Such measures may include the use of force. Amy fear is growing last weeks coup in niger could lead to regional conflict. Ecowas, a bloc of 15 west african nations, is threatening to use force to expel nigers no military rules. Burkina faso, mali and guinea have warned. We will get the latest. We will also remember juan ramos, a founder and leader of the philadelphia chapter of the young lords. And we will look at the life and legacy of the groundbreaking irish singer and political activist Sinead Oconnor who has died at the age of 56. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now, democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. In ukraine, russian missiles struck a residential highrise in the city of kryvyi rih on monday, killing at least six people, including a 10yearold girl and her mother. Dozens more were injured in the attack. One resident said she raced to the scene of the blast after receiving a panicked call from a friend who lived nearby. I only heard, help me. What we saw was pure horror committed by the russian they hit a residential building and her blog is just next to it that everything in her apartment was ruined. She survived and is alive, thank god. Amy it is the first place of the ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy. Elsewhere, officials in ukraines russianoccupied Donetsk Region say two people were killed and six others injured when ukrainian artillery fire struck a civilian bus. In moscow, Russias Defense Ministry says ukraine launched a fresh wave of drone attacks on russias capital, with one of the devices striking an office tower that had been hit in a previous attack on sunday. The governments of burkina faso, guinea and mali have warned other west african nations not to intervene in niger, following last weeks coup that deposed democraticallyelected president Mohamed Bazoum. A burkina faso Government Spokesperson made the announcement monday after the ecowas bloc of west african nations imposed sanctions and threatened to restore bazoum by force. We warned that any military intervention against niger is tantamount to a declaration of war against burkina faso and mali. We warned that any military intervention against niger would entail burkina faso and mali as well as measures in support of the people of niger. Amy burkina faso and mali are led by military rulers following recent coups. On monday, germany suspended aid to niger, after the European Union and france cut humanitarian and military aid last week. Meanwhile the Biden Administration has stopped short of calling president Mohamed Bazoums ouster by his own president ial guard a coup. Such a declaration would trigger an end to u. S. Military aid to niger, where in 2019 the u. S. Opened a massive new drone base. The u. S. Also has about a thousand military personnel in niger. They are saying they are being confined to the u. S. Military base. Well have more on the coup in niger after headlines. In senegal, at least two people were killed monday as protests erupted following the arrest of Opposition Leader ousmane sonko. The senegalese government also dissolved sonkos patriots of Senegal Party after officials accused him of inciting violent protests last month in the capital dakar. This is the first time a Political Party has been banned in the west african nation since its independence from france in 1960. Sonko is a likely candidate in the 2024 president ial election whos popular among younger senegalese voters. Hes been accused of plotting an insurrection and criminal association with a terrorist body, charges he and his supporters say are false. In lebanon, fighting between rival armed groups inside the largest Palestinian Refugee camp continued for a third day monday after attempts to broker a ceasefire failed. Another four people were killed, bringing the death toll to nine. Dozens of others have been injured. Families are trying to escape the ein elhilweh refugee camp, which houses tens of thousands of palestinians, but many have nowhere else to shelter. Meanwhile the United Nations has suspended its aid and operations at the camp amid the violence between militant factions and members of the fatah group. In northern china, at least 11 people are dead and more than two dozen missing, after the remnants of last weeks super Typhoon Doksuri flooded beijing for the fourth consecutive day. Its one of the worst storms to hit chinas Capital Region in over a decade. Another major storm, typhoon khanun, is bearing down on the japanese island of okinawa and could turn toward Mainland China later in the week. Here in the u. S. , a wildfire that erupted friday in the Mojave Desert has exploded in size, consuming more than 77,000 acres in california and nevada. Its among dozens of wildfires burning across the United States. Elsewhere, a summer heat wave in the southern u. S. Enters its third month today, with record temperatures forecast for cities in texas and the gulf coast. In arizona, phoenix recorded a High Temperature of 108 degrees monday, ending a recordbreaking string of 31 consecutive days with highs above 110 degrees. British Prime Minister rishi sunak says he will authorize more than 100 new licenses for oil and gas drilling in the north sea to maximize domestic extraction of fossil fuels. Sunak announced the plan on monday during a visit to a shell gas terminal in northeastern scotland. Sunak insisted his plan is compatible with the uks commitments to achieve net zero Greenhouse Gas emissions by 2050. When it comes to energy security, we will still need oil and gas. 25 of our energy will come from oil and gas even in 2050. Amy geologists say the rosebank field in the north sea holds more than a half billion barrels of oil, more than enough to prevent the uk from meeting its climate commitments. Friends of the earth scotland said in a statement quote, burning oil and gas is driving extreme weather and killing people on every continent, yet rishi sunak is gleefully encouraging the arsonists to go and put more fuel on the fire. the u. S. State Department Says it will soon introduce a resolution at the United NationsSecurity Council authorizing a multinational armed force to be deployed to haiti as the island nation grapples with worsening political instability and gang violence. Last weekend kenyas government offered to send one thousand Police Officers to haiti to support haitian police, an offer applauded by u. N. Secretarygeneral antonio guterres. Many haitians remain opposed due to the disastrous history of u. N. And foreign interventions in haiti. The filmmaker, author and activist Catherine Kane has died at the age of 84 after a long struggle with cancer. She founded the haitian restaurant and cool to room center in miami Cultural Center in miami. She also documented how the United States twice supported coups against haitis president. In 2004 she helped organize a flight that brought him from exile in the Central African republic to jamaica. The pentagon says President Biden has selected Colorado Springs to host the permanent headquarters of u. S. Space command, reversing a decision by former President Trump to move the facility to huntsville, alabama. The announcement on monday came as republican senator Tommy Tuberville of alabama continued to block the senate from confirming bidens military nominations over the pentagons policy of paying for employees abortionrelated travel expenses. U. S. Health officials are urging states to retain more lowincome people in medicaid as they warn too many recipients are now losing their coverage. Some four Million People have recently been dropped from medicaid over paperwork issues as states continue to purge the rolls after the lifting of a pandemicera rule on eligibility. That figure is likely higher, as only 38 states have voluntarily made their data public. And secretary of state Antony Blinken has rejected a call by australias top diplomat to end the Biden Administrations efforts to extradite wikileaks founder Julian Assange to the United States to face espionage and hacking charges. Australian foreign minister penny wong made the remarks during a joint News Conference with blinken after talks in brisbane on saturday. We have our view that assan ges case has gone on for too long and our desire is that it come to a conclusion and we have said that publicly. That reflects the position we are articulating. Amy a growing number of australian elected officials, including Prime Minister anthony albanese, have urged the u. S. To drop its case against assange, who is an australian citizen. Secretary blinken responded saturday saying assange was charged with quote very serious criminal conduct. The actions that he is alleged to have committed risk very serious harm to our national security, the benefit of our adversaries and put name to sources at grave risk. Amy australian lawmaker andrew wilkie, who is cochair of the bring Julian Assange home parliamentary group, rejected the claims by secretary blinken, calling them patent nonsense. He told the guardian quote mr. Blinken would be well aware of the inquiries in both the us and australia which found that the relevant wikileaks disclosures did not result in harm to anyone. and those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now, democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Im joined by cohost Juan Gonzalez in chicago. Hi. Juan welcome to all of our listeners and viewers across the country and around the world. Amy we begin todays show looking at the growing crisis in niger where the countrys democratically elected president Mohamed Bazoum was overthrown last week by his own president ial guard. The former president has been detained since wednesday. Many of his top political allies have been arrested. Over the weekend, ecowas, a bloc of 15 west african nations, slapped sanctions on leaders of the coup and threatened to expel them by force unless they cede power within a week. This isecowas president of gone via. In the event that authorities demands are not met within one week, take all measures necessary to restore Constitutional Order in the republic of niger. Such measures may include the use. Amy but three other african nations burkina faso, mali and guinea, have warned that any military interventions in niger would be seen as a declaration of war against them as well. The two countries also warned that military intervention in niger could destabilize the entire region. A burkina faso government sports person spokesperson made the announcement monday. We warned that any military intervention against niger is tantamount to a declaration of war against burkina faso and mali. We warned that any military intervention would entail a withdrawal of burkina faso and mali from ecowas as well as the adoption of self defense measures in support of the armed forces of the people of niger. Amy niger is a former french colony which gained its independence in 1960. Over the weekend nigers new rulers accused france of plotting to intervene militarily. Niger is a major supplier of uranium to france and the European Union. France is planning to start evacuating french and eu residents today. On sunday, thousands of supporters of the junta attempted to storm the French Embassy in the capital niamey. Niger has also been a close ally to the United States. The u. S. Has approximately 1,000 troops in niger. Following the coup the troops have been restricted to a military base in the Northern City agadez where the u. S. Spent over 100 Million Building a drone base. The Biden Administration has so far refused to describe last weeks event as a coup because doing so would force washington to cut security aid to niger. The intercept reported last week that one of the leaders of last weeks coup was Brigadier GeneralMoussa Salou Barmou who had been trained by the u. S. Military at fort benning in georgia. According to the intercept, u. S. Trained military officers have taken part in 11 coups in west africa since 2008 including in burkina faso and mali. In moscow the kremlin has described the situation in niger as a cause for serious concern. But the head of the Russian Mercenary Group wagner has reportedly welcomed the coup. Yevgeny prigozhin has been quoted saying what happened in niger is nothing other than the struggle of the people of niger with their colonisers. To talk more about the crisis in niger we are joined by stephanie savell. She is codirector of the costs of war project at Brown UniversitysWatson Institute for international and public affairs. Shes an anthropologist who has researched u. S. Militarism in west africa and beyond. Professor, welcome back to democracy now can you start off explaining how this took place, the involvement of the president ial guard, etc. . Stephanie on july 27 the members of the president ial guard detained the president and the spokesman for what they are calling the National Council for the safeguard of the homeland declared that the president was overthrown on National Television and that the general who oversees the president ial guard declared he was leading a transitional government. The exact reasons for the coup are still unclear. He talked about the need to stop the countrys demise and he was referring to similar reasons for coups in burkina faso and mali because there has been so much insecurity and so he was saying that because the country is spiraling, the military needed to step in. He was the head of this council and a bunch of senior military leaders stepped in to support him. What is confusing about his claim is that this region is a hub for terror attacks. There have been over 1800 in the First Six Months of the year, but only 77 deaths occurred in niger as opposed to about 4600 in total in burkina faso and mali. Niger has really managed to keep a lot of the attacks and the insecurity and the conflict to its border areas. It is known to be a bastion of stability and resilience in a region that is spiraling into chaos. It is a purpose in claim on the part of the general. Juan could you talk to us about the rising presence of not only u. S. Forces, but also other european troops in the country . Most americans are not aware of this growing u. S. Military presence in africa. Stephanie not at all. I was there in january and it was shocking to me when i was in the airport how many foreigners were moving in an out of the country which was a first for me. Over 1000 u. S. Service personnel are in niger but lots of other countries are also there. France, germany, italy, belgium, canada has provided assistance. A lot of these western regions saw niger as this stable democracy and were pouring Security Assistance, funding for military and police efforts, training efforts, a lot of weapons sales as well from the u. S. And elsewhere. They are pouring all of the Security Assistance to bolster this socalled democracy and i went to see the u. S. Installation, the airbase. It was 100 million that the u. S. Spent on building this airbase. It cost about 30 million per year to maintain. It is a massive, sophisticated installation in the Sahara Desert and the drones there are being used in the u. S. Counterterror operations, what we call the post 9 11 wars, in the surrounding desert area. It is strategically located in the middle of algeria, libya, niger