Blast radius. Well go to kabul to get reaction, and well speak with kathy kelly of voices for creative nonviolence about their campaign to end u. S. Military and economic warfare. Shes just back from afghanistan and is now among 20 peace activists who are on day five of a vigil and fast in front of the United Nations to protest the ongoing u. S. Support for the saudi bombing g of yemen. Were hoping g to this fast d vigil, people all across the United States will start to recognize we cannot t turn the other way and ignore what is happening in yemen. We also hope to bring people attention tobring south sudan, nigeria, somalia, countries nearby which a are alo nearing a trio of near famine conditions. Amy then hundreds of undocumented immigrants are on Hunger Strike to protest the conditions and extremely low wages at the forprofit northwest to Tension Center in tacoma, washington. Rodriguez. S jonathan i would like people to know that im on a Hunger Strike, not just for me, but for everyone out there in the future. Amy the Hunger Strikers are demanding better food, hygiene, and medical care within the prison, which is owned by the major private Prison Corporation geo group. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. In afghanistan, the United States military on thursday dropped its most powerful nonnuclear bomb ever, the masses ordnance air blast or moab, nicknamed the mother of all bombs, on the achin district near the pakistan border. The 21,600pound bomb reportedly unleleashed an explosionon equivalent to 11 t tons of tnt with a milewide b blast radius. Bill rogoggio the f foundatioin for defefense of democraracies d the military times what it does is basically suck out all of the oxygen and lights the air on fire. White House Press Secretary sean spicer acknowledged the attack. It is a large, powerful, accurately delivered weapon. We targeted system of tunnels and caves that isis fighters used to move around freely, making it easier for them to target u. S. Military advisers and Afghan Forces in the area. The u. S. Took all precautions necessary to prevent civilian casualties and Collateral Damage as a result of the operation. Amy thursdays blast was so powerful, it shook the ground in neneighboring districts. A parliamentarian from Nangarhar Province told the guardian the explosion kikilled a teacher and his young son. Otheher afghan officials said 36 isisis fighters were killeled. The u. S. Bbacked former presidt of afghanistan hamid karzai denounced thursdays attack, saying this is not the war on terror, but the inhuman and most brutal misuse of our country as testing ground for new and dangerous weapons. Marc garlasco, a bushera pentagon official, told the intercrcept the weapon was built for ususe in iraq but t never ud due to Collateral Damage concerns. At the white house, President Trump said he was very, very proud of those who carried out the bombing. Pres. Trump Everybody Knows exactly what happened. Myt i i do is i authorize military. We have the greatest military in the world and am done a job, as usual. We have given them total authorization. That is what theyre doing. Frankly,y, that is whyhy they he been so successful lately. Amy democratic commerce woman barbara lee congresswoman barbara lee of california said in a statement President Trump owes the American People an explanation about his escalation of military force in afghanistan and his longterm strategy to defeat isis. Well have more on the attack in bulhanistan by going to ka and also speaking with kathy kelly. In syria, the pentagon says a u. S. Led Coalition Airstrike in tabqah killed 18 Syrian Rebels backed by the United States. U. S. Central command said in a statement the attack accidentally targeted fighters with the u. S. Supported sdf Rebel Alliance who requested air support in a fight against isis. Centcom offered condolences and called the deaths tragic. The attack f followed a seririef Coalition Raids that killed civilians. The journalistic Monitoring Group airwars cited four separate u. S. Airstrikes in april alone that killed 24 noncombatants. Meanwhile, syrian president Bashar Alassad has denied his forces used poison gas to attack a rebelheld town in idlib, whicich killed 87 people, including more than 30 children. In an interview recorded wednesday with the afp news agency, assad said reports of the attack were 100 fabricated. There was noo order to mamake any attack. We dont t have any chemical weapons. We gave up our persosonal years ago. Even if we had them, weweould not use them. We h have never used are chemicl arsenal in our history. Amy assad suggested that children seen in widelycirculated video of the incident were in fact child actors pretending to be dead. Assads interview was broadcast as inspectors with the organisation for the prohibition of chemical weapons said thursday samples taken from the site tested positive for the nerve agent sarin. Elsewhere in syria, rebel groups and syria plus government syrias government have begun swapping p prisoners with h sys government in an excngnge that could see as many as 10,000 nbc news is reporting ththe trup administstration is prepared to launch a preemptive atattack on north korea if it proceeds towards a Nuclear Weapons test. Nbc cited multiple senior u. S. Intelligence officials, who say a pair of u. S. Naval destroyers are positioned near north Koreas Nuclear test site and prepared to fire tomahawk cruise ssiles. The pepentagon declined to commt on the nbc report. North korea on thursday condemned the u. S. For bringing an Aircraft Carrier group and other nucleararmed assets into the region, threatening an assault on south korea, japan, and u. S. Bases. In beijing, Chinese Foreign minister wang yiyi urged the u. And north korea to deescalate. On the issue of the korean peninsula, it is not about who can say the most hateful words, about who can raise the biggest fist, who will win. Rather, once war breaks out, there will be losses on all sides. No one is the real winner. Amy u. S. Intelligence officials claim m north korea is preparing what w would be its sixth nucler weapons testpossiblyly as eary as saturday, which mararks the 105th anniniversary of the b bih of the couounts foununder kimm ililsung. The anniversary comes as Vice President mike pence i is scheduled to travel to seoul, south korea, sunday to kick off a 10day trip to asia. President trump signed legislation thursday that will allow states to withhold federal funds to planned parenthood andd other Womens Health clinics that provide abortions. The bill narrowly passed the senate in march, when Vice President pence cast a tiebreaking vote in favor of the bill. In a statement, planned parenthood Vice President dawn laguens said the Trump Administration had launched the worst political attack on Womens Health in a generation, writing people are sick and tired of politicians making it even harder for them to Access Health care, and thisis bill is just te latest example. In new york, Police Arrested 25 people in the lobby of trump tower as they staged a protest against President Trump and his administration. The protesters chanted no ban, no race, no wall citing his ban and plan to expand the wall on the u. S. Mexico border. Cia chief mike pompeo blasted wikileaks thursday as a Hostile Intelligence Service in a stark reversal from his previous praise for the group. Pompeo made the remarks at a washingtonon, d. C. , think tank n his first public address as cia director. It is time to call that wikileaks for what it is, Hostile Intelligence Service. In reality, they champion nothing at their own celebrity. Their moral compass is nonexistent. Their mission, personal selfaggrandizement through destruction of western values. Amy cia director pompeo went on to call wikileaks founder julian assangnga narcissisist and a frd who would have sided with dictators in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. Last july, thencongressmember pompeo praised wikileaks for publishing emails hacked from the servers of the Democratic National convention, writing in a tweet that has since been deleted need further proof that the fix was in from pres. Obama on down . Busted 19,252 emails from dnc leaked by wikileaks. In libya, at least 97 african migrants are missing and feared dead after their boat capsized thursday in the mediterranean near tripoli. Libyas coastguard said it rescued 23 survivors. According to thehe International Organization for migration, thte iom,m, at least 590 migrants hae died attemptpting the dangerous ocean voyage to italy so far this year. In brazil a Supreme Court judge , has launched a corruption probe into 98 politicians for allegedly taking bribes from a brazilian construction firm. Among those under investigation are eight members of president Michel Temers cabinet, the heads of both chambers of congress and dozens of senior , lawmakakers. This is political scientist Geraldo Tadeu of the State University of rio de janeiro. We are demonstrates that talking about a system that drdrains public resources. A corrupt system that needs to be these invevestigations hae to go deep so that we can reduce the level of corruption. Amy last month, a federal Court Sentenced brazils former speaker of the lower house, eduardo cunha, to more than 15 years in prison for corruption. Cunha was a key leader in the push to impeach dilma rousseff, who was brazils first female president , in a process rousseff and others have called a coup. In arkansas, Death Penalty opponents are set toto rally at the State Capitol in little rock today for a gogood friday protet ahead of the planned execution of seven prisoners over an 11 day stretch. Governor Asa Hutchinson has approved the plan, which would see bruce earl ward and Don William Davis put to death by lethal injection on monday in backtoback executions. Five more prisoners are scheduled to die before the end of april, when the States Supply of the sedative midazolam, one of three drugs used by arkansas to stop a prisoners heartbeat, is set to expire. This is robert dununham of the Death Penalty information center. Arkansas has a supply of the drug mend as a lamb. It expires on april 30. If you are shopping in the supermarket and there is a used by date, what arkansas has essentially done is taken the constant concept of that and used it as a killed by date. Amy on thursday, a pair of pharmaceutical Companies Whose filed suit in federal court seeking to prevent their drugs from being u used in the executions, saying arkanansas acququired its supplies of potassium chloride and midazolam from an unauthorized seller. The lawyer for a United Airlines passenger who was beaten and dragged from a flight by Airport Security guards said thursday his client lost two teeth, suffered a broken nose and concussion, anand might need reconstructive surgery. Dr. David dao sustained the injuries after the airline ordered him to leave his seat on a kentuckybound flight last sunday, saying it was overbooked, and then called in Chicago Department of Aviation Security officers to forcibly remove the 69yearold physician when he refused. At a News Conference thursday, dr. Daos daughter, christal dao pepper, said the incident hass left her family scarred. It has been a very difficult time for our entire family, especially my dad. And we are truly grateful for your support. What happened to my dad should have neverer happepened t to ann being,g, regardlesess of the circumstanance. Amy dr. Daos lawyer said his client would prorobably sue unid and the city of chicago over the incident. And canada has taken a major step towards legalalizing the recreationalal use of marijuana. Prime minister justin n trudeaun thurursday unveiled a bill that would allow adults to possess up to one ounce of the drug, while strictly licenensing and regulating growers. Among those supporting the legislation is ralph goodale, canadas minister of Public Safety. R objective is to protect Public Safety and stop the flow of illegal profits to organized crime, then the law as it stands today has been an abject failure. Police forces spend between 2 billion to 3 billion every year try to deal with cannabis, yet canadian teenagers are among the heaviest users in the western world. Billioninals pocket 7 to 8 billion in illicit proceeds. We simply have to do better. Amy if the bill is approved, canada would join uruguay as the only nations to fully legagalize Recreational Marijuana use. And thosose are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. In afghanistan, the United States military on thursday dropped its most powerful nonnuclear bomb ever, the massive ordnanance air blast or mother ofnamed the all bombs. The u. S. Military dropped it on the achin district near the pakistan border. The 21,600pound bomomb repopory unleashed an explosion eqequivalent to 1111 tons of tnt with a milewide blast radius. Bill roggio of the foundation for defense of democracies told the military times what it does is basically suck out all of the oxygen and lights the air on fire. This is white houses press secretary spicer. It is a large, powerful, accurately delivered weapon. We targeted a system of tunnels and caves that isis fighters used to move around freely, making it easier for them to target u. S. Military advisers and Afghan Forces in the area. The u. S. Took all precautions necessary to prevent civilian casualties and Collateral Damage as a result of the operation. Amy thursdays blast was so powerful it shook k the ground n , neighboring districts. A parlrliamentarian from nangagr provovince told the guardian the explplosion killeded a teacher d his younung son. The u. S. Backefoformer presisidt of afghanistan hamid karzai denounced thursdays attack. He said this is not the war on terror, but the inhuman and most brutal misuse of our country as testing ground for new and dangerous weapons. Marc garlasco, a bushera pentagon official, told the intercept the weapon was built for use inin iraq but never usud due to Collateral Damage concerns. At the white house, President Trump said he was very, very proud of those who carried out the bombing. Pres. Trump very, very proud of the people. Really, another successful job. We are very, very proud of our military. Just like we are proud of the folks in this room. We are so proud of our military. It was another successful event. Did you authorize it . Pres. Trump everyone knows exactly what happened. I authorize my military. We h have the greaeatest militan the world, and then done a job as usual. Amy democratic congresswoman barbara lee of california said in a statement President Trump owes the American People an explanation about his escalation of military force in afghanistan and his longterm strategy to defeat isis. The u. S. Backed former president of afghanistan hamid karzai denounced thursdays attack. He said this is not the war on terror, but the inhuman and most brutal misuse of our country y as testg ground f for newew and dangerous weaponons. Were going to turn right now to our guests, both in studio and also we will be going to kabul after break to speak to people in afghanistan. We turn right now to kathy kelly , who is with voices for creative nonviolence. She was twice nominated for Nobel Peace Prize post up also joined here in our studio byo, professor of media culture, communication at temple university. Shes also a member of the afghan american artists and Writers Association and the coproroducer r and codirectorf the documentary postcards from tora bora. Your response to what to laze . Nonnuclear,bomb, was dropped on afghanistan, the largesest bomb in the history of the