Take action on Climate Change, he is in the philippines for the country hardest hit by Global Warming. Hes meeting with survivors of several typhoons that devastated the country. We will go to manila for the latest. We will speak with Philippines Climate change commissioner yeb sano who rocked do and Climate Summit in warsaw and doha. As we speak, theres widespread devastation. The munication lines are down, power lines are down, and hundreds are missing. Hundreds are buried behind mud and debris. Then, to nigeria, where satellite images of towns attacked by boko haram show widespread destruction, and are feared dead. It was nine months ago that the bringourgirlshome drew the worlds attention to boko harams abduction of some 270 schoolgirls, most of whom remain unaccounted for, though some have escaped and described their ordeal. When i returned home after might escape, people would tell me not to dwell on my experiences. My dreams are filled with regret for announcing a religion instead of enduring the abuse of the insurgents. Well host a roundtable discussion on boko haram in nigeria with Amnesty Internationals adotei akwei Human Rights Watch rona peligal, of Human Rights Watch, and professor Horace Campbell, author of the menace of boko , haram and fundamentalism in nigeria. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Police in france, belgium and germany have made arrests over the past 24 hours in a series of raids targeting suspected islamic militants. In belgium, Police Killed two men who reportedly opened fire on them during one of about a dozen raids. Police say the men recently returned from syria. 13 other people were arrested in belgium. In germany, Police Arrested two turkish men suspected of having links to an organization supporting the selfdescribed Islamic State. And in france Police Arrested 12 arrested people suspected of aiding amedy coulibaly, the kosher supermarket attacker. Meanwhile, the french government has announced it will award french citizenship to a muslim man from mali who has been credited with saving the lives of several customers during last weeks hostage situation at the kosher supermarket in paris. Lassana bathily hid shoppers in a cooler during the attack and then escaped to alert police to the hostage situation. When i ran downstairs, i went to the freezer. Several people came with me and switched off the light. I switched off the freezer. The people who were with me, one with a twoyearold baby, in the room, i pushed the two women behind the door and told them, you stay here and stay calm. I will get out. Lassana bathily will also be given frances highest honor, the legion dhonneur. In dresden, germany, police are investigating the death of a 20yearold Asylum Seeker from eritrea. The man was found on Tuesday Morning with multiple stab wounds. Dresden has been at the center of recent protests against islam and immigration. In its first lethal injection since a botched one last spring, the state of oklahoma executed Charles Warner on it took him 18 thursday. Minutes to die about twice as long as the average. His final words were my body is on fire. Lawyers for warner had criticized the state for using midazolam, a drug that is not approved for general anesthesia. Warner was originally scheduled to die last april. His execution was postponed after the botched killing of Clayton Lockett who died of a heart attack 43 minutes after the execution began. The same night warner was to be executed. During the trial of jeffrey sterling, the former National Security advisor Condoleezza Rice revealed thursday she personally pushed the New York Times to kill a news article about a secret operation to disrupt Irans Nuclear program. Sterlings discharge with revealing classified information to New York Times reporter james risen. Rice told the court the white house relies on two main ways to block publication of news articles. They can essentially confirm the report but are gearing it is too important to National Security to be published or they can say the reporter has it wrong. Amnesty international is reporting saudi arabia has postponed the scheduled flogging of jailed activist raif badawi. Badawi was arrested in 2012 after setting up a website for political and social debate. He was sentenced to 1,000 lashes 20 batches of 50 lashings each after friday prayers. Todays lashings were reportedly postponed for medical reasons. After he was lashed last friday. The United Nations is calling on israel to unlock 127 million in taxes owed to the Palestinian Authority that were withheld after it decided to join the International Criminal court. A senior u. N. Official, jens anders toyberg frandzen, told the Security Council that the freeze was in violation of the oslo agreements between israel and the palestinians. We call on israel to immediately resume the transfer of tax revenue. The israelipalestinian conflict is entering uncharted territory, which seems to have dashed any image it hoped of returning to peace talks. Riyad mansour, Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations, said his government was undeterred by israels actions. The focused must be on ending this belligerent colonial Israeli Occupation in all its manifestations and realizing International Consensus for a peaceful solution. We will continue to reject all of the irrational arguments against are peaceful, nonviolent, political, diplomatic, and legal endeavors and will continue on this path for justice and peace. In news from iran, the jailed american journalist Jason Rezaian has been indicted five months after his arrest. He is the washington posts bureau chief in tehran. He will be tried in a revolutionary court. It is still not known what he is being charged with. The Obama Administration has announced sweeping new rules that will significantly ease sanctions on cuba while opening up the island to expanded u. S. Travel, trade and financial activities. The new regulations will allow americans to travel to cuba for any of a dozen specific reasons, including family visits, education and religion, without first obtaining a special license from the u. S. Government. But general tourism will still be banned. While the overall trade embargo remains, the new rules will also make it easier for u. S. Companies to export mobile phone devices and software as well as to provide Internet Services in cuba. A major new Scientific Study has concluded humans are on the verge of causing unprecedented damage to the oceans and the animals living in them. The ecologist Douglas Mccauley who wrote the study said we may be sitting on a precipice of a major extinction event. The report said coral reefs have declined by 40 worldwide, and Carbon Emissions are altering the chemistry of seawater, making it more acidic. The study appears in the new issue of science. The parents of an ohio man accused of plotting to attack the u. S. Capitol say their son was entrapped by the fbi. The government accuses of Christopher Cornell of planning to set off pipe bombs and open fire on congressional officials and staffers. The former High School Wrestler was arrested outside the point blank range gun shop after purchasing ammunition and guns. His father accused the fbi of setting cornell up by giving him money to purchase the weapons. His parents spoke to wcpo on thurday. He was a good kid. He would do anything in the world for you. He would not hurt nobody. He might be 20, but he was more like a 16yearold kid. He played video games. His best friend is a cap. He may have lost his way somewhere in there, but i believe he was really vulnerable and i believe he was coerced in a lot of ways. Massachusetts state Police Arrested 29 people who stopped traffic on two sections of a major highway into boston during the morning rush hour thursday to protest the recent killings by u. S. Police of unarmed black men. Protesters chained themselves to concrete barrels on the roadway. In a statement, organizer katie seitz said our nonviolent direct action is meant to expose the reality that boston is a city where white commuters and students use the city and leave, while black and brown communities are targeted by police, exploited and displaced. Meanwhile, dozens of protesters marched down pennsylvania avenue in washington d. C. On thursday. Eugene puryear helped organize the march. Whether it is in the streets getting petitions were protesting or whether it is folks having teach ins and talking more about these issues, whether it is people pushing legislation, i mean, from the streets to the legislative chambers, what were seeing around this country is people continue to push forward on this issue, and i think theres no better way to honor the bar birthday of dr. Martin luther king jr. Than to get in the streets. Clocks the 2015 oscars nominations were announced thursday. For the first time in almost two decades, all 20 acting nominees are white. The dramatic civil rights film selma was nominated for just two best film and best original song. The director was not nominated. The twitter Hashtag Oscarssowhite began trending on thursday. A 2012 survey conducted by the Los Angeles Times found oscar voters are 94 white, 76 male and the average age is 63 years old. Meanwhile, Laura Poitras film citizenfour about Edward Snowden was nominated for best documentary. The former u. S. Ambassador to el salvador robert white has died at the age of 88. In 1981, he was fired after he refused to cover up the salvadoran militarys responsibility for the murders of four american women who were Maryknoll Church workers. White was there when the womens bodies were dug up. He was quoted as saying this time the bastards wont get away with it. And those are some of the headlines, this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. Welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. Just weeks after pope francis announced he would urge 1. 2 billion catholics worldwide to take action on Climate Change, he is visiting the philippines and meeting with survivors of several typhoons that devastated the country. The philippines is asias largest catholic nation and 80 of the its 100 million residents are catholic. The pope celebrated mass today in manilas cathedral after being greeted thursday by hundreds of thousands of cheering supporters who braved hours of sweltering heat to glimpse his motorcade. On saturday, he heads to tacloban, to have lunch with survivors of typhoon haiyan known as typhoon yolanda in the philippines. The pope commended the resilience of those who lived though the devastating superstorm. This is meant to express my closeness to our brothers and sisters who endured suffering loss, and devastation caused by typhoon yolanda. I admire the road strength faith, and resilience demonstrated by so many philippines in the face of the Natural Disaster and so many others. In 2013, the powerful typhoon left more than 7,300 dead and missing. It leveled entire villages in the central philippines, including leyte province, which the pope will visit saturday to console survivors. Last month, pope francis announced his upcoming encyclical on the environment the firstever comprehensive vatican teachings on Climate Change. Speaking to reporters on his flight from sri lanka to manila, he said he believes human beings are primarily responsible for Climate Change. I dont know if climate is all mans fault, but the majority is. For the most part, it is man who continuously slaps down nature. We have come in a sense, lorded over nature, over sister, over mother earth. I think man has gone too far. Thank god today there are voices that are speaking about this. In a minute we will go to manila, the capital of the philippines, to speak with yeb sano, the countrys Climate Change commissioner. Until recently, he was the countrys lead climate negotiator at the United Nations climate conferences where he drew links between Climate Change and the deadly typhoons the philippines has faced. This is a clip of his address in 2013 at the u. N. Climate change conference in poland where he spoke about typhoon haiyan, one of the strongest storms ever recorded. Typhoons such as haiyan represent the suffering from the International Community that we cannot afford to delay climate action. Warsaw must deliver innovation and must muster the political will to address Climate Change and build a important bridge toward peru and paris. It might be said it must be poetic justice that typhoon haiyan was so big its diameter spanned the distance between warsaw and paris. Mr. President in doha, we ask if not us, then who . If not now, then when . If not here, then where . But here in warsaw, we may very well ask the same four detroit questions. What my country is going through as a result of this extreme, event is madness. The Climate Crisis is madness. Mr. President , we can stop this madness right here in warsaw. Yeb sano speaking in 2013 at the u. N. Summit in warsaw. He joins us now from manila in the philippines, currently reading a group of ecoviolent tear ecovolunteer bicycles, monitoring the cleanliness and ensuring the implementation of the churchs zero waste policy. Yeb sano, welcome back to democracy now can you talk about the significance of the pope issuing soon the first encyclical ever, change and visiting the philippines, the country hardest hit by Global Warming in the world . Hello. Happy to be back on your program. Yes, the encyclical from a pope is considered a very important document probably second in rank only to the constitution. And that means a lot in terms of settling any theological debate about this issue. The vatican affirmed the reality of Climate Change and declared it is a serious threat to humanity and to the entire worlds, especially for the poorest people on earth. Our eager anticipation for Pope Franciss encyclical on Climate Change is cannot be contained. We anticipate that with much gladness because it shows us that there is hope in confronting Climate Change. We have been negotiating this issue at the political level for more than 20 years, and we look to pope francis to untangle this stalemate. Because this issue is beyond merely a political issue. It is a moral profound moral issue that affects the whole world. The pope, who is been for outspoken in the past two years regarding Climate Change and the environment, then this can be the game changer for the international process. This gives us a lot of hope, indeed. Yeb sano, the announcement from the pope he would have this encyclical out before the meeting of World Leaders in paris on the environment later this year . Sorry, i did not get that. I said the announcement by the pope that he would have his encyclical out before the gathering of World Leaders in paris later on this year to deal with an accord on Climate Change, the significance of that . Yes, that means the pope and the church recognizes the importance of 2015 as an important milestone for the whole world. We cannot afford to ignore that deadline again. This is merely a deadline. We postponed it in 2009 in copenhagen. The world cannot afford another delay because any delay in action, any delay in confronting the Climate Change crisis is a form of injustice, especially to the worlds poor. Pope francis is a pope for the poor. , change affects the poor the most. The pope will do everything in his power and within his influence to convince everyone that Climate Change must be tackled head on. Ahead of last years u. N. Climate conference in lima peru, pope francis wrote a letter to organizers noting that Climate Change will affect all of humanity, especially the poorest and future generations. Whats more, it represents a serious ethical and moral responsibility. That brings us to your absence from lima, peru. You rocked the summits in doha and warsaw. At the time come each year, you