Comments of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling. Emerged friday, sterling lambastes his girlfriend for posting a picture with nba legend Magic Johnson and not to post pictures associated with black people. We will get reaction from the nations sports columnist dave zirin. Theont is poised to become first day to require the labeling of gmos. We do not want to continue to be guinea pigs. We want to have a choice. We will speak with vermont state senator david zuckerman. He is also an organic farmer. All that and more coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. The white house is releasing a new set of guidelines to address the epidemic of Sexual Assault on College Campuses. A new Task Force Report urges colleges to report anonymous surveys and adopt proven strategies for combating assault. The announcement follows a rash of highprofile cases where schools across the country have been accused of mishandling Sexual Assaults. One in five College Women will be sexually assaulted during her college career. The u. S. Senate has stripped a provision from a key intelligence bill that would have required president obama to publicly disclose the number of People Killed by drone strikes. The move reportedly came at the behest of the director of National IntelligenceJames Clapper and suggested it could undermine operations. The provision would have required obama to report the number of civilians and combatants killed in drone strikes, but Dianne Feinstein decided to drop it. Clapper says they are exploring their own way to disclose data. Attacks in iraq killed 57 people placeday at a polling week before nationwide elections. Attack, adliest suicide bomber killed 30 people and injureds course of others at a political gathering in a mostly kurdish town east of baghdad. Republic,tral african Doctors Without Borders has suspended activities in the northern town of boguila, following an attack by muslims selector rebels. These were heads of villages, hence of areas within boguila town. They had been invited by msf for these periodical meetings with these village heads. Unfortunately, at the end, tragically, 16 of those people lost their lives, of which, reof our National Staff collects three of our National Staff colleagues were also killed. 1300 muslims have been in vacuum rated who have been surrounded. From a seriestoll of tornadoes in the midwest has risen to at least 28. The storms killed 11 people in mississippi, tennessee, and alabama. Arkansas governor mike beebe described the wreckage. Devastation in terms of the power of it may be as big as ive ever seen. We have seen steel girders, huge, i been girders twisted, torn completely out of the cement footing, lifted completely out of the ground. You can look at the trees and see how they have been ripped of leaves, you can see the force of the power. Then there are houses and businesses that are just destroyed. State oftire california is in drought for the first time in 15 years. More than three quarters of the state is in extreme drought. Governor jerry brown has to reduce residents their water usage. He also tied the drought to Climate Change say that we are playing russian roulette with the environment. In syria, a mortar attack kills 14 people in damascus. The attack comes after Bashar Alassad formally submitted his bid to run for reelection. To secure another sevenyear term in the june poll which the opposition and its allies have denounced as a farce. An Egyptian Court has banned april 6 movement of prodemocracy group that played a key role in the Popular Uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak in 2011. Speaking on monday, Mohamed Yousef said the group would defy the ban on its activities. This is a decision only on paper that will not stop the activities of the sixth of april. To the contrary, tomorrow we will be in the streets to tell them the disbanded group is only banned in your imagination and your dreams. This ruling will not stop the members of the movement demonstrating, will not stop them from saying what they believe, one of stop us standing up to any desperate, however powerful he may be, and all the institutions he can control to push his base through. The ban came the same day an egyptian judge sentenced 600 people to death, including the spiritual leader of the muslim brotherhood, mohamed badie. Picking in manila, president obama issued a defense over his foreignpolicy, saying his critics failed to learn from what he called the disastrous decision to invade iraq. Of ourcally, criticism Foreign Policy has been directed at the failure to use military force. And the question i would have is , why isnt that everyone is so eager to use military force, after we have just gone through a decade of war that enormous troops and to our budget . Philippines, president obama was met by hundreds of protesters about a pact to revive the military presence in the philippines. Popular protests forced the u. S. To leave its bases. Outside of the president ial palace was effigies were burned of president obama and president aquino. The European Union followed suit with sanctions on 15 new individuals. We will have more on ukraine after headlines. Isretary of state john kerry apologizing for saying israel could become an apartheid state statedoes not reach a two solution with palestinians. He made the remarks in a recordings meeting, which were obtained by the daily beast. Republican senator ted cruz of texas called for john kerry to resign over the comments. Mr. President , sadly, it is my belief that secretary kerry has proven himself unsuitable for the position he holds, and therefore, before any further harm is done to our National Security interest and to our Critical Alliance with the nation of israel, that john kerry should offer president obama his resignation, and the president should accept it. In a statement monday, secretary of state kerry said apartheid is a word best left out of the debate here at home. He visits ethiopia today where the government is under fire for arresting six bloggers and three. The nine were rounded up on friday and charged with attempting to incite violence. Human rights watch has pressed for their release, saying they are being held in a facility that is known for its abuses. Harry reid took aim at republican donors monday, speaking on the opening day of the legislative session, blaming billionaires like the Koch Brothers for the failure of House Republicans to pass key initiatives like an unemployment benefits. While families plead the congress for help and work ticket paid fair wages, House Republicans prefer to talk about anything other than what is relevant. Why . Because their billionaire sugar daddies are not interested in helping middleclass americans get a fair shot. Trials and david coke are not concerned with the longterm unemployed families, and republicans in the house of representatives are intent to do nothing for the longterm unemployed. People descended on the capitol to protest the widening gap between the rich and poor. Under the ban all banner battle for the capitol, they called for a rise in the minimum wage. A new Study Confirms most of the job growth since the economic recession has been in lowwage jobs. The national law project reports there are nearly 2 million fewer jobs in midand higher Wage Industries in nearly 2 million more jobs in lower Wage Industries than before the recession. Republican Congressmember Michael Grimm has surrendered to federal authorities after being indicted for fraud. He is accused of concealing more than a Million Dollars in taxes and wages at his restaurant in new york city. The charges part of a wider probe into his campaign finances. He was caught on camera turning to throw a reporter off a balcony for questioning him about the investigation. City, a boat that activists intended to use to challenge the israeli blockade has been hit with an explosion. The boat has been refurbished with the goal of exporting palestinian goods, but according to a press release, the night guard received a call warning of an attack. Minutes later, the boat exploded. The group said they would continue their efforts against the blockade. Those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Mate, welcome to our listeners and viewers from around the country. The u. S. And European Union have impose new sanctions on russia. The sanctions target seven russian government officials and 17 companies linked to russian president Vladimir Putins inner circle. State Department Spokesperson jen sasaki said the u. S. Still has a tool box of steps it can take against russia. Weve made clear the United States would impose additional live if russia failed to up to its geneva commitments and failed to take concrete steps to deescalate situation in ukraine. Cuts cleanly, this morning, United States is imposing targeted sanctions on a number of russian individuals and entities and restricting licenses for certain exports to russia. Can russia still deescalate and take steps . Absolutely. Do we still have a tool box of steps we can take . Absolutely, and we are working in lockstep with the europeans on this as well. Union followed suit today with new sanctions on 15 more people suspected of having a direct link to the ukrainian unrest. The move comes as the crisis in the ukraine faces it continued chaos. Prorussian separatist seized a new town and seized seven monitors. The mayor of ukraine second largest city is in Critical Condition after an attempt on his life. Kharkivs mayor hannity current us was shot 20 miles away from the border. It is unclear who was behind the attack. This is a surgeon who treated the man. He is stable at the moment but his condition is severe, even closer to very severe, as it usually is with these types of injuries. A bleeding usually rather strong. We are talking about 1. 5 liters of blood in total. If somebody thinks this is the way to improve the situation, he is wrong. Any aggression will only increase confrontation. The armed separatists are seeking annexation from russia. Ukraines government has accused russia of orchestrating the unrest as a pretext for an invasion. All of this comes as the pentagon says the Russian Defense chief has assured chuck notl that russia would invade ukraine. Meanwhile, the country continues to prepare for its may 25 president ial elections. For more we are joined by three guest. We speak with christopher miller, editor at the kiev post, who has been four years. Aine for from princeton university, jack matlock served as an ambassador to moscow. He was the last ambassador to the soviet union. He is the author of several books, including superpower illusions how myths and false ideologies led america astrayand ,w to return to reality autopsy on an empire the american ambassadors account of the collapse of the soviet union , and reagan and gorbachev how the cold war ended. Nina khrushcheva is also with us, author of the upcoming book, the lost khrushchev journey into the gulag of the russian mind. Lets go directly to kiev to speak with christopher miller. Can you explain what is happening now in kiev . The unrest is continuing. Things have been relatively calm today, all things considered. Yesterday we did see the takeover of another City Administration building and of course the assassination attempts of a mayor in the second largest city of ukraine. People believe the attempt on his life was meant to further destabilize the situation. Obviously, there are different rumors flying around as to who might be behind it. Today, the government is taking steps. It could help the situation. They are considering holding a referendum in line with the elections on may 25. It has not been decided yet. We are hearing that talks are underway. Meanwhile, the separatist groups in Eastern Ukraine, in these flashpoint cities, are considering holding unilateral referendums in their cities on may 11, in line with many holidays and victory day, which is a big celebration here in the soviet former soviet union. The situation is in Eastern Ukraine compared to crimea . In crimea, russia admitted it was their forces that were sent in. More seems to be uncertainty over who the separatists are in Eastern Ukraine. What is happening right now and how does this compare to what we saw in crimea . In the senselar, that it is the slowmoving takeover upper russian forces, but the differences are, crimea was controlled by russian soldiers, as we know. They were very well disciplined, orderly. There was really a lack of violence. We saw some skirmishes, at least one or two deaths, but overall it was done with a sense of professionalism, really. Whereas what we see in the east now is the seizure of buildings, takeover of entire cities by men that are not so well trained, that might not have a military background, some that do, that our militia forces who have taken over three stations, now stations, nowe armed with automatic weapons, s. We have seen some evidence that russians are involved, unnecessarily russians that are members of the russian military, but russian citizens who are a part of militia groups over there and have come into ukraine to help lead the separatist movement. Targeted . The mayor here deemedt people to be a political chameleon. He has flipflopped a number of times in the last few months. Formera supporter of the president viktor yanukovych, who was ousted on february 22. He fled the country overnight thrown out, has since popped up in moscow. He was a member of the president s political party, the ruling party here. During the revolution in january and february, he was a staunch critic of the revolution and spoke out against it. Once the president was ousted from office, he came out in favor of the united ukraine. At the same time, he did speak for some of the separatist movement that have popped up. Separatistsil the lost control of the City Administration buildings in his city. Once they were removed by police flopped again and said he supported a united ukraine, not necessarily separatism, but a federated state. He has angered people on both sides really, making him a target by numerous groups. It is unknown now who is behind him. Ho shot they believe it is a lone sniper. A close friend and president ial candidate came out and said that he thought it was forces from your my done who worked to assassinate him. At this point, it is not clear who were shooting. Nina khrushcheva, the sanctions posed on russian individuals, 17 companies, seven russian individuals, on the oil company, the head of the oil company, but not the head of the gas company. Talk about the significance of the u. S. And european approach to dealing with russia. It is much more forceful. We can say the u. S. Did not go far enough because it targeted individuals, but there were other companies that were question so there is a of how far the u. S. Should have gone, did they go far enough . The u. S. Says they still have a toolbox to push russia with. Maybe that is why they decided for now it is forceful enough. The eu sanctions are not as forceful, and this has been the story all along. Of the that 25 to 30 Russian Energy goes to europe. A lot of their business is in england, germany. Trade is very important. Russia is a very important european partner. Enough. Did not go far i found it interesting that the targeted people who were racking upvolved in those protests, those people in donetsk. I do not imagine those people are really shaking in their boots. It is an important gesture. I do not know how far it will go. An important person on both minister,he prime deputy prime minister, who is allegedly responsible for the theren takeover, although are other people responsible who were sanctioned. These are very important gestures. I am a huge fan of sanctions. I think they go much further than that. It seems there is evidence that russian businesses are going to suffer from the sanctions. Although we now hear that it is way back to 1949, where you have your of the doing americas bidding and whatnot. And trade forces are the most forceful measure to deal with this. It was only a few weeks ago that we had this agreement between the ukraine and geneva and the u. S. Has anybody tried to follow suit on what they agree to in geneva . And does not seem so on both sides. There are still sectors that are very forceful. They seem to be occupying buildings. I read a recent report that there are even coffee shops open, bars, talking about fascist rhetoric. The russians use this as a great tool of propaganda. I would like to add to why i think Eastern Ukraine is different from the crimea story. In crimea, there really was a lot of support. Russian guns or not, there was a lot of support to become russian. In Eastern Ukraine, the russians are meddling and forceful. 30 of theaybe 20 or population that wants to become russia. They have to push hard. And then of course, in donetsk, they, the russians, continue to becauseved precisely they need a referendum for the there areke sure that many people