Democracy Now!

We get an update from Dhaka, where Bangladesh's president dissolved Parliament on Tuesday, a day after the long-ruling Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country amid a wave of student protests. The military says an interim government will be formed to lead the country to new elections, but its makeup remains unclear, with many students demanding the installation of Nobel Prize-winning economist Muhammad Yunus as interim prime minister. More than 400 people have been killed in a violent crackdown since protests began over anger at a quota system for government jobs. We are joined by Tanjeem Arnob, a student at Brac University in Dhaka who has taken part in recent protests, and Irene Khan, U.N. special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression who served as secretary general of Amnesty International from 2001 to 2009.

In the biggest antitrust case in decades, a federal judge ruled Monday that Google illegally maintains a monopoly over the online search industry, using its market dominance to shut out competitors and limit user choice. Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly," Judge Amit Mehta of the U.S. District Court for D.C. wrote in his ruling. What remedies will be demanded by the government is the next stage of the lawsuit, which is also likely to be appealed all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, says antitrust expert Matt Stoller. But the ruling is certain to have far-reaching effects in Silicon Valley as Big Tech firms face increasing scrutiny over their business practices. The question has been: Who runs this country?" says Stoller. Is it a small group of people that make choices about what we can see online, or is it the public, through competition?" Stoller is research director at the American Economic Liberties Project and author of Goliath: The 100-Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy.

Middle East Braces for Possible Wider War as Tensions Boil After Israeli Attacks on Lebanon, Iran, Israel Intensifies Attacks on Occupied West Bank, Killing at Least 8 Palestinians, Israel's Far-Right Finance Minister Says Starving Gaza Is Moral" and Justified" as Child Hunger Soars, Bangladeshi Parliament Dissolved; Student Leaders Call for Muhammad Yunus to Lead Interim Gov't, Google Is a Monopolist": Federal Judge Rules Against Tech Giant in Landmark Antitrust Case, Kamala Harris Clinches Nomination in DNC Virtual Roll Call Vote, Announces Gov. Tim Walz as Running Mate, Ex-Trump Lawyer Jenna Ellis Flips, Will Cooperate in 2020 Fake Electors" Case, Global Markets Rebound After Taking a Plunge over U.S. Recession Fears, WHO: Extreme Heat Causes 175,000+ Deaths in Europe Every Year, Gunmen and Farmers Attack Indigenous People in Brazil's Mato Grosso do Sul, U.S. Military Withdraws from Its Last Base in Niger, Nigeria Anti-Hunger Protests Continue Amid Violent Crackdown, Nigeria, Kenya, Indonesia and Others Warn Citizens in U.K. to Be Vigilant Amid Far-Right Riots, Gymnasts Rebeca Andrade, Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles Make History in First-Ever All-Black Podium, Peace Activists Shine Light on Gaza as Japan Marks 79th Anniversary of Hiroshima Bombing

We get an update on the case against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak bin Attash and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al-Hawsawi, three of the men alleged to have planned the 9/11 attacks on the United States. U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin surprised observers Friday by revoking a plea deal that would have commuted the three men's sentences to life. Our first guest, Shayana Kadidal, the managing attorney of the Guantanamo project at the Center for Constitutional Rights, questions the legality of Austin's override of the prosecutor-supported deal. The revocation means the three men could once again face the death penalty for their roles. We also speak to Terry Rockefeller, a member of September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows. Rockefeller, who supports the plea deal, lost her sister Laura in the attacks on the World Trade Center. She expresses frustration over continued delays to the prosecution. I'm so sad for our country that we haven't been able to grapple with the mistakes that were made in handling this case," she says. Had family members actually gotten all the opportunities that the plea agreement promised us, many, many of them would have been satisfied."

According to new reporting by The Washington Post, the Egyptian government attempted to funnel $10 million in cash to Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, leading to a previously undisclosed Department of Justice investigation into the transaction. The investigation went nowhere, with Trump's Attorney General Bill Barr ordering it closed due to a lack of sufficient evidence." Meanwhile, Trump approved millions of dollars of military aid to the government of Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who has been in power since 2013. Carol Leonnig, the reporter who broke the story at The Washington Post, explains that the money, if it did reach the at-the-time cash-starved" Trump campaign, will have amounted to bribery. However, notes Leonnig, the window for prosecuting anyone involved in the transaction has largely passed following the aborted investigation.

In Venezuela, tensions are rising over the contested results of last Sunday's presidential election. In the latest developments, opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez published a count of thousands of vote tally sheets alleging that he received more votes than sitting President Nicolas Maduro, who is claiming to have secured a third term fairly. Protesters from both sides have taken to the streets; more than a dozen have been killed by Venezuelan armed forces. Maduro has called for a new revolution" if the U.S. and other foreign actors continue to back his opposition and dispute the integrity of the election. We hear opinions from both camps on the show today. There's no doubt that Maduro lost these elections," says Venezuelan sociologist Edgardo Lander, who contends that sufficient evidence of Maduro's win that's expected and established by the law is completely absent," while legal scholar Nina Farnia, who served as electoral observer in this year's election, says she witnessed a free and fair election process" and supports the Electoral Council's decision.

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has resigned and fled the country after weeks of student-led protests against government nepotism, corruption and repression. The demonstrations have been met with lethal police force, resulting in over 300 deaths. Hasina, the daughter of Bangladesh's first president, had led the country since 2009. Though the protests were initially focused on nepotism in the quota system for government jobs, the violent crackdown expanded protesters' demands, including calling for Hasina's ouster. It was amazing" to see this demand fulfilled in just two days," says our guest Taqbir Huda, a researcher at Amnesty International. Bangladesh's military has agreed to hand power to an interim government, though Huda warns that the country's previous history of military rule could pose a danger to maintaining democracy.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Resigns, Flees Country After Bloody Weekend, Weeks of Protests, U.S. Sends More Military to Middle East Amid Threats of Retaliation After Israel's Assassinations, Israeli Attacks on Shelters for Displaced Gazans Kill Dozens, Most of Them Children, Far-Right Protests Roil U.K. in Aftermath of Deadly Stabbing Attack That Killed 3 Girls, Kamala Harris Gets Enough Votes to Clinch DNC Nom as Trump Pulls Out of Debate, WaPo: Egypt's Abdel Fattah el-Sisi May Have Bribed Trump for $10 Million in 2017, Sudan's Paramilitary RSF Continues Deadly Attack on El Fasher as U.N. Warns Famine Could Spread, Al-Shabab Claims Mogadishu Beach Attack That Killed 37, Dispute over Venezuela's Election Results Deepens as Opposition Claims It Won by 2X the Vote Count, Pentagon Chief Lloyd Austin Revokes Plea Deal for 9/11 Guantanamo Prisoners, U.S. Gov't to Start Paying Out $2 Billion to BIPOC Farmers Who Suffered Institutional Discrimination, Southern States Brace for Hurricane Debby as It Makes Landfall in Florida

We speak with The Nation's Katrina vanden Heuvel about the prisoner swap between Russia, the United States and several other countries on Thursday that saw the release of 24 people, with 16 prisoners in Russia traded for eight Russian nationals held in the U.S., Germany and elsewhere. It was the biggest exchange of prisoners between Russia and the West since the Cold War era. Among those released are Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, former U.S. marine Paul Whelan and Russian American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva. Vadim Krasikov, a convicted Russian assassin who was in German custody after the 2019 killing of a Chechen dissident in Berlin, was also released and sent back to Moscow. Vanden Heuvel says it was an extraordinary swap" that could pave the way for more diplomacy to wind down the war in Ukraine. Negotiations and diplomacy are not about capitulation. They're about improving the conditions of a world which is too militarized and at war."

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro is reportedly at the top of the list of potential running mates for Vice President Kamala Harris in her bid for the White House. But many progressives have raised alarm about Shapiro's record, including his support for corporate tax breaks and school vouchers, his relationship with oil and gas companies, and his demonization of pro-Palestinian protesters. He's been actively and vocally supportive of Israel's war on Gaza since October 7 and prior," says journalist Marc Lamont Hill in Philadelphia. In every conceivable way, Josh Shapiro is not a progressive candidate." He adds that while Shapiro's choice as running mate would be very frustrating," it would also clarify the choices in the election and prevent people from projecting false hope onto Harris as many did with Barack Obama. She very clearly is a liberal, but certainly not a progressive or a radical."

We speak with journalist Marc Lamont Hill amid Donald Trump's ongoing attacks on the racial identity of Vice President Kamala Harris. The Republican presidential nominee was interviewed this week at the annual convention of the National Association of Black Journalists, where he claimed Harris happened to turn Black" for political expediency, even though she has always been open about her Jamaican and Indian American parents and identifies as both Black and South Asian. Following backlash to his comments, Trump dug in and continued to attack Harris on social media for supposedly obscuring her heritage, while Trump's running mate JD Vance, whose wife Usha is Indian American, defended the remarks. I wish I could say I was shocked or disappointed. This is exactly what Donald Trump does," says Hill, who is a member of the NABJ. He demonstrated all the misogynistic and racist and patriarchal sensibilities that we would expect from Donald Trump. And, of course, he spent a lot of that time simply lying."

Evan Gershkovich Arrives in U.S. with Other Freed Americans After Historic Prisoner Swap with Russia, Mourners Gather for Ismail Haniyeh's Funeral in Doha Amid Questions over Fate of Ceasefire Talks, A Long History of Fabrications": Al Jazeera Blasts Israeli Claim Slain Reporter Worked for Hamas, The Uncommitted Movement Calls on Democrats to Let Doctor Who Volunteered in Gaza Address DNC, AIPAC Spending Millions to Unseat Progressive MO Congressmember Cori Bush, Jewish Activists Descend on Atlas Air to Shine Light on Its Role in Gaza Genocide, Famine Has Been Confirmed in Darfur's Zamzam Camp, After Months of Warnings, Police Kill 2 People as Nigeria Erupts into Protests Against Poverty, Hunger, U.S. Recognizes Venezuelan Opposition Candidate as Winner of Presidential Election, Ex-Head of Honduras's Police Force Sentenced to 19 Years in U.S. for Drug Trafficking, Beloved Texas Immigrant Rights Activist Eddie Canales Has Died, 52-Year-Old Christopher Dunn Is Freed After More Than 3 Decades in Prison on a False Conviction, South Carolina Rules Execution by Firing Squad Is Lawful, Navajo Nation Bans Uranium, Radioactive Substances from Entering Its Land

We look at a new Washington Post investigation titled Money War" that traces the effects of U.S. sanctions under the last four presidents: Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden. According to the report, the U.S government has instituted, in some form or another, sanctions against a third of all other countries around the world, despite no clear evidence that they are effective in influencing target nations' politics, and in fact may often entrench the power of ruling parties. We speak to Jeff Stein, one of the authors of the Post investigation, about its findings, including on the effects of sanctions in Venezuela and Iran.

We play excerpts from Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's interview Wednesday with a panel of Black women journalists from the National Association of Black Journalists. In response to his interviewers' questions about his record with Black Americans, Trump cast doubts on Kamala Harris's racial identity, repeated his claims that immigrants are threatening Black jobs," and declared that he was the best president for the Black community since Abraham Lincoln. NABJ's decision to host the Trump interview during its annual convention had sparked controversy within its ranks.

Unrest continues to brew in Israel after a right-wing mob including members of the Knesset broke into two Israeli military bases in an effort to prevent Israeli military police from detaining nine soldiers who were under investigation for gang raping a Palestinian prisoner at the notorious Sde Teiman facility. +972 Magazine's Oren Ziv, who was at one of the bases reporting on the events, says that the support of Israeli political leaders, including some members of the Knesset who participated in the riots, and the apathy of the military police all indicate that those protesting against the soldiers' charges are the face of the state," expressing what are mainstream" views in Israeli society. We also speak to Diana Buttu, a Palestinian human rights attorney who has interviewed some of the torture victims and says the extent of their abuse is appalling." She calls Sde Teiman a concentration camp" that the entirety of Israeli society and the international community are complicit" in.

This is one of the most perilous moments in the [Middle East] region in years," says Ali Vaez, director of the International Crisis Group Iran Project, after Israel's assassination of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh on Wednesday in Tehran. Iranian retaliation against Israel appears imminent. All bets are off," warns Vaez, adding that Israel's latest maneuver will put Americans in harm's way," as Iran will no longer hold back fellow Axis of Resistance members, especially Islamic militias in Iraq and Syria, from launching attacks on U.S. military bases in the region. It is disastrous for a superpower who cannot control, basically, a client state that is destabilizing the region," Vaez explains. We also hear from Palestinian human rights attorney Diana Buttu, who responds to Israel's announcement that its July strike on al-Mawasi, an alleged safe zone in Gaza, killed Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif along with nearly a hundred civilians. Buttu argues it is Israel's international impunity over the course of its campaign against Palestine that has led to this dangerous moment of escalation. This is a monster that's been unleashed," she says. This is going to spread, and this is exactly what Netanyahu wants."

Israel Confirms It Killed Hamas Military Commander in July as Regional Tensions Reach Boiling Point, Israeli Strike Kills Celebrated Al Jazeera Reporters Ismail al-Ghoul and Rami al-Rifi, Trump Accuses Harris of Denying Her Blackness, Attacks Black Women Reporters in Stunning Interview, Kamala Harris Receives Backing of UAW, Several Progressive Climate Groups, Election Denier Kari Lake Wins GOP Nom for U.S. Senate Seat, Will Face Rep. Ruben Gallego, Sudanese Military Chief Defiant After Surviving Drone Attack, Pres. Maduro Says He May Start New Revolution Amid Venezuelan Election Dispute, Accused Plotters of 9/11 Attacks to Plead Guilty, Receive Life Sentences, Reporter Evan Gershkovich, Ex-Marine Paul Whelan Released in Russia-U.S.Prisoner Swap

We speak with legal scholar Kimberle Crenshaw about the historic presidential campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris, who is facing a slew of racist and misogynist attacks from Donald Trump and others as she runs to be the first woman and the first woman of color to occupy the White House. Crenshaw, who coined the term intersectionality," says Harris's candidacy is leading to backlash from those who fear the emergence of a more diverse country. The challenge is, quite clearly, that those who support Kamala Harris and those who support our democracy have to take back the ground that they have ceded in the war on woke," says Crenshaw, executive director of the African American Policy Forum, which is hosting its annual Critical Race Theory Summer School in Nashville this week.

Fears of all-out war in the Middle East are growing after top Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran on Wednesday. Haniyeh was in Iran for the inauguration of the country's new president. Iran and Hamas both blamed Israel, which has not officially claimed responsibility but had previously vowed to kill Haniyeh and other top Hamas leaders over the October 7 attack. The assassination came less than 24 hours after Israel took credit for killing Fuad Shukr, a senior Hezbollah commander, in an airstrike on Beirut. For more on the significance of the assassination, we host a roundtable discussion with Haaretz columnist Gideon Levy in Tel Aviv; international politics professor Karim Makdisi, who teaches at American University of Beirut; and Palestinian American journalist Rami Khouri in Boston. Killing Haniyeh really is a sign from the Israelis that they are not interested in negotiating the ceasefire, the hostage release, prisoner exchanges. They just want to assert Zionist Jewish supremacy in all of Palestine and control the powers around the region," says Khouri.

Hamas Political Leader Ismail Haniyeh Assassinated in Tehran by Alleged Israeli Strike, Israel Kills 3 Civilians, Wounds 74 Others in Attack on Hezbollah Commander in Beirut, Bodies Litter Ruins of Khan Younis After Israeli Ground Troop Withdrawal, Interfaith Protesters Disrupt D.C. Gathering of Christians United for Israel, France Recognizes Moroccan Sovereignty Over Occupied Western Sahara, Ukraine Claims It Repelled Major Russian Drone Attack on Kyiv, U.S. Pledges New Military Aid to Philippines as Protesters Warn Against Provoking China, Interior Department Report Details Deaths and Abuses at Indian Boarding Schools, Cop Who Killed Sonya Massey Previously Faced Discipline for Lying on Police Reports, Federal Prisoners in Florida Launch Hunger Strike to Protest Deplorable Conditions, Kamala Harris Claims She's Tougher Than Donald Trump on Border Policies, National Association of Black Journalists Faces Backlash over Donald Trump Invitation

Protests erupted on Monday in Venezuela after sitting President Nicolas Maduro was declared the winner of Sunday's presidential election despite the opposition's accusations of election fraud. Maduro has countered by accusing the opposition of attempting to stage a fascist coup. We go to Caracas for an update from Venezuelanalysis reporter Andreina Chavez, who says the opposition's claims are still unsubstantiated. We also hear from Venezuelan historian Alejandro Velasco, who lays out how Venezuela's economic crisis, fueled in part by U.S. sanctions, has generated rising social upheaval.

New details have emerged about Republican vice-presidential nominee JD Vance's past comments that continue to plague the Trump campaign, with the Ohio senator having made repeated remarks over the years denigrating people without children as cat ladies" and sociopaths." We speak with ProPublica reporter Andy Kroll, who has reported on Vance and says he is demonizing huge swaths of Americans" and embodies a really extreme version of conservative politics."

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump made headlines this week after suggesting the 2024 election could be the last U.S. election if he wins in November. We look at a secret organization of wealthy Christians called Ziklag that is backing Trump's efforts by working to purge more than a million voters from the rolls in battleground states and mobilize Republican voters to back Trump. The news outlets ProPublica and Documented obtained thousands of Ziklag's internal files and found the group has divided its 2024 activities into three different operations: Steeplechase, which uses churches to get out the vote; Watchtower, which aims to rally voters around opposition to transgender rights; and Checkmate, which is focused on funding so-called election integrity groups, explains ProPublica investigative reporter Andy Kroll.

Just a month after the Supreme Court granted former President Donald Trump broad immunity from prosecution for crimes committed in office, President Joe Biden has laid out a plan to reform the court. On Monday, Biden called for 18-year term limits, an enforceable code of ethics and an end to presidential immunity, though he stopped short of supporting court expansion. This is a pretty big deal," says Jennifer Ahearn, senior counsel in the Brennan Center's Judiciary Program, though she notes that politically, we have a ways to go before the views of the people ... can actually make their way through the Washington process." Ahearn explains the potential effects of judicial term limits, which could bring the court closer in line with the issues of the day," better reflecting the results of recent presidential elections than the current system of lifetime appointments does. Biden's proposal was buoyed by Justice Elena Kagan's public comments last week endorsing an enforceable code of ethics. This shows just how much the conversation around Supreme Court reform has changed" as a result of the court's current ethics scandal, adds ProPublica reporter Andy Kroll, who was part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning team that exposed how Justice Thomas accepted unreported gifts from conservative megadonors who had business before the court.

Palestinian Health Officials Declare Polio Epidemic in Gaza, Far-Right Israeli Protesters Storm Military Bases to Defend Soldiers Accused of Torture, Israel's Netanyahu Blames Hezbollah for Golan Heights Blast, Pledges Harsh" Response, Venezuela's Maduro Claims Attempted Coup Underway as Opposition Challenges Vote Tally, UNICEF Warns Drought Is Triggering Food Crisis in Southern Africa, Park Fire Becomes Sixth-Largest in California History, Climate Activists Stage Sit-In to Protest Sen. JD Vance's Billionaire Fossil Fuel Funders, JD Vance Once Described Democrats as Childless Sociopaths", Iowa Becomes 22nd State to Restrict Abortions as 6-Week Ban Takes Effect, Sheriff Apologizes for Deputy's Fatal Shooting of Sonya Massey But Won't Resign, William Calley, the Only Person Convicted over the My Lai Massacre, Dies at 80

Israel has vowed to retaliate against Hezbollah after blaming the Lebanese group for a rocket attack Sunday in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights in Syria that killed 12 children at a soccer field. Hezbollah has denied responsibility for the attack in the village of Majdal Shams, home to members of the Druze community, an Arab-speaking minority group. Israel claimed the victims were Israeli citizens, though many Druze in the area do not have Israeli citizenship and are in fact Syrian citizens. The deadly attack has further stoked fear of a wider regional war. Palestinian American journalist Rami Khouri says that while the rocket attack looks as though it could have been an accident, there is still risk of more violence. The danger is always there that an accident could spark a bigger confrontation," he says. Militarism isn't a solution. Militarism is part of the problem."

We speak with Politico reporter Ian Ward about JD Vance, who has become a lightning rod for controversy since being picked by former President Donald Trump to be his running mate. Ward spent months with Vance earlier this year for a profile about the freshman Ohio senator and his political evolution from a Never Trump" Republican to one of the MAGA movement's most prominent voices. He recently wrote a new piece about Vance headlined The Seven Thinkers and Groups That Have Shaped JD Vance's Unusual Worldview."

We speak with reproductive justice activist Renee Bracey Sherman about Ohio Senator JD Vance, whose history of sexist remarks has come under scrutiny since he was chosen to be Donald Trump's running mate in the 2024 presidential election. Bracey Sherman says Vance's attacks on women who do not have biological children and his promotion of a kind of trad" lifestyle harkening back to 1950s norms show he is out of touch with modern families. The short answer is he's a weirdo. The longer answer is he's a white supremacist and he's a white nationalist," Bracey Sherman says in explaining Vance's ideology.

Republican vice-presidential nominee Ohio Senator JD Vance has doubled down on his sexist remarks that Democrats are led by childless cat ladies," claiming the party is anti-family. He made the original comment on Tucker Carlson's Fox News show in 2021. He has also previously suggested parents should be given more votes than childless people. I just find the entire line of attack to be ridiculous and also unpopular," says New York Times opinion writer Jessica Grose, who notes that Republicans generally also oppose paid leave, universal child care and other policies that make it easier to have families. There's still this idea that if you are a woman, unless you bear children, you are somehow less than."

Gaza: Israeli Strike on School Kills 30 Palestinians, Injures Over 100, UNRWA: 86% of Gaza Strip Now Under Evacuation Orders from Israel, Strike in Occupied Golan Heights Kills 12 Druze Children as Fears Grow of Regional War, Pres. Nicolas Maduro Declared Winner of Venezuelan Election; Opposition Rejects Results, U.S. to Establish New Military Command HQ in Japan to Counter China, Internet Restored in Bangladesh After Deadly Student Protests as Demands for Accountability Mount, New Report Reveals Extent of Rampant Sexual Violence by Warring Parties in Sudan, It'll Be Fixed": Trump Tells Christians You Won't Have to Vote Anymore" If He Wins in November, JD Vance Doubles Down on Claims Democrats Are Anti-Family", Harris Raises Over $200M in a Week, Faces Pressure from 2 Megadonors to Fire FTC Chair Lina Khan, Biden Calls for SCOTUS Overhaul, Incl. Term Limits, Ethics Codes and Barring Presidential Immunity, Park Fire Rages On in California, Burning 550+ Square Miles and Becoming Largest Wildfire in U.S., NYPD Arrests 59 Climate Activists Outside Home of Citigroup CEO, Virginia Police Clear Gaza Encampment Outside Blinken's Home, At Olympic Opening, Palestinian Boxer Wears Shirt Showing Children Being Bombed

Just hours before Friday's opening ceremony for the 2024 Summer Olympics, a series of apparently coordinated arson attacks were reported on France's high-speed rail network. No one has claimed responsibility yet. Before the games, protests highlighted the displacement of thousands of migrants, unhoused people and other vulnerable communities as social cleansing." We go to Paris for an update with Jules Boykoff, former professional soccer player, author and scholar focusing on the Olympic Games, and Paul Alauzy, Paris-based activist with the collective Revers de la Medaille (Other Side of the Medal). We are not anti-Olympics," says Alauzy. You can support the games, but you need to know that they have a big social impact and they come with a cost. And they come with a cost of the lives of hundreds, thousands of people being mistreated." We also discuss how Palestinian athletes are taking part in this year's Olympics amid the Israeli war on Gaza, the health risks of competing during rising heat and COVID, the environmental impact of major sporting events and more.

As Paris hosts today's opening ceremony for the 2024 Olympics, we speak with Lebanese photojournalist Christina Assi of Agence France-Presse, who carried the Olympic torch Sunday in Paris to honor journalists wounded or killed on the job. Assi lost her leg in the same Israeli attack that killed Reuters videographer Issam Abdallah in southern Lebanon on October 13, and says carrying the Olympic torch was a great opportunity to highlight the atrocities" happening in the region. There was all the indications that we are press and we were just doing our jobs," Assi recalls of the attack. We weren't holding guns. We were holding cameras."

We speak to two doctors who are part of a group of 45 U.S. doctors, surgeons and nurses who have volunteered in Gaza since October 7 and wrote an open letter to President Biden and Vice President Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, demanding an immediate ceasefire and an international arms embargo of Israel. The group includes evidence of a much higher death toll than is usually cited: more than 92,000 people, which represents over 4% of Gaza's population. The doctors write, With only marginal exceptions, everyone in Gaza is sick, injured, or both. Israel's continued, repeated displacement of the malnourished and sick population of Gaza, half of whom are children, to areas with no running water or even toilets available is absolutely shocking." The conditions in Gaza are unacceptable," and people know this is wrong but no one is speaking up," says Dr. Thalia Pachiyannakis, an obstetrician and gynecologist who volunteered at the Nasser Medical Complex. We all saw evidence of a death toll that is certainly much higher than what is reported by the Gaza Ministry of Health," adds Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, a trauma surgeon who volunteered at the European Hospital.

WFP Makes More Cuts to Food Rations in Gaza as Israeli Attacks Increase Displacement Crisis, Palestinian Detainees Tortured and Abused at Hands of Israeli Prison Authorities, Netanyahu Meets with Biden and Harris After Address to Congress, He Never Should Have Been Allowed on U.S. Soil": Protesters Decry Netanyahu Meeting with Biden, Kamala Harris Receives Obama, Pelosi Endorsements, Says She Is Ready to Debate Trump, California Gov. Newsom Orders Evictions of Unhoused People in Wake of SCOTUS Ruling, Sonya Massey's Killer Was Discharged from Military for Misconduct," Had 6 Police Jobs Over 4 Years, U.S. Authorities Arrest Two Leaders of Sinaloa Cartel, Kenya's Ruto Appoints Opposition Members in New Cabinet in Bid to Appease Protesters, Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro Campaigns for Third Term as President Ahead of Sunday's Election, Vandals Sabotage French Rail Network on Eve of Paris Olympics, Extreme Heat Is the New Abnormal": U.N. Head Calls for Urgent Action as Planet Swelters, Half of Alberta Tourist Town Is Destroyed by Fast-Moving Wildfire, Forever Chemicals" Increasingly Detected in Commonly Used Pesticides, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul Sued for Halting Traffic Congestion Pricing Plan, American Federation of Teachers Prepares to Join General Strike on May Day 2028

As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave an address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, many Democratic lawmakers skipped the speech and held an alternative event on Capitol Hill to promote peace. The panel discussion featured Maoz Inon and Aziz Abu Sarah, Israeli and Palestinian peacemakers who have both lost family members to violence. Inon's parents, Bilha and Yakovi Inon, were killed in the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas. When Abu Sarah was a child, his teenage brother was arrested and held in Israeli prison for a year and died shortly after his release from internal injuries he suffered while being tortured in prison. Both Inon and Abu Sarah join Democracy Now! to talk about how they are hoping to use these tragedies to foster peace in Israel-Palestine.

We speak with Palestinian human rights lawyer Noura Erakat about Benjamin Netanyahu's address to Congress, in which he defended Israel's brutal war on Gaza, lied repeatedly about the dire humanitarian conditions on the ground and refused to talk about how to reach a ceasefire to end the bloodshed. Although more than 100 Democrats skipped the speech, Erakat says the jubilant reaction from lawmakers in attendance showed U.S. leaders cheering for what is essentially a war on children."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed a joint session of Congress on Wednesday to defend the ongoing war on Gaza as thousands of people outside protested his appearance. The speech came two months after Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, announced he was seeking an arrest warrant for Netanyahu for committing war crimes in Gaza. Over 100 Democrats, including Vice President Kamala Harris, skipped the speech, but those in attendance gave Netanyahu numerous standing ovations as he painted a distorted picture of what's happening in Gaza, making no mention of efforts to reach a ceasefire or the more than 16,000 Palestinian children killed in Israel's assault. Foreign policy analyst Phyllis Bennis says the speech was horrifying," but says it showed that support for Israel has become a thoroughly partisan issue." Bennis adds that peace activists in the U.S. have built a broad consensus against the war on Gaza and military support for Israel, and says Vice President Kamala Harris has an opportunity to chart a new path on Middle East policy as she runs for president.

U.S. Lawmakers Delivers Standing Ovations for War Criminal Netanyahu; 100+ Democrats Skip Speech, Thousands of Protesters Condemn U.S. Support for Israeli Genocide Outside Netanyahu Address, Everyone in Gaza Is Sick, Injured, or Both": U.S. Doctors Demand Biden Admin Stop Arming Israel, She Wanted to Bring Life Back to Our Home": Gazan Mourns Daughter Murdered at 9 Months Pregnant, Biden Returns to D.C., Addresses Decision to Drop Reelection Bid and Back Harris for President, Kamala Harris Vows to Restore Reproductive Rights Through Congress, Childless Cat Ladies with Miserable Lives": JD Vance Mocks Democratic Leaders in Resurfaced Tape, At Least 25 Killed as Typhoon Gaemi Lashes Taiwan and the Philippines, Climate Activists Disrupt Air Travel in Protests Demanding End to Fossil Fuels

D'Vontaye Mitchell died last month in Milwaukee after he was violently pinned to the ground by four security guards outside the Hyatt Regency Hotel, just a few minutes from where the Republican National Convention would take place. Ben Crump, a civil rights attorney who is representing the family, says that the killing is just inexplicable," with nobody charged for Mitchell's death so far. You have a video of a man being killed. You have witnesses who have given statements. But yet you're saying you still have to investigate? Why is it different when it's a Black victim laying dead on the ground?"

The family of Sonya Massey is demanding justice after they say authorities tried to cover up her fatal shooting by a sheriff's deputy in Springfield, Illinois, by initially claiming it was self-inflicted." Police body-camera footage showed this was a lie. The 36-year-old mother of two was shot dead in her own home on July 6 after she called 911 for help. This is the worst police shooting video that I've seen. It is so senseless," says Ben Crump, a civil rights attorney representing the family. [Massey] needed a helping hand. She did not need a bullet to the face."

Some 400 Jewish activists, including over a dozen rabbis, were arrested Tuesday during a sit-in inside the Capitol to protest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address to Congress and demand an immediate U.S. weapons embargo on Israel. It is absolutely shameful that congressional leadership has invited a war criminal, who is currently leading a genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, to address a joint session of Congress," says Beth Miller, political director of Jewish Voice for Peace Action. Lawmakers have rolled out a blood-soaked red carpet to a war criminal" by inviting Benjamin Netanyahu, adds Palestinian American organizer Linda Sarsour, co-founder of the Muslim advocacy group MPower Action. Tuesday's civil disobedience protest was organized by Jewish Voice for Peace. We are also joined by Noa Grayevsky, member of Jewish Voice for Peace-Portland, who joined the protest and whose cousin's close friend was taken hostage on October 7.

As the death toll from Israel's war on Gaza tops 39,100, tens of thousands of protesters plan to march on Capitol Hill today during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address to a joint session of Congress. Dozens of Democratic lawmakers plan to boycott the speech, including Senators Dick Durbin, Chris Van Hollen, Jeff Merkley, Patty Murray and Bernie Sanders. Congress has made a terrible mistake in inviting Netanyahu," says award-winning Israeli scholar David Harel, who co-authored a New York Times essay, We Are Israelis Calling on Congress to Disinvite Netanyahu." Harel says Netanyahu does not represent a majority of Israelis."

Protesters Gather in D.C. as Israeli PM Netanyahu Prepares to Address Congress, 400 Jewish Protesters Arrested in U.S. Capitol Demanding U.S. End Support to Israel, Families of Israeli Hostages Rally in D.C. Demanding Ceasefire and Prisoner Exchange, Gaza Death Toll Tops 39,100 as Israeli Lawmakers Label U.N. Relief Agency a Terror Organization", Biden Returns to White House as Kamala Harris Campaigns in Wisconsin, 100% She Was a DEI Hire": Republicans Launch Racist and Sexist Attacks on Kamala Harris, Embattled NJ Sen. Bob Menendez to Resign Ahead of Sentencing on Bribery, Corruption Charges, Secret Service Director Resigns over Failures During Trump Assassination Attempt, Youth-Led Protests in Kenya Demand Ouster of President over Corruption, Debt, 229 Killed as Heavy Rains Trigger Landslides in Southern Ethiopia, Monday Breaks Record for Planet's Hottest Day Ever Recorded

The death toll in Bangladesh from a crackdown on massive student protests has risen to at least 174, with more than 2,500 people arrested, after police and soldiers were granted shoot-on-sight" orders amid the unrest. The protests were in response to a highly contested quota system for civil service jobs, with 30% of government positions reserved for relatives of veterans who fought in the country's independence war against Pakistan in 1971. The country's high court rolled that back Sunday to only 5%, but students are still demanding that a curfew be fully lifted, schools reopened, and detained students and protest leaders released. The collective anger that you're seeing is over inequality, lack of opportunity, and a perception that those who are close to the ruling class and ruling elite are getting all the benefits," says journalist Salil Tripathi, author of a book on the Bangladeshi war of independence.

The Israeli military says it has begun vaccinating its soldiers against poliovirus after the paralytic disease was found in several wastewater samples in Gaza. The World Health Organization warns the risk of further spread remains high while Gaza's children go unvaccinated during Israel's assault, which has devastated Gaza's water and sanitation infrastructure. Public health officials have called it a major setback for global efforts to eradicate polio. Right now, fortunately, we don't know of any polio patients in Gaza. But we anticipate that it will come," says Dorit Nitzan, director of the masters program in emergency medicine at Ben-Gurion University and former regional emergency director for the World Health Organization's European office. The prescription is ceasefire, vaccines and good public health conditions."

As Democratic support coalesces behind Vice President Kamala Harris in her run for the White House, we speak with Lily Greenberg Call, who worked on Harris's presidential campaign in 2019 and went on to join the Biden administration before resigning from her position in the Interior Department to protest U.S. support for Israel's war on Gaza. She was the first Jewish political appointee to publicly quit because of the administration's Middle East policy, part of a wave of resignations over the war. She says Harris must seize the opportunity to chart a new path" on Gaza and overall Israel-Palestine policy. People are watching, through social media, a genocide being live-streamed, and they're realizing that it's their tax dollars and American weapons being used to kill children - and they're not OK with it," says Greenberg Call.

Vice President Kamala Harris has the backing of enough Democratic delegates to secure the party's presidential nomination, with Democrats planning to hold a virtual roll call in the coming days to formalize her place atop the ticket ahead of the Democratic National Convention in August. The Democratic Party has quickly coalesced around Harris following President Joe Biden's stunning decision Sunday to drop his reelection bid, but questions remain about whether she will significantly alter Middle East policy. The uncommitted" movement of voters seeking to pressure Democrats to stop U.S. support for Israel's war on Gaza breathed a sigh of relief" when Biden dropped out, says Democratic strategist Waleed Shahid, an adviser to the movement, and activists are hopeful for Harris to take a new approach. Shahid adds that the Democratic Party cannot cast itself as a champion of democracy standing against far-right authoritarianism while continuing to arm the extremist Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu, saying it makes a mockery of our party's claim to be fighting on the right side of history."

Kamala Harris Wins Support of Enough Democratic Delegates to Clinch Nomination, Bodies of Dead and Wounded Fill Khan Younis Hospital as Israeli Assault Grinds On, Israel to Vaccinate Soldiers Against Polio After Virus Is Found in Gaza Wastewater, 7 Killed in Latest Israeli Raids on West Bank, Netanyahu to Face Protests and Boycotts in D.C. Visit, Will Meet with Kamala Harris, Secret Service Director Faces Bipartisan Calls to Resign After Trump Assassination Attempt, Jan. 6 Rioter Who Gave Nazi Salute on Capitol Steps Gets Nearly Five Years in Prison, Ohio State Senator Says Only Civil War" Would Save U.S. from Harris Presidency, J.D. Vance Attacks Kamala Harris, Defends Soda Consumption in First Solo Campaign Rally, Climate Clock Ticks Below Five Years to Avert Worst of Climate Catastrophe, Veteran Anti-Whaling Activist Paul Watson Arrested in Greenland, Could Be Extradited to Japan, Russia Sentences Journalist Alsu Kurmasheva to 6.5 Years in Prison, Genocide Is Not an Olympic Event": Protesters Call for Ban on Israel Ahead of Paris Games, Bangladesh Death Toll Hits 174, with Over 2,500 Arrests, Amid Ongoing Uprising Against Gov't Job Quotas

The International Court of Justice has ruled Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories is illegal and should come to an end as rapidly as possible." This is one of the most significant rulings issued by an international court on the matter since Israel's military occupation of the territories began in 1967. We speak with Palestinian human rights lawyer Diana Buttu on the historic ruling and what impact it could have on Israel. The court makes it clear not only that Israel's occupation is illegal, but it also says that all countries around the world have an obligation to make sure that Israel doesn't get away with it," says Buttu. It's up to the international community now to put sanctions on Israel to end this military occupation."

Black Voters Matter co-founder LaTosha Brown remembers longtime Texas Democratic Congressmember Sheila Jackson Lee, who was a tireless fighter for civil rights and progressive causes throughout her three decades in the U.S. House. Jackson Lee has died at the age of 74 after announcing last month she had pancreatic cancer. Lee was an early and outspoken opponent of the disastrous and illegal invasion of Iraq, as well as an advocate for reparations to the descendants of enslaved African Americans. She has left a legacy of service, a legacy of love," says political organizer LaTosha Brown of Black Voters Matter. She was someone you could always depend on."