Democracy Now!

Palestinians are holding a state funeral in Ramallah for Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh, a veteran journalist who was one of the best-known television journalists in Palestine and the Arab world. Abu Akleh, who was a U.S. citizen, was wearing a press uniform and covering an Israeli military raid in the occupied West Bank when she was fatally shot in the head on Wednesday. Israel initially claimed she may have been shot by a Palestinian gunman, but later said it was unclear who shot her, after witnesses, including other journalists, said she was shot dead by Israeli forces. “People are shocked all over Palestine, all over the Arab world, actually,” says Rashid Khalidi, professor of modern Arab studies at Columbia University. Israel’s “colonial army” has “systematically targeted” Palestinian journalists, says Khalidi. “It’s really important to Israel that nobody see what’s going on in the Occupied Territories.”

Manchin Joins Republicans in Blocking Bill to Codify Roe v. Wade, Palestinians Hold State Funeral for Al Jazeera Reporter Shireen Abu Akleh, Shot Dead by Israelis, Russia Denounces Congress’s $40 Billion Ukraine Aid Bill as Part of U.S. Proxy War, Finland Takes Steps to Join NATO, Ending Decades of Neutrality, Interior Department Begins Documenting Dark History of Indian Boarding Schools, Report: 50% Chance Global Average Temp Increase Will Reach 1.5C in Next 5 Years, New Mexico Wildfire Grows by 50 Square Miles; 20 Homes Burn Down in California, CDC: 108,000 Died from Drug Overdoses in 2021; Most Linked to Synthetic Opioids, CDC: Gun Deaths in U.S. Reach New High of Over 45,000 in 2020, House to Probe Growing Shortage of Baby Formula After Closing of Abbott Plant, Florida Judge Blocks GOP Effort to Remake Congressional Map, Arizona Executes Blind 66-Year-Old Man with Paranoid Schizophrenia, Hong Kong Authorities Arrest 90-Year-Old Catholic Cardinal, North Korea Reports First COVID Case, Declares “Severe National Emergency”

Amazon has fired two workers who helped organize the first successful U.S. union at Amazon’s Staten Island JFK8 warehouse. This comes as the National Labor Relations Board on Monday upheld a complaint that Amazon violated labor law in the Staten Island union vote by holding mandatory worker meetings to dissuade employees from voting to unionize. We speak with the fired workers, Tristan “Lion” Dutchin and Mat Cusick, who say they need the support of the NLRB and pro-worker legislation to protect them against retaliation by Amazon.

In a major development, the National Labor Relations Board announced Tuesday night it is suing Starbucks to immediately rehire seven Memphis Starbucks workers who were illegally fired in retaliation for their union efforts. This comes as the NLRB issued a complaint against Starbucks for 29 unfair labor practice charges, including over 200 violations of federal workers’ protections, stemming from retaliation claims made by members of the Starbucks Workers United in Buffalo, New York, where Starbucks workers’ union organizing effort began in August. “Starbucks is willing to fight tooth and nail to protect the image that they have built over the years,” says one of the Memphis workers, Beto Sanchez. “They love to put up this facade of being a progressive company, of being woke, of being the first in leading areas. But like I’ve seen, they are willing to retaliate and fire workers for airing out their dirty laundry. They are just as bad as any other Fortune 500 company that’s out there.”

We go to Manila to speak with Filipina Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa about Monday’s presidential election in the Philippines, where Ferdinand Marcos Jr. — the only son of the late Filipino dictator Ferdinand Marcos — appears to have won in a landslide alongside his running mate, the daughter of current President Rodrigo Duterte. Ressa says the Marcos campaign used social media to cover up the historical memory of the family’s brutal policies and the uprising in 1986 that ultimately ended Marcos’s two-decade dictatorship. “These elections are emblematic of the impact of concerted information operations of disinformation where it literally changed history in front of our eyes,” says Ressa. Her forthcoming book is titled “How to Stand Up to a Dictator: The Fight for Our Future.”

Israeli forces have shot and killed Shireen Abu Akleh, a veteran Palestinian American journalist working for Al Jazeera, as she covered an Israeli army raid on the Jenin refugee camp early Wednesday morning. Video released by Al Jazeera shows Abu Akleh was wearing a press uniform when she was shot in the head by what the network says was a single round fired by an Israeli sniper. “She gave voice to the struggles of Palestinians over a career spanning nearly three decades,” says journalist Dalia Hatuqa, remembering her friend and colleague. “Her killing is not an isolated incident. This has been happening for a long time: Israeli attacks against media workers, especially Palestinians, and the relative impunity under which they operate.”

Palestinian American Journalist Shireen Abu Akleh Shot Dead While Covering Israeli Raid, House Approves $40 Billion in Weapons and Economic Aid to Ukraine, As Protests Rage, Sri Lanka’s Embattled President Orders Troops to Shoot to Kill, WHO Criticizes China’s Zero-COVID Strategy as “Unsustainable”, Study Warns China Faces “Tsunami” of Omicron Coronavirus Infections , Treasury Secretary Yellen Says Reversing Roe Would Be “Very Damaging” to U.S. Economy, Honduran Ex-President Juan Orlando Hernández Pleads Not Guilty to U.S. Drugs Charges, Elon Musk Prepares to Reverse Twitter’s Ban on Trump: “It Was a Morally Bad Decision”, Labor Board Sues Starbucks to Reinstate Fired Union Organizers , House of Representatives Votes to Allow Congressional Staffers to Unionize, Georgia Police Accused of Racial Profiling over Warrantless Search of HBCU Team Bus, Former Black Panther Sundiata Acoli To Be Released After Half-Century in NJ Prison

We speak with historian Kelly Lytle Hernández, whose new book “Bad Mexicans: Race, Empire, and Revolution in the Borderlands” tells the story of the often-overlooked men and women who incited the Mexican Revolution and how it relates to the rise of U.S. imperialism. The movement included intellectuals, workers and others who opposed Mexico’s dictatorial President Porfirio Díaz, who ruled for decades with support from the U.S. government and U.S. business elites. “What we have is Latinx protagonists at the center of the American story,” says Hernández, who teaches history, African American studies and urban planning at UCLA. “If you want to understand the rise of U.S. empire, you want to understand U.S. immigration history, you want to understand the issues of policing we are confronting today, we have to know that these are Latinx histories.”

The Pulitzer Prizes were announced Monday, and among the winners was the Futuro Media and PRX team behind the seven-part podcast series “Suave” that follows acclaimed journalist Maria Hinojosa’s decades-long friendship with David Luis “Suave” Gonzalez, who received a life sentence without parole at the age of 17 for first-degree homicide. Gonzalez met Hinojosa in 1993, and they continued to stay in touch through letters, visits and phone calls that Hinojosa recorded, eventually forming the foundation of the podcast. The series chronicles Gonzalez’s journey as he is eventually given the opportunity to experience life on the outside for the first time as an adult, after the 2016 Supreme Court ruling that mandatory sentences of life without parole on juveniles are unconstitutional. “Here is a stranger telling me, a lifer, that I could be the voice for the voiceless. I was lit,” Gonzalez said when he spoke to Democracy Now! in 2021 when the series was first released. Hinojosa credited the success of the podcast to their open and honest relationship. “Suave and I were just very real with each other, over decades,” she said. “I never imagined that it would end up being a podcast that is getting this amount of attention.” Hinojosa founded Futuro Media in 2010 and said Monday it is now “leaving its mark in American history.”

Sri Lanka’s prime minister stepped down Monday following weeks of street protests over the country’s worst economic crisis in its history, which has seen skyrocketing food and fuel prices in the island nation. Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa’s resignation came after supporters of the ruling party stormed a major protest site in the capital Colombo, attacking protesters and prompting clashes with police. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the outgoing prime minister’s brother, has declared a state of emergency and remains in power, despite protesters’ demands for the resignations of all members of the political dynasty that has dominated Sri Lanka’s politics for decades. “The gross mismanagement of our economy by this regime combined with the history of neoliberal policies is what has brought Sri Lanka to its knees,” says Ahilan Kadirgamar, a political economist and senior lecturer at the University of Jaffna in northern Sri Lanka.

Russian Missiles Fall on Odessa as Troops Cross Strategic River in Eastern Ukraine, Russia’s Ambassador to Poland Doused with Red Paint at Victory Day Memorial in Warsaw, “The TV and the Authorities Are Lying”: Hackers Bring Antiwar Message to Russian TV, Biden Speeds Flow of U.S. Arms to Ukraine as Congress Prepares $40 Billion Aid Package, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Son of Ousted Dictator, Poised to Win Philippines Presidency, Two More Journalists Murdered in Mexico, the 10th and 11th Such Killings in 2022, At Least 44 Killed in Ecuador Prison Riot, Melting Glacier Triggers Flash Floods in Northern Pakistan After Record Heat Wave, Brazil’s Amazon Suffered Record Rate of Deforestation in April, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol Takes Hard Line on North Korea in Inaugural Address, Protesters Rally at Home of Justice Samuel Alito, Who Drafted Opinion Overturning Roe v. Wade, 3 Texas Cops Indicted for Violent Crackdown on 2020 Black Lives Matter Protests, 2022 Pulitzer Prizes Honor Coverage of Ukraine Invasion, U.S. Air Wars, and Prisoner Rehabilitation

In Victory Day Speech, Putin Blames NATO for Provoking Russia in Ukraine, “We’re Fundamentally at War”: Rep. Moulton Says U.S. in Proxy War with Russia, Officials Says U.S. Intel Led to Killing of Russian Generals & Sinking of Warship, 60 Feared Dead in Russian Attack on School in Ukraine’s Luhansk Region, Nationalist Sinn Féin Party Wins Historic Election in Northern Ireland, Philippines: Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Son of Ex-Dictator, Expected to Win Election, Taliban Orders Women to Cover Faces in Public in Afghanistan, Pro-Beijing Security Chief Tapped to Become New Head of Hong Kong, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Resigns as Protests Mount over Economic Crisis, 44 Migrants Feared Dead Off Coast of Western Sahara, With SCOTUS Poised to Strike Down Roe, Pro-Choice Protesters Target Homes of Justices, Without Mitigation, Coronavirus Could Infect 100 Million+ Across U.S. This Fall/Winter, Calf Canyon Fire Grows to 2nd Largest in New Mexico History, Burning 275 Square Miles, 31 Killed as Explosion Tears Through Luxury Havana Hotel, Mexico’s AMLO Says U.S. Should Not Exclude Other Nations from Summit of the Americas, Luis Enrique Ramírez Found Murdered, Becoming 9th Mexican Journalist Killed in 2022

As the Supreme Court is poised to strike down Roe v. Wade, we speak with law professor Michele Goodwin, who has written extensively about how the criminalization of abortion polices motherhood. She discusses how on the eve of the court’s oral arguments in the Dobbs case in November, she wrote about how an abortion saved her life. She describes how the U.S. has historically endangered and denied essential health services to Black and Brown women, and calls new abortion restrictions “the new Jane Crow,” warning that they will further criminalize reproductive health and encourage medical professionals to breach their patients’ confidentiallity and report self-administered abortions to law enforcement.

Governments around the world are eagerly returning back to pre-pandemic conditions by relaxing preventative restrictions, lifting mask mandates and pulling back public funding. Dr. Abraar Karan, infectious disease fellow at Stanford University School of Medicine, says these moves are overly optimistic and that the U.S. is not prepared for new variants spreading around the country. “We’re trying to say it’s over. It’s not true,” he says. “As time goes on, immunity wanes, and we will begin to see more severe cases.”

The World Health Organization says the coronavirus pandemic has now caused an excess of 15 million deaths globally. We look at how staggering death counts reveal broader political failures to protect public health and close the international vaccine gap. “Western governments and rich corporations who are based primarily in the West have done very little to advance vaccine inequity or to help the entire world end this pandemic faster,” says Achal Prabhala, coordinator of the AccessIBSA project, who adds that many poor countries have also not used all the policy tools at their disposal.

WHO Says COVID-19 Has Caused Nearly 15 Million Deaths, Nearly Triple Official Toll, 2022 Asian Games Called Off as China Struggles to Stamp Out Coronavirus, FDA Restricts Use of J&J Vaccine over Rare Blood Clots, Russia Launches Ground Assault on Last Holdout of Ukrainian Forces in Mariupol, Louisiana GOP Advances Bill to Criminalize Abortion as Murder, Senate to Vote on Bill Codifying Roe v. Wade into Law, U.N. Calls on Russia to Open Ukraine’s Ports to Grain Shipments as Global Hunger Surges, 280 Migrants Rescued from Abandoned Tractor-Trailer in Southern Mexico, Mexico Agrees to Receive More Cuban and Nicaraguan Asylum Seekers Expelled by U.S., Three People Killed in Stabbing Rampage Near Tel Aviv, Israel , 5,000 Hospitalized in Iraq as Another Severe Dust Storm Strikes , Bernie Sanders Urges Cancellation of Contracts with Amazon as Workers Describe Union Busting, Karine Jean-Pierre to Become First Black, Caribbean American and LGBTQ+ Press Secretary, Survivors of Torture Under Ferdinand Marcos Try to Stop His Son from Winning Philippines Presidency

We speak to Yale University historian Timothy Snyder about his latest article for The New Yorker, “The War in Ukraine Is a Colonial War.” Snyder writes about the colonial history that laid the foundations for the Russian war in Ukraine, such as Russia’s imperial vision and how leaders including Hitler and Stalin have aimed to conquer Ukrainian soil on different premises. “The whole history of colonialism … involves denying that another people is real. It involves denying that another state is real,” says Snyder. “That is, of course, the premise of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”

The European Union has announced a plan for a total ban on Russian oil by 2023. The move is backed by Germany, one of the countries most dependent on Russian fuel. World leaders hope that stricter sanctions on Russia will cut off financing for the war in Ukraine. We go to Ukraine to speak with economist Tymofiy Mylovanov about what the European oil ban would mean for the conflict; possible alternative buyers for Russia’s oil surplus, such as China and India; military escalations Russia might be planning for its Victory Day on May 9; and more.

This week U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres is in Nigeria, where he warned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is leading to a growing hunger crisis in Africa. A new report by Human Rights Watch finds the Russian invasion of Ukraine has worsened food insecurity, particularly for African countries that were already experiencing a hunger crisis. Russia and Ukraine are leading exporters of wheat and other grains, while countries such as Cameroon, Nigeria and Uganda are among the largest importers. With climate change and trade stalled by the coronavirus pandemic, “all these changes within the availability of food has sent the food prices to new levels,” says Lena Simet, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch. Advocates are calling on exporting countries such as the United States and Canada to “open their markets, to not introduce export restrictions, and provide essential grains at an affordable price to humanitarian organizations,” she adds.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has tested positive for the coronavirus. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Wednesday Blinken would isolate at home according to CDC guidelines. Blinken met Wednesday with Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde shortly before his positive test result. A day earlier, he met with Mexican Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard. On Saturday, he joined a crowd of 2,600 celebrities, journalists and Washington elites who packed the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, where few in attendance wore masks. “You guys spent the last two years telling everyone the importance of wearing masks and avoiding large indoor gatherings. Then, the second someone offers you a free dinner, you all turn into Joe Rogan,” said comedian Trevor Noah in his address at the event, which has since been linked to a growing number of COVID-19 cases. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization estimates the COVID-19 pandemic has caused the deaths of nearly 15 million people around the world.

U.S. Coronavirus Death Toll Tops 1 Million, NBC News Tally Finds, Air Raid Sirens Sound Across Ukraine as Russia Steps Up Attacks on Infrastructure, U.S. Intelligence Helped Ukraine Kill Russian Generals, Reports New York Times, Global Hunger Surged to Record High in 2021 Even Before Ukraine War, California Readies Constitutional Amendment to Protect Reproductive Rights, Democratic Leaders Continue to Back Rep. Henry Cuellar Despite Anti-Abortion Views, Federal Reserve Raises Interest Rates by 0.5%, Citing High Inflation , Psychologist Details Torture of Saudi Prisoner at CIA Black Site, Irish Peace Activists Fined for Protesting U.S. Troop Movements at Shannon Airport, Donald Trump Jr. Begged White House to Stop Jan. 6 Riot: “It Has Gone Too Far”, Recording Reveals Rep. Kevin McCarthy Discussed Removing Trump After Capitol Riot, Starbucks CEO Promises Raises and Benefits to Nonunion Workers

The Trump-backed candidate J.D. Vance won the Ohio Republican Senate primary on Tuesday, while former Bernie Sanders presidential campaign co-chair Nina Turner lost the Democratic primary election for Ohio’s 11th Congressional District after massive outside spending and attacks by super PACs. We speak with Andrew Perez of The Lever about what Ohio’s elections mean for the future of the Democratic Party if it actively suppresses candidates like Turner who are critical of the establishment. Given that a majority Democratic Congress and sitting Democratic president have not delivered on campaign promises such as canceling student debt, protecting Roe v. Wade and passing Build Back Better, the party will be in jeopardy in the upcoming elections, says Perez.

What role did dark money play in the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade? We speak with reporter Andrew Perez about how conservative anti-abortion groups and right-wing extremists have funneled millions of dollars into promoting politicians and Supreme Court justices to ultimately curtail reproductive rights. A dark money network led by the Federalist Society’s Leonard Leo has spent at least $10 million promoting each of President Trump’s picks for the Supreme Court and another $10 million blocking Merrick Garland’s nomination in 2016, says Perez, senior editor and investigative reporter at The Lever.

As the leaked opinion showing the Supreme Court plans to overturn Roe v. Wade sparks protests across the United States, we speak to an abortion doctor and a reproductive rights activist facing deportation about what is next. “We will keep fighting for us to have abortions that are safe, legal and accessible to everyone, no matter where you are, no matter where you’re coming from and no matter what your income,” says community organizer Alejandra Pablos, noting the decision could have particularly disastrous effects on already vulnerable undocumented immigrants and border communities in Arizona. “People should be able to access abortion care as part of the general healthcare that a pregnant person or any other person would seek,” says gynecologist Dr. DeShawn Taylor about how criminalizing abortion affects medical professionals in the field, especially her clinic Desert Star Family Planning, one of the only abortion clinics in Arizona.

VP Harris: Overturning Roe v. Wade Would Be “Direct Assault on Freedom”, Legal Experts: Overturning Roe Could Lead to Ending Same-Sex Marriage & Access to Contraceptives, Without Filibuster Reform, Democratic Efforts to Codify Abortion Rights Will Fail, Oklahoma Governor Signs Six-Week Abortion Ban, EU Unveils Proposal to Ban All Russian Oil Imports by End of Year, Parts of Lviv Without Power or Water After Russian Missile Strikes, Military in Belarus Begins Large-Scale Military Drills to Test Combat Readiness, Biden Visits Lockheed Martin Plant to Push for Passage of $33B for Ukraine, “NATO’s Barking at Russia’s Gate”: Pope Francis Partially Blames West for War in Ukraine, U.N.: 4.5 Tons of Grain Stuck in Ukraine Due to Russian Blockade, State Department Declares WNBA Star Brittney Griner to Be “Wrongfully Detained” in Russia, BP Records $6.2 Billion in Profits over Past Three Months, Report: CIA Director Made Secret Trip to Saudi Arabia to Meet MBS in April, J.D. Vance Wins GOP Senate Primary in Ohio with Help from Trump & Peter Thiel, Philadelphia Police Officer Charged with Murder for Fatally Shooting 12-Year-Old Boy, Ex-NYPD Officer Convicted for Assaulting D.C. Cop During Jan. 6 Insurrection, Trump on Black Lives Matter Protesters: “Can’t You Just Shoot Them?”, Guterres Warns Africa Is Facing Triple Crisis; Calls for Military Juntas to Hand Over Power, Report: Israel Is Holding 600 Palestinians Without Charge or Trial, North Korea Launches Suspected Ballistic Missile, PayPal Freezes Funds for Consortium News, An Outlet Critical of U.S. Policy on Ukraine, Norman Mineta, 90, Dies; Helped Win Reparations for Interned Japanese Americans

As President Biden seeks $33 billion more for Ukraine, we look at the dangers of U.S. military escalation with Medea Benjamin of CodePink and George Beebe of the Quincy Institute. He is the former head of Russia analysis at the CIA and a former adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney. The massive spending in Ukraine that outweighs public funding to combat the coronavirus pandemic shows that “there are very few things that the Biden administration thinks are more important right now than defeating Russia, and I don’t think that accords, actually, with the priorities of the American people,” says Beebe. “To support the people of Ukraine and stop the fighting, we need not to pour billions of dollars of more weapons in, but to say, 'Negotiations now,'” says Benjamin.

The Supreme Court has voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, according to a leaked draft opinion published by Politico. In it, Justice Samuel Alito writes for the majority that “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start.” We speak to two reproductive rights advocates: attorney Kathryn “Kitty” Kolbert, who argued the landmark 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey case, and law professor Michele Goodwin, author of “Policing the Womb.” The reproductive rights movement must not only stir public outcry and depend on the courts to protect these rights, but also focus more on state-level elections to vote out anti-abortion politicians, says Kolbert. Where Roe v. Wade didn’t go far enough, passing legislation such as the Women’s Health Protection Act can enshrine abortion rights, says Goodwin.

Supreme Court Is Prepared to Overturn Abortion Rights, Leaked Draft Opinion Shows, U.N. Confirms Over 3,000 Civilian Deaths in Ukraine; True Toll from Russian Assault Likely Higher , Pentagon Says Putin May Soon Formally Declare War on Ukraine, EU Energy Minister Rejects Russia’s Rubles-for-Fuel Scheme, Omicron Coronavirus Subvariants Fuel New Rise of Cases in South Africa, New York Raises Coronavirus Risk Level to “Medium”, Human Rights Groups Cite Serious Abuses in El Salvador’s State of Emergency, State Dept. “Disturbed” by Reports Egyptian Critic Died in Custody with Signs of Torture, Biden Meets Family of Austin Tice, U.S. Journalist Abducted in Syria in 2012, Rights Groups Demand Release of Ethiopian Journalists Facing Death Penalty over War Coverage, Russia Condemned on World Press Freedom Day over Censorship and Killing Reporters in Ukraine, New Mexico Wildfires Grow in Size, Scorching Over 120,000 Acres, Tennessee Halts Executions ver Potential Toxins in Lethal Injection Drugs, Union Drive at Second Staten Island Amazon Warehouse Falls Short, Oklahoma Judge Will Allow Tulsa Race Massacre Lawsuit to Proceed

Longtime Cuban diplomat Ricardo Alarcón died on Sunday at the age of 84. He was a student leader during the Cuban revolution who eventually became Cuba’s foreign minister and president of the National Assembly, Cuba’s parliament. He played a key role in talks between the United States and Cuba for many years. Democracy Now! spoke to Alarcón in 2015 as the Cuban Embassy reopened in Washington for the first time in 54 years. “You should not overstate the role of diplomats,” Alarcón said of the thawing in relations between the two countries. “The real force that brought about this result was the struggle of the peoples.”

The Ukrainian government says about 100 people have been able to evacuate the besieged steel plant in Mariupol, where thousands of civilians and fighters have taken shelter in recent weeks as Russian forces took over most of the strategic port city. This comes after several previously arranged “humanitarian corridors” fell apart. Meanwhile, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi became the highest-ranking American official to visit Kyiv, days after President Joe Biden asked Congress for an additional $33 billion in military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine. For more on the war in Ukraine, now in its 10th week, we speak with Norwegian Refugee Council head Jan Egeland, who has been visiting Ukrainian cities “devastated beyond belief” by the Russian invasion. “I don’t think the world has understood enough that this suffering will become even deeper, especially in the east and the south, if the war is allowed to rage on like now.” Egeland says the only way to end the war is through talks, and warns against an “arms race” that could continue to fuel the conflict.

We speak with one of the leaders of a new study that finds one in five reptiles are threatened by extinction. The results of the first comprehensive study of over 10,000 reptile species around the world were just published in the journal Nature and found multiple causes, including deforestation, urban encroachment, hunting and the climate crisis. “The fate of reptiles is wrapped up with the fate of many other species,” notes Bruce Young, the chief zoologist and senior conservation scientist for the wildlife conservation group NatureServe.

We speak with a leading Indian climate scientist about the punishing heat wave that produced the hottest weather ever recorded in April for India and Pakistan. Temperatures have climbed above 110 degrees Fahrenheit, causing power outages, school closures, crop damage and health warnings. Scientists link the early onset of the region’s intense summer to the climate crisis and say more than 1 billion people may be impacted by more frequent and longer heat waves. “We are expected to and already seeing longer and more intense heat waves that are more frequent across the Indian subcontinent because of anthropogenic climate change,” says Chandni Singh, senior researcher on climate change adaptation at the Indian Institute for Human Settlements and a lead author of the Asia chapter of the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. “Historical emitters of greenhouse gases have to step up because we are, in countries like India and Pakistan, really hitting the limits of adapting to heat.”

In Trip to Kyiv, Pelosi Vows U.S. Will Back Ukraine “Until the Fight Is Done”, Ukraine: About 100 Civilians Evacuated from Mariupol Steel Plant, AP: Ukraine Arrests Hundreds Accused of Collaborating with Russians, Rep. Kinzinger Introduces AUMF to OK U.S. Troops in Ukraine If Russia Uses WMDs, Ukrainian Journalist Dies in Russian Missile Strikes on Kyiv Apartment Building, Former U.S. Marine Working for Private Military Security Firm Dies Fighting in Ukraine, EU Holds Emergency Talks About Proposed Ban on Russia Oil, Big Oil, Big Profits: Chevron Records $6.3B Profit, Exxon $5.5B — in Just Three Months, At Least 10 Die in Blast at Sufi Mosque in Kabul, 200,000 Palestinians Mark Eid at the Al-Aqsa Mosque Days After Israeli Raid, Millions March on May Day, from France to Turkey to Chile, Protesters in Wisconsin Hold “Day Without Latinxs and Immigrants” Protests, Sri Lanka Opposition Rejects Presidential Offer to Form Proposed Unity Government, Trump Faces Grand Jury Probe in Georgia into Efforts to Overturn Election, DOJ Sues Alabama for Law Barring Gender-Affirming Medicine for Trans Youth, Florida Prison Guards Charged with Murder for Beating Death, FBI Carried Out at Least 3.4 Million Warrantless Searches of U.S. Residents’ Data, New York Drops Charges Against Peace Activists Arrested at 2019 Drone Protest, Former Cuban Diplomat Ricardo Alarcón Dies at 84, Kathy Boudin, Ex-Weather Underground Member Who Fought for Prisoners’ Rights, Dies at 78

The landmark 1979 labor documentary, “The Wobblies,” has been restored and rereleased for May Day, International Workers’ Day. The film details the history of the Industrial Workers of the World — a radical union whose members are also known as Wobblies — and their inclusive fight to organize “unskilled” workers, secure fair wages and enshrine the eight-hour workday in the early 20th century before they were targeted and repressed by the FBI during World War I. It features interviews with former Wobblies still alive in the 1970s. Deborah Shaffer, who co-directed the film with Stewart Bird, says the IWW “was founded in 1905 out of necessity” because no existing unions represented so-called unskilled labor. “The workers had no representation at all, and they were being expected to work seven days a week, 12-hour days, no breaks, no meals, underpaid, overworked,” she says. “Conditions were terrible and intolerable.” The high-definition rerelease of “The Wobblies” comes after the Library of Congress added it to the National Film Registry in 2021.

Climate change is forcing animal migrations at an unprecedented scale, bringing many previously disconnected species into close contact and dramatically raising the likelihood of viruses leaping into new hosts and sparking future pandemics. That’s according to a new study in the journal Nature, which predicts that climate-driven disruptions to Earth’s ecosystems will create thousands of cross-species viral transmissions in the coming decades. We speak with The Atlantic’s Ed Yong, who says this new era can be thought of as the “Pandemicene,” a time defined by the power of viruses over humanity and the wider world. “In a warming world, we’ll get lots of these spillover events in which viruses find new hosts, mostly transferring between animal to animal but increasing the odds that they will eventually then spill over into us,” says Yong.

Nuclear watchdogs are expressing alarm over safety conditions at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which has been under Russian control since early March after a fight that led to a fire near one of the plant’s reactors. It is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe and located in the largest city in southeastern Ukraine still under Ukrainian control. The Ukrainian government accused Russia of launching two missiles that flew over the plant earlier this week, and says Russian missiles have also flown near two other nuclear power plants in the country. Ukrainian energy expert Olexi Pasyuk, deputy director of the group Ecoaction, notes that Russian forces likely already disturbed radioactive materials at the Chernobyl zone, scene of the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 1986. “Zaporizhzhia, where you have reactors in operation and they continue to work now, is a far more dangerous situation,” says Pasyuk.

Russia Bombs Kyiv as U.N. Secretary-General Meets Ukrainian President, European Energy Companies Agree to Pay for Russian Gas in Rubles, NATO Chief Says Allies Are Prepared to Support Ukraine “For Months and Years”, Biden Asks Congress for Additional $33 Billion for Weapons and Aid to Ukraine, U.N. Warns Humans Have Degraded 40% of Earth’s Land, Climate Crisis Threatens Largest Mass Extinction of Marine Mammals in 66 Million Years, Study Finds Climate Change Drives Animal Migration, Threatening New Viral Outbreaks, Protesters Demand Pfizer End Pandemic Profiteering and Share Vaccine Technologies, WHO Warns of Rising Measles Cases After Pandemic Disrupted Vaccinations of Children, Iran Put 333 People to Death in 2021, a 25% Rise in Capital Punishment, Oklahoma GOP Approves 6-Week Abortion Ban with $10,000 Bounty for Reporting Violators, Georgia Gov. Kemp Signs Bills Banning Books, Classroom Discussion of Race, and Trans Athletes, 19 of Most Profitable U.S. Corporations Pay Little or No Income Tax, Biden Rules Out Canceling $50,000 of Debt Per Student Borrower, FDA Proposes Ban on Menthol Cigarettes and Flavored Cigars

The Biden administration has pledged billions in military aid to Ukraine since Russia invaded in late February, and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said this week that the U.S. goal was “to see Russia weakened.” Author and analyst Anatol Lieven, senior fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, warns that unless there is a commitment to finding a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, it could become a U.S. proxy war with “very, very dangerous potential consequences.”

The Biden administration participated in a prisoner swap with Russia this week, freeing a Russian pilot who was jailed in Connecticut on drug charges in return for a Marine veteran imprisoned in Russia since 2019. Meanwhile, the fate of jailed basketball player Brittney Griner remains unclear. The Phoenix Mercury center is one of the biggest stars of the WNBA, but both the league and the Biden administration have said little about her case since she was arrested at a Russian airport on February 17 on allegations of carrying vape cartridges containing cannabis oil. “There are signs that this is clearly politically motivated from the start, but the White House and the State Department seem to be giving the WNBA this advice to remain silent,” says journalist Maya Goldberg-Safir, who wrote about the lack of public attention on Griner’s case in a recent article for Jacobin. “We know that in order to get Brittney Griner home, the White House will need to intervene.” Goldberg-Safir also notes that Griner, like many WNBA players, plays abroad during the off-season for extra income, and her arrest highlights the gender pay gap in professional sports that may have placed her at additional risk.

Harvard University released a 134-page report this week that detailed the school’s extensive ties to slavery and pledged $100 million for a fund for scholars to continue to research the topic. The report documents dozens of prominent people associated with Harvard who enslaved people, including four Harvard presidents. Harvard commissioned the study in 2019 as part of a wave of schools reckoning with their pasts and the ongoing legacy of racial discrimination. “Harvard’s ties to slavery begin with the founding of the institution,” says MIT historian Craig Steven Wilder, author of “Ebony & Ivy: Race, Slavery, and the Troubled History of America’s Universities.” Wilder says that while this history is not new, Harvard worked for decades to erase its complicity in slavery. “We’re really only beginning to reconcile and to really struggle with the deep ties that this institution has to slavery,” he says.

Ukraine Skeptical as Russia Agrees “In Principle” to Evacuate Civilians from Conflict Areas, Putin Warns U.S. and Allies Against Intervention in Ukraine, Toxic Landfill Fire Adds to Misery of Delhi Residents Facing Record Spring Heat Wave, 20% of All Reptiles Face Risk of Extinction, California Officials Order Water Restrictions for 6 Million as Climate Emergency Deepens, Moderna Asks FDA to Approve Its COVID-19 Vaccine for Children Under 6, Guantánamo’s Youngest Prisoner Cleared for Release 20 Years After He Was Jailed Without Charges, Supreme Court Weighs Criminal Jurisdiction on Indian Reservations in Follow-Up to Landmark Ruling, Oklahoma GOP Leader Calls for Firing Squad Execution of Dr. Anthony Fauci, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Signs Bill Establishing Election Police Force, Report Finds Pattern of Racist Discrimination in Minneapolis Police Department

We speak with historian Alfred McCoy about how the Russian invasion of Ukraine could possibly end. McCoy argues the European Union is essentially funding the war by buying energy from Russia, and says sanctions will not deter Russian President Putin from war so long as his economy continues supplying energy for the world. McCoy says the European Court of Human Rights should instead force the EU to start deducting a portion of regular natural gas payments to Russia and reroute this money to a Ukraine compensation fund. Russia’s loss of energy income could incentivize Putin to roll back the invasion, says McCoy. His latest piece for TomDispatch is headlined “How to End the War in Ukraine: A Solution Beyond Sanctions.”

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday on whether to strike down the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” policy, which forced tens of thousands of non-Mexican asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their cases played out in U.S. courts, often in extremely dangerous conditions. Biden suspended the policy, formally known as the Migrant Protection Protocols, shortly after taking office, but Texas and Missouri challenged the move. “This is a pretty outrageous idea that a new president coming into office is not allowed to dismantle his predecessor’s programs that he disagrees with,” says Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior policy counsel at the American Immigration Council. Still, Reichlin-Melnick says the justices seem torn on their decision and that the Biden administration’s amended version of “Remain in Mexico” still puts asylum seekers at extreme risk of violence. We also hear from asylum seekers about conditions they faced in Mexico under the program.

Puerto Rican elected officials from both the island and the United States are on Capitol Hill today to support the Puerto Rico Self-Determination Act, which would establish a process for determining the status of the U.S. territory. This comes after the Supreme Court recently supported the Biden administration’s claim that Puerto Ricans are not entitled to claim full Supplemental Security Income benefits unless they move to the mainland. Democracy Now! host Juan González analyzes the developments and highlights conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch’s surprising concurring opinion in the latest Supreme Court decision, which he calls “one of the clearest and most eloquent statements exposing U.S. colonialism that’s ever been issued by a Supreme Court justice, at least in my lifetime.”

Russia Cuts Off Gas to Poland and Bulgaria, In Policy Shift, Germany to Send Dozens of Anti-Aircraft Vehicles to Ukraine, Report: U.S. Giving Real-Time Intelligence to Ukraine to Help Attack Russian Forces, Lavrov Accuses NATO of Waging Proxy War in Ukraine, Warns of Nuclear War, IAEA Head Visits Chernobyl, Praises Workers Who Ran Plant During Russian Occupation, Trevor Reed Freed in U.S.-Russia Prisoner Swap, Kamala Harris Tests Positive for COVID-19, CDC: 60% of Adults & 75% of Children Have Had COVID-19, WHO Warns Cuts to Testing Makes World “Increasingly Blind” to Evolution of Pandemic, Rep. McCarthy Warned Fellow Republicans Were “Putting People in Jeopardy” After Jan. 6, U.S. Refuses to Rule Out Military Action in Dispute with China over Solomon Islands, Aung San Suu Kyi Sentenced to Five More Years in Prison, At Least 21 Migrants Dead After Boats Sink Near Tunisia & Canary Islands, Israeli Airstrikes in Syria Kill Nine People, Israeli Forces Kill Two More Palestinians in West Bank Raids, Report: 52 Colombian Human Rights Activists Killed So Far This Year, Ex-Colombian Soldiers Admit to Executing Civilians & Planting Guns on Them, Biden Privately Tells Lawmakers He May Take Executive Action to Cancel Some Student Debt, Biden Pardons Three People & Commutes Sentences of 75 Drug Offenders, Harvard Pledges to Spend $100 Million to Redress School’s Deep Ties to Slavery

We speak with human rights and environmental lawyer Steven Donziger, who was released Monday from nearly 1,000 days of house arrest as part of a years-long legal ordeal that began after he successfully sued Chevron on behalf of 30,000 Ecuadorian Amazonian Indigenous people. Donziger calls his misdemeanor sentencing and arrest “a retaliation play by Chevron and some of its allies in the judiciary,” meant to intimidate other human rights advocates and lawyers from pursuing environmental justice. “Chevron tried to use me as what I would say is a weapon of mass distraction so people wouldn’t focus on the environmental crimes they commited in Ecuador,” continues Donziger, who says, “I didn’t really understand freedom until it was taken away.”