Top U.S. & World Headlines — August 11, 2023

[Music] welcome to democracynowdemocracynow.org the War and Peace report I'm Amy Goodman in Hawaii the death toll from the historic Maui wildfires has reached at least 55 people and decimated the town of Lahaina once the epicenter of the Kingdom of Hawaii one of the more than 1700 structures that were destroyed is that not I kind of Maui Cultural Center earlier today Hawaii governor Josh Green described the sheer scale of the disaster what we saw was likely the largest natural disaster in Hawaii State history we are seeing loss of life here as you know the number has been rising and we will continue to see loss of life we also have seen many hundreds of homes destroyed and that's going to take a great deal of time to recover from but that's why we come together but we talked to an Old Gentleman who hadn't seen anything like this ever in his life a wildfire that took a whole city his neighbors have all lost their homes his home was intact that he was in tears this is a gentleman that doesn't cry easily some residents questioned why Hawaii's emergency warning system didn't go off as blazes rage closer and closer to their homes President Biden's declared a major disaster as the Hawaiian tragedy has shown a spotlight on the urgency of the unfolding climate catastrophe as well as the ongoing exploitation and occupation of the islands by the U.S after headlines we'll spend the hour on Maui wildfires tensions are running high in West Africa after the regional block ecowas ordered the activation of a standby Force for possible intervention in Niger in response to the July 26 military coup this is Nigerian president Bola tinubu speaking from yesterday's emergency ecowas Summit in Nigeria's capital Abuja [Music] of this extraordinary Summit that's no option is taken off the table including the use of force as a last resort we remain steadfast up in our commitment to supporting EJ in the journey towards peaceful and Democratic stability in the country the Associated Press reports the Nigerian military coup leaders threatened to kill the post-president Muhammad bazoom if any military actions attempted to restore his rule meanwhile the intercepts reporting the U.S has trained at least five members of the new ruling Junta in Niger the U.S has since paused security assistance in Nigeria's military African officers trained by the U.S military have now taken pardon 11 coups in West Africa since 2008 including in Burkina Faso and Mali in Ecuador one suspect is dead and six others have been arrested in connection with the assassination of the Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando via vicencio officials said all suspects in custody are Colombian and alleged members of a drug trafficking group Ecuador is now under a nationwide state of emergency while authorities continue to search for the possible Mastermind behind via vicencio's assassination this is the Ecuadorian defense minister Luis Lara the armed forces have begun the immediate deployment of their troops throughout the national territory so that there will be an armed forces presence in every city in every town they will remain there until the conclusion of the electoral process citizens have the guarantee that the Armed Forces will provide the necessary security for the polls the vote of ecuadorians will be the best response to the mafias and their allies the nco's murder has thrown Ecuador into further disarray after president Guillermo lasso dissolved the opposition LED National Assembly in May blocking efforts by lawmakers to impeach him over accusations of corruption and embezzlement meanwhile Ecuador's snap elections are still scheduled for next Sunday August 20th though several presidential and other candidates have suspended their campaigns in Burma at least 23 rohingya refugees are dead after their boat sank as they attempted to reach Malaysia over two dozen others are still missing thousands of rohingya Muslims have taken on the perilous Trek to Malaysia or Indonesia after fleeing genocide and persecution in Burma five U.S citizens imprisoned in Iran have been transferred to house arrest in what's reportedly a first step towards being released their freedom would come in exchange for Iranian prisoners in the U.S and for Tehran gaining access to six billion dollars in their Frozen oil Revenue to go towards humanitarian needs the Dual citizen prisoners were jailed in Iran on unsubstantiated spying charges the move comes after two years of negotiations according to the New York Times this is Secretary of State Anthony blinken speaking Thursday so this is a this is a positive step but I don't want to get ahead of its uh its conclusion because there's more work to be done to actually bring them home my belief is that this is the beginning of the end of their Nightmare and the nightmare that their families have experienced Lincoln said any exchange will not include sanctions relief for Iran the U.S Supreme Court has temporarily blocked a sweeping settlement deal for Oxycontin maker Purdue Pharma that would Shield the Sackler family from civil lawsuits in exchange for paying out six billion dollars to thousands of plaintiffs including state and local governments that have been devastated by the opioid epidemic the justice department challenged the settlement which extends bankruptcy protections against liability for Sackler family members and what the U.S solicitor general called an abuse of the bankruptcy system opioid overdoses have killed over half a million people in the United States over the past 20 years according to the CDC including prescription and illicit drugs the Louisiana pardon board has begun scheduling clemency hearings for the state's death row prisoners one day after Governor John Bel Edwards ordered the move this comes after the board last month refused to set hearings for 56 death row prisoners who filed a mass petition to commute their sentences before the Democratic governor Edwards leaves office next year he opposes the death penalty in a Fort Pierce Florida Court Donald Trump and his aide and co-defendant wolf naota pleaded not guilty Thursday to three additional charges in the case around Trump's mishandling of classified documents Trump did not appear at the courthouse in person the charges came as part of the updated indictment accusing Trump and two AIDS of trying to delete security footage at his Mar-A-Lago estate and other Trump news federal prosecutors proposed a start date of January 2nd 2024 for the trial related to Trump's bid to overturn the 2020 elections Mexican officials are demanding Texas remove its border buoys from the Rio Grande saying the floating barrier aimed at blocking Asylum Seekers from reaching the United States was installed on Mexico's side of the river between the buoys there are circular saw blades dozens of Asylum Seekers including children have been severely injured last week the bodies of two Asylum Seekers were found in the Rio Grande one of them trapped in the buoy barrier Mexico's foreign secretary Alicia Barcena spoke Thursday after meeting with U.S Secretary of State Anthony blinken in D.C issue in Texas we're deeply concerned about the issue but thankful because the U.S justice department has filed the lawsuit against the Texas government and this helps us very much because we're talking about a delicate situation on our border in our rivers in the Rio Bravo in the Rio Grande but most of the buoys are on the Mexican side to have renewed their cause for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to resign following yet another bombshell report from propublica detailing even more lavish gifts from right-wing billionaires including 38 destination vacations California congressmember Ted Liu said Thomas had quote brought shame upon himself and the United States Supreme Court no government official elected or unelected could ethnically or legally accept gifts of that scale he should resign immediately Lou said and just search the award-winning producer and co-founder of Doc Society has died at the age of 54 after a battle with brain cancer the Visionary filmmaker was a champion of documentary film which she believed had the power to change the world often telling others quote if you're going to move people to act first you have to move them during her 18 years at Doc Society formerly known as Brit doc the organization supported such films as Laura poitrus's oscar-winning citizen four about NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden more recently just search was an executive producer on the acclaimed while we watched documentary by director vinay Shukla about the Indian journalist ravish Kumar who took on the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi oscar-winning filmmaker Lucy Walker was one of many who paid tribute to Jess search saying quote she championed so many underdogs because she loved them she knew their potential because she'd once been the underdog just search is survived by her wife filmmaker Beady finzi and their two children and those are some of the headlines this is democracy Now democracynow.org The War and Peace report I'm Amy Goodman

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Length: 10min 10sec (610 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 11 2023