The Democratic National Convention (DNC) begins Monday as top Democrats travel to Chicago to celebrate the party’s presidential nomination of Vice President Kamala Harris.

The convention, which will be held at the United Center in Chicago, starts Monday and runs through Thursday, when Harris will formally accept the nomination with her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. 

Anti-Israel protesters are expected to demonstrate outside the event, opposing the Biden-Harris administration’s support for Israel in its nearly 11-month war with Hamas in Gaza.

The DNC said the party will celebrate the record of the Biden-Harris administration and ‘chart a path for the future.’ 

The convention will ‘show America what Democrats stand for and tell the story of our proven track record of delivering for all Americans,’ the DNC said. 

‘But the story is far from over,’ the party says. ‘At the convention, Democrats will come together to build on our progress, lay out what’s at stake in this election, and unite around our shared values of democracy and freedom to create a future for all Americans.’ 

The DNC said it is holding the 2024 nominating convention in Chicago because the city ‘represents the diversity of the Democratic Party and the country.’ 

‘It’s a union city that sits in the heart of the Midwest, and it’s a Democratic stronghold that was part of the ‘blue wall’ crucial to the Biden-Harris victory in 2020 and will be for a Harris-Walz victory in November,’ the DNC said. 

The convention in 1996, where Democrats nominated President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore for re-election, was also held in Chicago in the same arena. 

‘Our convention is an opportunity to bring the story of our party to the American people — not just the story of what we’ve achieved under the Biden-Harris administration, but how the Harris-Walz ticket is planning to build on that historic record for a new way forward into the future,’ said Convention Chair Minyon Moore. ‘The story here is simple and it’s one that will resonate with Americans across the country: Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are fighting for the American people and America’s future — Donald Trump is only fighting for himself.’

The DNC announced that each night of the convention will have a theme. 

Monday night will be ‘for the people,’ and speakers will present that ‘at its core, the Harris-Walz ticket is a ticket for the people.’ 

Tuesday night will be a ‘Bold Vision for America’s Future,’ and will focus on how the Harriz-Walz ticket intends to present a ‘brighter vision where everyone will have a chance not just to get by, but to get ahead.’ 

Wednesday night’s theme is ‘A Fight for Our Freedoms,’ and Thursday night’s theme is ‘For Our Future.’ 

The Democrats’ convention comes nearly a month after the president’s blockbuster July 21 announcement that he was suspending his re-election bid and endorsing Harris following his disastrous performance against former President Trump, the GOP presidential nominee, in their late June debate.

Biden’s rambling and uneven answers at the debate fueled questions over whether the 81-year-old president had the physical and mental abilities to handle another four years in the White House and sparked a chorus of calls from within his own party to end his 2024 campaign.

Biden eventually caved to the pressure, announcing the suspension of his re-election campaign just days after the Republican National Convention ended with a solidified GOP ticket of Trump and running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio. 

Biden, in his announcement to suspend his bid for the White House, nominated his vice president to take over. 

Democrats desperate to keep Trump from returning to the White House quickly coalesced around Harris, who last week was formally nominated by the party in a virtual roll call. 

Biden is expected to address the Democratic National Convention Monday night to open the week’s events. Sources said his speech will focus on the ‘successes of the Biden-Harris Administration,’ including ‘successfully overcoming a once in a century pandemic, transforming an economy that was flat on its back to the strongest economy in the world, defending democracy at home and abroad, and restoring decency and dignity to the White House.’

First Lady Jill Biden will also speak to the party Monday night, along with Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. 

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is also expected to speak at the convention Monday night, followed by former President Barack Obama on Tuesday and former President Bill Clinton on Wednesday. 

Former First Lady Michelle Obama will also speak at the convention in an effort to rally support for the Harris-Walz ticket. She’ll speak about the importance of civic engagement and voting.

Also speaking at the Democratic National Convention will be Harris’ husband, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff; Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer; and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries. 

Walz is expected to accept the vice presidential nomination on Wednesday night and address the party. 

Walz can showcase a slew of progressive policy victories in Minnesota, including protecting abortion rights, legalizing recreational marijuana and restricting gun access to curb shootings. 

Walz was elected to the House in 2006 and re-elected five times, representing Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District, a mostly rural district covering the southern part of the state that includes a number of midsize cities. During his last two years on Capitol Hill, he served as ranking member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. 

Walz won election as governor in 2018 and re-election four years later.

Harris will accept the nomination in a nationally televised address Thursday night. 

Harris has enjoyed a surge in fundraising after replacing Biden atop the Democrats’ 2024 ticket, and her July haul was more than double the funds raised last month by Trump. Additionally, Harris saw another spike in fundraising after naming Walz as her running mate a week ago.

The vice president and Walz quickly hit the campaign trail with a swing through the key battleground states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona and Nevada. 

Even though both Harris and Walz have been officially nominated, convention organizers say there will be ceremonial roll calls in Chicago. 

And while a mostly unified and now energized Democratic Party will meet inside the United Center arena on Chicago’s West Side, outside the security perimeter, there will likely be scenes of anger and dissent – as demonstrators protesting the Biden-Harris administration’s support for Israel plan to take to the streets.

Party officials are hoping to avoid any type of repeat of their 1968 convention in Chicago, when scenes of fighting erupted among delegates, and clouds of tear gas and police batons used to smash protests, as divided Democrats brawled over the Vietnam War.

While Democrats are divided over the U.S. response to the soaring death toll among Palestinians in the Israel-Hamas war, political pundits say comparisons to the 1968 chaos are not justifiable.

However, the Coalition to March on the D.N.C., an umbrella group of organizations on the left that is helping to organize the planned protests, said in a social media posting on Sunday that Democratic Party officials ‘underestimate our rage, our tenacity, and our steadfast commitment to the precious life of every Palestinian person enduring this horrific genocide. We’re fighting back.’

Protesters are trading fire with Chicago officials over where they will be allowed to march during the convention. The activists are aiming for a longer route, which they say would better accommodate the tens of thousands of people they hope will protest. A federal judge overseeing the dispute between the protesters and city officials has yet to make a decision.

Members of minority groups in Bangladesh spoke to Fox News Digital about the violence and mistreatment they have faced following the government’s collapse earlier this month, all using false names for fear of reprisal.

Violence, even murder and the burning down of minority-owned businesses, places of worship and residences have been a major problem since the government of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was overthrown following violent protests. Bangladesh is 90% Muslim, with some Christians but mostly Hindus and Buddhists making up the rest of the population.

Sathya, a Hindu from Chittagong, told Fox News Digital that the Hasina government ‘wasn’t the best’ towards the Hindu minority, pointing out cases of land-grabbing of Hindu homes and temples under her governance, but suggested that they faced better treatment than under other governments – ‘the lesser evil,’ but only when ‘we are out of options.’  

‘Hindus have always been the ‘scapegoats’ and were blamed whenever there was an economic crisis or other political issue that we had no control over,’ Sathya said. Indian outlet the Deccan Herald reported that 278 Hindu-owned locations have been ransacked since Hasina fled the country. 

He claimed that if a Hindu home sat empty, squatters would intrude and start building, and the government and legal system would do little to help protect Hindu land rights. Mobs would walk in and take whatever they wanted, such as furniture, cash and food.

Even within the Muslim community, the Ahmadiya sect has faced persecution from the Sunni majority who call them ‘heretics,’ Ali, told Fox News Digital. ‘Our group has also been increasingly targeted just like the Hindus and other religious minorities.’

A Bangladeshi citizen who now lives in the U.S., says that when he looks at his homeland, he sees ‘no law and order’ and that ‘Hindus have to stay vigilant, especially at night, worried that our homes will be raided and looted.’ 

‘The government seems to not care about minorities,’ he said while withholding his name. ‘A hotline was provided for Hindus to call if they are targeted, but nobody answers the phone number provided.’ 

‘Even though the region in general is a Buddhist minority today, Buddhism originated not far from here in nearby Nepal and has had a very long history here and is one of the major world religions. We wonder why the rest of the world stays silent when we are in such a crisis,’ Rajarshi, told Fox News Digital. 

He felt that the latest violence portrays that any group that is not Sunni is not safe. ‘What’s the use of all of us having fought for independence from Pakistan if we are told we have no place in this country now?’ 

While Christians make up a tiny minority of the country’s population, Fox News Digital recently reported that the organization Open Doors, which tracks discrimination of Christians worldwide, ranked Bangladesh as having ‘very high’ persecution levels, claiming that ‘converts to Christianity face the most severe restrictions, discrimination and attacks.’

‘Religious beliefs are tied to the identity of the community, so turning from the locally dominant faith to following Jesus can result in accusations of betrayal,’ the group wrote on its website. ‘Bangladeshi converts often gather in small house churches due to the risk of attack.’

Earlier this week Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on social media platform X that he had spoken with the country’s interim leader Professor Muhammad Yunus, and the duo had ‘exchanged views on the prevailing situation.’

‘Reiterated India’s support for a democratic, stable, peaceful and progressive Bangladesh,’ Modi wrote. ‘He assured protection, safety and security of Hindus and all minorities in Bangladesh.’ 

The Washington Post reported that Modi’s government had pressured the United States to ease up on criticism of then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and the Biden administration complied – even putting plans for further sanctions against the Bangladeshi government on hold. 

The U.S. State Department told Fox News Digital that ‘Our sustained engagement on democracy and human rights in Bangladesh and around the world speaks for itself,’ and added that ‘We do not comment on our private diplomatic communications.’

Bangladesh re-elected Hasina’s Awami League party in January, extending its rule, which had started in 2008, prompting student protests at universities that ultimately spilled out into nationwide demonstrations against the party’s rule. 

Both the party and its leader have faced accusations of ‘iron-fisted’ and authoritarian rule, with many claiming the 2014 and 2018 elections as ‘shams’ since the opposition either boycotted or were reduced to a ‘hopeless minority,’ according to the New Yorker. 

Shrinking employment and high inflation marred the Awami League’s last term, and the economic stress proved too much for many, especially a new policy that implemented a quota for civil service work – thereby withholding coveted jobs in what the protesters claimed was a kleptocratic move. 

Ultimately, Hasina resigned and fled to India, taking many by surprise but allowing the protesters to have the change they wanted, which included putting humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus in place as the chief adviser to the interim government ahead of fresh elections in November.

Student protesters plan to create a new party to contest the elections and end the two-party monopoly that has burdened the country for almost two decades, Reuters reported. The student groups at the center of the protest want to talk with citizens across the country before deciding on their platform and will finalize their decision in a month. 

‘We don’t have any other plan that could break the binary without forming a party,’ Tamid Chowdhury, one of the student coordinators at the center of the push to oust Hasina, told reporters. 

Another student said that the ‘spirit of the movement was to create a new Bangladesh, one where no fascist or autocrat can return.’ 

‘To ensure that, we need structural reforms, which will definitely take some time,’ Nahid Islam, a protester who took up a role in Yunus’s temporary cabinet, explained. 

Reuters contributed to this report. 

The three years following the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan have been a deadly game of cat and mouse for employees and allies of U.S. and NATO forces left behind under Taliban rule. Among the de facto government’s targets are thousands of Afghan prosecutors trained by U.S. personnel to enforce the rule of law and prosecute terrorists.

As the Taliban rapidly gained Afghan territory in the summer of 2021, they released convicted terrorists from government jails across the country. The Taliban had been conducting deadly attacks to target Afghan prosecutors for years before taking over Kabul on Aug. 15. The newly-released prisoners were out for revenge against the prosecutors who put them behind bars.

Joe Maida IV was a former Texas prosecutor who supported the Afghan legal system’s growth inside the country between 2006 and 2013 and worked on Afghan policy at U.S. Special Operations Command and with Special Operations and Combating Terrorism at the Pentagon through 2019. He told Fox News Digital that ‘The Taliban continues to hunt down individuals who supported the Afghan government.’ In addition to military personnel, Maida says the Taliban ‘are seeking out terrorism prosecutors for retribution. They’re doing that by sending special teams to the provinces, but then also writing letters to the mosques to identify these individuals, who then disappear.’

Saeed, who spoke to Fox News Digital on condition that he is identified by a pseudonym, is the executive director of the Afghan Prosecutors Association and was a prosecutor in the Attorney General’s Office of Afghanistan. Saeed provided an Excel file the Afghan Prosecutors Association has compiled containing details about 32 prosecutors and their family members who have been killed since July 5, 2021. 

Victims’ manners of death are gruesome. Most were shot, either in a public location or at their homes. Some were killed by anonymous gunmen, while others were specifically murdered by the Taliban. Two prosecutors were killed by improvised explosive devices. Others were arrested and tortured. Three victims were women. More than a third of the entries included photos of the victim after their death. 

Saeed said that an additional 100 prosecutors have been injured since the U.S. withdrawal, and another 50 are believed to be ‘locked up in Taliban prisons and their fate is unknown.’ 

About 1,000 of the 3,800 prosecutors believed to be in practice prior to August 2021 have fled to European countries, Saeed estimates. He said that 1,500 who remain stuck in Afghanistan are ‘in need of urgent assistance.’ Saeed believes that about 500 prosecutors fled to Pakistan, Tajikistan and Iran, where they live in ‘a state of despair’ amid harassment and forced deportations. 

Legal professionals who protected women’s rights have also seen their efforts made null and void under the Taliban. One of thousands of hidden Afghan legal professionals, Amina spoke to Fox News Digital on condition that she was referred to by a pseudonym. Amina said she was ‘on the verge of qualifying to be a lawyer’ when the government collapsed. In 2021, Amina was working as an assistant lawyer in the Kabul courts, focusing on domestic violence cases.

According to a report by the United States Institute for Peace, divorce is no longer a legal option for women in Afghanistan, with the Taliban issuing a blanket revocation of all divorce decrees granted by the prior Afghan government in March 2023. With domestic abuse shelters closed since August 2021, women experiencing violence at the hands of their husbands are now taken to Taliban jails, where some Afghan women have reportedly been raped and even murdered by the Taliban.

Amina says she has felt personally responsible for not ‘doing enough to educate women about human rights.’ She now devotes herself to educating Afghan women online and providing mental health consultations for Afghans in crisis. ‘This is the time that my people need me,’ she explained. 

Many U.S.-based attorneys have joined the fight to support Afghan prosecutors, including East Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore. As a member of the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys (APA), Moore has been supporting prosecutors in their fight to remain alive in Afghanistan. Moore told Fox News Digital that the APA is in touch with ‘hundreds of prosecutors who are now begging for help.’ He estimates that about 20% of Afghan prosecutors and judges were women and are at special risk inside their country. 

Unlike military translators and employees of American institutions, prosecutors did not serve the U.S. directly and are not eligible for special immigrant visas. Legislative efforts to extend access to the SIV program, including the Afghan Adjustment Act and Afghan Allies Protection Act, have not gained passage in Congress. 

Some legislators have expressed concern about the vetting process for Afghan refugees. Moore explained that prosecutors ‘have been vetted repeatedly’ and have ‘passed background checks that most American citizens could never pass,’ which informs his opinion that ‘there’s little to fear and much to be gained by helping these people resettle in the United States.’ 

To help prosecutors reach safety three years after the U.S. withdrawal, Moore said the APA is raising funds to move the 1,500 prosecutors living in hiding in Afghanistan to safe third countries. The estimated cost will be around $15 million, about $10,000 per family.

There is some hope that government support for prosecutors is forthcoming. Moore said that the State Department ‘has been more receptive to including former prosecutors, especially women,’ in the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP). Moore reported that the APA has been working on getting prosecutors’ applications ready for review. 

A State Department spokesperson did not respond to questions about whether it is working to include prosecutors in the USRAP. The spokesperson said that the State Department ‘remain[s] focused on honoring our promises to these allies and are grateful to the Americans from all walks of life who have helped us welcome more than 160,000 Afghans to communities across the United States during the past three years.’ 

Saeed was referred to the Priority-1 program within the USRAP three months ago and recently received his notification of acceptance. He now awaits his interview and at least 12–18 months of processing. 

Saeed desperately longs for peace. In 2020, he was targeted for death by Talibs released from prison. After the Taliban searched his home in December 2022, he fled to Pakistan to protect himself and his family. Saeed says he still experiences ‘a hopeless and problematic situation’ inside Pakistan, where the cost of living is high and refugees cannot work or seek education for their children. 

Threats of deportation continue to loom, with Pakistan deporting thousands of Afghan refugees illegally into the country in November 2023. Though Afghans with letters verifying they have a pending application for a pathway to safety in the U.S. were meant to be protected from deportation, a source who asked to remain anonymous told Fox News Digital that in July, Pakistan deported some Afghans with USRAP referrals. A State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital that they ‘have no comment on this specific incident.’ 

The issue of aiding prosecutors is personal for Kevin Rardin, a career prosecutor with the Memphis District Attorney’s office, who was also a Judge Advocate in the Army Reserves. As the legal advisor to the commander of the U.S. and NATO training mission, Rardin was a mentor for his Afghan counterparts. He told Fox News Digital that ‘the worst days of my deployment came 13 years after I left the country, in August 2021.’ 

‘You don’t have to be a lawyer to understand that this is wrong. You just have to be a decent person with moral principles,’ Rardin continued. ‘When I was in Afghanistan, Afghans protected me. They kept me out of trouble, they introduced me to their culture. They accepted me, I ate with them. They included me. And now we just up and left. You can’t call yourself a human being and do that.’