Proxy war between saudi arabia and iran . We will go to yemen for the latest. Then to tunisia. This is a very important day today. This is a symbol of resistance. This shows the whole world that we are on our feet. That nobody, no force in the world, can hurt coulter. Culture in tunisia continues. We are proud of this movement. We have extracted good from evil. Amy a week after gunmen killed 23 people at the bardo museum in tunis, thousands of activists gather in the city for the World Social Forum. We will speak to the pioneering african economist samir amin director of the Third World Forum in dakar. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. A saudiled Bombing Campaign targeting shiite Houthi Rebels has entered its second day in yemen. While the u. S. Is targeting shia rebels, police 39 siblings have been reportedly killed. Amnesty International Said six were children under 10. President hadi has left his residence for saudi arabia. Or after the headlines. Iraqi Officials Say nine of their forces have been killed by accident in an airstrike as part of the u. S. Backed effort to retake the city of tikrit from the selfproclaimed Islamic State. U. S. Led airstrikes began wednesday, prompting thousands of iranianbacked Shiite Militias who had been fighting alongside the iraqis to boycott the battle and retreat. U. S. Army general lloyd austin commander of u. S. Central command, assured lawmakers including senator john mccain, there are no Shiite Militias in tikrit. The folks were supporting are the Shiite Militia still in the fight . No, sir, they are not part of the clearing operations in tikrit. So the airstrikes we are carrying on our only in support of Iraqi Military activities . That is correct, sir. Precondition for us to provide support was the Iraqi Government had to be in charge of this operation. They had we had to know exactly who was on the ground. Amy German Authorities are searching for evidence to explain why the copilot of a germanwings airplane deliberately crashed in the french alps, killing himself and all 149 others on board. Recovered audio shows the 27yearold copilot, andreas lubitz, breathing in the cockpit alone while the planes captain is locked out, pounding on the door to get in. Earlier today, the german newspaper bild reported lubitz had suffered a serious depressive episode six years ago. In a rare bipartisan move, house lawmakers have overwhelmingly passed a bill to overhaul medicares payment system. The measure would increase payments to doctors, passing higher costs on to some recipients in the form of higher premiums. It also keeps in place a Health Insurance program for children. Senate leaders will wait over two weeks to take up the bill. In a report commissioned by the colombian government and farc rebels has concluded u. S. Soldiers and military contractors sexually abused at least 54 children in colombia between 2003 and 2007. The investigator cites one case where 53 girls in the town of melgar were targeted by contractors who filmed the abuse and sold the films as pornography. In another case, a 12yearold girl was allegedly drugged and raped by a u. S. Army sergeant and a contractor. Under immunity agreements, none of the alleged abusers were ever punished. The media group fair notes the story has received no coverage in the u. S. Corporate media. A number of u. S. Outlets have reported on a new Justice Department probe, which concludes u. S. Drug enforcement agents in colombia participated in sex parties with prostitutes hired by colombian drug cartels. Parents of 43 students missing from the mexican state of guerrero marched thursday in mexico city to mark six months since their children disappeared. The parents dispute the governments claim local police gave the students to drug gang members, who killed and incinerated them. Epifanio alvarez, whose son is among the missing, said the spoke at the march. For us to believe, they need to give us an answer and theres been no reply. We are the same as we started. With the government has done is hurt us, the parents, by giving us bad news after bad news without scientific proof. We are united. Years can go by, but we will remain united. Amy a number of the students parents have come to the United States where they are traveling across the country in three caravans to draw attention to the u. S. Role in the drug war. Indiana governor mike pence has signed a religious freedom bill critics say will give businesses license to discriminate against lgbt people. The law prevents state and local governments from imposing a substantial burden on religion unless the government shows a compelling reason. Pence signed the bill at a ceremony, closed to the media and public, amidst a wave of criticism from celebrities and Business Leaders like the ceo of salesforce, who said the firm would dramatically curb business in the state. The measure is similar to one that caused a firestorm in arizona last year, forcing governor jan brewer to veto it. In other news from indiana governor pence has declared a Public Health emergency over a spike in hiv cases in southeastern scott county. The outbreak includes 79 new cases all linked to injection of a potent pharmaceutical painkiller. Governor pence has temporarily allowed a Needle Exchange program to combat the virus spread. Kentucky will also let local Health Authorities set up Needle Exchanges as part of its new approach to handling heroin and painkiller addiction. The state will also allow more people to carry naloxone, the antidote to prevent overdose deaths, and will stop charging addicts who survive overdoses. Ohio house lawmakers have passed a bill that would make most abortions a felony offense. The bill would ban abortion after a fetal or embryonic heartbeat is detectable, which happens in the earliest stages of pregnancy when many womens women havent even realized there pregnant. Doctors who violate the law would face up to a year in prison. Ohio state representative teresa fedor rose to denounce the bill, disclosing she had had an abortion after she was raped while serving in the military. What you are doing is so fundamentally unhuman unconstitutional, and i have sat here too long. And i dare everyone of you to judge me because theres only one judge im going to face. You deserve my lecture right now. I dare you to walk in my shoes. Idea you to vote for this idea you to vote for this bill because you know it is fundamentally inhuman for you to do so. Amy earlier this month, another lawmaker in arizona, state representative Victoria Steele disclosed her experience with child sexual abuse during a debate over another antichoice bill. The arizona bill passed and is in the hands of republican governor doug ducey. It bans abortion coverage in health plans purchased through the obamacare exchange, and requires doctors to tell women they can potentially reverse a druginduced abortion, despite a lack of evidence this is possible. Monsanto has agreed to pay a fine for failing to report hundreds of uncontrolled releases of toxic chemicals at a plant in idaho. Monsanto will pay 600,000, a tiny fraction of the more than 240 million in profits from the last quarter alone. Meanwhile, footage has emerged of a lobbyist claiming monsantos roundup weedkiller is safe to drink, but then refusing to drink it. Pat moore, a former greenpeace activist turned corporate lobbyist, made the remarks in an interview for a documentary on french tv. It wont hurt you. You want to drink some . Id be happy to. Not really. I know it wouldnt i have some im not stupid. You know it is dangerous. People have tried to commit suicide with it and failed regularly. It is not dangerous to humans. Are you ready to drink it . Im not an idiot. Interview me about golden rice. The interview is finished. You are a complete jerk. Amy earlier this week, a World Health Organization report found glyphosate, a main ingredient in roundup, likely causes cancer. A member of the Illinois National guard and his cousin have been arrested and accused of plotting to join the selfproclaimed Islamic State in syria or carry out attacks inside the United States. Guardsman Hasan Edmonds allegedly sent messages to an undercover agent saying he would bring the flames of war to the heart of the United States if he couldnt get into syria. His cousin, jonas edmonds, allegedly boasted to an agent he could kill up to 150 people at the illinois military facility where his cousin had trained. An alleged bank robber accused of killing two people, including a state trooper, earlier this week has been identified as a white supremacist with a criminal record. Steven Timothy Snyder died in a shootout with trooper Trevor Casper on tuesday. In the mid1990s, snyder was part of a White Supremacist Group convicted of an attack on a group of African Americans and latinos. Newly released Video Shows Police in the detroit suburb of inkster pummeling and tasing a 57yearold, unarmed africanamerican auto worker. The video shows officer William Melendez approaching floyd dents car with his gun drawn. Another officer pulls dent to the ground, and melendez places him in a chokehold, and pounds him in the head 16 times. Dent said he thought he was going to die. Im lucky to be living. I think they were trying to do they were trying to kill me especially when they choked me. I was on my last breath. I kept telling now for sir please, i cant breathe. Amy police claimed dent threatened and bit them, although they have provided no evidence. They also claim they found crack cocaine in his car, but dent says the drugs were planted, and his drug test came back clean. Melendez, the officer who pummeled dent, is nicknamed robocop and has been sued repeatedly for excessive force. During an earlier stint with detroit, he was indicted for leading a ring of corrupt officers who planted evidence, but he was ultimately acquitted. In 1996, he and a partner shot and killed unarmed africanamerican lou adkins in a case detroit paid 1 million to settle. And protesters in ferguson missouri have won a settlement requiring police to restrict their use of tear gas following the militarized response to protests over the Police Shooting of michael brown. St. Louis city and county police, as well as Missouri State highway patrol, all agreed to requirements including clear warnings for tear gas use. A judge will supervise the terms for three years. Attorneys say the st. Louis area will be one of just two Police Jurisdictions in the country with such a policy for tear gas. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. Juan welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. We turn now to yemen where a saudiled aerial Bombing Campaign has entered its second day. Saudi arabia has targeted houthi shiite rebels. It has been backed by the United States, gulf states, egypt turkey, pakistan and sudan. The saudiled airstrikes are intended to thwart the houthis advance after seizing control of of the capital sanaa last year and deposing president Abdu Rabbu Mansour hadi last month. On thursday, hadi left his refuge in aden for saudi arabia. At least 39 civilians have reportedly been killed so far in the airstrikes. Amnesty International Reports the dead include at least six children under the age of 10. Many analysts fear the yemen crisis could escalate into an allout proxy war between saudi arabia and iran which has backed the houthis. Iran denounced the saudiled assault as an attempt to foment civil war in yemen or disintegrate the country. Amy saudi arabia has reportedly mobilized 150,000 troops near the border. Egypt is saying it is also prepared to send Ground Troops into yemen if necessary. The United States has aided the Bombing Campaign by creating a joint planning cell with saudi arabia to coordinate u. S. Military and intelligence support. Arab Foreign Ministers meeting in sharm el sheikh, egypt, on thursday and endorsed the idea of forming a unified Arab Military force. We go directly to sanaa, the capitol of yemen, to speak with farea almuslimi. He is a visiting scholar at carnegie middle east center. He is based in sanaa, yemen. He recently wrote an oped headlined, welcome to yemen where only violence is a certainty. He last joined us in 2013 when he was in the United States to testify before the Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing on the u. S. Secret drone program. If you want to know what is going on in yemen, just follow his tweets. I want to welcome you to democracy now , farea almuslimi , talked about what is happening on the ground now in the capital. It is good to be back with you. Sanaa, over the last few days multiple airstrikes led by saudi arabia. A new military operation is backed by saudi arabia and the gulf countries and other regional countries. This comes in response to the houthis seizing power in the capital of yemen. Since last week, the political crisis in the country is entered a new dangerous level in the Yemen Air Force entered the [indiscernible] i think by that point, it was the time when the gulf in the region decided to interfere. Theres been multiple casualties from the strikes, but most of the times airstrikes targeting military bases around the country, which are [indiscernible] accused either region for cooperating in this military coup. Obviously, this comes after four years of poorly aligned political solution in yemen. It was backed by the United Nations and clearly ended up creating more violence than peace in yemen. Juan what about the issue of the outside powers trying to affect deals or arrangements for the internal strife within the country . Say again, please . Juan what about the issue of the outside countries, the United States, the u. N. , saudi arabia, attempting to negotiate deals for how yemen should be run . Obviously, this is an outcome of the way specific model that was enforced by this country for the last four years has ended up failing. But the new part in this is, this has shifted from a political model goes the story about how it should be run into a model of direct front lines for a region war between saudi arabia and the iranians. Obviously, this is a new regional order, you can now say getting making it more than just about yemen. It is a new card being played by the regional states. Obviously, using yemen as fuel [indiscernible] has nothing to do with the yemenis. Amy farea almuslimi, you to do, im a 25yearold yemeni man. Ive seen at least 15 wars in my country, i dont need more. I need some help in a cagey education and economy, not guns. Another tweet, i can sadly promise you it could have saved yemen from this years ago if it was put into the economy. Talk about the situation in sanaa, the bombardment you another yemenis are going through and this connection that you are describing. Obviously, yemen has gone through a lot of conflicts in the past. What i was trying to say in this specific tweet, probably, is that the last thing yemenis at the moment is in intensive military intervention in a country that is only loaded with so much conflict. Over the last three years, has gone through even more conflicts because of how this was run. This is important because even when yemen was being promising a state, according to the u. N. Model, it was not back up with [indiscernible] the commitment to stability was always based on fear from al qaeda, which has ended up in creating more violence. Theres a huge problem in yemen. We are more than half the population right now under need for humanitarian assistance. The economy is dead. Services are already low. Hard to have water. And basic security and safety. There is a problem of [indiscernible] that will not ultimately create peace in yemen. Honestly, a military solution we have tried that many times. There is a problem of this way of handling political problems. In fact, i think we could have stayed away from this chaos. Most importantly, if there is a way to commit stability and peace, there is a deep need to show that in an economic land [indiscernible] easier for yemeni use to get a job. [indiscernible] the current way how things are run, obviously, is going anyway but peace. Amy farea almuslimi, thank you for being with us a visiting , scholar at carnegie middle east center. We will link to his oped welcome to yemen, where only violence is a certainty. We hope youll join us in the days to come to continue to report on your country. This is democracy now democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. When we come back, we go to london. We will be speaking with iona craig, a journalist who was based in sanaa for four years, and also we will be joined by Brian Whitake