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Welcome to democracy now democracynow. org the Warren Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman.
Russian and Ukrainian peace talks are taking place in Istanul, Turkey today, a day after Ukraine launched 117 drones in an unprecedented attack hitting Russian military bases as far away as Siberia. The attack reportedly damaged or destroyed about 40 Russian warplanes, about a third of Russia's strategic missile bombers that are capable of carrying crews and nuclear missiles. The strikes reportedly resulted in estimated 7 billion dollar worth of damages.
Some commentators in Moscow have described the attack as Russia's Pearl Harbor. The Ukrainian drones had been reportedly smuggled into Russia, hidden inside containers on longhaul trucks. The attack came a day after Russia launched its largest aerial attack on Ukraine since the start of the war.
On Sunday, Russia also struck a Ukrainian military training base, killing at least 12 soldiers and injuring 60 others. Health officials and witnesses in Gaza say at least 31 people were killed Sunday when Israeli forces opened fire on crowds headed to an Israeli controlled aid distribution point near Rafa. Over 170 people were wounded.
Israel denied responsibility. This is a Palestinian woman named Asma Abu Salah speaking in a hospital room next to her brother-in-law who'd just been shot while trying to get aid. You can see his condition.
He's between life and death. He went for food and drinks for his children. His children need food.
They say, "We want food, Dad. " This is the most difficult word. As you can see here, he is.
The attack came a day after the UN humanitarian agency called Gaza the hungriest place on earth and accused Israel of quote drip feeding food into an area on the verge of catastrophic hunger. Israel's continuing to attack medical facilities and doctors in Gaza. Earlier today, Israel destroyed the only facility for kidney dialysis patients in northern Gaza.
Drp site news is reporting an Israeli attack killed Dr Aya al- Nadun who is nine months pregnant. The attack near Alaka hospital in Dalah also killed her husband. Meanwhile, a funeral was held Sunday for Dr Hamdar who died from injuries from an Israeli attack last week that also killed nine of his children.
This all comes as negotiations continue over a possible ceasefire. Over the weekend, Hamas submitted its response to a proposal by US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. Hamas is offering to release 10 living hostages and 18 bodies in return for Israel's release of Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas is also seeking a complete end to Israel's attacks and withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. But Witoff has called Hamas's response quote totally unacceptable. We'll get response to this all in later in the broadcast.
In Boulder, Colorado, authorities have arrested a man accused of using a makeshift flamethrower and another incendiary device to attack a crowd of people taking part in a weekly walk to honor Israeli hostages in Gaza. Eight people were injured with burns. Two of the victims were flown to a burn unit in Aurora, Colorado.
The victims ranged in age from 52 to an 88-year-old Holocaust survivor. The attack occurred near Boulders's courthouse Sunday. The FBI said the attack is being investigated as an act of terrorism.
This attack happened at a regularly scheduled weekly peaceful event. Witnesses are reporting that the subject used a makeshift flamethrower and threw an incendiary device into the crowd. The suspect was heard to yell, "Free Palestine!
" during the attack. The subject has been identified as Muhammad Sabry Solomon and he's 45 years old. The US Supreme Court ruled Friday the Trump administration can strip for now temporary legal protections for half a million people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela who'd been granted protection by the Biden administration.
The Supreme Court's ruling is only temporary as lower courts consider the legality of Trump's move. Justices Katangi Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor dissented. Justice Jackson said, quote, "The court is now apparently determined that it's in the public's interest to have the lives of half a million migrants unravel all around us before the courts decide their legal claims.
" unquote. In other legal news, a federal judge in San Francisco has blocked the Trump administration from revoking the temporary protected status of roughly 5,000 Venezuelans who are in the United States. In San Diego, California, over 20 armed and masked ICE agents in full tactical gear raided a popular restaurant Friday.
The agents handcuffed the staff, demanded IDs, then arrested at least three workers. Local residents reacted angrily to the raid and attempted to block ICE vehicles from leaving the scene. ICE agents responded by throwing flashbang smoke grenades at the crowd.
In Milford, Massachusetts, hundreds of community members rallied Sunday in support of Marcelo Gomez, an 18-year-old high school student who was detained by ICE while he was on his way to volleyball practice. Gomez, who was born in Brazil, had lived in the Milford area since he was 5 years old. He was also a member of the school band and was scheduled to perform at his school's graduation ceremony Sunday.
Massachusetts Governor Mora Healey condemned his arrest, saying, quote, "The Trump administration continues to create fear in our communities and it's making us all less safe," she said. In Nigeria, severe flooding in the north central state of Niger has killed at least 200 people, wiping out homes and businesses in the bustling market town of Moa. This is resident Adamu Ysef.
I have 15 family members in my household. Unfortunately, nine of them have died in the flood and eight are still missing. Only one body has been recovered and our house was completely washed away.
I'm currently standing in the spot where my room used to be. I've lost everything. My wife, mother, children, and other relatives are all missing.
The flood has taken everything from us. Hundreds remain missing as of Sunday as rescue missions continue. Nigeria is prone to heavy rains and floods, but their magnitude has increased with the climate crisis.
In Poland, the Trumpbacked nationalist candidate Carol Natsky won Sunday's presidential runoff election, narrowly beating out his rival, the Liberal mayor of Warsaw. Natsky could clash with Poland's liberal government led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, including on social issues and Ukraine. A Guatemalan court sentenced three former paramilitaries each to 30 40 years in prison for crimes against humanity for raping six indigenous Maya women between 1981 and 83 at the height of Guatemala's bloody US back war and genocide.
This is survivor Paulina Expata speaking after the sentence was announced. I feel very good because we achieve justice because we are not lying. We lived through it.
Not just me, other women too. There are other women who are no longer with us. They died.
They didn't have the opportunity to see this justice. But we also hope that we get dignified reparations because it is a government obligation. A separate trial in 2022 convicted five other paramilitaries for raping Miaachi women.
At least 36 Miachi survivors have come forward to accuse US funded paramilitaries and soldiers of rape. 29 survivors are still alive, including those in this most recent case. Leila Suave, the mother of jailed British Egyptian activist Allah Abdel Fata, was hospitalized Friday after 242 days on hunger strike with doctors warning she's at risk of sudden death if her blood sugar drops any further.
The 69-year-old professor has lost over 40% of her body weight since starting her strike to protest her son's continued detention in Egypt and the failure of the British government to secure his release despite pledging its commitment to free him. Last week, a UN working group concluded Egypt's imprisonment of Afataz arbitrary and illegal under international law that he should be immediately released. He spent most of the past decade behind bars over his human rights advocacy.
In the United States, Iowa Republican Senator Joanie Ernst is facing intense criticism over her comments on Republican plans to slash spending on Medicaid while giving major tax breaks to the rich. During a town hall Friday, a member of the audience yelled out Medicaid cuts would result in people dying. Ernst responded by saying, quote, "We all are going to die.
We people are not Well, we all are going to die. " [Music] On Saturday, Senator Erns doubled down on her remarks by posting a sarcastic video recorded at a cemetery. I made an incorrect assumption that everyone in the auditorium understood that yes, we are all going to perish from this earth.
So, I apologize and I'm really, really glad that I did not have to bring up the subject of the tooth fairy. as well. PBS and a northern Minnesota public television station filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration Friday over Trump's order withdrawing federal funding from the 330 station public television system.
Earlier last week, NPR filed a similar lawsuit. Both NPR and PBS are challenging Trump's claims of anti-conservative bias. This comes as the Intercept Reports PBS station WNET has removed at least three episodes of the show Let's Learn that featured a drag artist and a transgender character and that discussed trans identity.
In March, right-wing Republicans attack PBS during a heated congressional testimony for featuring drag performers on its shows. A group of 12 activists have set sail from a Sicilian port in Italy carrying aid for Gaza. The Freedom Flotilla Coalition had initially planned to sail from Malta last month, but the group ship was damaged in a drone attack.
Passengers on board the flotilla include the Swedish activist Keta Tunbury. A month after our latest attempt to go on with this mission, the boat was bombed twice. Um, all evidence suggests Israel.
And uh, we are doing this because we have to keep our promise to the Palestinians to do everything in our power to protest against the genocide and to try to open up a humanitarian corridor. The passengers on the flotilla have faced many threats, including from US Senator Lindsey Graham, who wrote on X, quote, "Hope Greta and her friends can swim unquote. " And Chilean President Gabrielle Boric has voiced support for an arms embargo on Israel and a ban on imports from quote illegally occupied territories unquote.
He made the remarks in his final State of the Union address. These principles have led me to raise the voice against the genocide and ethnic cleansing that the government of Israel is committing against the Palestinian people. Chile is home to the largest Palestinian population outside the Middle East.
And those are some of the headlines. This is Democracy Now! democracynow.
org the Warren Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. Democracy Now is funded by viewers like you.
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