Then to cowspiracy. A vegan diet produces half as much co2 1 11 the amount of fossil fuels 1 13 of water. I realized i had the choice every single day to save over 1100 gallons of water, 45 pounds of grain, 30 square feet of force did land, the equivalent of 20 pounds of co2, and one animals life. Amy as california experiences a massive drought, we will speak to two documentary filmmakers about the link between Climate Change and Meat Consumption. Then we look at how the tsas Behavior Detection Program is being used to target undocumented immigrants, not terrorists. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. The United Nations has demanded access to a Palestinian Refugee camp in syria invaded by the selfproclaimed islamic state, warning of a humanitarian catastrophe. About 18,000 people have been trapped in yarmouk, just a few miles from outside the capital damascus the stronghold of syrian president bashar alassad. There were reports of sporadic fighting monday between palestinian fighters and isil militants. Isil is reportedly collaborating with rivals from the alqaedalinked nusra front to maintain its siege of the camp. Before boarding a flight earlier today, Christopher Gunness spokesperson for the United Nations relief and works agency for palestine refugees described the situation to democracy now the situation is beyond inhumane. Levels are unknown even in yarmouk, society which women died of childbirth for lack of medicine and children died of malnutrition. Now isis has moved into the camp and people are cowering in their battered homes, too terrified to go outside. We have not had access since the fighting started, so there is no human food or water or medicine. No u. N. Food or water or medicine. It is astonishing that a civilized world can stand by while 18,000 civilians including 3500 children, and face potential imminent slaughter, and do nothing. Amy fierce fighting between Houthi Rebels and forces loyal to ousted president Abdrabbu Mansour hadi have continued to rage in southern yemen. Including the former stronghold of aden. Agence france press reports over 140 people were killed in a period of 24 hours. The red cross has warned of a dire humanitarian situation and demand access to besieged areas. According to the world health organization, the violence has killed over 540 people and injured about 1,700 in less than three weeks. About 100,000 have been displaced. Saudi arabia, meanwhile, has asked pakistan to aid its Bombing Campaign against the rebels in yemen. More after headlines. Kenya has launched another round of airstrikes in somalia targeting the militant group alshabab, which claimed responsibility for the massacre of 148 people, mainly christian students, at a Garissa University college in kenya. Kenyan authorities said they destroyed two alshabab camps on monday. But a resident told the Associated Press the strikes appeared to hit grassland used to graze animals. Officials in iraq say investigators have begun combing through mass graves in the city of tikrit after it was reclaimed from the selfproclaimed islamic state. The graves may contain the bodies of up to 1700 soldiers who were captured by isil as they swept into the city in june. Defense secretary Ashton Carter has urged congress to give president obama fasttrack authority to seal the secret Transpacific Partnership trade deal currently being negotiated between the United States and 11 latin american and asian countries. Speaking at Arizona State university ahead of a trip to asia, secretary carter touted the Obama Administrations socalled rebalance toward the asiapacific region, saying it should include both new, highend weaponry and the trade deal, which covers 40 of the global economy. Carter compared the deal to a new aircraft carrier. But to pp also makes strong, strategic sense, and it is probably one of the most important parts of the rebalance, and that is why it has one such bipartisan support. In fact, you might not expect to hear this from the secretary of defense, but in terms of the rebalance in its broadest sense tpp is as important to me as another aircraft carrier. It would deepen our alliances and partnerships abroad and underscore our lasting commitment to the asiapacific. And it would help us promote a global order that reflects both our interests and our values. Amy six environmentalists with the Group Greenpeace have boarded a Shell Oil Rig in the middle of the Pacific Ocean to protest shells plans to drill in the arctic. The activists climbed aboard the polar pioneer as it was transported to seattle ahead of drilling in alaskan waters. They plan to occupy the rig and unfurl a banner showing the names of people opposed to arctic drilling. A new study in the journal natural geoscience predicts glaciers in west canada will shrink by 70 by the end of the century as a result of climate. Climate change. Researchers say the results may be applicable to other glaciers around the world. The National Transportation safety board has called for urgent steps to prevent oil train explosions, including the retrofitting or replacing of tank cars over the next five years. A series of explosions in the United States and canada have highlighted the risks posed by the socalled bomb trains. The Obama Administration is expected to release new rules for oil tank cars next month. Jury deliberations begin today in the trial of accused Boston Marathon bomber dzhokhar tsarnaev. The defense has acknowledged tsarnaevs role in the bombings which killed three people, but sought to pin the blame on his older brother, tamerlan. Tsarnaev could face the death penalty. The Justice Department has voiced support for a transgender prisoner in georgia who is suing state prison officials over the deprivation of medical care. Imprisoned since 2012, Ashley Diamond has been ordered to strip with male prisoners, raped at least seven times, subjected does held in solitary confinement for pretending to be a woman. Diamond has also been deprived of the hormone treatments she critically took. In its statement of support, the Justice Department said diamond has received a constitutionally inadequate level of medical care for her gender dysphoria. The news comes just days after a federal judge ordered prison officials in california to allow a transgender prisoner undergo sex reassignment surgery. In illinois, an autopsy has revealed a 17yearold africanamerican boy killed by a Zion Police Officer over the weekend was shot twice in the back. Justice howell was shot dead saturday. Police say they were responding to a report of an argument or possible gunshot, and that they recovered a handgun at the scene. But witnesses have contradicted that account, saying howell was unarmed. A Fraternity Chapter at the university of virginia which was accused of hosting an alleged gangrape in Rolling Stones retracted article has announced plans to sue the magazine. Following a report from the Columbia Graduate School of journalism which found multiple reporting and editing errors Rolling Stone has continued to place blame for the report on the alleged victim at the center of the piece, jackie. Rolling stone publisher jann wenner told the New York Times that she was a really expert fabulist storyteller who manipulated the magazine. But Columbia Journalism School dean Sheila Coronel said the report placed responsibility squarely on Rolling Stone. There are problems of standards and procedures. They had nothing to do those were the key issues of our report. We dont believe in this case jackie was to blame. Amy the New York Times reports presumed republican president ial candidate jeb bush reportedly inaccurately listed himself as hispanic on a 2009 voterregistration form obtained registration form. Bush tried to laugh off the error monday, tweeting my mistake dont think ive fooled anyone. But the Florida Democratic party tweeted hey, jebbush, did you know its a third degree felony to submit false information on your Voter Registration form . Cia whistleblower John Kiriakou has revealed new details about the cias internal debate over the arrest, rendition and torture of canadian citizen maher arar. Kiriakou told the Canadian Press news Agency Numerous colleagues warned against arresting arar, saying he was innocent. But kiriakou said an unnamed female officer insisted on pressing ahead, saying arar had links to alqaeda. Arar was arrested at new yorks Kennedy Airport in 2002 and sent to syria, where he spent nearly a year being tortured, interrogated and imprisoned in a , gravelike cell. Canada formally apologized to arar and paid a 10 million settlement after a canadian inquiry found he was totally innocent. But the United States, which was responsible for his rendition, has never apologized. Kiriakou meanwhile remains under house arrest after revealing the identity of a covert officer to a reporter who didnt publish it. Kiriakou exposed the bushera torture program and became the only official to be jailed in connection with it. In new york city a group of , artists have erected a 100pound bust of nsa whistleblower Edward Snowden atop a monument to revolutionary war soldiers in a park. Video published by the website animal new york shows the unidentified artists under cover of night placing the bust on top of a column in brooklyns fort green park. One of the artist speaks in the video using voice distortion. Cooks without risk, the really is no reward. Would look at this as a gift to the city. Amy by monday afternoon, the statue have been covered with a tarp and was removed. And former new york city labor leader Victor Gotbaum has died at the age of 93. Gotbaum led the countrys largest Municipal Workers union for over two decades, beginning in 1965. Under his leadership, District Council 37 of the American Federation of state, county and municipal employees became one of the first unions to publicly oppose the vietnam war, and saw its membership more than triple. Known for his militant organizing, gotbaum is also credited with helping to save new york city from financial ruin by striking deals with bankers and city hall. He died after a heart attack on sunday. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with aaron mate. Aaron welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. We begin in yemen where intense fighting to Houthi Rebels continues to rage. The u. N. Says hundreds of been killed and more than 100,000 displaced. Since i did arabia launched military campaign saudi arabia launched a military campaign to ask ago. 74 children have died. Estimations from six april, as of yesterday are, 540 people have been killed and some 1700 wounded by the violence in yemen since 19 march. 74 children have been known to be killed and 44 children maimed since the fighting began on 26 march. But we say we are aware these are conservative figures and we believe the total number of children killed is much higher. Amy the red cross has warned of a document attorney situation and amended access to the the siege darius. The most intense violence is in the Southern City of aden with more than 140 People Killed in 24 hours. Saudi arabia has asked pakistan to provide soldiers the heightening the possibility of a ground invasion. For more, were joined by journalist safa al ahmad. Her latest documentary appears tonight on pbs stations across the United States. In the film, safa was granted extremely rare access to the houthis as they advanced in yemen. Welcome to democracy now can you talk about the fight for yemen and this access you had, who the houthis are, how you followed them in yemen . I have be very curious about the houthis for years, especially ive been going to yemen for a few years and i have always wanted to get access to the houthis. Finally, when i heard last september that this surrounded the capital sanaa, i thought things would escalate if they took over the city. Theyre very interesting because they are very young group. They keep morphing their understanding of who they are and what they want as they progress. It was very hard to pin it down to one thing. But if i must describe the houthis in one line, it would be the revivalist with strong and type your list agenda. Antiimperialist agenda. They have a words that describe who they are in what they want, but in reality, they want control in yemen. That is what they have done. They did not have enough control in sanaa, but theyve come across most of north yemen and reached that and. Aaron the conventional line we hear is they received heavy backing from iran. What is your assessment . I think that is vastly overblown. Very little Good Journalism has been done to prove the relationship between the houthis in iran. I dont doubt there is a relationship, but how extensive is that . For people to blatantly call them Iranianbacked Shia militia, i think that is very problematic. The houthis of local agenda local grievances, and local power. The rise of the houthis themselves had nothing to do with the iranians. I think there is a relationship with them at the moment, but not to the extent the world of claims there is for iran. Saudi arabia has deeper connections with yemen. They have a large border with yemen, and the saudis have sent money directly and arms to different groups inside yemen. So i would argue between the two, saudi arabia has the much bigger influence in the upper hand in yemen. Amy talk about the role right now saudi arabia, what exactly is happening in yemen on the ground, the conditions of people there. And a moment, we will be speaking with an arms control expert who will talk about the Obama Administration pouring more money into making more weapon sales than any Administration Since world war ii. The largest recipient of those of that military aid in weaponry is to saudi arabia. Yes, recordbreaking number of contracts i think ive been told to the saudis in the past two years. I dont know who theyre using them against. Yemen is the poorest air country so to have this huge alliance against yemen for allegedly trying to break the backs of the houthis, i think it belies it. Now that the houthis have come to aden, which the airstrikes were allegedly trying to stop from happening. Large alliances on the ground. Theyre not an occupying power coming from nowhere. They have been working on spreading that alliance throughout the areas that they controlled. So the saudi war on yemen saudiled airstrikes on yemen will have very limited impact on the power of the houthis on the ground, unless there are ground troops. And even then, what is the solution . I dont know what is the endgame of this. The saudis claim it is to bring back president hadi to yemen, but i think for a lot of yemenis, he has lost his credibility, lost his legitimacy. He called for a war on his own people. I think for a lot of people that is extremely problematic. The humanitarian crisis is astounding to begin with, even before this. And now with the whole air and sea embargo, there is very little fuel, food shortages. It is frightening and heartbreaking what is happening. The numbers the u. N. Is saying are most likely much lower than what is actually on the ground. Aaron what you see as a solution . Somewhat say the houthis are allied with saleh. A lot of people blame saleh for this. He has waged six wars against the houthis because of his fear of their dance man. And now theyre allied together. Problem is, you cant just look at what is happening now as in today or this week in yemen. This problem has been going on for a long time. They have supported a dictator, and even when the revolution happened to oust saleh in 2011 comedy americans continue to support corrupt Political Parties that have only the personal interest. And the u. N. Has played a detrimental part and what is happening in yemen as well. All of the peaceful the Civil Society that helped bring this revolution on were put to the side and only the Political Parties and americans and the u. N. And the gcc, including saudi arabia they cant just look at the situation now in yemen and say, oh, look what is happening. You have a role to play in where yemen is right now. There