Claiming it successfully hacked into the iphone of one of the San Bernardino shooters, we will speak with fillets are prizewinning journalist Glenn Greenwald about the fight over encryption. Do you think there should be yway for human beings to communicate without u. S. Government being able to access that . That is the critical question we face. Amy and the state of North Carolina is sued over its sweeping new antigay and antitransgender law. Were asking the court to overturn house bill 2 because it because ittutional, violates the equal protection and due process clauses of the 14th amendment, because it discriminates on the basis of sex and sexual orientation, and because it is an invasion of privacy for transgender men and transgender women. Amy we will go to North Carolina to speak with one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, transgender student Payton Mcgarry as well as chase strangio, staff attorney at the aclu. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. The Justice Department announced it has succeeded in unlocking an iphone used by one of the San Bernadino shooting suspects and dropping its attempt to force apple to break into the phone. Legals a highstakes battle, but lisa broader debate over encryption unresolved. The fight between the fbi and apple had grown increasingly contentious as the tech giant refused to help government authorities bypass the security features of its phone. Well have more on the story with pulitzerwinning journalist Glenn Greenwald later in the broadcast. In North Carolina the american , Civil Liberties union has filed a lawsuit challenging a sweeping new law banning local governments from passing laws prohibiting discrimination against lgbt people in public accommodations. The law, house bill 2, commonly known as the bathroom bill is widely considered to be the most wideranging antitrans laws to take effect this year. It was introduced after the city of charlotte passed its own ordinance seeking to protect the right of transgender people to use the bathroom that matches their gender identity. Equality North Carolina executive director executive director chris sgro announced the lawsuit. Announce thatto we have filed suit against the state of North Carolina in federal court, in the states middle district. Other plaintiffs join us as well in the suit. Hb two is the most sweeping antilgbt bill in the nation and it will not stand the test of time or the test a federal court. Amy meanwhile georgia , republican governor nathan deal announced he would veto a socalled religious liberty bill critics said would have allowed discrimination against lgbt people. The measure would have allowed faithbased organizations in georgia to deny services and jobs to lgbt people. He had faced pressure to veto the bill from about 500 businesses and the National Football league, which implied georgia might lose its bid to host the superbowl if the measure was enacted. We will have more on the measures in North Carolina and georgia later in the broadcast. A mexican transgender woman and activist who has been living in phoenix, arizona, for more than a decade has been detained by u. S. Immigration authorities and placed in a Mens Detention Center, despite identifying as a woman. Local activists said Nayeli Charolet was given three choices live at a Mens Detention Center or in solitary confinement or in a segregated unit for transgender women. Activists say the segregated unit in santa ana, california, is known for its abuse of transgender women. Women have complained of degrading strip searches by male guards and the denial of hormone therapy and other medical care. Charolet is being held in allmale facilities at the forprofit eloy Detention Center in arizona. A man claiming to be wearing an explosive belt hijacked an egyptair flight and forced it to land in cyprus over what authorities said appeared to be a personal matter, not a terrorist attack. The flight was en route from the egyptian city of alexandria to cairo when it was diverted to the cypriot port city of larnaca. After negotiations, the alleged hijacker allowed most of the passengers to walk free. He is not reportedly arrested and Authorities Say he wanted to talk to his estranged wife in cyprus. In belgium, a man charged with terrorism and identified by belgian media as the third bomber in the deadly Brussels Airport bombings last week has been released. Faysal cheffou, described as a citizen journalist, was picked out of a photographic lineup by a cab driver who said he drove the three bombers to the airport. Two of them blew themselves up, the third escaped. Authorities released cheffou saying they lacked evidence monday, against him. They have now released Surveillance Video of the third bombing suspect at the airport, seeking help to identify him. In washington, d. C. , police shot a man they say pointed a gun at them in a screening area in the Visitors Center at the u. S. Capitol. The man, identified as larry dawson of tennessee, was taken to the hospital, as was a female bystander who suffered injuries. Dawson faces charges including assault with a deadly weapon. He is said to be in stable but critical condition. Police say he acted her own alone and have ruled out terrorism, saying there is no reason to believe that this is anything more than a criminal act. Retired cuban leader fidel castro has published a letter criticizing president obama after obama wrapped up a historic visit to cuba last week. Castro invoked the multiple u. S. Attempts to overthrow and subvert the cuban government, from the bay of pigs invasion to the economic embargo. Saying we dont need the him hard to give us anything. Responding to castro, White House Press secretary josh earnest said his words show obamas visit made an impact. The fact the former president felt compelled to respond so forcefully to the president s visit i think is an indication of the Significant Impact of president obamas visit to cuba. We were quite pleased with the reception he received from the cuban people. Amy the Guardian Newspaper has revealed the cia took naked photographs of people it sent to Foreign Countries for torture. The photographs, described by one u. S. Official as very gruesome, were reportedly taken to protect the cia from ramifications if the prisoners were tortured after being transferred to foreign custody. Human Rights Groups said taking naked photographs of prisoners constitutes sexual humiliation and could even be a war crime. California governor jerry brown has formally announced a deal with lawmakers and Union Leaders to raise the state minimum wage to 15 an hour by 2022. The move avoids a November Ballot measure that would have raised the minimum wage faster. On monday, Governor Brown said california is the first state to take such a step. Among key labor leaders, legislative leaders, and my administration to raise the minimum wage over time to 15 an hour, making california the first state to do that. It is a matter of economic justice. It makes sense, and will help our entire state do much better for its citizens. Amy walmart has won a legal victory against puerto rico after a u. S. Judge struck down a tax puerto rico tried to impose on the retailer. This comes as puerto rico faces a massive 70 billion debt. After mondays ruling, puerto rican governor Alejandro Garcia padilla vowed to appeal, saying the judge just took away 100 million from the people of puerto rico and gave it to walmart. Argentinas new rightwing, procorporate government is cutting funding for the regional, spanishlanguage Television Network telesur. Telesur was launched in 2005 by a coalition of leftist governments, Media Outlets and movements, led by venezuela under president hugo chavez. Now the administration of argentine president Mauricio Macri will to dump its nearly 20 stake, citing a lack of influence over financial and editorial decisions. In other media news, the Al Jazeera Media Network has fired about 500 employees, most of them at its headquarters in qatar. This comes after al jazeera announced in january it was shutting down its u. S. Offshoot. Al jazeeraamerica. In wisconsin, six people were arrested while protesting republican president ial frontrunner donald trump. Dozens occupied the lobby of the Holiday Inn Express in janesville and six of them , locked themselves together with pvc pipe. The protesters demanded holiday inn not be a host for hate. The Hotels Convention center is set to host donald trump at an event today. In arizona, protests erupted inside the legislature during a hearing over last weeks primary voting day, when tens of thousands of people were unable to vote and many waited hours in line. One person was hauled away in handcuffs. Maricopa county recorder Helen Purcell addressed Arizona State lawmakers after the number of polling places in the county was slashed by 70 from 2012. Purcell apologized for the mayhem that resulted. As i said, we made some horrendous mistakes and i apologize for that. I cannot go back and undo it. I wish but i cannot. I can only say that we felt we were using the best information and we had available to us in past history. Amy in one county alone a maricopa county, there had been 200 polling places in 2012. It was cut to 60 for this past primary. In news from the financial world, a former top official at the massive private equity firm blackstone group, has been arrested on criminal fraud charges for what u. S. Prosecutors called a brazen scheme to defraud investors of up to 95 million. Andrew caspersen was a partner at the park hill group, which until recently was part of the blackstone group. His father, finn m. W. Caspersen, committed suicide in 2009 while under federal investigation on allegations of concealing millions of dollars in a tax shelter. About seven Million People in the United States live in areas at risk of an earthquake induced by human activity. Thats according to a new report by the u. S. Geological survey, which said states including oklahoma and kansas are now at as high of a risk as earthquakeprone california of a devastating earthquake. The central United States has seen a spike in seismic activity due to the injection of wastewater from oil and gas drilling deep underground. A record swath of Arctic Sea Ice failed to freeze over the winter amid recordshattering heat. The snow and Ice Data Centre said the sea ices maximum expanse this winter was the lowest since Record Keeping began nearly 40 years ago. This comes after nasa announced two new missions to explore the disappearing sea ice in the arctic. Nasa scientist walt meier described the problem. You have probably heard it has been a recordbreaking winter in the globe, but it is been turbocharged in the arctic. Record warmth, to mr. s 15 degrees fahrenheit above normal, and then we have seen the arctic cis that grows in the cold winter, dark winter in the arctic has been growing more slowly because it is so much warmer than normal there and it is covering less of an area than it normally does and it is one of the lowest weve seen in our satellite record going back almost 40 years now. Amy and utah has become the first state to require women having an abortion at 20 weeks of pregnancy to receive general anesthesia. The measure signed by republican governor gary herbert is based on the debunked claim that the fetus can feel pain at that stage. Doctors warn the law could force them to anesthetize women who have to have their labor induced because of problems with their pregnancy. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Pakistan has launched a paramilitary operation following the easter day bombing in the countrys second largest city that killed 72 people, including 29 children. Another 340 were injured. A Taliban Splinter Group has claimed responsibility for the attack on a crowded Amusement Park in lahore, the capital of punjab, the countrys richest and most populous province. The attack occurred as members of the minority Christian Community gathered to celebrate easter sunday. A spokesperson for the attackers said they targeted christians, but most of those killed were actually muslim. Eyewitness ikram arif gave a harrowing account of the attacks aftermath. I came here to the park yesterday. I was standing at the park area while parking my motorcycle. My friend was with me. We suddenly heard the sound of an explosion from inside. I parked my bike and range rushed inside. They picked up the injured to move them away from there. I saw bodies with blown up heads and legs and intestines coming out of their abdomen. Many injured people, men, women, children were lying there. I picked up a blown leg of an infant who mustve been about six months old. I still have bloodstains on my leg. I picked up many injured people last night and move them to an ambulance. I was not feeling well after that, and i return home very tired. Just my body was no longer responding. Now i have come to see what the situation is. Pakistansmbing was deadliest since 2014 massacre of 134 School Children at a militaryrun academy in Patricia Woertz the crop to the government crackdown on psalmist islamists he. Pledged to crack down. It is been made clear to all concerned departments any patrons or facilitators of terrorist, wherever they may be room whatever disguise they may be hiding, they will not be spared from the clutches of the law. Amy to talk more about the implications of the lahore bombing, we go to london does the quit tariq ali, the strength of activists, and an editor of the new left review. His most recent book is, the extreme centre a warning. He is also the author of several books on pakistani politics and history. Welcome back to democracy now can you talk about what happened in lahore . Basically, what has been going on in pakistan now for two to three decades is that religious schools have been created in large parts of the country, used as transmission belts, added to that there are camps which are supposedly educational camps for some of these groups which exist in different parts of the country, not just on the afghan border, and it is not a secret that in parts of the countrys largest and most important province economically and politically, and the southern part of this province, there have been a number of camps set up by these groups which have not been dealt investigated or investigated seriously by the governments. The Prime Minister of pakistan, nawaz sharif, every time there is a terrorist outbreak, says exactly the same thing this will never happen again, this will not be allowed. He is beginning to sound like a broken record from old times. No one takes him seriously, which is why i think the army and the rangers are moving in to try to see what can be done. But even they face a very difficult task because many, many years ago, during the first afghan war russians backed by the United States, all of these groups were created. A whole number of religious schools were set up were the curriculum was very militant in terms of suggesting violence against unbelievers, etc. So what we are now witnessing is the result of all of those dragon seeds that were so no over three decades ago, and which any politicians at the time in the frontier province near afghanistan warned would make pakistan uninhabitable unless something was done. Well, it wasnt done, and we now have another outbreak in lahore. The one thing, amy, which i think it is important to understand, is purely on the logical front, it is utterly grotesque of any group claiming there islim to suggest institutional hostility to christianity within islamic writings. Jesus is one of the most revered of profits in the muslim pantheon. The only woman mentioned and praised and regarded as oran is mary,the kopra jesus his mother. There are more references to her in the koran than the new testament to show these religions are linked to each other, they believe in the same sok, the old testament, and are logically, there is absolutely nothing to justify this. This is a political assault on the countrys culture. Jihadi,nd create a Islamic Statetype republic. And this Splinter Group has expressed its admiration for the Islamic State or daesh, and regard themselves as its followers in pakistan. So were announcing the internationalization of the conflict that began in iraq and created this group, now attracting others because it carries out these terrorist attacks in the middle east and of course, in paris and in brussels. Parcel of the same problem. Amy so this gr