Democracy Now!

As thousands of asylum seekers continue to wait in Mexico for a chance to enter the United States, investigative journalist Jean Guerrero says Mexican social media influencers connected to right-wing U.S. media outlets and political figures are whipping up "hysteria" about the southern border. She says they are spreading false conspiracy theories about an orchestrated "invasion" and "child trafficking" funded by Democrats that are endangering vulnerable people. "It's been incredibly damaging," says Guerrero.

There are now over 15,000 unaccompanied migrant children in U.S. custody as the number of people seeking asylum at the southern border shows no sign of slowing down. The Biden administration has sharpened its rhetoric in recent weeks, insisting that the "border is closed" and pushing Mexico and Guatemala to stem the flow of migrants. The Biden administration has also maintained one of the most controversial Trump policies, which allows the U.S. to deny almost all asylum seekers on public health grounds. "What is happening at the southern border is shameful," says Luz Lopez, a lawyer with the Southern Poverty Law Center focused on immigration. "We as a country should remain vigilant and hold any administration accountable, regardless of political party, with respect to our treatment of children seeking refuge, who are fleeing countries that are in turmoil, largely because of our geopolitical policies over the past several decades."

Man with AR-15 Assault Rifle Kills 10 in Boulder, CO, Supermarket, Colorado Judge Overturned Boulder's Ban on Assault Weapons One Week Ahead of Massacre, CDC Warns Against Relaxing Public Health Measures at "Critical Point in the Pandemic", AstraZeneca Submitted "Outdated Information" in COVID-19 Vaccine Emergency Use Application, WHO Decries "Grotesque" Vaccination Gap Between Rich and Poor Nations, Saudi Arabia Proposes Yemen Ceasefire; Houthis Demand End to Devastating Blockade First, Hundreds Missing, Tens of Thousands Displaced by Fire in Rohingya Refugee Camp, 137 Killed in Niger Attacks After Constitutional Court Confirms Presidential Election, Boston Mayor and Former Union Leader Marty Walsh Confirmed as Secretary of Labor, White House Readying $3 Trillion Infrastructure and Jobs Bills, Biden Administration Will Cancel $1 Billion in Loans to Students Defrauded by For-Profit Colleges, Trump-Appointed Postmaster General Unveils Sweeping Austerity Plan for USPS, January 6 Insurrectionists Face Sedition Charges; GOP Sen. Ron Johnson Claims Many Weren't Violent, Sidney Powell's Lawyers Say "No Reasonable Person" Should Have Believed Her Claims of Election Fraud, Supreme Court Weighs Reinstating Death Sentence for Boston Marathon Bomber, Mexican Husband of Atlanta Shooting Victim Was Handcuffed by Police for Hours After Attack

Pulitzer Prize-winning Vietnamese American writer Viet Thanh Nguyen discusses why he chooses to use the term "refugee" in his books, and speaks about his own experience as a refugee. His new novel tells the story of a man who arrives in France as a refugee from Vietnam, and explores the main character's questioning of ideology and different visions of liberation. Titled "The Committed," the book is a sequel to "The Sympathizer," which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2016. Nguyen says his protagonist is "a man of two faces and two minds" whose ability to see beyond Cold War divisions makes him the perfect figure to satirize the facile stories people tell themselves about the world. "He's always going beyond the surface binaries to look underneath." Nguyen is the chair of English and professor of English and American studies and ethnicity at the University of Southern California. His other books include "The Refugees" and the edited collection "The Displaced: Refugee Writers on Refugee Lives."

Protests condemning hate crimes against Asian Americans continue, following the deadly shootings in Atlanta where a white gunman attacked three Asian-owned spas and killed eight people, six of them women of Asian descent. Hundreds of people gathered outside the Georgia state Capitol in Atlanta and around the U.S. demanding an end to anti-Asian racism and honoring the lives of the eight people who were killed: Xiaojie Tan, Yong Ae Yue, Delaina Ashley Yaun, Suncha Kim, Hyun Jung Grant, Soon Chung Park, Daoyou Feng and Paul Andre Michels. Anti-Asian hate in the United States is "not anything new," says Viet Thanh Nguyen, a Pulitzer Prize-winning Vietnamese American writer. "The history of anti-Asian violence in this country goes back to as long as we've had Asian immigrants in this country." He also speaks about the dangers of anti-China rhetoric from both Republican and Democratic leaders and how that contributes to suspicion of Asian Americans.

Nationwide Protests Call for an End to Anti-AAPI Violence After Atlanta Massacre, AstraZeneca Vaccine Is 79% Effective in U.S. Trial, Shows No Risk of Blood Clotting, CDC Updates School Distancing Guidelines to 3 Feet; Miami Beach Imposes Emergency Curfew, Drug Companies Plan to Hike COVID Vaccine Prices After Pandemic Is Over, Pakistani PM Khan Has COVID; Tokyo Olympics Bars Int'l Spectators; More European Nations Lock Down, U.S. Says "Border Is Closed" as Number of Unaccompanied Children in Gov't Custody Tops 15,000, Defense Sec. Austin in Afghanistan Amid Questions over May 1 Troop Withdrawal Deadline, Women, Rights Groups Slam Turkish Gov't for Withdrawing from Int'l Domestic Violence Treaty, 6 People Killed, Over a Dozen Injured in Aleppo Hospital Shelling, 2-Year-Old Malian Girl Dies of Hypothermia After Refugee Boat Reaches Canary Islands, Israelis Protest Netanyahu's Corruption Ahead of Tuesday's Elections, Samia Suluhu Hassan Becomes Tanzania's First Woman President, Pakistani Court Sentences Men to Death for Rape That Sparked Nationwide Protests, FBI Probes Cuomo for Shielding Campaign Donors from COVID Liability as New Accuser Speaks Out, New York GOP Rep. Tom Reed Apologizes for Sexual Misconduct, Won't Seek Reelection, Julia Letlow, Whose Husband Died of COVID-19 After Election to Congress, Wins GOP Primary, House Bill Would Bring Self-Determination to Puerto Rico, Youth Activists Hold Global Strike for the Climate, Egyptian Feminist Author, Activist and Former Political Prisoner Nawal El Saadawi Dies at 89

Amid a national reckoning with structural racism and the dangers of white supremacy, author Heather McGhee's new book details how racism in the United States hurts not just people of color but also white people. In "The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together," McGhee details how zero-sum thinking has worsened inequality and robbed people of all stripes of the public goods and support they need to thrive. We speak with McGhee about the cost of racism, Republican voter suppression efforts and what people can accomplish when they come together in solidarity across racial lines. "Fundamentally, racism has been the most powerful tool wielded against the best of America — against American democracy, against cross-racial solidarity, against the American dream itself," says McGhee.

Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock, whose election in January helped bring the chamber under Democratic control, used his first speech on the floor of the Senate this week to assail Republican efforts to restrict voting rights. He called the raft of voter suppression bills being introduced in states across the country "Jim Crow in new clothes," denounced false claims of voter fraud spread by Donald Trump and others, and called on Congress to pass the For the People Act, also known as H.R. 1, a sweeping voting reform bill that would greatly expand access to the ballot. "Make no mistake: This is democracy in reverse," said Warnock, who is the first Black senator elected in Georgia. "Rather than voters being able to pick the politicians, the politicians are trying to cherry-pick their voters."

House Holds First Hearing in Decades on Hate Crimes Against Asian Americans, European Nations Resume Using AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccine After Blot Clot Fears, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Challenged by Sen. Rand Paul, Declares "Masks Are Not Theater" , Senate Confirms Xavier Becerra to Lead HHS, William Burns as CIA Director, Deb Haaland Sworn In as Interior Secretary, Becomes First Native American Cabinet Member, House Passes Bills with Path to Citizenship for Farmworkers & DACA Recipients, 14,000+ Unaccompanied Children Held by U.S. as One Texas Facility Reports Over 50 COVID Cases, 12 GOP Lawmakers Oppose Medals for U.S. Capitol Police Who Battled Insurrectionists, U.S. and China Trade Barbs in First High-Level Talks Under President Biden, Human Rights Groups Blast 18 Month Prison Sentence for Egyptian Activist Sanaa Seif

The United States and the United Kingdom are facing international criticism for moving to expand their nuclear arsenals, defying a growing global movement in support of nuclear disarmament. The U.S. is planning to spend $100 billion to develop a new nuclear missile which could travel 6,000 miles carrying a warhead 20 times stronger than the one dropped on Hiroshima, while British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has just announced plans to lift the cap on its nuclear stockpile, ending three decades of gradual nuclear disarmament in the U.K. "We're seeing this united, uniform response of nuclear-armed states to what the rest of the world is calling for, which is the total elimination of nuclear weapons," says Alicia Sanders-Zakre, a policy and research coordinator at the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.

Martial law has been declared in more parts of Burma as the military junta intensifies its crackdown following the February 1 coup. At least 217 protesters have been killed and over 2,000 have been arrested or detained since the coup began, according to one Burmese group. Protests are continuing across the country amid a crackdown on communications, in which much of Burma is under an internet blackout and independent newspapers have stopped publishing. Despite international criticism, the Burmese military is tightening its grip on power. People are continuing to protest even as they face the risk of arrest, police brutality and death, says Wai Hnin Pwint Thon, a Burmese human rights activist with Burma Campaign UK who is the daughter of longtime Burmese dissident Mya Aye. "Protesters keep coming out on the street calling for democracy and human rights because we don't want to live under another military dictatorship."

Deadly shootings at three Atlanta-area massage parlors that left eight people dead have stoked outrage and renewed fears about rising anti-Asian racism in the United States, which has already seen a rise in violence directed at Asian Americans during the pandemic. Police say the shooting suspect, 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long, denies a racial motive behind the killings, blaming "sex addiction" and a "really bad day" instead, but six of the eight victims are women of Asian descent. Connie Wun, co-founder of AAPI Women Lead and a researcher on violence against girls of color, says it's impossible to "disconnect race from sexism" in the Atlanta killings. "There's a long-standing history around the hypersexualization, the ongoing sexual violence against Asian women. This has happened across the globe," Wun says.

Suspect in Atlanta Spa Killings Charged with Murder Amid Surge in Anti-Asian Hate Crimes, House Votes to Reauthorize Violence Against Women Act, Which Lapsed Under President Trump, WHO on AstraZeneca COVID-19 Shots: "Use of the Vaccine Far Outweighs the Risks", Brazil's COVID-19 Cases and Deaths Hit New Highs, Pushing Hospitals to Brink of Collapse, U.N. Reports Pandemic Has Caused 239,000 Child and Maternal Deaths in South Asia, Tanzanian President John Magufuli, Who Denied COVID-19, Dies After Rumored Coronavirus Infection, President Biden Says U.S. Might Not Honor Afghanistan Withdrawal Agreement, Russia Recalls Ambassador to U.S. After Biden Calls President Putin a "Killer", U.S. Senate Takes Up Voting Rights Bill as GOP State Lawmakers Press Voter Suppression Legislation, House Democrats Reintroduce Medicare for All Bill as Millions Face Pandemic Without Insurance, IRS Extending Tax Deadline to May 17 Amid Major Backlog, Bernie Sanders Introduces Bill to Tax Companies with Excessive CEO Pay, Uber Is Reclassifying All 70,000 of Its U.K. Drivers as Workers, U.K. to Start Recording Misogyny-Driven Attacks as Hate Crimes as Opposition Mounts to Anti-Protest Bill, Japanese Court Rules Same-Sex Marriage Ban Is Unconstitutional, Federal Agents Arrest Heavily Armed Man Outside Residence of VP Kamala Harris

A new Futuro Media podcast, "Suave," tells the story of one person's journey to freedom after receiving a life sentence without parole at the age of 17. David Luis "Suave" Gonzalez met journalist Maria Hinojosa in 1993 during a talk at the prison in Pennsylvania where he was serving a sentence for first-degree homicide. For years, Gonzalez and Hinojosa stayed in touch through letters, visits and phone calls that Hinojosa recorded. The seven-part podcast series chronicles Gonzalez's experience as he is eventually given the opportunity to experience life on the outside for the first time, after the 2016 Supreme Court ruling that mandatory sentences of life without parole on juveniles are unconstitutional. "It was an experience that left me traumatized to this day," Gonzalez says of his time in prison. We also speak with Maria Hinojosa, who credits the success of the podcast to their open and honest relationship. "Suave and I were just very real with each other, over decades," she says.

Deb Haaland, a tribal citizen of the Laguna Pueblo, is being sworn in as secretary of the interior and will be the first Native American ever to serve in a U.S. presidential cabinet. Just four Republicans joined Democrats in voting to confirm Haaland, who will manage 500 million acres of federal and tribal land. Haaland will also oversee government relations with 574 federally recognized tribal nations and is expected to address the legacy of uranium mining on Indigenous land and other areas. Leona Morgan, a Diné anti-nuclear activist and community organizer, says that while it's "impossible to expect one person to correct the centuries of racism and policy that have really devastated our people," there is hope that Haaland will use her power to make important changes. "She will be held accountable," Morgan says.

Residents in Jackson, Mississippi, have been facing a water crisis over the last five weeks, with many people lacking reliable access to clean drinking water after deadly February winter storms caused pipes and water mains to burst. While water delivery has largely been restored, "boil water" orders remain in effect for most people. The city estimates it could cost $2 billion to fix the city's water system. The crisis in Jackson, which is 82% Black, highlights how climate catastrophe threatens much of the nation's aging infrastructure. Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba says while the city "contributes millions of dollars" in tax revenue to Mississippi each year, state leaders have refused to help and left the city to deal with the crisis by itself.

Gunman Kills 8 People, Almost All Women of Asian Descent, at Three Atlanta Spas, Report Finds a Third of COVID Deaths Tied to Lack of Insurance as Dems Reintroduce Medicare for All, WH to Increase Vaccines for COVID Hot Spots; Tribal Groups Open Up Inoculations for All Oklahomans, WHO Urges Against "Vaccine Passports" Due to Widespread Inequality in Access, New Report Details Horrific Blaze That Killed Dozens of Refugees at Yemeni Migrant Jail, Colombian Journalist Accuses Paramilitaries of Rape, Torture in Testimony to Inter-American Court, U.K. Lifts Cap on Nuclear Arsenal as U.S. Considers Plan for $100 Billion "Cold War-Era" Missile, Filibuster Debate Heats Up as Biden Backs Reform, McConnell Threatens "Scorched Earth" in Senate, Sen. Whitehouse Calls for Probe into FBI's 2018 Background Check of Brett Kavanaugh, 16-Year-Old Daughter of Jan. 6 Capitol Rioter Testifies in Court Her Father Threatened to Kill Her, 3,000 Columbia Graduate Workers Go on Strike After Failed Union Negotiations, Taxi Drivers Slam Mayor de Blasio's Lender Bailout, Demand Debt Relief

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is refusing to step down despite growing calls for his resignation after multiple accusations of sexual harassment and misconduct, as well as his cover-up of thousands of COVID-19 nursing home deaths. Alessandra Biaggi, a New York state senator representing parts of the Bronx and Westchester, says it's long past time for Cuomo to go and that the many scandals surrounding the governor reveal a consistent pattern. "The governor has not only abused his position of power, but he has used it in a way that is political and as a way to have the executive branch essentially protect himself and not the people of New York," says Biaggi.

Thousands of migrant children seeking refuge are being held in crowded cells amid an increase in asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border. Despite claims by Republican lawmakers during a tour of the southern border aimed at warning against rollbacks of Trump's immigration policy, most adults at the border are still being turned away, while the Biden administration is allowing unaccompanied children to cross while their cases are processed. Thousands of the unaccompanied minors are being sent to cities across Texas to be housed and processed, including Dallas, where FEMA will hold as many as 3,000 unaccompanied teens. Fernando García, founding director of the Border Network for Human Rights, says that despite Republican claims about a "crisis" at the border, the situation is not new or unexpected. The Biden administration "was not ready to deal with a situation like this," says García, "after Trump destroyed the infrastructure in the refugee asylum systems in the last four years."

Beijing has accused the U.S. of perpetuating a Cold War mentality as President Joe Biden and senior administration officials shore up alliances in the Pacific region to counter China's growing influence and increasingly describe the country as a geopolitical threat. Vijay Prashad, director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, says the "bellicose" tone out of Washington is not because the U.S. sees China as a military threat, but because China threatens U.S. dominance in the scientific, technological and diplomatic spheres. "It's very chilling what the U.S. government is doing in ramping up this cold war," says Prashad.

WHO Urges Continued Use of AstraZeneca Vaccine as Countries Suspend Jabs over Blood Clot Fears, U.S. Air Travel Hits Highest Pace Since Start of Pandemic , 440 Tesla Workers Tested Positive for Coronavirus After CEO Elon Musk Defied Plant Closure Order, Senate Confirms Deb Haaland as First Native American Cabinet Secretary, Biden Admin to Detain Thousands of Teenage Asylum Seekers in Dallas Convention Center, Rep. Ilhan Omar Leads Congressional Call to End ICE Contracts with Local Jails , Two Charged with Assaulting Capitol Police Officer Who Died After Jan. 6 Insurrection, Police Begin Scaling Back Massive Security Perimeter Around U.S. Capitol, Derek Chauvin's Lawyers Ask Judge to Move Murder Trial Away from Minneapolis , Voting Rights Activists Lobby Georgia's Corporations to Oppose GOP Voter Suppression , Biden Envoys Begin Asia Tour as U.S. Takes More Aggressive Posture Toward China, Vatican Says Priests Cannot Bless Same-Sex Marriages, Jane Fonda Joins Indigenous-Led Movement Against Enbridge's Line 3 Pipeline, Newly Formed Musicians' Union Demands Spotify Pay Artists a Penny Per Stream, Up from $0.0038

Decades of reckless oil drilling by Chevron have destroyed 1,700 square miles of land in the Ecuadorian Amazon, but the company has refused to pay for the damage or clean up the land despite losing a lawsuit 10 years ago, when Ecuador's Supreme Court ordered the oil giant to pay $18 billion on behalf of 30,000 Amazonian Indigenous people. Instead of cleaning up the damage, Chevron has spent the past decade waging an unprecedented legal battle to avoid paying for the environmental destruction, while also trying to take down the environmental lawyer Steven Donziger, who helped bring the landmark case. Donziger, who has been on house arrest for nearly 600 days, says Chevron's legal attacks on him are meant to silence critics and stop other lawsuits against the company for environmental damage. "Chevron and its allies have used the judiciary to try to attack the very idea of corporate accountability and environmental justice work that leads to significant judgments," Donziger says. We also speak with Paul Paz y Miño, associate director at Amazon Watch, who says the new attorney general should conduct a review of the case and the dubious grounds for Donziger's house arrest. "The real thing that's going on here is Chevron is attempting to literally criminalize a human rights lawyer who beat them," Paz y Miño says.

A major provision in President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill aims to address decades of discrimination against Black, Hispanic, Native American and Asian American farmers who have historically been excluded from government agricultural programs. The American Rescue Plan sets aside $10.4 billion for agriculture support, with about half of that amount set aside for farmers of color, and allocates extra federal funds to farmers who were "subjected to racial or ethnic prejudice because of their identity as members of a group." The U.S. Department of Agriculture has faced accusations of racism for decades, but little has been done to address the problem of discrimination in farm loans. John Boyd, a fourth-generation Black farmer and president of the National Black Farmers Association, says the new funds begin to address issues he has been fighting for 30 years. "This is a huge victory for Black farmers and farmers of color," says Boyd.

FEMA to Deploy to U.S. Border Where 4,200 Migrant Children Are Being Held, States Open Up Vaccine Eligibility as Fauci Warns Flouting Health Measures Could Lead to New Surge, Italy Back in Lockdown, Germany Declares Third Wave, as Brazil Deaths and Cases Surge, More Countries Suspend Use of AstraZeneca Vaccine After Reports of Blood Clots, Burma Sees Deadliest Day of Anti-Coup Protests as U.S. Grants TPS Status to Burmese Nationals, Car Bomb in Afghanistan Kills at Least 8 as U.S. Seeks to Accelerate Peace Talks, Kosovo Opens Embassy, Czech Republic Opens Diplomatic Office in Jerusalem, 39 Students Missing After Raid in Nigeria's Kaduna State, Remains of 16 Murdered Refugees Repatriated from Mexico to Guatemala, Bolivia's Far-Right Former President Jeanine Áñez Arrested, Facing Terrorism Charges, British Police Arrest Women at Peaceful Vigil for Murder Victim Sarah Everard, Australians Rally to Demand End to Sexual Violence and Gender-Based Discrimination, NY Lawmakers Call on Gov. Cuomo to Resign As More Reports of Coronavirus-Related Corruption Emerge, George Floyd's Family Reaches $27 Million Wrongful Death Settlement with Minneapolis, Protesters Demand Police Accountability on Anniversary of Breonna Taylor's Killing

The British royal family is facing intense criticism over its treatment of Meghan Markle, who revealed shocking details about life as a royal in an interview with Oprah Winfrey, including mistreatment and bullying from other royals, relentless harassment by the British press, and racist comments about Markle, who was born in the United States to a Black mother and a white father. One member of the royal family, according to Markle, even speculated how dark her child's skin would be. Markle and her husband Prince Harry stepped down as senior members of Britain's royal family last year. Pioneering British journalist Trisha Goddard says Markle's revelations were "shocking, but not surprising," and that coverage of Markle in the U.K. has always carried an "undercurrent" of racism. We also speak with Novara Media's Ash Sarkar, who says the monarchy is a "feudal institution" that entrenches class inequality in British society. "You can't have an institution which is premised on the superiority of bloodline and have it not be racist."

The World Food Programme is warning Yemen is headed toward the biggest famine in modern history, with the U.N. agency projecting around 400,000 Yemeni children under the age of 5 could die from acute malnutrition this year as the Saudi war and blockade continues. CNN senior international correspondent Nima Elbagir says Yemen is accurately described as "hell on Earth." Her latest report from inside Yemen details the devastating impact of the conflict on civilians, including widespread fuel shortages affecting all aspects of life. "We were utterly unprepared for what we found when we got there," says Elbagir.

Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz says wealthy countries have a responsibility to help the developing world in overcoming the pandemic. He says the response must include vaccine equity as well as economic aid, including debt relief. "America won't be free from the pandemic until the world is," says Stiglitz.

President Biden has signed the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package, which Democrats are hailing as the largest anti-poverty bill in a generation. It includes stimulus checks to most adults, expanded unemployment benefits and an overhaul of the child tax credit. One study projects the law will lift almost 14 million Americans out of poverty, including 5.7 million children. "This is transformational," says economist Joseph Stiglitz. "It says, 'We are actually going to live up — try to live up — to our aspirations.'"

Biden Signs Coronavirus Relief Bill, Pledges to Make Vaccines Available to All U.S. Adults by May 1, Denmark, Norway and Iceland Halt AstraZeneca Vaccinations over Blood Clot Fears, World Food Programme Warns 34 Million Face Famine in Yemen, Ethiopia and Beyond, Biden to Meet Leaders of Japan, India and Australia in Anti-China "Quad Summit", Austin Police Officer Christopher Taylor Indicted for Murder of Michael Ramos, Judge Reinstates Third-Degree Murder Charge Against Ex-Cop Derek Chauvin, Who Killed George Floyd, Report Condemns LAPD's Mishandling of BLM Protests; Kentucky Tries to Make "Taunting" a Cop a Crime, Ex-Pentagon Chief Blames Donald Trump for January 6 Insurrection, Rep. Pramila Jayapal Calls for Probe into Whether GOP Colleagues Aided Insurrectionists , Prince William Defends Royal Family Amid Mounting Criticism over Its Racism, NY Assembly Opens Impeachment Investigations into Gov. Cuomo , Protesters Blast Plans to Reduce Services for Majority-Black Patients at Brooklyn Hospital

The United States and other wealthy members of the World Trade Organization have blocked a push by dozens of developing countries to waive patent rights in an effort to boost production of COVID-19 vaccines for poor nations. The proposal by South Africa and India was supported by hundreds of civil society organizations, including Doctors Without Borders, Oxfam and Amnesty International. Without the waiver, vaccine production will remain in the hands of only a few pharmaceutical companies. "Millions of us are basically going to have to wait for a vaccine, putting global immunity, as well as regional immunity, particularly in Africa, at severe risk," says South African activist Fatima Hassan, founder and director of Health Justice Initiative. We also speak with Achal Prabhala, coordinator of the AccessIBSA project, which campaigns for access to medicines in India, Brazil and South Africa. He says one of the barriers to spreading vaccine production to other parts of the world has to do with perceptions of scientific expertise. "The entire world — not just the West — is incredulous at the idea that you could have useful science in this pandemic come out of places not in the West," says Prabhala.

The Biden administration is struggling to address the flow of migrant children crossing the U.S.-Mexico border without their parents, many fleeing extreme violence, poverty and natural disasters in their home countries of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. News reports show more than 3,500 children were detained at the border in just the first nine days of March, with many being held longer than the legal limit of 72 hours. "We can call it a crisis. We can call it a surge," says Aura Bogado, senior investigative reporter at Reveal. "What we shouldn't call it is a surprise."

Former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has been cleared to run for office again after a judge annulled all convictions against him. Three years ago, Lula, a former union leader who served as president from 2003 to 2010, had been considered a favorite in the lead-up to the 2018 presidential election until he was jailed and forced out of the race on what many said were trumped-up corruption charges. Lula's jailing helped pave the way for the election of the far-right former military officer Jair Bolsonaro and constitutes "the biggest judicial scandal on Earth," says Valeska Martins, one of Lula's lead attorneys. "Lula was wrongfully charged, wrongfully prosecuted," Martins says.

House Democrats Give Final Approval to $1.9 Trillion Coronavirus Relief Bill , 2.6 Million Have Died of COVID-19 Since World Health Organization Declared Pandemic a Year Ago, Studies Find Coronavirus Variant First Observed in U.K. Is More Deadly and More Transmissible, Dr. Fauci Says U.S. Could Reach Herd Immunity by Fall; TX Threatens to Sue Austin over Mask Mandate, Amnesty International, U.N. Security Council Condemn Deadly Crackdown on Burmese Protests, U.N. Urges World Not to Forget 10-Year War in Syria, a "Living Nightmare", Ex-Brazilian President Lula Attacks Bolsonaro's Pandemic Response: "This Country Has No Government", Mexico Set to Become World's Largest Legal Marijuana Market After Historic Legalization Bill, U.S. May Use NASA Facility to House Unaccompanied Migrant Children, WH Reinstates Program to Reunite Central American Families But Insists "Border Is Not Open", Senate Confirms Marcia Fudge as HUD Sec., Michael Regan for EPA and Merrick Garland as AG, Jury Acquits Iowa Journalist Arrested for Covering BLM Protest , Lawyer Has Been on House Arrest for 500+ Days in Retaliation for Case Against Chevron in Ecuador, Japan Marks 10 Years Since Fukushima Triple Disaster as Calls to End Nuclear Power Continue

Rutgers University has voted to begin divesting from fossil fuels, following a campaign by the student-organized Endowment Justice Collective that grew out of the Global Climate Strike in 2019. The organizing efforts led to a referendum vote in 2020 in which 90% of students supported divestment. About 5% of Rutgers's $1.6 billion endowment is invested in fossil fuels, and under the terms of the agreement, it will now cease new fossil fuel investment and divest from passive index funds with fossil fuel investments. It said it also plans to invest in renewable energy and energy efficiency and that the school's investment office will annually report on divestment progress. Author, environmentalist and 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben says the Rutgers divestment decision is "a big deal," especially as it happened at one of the oldest universities in the United States. "It's one more sign of just how much the zeitgeist has shifted," he says.

The prominent scholar and activist Cornel West has announced he is leaving Harvard Divinity School after he was denied consideration for tenure, and will rejoin the faculty of Union Theological Seminary in New York City, where he started his teaching career more than 40 years ago. West had left Harvard once before in 2002 and returned to a nontenured position at Harvard in 2017. The news about the denial of West's request for tenure has led to an outpouring of support and incited conversation about diversity in academia. "There's too much Harvard dishonesty, too much Harvard hypocrisy, in terms of mistreating too many Black folk at high levels," says West, who suggests his political activism and vocal support of Palestinian rights likely played a part in Harvard's decision. "The most taboo issue on U.S. campuses these days, in many instances, has to do with the vicious Israeli occupation of precious Palestinians." West also discusses Joe Biden's first 50 days as president and says that while there is some good news on domestic policy, he's "not too encouraged" on Biden's foreign policy.

As President Joe Biden prepares to sign the sweeping $1.9 trillion COVID relief package into law, we speak with economist Stephanie Kelton, author of "The Deficit Myth," about how the bill could help cut child poverty in half and provide a historic economic boost to the poorest people in the United States. "This is a piece of legislation that recognizes the immense pain that exists all across this country, and it delivers help," says Kelton, a professor at Stony Brook University and former adviser to Bernie Sanders.

House Votes on $1.9 Trillion Stimulus Bill Before Sending It to Biden's Desk, WTO Considers IP Waivers for COVID Vaccines; Deaths in Brazil Spike; West Bank ICUs Are Full, At Least 39 African Refugees Drown Off Coast of Tunisia, 5 Sentenced to Life for 2016 Assassination of Russian Ambassador Andrei Karlov in Turkey, Second Official from Suu Kyi's Party Dies in Burma as Security Forces Continue Deadly Crackdown, WHO Report: One in Four Women and Girls Experience Domestic Violence, Arkansas Passes Near-Total Abortion Ban, Antitrust Advocates Praise Pick of Lina Khan and Tim Wu for Top Government Jobs, ICE Official Says Biden Not Ending Family Detention; DOJ Drops Expansion of "Public Charge" Rule, Sixth Woman Accuses Gov. Andrew Cuomo of Sexual Misconduct, Rutgers Divesting from Fossil Fuels After Organizing by Students and Staff, Full Staff of Nevada's Democratic Party Quits After Progressives Sweep Elections, BuzzFeed Lays Off 30% of HuffPost Workers Weeks After Acquisition, House Passes Sweeping Bill Strengthening Union Rights

Fifty years ago, on March 8, 1971, a group of eight activists staged one of the most stunning acts of defiance of the Vietnam War era when they broke into an FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania, and stole every document they found. The activists, calling themselves the Citizens' Commission to Investigate the FBI, began leaking shocking details about FBI abuses to the media. The documents exposed COINTELPRO, the FBI's secret Counterintelligence Program, a global, clandestine, unconstitutional practice of surveillance, infiltration and disruption of groups engaged in protest, dissent and social change. Targets included Martin Luther King Jr., the Black Panthers, the American Indian Movement, the Young Lords, antiwar groups, Black booksellers and other organizations. The leaked documents triggered congressional investigations, increased oversight and the eventual passage of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The FBI never knew who was involved in the break-in until 2014, when several of the burglars made their identity public to coincide with the publication of a book about the break-in. To mark the 50th anniversary, we speak with Bonnie Raines, one of the activists involved in the heist, as well as Paul Coates, the founder and director of Black Classic Press and BCP Digital Printing, who was a target of FBI surveillance as part of COINTELPRO. "We already knew that we were being infiltrated. We knew that provocateurs were all throughout. We knew that the FBI had us under constant surveillance," says Coates. "But I don't think anyone at the time really knew the full extent of the program."

Texas is the largest state to lift its mandate on face masks and fully reopen businesses, joining a growing movement in states governed by Republicans to ease pandemic restrictions even as experts warn it is too soon to do so, despite the accelerating pace of vaccinations in the United States. "This is completely politically motivated," says Dr. Dona Murphey, a physician scientist and community organizer in Houston who is helping to lead a campaign demanding Texas reinstate the mask mandate. She says Republican Governor Greg Abbott is ending the state's pandemic restrictions as "a maneuver to conceal failures" related to the Texas electrical grid, which went down during a recent winter storm.

The murder trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter for killing George Floyd, is proceeding to jury selection despite an order from an appeals court judge that a third-degree murder charge be considered, as well. We speak with Nekima Levy Armstrong, a civil rights attorney and racial justice activist, who says that if the trial proceeds, who serves on the jury could prove crucial in the case. "A big part of the concern is whether or not there will be any real diversity on the jury," says Levy Armstrong. "The jury questionnaire had questions such as how the potential jurors may feel about Black Lives Matter, the defund the police movement, the Blue Lives Matter movement. All of those things are going to play a role in who is ultimately selected for the jury."

CDC Says Fully Vaccinated People Can Safely Gather in Small Groups Without Masks, Italy's COVID-19 Death Toll Passes 100,000; Peru and Vietnam Begin Mass Vaccinations, Jury Selection Delayed at Start of Trial of Derek Chauvin, Ex-Cop Who Killed George Floyd, Kentucky Judge Dismisses All Charges Against Breonna Taylor's Boyfriend over Fatal No-Knock Raid, 3,200 Unaccompanied Children of Asylum Seekers Held by U.S. Border Patrol, Biden Administration Grants Temporary Protected Status to 300,000+ Venezuelans in U.S., Brazilian Judge Annuls Convictions Against Ex-President Lula da Silva, Paving Way for 2022 Run, New York AG Names Two Attorneys to Lead Sexual Harassment Inquiry into Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Roy Blunt Becomes Fifth Incumbent Republican Senator Who Won't Seek Reelection, Georgia State Senate Advances Voter Suppression Bill as Iowa Rolls Back Election Access, Trial Opens for Des Moines Journalist Arrested While Covering Black Lives Matter Protest, South Dakota GOP Governor Kristi Noem "Excited" to Sign Anti-Trans Athlete Bill, Mexican Police Fire Tear Gas at International Women's Day Marchers Demanding End to Femicides

A new feature film, "The Mauritanian," tells the story of Mohamedou Ould Slahi, a Mauritanian man who was held without charge for 14 years at the U.S. military prison at Guantánamo and repeatedly tortured. We speak with Mohamedou Ould Slahi, who says the film is not just about his struggle. "This is not my movie. This is the movie of so many people," he says. "Some of the people who were kidnapped after 9/11 were tortured to death. They did not have a chance to tell their story." We also speak with Kevin Macdonald, director of "The Mauritanian"; Nancy Hollander, the lead lawyer for Mohamedou Ould Slahi; and actor Tahar Rahim, whose portrayal of Slahi earned him a Golden Globe nomination.

President Joe Biden is facing new calls to close the U.S. military prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, an enduring symbol of U.S. abuses in the "war on terror." Since 2002, about 770 men and boys have been held at the prison, and only eight have been convicted of a crime. Three of the convictions were later overturned on appeal. Today the prison's population is down to 40, and shortly after Biden's inauguration, seven former prisoners penned an open letter to the new president pleading with him to finally close the facility. One of the seven authors was Mohamedou Ould Slahi, a Mauritanian man who was held without charge for 14 years, during which time he was repeatedly tortured, before his release in 2016. He says he also wrote a personal letter to Biden asking him to close the prison. "I really believe he's a good man," Slahi says. We also speak with Slahi's lead defense attorney, Nancy Hollander, who says there is no justification for keeping "forever prisoners" at the facility. "If the political will is there, President Biden can get Guantánamo closed," Hollander says.

Millions of women around the world are taking to the streets today to mark International Women's Day — in a year where women have been disproportionately impacted by rising poverty, unemployment and violence during the pandemic. We hear voices from protests in the Philippines, Mexico and Guatemala.

Senate Passes $1.9 Trillion Stimulus Package, Votes Down $15/Hour Min. Wage Amendment, Fauci Warns of Possible 4th COVID Surge as More States Move to Open Up, Jury Selection Starts in Derek Chauvin's Trial for Murder of George Floyd, Rochester Police Tackle and Pepper-Spray Black Mother Walking with 3-Year-Old Daughter, Biden Issues Exec. Order to Expand Voting Access on Anniversary of Bloody Sunday, Deadly Clashes in Senegal Following Arrest and Rape Accusation Against Opposition Leader, Equatorial Guinea's President Blames Negligence After at Least 20 Killed in Blasts at Military Site, At Least 20 Dead in Mogadishu Car Bomb Attack, Burmese Workers Launch Strike as Protests, and Violent Crackdown, Intensify, Rights Groups Accuse Philippines Authorities of "State Terror" in Killing of 9 Activists, Swiss Voters Back Ban on Facial Coverings Pushed by Far-Right Islamophobes, Pope Francis Wraps Up First-Ever Papal Tour of Iraq, Rep. Eric Swalwell Sues Trump, Giuliani and Others over January 6 Capitol Insurrection, Calls Grow for NY Gov. Cuomo to Resign as Two More Former Aides Describe Sexual Harassment, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Describe Royal Family's Racism, 50 Years Ago, Activists Broke Into an FBI Office and Revealed COINTELPRO Abuses, Immigrant Workers Protest to Demand Inclusion in Pandemic Relief Funding

Outrage over police brutality and the mass incarceration of Black and Brown people has generated calls to defund and abolish the police. Longtime organizer Mariame Kaba's new book, titled "We Do This 'Til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice," brings together collected essays, interviews and other writings that she and numerous collaborators produced between 2014 — the year of the uprisings in Ferguson, Missouri, over the police killing of Michael Brown — and today. Kaba says the book grapples with "the fact that so many people around the country recognize the complete and utter failures and limits of so-called reform" to systems of injustice. "People are impatient with incrementalism and are impatient with solutions that don't actually address the root causes of violence."

Israel has failed to make COVID-19 vaccines available to Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, despite its responsibility under the Geneva Conventions. Critics in the United States say this "vaccine apartheid" is another example of Israeli human rights abuses going unpunished, even as the country receives billions in U.S. aid each year. Congressmember Mondaire Jones of New York says Israel must ensure that Palestinians are vaccinated. "There's no question about that," he says. "I don't think that anyone can argue otherwise in good conscience."

The House of Representatives has approved sweeping legislation protecting the right to vote with the For the People Act, which has been described as the most sweeping pro-democracy bill in decades. The legislation is aimed at improving voter registration and access to voting, ending partisan and racial gerrymandering, forcing the disclosure of dark money donors, increasing public funding for candidates, and imposing strict ethical and reporting standards on members of Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court. The bill, which comes amid a nationwide attack on voting rights in courthouses and statehouses, is heading to the Senate, where it is expected to die unless all 50 Senate Democrats unite to end the filibuster. Democratic Congressmember Mondaire Jones of New York says H.R. 1 is "of foundational importance" to preserving U.S. democracy against Republican attacks on voting. "The modern-day Republican Party cannot compete on the merits of its policy ideas," says Jones. "Rather, it is seeking to disenfranchise large swaths of the American electorate, especially Black and Hispanic people in Southern states."

The Senate has voted to open debate on President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package. The legislation has widespread support from voters, with one new poll showing 77% of Americans support the bill, including nearly 60% of Republicans. But the Senate bill has some key differences from the package approved by the House, including a reduction in the number of people eligible for direct stimulus checks and no provision to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. However, the Fight for 15 continues, with the Senate considering an amendment by Senator Bernie Sanders to raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 an hour over a five-year period. Reverend Dr. William Barber, co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign and president of Repairers of the Breach, notes that 140 million people in the U.S. were already living in poverty before this pandemic, and he urges Democrats to "stick together" and push through the minimum wage hike.

Republican Senators Work to Derail $1.9 Trillion Coronavirus Relief Bill, White House Defends Biden's Remark That "Neanderthal Thinking" GOP Governors Ended Mask Mandates, New York Gov. Cuomo's Aides Doctored Nursing Home Death Data in July Report on COVID-19, Charlotte Bennett Describes Sexual Harassment by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in TV Interview, Florida Democrats Demand FBI Probe of Gov. Ron DeSantis, Who Prioritized Donors for Vaccination, India, South Africa Ask WTO for Patent Waiver to Allow Generic COVID-19 Drugs & Vaccines, Former Trump Admin Official Charged with Assaulting Cop at January 6 Capitol Riot, Senate Committee Advances Deb Haaland's Nomination for Interior Secretary, U.N. Human Rights Officials Say Multiple Actors Committed Atrocities in Ethiopia's Tigray Region, Pope Francis Arrives in Baghdad for First-Ever Papal Visit to Iraq , Italy Charges Humanitarian Workers Who Helped Rescue Refugees in Mediterranean, DOT Watchdog Found Ex-Secretary Elaine Chao Misused Her Office, Sen. McConnell Prepping for Possible Senate Exit, Plans to Strip Power of Dem. Gov. to Replace Him, Texas Grid Operator ERCOT Overcharged by $16 Billion After February Winter Storm, Documents Show Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández Bribed Journalists, Dems Reintroduce Berta Cáceres Human Rights in Honduras Act as World Marks Anniversary of Murder