President Trump is hosting right-wing leaders from across Latin America in Miami for a summit discussing his so-called Shield of the Americas initiative. This comes as the U.S. deploys special forces to Ecuador and as Trump hints about regime change in Cuba. “This summit is … an opportunity for Trump to play out a moment of imperial fantasy in front of fans in South Florida,” says Jake Johnston, director of international research at the Center for Economic and Policy Research. The leaders of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay and Trinidad and Tobago will attend, says the White House.

Kristi Noem has been ousted from her position as homeland security secretary after intensifying calls for her resignation. Noem’s tenure has been marked by allegations of corruption, deadly immigration raids and legal challenges. ProPublica reporter Justin Elliott has reported extensively on Noem’s tenure, including a $200 million ad campaign that may have been the inciting incident for her firing. “This did not go through the normal competitive process,” says Elliott. Instead, the ad “went to a Delaware LLC that was formed only a few days before.” President Trump has announced Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma as the new homeland security secretary. Mullin “has been known as a hard-liner,” says Chris Stein, […]

It is the seventh day of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, and Israel is escalating attacks on Lebanon after ordering the entire population of southern Lebanon to flee. This comes as Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich threatened to turn areas of Lebanon into another Gaza in a video shared on social media Thursday. “The word on everyone’s mouths here is ethnic cleansing,” says Lylla Younes, an investigative journalist speaking with Democracy Now! from Beirut. “People are basically fleeing north with nowhere to go. Shelters are filling up rapidly. People are sleeping on the pavement in the winter nights.” Human rights lawyer Omar Shakir, the new executive director of DAWN, has urged Iran to give the International […]

House Narrowly Rejects Resolution to Limit Trump’s Power to Wage War on Iran, Iran Says U.S. and Israel Have Attacked 3,600 Civilian Sites, Hegseth Says “We Have Only Just Begun to Fight” as CENTCOM Prepares for 100 Days of War, Iranian Strikes on Mideast Oil Sites Trigger Global Energy Chaos, Israel’s Renewed Assault on Lebanon Kills 123, with Hundreds of Thousands Displaced, Stocks of Medical Supplies in Gaza “Critically Low” as Israel Closes Gaza Border Crossings, Trump Fires Kristi Noem as Homeland Security Secretary, Names Sen. Markwayne Mullin as Replacement, ICE Arrests Nashville Journalist Whose Stories Criticized Federal Agents, 169 Are Killed, Including Civilians, as Insurgents Raid Town in South Sudan, More Than 200 […]

We speak with filmmaker Craig Renaud, the director of Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud, an HBO documentary about his brother, photojournalist Brent Renaud, who was killed by Russian soldiers in Ukraine in 2022. March 13 marks the fourth anniversary of Brent’s death, and the film is both a tribute to him and “a bigger story about all the journalists who were being killed,” says Craig. “As we enter another war … I hope Brent’s work and the work of all the fallen journalists helps people pause for a minute and think about the impact that these wars will have.” Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud is nominated for Best Documentary Feature at this year’s Academy Awards on March […]