i'm amy goodman. today a democracy now! special, four days in westetern sahara -- africa's last colony. western sahara, wherpepeaceful protesters, led by women, are beaten in the streets. thousands have been tortured, imprisoned, killed, and disappeared while resisting the moroccan occupatioion. >> he jabbed right at my eye with his baton. i was yelling at him, "hey, you moroccan! you pulled out myy eye!" amy: where natural resources are plundered from phosphates to fish. >> i say t that our damnmnation comes s from the natatural resos that we e have here. if it wasn't for these natural resources, morocco never would have invaded western sahara. amy: where a massive wall divides a people, the sahrawi, the native population, denied a vote for self determination. elghalia djimi: if we don't speak out -- especially us as victims who have suffered all of this -- if we don't speak out and defend our cause this problem will remain. amy: western sahara, t the centr ofof a four-decades-s-long strue for r independence frorom moroc,

i'm amy goodman. on tuesday, voters headed to the polls for a special election in ohio and primaries in michigan, kansas, missouri, and washington. in a surprise in ohio, the special congressional election in a staunchly republican district remains too close to call, although republican troy balderson has already claimed victory over democrat danny o'connor. balderson leads by only 1754 votes and thousands of absentee and provisional ballots still need to be counted. in kansas, the republican gubernatorial primary also remains too close to call. the race pitted the state's new governor jeff colyer against the state's former secretary of state kris kobach. kobach is a key architect of the republicans voter suppression efforts nationwide, and he led trump's widely discredited so-called voter fraud commission. in michigan, former state legislator rashida tlaib, won her democratic congressional primary race and is poised to become the nation's first palestinian-american congresswoman. in michigan's gubern

i'm amy goodman. puerto rico's government has acknowledged 1427 died in the aftermath of hurricane maria. the figures cited in the puerto rican government report are from death registry statistics. yet the puerto rican government says it has still not updated the official death toll, which continues to be 64 -- a figure 20 times lower than the number of people the government is now claiming died. a harvard study has estimated as people may have died in the wake of hurricane maria. a federal judge has threatened to hold attorney general jeff sessions and homeland security secretary cures to nelson in kristjenof court -- nielsen in contempt of court after learning immigration authorities had already begun the deportation of a salvadoran mother and her daughter,espite the two being plaintiffs in n a pending aclu lawsuit challenging session our street effort to stop people fleeing gang violence and mystic viviolence from qualifying for asylum. the federal judge sullivan slammed the administration site "th

i'm amy goodman.atican has broken its silence afafter a shocking pennsylvaniaia grand jury report revealed that more than 300 catholic priests sexually abused 1000 children, and p possiblyy ththousands more in pennsylvania over a span of seven decades as the church leadership covered up the abuse, transferring predator priests rather than firing them, and locking abuse complaints away in a secret archive. in a statement issued thursday, two days after the grand jury delivered its report, vatican spokesperson greg burke described the abuses as criminal and morally reprehensible. >> there are two words that can express the feelings faced with these horrible crimes -- shame and sorrow. we treat seriously the work of the grand jury and the report it has produced. we condemn unequivocally the sexual abuse of minors. the abuses described in the report are criminal and morally reprehensible. the acts were betrayals of trust that rocked survivalists of their dignity and in many cases also their fate. the chur

i'm amy goodman. south korean president moon jae-in has announced he will head to pyongyang next month for a third summit with north korean leader kim jong-un. moon will become just t the thid sosouth korean president to tral to the north koreaean capital. the meeteting comes at a time wn tension appears to be increaeasg again between the trump administration and north korea. last week national security adviser john bolton accused north korea of not taking the steps the trump administration feels are necessary to denuclearize. in washington, d.c. white , a supremacist rally outside the white house largely fizzled on sunday when just over two dozen people showed up for the unite the right protest. they were vastly outnumbered by counter protesters, journalists and police officers. sunday's unite the right rally came a year after the deadly white supremacist protest in charlottesville. president trump marked the anniversary of charlottesville by writing on twitter -- "i condemn all types of racism." sho

i'm amy goodman. the environmental protection agency said thursday it will freeze obama era fuel economy standards at 2020 levels inin te latest blow by the trump administration against efforts to curb catastrophic climate change. under previous rules, the u.s. was on track to double fuel mileage standards to an average bynearly 55 miles per gallon 2020 five. under the new rules come automakers will be allowed to continue selling cars and light trucks in the u.s. at average about 30 miles per gallon. the trumpet administration also plans to revoke california's authority to set its own tougher automobile emissions standards. acting epa administrator andrew wheeler said the u.s. needs a single standard for fuel efficiency for cars and trucks. united nations under previous rules condemned president comes rhetoric against the media. in a joint statement, u.n. special rapporteurs at the inter-american commission on human rights david kaye and edison lanza said of trump -- "these attacks run counter to the

i'm amy goodman. cnn has confirmed that the bomb that killed 4040 children when t struck t tir school bus in yememen's nortrthern city ofof a was s made by the e u.s. weansns manufactcturer, lockheheed mart, and sold b by the uniteded stato saudi i arabia. the august 9 airstrike has sparked widespread outrage and increased scrutiny about the u.s. role in the saudi-led war in yemen. the bomb, a laser-guided mk 82, is similar to other u.s.-manufactured bombs that struck a yemeni market, killing 97 people, and a funeral home in sanaa, killing 155 people,e, in 2016. following g the funeral home massacre, the obobama administration banned the sale of precisionon-guided mimilitary technology to saudi arabia. the trump administration overturned the ban last year. to see our full coverage of the april 9 bombing of the school bus s in yemen, whwhich killed 1 people overall, 40 of them schoolchildren, go to democracynow.org. in san bernardino, california, immigration and customs enforcement agents arrested a ma

i'm amy goodman. puerto rico has officially raised the death toll from hurricane maria last year from 64 to nearly 3000 following the release of a study ordered by the governor of puertoto rico. this officicially makes maria oe of t the deadliest storms s in . history. puerto rican governor ricardo rosello acknowledged the higher death count on tuesday. even though itng is an estimate, we are officially changing -- we are actually putting an official .umber to the death toll [indiscernible] amy: presisident trump haso o fr not responded to t the new offificial dthth toll. it is 46 times higher than the initial count. but in october, during a visit to puerto rico, trump boboasted about the low official death count. pres. trump: a real catastrophe like katrina, and you look at the tremendous -- hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people that died, and you look at what happened here with really a storm that was just totally overbearing. nobody has seen anything like this. what is your death count as of

i'm amy goodman. president donald trump called wednesday for his attorney general to immediately and a special counsel robert mueller's investigation into russian interference in the 2016 election, prompting critics to charge the president guilty of obstructing justice. in a wednesday morning tweet storm, trump wrote -- this is a total situation and attorney general jeff sessions should stop this rigged witch hunt right now before it continues to stay in our country any further." commerce member adam schiff, the ranking democrat on the house intelligence committee, tweeted -- "this is an attempt to obstruct justice hiding in plain sight. america must never accept it." at the white house, senior administration officials claimed trump was merely expressing an opinion. this is the press secretary sarah huckabee sanders. >> the president is not obstructing, he is fighting back. the president is stating his opinion. he is certainly expressing the frustration he has with the level of corruptioion that we he

i'm amy goodman. the trump administration has re-imposed economic sanctions against iran following trump's decision to withdraw from the landmark 2015 iran nuclear deal. the re-imposition of sanctions increases tensions between the u.s. and iran and the u.s. and its european allies. this morning trump threatened other countries seeking to trade with iran, tweeting -- "anyone doing business with iran will not be doing business with the united states." trump withdrew from the nuclear agreemenent even though international experts certified iran was complying with the terms of the deal. on monday, iranian president hassan rouhani condemned the sanctions as psychological warfare and said he wouldn't begin negotiations until the sanctions are withdrawn. would be forstep u.s. president donald trump to show that he genuinely wants to engage in negotiation to solve a problem. what is the meaning of negotiations when you impose sanctions at the same time? it is like someone pulling a knife to stab a rival or en

i'm amy goodman. president donald trump lashed out against his former fixer and personal attorney michael: wednesday, one day after cohen pleaded guilty to a cruel charges of including to campaign finance violations that appeared to book a trump as an unindicted co-conspirators are. cohen admitted in court tuesday he arranged to illegally count money to two women, adult some star and a playboy model, to keep them from speaking during the 2016 campaign about their alleged affairs with donald trump. cohen indicated trump directed the payments which were made for the purpose of influencing the election. on wednesday, trump fired back tweeting -- amy: speaking in an interview with ainsley heart of fox and friends that air this month, trump falsely stated payments were not a violation of campaign finance laws. pres. trump: later on i knew. you have to understand, what he did, and they weren't taken out of campaign finance, that is the big thing. that is a much bigger thing. to they come out of the campaign

i'm amy goodman. in yemen, houthi rebels and local journalists say u.s.-backed saudi-led coalition airstrikes targeted a camp for civilians displaced by war thursday, killing 31 people, including 22 children. the reported bombings struck a camp about 12 mimiles outside te red sea poport city of hodeidah, which cameme under assauault bye saudi-led d coalition ovover the summmmer. state medidia for the united ara emirates disisputed news o of te attack, claiaiming a mislele fid by houthi rebels killed one child and injured dozens more. the latest deaths came exactly two weeks after a bomb produced by the u.s. weapons maker lockheed martin and sold by the united states to saudi arabia killed 51 people, 40 of them schoolchildren. this week the senate rejected in a minute by kinetic democrarat chris murphy that would have restrictcted u.s. financncial ad and other support for the saudi have a lead bombing campaign. executives at the national enquirer kept a safe holding documents detailing hush money payme

i'm amy goodman.n pennsylvania, a grand jury report released tuesday has revealed more than 300 catholic priests sexually abused 1,000 children and possibly thousands more over seven decades and that the church leadership covered up the abuse. report to telllls how prieststs raped young girls s and boys, inincluding one priest who rapea yoyoung girl in the hospital afr she had her tonsils out. another priest impregnated a young girl and then arranged for her to have an abortion. the report also chronicles how the church used an array of tactics to conceal the abuse, including lying to the community about why a priest was removed from the parish, transferring pedophphile priests rather than firing them, and locking abuse complaints away in a secret archive. one priest who had been repeatedly accused of child abuse asked for and received a letter o of recommendation totok at disneyland. this is the pennnnsylvania attorney general josh shapiro. >> the term secret archives is not my term. it is the church

i'm amy goodman. in afghanistan, , funerals have begun for 37 people killed after a suicide bomber struck an education center wednesday in the capital kabul. most of the dead were young women and men who were preparing for university entrance exams. the bombing was followed by an asassault on an afghghan intelligence service based in kabul by gunmen firing rocket-propelled grenades earlier today. meanwhile, taliban fighters overran a a military outpostst n afghanistan's northern baghlan province, killing 44 soldiers and police officers. elsewhere, u.s.-backed afghan forces claimed t to have taken control of most of the city of ghazni on wednesday, following some of the heaviest fighting afghanistan has seen in years. the u.n.n. estimates 15050 civis died dururing the fiveve-day campaign, , and local hospitals report they're overwhelmed with ththe injured and dead. this i is omid, a a resident off ghazni. almlmost four dayss of insnsurgents in a city, but e government has not paid attention to thehe pe

i'm amy goodman. "a fantastic job." that is how president trump is describing his administration's response t to the catastrophe in puerto rico follllowing hurricae maria a year ago. trump made the comment on wednesday, a day after puerto rico adjusted its official toll from the storm to almost 3000. that's 46 times higher than the eaearlier death toll of f 64. during hisis brief comomment, tp mamade no reference to any of te deaths on the island. pres. trump: i think puerto rico, i think we did a fantastic job in puerto rico. we are still helping quarter ago. the governor is an excellent guy. he is very happy with the job we have done. we have put billions and billions of dollars in a puerto rico. it was a very tough one. don't forget, their electric plant was dead before the hurricane. if you look back in the records, that plant was dead. it was shot. it was bankrupt. it was out of business. they had to close up. when the hurricane can come people said, what t are we going to do about electricity? that wasn't thee hur

i'm amy goodman. in yemen, a u.s.-backed saudi-led airstrike has bombed a bus carrying a group of children, killing dozens of civilians, mostly children under the age of 10. the head of the health department in saada province, where the attack occurred, said at least 43 people were killed, and dozens more injured. the u.s.-backed saudi-led bombing campaign has repeatedly been accused of committing war crimes by targeting civilians. meanwhile, an explosive new associated press investigation says the saudi-led coalition has repeatedly cut secret deals with al-qaeda, paying its fighters to retreat from towns or join the u.s.-backed coalition. the ap investigation accuses the united states of being essentially aligned with al qaeda in the fight against yemen's houthi rebels, even as the u.s. says its fighting al qaeda in yemen. a u.s. airstrike has killed at least a dozen afghan security forces in logar province. afghan officials say the u.s. airstrike hit an afghan police outpost by mistake. the united states has sharply

i'm amy goodman. fears of a new global economomic crisis are growing after the collapse of turkey's currency. so far this year turkey's currency, the lira, has lost more than 40% of its value. on monday, the lira hit a new all time low versus the u.s. dollar. ripple effects from the turkey -- turkish economic crisis are being felt across the globe in part because turkey relied heavily on foreign lending especially from european banks. the crisis is coming as tension is escalating between washington and ankara. last week president trump raisid new tatariffs on turkish metal exports.s. the u.s. is also pressuring turkey to release an american missionary named andrew brunson who was one of thousands of people in turkey detained after a failed coup in 2016. in yemen, thousands of mourners gathered in the city of saada monday for funerals of the 51 people, including 40 children,n, who were killed in an n air stre on a schchool bus lastst week. the airstrike was rrrried ouby e u.s.-bked saudled alition. ima

i'm amy goodman. facebook says it has removed more than two dozen pages and accounts after uncovering a plot to covertly influence the upcoming midterm elections. the tech giant says the accounts were involved in "coordinated inauthentic behavior." among the accounts were "black elevation," "mindful being," "resisters," "aztlan warriors." combined, the accounts had a total of 290,000 followers and had created 30 events since april 2017, including a facebook event to organize a protest against the upcoming "unite the right" rally in washington, d.c. facebook said it did not have enough technical evidence to state who was behind the fake pages, but said the accounts engaged in some similar activity to pages tied to russia before the 2016 election. the revelations come as facebook continues to grapple with a number of controversies in the united states and abroad. the senate intelelligence committee is holding a hearing today on sococial media and interference by foreign intelllligence agencies. after he

i'm amy goodman. guilty. president trump's lawyer and campaign chair, president trump's longtime personal lawyer and fixer michael cohen has to eight criminal charges, including tax evasion, bank fraud and campaign finance violations. cohen admitted in court that trump had directed him to pay off two women, adult film star stormy daniels and playboy model karen mcdougal, to keep them quiet during the 2016 campaign. cohen's lawyer lanny davis wrote on twitter -- "if those payments were a crime for michael cohen, then why wouldn't they be a crime for donald trump?" davis then appeared on msnbc and said cohen is willing to speak with special counsel robert mueller about a conspiracy to collude with russia during the 2016 presidential campaign. davis later also told the "washington post" michael cohen knows about trump's participation in a criminal conspiracy to hack into democratic party officials' emails during the 2016 election. meanwhile in virginia, a jury found trump's former campaign chair paul man

i'm amy goodman. republican arizona senator john mccain has died at the age of 81. the senator and two-time presidential candidate was battling a malignant brain tumor for over a year. on friday, his family announced he was ending his treatment, and he died saturday afternoon at his home in arizona. senator mccain served as a naval pilot in the vietnam war, spending five years as a prisoner of war after his plane was shot down in 1967. he spent two years in solitary confinement and twice attempted suicide. he eventually signed a statement he would forever regret, confession admitting to "crimes against the vietnamese country and people." this experience made mccain a life-long opponent of torture. yet upon his release and return to the united states, he wrote an article expressing support for president nixon and the u.s. bombing of cambodia. after mccain's election to u.s. senate in 1987, he consistently promoted war and u.s. military intervention abroad, including in the first gulf war, afghanistan,

i'm amy goodman. for the first time in the history of the roman catholic church, the pope has addressed a letter to the entire population of 1.2 billion catholics on the topic of sex abuse by clergy. in the scathing 2000-word letter pope francis wrote -- "we showed no care for the little ones; we abandoned them." last week in pennsylvania, a grand jury report revealed how more than 300 catholic priests sexually abused 1000 children anand possibly thousandsds morer more than seven decades, and that the church leadership covered up the abuse. more than catholic theologians, 1000 educators, and parishioners have called on all catholic -- u.s. catholic bishops to resign. we'll have more on pope francis' letter and the catholic church abuse scandal after headadlines. president trump is heading to chcharleston, west virginia, toy toto hold a campaigngn rally and announce a massive rollback of obama-era environmental regulations for coal-fired power plants. the deregulation will dramatically weaken president

i'm amy goodman. in venezuela, the president has susurvived an asassassinationn attempt. officials sasay drones loaoadedh explososives detonatated above m as he gaveve a natationally tetelevised speeeech on satutur. he has blamed the outgoing colombian president for the attack. there has been an attempt to assassinate me. i have no doubt this points to the extreme right in venezuela.. old president is behind this, i have no doubt. preliminary indications have pointed that there are various financial backers to this attempt. they live in the united states in florida. hopefully trump is willing to fight these group's. j john bolton has denied involvement in the e attack whie speaking on fox news on sunday. >> i can say there is no government involvement in this at all. amy: trump has admitted that the purpose of a meeting between a kremlin connected lawyer and his killer to get dirt on clinton. he tweeted "fake news. about that i'm concerned the information of my son meeting. it went nowhere. it went no