Democracy Now!

Russians are weathering the fallout of President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine with no sign of a negotiated peace deal soon. Economic sanctions have driven up food prices, and there has been repression of political dissent within the country. We speak with author Tony Wood, a member of the New Left Review editorial board, who says the crushing Western sanctions are unlikely to end Putin’s rule and are only hardening attitudes. “The Russian elite has already been fully consolidated around Putin since 2014, if not before,” he says. “These sanctions are not going to split them off.”

We go to Ukraine, where Russia continues its assault along a 300-mile frontline in the eastern region. This comes as the U.S. and Western allies promise more weapons for Ukrainian defenses, prompting worry of escalation as Russian President Vladimir Putin abandons negotiations for a ceasefire agreement. We speak with Ukrainian political scientist and historian Denis Pilash, who is a democratic socialist, part of Sotsialnyi Rukh, and is also involved in humanitarian aid efforts in western Ukraine that he calls “the backbone of Ukrainian resistance.” He says Putin’s imperialist military aggressions should be seen as analogous to the U.S. invasion of Iraq and other nations.

Putin Claims “Liberation” of Mariupol, Ukrainian City Devastated by Weeks of Siege Warfare, Russia Test-Fires New Nuclear-Capable ICBM, Germany Pledges to Halt Russian Oil Imports by Year’s End, Israeli Airstrikes Hit Gaza Strip After Palestinian Rocket Fire, Israeli Soldiers Raid Al-Aqsa Mosque Again, Firing Tear Gas and Rubber-Coated Bullets, Nicaragua Shutters 25 NGOs Critical of President Daniel Ortega, DOJ to Appeal Federal Court Ruling Voiding CDC’s Mask Mandate for Transit, White House Restores Environmental Reviews for Major Infrastructure Projects, Arizona Wildfire Scorches 20,000 Acres Amid Unprecedented Drought in Western U.S., Pentagon Will Build and Test Portable Nuclear Reactors, Texas Prisoner Carl Buntion Scheduled to Be Put to Death a Week After Hospitalization, Ohio Doctor Accused of Overprescribing Fentanyl Found Not Guilty of Murdering 14 Patients, Florida GOP Senators Vote to Punish Disney over Criticism of “Don’t Say Gay” Law, Black Lawmakers Protest GOP-Gerrymandered Florida Congressional Map, Apple Retail Workers in Atlanta Petition for Union

Calls are growing for Texas to stop the approaching execution of Melissa Lucio, who says she was wrongfully convicted of killing her toddler Mariah in 2007. We speak to one of Lucio’s attorneys, Vanessa Potkin of the Innocence Project, who says Lucio was coerced into making a false confession within hours of her daughter’s death and deserves a new trial based on new evidence and misleading expert testimony. There has also been historic bipartisan support for Lucio, with Texas lawmakers demanding Governor Greg Abbott commute her sentence or delay the execution until a new trial can be held.

The U.S. has hit a record number of apprehensions at the border shared with Mexico, arresting over 1 million asylum seekers in the past six months alone. We speak with immigration attorney Erika Pinheiro about the Biden administration’s unequal treatment of different nationalities, as refugees from countries like Haiti, Cuba and Cameroon face harsh restrictions on asylum, but Ukrainian refugees seem to be receiving special treatment and even exemption from Title 42. “Asylum is supposed to be a universal standard protecting individuals fleeing persecution from any country, but in practice it’s always been a political tool wielded by the United States to favor those fleeing regimes that the United States opposes,” says Pinheiro.

A pair of bomb blasts at a boys’ school in Kabul left at least six people dead on Tuesday, the latest in a series of attacks on the minority Shiite Hazara community in Afghanistan. While no group has claimed responsibility, it follows a pattern of aggression by ISIS-K, the Islamic State affiliate, against Shiites in Afghanistan, as well as Pakistan. “Governments, not only the Taliban, have failed to come up with a strategy where they could provide security to the Hazaras and Shias,” says Afghan journalist Bilal Sarwary. “I call it a great betrayal towards people who are extremely committed to a bright future of Afghanistan.”

Russia Rejects U.N. Ceasefire Proposal; Ukrainian Refugees Top 5 Million, NYT Reveals Ukraine Used Cluster Munitions; U.S. to Send $800M More in Military Aid, Prominent Russian Banker Blasts “Insane War,” Urges West to Give Putin “A Clear Exit”, U.N. Warns 350,000 Children in Somalia Could Die of Starvation, U.K. Judge OKs Extradition of Julian Assange to U.S., Justice Dept. Holds Off on Appealing Mask Mandate for Travelers, One Killed in Sri Lanka as Protests Mount over Economic & Political Crisis, Solomon Islands & China Sign Security Deal Despite Protests from U.S., José Ramos-Horta Takes Commanding Lead in East Timor Election, New Jersey Diocese to Pay $87.5 Million to Settle Sexual Abuse Claims, Biden Administration Moves to Reduce Student Debt Burden on Some Borrowers, Mexican Mother Found Dead Hanging from 30-Foot-High Border Fence in Arizona, DOJ Threatens to Take Over NYC’s Rikers Island, Citing “Extraordinary Level of Violence”, Autopsy Shows Police Officer Fatally Shot Patrick Lyoya in the Back of His Head, Trump Supporter Pleads Guilty to Threatening to Kill Rep. Ihan Omar, Workers at Five Starbucks Stores in Richmond, Virginia, Vote to Unionize

Calls are growing for the release of imprisoned Egyptian activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah, who launched a hunger strike on April 2 to protest the harsh conditions he is held under at Cairo’s Tora prison. Abd El-Fattah, who became a leading voice of the Arab Spring revolution, has been in and out of prison for nearly a decade for his human rights activism. His family recently obtained U.K. citizenship for him in the hopes of pressuring Egyptian authorities to release him, and they warn that his condition is rapidly deteriorating behind bars. We speak to his sister, Sanaa Seif, who was also imprisoned on similar charges of disseminating “false news” before being released in December. “Now is a critical time where it finally might be possible for Alaa to be free,” says Seif. “What keeps us going is that we as a family want to survive and want to unite in peace.” We also speak with Democracy Now! correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous, who is joining Seif on a U.S. tour with Alaa’s new book, “You Have Not Yet Been Defeated.” As the pair advocate for Abd El-Fattah’s immediate release, they also discuss more recent government crackdowns on prominent Egyptian voices, such as TikTok influencer Haneen Hossam. “It seems that prison is the government’s answer to any problem with a citizen,” says Kouddous.

Ukraine’s president says Russia has started a major offensive to seize the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine while launching missiles at targets across the country. We go outside of Kyiv to get an update from Peter Zalmayev, director of the Eurasia Democracy Initiative. Facing a stronger resistance from Ukrainian defenses than anticipated, Russian President Vladimir Putin is practicing “scorched-earth tactics” and “venting his anger on Ukraine,” says Zalmayev. “His goal remains controlling all of Ukraine, or at least making it a failed state.”

Russia Begins Major Offensive to Seize Eastern Ukraine, Federal Judge Strikes Down CDC’s Mask Mandate for Public Transportation, Israel’s Military Bombs Gaza Strip After Shooting Down Rocket Fired at Southern Israel, Attack on Boys’ School Kills at Least 6 in Afghan Capital, Dozens Arrested After Qur’an Book Burning Sparks Riots Across Sweden, Egyptian Social Media Star Gets 3-Year Sentence for “Human Trafficking”, VP Kamala Harris Pledges U.S. Won’t Test Anti-Satellite Weapons, Former Chicago Cop Who Murdered Laquan McDonald Won’t Face Federal Charges, Florida Educators Ban 54 Math Textbooks ver “Critical Race Theory” and Other Prohibited Topics, Author Sues to Overturn New York Prison Officials’ Ban on Book About Attica , U.S. Billionaires’ Wealth Has Grown by 62% During the Pandemic

In a win for immigrant rights, the Biden administration has granted temporary protected status, or TPS, to Cameroonians living in the United States. The move allows around 40,000 Cameroonians to become eligible for the relief, which would protect them from deportation back to a politically unstable state and grant them permission to work in the U.S. for at least 18 months ​​amid escalating violence in Cameroon between government forces and armed rebels. The long fight for Cameroonians to gain protections so swiftly granted to Ukrainians fleeing Russian attacks reveals the U.S. “double standard” when it comes to a “universal protection that was supposed to go out for everybody who was experiencing similar situations,” says Daniel Tse, co-founder of Cameroon Advocacy Network.

Republican-led states are enacting a wave of new abortion restrictions, including Tennessee, Florida, Kentucky and Oklahoma just last week. Reproductive rights are under attack as the Supreme Court appears poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, says Caroline Kitchener, who covers reproductive rights for The Washington Post. We also speak with Kitchener about Lizelle Herrera, the Texas woman arrested for disclosing an attempted abortion with her doctors.

At least 19 were injured around occupied Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque on Sunday after a violent crackdown by Israeli police cleared out worshipers from the compound. It was the second raid since Friday, when Israeli police used rubber bullets, stun grenades and tear gas on unarmed Palestinians, resulting in the arrest of more than 300 and at least 158 injuries. This latest violence in Jerusalem comes as the holy days of Ramadan and Passover overlap. Meanwhile, Western media has been describing the attacks as “clashes” and using other obfuscatory language “as if there is no imbalance of power here, as if there is no nuclear state using its rubber-coated bullets and tear gas against worshipers at a mosque,” says Palestinian writer Mohammed El-Kurd.

Russia Launches Hundreds of Strikes Across Ukraine, Ukrainian Soldiers in Mariupol Refuse to Surrender, On “Easter of War,” Pope Francis Calls for Peace in Ukraine, Israeli Forces Raid Al-Aqsa Mosque for Second Time in Three Days, N. Korea Tests New Guided Weapon as U.S. & S. Korea Hold Joint Military Drills, Three Mass Shootings Leave Two Dead, Dozens Injured in U.S., Death Toll from South African Floods Rise to 443, Dozens Still Missing, Biden to Resume Oil & Gas Drilling on Public Lands, Extinction Rebellion Protesters Worldwide Demand Real Action on Climate Emergency, Diesel Tanker Sinks Off Coast of Tunisia with 1,000 Tons of Oil Aboard, China Puts 400 Million on Lockdown as It Struggles to Maintain “Zero COVID”, Pakistani Airstrikes in Afghanistan Kill 45, WSJ: Saudi Prince Put Yemen’s President on House Arrest After Forcing His Resignation, 35 Die Off Libya’s Coast Attempting to Cross Mediterranean to Europe, U.S. Arrested 210,000 Migrants at U.S.-Mexico Border in March, Twitter’s Board Adopts “Poison Pill” to Thwart Elon Musk Hostile Takeover Bid, Rosario Ibarra, Who Advocated for Mexico’s Forcibly Disappeared, Dies at 95

As the United States reels from an epidemic of mass shootings in schools, trains and other public places, we speak with Mark Follman, national affairs editor at Mother Jones, where he covers gun violence. Follman says mass shootings are typically planned over a period of time and follow a “robust trail of behavioral warning signs” that offer opportunities in community-based violence prevention to stop the crime before it happens. His new piece, “Horror on the NYC Subway — and How to Prevent the Next Attack,” draws on insights from his new book, “Trigger Points: Inside the Mission to Stop Mass Shootings in America.”

As the Russian invasion in Ukraine enters its 50th day, we look at the war’s impact around the world with Vijay Prashad, author and director of the Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. “When food prices go up, the political crisis is almost immediate,” says Prashad, who calls the U.S. pressure on Global South countries to cut off essential imports from Russia after a 30-year globalization campaign a double standard. He says if the U.S. encourages greater global division in order to isolate Russia and China, they will implicitly plunge developing countries “into even greater catastrophe.” He also says the West — led by the Biden administration — is pursuing a “casual weaponization of human rights and the word genocide.”

This week the Pentagon met with leading U.S. weapons manufacturers as Russia warned the Biden administration to stop arming Ukraine, claiming it was “adding fuel” to the conflict. This comes as a Russian warship sank in the Black Sea hours after Ukraine claimed to have attacked it with cruise missiles, and as Sweden and Finland say they may join NATO, which would require more weapons spending. We speak with William Hartung, national security and foreign policy expert at the Quincy Institute, author of “Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex.”

Russia Warns U.S. to Stop Arming Ukraine as Russian Flagship Sinks in Black Sea, 150+ Injured as Israeli Soldiers Clear Worshipers from Al-Aqsa Mosque, U.S. Senate Delegation Arrives in Taiwan for Unannounced Visit, Angering China, “Shockingly Ill-Conceived”: U.K. Plans to Resettle Asylum Seekers in Rwanda, Family Demands Criminal Charges for Grand Rapids Officer Who Killed Patrick Lyoya, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Signs Bill Banning Most Abortions After 15 Weeks, Ohio Man “Following Presidential Orders” Found Guilty over January 6 Insurrection, RNC Withdraws from Commission on Presidential Debates, Calls Grow to Halt Execution of Texan Who Says She Was Wrongfully Convicted of Murdering Her Child, El Milagro Tortilla Workers in Chicago Make Gains After Months of Organizing, Protesters Rally Outside Starbucks CEO’s Penthouse, Demanding End to Union Busting

We speak with Lyiv-based professor Volodymyr Dubovyk about the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, where Russian attacks have displaced more than 11 million people, including two-thirds of Ukraine’s children. Russian forces “want to inflict the maximum pain on Ukraine,” says Dubovyk. President Biden described Russia’s actions in Ukraine as “genocide” on Tuesday, prompting State Department spokesperson Ned Price to say on Wednesday that international lawyers would have to determine whether Russia’s actions in Ukraine constitute genocide. Dubovyk says proving genocide is best left to experts, not politicians, but he rebukes French President Emmanuel Macron’s claim that Russia and Ukraine are incapable of such crimes because they are “brotherly nations.”

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is warning Russia may deploy nuclear weapons to the Baltic region if Sweden and Finland join NATO. His comments come one day after the prime ministers of Sweden and Finland spoke together about possibly joining the military alliance — a move many thought was unthinkable before Russia invaded Ukraine. Agnes Hellström, president of the Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society, calls the NATO debate in Sweden “narrow,” saying “it’s been the only option presented to us by the media,” and calls the proposed solution a “reflex” built up from a “big amount of fear after the invasion of Ukraine.”

Police in New York City arrested a man named Frank James who they say is the suspect behind a subway shooting that left at least 23 people injured, including 10 from gunshot wounds, in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood on Tuesday morning. The motive behind the shooting is still unknown — though James has been linked to a YouTube channel where he posted videos frequently about racism, violence and his struggles with mental illness, and also lashed out against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who has since vowed to deploy more police patrols and expand mental health outreach programs to combat violence. We speak with Andrew Solomon, professor of clinical medical psychology at Columbia University, who says the shooting “represents a lapse in mental health,” and calls access to mental healthcare in New York City for people in poverty and particularly people of color “disgraceful.” Solomon says the pandemic, racial injustice and global violence have exacerbated underlying problems of mental health and that the government must provide “better mental health services, but those can’t be provided by the police.” He also speaks about the rise of suicides committed by children, which he investigated in a recent New Yorker piece titled “The Mystifying Rise of Child Suicide.”

Russia Says Over 1,000 Ukrainian Marines Surrender in Mariupol, WHO Chief Says Racism Leads to Greater Focus on Ukraine Than Ethiopia and Other Crises, Death Toll from Catastrophic Flooding in South Africa Tops 300, Scientists Superglue Selves to London Buildings to Demand Climate Action, NYPD Arrests Alleged Gunman in Subway Mass Shooting, CDC Extends Mask Mandate for Airports and Public Transit, Kentucky Lawmakers Override Governor’s Veto of Bill Effectively Banning Abortions, Video Shows White Grand Rapids Police Officer Fatally Shooting Patrick Lyoya, DOJ Settles Lawsuits over Brutal Crackdown on 2020 Protest Near White House, Texas GOP Governor Rolls Back Plan to Inspect Vehicles Crossing Mexican Border, Elon Musk Bids $43 Billion to Purchase Twitter and Take It Private

We speak with Starbucks Workers United organizer and barista Jaz Brisack on the growing Starbucks union drive that has swept across 30 U.S. states since she helped successfully organize the first U.S. unionized location in Buffalo, New York, last December. Starbucks Workers United has now successfully unionized over a dozen Starbucks shops, and about 200 stores have filed for union elections, covering 5,000 workers in 30 states. This all comes despite an aggressive union-busting campaign from the Starbucks Corporation that includes firing pro-union workers and forcing employees to attend anti-union meetings — a practice the National Labor Relations Board’s general counsel has argued is illegal under federal law. Meanwhile, the NLRB says it’s planning to formally accuse Starbucks of illegally firing a group of seven employees who were fighting to unionize their Starbucks store in Memphis, Tennessee. Brisack also talks about Amazon’s first union in Staten Island, New York, saying the move “shows we as workers and as the labor movement can take on 15 baristas in a tiny Starbucks or 8,000 workers in an Amazon warehouse as long as we are standing together.”

The U.S. Labor Department said Tuesday inflation in the United States rose to 8.5% in March — the highest in four decades. Meanwhile, Oxfam is warning over 260 million people around the world could be pushed into extreme poverty by the end of year due to the pandemic and rising energy and food costs. For more on the growing inflation crisis, we speak with economist Jayati Ghosh, who says prices of essentials are soaring much higher than can be explained by oil prices and supply shortages alone, because of what she calls “feverish speculation” in financial markets and corporate profiteering. She also speaks about how the Global South sees the West’s response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine as deeply hypocritical when compared to the growing humanitarian crises in places like Yemen and Afghanistan, and calls on the International Monetary Fund to reverse practices of pushing austerity in less wealthy countries and instead focus on massive public spending to combat existential crises like inflation and climate change. Her recent article is titled “Putin’s War Is Damaging the Developing World.”

After a gunman opened fire on a subway train during morning rush hour Tuesday, with 10 people shot and another 13 injured, we speak with New York City public advocate and gubernatorial candidate Jumaane Williams, who says “the answer to the gun violence problem cannot be solely sending police,” adding that New York must respond with a comprehensive plan to beef up social services and programs. He also speaks about the resignation of Lieutenant Governor Brian Benjamin — who was arrested on bribery charges — and recent news that disgraced former Governor Andrew Cuomo may run in the November election.

Police Search for Gunman After Mass Shooting in New York Subway, Recent Days Saw Mass Shootings In Iowa, Indiana and Washington, D.C., Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp Signs Law Allowing Guns to Be Carried Without License, Putin: Peace Talks with Ukraine at a “Dead End”, Ukraine Proposes Prisoner Swap After Capturing Pro-Russian Politician, Report: U.S. to Vastly Expand Weapons Shipments to Ukraine, Biden Accuses Russia of Committing Genocide in Ukraine, India Defends Russian Energy Imports: Each Month We Import “Less Than What Europe Does in an Afternoon”, Marine Le Pen Speaks Out Against Sanctions on Russian Oil & Gas, Biden Suspends Rule Limiting Ethanol in Gas as Inflation Jumps, Oxfam Warns 260 Million Could Be Pushed into Extreme Poverty This Year, Oklahoma Governor Signs Total Abortion Ban into Law, Confirmed Global COVID-19 Cases Top 500 Million, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson Fined for Breaking COVID Lockdown Rules, CDC: Fentanyl Is to Blame for Soaring Number of Teenagers Dying of Drug Overdoses, NY Lt. Gov. Benjamin Resigns After Arrest on Federal Corruption Charges, 150 Feared Dead in Attack on Nigerian Villages, At Least 58 Dead in the Philippines Following Large Tropical Storm, Sri Lanka Stops Paying Foreign Debt as Protests Grow over Economic Crisis, Lula Vows to Stop Illegal Mining in Indigenous Areas in Brazil

In “Pandemic, Inc.: Chasing the Capitalists and Thieves Who Got Rich While We Got Sick,” ProPublica investigative reporter J. David McSwane tracks pandemic federal relief funds and finds many contracts to acquire critical supplies were wrapped up in unprecedented fraud schemes that left the U.S. government with subpar and unusable equipment. He says an array of contractors were “trying to take advantage of our national emergency,” and calls the book “a blueprint of what not to do” during the next pandemic.

A U.N.-brokered two-month truce in Yemen is now in its second week. The U.S.-backed, Saudi-led coalition and Houthi rebels both agreed to halt all offensive operations inside Yemen and across its borders. Fuel ships are now being allowed to enter into Hodeidah ports, and the airport in Sana’a is reopening. Over the past six years, the U.N. estimates the war in Yemen has killed nearly 400,000 people — many from hunger. We speak with Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of the human rights organization Democracy for the Arab World Now, who says the truce deal, which is the first of its kind, is a “tremendously positive development.” She says domestically it still remains to be seen whether the U.N.’s attempt to establish a new government structure will hold as the U.N. has so far excluded Houthis from the negotiations.

We speak with Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), about Turkey’s recent decision to suspend the trial of 26 Saudi men accused of killing journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul in 2018. DAWN sued Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and his alleged conspirators in the murder. Whitson says Turkey’s move to turn over the case to prosecutors in Saudi Arabia shows “the Turkish government has decided that good relations — and in particular investment and trade with Saudi Arabia — is more important than pursuing justice for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi on Turkish soil.” We also ask Whitson about news that a fund led by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has invested $2 billion in Jared Kushner’s new private equity firm just years after Kushner helped push forward a $110 billion weapons sale to Saudi Arabia while his father-in-law was in office. She says the investment “exposes the corruption and lack of accountability in both the American system and the Saudi system.”

Austria’s Chancellor Karl Nehammer said he fears Russian President Vladimir Putin will intensify the brutality of the war, as Russia prepares to launch a major offensive in eastern Ukraine, after the two leaders met on Monday. This comes as thousands of Ukrainians continue to flee the eastern region, though many are afraid to leave by train after a missile attack on a train station in the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk killed at least 57 people on Saturday. We speak with Ukrainian American journalist Lev Golinkin, who details the years-long assault on the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas and how the people of Donbas have been under attack by both Russia and the U.S.-backed government in Kyiv. He also speaks about the origins of the Azov Battallion, a neo-Nazi wing of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which has received funding and training from the U.S. government and is now being platformed by prominent U.S. news organizations.

After Meeting with Putin, Austrian Chancellor Warns Russian Assault on Ukraine Will Intensify , Kremlin Critic Vladimir Kara-Murza Arrested in Moscow After Antiwar Comments , U.N. Probes Reports That Russian Troops in Ukraine Used Rape as Weapon of War, Russia Condemns NATO Expansion as Sweden and Finland Consider Joining Alliance, China to Test 18 Million in Guangzhou as COVID-19 Crisis Deepens, Philadelphia Becomes First Major U.S. City to Reinstate Indoor Mask Mandate, Civilians Killed as Israel Goes “On the Offensive” Against Palestinians, Egyptian Economist Dies Under Suspicious Circumstances After Forcible Disappearance, Ex-Cop Who Called for “Open Armed Rebellion” Convicted over Jan. 6 Insurrection, White House Announces Crackdown on Unregulated “Ghost Guns”, Biden Taps Steve Dettelbach to Head ATF After Senators Reject First Nominee, Maryland Lawmakers Override GOP Governor’s Veto to Expand Abortion Access, Indonesia OKs Landmark Sexual Violence Bill; Protesters Reject President’s Bid to Extend Tenure

In Texas, the Starr County district attorney said he will drop murder charges against Lizelle Herrera, a 26-year-old Latina woman who was arrested Thursday and accused of causing the “death of an individual through a self-induced abortion.” Herrera was detained on a $500,000 bond and released from jail Saturday evening, hours after activists with the Rio Grande Valley-based La Frontera Fund held a protest outside the Starr County Jail. We speak with La Frontera Fund’s founder, Rockie Gonzalez, who says Herrera requested care from medical professionals who then turned her in to law enforcement. Gonzalez says that while details of the case are sketchy, the highly publicized arrest of Herrera will further intimidate pregnant people from accessing medical care in the age of anti-abortion laws like S.B. 8. “People are going to be afraid to share potentially lifesaving information with medical professionals for fear of arrest,” says Gonzalez.

French President Emmanuel Macron and far-right candidate Marine Le Pen are headed to a runoff on April 24 after winning the most votes in France’s first round of presidential elections on Sunday. We speak with Rokhaya Diallo, French journalist and writer, who says France’s political landscape is now dominated by three parties — the far-right, the liberal right and the left, led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who urged his supporters to not vote for Le Pen in the following election. Diallo also explains how Le Pen — who ran against Macron in the last presidential election — has since softened her xenophobic rhetoric. “She has hidden in a way the real agenda of the National Rally, which is explicitly anti-immigrant, xenophobic and also sexist,” says Diallo.

We speak with historian Tariq Ali about the ongoing war in Ukraine, where more than 4.5 million people have fled since the start of Russia’s invasion. Ali says the only peace settlement he sees working would be if Ukraine’s Donbas region “becomes some federated republic with Russia” while allowing the rest of Ukraine independence and neutrality. He also says the war should bring attention to Western-fueled wars in non-European countries like Yemen, where refugees are essentially blocked from escaping violence because of what Ali attributes to racism.

Shahbaz Sharif was chosen as Pakistan’s new prime minister on Monday after Imran Khan was removed in a no-confidence vote in Parliament on Sunday. Khan’s ouster came after the nation’s Supreme Court ruled Khan’s attempt to dissolve Parliament earlier this month was illegal. Khan blamed his removal on a “U.S.-backed regime change” plot backed by his opposition, and lawmakers of his party have resigned en masse. We go to Islamabad to speak with Tooba Syed, a member of Pakistan’s left-wing Awami Workers Party, who says Khan’s allegations aren’t substantiated by evidence and come amid Khan’s tendency to use anti-American sentiment to strengthen his populist platform while upholding policies that hurt working-class Pakistani people and women. We also speak with historian Tariq Ali, who says the major Pakistani political parties are ravaged by corruption and overinfluenced by the military and financial incentives. Both Ali and Syed agree the election of establishment politician Shahbaz Sharif will not change conditions in Pakistan.

4.5 Million Have Fled Ukraine; Russia Plans Major Offensive in Eastern Ukraine, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson Meets with Zelensky in Kyiv, Pope Francis Calls for Easter Truce in Ukraine, Russia Closes Amnesty & Human Rights Watch Offices, Global Food Prices Hit All-Time High, Pakistan PM Imran Khan Ousted from Power, Blames “U.S.-Backed Regime Change” , French Elections: Macron to Face Le Pen in April 24 Runoff, Ketanji Brown Jackson: “It Has Taken 232 Years… But We’ve Made It.”, Leader of Proud Boys Pleads Guilty in Jan. 6 Insurrection Cases, Agrees to Cooperate with Feds, In Private Texts, Donald Trump Jr. Pushed for Overturning 2020 Election, Saudi Fund Invested $2 Billion in Jared Kushner’s Private Equity Firm, Texas Prosecutor to Drop Charges Against Woman Arrested for Role in “Self-Induced Abortion”, Alabama Governor Signs Anti-Trans Bills, China Will Ease Lockdowns in Shanghai Despite Record COVID-19 Cases, Dr. Anthony Fauci Says People Must Assess Their Own COVID-19 Risk, Amazon Seeks to Overturn Union Victory at Staten Island Warehouse, Protesters Blockade West Virginia Coal Plant That Profits Sen. Joe Manchin, Jury Acquits Two Men Accused of Plotting to Kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Buffalo Cops Cleared by Arbiter of Wrongdoing for Injuring Racial Justice Protester, AMLO Wins Referendum on Mexican Presidency in Vote Boycotted by Critics

Will the U.S. and Iran revive the 2015 nuclear deal abandoned by the Trump administration? President Biden is facing heat from lawmakers in both parties who oppose the deal, which would relax U.S. sanctions on Iran in exchange for limits on its nuclear program. At the crux of the debate is the Iranian request for Biden to lift the designation of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization, which would have a high political cost for the administration. With threats between the two nations mounting, a deal becomes more urgent to avoid the situation spiraling into military confrontation, says Trita Parsi, author of multiple books on U.S.-Iran relations.

The United Nations General Assembly voted to suspend Russia from the U.N. Human Rights Council on Thursday, a resolution that accused Russia of committing human rights abuses in Ukraine. We speak with human rights lawyer Wolfgang Kaleck about the apparent double standards and weaknesses in the current international criminal justice system in light of the U.S. committing similar crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. Nations like the U.S. have refused to submit themselves to any kind of international jurisdiction because “they want to lead their wars,” says Kaleck. “The International Criminal Court will only get off the ground in the near future if Western states agree to apply universal standards.”

Anti-abortion legislation is sweeping the U.S., including in Texas, Oklahoma and Missouri. We speak with Michele Goodwin, author of “Policing the Womb: Invisible Women and the Criminalization of Motherhood,” about the links between current conflicts between state and federal law and their historic precedents, such as Brown v. Board of Education and the Fugitive Slave Acts. “Bounty hunter” provisions in Texas’s new abortion restrictions are “plucked right out of antebellum slavery,” says Goodwin. “These are horrific times for reproductive liberty.”

The U.S. Senate voted 53-47 on Thursday to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. She will be the first Black woman and first former public defender to serve on the country’s top court. While Jackson’s confirmation was a “monumental moment in United States history,” it was undercut by the “shameful spectacle” of Republican senators behaving disrespectfully toward Jackson, says law professor Michele Goodwin. The confirmation process remains broken more than three decades after Anita Hill faced hostile questioning, she adds.

Ketanji Brown Jackson Confirmed as First Black Woman Supreme Court Justice, Ukraine Blames Russia for Attack on Train Station That Killed at Least 39 Civilians, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Asks NATO for “Weapons, Weapons and Weapons”, United Nations Suspends Russia from U.N. Human Rights Council, Nobel Laureate Dmitry Muratov Attacked on Russian Train, Shanghai Residents Report Shortages of Food and Medicine During COVID Lockdown, COVID-19 Drives Two-Year Decline in U.S. Life Expectancy, House Speaker Pelosi, Senators Collins & Warnock Test Positive for Coronavirus, Colombian Military Ambush Killed Civilians, Say Witnesses, Rights Groups Accuse Ethiopian Troops of War Crimes in Tigray, Violence Against Journalists Has Skyrocketed Under Mexican President AMLO, El Salvador Journalists Call “Gag Order” Law on Gangs an Attempt at Censorship, Pakistan’s Top Court Clears Path for Vote of No Confidence in PM Imran Khan, Israeli Forces Kill Palestinian Blamed for Fatal Attack on Tel Aviv Bar, Puerto Rico Plunged into Darkness After Fire at Major Power Plant, New York AG Asks Judge to Fine Donald Trump $10,000 a Day for Contempt of Court, DHS Inspector General Ordered Aides to Hide Reports of Abuse and Misconduct, As Biden Signs Postal Service Reform Bill, Climate Activists Demand Electrified USPS Fleet

President Biden announced Tuesday he would extend the pandemic pause on federal student loan payments until August 31, but debtors are demanding total cancellation. We speak with Astra Taylor, co-director of the Debt Collective, who discusses the implications of the latest extension, economically and politically. Taylor says Biden should stop letting loan servicers profiteer from borrowers and cancel student loans, which would immediately narrow the racial wealth gap.

Far-right nationalist prime minister and longtime Putin-ally Viktor Orbán won his fourth consecutive election in Hungary, aided by biased media coverage and campaign regulations that favored the sitting prime minister. We speak to historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat about the future of Hungary under the Fidesz party, which, aside from passing anti-LGBTQ legislation and stoking xenophobia, has also been an important ally for Russian President Vladimir Putin. “He’s very much a conduit for the infiltration and spread of Putin ideas in a more palatable frame,” says Ben-Ghiat. She also discusses how Orbán has become a model for many Republicans in the United States, and notes the Conservative Political Action Conference will be held in Istanbul next month.

A new report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns the opportunity to mitigate the worst effects of global warming by maintaining global temperatures at 1.5 degrees Celsius is quickly closing and that humanity has less than three years to slash greenhouse gas emissions. “Fossil fuel is at the root of our problems. It is at the root of the despotisms we see in Russia or in Saudi Arabia or indeed the Koch brothers’ efforts to deform our own democracy,” says Bill McKibben, environmentalist and founder of 350.org. It is time to demand world leaders sign a fossil fuel nonproliferation treaty, says Ukrainian climate activist Svitlana Romanko. Romanko is also with the Laudato Si’ Movement, which exists to implement the second encyclical of Pope Francis about “care for our common home” and recognizes the war in Ukraine has been funded by fossil fuels. Pope Francis says he plans to visit Ukraine, and Romanko says his “leadership may create a difference in this war.”

Over a month into Russia’s war in Ukraine and after multiple countries imposed sanctions on Russian fossil fuels, Ukraine’s pipelines are still carrying Russian gas into Europe. Ukrainian climate activist Svitlana Romanko says Ukraine cannot shut off the gas flow if EU governments refuse to implement an embargo on Russian imports. “There should be a collaboration on both sides of this supply chain,” says Romanko. A natural solution would be to urgently transition Europe to renewable energy sources, as “Vladimir Putin can’t embargo the sun” and “can’t interdict the wind,” adds Bill McKibben, environmentalist and founder of 350.org.

House Democrats grilled CEOs of Big Oil companies, like ExxonMobil, Chevron and Shell, Wednesday about rising gas prices and profiteering from the Ukraine war. We get response from environmentalist Bill McKibben and speak with Ukrainian environmental lawyer ​​Svitlana Romanko about how the war in Ukraine is impacting energy markets around the world. “These are predatory companies that have used every excuse — and this is one of the grossest — to try and increase their profit margins,” says McKibben. “Dismantling and ending Putin’s horrific war against Ukraine will dismantle the system that enables this fossil fuel industry to overprofit,” adds Romanko.

Civilians Warned to Flee Eastern Ukraine as Russian Forces Redeploy, Biden Administration Adds More Russian Banks and Putin’s Daughters to Sanctions List, Hungary’s PM Breaks with European Union, Says He’ll Pay for Russian Gas in Rubles, Turkey Suspends Trial of 26 Saudis Accused of Jamal Khashoggi Murder Plot, Scientists Around the World Join Climate Change Rebellion, Top Democrats Test Positive for Coronavirus After Elite D.C. Party, Minneapolis Cop Who Fatally Shot Amir Locke Won’t Face Charges, Congress Holds Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino Held in Contempt over Jan. 6 Probe, Kentucky Governor Vetoes Bill Banning Trans Women & Girls from School Sports Teams, Ohio “Don’t Say Gay” Bill Would Also Ban Teaching of “Divisive” Concepts on Race, New York Mayor Eric Adams Orders Cops to Clear Unhoused Residents’ Encampments, Media Critic Eric Boehlert Dies in Bike Accident

Women in Afghanistan are protesting a number of gender-based restrictions from the Taliban, including an order in March to shut down public high schools for girls. In response, U.S. officials canceled talks with Taliban leaders in Doha, continuing to freeze billions in Afghan assets while Afghanistan spirals into economic catastrophe. We speak with Masuda Sultan and Medea Benjamin, two co-founders of Unfreeze Afghanistan, a coalition advocating for the release of funding for Afghan civilians. They recently visited Afghanistan as part of a U.S. women’s delegation and say the U.S. has a responsibility to alleviate the suffering there, which it had a major role in causing over two decades of war. “It seems that every time there is a showdown between the Taliban and the international community, it’s the Afghan people that suffer,” says Sultan. “We are now having a kind of economic warfare against the Afghan people,” adds Benjamin.

As the Russian assault on Ukraine continues, more videos are emerging that show evidence of Russian brutalities and possible war crimes, such as executions and torture. Russian officials have denied the accusations, calling them Ukrainian propaganda. We speak with Washington Post video journalist Jon Gerberg, who has been filing video reports from the war for the past six weeks, and see extended interviews from civilians he interviewed. As Russian forces retreat from Ukrainian cities, “we are pulling back the veil of the more active conflict that was keeping us as journalists from some of these areas,” says Gerberg. “This is a war that in over a month has had an unbelievable impact on both the men and women fighting it and the men and women who are stuck in the middle of it as civilians.”

Zelensky Blasts U.N. for Failing to Stop Russian Atrocities in Ukraine, Russia Denies Killing Civilians in Bucha, Accuses Ukraine of Spreading Propaganda, U.S. Pledges $100M to Ukraine to Buy More Javelin Missiles as War Enters New Phase, Gen. Mark Milley: Ukraine War Will Be “Very Protracted Conflict” Lasting Years, Aid Groups Warn West Africa Faces Worst Food Crisis in a Decade, Human Rights Watch: Malian & Russian Forces Summarily Executed 300 Detained Men, Oklahoma Lawmakers Approve Near-Total Ban on Abortions, Colorado Governor Signs Reproductive Health Equity Act, Obama & Biden Reunite at White House to Mark 12 Years of Affordable Care Act, GOP Threaten to Block COVID-19 Aid Bill over Title 42, Biden Administration Extends Pandemic Pause on Student Loan Debt, House Jan. 6 Committee Interviews Ivanka Trump, U.S. Approves $95M in Military Aid for Taiwan as AUKUS Develops Hypersonic Missiles, Protests Escalate in Peru over Rising Prices & Curfew, First Starbucks in NYC Unionizes as CEO Claims Company Is Being “Assaulted” by Organizing Efforts, Peggy Bellecourt, Co-Founder of American Indian Movement, Dies at 78, 19-Month-Old Gazan Baby Dies After Israel Refused to Allow Her to Leave for Treatment