Revoked the special status of the region. As many as 4000 people have been detained, communication to kashmir has been cut off. We will l speak with an activist to travel to the region to document the crackdown. At first, we look at the recent mysterious Nuclear Accident in northern russia that killed seven people, including five Nuclear Scientists august 8. Soon after, four russian nucler monitoring stations went silent, leading some comparison to the coverup of the 1986 chernobyl disaster. We will speak with m. I. T. Professor kate brown. Most of what we have been told and led to believe about chernobyl is incorrect or incomplete or just plain wrong. Amy all that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. The g7 summit has entered its last day in biarrtiz, france, as member countries have agreed to an immediate 20 million fund to help fight raging wildfires in the amazon. They also said there were launching a Global Initiative to protect the amazon rain forest. President trump was absent as g7 leaders met for a Climate Change session today. A french president macron said the u. S. Supported t the measur. Trade was also high on the agenda at the g7 as the u. S. Se c confused d signals about is ongoing tariff warar with china. Today, trump told reporters that china called and they want to make a deal, however, questions are being asked about the supposed call. This comes after trump appeared to express doubts about his decision to raise tariffs against china, telling reporters sunday, i have second thoughts about everything. Hours after trump made the comments, the white house claimed trumps statements were misinterpreted and that he actually meant he wanted to ramp up tariffs even further. On friday, the president unleashed a series of tweets saying he would raise existing tariffs on 250 billion worth of chinese goods to 30 and he would tax an additional 300 billion worth of chinese imports at 15 , rather than the planned 10 . This followed chinas announcement it would retaliate against upcoming u. S. Tariffs by raising taxes on american products. Trump also demanded friday u. S. Companies stop doing business with china. Meanwhile, trump touted a trade deal with japan as he met with Prime Minister shinzo abe. The deal includes an agreement for japan to buy large amounts of corn from u. S. Farmers. The two countries said they hoped to sign the deal next month, but japanese Prime Minister shinzo abe said more work remains before it can be finalized. At the g7 summit, trump also expressed his desire to bring russia back into the group of 7 formerly the group of 8 after it was kicked out for annexing crimea in 2014. European officials, including European Council president donald tusk, rejected the idea, saying that next year it would be better to invite ukraine. Trump also said his miami resort would be an excellent location for the next g7 summit. One of the biggest surprises of the weekend came when irans top diplomat, foreign minister javad zarif, arrived at the summit amid mounting tensions between the u. S. And iran. Zarif tweeted a photo of himself in a meeting with french president Emmanuel Macron and wrote irans active diplomacy in pursuit of constructive engagement continues. Met emmanuelmacron on sidelines of g7biarritz after extensive talks with jy ledrian and finance minister followed by a joint briefing for u. K. germany. Road ahead is difficult. But worth trying. Trump today claimed Emmanuel Macron asked for his approval before inviting zarif, but reports say trump was blind sighted by his dish blindsided by his presence at the summit. Meanwhile, protesters rallied outside the g7 summit in biarritz and in other french cities denouncing the leaders of the worlds richest countries for their role in the Climate Crisis and economic and gender inequality, among other things. This is aurelie trouve from the Group Alternatives g7. We are not speaking to the g7, to the seven liters we consider this g7 to be illegitimate. We are killing to the population to say there is hope, that we can and must build alternatives to the policies of the seven leaders who are at the service of the rich and the multinationals. Weatherby trump, trudeau, or others, they have all the same. We are opposing them with values of solidarity, answers to the environment of crisis, human rights, and the end of domination. Amy at mid amid growing International Outrage about the massive wildfires ravaging the amazon, the Brazilian Military has started fighting the blazes, with military planes dropping thousands of gallons of water onto the forest. President Jair Bolsonaro ordered military operations in seven states to combat the thousands fire sunday. The fires are rapidly destroying the Worlds Largest rainforest and paving the way for a climate catastrophe. The fires are also devastating large swaths of land in bolivia were president r ellis said he would accept International Aid to fight the blazes that have doubled in size sincece thursda. The amazon produces 20 of the oxygen in the earths atmosphere and often is referred to as the lungs of the planet. Protesters across brazil and the world to the streets over the weekend to protest bolsonaro has worked to open up the amazon for agribusiness, logging, and mining since he came into office in january. Thousands rallied in sao paulo. A heritage fors the worlds health. It is unacceptable what is happening in our country today. Today, people are out on the street for the removal of a government from a place it should not be at, destroying our country, destroying our riches, killing the first peoples of this land. Amy political unrest continues in hong kong as prodemocracy protesters took to the streets for the 12th straight week. On sunday, police drew their guns for the First Time Since the uprising started and fired a warning shot above a crowd of demonstrators. Police alslso used Water Cannons for the first time and fired tear gas and plastic bullets as they clashed with protesters in the tsuen wan district. Authorities say 36 people were arrested sunday, including a 12yearold, and 29 people were arrested saturday. Sundays violence followed seseveral largescale Peaceful Demonstrations over the weekend, including the formation of human chains across miles of hong kong streets friday. The action was inspipired by the baltic way protetest 30 years earlier when around 2 Million People from three baltic countries held hands to call for an end to soviet rule. Earlier this week, hong kongs chief executive carrie lam vowed to start a platform for dialogue, but officials have so far not responded to any of the protesters demands for democratic reforms or to withdraw the proposed extradition bill to china, which triggered the popular protest movement. On saturday, a senior hong kong official warned that chinas military could intervene if civil unrest persisted. Attacks in attacks in lebanon, syria, and iraq targeting iranianbacked forces over the weekenend escalating tensions acroross the middle east. The attacks were blamed on israel, though israeael only coirmed ititas responsnsible for an overwrite air raidd saturday in syria, which theyey said wawn attack on an rainy and operatedd based d that was preparing to launch a drone assaults on israel, israel said. On s sunday, to drones crasheden beirirut leaving hezbollah leads to vowow retaliation of any further strikes occur. More thahan 350 migranants strad on a a rescue ship in n the Mediterranean Sea disembarkekedn malta friday after six European Countries agreed to accept them. The ocean viking, which is run by french Charities Doctors Without Borders and sos mediterranee, had been in a tense standoff for two weeks ass it remained in interernational waters after b being deniedd permissision to dock i in italy malta. Most of the passengers on the ocean viking were e from sudan d had been rescued in four separate missions. The shipip was carrying around 0 children, most of them unaccompanied. The migrants will now be relocated to germany, france, romania, ireland, portugal, and luxembourg. In bangladesh, an estimated 200,000 Rohingya Refugees took part in a genocide day rally sunday, marking the second anniversary of their flight from burma after a brutal military crackdowown. Rohingya refugees demanded burma grant them citizenship and a guarantee of safety as they marched in the Worlds Largest bazar. Camp in coxs two years agago, over 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fled Burmas Rakhine e state. E. This is mohammad salim, one of the approximately 1 million Rohingya Refugees now living in bangladesh. They burned our houses, took away our cattle, seized our land. If they return our lands, homes, and give us citizenship, then we will go baback. Otheherwise, we will not go. Amy President Trump is denying he suggested using Nuclear Bombs to stop hurricanes a after axios reported he raisised the questin multiple times at meetinings wih National Security and homeland securityty officialsls. Acrdrding to a sourcrce presidet e suchcheeting, trump said they start forming off the coast of africa, as theyre moving across the atlantic, we drop a bomb inside the eye of the hurricane and it disrupts it. Why cant we do o that . The idea of nuking h hurricaneso stop them has been around since at l least the eisenenhower era, despite scscientists confirmingt woululd not work. The natitional oananic and Atmospheric Administration has published a a fact sheet entntid tropicacal cyclone e myths pagn whicich it debununks the idea. Former illinois Congressmember Joe Walsh announced he is challenging President Trump for for thehe republican presisidenl nomimination in 202020. Walsh won his cocongressional st as aeaea party canandidate in n0 but seserved just t one term b e losing in the nextxt election to demomocrat tammy duckwth. Hehe was a vocal supporter of candidate trtrump in 2016, but said in an intnterview with abs george stephanopououlos sunday i helped create trumpp but thate now thinks trump p is erratic, hes cruel, he stokes bigotry. Joe walsh also apapologized f fr past racist commentsts about prpresident obama. In 2017, he tweeted, we lowered the bar for obama. He was held to a lower standard because he was black and later said obama was elected because he was black. He also promoted birtherism and made antimuslim comments about obama, even though obabama is nt muslim. Joe walsh is thehe second republican to announce he is challenging trump after former Massachusetts Governor bill weld declared his candidacy in april. In more 2020 news, the Democratic National committee rejected a resolution that would have allowed candidates to participate in a debate focused solely o on the Climate Crisis. A coalition of activist groups including Sunrise Movement and greenpeace usa said in a statement dnc chair tom perez decided it wasnt politically expedient to have democrats discuss their solutions for our Climate Crisis on the same National Stage as one another. Our entire future is at stake, but tom perez just swept aside the Climate Crisis for someone else to solve. That isnt leadership. In Public Health news, a patient in illinois is believed to be the First Casualty linked to vaping. Health officials said friday the patient died after contracting a severe respiratory illness but did not give details about what the patient was vaping or the exact device used. This comes as the centers for Disease Control and prevention has identified nearly 200 possible cases of lung disease linked to vaping in at least 22 states. Dozens of young people with an unidentified lung illness have been hospitalized around the country in recent weeks. Its unclear if the condition is linked to the vaping devices or what the patients were smoking before they became sick. A recent study says that ecigarettes impact peoples blood vessels after a single use. Supreme Court JusticeRuth Bader Ginsburg has gone through three weeks of radiation treatment for a cancerous pancreatic tumor, the Court Announced friday. Justice ginsburgs doctors said the disease did not appear to have spread beyond the pancreas and the justice does not require further treatment for now. Ruth Bader Ginsburg continued to work, as well as a attend many cultural evevents, during her outpatient treatment in nenew yk at the memorial Sloan Kettering cancer center. The 86yearold justice is now a fourtime cancer survivor. She had surgery for lung cancer in december and previously survived pancreatic cancer in 2009. The supreme courts new term opens s in early october. And billionaire conservative donor david koch died friday at the age of 79 from prostate cancer. David koch, who was worth some 42 billion, and his brother charles koch inherited their fortune from their father and his oil and gas ventures. In addition to Oil Refineries and pipelines, Koch Industries also owns many major u. S. Companies. The pair poured massive amounts of money into funding Climate Change denial through conservative think tanks and politicians. The Koch Brothers founded the Political Advocacy Group americans for prosperity in 2004, which is credited with turning the tea party into a fullfledged political movement. The kochs also backed righttowork efforts, which aim to weaken labor rights and quash union membership. The new yorkers jane mayer was on democracy now in 2016 to talk about her book dark money the Hidden History of the billionaires behind the rise of the radical right. Kochs have built a kind of assemblyline. It includes think tanks, which vapors, advocacy groups that advocate for policies, and it includes giving money to candidates. You put those three together and they pushed against doing anything about Climate Change on all those three fronts at once. You get papers that look like they are real, scientific opinion doubting that Climate Change israel, you get advocacy groups saying we cant afford to do anything about it, and you get candidates who have to sign a pledge that the largest Political Group is americans for prosperity, they have a pledge that says if you want to get money from this group, from their donors, you have to sign a pledge sayingg if elected, you will do nothing abouout Climate Change that requires bending any money on the problem. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Questions are still swirling over a mysterious Nuclear Accident in northern russia on august 8. Seven people, including five Nuclear Scientists, died in an explosion which caused a radiation spike in the surrounding area and possibly as far as scandinavia. At least two of the deaths have been linked to radiation sickness. U. S. Experts suspect the explosion was caused during a test of a nuclearpowered Cruise Missile. Russia initially denied a radiation leak had occurred and four russian nuclearmonitoring stations went silent after the blast. But earlier today, russias state Weather Agency confirmed radioactive isotopes have been found in test samples near the military test range. Russian agencies have also given out conflicting information about what was happening at the time of the explosion. Norways nuclear testban monitor now believes two explosions occurred august 8, with the second one being the likely source of radiation. Norway has also said it has found small amounts of radioactive iodine near its arctic border with russia. Russias handling of the Nuclear Accident has drawn some comparisons to the soviet unions coverup of the far more severe disaster at a nuclear 1986 plant in chernobyl, which is considered the worst Nuclear Accident in history. It sent a cloud of radioactive fallout into russia, b belarus d over a large portion of europep. 50,000 People Living in chernobyls immediate surrououings had to o be evacuad and a vast rural region became uninhabitable. The death toll from chernobyl remains unknown. Estimates range from under 1 100 to up to 4000. We go now to boston to speak with kate brown, a professor of science, technology, and