Headlines July 8, 2025 from Democracy Now!

In Los Angeles, heavily armed federal immigration agents, some on horseback, staged a dramatic sweep on a public park Monday, inflaming tensions in a city already on edge from the Trump administration’s mass raids. Mayor Karen Bass arrived on the scene, where she told agents to leave MacArthur Park, a popular public space in a largely immigrant and working-class neighborhood where many children were playing. Activists and community members, some who’d been tipped off about the sweep, were seen repelling the agents, yelling insults at the armed and masked men, some hurling fruit toward them. Mayor Bass later condemned the incident.

Mayor Karen Bass: “Frankly, it is outrageous and un-American that we have federal armed vehicles in our parks when nothing is going on in the parks. … It’s outrageous and un-American that the federal government seized our state’s National Guard. It’s outrageous and un-American that we have U.S. Marines, who are trained to kill foreign soldiers overseas, deployed in our American city.”

The Community Self-Defense Coalition LA held a news conference Monday, marking 30 days of resistance against the assault by federal authorities on L.A. communities. This is organizer Héctor Rivera.

Héctor Rivera: “Stand up and organize in your communities. This is the cutting edge of the authoritarian, fascist takeover of America. This is it! Now, do you stand and fight for what you believe? Your silence will not save you. Pretending like nothing’s going on will not save you.”

In Kenya, at least 11 people were killed and over 500 arrested Monday as police cracked down on protests marking the 35th anniversary of a pro-democracy uprising on July 7, 1990. Authorities blocked major roads leading into Nairobi, and businesses shuttered in response to the unrest. This comes amid ongoing protests in Kenya over police brutality and corruption, as demonstrators demand President William Ruto resign. This is a protester speaking from Nairobi Monday.

Zablon Luseno: “This is our country. If we destroy it, all of us will be affected. Police officers should not think that if the country is destroyed, they will be safe. They will also be affected, together with their families.”

Russian drones struck military recruitment centers in Ukraine Monday, killing one person and wounding over 70 others in Kharkiv. Elsewhere, one person was killed by a Russian strike in Odesa, while in Zaporizhzhia at least 20 people were injured when Russian drones struck a military draft center. Nearby residents said their homes were destroyed or damaged by Russia’s assault.

Dmytro Sokolovskyi: “There’s a draft center office over there, and there is a private residential area here. I want to tell those idiots who are glad that draft offices are being attacked to come and see for themselves. They can tell the people who have lost their homes, or whose houses are now without doors and windows, how happy they are.”

On Monday, President Trump said the United States would send more weapons to Ukraine, declaring, “I’m not happy with President Putin at all.” It was a sudden about-face for the Trump administration, which just last week ordered a halt to shipments of missiles and ammunition to Ukraine. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said at the time it was due to concerns over the Pentagon’s stockpiles. Congress approved the arms transfers last year as part of a $61 billion military aid package for Ukraine. President Trump said he wasn’t aware the weapons shipments had been stopped.

Meanwhile, the British government has brought new sanctions against Russian officials, accusing them of deploying chemical weapons to Ukraine’s frontlines. Dutch and German intelligence agencies said last week they’d gathered evidence of Russian drones dropping a choking agent on Ukrainian troops to drive them out of trenches and into the line of fire. 

President Trump has threatened to impose tariffs of 25% to 40% on imports from 14 countries, including Bangladesh, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea and Thailand. On Monday, Trump used his social media platform Truth Social to publish letters to leaders of nations targeted by the tariffs, which Trump said would take effect on August 1 unless countries negotiate new trade deals with the U.S. That amounts to a three-week extension of Trump’s original July 9 deadline to strike a deal or face higher tariffs.

President Trump has threatened to impose an additional 10% tariff on countries that align themselves with the BRICS group of nations, led by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Trump cited the group’s “Anti-American policies.” The threat came as Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva kicked off a two-day BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva: “I think it’s not responsible for a president from a country like the United States to threaten the world with tariffs on social media. Honestly, there are other forums for the president of a country the size of the United States to talk to other countries.”

For the first time since he took power in 2012, Chinese President Xi Jinping skipped this year’s BRICS summit. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who faces an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for war crimes committed in Ukraine, appeared by video link. 

In Boston, a federal judge has temporarily blocked part of the newly passed Republican budget reconciliation bill that bars Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood clinics. Monday’s injunction came just hours after Planned Parenthood sued to block the prohibition, arguing it unconstitutionally targets workers for their advocacy work and speech promoting reproductive rights. Advocates warn enforcement of the cuts would result in more than half of Planned Parenthood’s 2.1 million patients losing access to reproductive care, and the closure of hundreds of clinics.