In africa,e underway asia, europe, and australia were organizers say more than 300,000 marched the largest demonstration since the invasion of iraq in 2003. Hundreds of thousands of students and their allies are set to march in the United States, including here in new york city at of next weeks u. N. Climate action summit. We will host a roundtable discussion with youth organizers of the strike, including isra hirsi executive director and cofounder of the u. S. Youth climate strike, who is also the daughter of congressmember ilhan omar, and Kelsey Juliana, lead plaintiff in the landmark youth Climate Lawsuit against the u. S. Government. We are e talking about our lives. Individualsg those who seem to be putting guns to the four heads of all youth to not only not pull the trigger, but remove your weapon. Amy and we will break the sound barrier with a student from afghanistan who is invited to participate in the firstever u. N. Youth Climate Summit to take place saturday, but the u. S. Rejected his visa. He will speak to us from thailand. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Students across the world are walking out of class today in a Global Climate strike. Some of the first strikes occurred in australia where an estimated 300,000 people took part in rallies across the country. Participants include gina hale a student in brisbane. In school i am learning about the effects of Climate Change and im learning that we need to do something yet im seeing people in charge and the people running our country are not doing anytything. To me thihis is confusising. So im here to ststep up and say no more. Amy in thailaland, hundredsds f young g people stageged a dieit the environmental ministry, demanding Government Action on Climate Change. Here in new york, the 16yearold swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, who inspired the movement, will take part in a massive march this afternoon. Meanwhile, workers at amazon, microsoft, and other large firms have also pledged to take part in todays strike. On thursday, facing pressure from his own staff, amazon Ceo Jeff Bezos vowed to make the Worlds Largest retailer Carbon Neutral by 2040 and to purchase 100,000 0 electric delivery van. In other climate news, at least two people have died in texas after tropical depression imelda dumped more than 40 inches of rain on the houston area over three days. Its being described as one of the worst freshwater floods in u. S. History. More than 1000 people had to be rescued on thursday from the fastrising waters. The storm also forced exxon to shut down its massive oil refinery in beaumont in some. Areas, the flood waters rose higher than during Hurricane Harvey two years ago. Meanwhile, the red cross has shed new light on the escalating Climate Crisis. The red cross says an average of 2 Million People need humanitarian aid every week due to storms, droughts,s, and floo, and the figure is expected to double in coming decades if governments fail to cut emissions. A shocking new study has found the United States and canada have lost nearly 3 billion birds since 1970, a 29 population drop. Researchers blamed numerous factors, including widespread habitat loss and the use of agricultural chemicals. Peter marra of Georgetown University coauthored the report. The quintessential ecosystem indicators, they are the canaries in the coal mine. When something is going wrong with birds, something is going wrong with the envirironment. It is just not healthy. In this study, because we have seen so many declines across 70 didifferent types of birds from sparrows,o even house these nonnative species in urban areas are declining. That is not a good sign. That is an indication that something is really wrong with the environment. T. Amy in news from the middle east, israels former army chief benny gantz has declared victory over is really Prime Minister benjamin netanyahu. Counted,of the vote gantzs blue and white party has two more parliamentary seats than Netanyahus Likud party. Gantz has vowed to form what he called a broad liberal, unity government and has rejected netanyahus call for a a powersharing agreement. Canadian Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau has apologized again for wearing black and brownface. Over the past 48 hours, two photos and one video emerged of wearing racist makeup as recently as 2001 when he was a teacher. The scandal is breaking just days after trudeau launched his reelection bid ahead of next months election. On thursday, trudeau said he could not rule out more photos coming to light. The fact is, i did not understand how hurtful this is for people who live with discrimination every single day. I have always acknowledged i come from a place of privilege, but i now need to acknowledge that comes with a massive lines but. Amy canadian new democratic Leader Jagmeet Singh responded to the growing scandal. I can tell you that i am deeply troubled but about what this means to canada. Young kids are going to see not just one or two, but multiple images of the Prime Minister mocking rerealty. This is to so many canadians. Amy in afghanistan, Funeral Services were held thursday after a u. S. Drorone strike kild at least 30 civilians. Many of the dead werere farmers who were resting in the fields after harvesting pine nuts. At least 40 civilians were also injured in thehe drone strike. Local afghan residents questioned why the u. S. Would target innocent farmers. These people have gone into the fields to work k in their wages are very l low. Dont the americans see these people are working and gathering pinenuts . Why do they attack workers . A pair of kashmiri citizens have amy filed a lawsuit in the United States against indian prPrime Ministerer narendra momr carrying out extrajudicial killings and other crimes in occupied kashmir. The lawsuit wawas filed just das before modi is scheduled to speak at a major rally called howdy, modi in houston, texas, where he will be joined by President Trump. In other news on india, as many as 10 mass Detention Centers are being built in the northeast state of assam. This comes just weeks after india stripped nearly 2 million residents of assam of their citizenship. Go to democracynow. Org for more information. More details are coming to light about a whistleblower complaint filed against President Trump by a u. S. Intelligence official. The Washington Post reports the complaint centered on a conversation trump had with the ukrainepresident of july 25. Trumps interaction with him reportedly included a promise that was regarded as so troubling that it prompted the unnamed official to file a complaint. The acting director of National Intelligence has refused to provide the contents of the whistleblower comomplaint to the house intelligence committee, despite being subpoenaed to do so. This comes as democrats have launched an investigation to determine if trump had urged ukraine to reopen a probe of a Ukrainian Company with ties to joe bidens son, hunter. On thursday night, trumps personal attorney Rudy Giuliani acknowowledged on cnn that h hed asked top ukrainian officials to investigate joe biden. The gun maker colt has announced it is suspending the manufacturing of sporting rifles, including the ar15, for the consumer market. Pressure has been growing on the connecticutbased company for years as ar15 style guns have been used in numerous Mass Shootings including newtown, connecticut, orlando, florida, and parkland, florida. Meanwhile on capitol hill, Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell has said he is awaiting guidance from President Trump as to what he thinks he is comfortable signing regarding new gun control before he puts legislation on the floor. A prominent white supremacist from florida has been arrested for making racist and violent threats to the cofounder of black lives matter in charlottesville, virginia, who was considering a run for charlottesville city council. The threats forced the activist don gathers to drop out of the race. The white supremacist Daniel Mcmahon has a long record of threatening violence against antiracists and antifascists. He once dubbed himself the antifa hunter. Several of his online posts were shared by the man who attacked the tree of life synagogue in pittsburgh, killing 11 jewish worshipers. Amnesty international, human rights w watch, and dozens of other groups are urging the u. S. Senate to reject the nomination of Marshall Billingslea to a Top State Department post overseeing u. S. Human rights policy. Billingslea openly supported the use of torture and harsh interrogation methods while working in the pentagon during georgege w. Bushs administrar. The Trump Administration is threatening to cut federal funding to a middle east studies program run jointly by Duke University and the university of North Carolina chapel hill. The u. S. Education department recently wrote to the schools claiming its classes are unfairly promoting the positive , but not islam christianity or judaism. Thats ordered a probe into the middle east studies department after North CarolinaRepublican Congress member George Holding accused the program of having an severe antiisraeli bias and anantisemitic rhetoric. Academic freedom advocates have criticized the Trump Administrations actions. The United States has expelled two cuban diplomats and placed tighter restrictions on everyone working at cubas United Nations mission. The state department a accused e diplomats of conducting activities harmful to u. S. National security but provided no details on what they did. Cubas foreign minister Bruno Rodriguez said the move was categorically unjustified. Meanwhile, a severe fuel shortage in cuba has entered its second week. The cuban government says the crisis is a result of u. S. Sanctions against cuba and venezuela. Former tunisian dictator zine Elabidine Ben Ali has died at the age of 83. He ruled tunisia for 23 years before being ousted in 2011 during the protests that sparked the arab spring. I new york mayor bill de blasio has dropped out of the 2020 president ial race. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Young climate activists around the world are taking to the streets today for a global youth climate strike, inspired by 16yearold swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and her Weekly School strike for the climate. Faced with an uncertain future, last year greta started skipping school every friday to stand outside the Swedish Parliament demanding Climate Action. Her weekly act of protest quickly went viral and the movement has since gone global. As part of todays Global Strike, tens of thousands have already marched in more than 100 towns and cities across australia, where organizers estimate more than 300,000 protesters took to australian streets alone in what would be the countrys biggest demonstrations since the u. S. Led invasion of iraq in 2003. Protests were also held in africa, asia, and europe. More than 500 cities are planned in germany alone, where today chancellor Angela Merkel is set to announce a package of measures to reduce the countrys Greenhouse Gas emissions. Here are voices from sydney, thailand, and nairobi. We have not seen any governmental action being taken since the last strike, and that means we are going to keep fighting for the sustainability we deserve and we need an economic stability we also want for our world. The idea that Renewable Energy can be the alternative, that it is the only option. Issue. Is a human tois horrific terrific see these everyday normal workers, students, moms, dads, kids, babies here supporting the strike. A lot of youth cant vote. Theyey dont have decisionnmag powewer in fosl fufuel investmts or plastic use. But t what the yououth can do is talk about the problem and make noise about it and demand it from the people who can create a change. Climate change is real and coming for us. It doesnt matter who you are. Whether you are rich or poor, it is real. It does not isolate. Amy voices from some of the hundreds of actions happening around the world as part of todays global youth climate strike. More than 800 protest are planned in the United States, including in new york city where young people and environmental activists are gathering for a massive march just days ahead of mondays United NationsClimate Action summit taking place here as part of its General Assembly meeting. Greta thunberg is expected t to speak at summit on monday, but today she will address what is expected to be a massive protest in n new york cityty where publc schohool students will be allowd to attend d as long as thehey ha permission slip. Democracy now will be out on the streets with them. But right now, were joined by a roundtable of youth climate activists to talk about todays actions and the youthled movement to fight the Climate Crisis. We are going to start here in new york. We have two guest, xiye bastida is a Climate Justice activist originally from mexico. An organizer with fridays for future new york. She is a student at beacon high school. And katie eder is founder of the future coalition where she is currently the executive director. Katie, talk about the plan for the Global Strike today, where it came from, what you expect to see. Thank you for coming and before you go out on the streets. Today, young peoplple and adults around the world will be joining together to strike from school and work to demand Climate Action. This is the Third International strike that we are having, and young people have had enough. We are in to sit around and watch our futures be destroyed before our eyes. Amy why did you get involved with this . Our future is being threatened. Ipcc report says we have until 2030 to change our directory for we seek irreversible effects of the Climate Crisis. Adults are not taking action. Our elected officials and World Leaders do not seem to be taking they dont seem to be trading this like the emergency that it is. We have to show them, tell them we have to do something. Amy where are y you from . Milwaukee, wisconsin. In wisconsin today, there are young people all across the state who are striking. They are calling on our governor to take action. Amy xiye bastida, i bumped into you when Greta Thunberg was taking a zero emissions highspeed sailboat on that to be journey from europe to the United States. As she came into new york harbor, you are to greet her and address the thousand of people who are in the new york harbor waiting for her. You are from beacon high school. Why did you get involved with us . My story goes way back. We did not know we were climate activists and till someone else called a step. Personally, i have always cared about the environment and always done my best but it was not labeled until recently. Ir me, it was the power that felt an individual voice had that was inspired by Greta Thunbergs memessage. Mexico,as 13 years old in my town we suffered from heavy rainfall and that also caused our river to overflow, which had heavy contamination because of the factories near there. That was the first time i saw the Climate Crisis firsthand. It didnt really hit me this was such a global issue until i came to new york city and i saw the fx here that Hurricane Sandy had on long island. That is when i realized the Climate Crisis not only can follow you everywhere, b