siddiqui was convicted in 2010 on charges that she intended to kill U.S. military officers while being detained in Afghanistan two years earlier. However, many questions remain unanswered about her time in U.S. custody, and her conviction was secured without physical evidence and on U.S. officials' testimony alone, says Siddiqui's lawyer, Marwa Elbially. Elbially says there's a false impression of Siddiqui in the U.S. as a terrorist, even though terrorist charges were never brought against her, and Pakistan officials have voiced concern about her arrest and detention. We also speak with Mauri' Saalakhan, director of operations for The Aafia Foundation, who calls Siddiqui's case an unprecedented miscarriage of justice.

On Saturday, an armed British man named Malik Faisal Akram took a rabbi and three congregants hostage at a synagogue outside of Fort Worth, Texas, resulting in an 11-hour standoff that ended once the rabbi threw a chair at Akram, who was later shot dead by the police. The standoff — which left all four hostages unharmed — has been identified by President Biden and federal authorities as an antisemitic act of terror. We speak with Rabbi Nancy Kasten, who says despite false media narratives painting the hostage crisis as an outgrowth of hostility between Muslims and Jews, the local Muslim community mobilized in support of the Jewish community this weekend. She also notes Muslim communities are less protected under federal and state law, which "creates a lot of opportunity for very misguided and false information to be perpetrated about the Muslim community."

Senate Democratic leadership insists they will debate two critical voting rights bills even though Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema have publicly denounced their party's plan to make changes to Senate filibuster rules that would give Democrats the votes needed to pass the landmark legislation. Meanwhile, thousands marched in support of the legislation and the necessary filibuster rule changes in Washington, D.C., on Monday, the federal holiday marking Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We speak with movement leader William Barber, co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign, who criticizes the Democrats for bifurcating the Build Back Better economic legislation from voting rights and says movements must plan sustained, nonviolent direct action to ensure politicians pass legislation that benefits poor and low-wealth people.

MLK's Family Leads Protests Demanding Passage of Voting Rights Legislation, U.S. COVID-19 Hospitalizations Hit New Record High, China Won't Sell Winter Olympics Tickets to Public After Beijing Logs First Omicron Case, Novak Djokovic Deported for Violating COVID-19 Rules, Will Miss Australian Open, Hostages in Texas Synagogue Escape; Police Shoot and Kill Gunman, Volcano Erupts Near Tonga, Devastating Islands and Triggering Pacific Tsunamis , Sudanese Forces Kill Seven More Anti-Coup Protesters, Palestinian Family Threatens Self-Immolation, Resisting Eviction from East Jerusalem Home, Authorities in Indian-Administered Kashmir Shut Down Independent Press Club, Salvadorans Protest Following Reports That Phones of Journalists and Civil Society Groups Were Hacked, North Korea Carries Out Fourth Missile Test This Month, New Jersey Chemical Fire Nearly Caused "Catastrophic" Release, World's Richest Saw Their Wealth Double as Pandemic Pushed 160 Million People into Poverty

Today is the federal holiday that honors Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He was born January 15, 1929. He was assassinated April 4, 1968, at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. He was just 39 years old. While Dr. King is primarily remembered as a civil rights leader, he also championed the cause of the poor and organized the Poor People's Campaign to address issues of economic justice. Dr. King was also a fierce critic of U.S. foreign policy and the Vietnam War. We play his "Beyond Vietnam" speech, which he delivered at New York City's Riverside Church on April 4, 1967, as well as his last speech, "I've Been to the Mountaintop," that he gave on April 3, 1968, the night before he was assassinated.

As the United States heads into the Martin Luther King Day holiday weekend, attempts by Democrats to pass major new voting rights legislation appear to have stalled. We examine the new award-winning documentary "Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America," which follows civil rights attorney Jeffery Robinson as he confronts the enduring legacy of anti-Black racism in the United States, weaving together examples from the U.S. Constitution, education system and policing. "The entire purpose of this film is to ask people to take a long hard look at our actual history of white supremacy and anti-Black racism," says Robinson, the former deputy legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union. "That is something that has been really erased from the common narrative and creation story about America." We also speak with Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler, the directors of the film.

As Afghanistan faces a dire humanitarian crisis, we look at how more Afghans may die from U.S. sanctions than at the hands of the Taliban. The U.S.'s attempts to block support for the new de facto government have prevented vital funding from flowing to the nation's civil servants, particularly in education and the health sector. Dr. Paul Spiegel says conditions in the hospitals he visited in Kabul as part of a World Health Organization emergency team are rapidly deteriorating, and he describes the lack of heat and basic amenities as winter descended. "There's been a drought. There's food insecurity. And all of this has been exacerbated due to this economic crisis and due to lack of the U.N. and NGOs being able to pay people in the field," says Spiegel. "What we see now is that it's not the Taliban that is holding us back. It is the sanctions," says Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council.

Voting Rights Bills Appear Doomed in Senate as Sinema & Manchin Oppose Filibuster Change, Supreme Court Strikes Down Vaccination-or-Test Mandate for 84 Million U.S. Workers, White House Orders Another Half-Billion Coronavirus Tests for U.S. Residents, New York Mayor Considering Virtual Learning Option as COVID-19 Cases Surge in Classrooms, Head of Oath Keepers Among 11 Charged with Seditious Conspiracy over Jan. 6 Insurrection, RNC May Try to Block Future Candidates from Presidential Debates, U.N. Calls for Urgent Funding to Avert Millions of Deaths in Afghanistan, Specter of War Remains After Talks Fail to Resolve Tensions on Russia-Ukraine Border, Prince Andrew Loses Military and Royal Titles as U.S. Sex Assault Case Proceeds, Australia Revokes Novak Djokovic's Visa for 2nd Time, Days Ahead of Australian Open, 2021 Was the 6th Hottest Year on Record, Protesters Call on Gov. Hochul, Lawmakers to Pass Sweeping New York Climate Bill, NJ Gov. Delays Power Plant Contract After Community Organizes to Protect Newark Neighborhood

We speak with The Nation's national affairs correspondent John Nichols on the occasion of his new book, "Coronavirus Criminals and Pandemic Profiteers: Accountability for Those Who Caused the Crisis," which takes aim at the CEOs and political figures who put profits over people during the coronavirus pandemic. The chapters cover notorious figures such as former President Trump, Mike Pompeo, Jared Kushner and Jeff Bezos. "In the United States alone, hundreds of thousands of deaths occurred that did not have to occur," says Nichols. "Globally it's in the millions, and the U.S. could have played a huge role in addressing that."

Jeremy Menchik, a self-described "human guinea pig" who volunteered for Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine trials, dropped out to protest the company's greed in reaping profits from the ongoing pandemic while doing little to resolve global vaccine inequity. Menchik is launching a new website — mrna4all.org — where other vaccine trial participants can join the effort to pressure vaccine makers to scale up production to vaccinate the world. "That they have to be accountable to their guinea pigs and they have to advance policies for public health not just private profit … I think that must be unnerving to them," says Menchik, an associate professor at Boston University. "We have to treat this pandemic as a global crisis, as a global public health emergency."

Mother Jones reporter Ari Berman warns the Republican Party is laying the groundwork to steal the 2022 midterms and future elections through a combination of gerrymandering, voter suppression and election subversion, that together pose a mortal threat to voting rights in the United States. Republicans, many of whom are election deniers, are campaigning for positions that hold immense oversight over the election process. "What's really new here are these efforts to take over how votes are counted," says Berman. "That is the ultimate voter suppression method, because if you're not able to rig the election on the front end, you can throw out votes on that back end."

WHO: Confirmed Coronavirus Infections Surge to 15 Million in a Week, French Teachers Strike as COVID-19 Cases Overwhelm Schools, British PM Boris Johnson Faces Calls to Resign for Defying Lockdown to Attend Cocktail Party, Biden Deploys Military Teams to Hospitals Overwhelmed by COVID-19 Patients, GOP House Leader Kevin McCarthy Won't Cooperate with "Illegitimate" January 6 Committee, Confronted over Lies About 2020 Election, Donald Trump Cuts Short NPR Interview , Biden Meets with Senate Democrats as Push to Pass Voting Rights Legislation Intensifies , Ohio's Top Court Rejects GOP's Gerrymandered Voting Maps, Israeli Forces Kill 80-Year-Old Palestinian American Man in Violent Arrest, German Court Finds Ex-Syrian Intel Officer Guilty of Crimes Against Humanity, Five More Guantánamo Prisoners, Held for Years Without Charge, Granted Release, Mogadishu Car Blast Kills 8, Archbishop of Santa Fe Makes Plea for Global Nuclear Disarmament, Texas Sheriff Told Deputies to Seize Cash from Undocumented Motorists, 8,400 Kroger Workers Go on Strike as Study Highlights Economic Plight of Grocery Workers, California Governor Unveils Healthcare Plan to Cover Undocumented Immigrants

In Newark, New Jersey, residents of the largely Black and Latinx community of Ironbound are calling on Governor Phil Murphy to stop plans to build a $180 million gas-fired power plant that could worsen the poor local air quality and exacerbate the climate crisis. As the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission holds a vote to begin construction on Thursday, activists are urging the governor to enforce the environmental justice law that he passed last year. "If we don't set a good precedent for New Jersey, what does that mean for the country and other states that are trying to pass similar laws?" says Maria Lopez-Nuñez, member of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council.

A massive fire in an apartment building in the Bronx, New York, killed 17 people, including eight children, on Sunday. The city is blaming the fire on a malfunctioning space heater. Housing advocates say the real issue is the lack of safe, affordable public housing, citing lack of heat provided by the building during subzero winter temperatures and poor fire safety systems. Tenants and activists note one of the building's co-owners is a member of Mayor Eric Adams's transition team, and are demanding an extension to the eviction moratorium set to expire on January 15. "All of them are really asking for accountability, not just from the state and city agencies but first and foremost from their landlord and the building owners," says reporter Claudia Irizarry Aponte, who covers the Bronx for the nonprofit newsroom The City.

We go to Atlanta, Georgia, where President Biden and Vice President Harris spoke on Tuesday to pressure Congress to pass critical voting rights legislation. Biden endorsed changing the Senate rules to prevent a minority of senators from filibustering the bills. We speak to two leaders in the voting rights movement about the importance of passing the bills, particularly for people of color. "Right now 40 senators can stop 100 senators from having a vote, and that is absolutely unheard of anywhere else in our democracy," says Ben Jealous, who attended Biden's speech and is president of People for the American Way and former president of the NAACP. Biden should prioritize voting rights and "follow up the speech yesterday with actions," says Cliff Albright, co-founder and executive director of Black Voters Matter, who boycotted Biden's address.

Biden Supports Senate Bypassing Filibuster Rule to Pass Voting Rights Legislation, FDA Head Says "Most People" Will Get COVID; Students Protest School Safety Protocols, Red Cross Warns of Blood Supply Crisis Amid Pandemic, Anthony Fauci Accuses Sen. Rand Paul of Endangering His Life by Spreading Lies Around Pandemic, 19 People Reported Killed in Tigray Airstrikes on Same Day Biden Speaks with Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed, Coast Guard Rescues 176 Haitian Migrants from Boat as Biden Admin Continues Mass Deportations, DOJ Forms Domestic Terrorism Unit, NC Protesters Demand Justice for Jason Walker, a Black Man Shot Dead by Off-Duty Officer, Rikers Prisoners on Hunger Strike over Violence, Inhumane Conditions at NYC Jail, U.S. Navy to Stop Operations at Hawaiian Fuel Facility Which Sickened Military Families, Clyde Bellecourt, Founder of American Indian Movement, Dies at 85, Buffalo Gets 2nd Unionized Starbucks Shop; Alabama Amazon Workers Prepare for Union Vote Redo, Democrat Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick Wins Special U.S. House Election in Florida, Coins Featuring Acclaimed Novelist Maya Angelou Debut as Part of American Women Quarters Program

Former Guantánamo Bay detainee Mansoor Adayfi was imprisoned for 14 years without charge before being released in 2016 to Serbia. Adayfi says those released from Guantánamo become "stateless men" who experience a brutal legal limbo even after being cleared of all charges, often released to countries where they have no history or connection with their families. Even exonerated former detainees of Guantánamo "live in the stigma of Guantánamo, viewed by the hosting countries as terrorists, as killers," says Adayfi. He joins advocates everywhere in calling for President Biden to shut the prison down.

Twenty years ago today, the U.S. military began imprisoning Muslim men at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba. We speak with the prison's former Muslim chaplain, James Yee, who was jailed and held in solitary confinement for 76 days after being falsely accused of espionage. All charges were eventually dropped, and he received an honorable discharge. Yee describes how boys as young as 12 to 15 years old were treated as enemy combatants on the prison complex and the widespread Islamophobia that put even Muslim Americans under heavy surveillance. "During my time I was there, it was clear that these individuals were not in any way associated with terrorism whatsoever," says Yee.

On the 20th anniversary of the first prisoner's arrival at Guantánamo Bay, we spend the hour with former detainees, starting with Moazzam Begg, who was imprisoned for three years at the military prison and eventually released without ever being charged with a crime. He now advocates on behalf of victims of the so-called war on terror, calling on the Biden administration to follow through on promises to shut down the military prison and release the remaining 39 prisoners. Twenty years after the detention center opened, Begg reflects on the absurdity and lawlessness of Guantánamo, describing how its torture methods were not only unethical but ultimately extracted very little credible intelligence. "The legacy of this place is imprisonment without trial, torture, the absence of the rule of law, the removal of the presumption of innocence," says Begg.

U.S. Coronavirus Cases and Hospitalizations Soar to Record Highs, Warming Oceans Set New Temperature Records in 2021 as Climate Crisis Worsened, U.N. Appeals for Nearly $5 Billion in Afghanistan Aid as 1 Million Children Face Severe Malnutrition, Amid Talks with U.S., Russia Says Ukraine Must Never Be Allowed to Join NATO, North Korea Tests Hypersonic Missile for Second Time in a Week, Lithuania Pays $113,000 to Guantánamo "Forever Prisoner" Tortured at CIA Black Site, Former DEA Informant Arrested over Alleged Role in Plot That Assassinated Haiti's President, El Salvador Reopens Probe into 1989 Massacre of Jesuits by U.S.-Trained Death Squad, Biden and Harris Visit Georgia, Calling on Congress to Pass Voting Rights Bills, NC Voters Sue to Block Rep. Madison Cawthorn's Reelection Bid over His Support for Insurrection, Fox News Promotes Jesse Watters Despite Record of Violent and Racist Rhetoric, Safety Doors Failed at Bronx Apartment Where Fire Killed 17, Arson Blamed for New Year's Fire That Destroyed Tennessee Planned Parenthood Clinic, In a First, Doctors Transplant Heart of Genetically Altered Pig into a Human, Washington Post Investigation Finds 1,700 U.S. Congressmembers Enslaved People, Mourners Gather for Funeral of Valentina Orellana-Peralta, 14-Year-Old Killed by Police Bullet

The Omicron variant's transmission rate is exponentially higher than Delta, leaving healthcare workers across the U.S. in dire straits. Waves of doctors, nurses and other health professionals are unionizing, and some have quit the profession over exploitative conditions. The staffing shortage has added on to the strains of increasing hospitalizations due to COVID-19, limited availability of necessary equipment and lack of federal support for preventative measures such as paid medical leave. "This is the cost of two years spent pushing prematurely for a return to normal," says Ed Yong, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and science writer at The Atlantic. Yong also discusses the debate over keeping schools open during the COVID-19 surge, and challenges to President Biden's vaccine mandates affecting nearly 100 million workers.

As an Australian judge allows unvaccinated tennis star Novak Djokovic to be released from immigration detention amid controversy over his COVID vaccine exemption, we look at how his case has intensified international scrutiny over Australia's inhumane treatment of refugees jailed in the same rundown hotel. "No one is telling us when we get out of this indefinite detention," says Mehdi Ali, an Iranian refugee currently detained by the Australian government at the Park Hotel in Melbourne. We also speak with former Australian soccer player Craig Foster, who advocates for asylum seekers.

Kazakhstan's authoritarian President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has described last week's protests as an attempted coup and defended his call for Russian-led troops into the country to put down the unrest. Demonstrations were triggered by a rise in fuel prices and widened to broader anti-government protests. Over 160 people were killed in the violence, including a 4-year-old girl, and thousands were detained. "The Russian troops will probably get out, but Tokayev, if he keeps power ... probably will be somehow in debt of Putin, and Putin may have [the] position to decide, or help decide, certain moves in Kazakhstan," says Nina Khrushcheva, professor of international affairs at The New School.

U.S. and Russian officials are meeting today in Geneva as NATO calls on Russia to remove its troops from along the Ukrainian border. The Russian military has also mobilized soldiers to suppress protests in Kazakhstan. We go to Moscow to speak with Nina Khrushcheva, professor of international affairs at The New School, who says President Vladimir Putin is expanding Russia's sphere of influence but will not invade Ukraine. "It's not that he wants to take more territory. I think he wants to get heard," says Khrushcheva.

Bronx Building Blaze Kills 19 People, Including 9 Children, Injures Dozens, Judge Sentences Men Who Murdered Ahmaud Arbery to Life in Prison, 25% of U.S. Hospitals Face Critical Staff Shortages; Chicago Schools Remain Closed Amid Omicron Surge, Airstrike Kills 56 Displaced People in Tigray as Region's Humanitarian Situation Worsens, Military Court Sentences Aung San Suu Kyi to 4 More Years in Prison, Fire in Cox's Bazar Destroys Homes of 5,000 Rohingya Refugees, Reprisal Attacks in Nigeria's Zamfara State Kill 200 Civilians, Tennis Star Novak Djokovic Released from Immigration Detention as Australian Visa Reinstated, Russia and U.S. Hold Diplomatic Talks over Ukraine Against Backdrop of Kazakhstan Violence, European Airlines Operating Highly Polluting Empty Flights to Keep Airport Landing Privileges, California Democrats, Healthcare Advocates Ramp Up Push for Universal Healthcare System, Chinese Victim of Anti-Asian Hate Crime in NYC Dies of His Injuries, Columbia Student Workers End 10-Week Strike, Winning Better Wages and Benefits, Legendary Film Star Sidney Poitier, Oscar Winner and Civil Rights Activist, Dies at 94

We get an update from Sudan, where at least three pro-democracy protesters were killed by security forces on Thursday, bringing the death toll to at least 60 since the military coup on October 25. Thursday's protest came four days following Abdalla Hamdok's resignation as Sudan's prime minister, after he was deposed in the October coup and then shortly restored to power by the military in November. However, protesters on the ground find Hamdok's resignation insignificant and consider him irrelevant to the fight for full democratic control over the government, says Sudanese activist Marine Alneel, who joins us from Khartoum. The civilian slogan is now "no negotiation, no partnership, no legitimacy," she explains, saying protesters are no longer interested in preserving the joint military-civilian governing deal signed after mass protests in 2019 that toppled longtime leader Omar al-Bashir. "In 2019, many people were displeased with the partnership, and now mostly people are outright rejecting any form of partnership with the military," she says.

We look at the skyrocketing number of COVID infections. Coronavirus cases hit record highs this week, with global cases climbing 70% from last week to 9.5 million and the U.S. reporting a single-day record of 1 million new cases on Monday. In the U.S., the extraordinary volume of cases is filling up emergency rooms nationwide and exhausting healthcare workers, says emergency room physician Dr. Craig Spencer, who has been treating coronavirus patients since the pandemic began. "We're much better at treating this disease now," says Spencer, "but the problem is that the amount of volume that we're seeing threatens to really wash away any added benefit from either a milder variant or even all that experience that we've learned and those tools that we've built up over the past few years." Spencer also critiques the U.S. government's role in prolonging the pandemic, saying, "Global vaccine inequity has been one of the most profound and disappointing aspects of this pandemic over the past year."

President Joe Biden warned about the looming threat of autocracy during his speech marking the first anniversary of the January 6 Capitol attack on Thursday and denounced his predecessor Donald Trump for inciting the rioters. In a statement responding to Biden's speech, Trump continued to falsely claim the 2020 election was rigged. To discuss further, we are joined by historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat, an expert on the psychology of authoritarianism, who says Trump has grown his "personality cult" since his election loss and converted the GOP into "a far-right authoritarian party which has enshrined violence as part of the practice of power." She also discusses Trump's recent endorsement of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has been recognized by European Union leadership as a threat to democracy, and calls Florida Governor Ron DeSantis a "mini-Trump" who is planning for "an authoritarian system at the state level."

On Jan. 6 Anniversary, Biden Warns of Trump's "Dagger at the Throat of Democracy", Supreme Court to Weigh Vaccine Mandates as U.S. Coronavirus Cases Hit Record High, WHO Warns Omicron Is Overwhelming Hospitals and Killing People, Not "Mild", As Omicron Shatters Pandemic Records, Brazil's Bolsonaro Blasts Child Vaccinations, Kazakh President Orders Troops to Shoot Without Warning as Protest Death Toll Mounts, 3 Eritrean Refugees, Including 2 Children, Killed by Airstrike in Ethiopia's Tigray, Israelis Kill Two Palestinians in West Bank; Far-Right Protesters Attack Palestinian Reporter, Two Journalists Murdered in Haiti Amid Spiking Gang Violence, Head of U.S. Prisons Resigns as COVID Ravages Incarcerated Population , Unionized Starbucks Workers Walk Off Job; Nurses Demand Permanent Protections Amid Pandemic, Activists Arrested While Halting Construction on Sunoco Fracked Gas Pipeline in PA, Murder Trial for Ex-Police Officers Involved in George Floyd Murder Set for Jan. 20, Journalist & Civil Rights Activist Mel Reeves Dies at 64 from COVID-19

Former Pentagon adviser Ryan Goodman says former President Trump could have used the Insurrection Act to hold onto power during the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by his supporters. "There needs to be reform of the Insurrection Act," says Goodman, who authored the report "Crisis of Command: The Pentagon, the President, and January 6” for Just Security, where he is co-editor. He also discusses how Republican leadership from Congress, as well as agency heads from the FBI and the Justice Department, waged a coordinated response around Trump's claims of voter fraud in an attempt to increase Republican voter turnout in Georgia. "The Justice Department used a lot of its resources, including the FBI investigations, to basically affect the outcome of the Georgia runoffs," says Goodman. "That's an extraordinary politicized use of the Justice Department and the FBI to do anything like that, to try to use it to shape an outcome of the election."

One year since Trump supporters staged a violent mob attack on the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to stop the certification of Joe Biden's presidency, we discuss exactly what was happening behind the scenes in the intelligence community that day. We are joined by Newsweek national security reporter William Arkin, who appeared on Democracy Now! just hours prior to the Capitol attack and predicted a violent outcome hours later. Arkin says the intelligence community failed to prepare for the strength of Trump's movement and needs to beef up its approach in anticipation for the next insurrection or coup attempt. "It's really stunning to me that we haven't looked more closely at what the role of the federal agencies were, what the intelligence was and what the intelligence agencies knew," says Arkin.

Many events marking the first anniversary of the deadly January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol are focusing on voting rights, as false claims about voter fraud have fueled Republican efforts to restrict voting access, especially for Black voters. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer vowed Tuesday to proceed with a vote to change the filibuster rule to prevent Republicans from blocking new voting rights legislation. Professor Carol Anderson, author of "White Rage" and "One Person, No Vote," says former President Trump's false claims about voter fraud prompted a wave in 2021 of some of the most aggressive and racist assaults on voting rights in recent U.S. history. "It is Jim Crow 2.0," Anderson says of Republican voter suppression waged through state legislation. "It is designed to make sure we have minority rule in the United States, that we don't have a democracy."

On the first anniversary of the deadly insurrection of January 6, when right-wing and white supremacist supporters of Donald Trump attacked the Capitol in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election, we speak with Elie Mystal of The Nation about the Department of Justice investigation, led by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, who pledged Wednesday to bring everyone involved to "justice." Mystal says Garland should be more aggressive and also pursue Donald Trump. "I want actual evidence that this man is willing to take on the powerful, politically connected Republicans who did this to us, and so far I don't see that evidence," says Mystal. So far, 725 rioters have been arrested on smaller charges.

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The January 6 insurrection resulted in criminal charges for over 700 rioters, and the FBI has since called it an act of domestic terrorism. Philadelphia Inquirer national columnist Will Bunch says there is growing evidence that links Trump and his inner circle to the Capitol attack. He argues understanding what was happening behind the scenes at the Pentagon, which has operational control over the National Guard in D.C., can help explain Trump's botched attempt to overturn the 2020 election and the insurrection that followed. "I think they fully believed that they would be able to call out the National Guard," says Bunch, explaining Trump's strategy to incite violence between his supporters and counterprotesters in an attempt to make military orders to disrupt the certification. Bunch predicts Trump and allies will delay cooperation with the House probe into the attack until Republicans can gain congressional power in 2022 and dismiss the investigation.

Thursday marks one year since a violent mob of thousands of far-right and white supremacist Trump supporters descended on the U.S. Capitol, disrupting Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election and resulting in five deaths and hundreds of injuries. We look at where these movements are one year later, with the updated investigative documentary "American Insurrection" by Frontline in collaboration with ProPublica and Berkeley Journalism's Investigative Reporting Program. Director Rick Rowley explains how the far-right social movements have grown since the insurrection and says "the locus of the organizing has shifted really from a national platform to a local one, which makes it more difficult to track and increases the potential for local or regional violence." Rowley and Frontline correspondent A.C. Thompson interviewed January 6 select committee chair Rep. Bennie Thompson about what makes this a moment for "far-right mobilization" and discussed the significance of the widespread contradictory beliefs by many on the far right that antifa and Black Lives Matter dressed up as Trump supporters and carried out the January 6 riot, but that those who tried to overturn the election are patriots.

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