Amy students across the globe are walking out of classes today in another round of climate strikes. A major march is set for here in madrid tonight, the site of the u. N. Climate summit. We will speak to climate strikers from uganda and chile as well as one of the organizers of an alternative Climate Summit that opens tomorrow here in madrid. It is called then we will look at how some of spains largest polluters are sponsoring the u. N. Climate summit. Tuba two big spanish gas utilities have both paid billion euros to become diamond sponsors of cop25. What is shocking is the spanish gave them 90 tax break for the sponsorship. This allows the companies to hide the fact there emissions are causing runaway Climate Change. Amy all that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We are broadcasting from madrid, spain, for the next week during the u. N. Climate summit. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has instructed the chairs of key house committees to begin drafting articles of impeachment against President Trump. Pelosi s said trumps actions to seek foreieign help in the 2020 elections strikes at the very heart of the constitution. What is atcracy is stake. The president leaves us no he is but to act because trying to corrupt, once again, the election for his own benefit. The president has engaged in abuse of power, undermining our national security, and jeopardizing the integrity of our elections. His actions are in defiance of the vision of our founders and the oath of office that he takes to preserve, protect, and defend the constitution of the United States. Amy house Speaker Nancy Pelosis announcement sets the stage for a full house vote on impeachment that could take place beforere chrisistmas. Hours after making her announcement, pelosi was asked by reporter at a News Conference if she hates president trurump. This is about the constitution of the United States and the fact that leads to the president s violation of his oath of office. As a catholic,c, i resent your using the word hate in a sentence that addresses me. I dont hate anyone. I was raised in a way that is a hearart full of love and always pray for the president and i still pray for the president. I pray for the president all the time. So dont mess with me when it comes to words like that. Amy House Speaker pelosiis acactions, as the House Judiciay Committee says it will convene another hearing on monday to allow lawyers to formally present evidence in the impeachment inquiry, which centers on how President Trump withheld military aid to ukraine in order to pressure the ukrainian president to investigate trumps political rival joe biden and his son hunter. President ial candidate and former Vice President joe biden lashed out at a town hall in iowa thursday after an audience member suggested biden help his son hunter get a lucrative job in ukraine. Hunter biden had been on the board of the Ukrainian Gas Company burisma and republicans have been spreading debunked conspiracy theories about hunters position. This is a retired farmer from iowa. , but you, on the other hand saint your son over there to get a job and work for gas company that he had no experience with gas or nothing. Access for the president. So youre selling access to the president just like he was. You are a damn liar, man. That is not true. I have e seen on the tv. You have seen on tv . [indiscernible] let it go. Amy that isis former Vice President t joe biden lashing ot at the town hall in iowa thurursday. The pentagon is considering sending thousands more troops to the e middle east to counter ir. The wall street journal reports upup to 14,000 more u. S. Troops could be deployed. The potential deployment comes as the united ststates claims in has transferred shortrange missiles into o iraq. Saudi arabia has taken the worlds momost profitable e comy public. The stateowned oil giant saudi aramco raised a record 25. 6 billion in its initial public offering. When trading begins, the company will be valued at 1. 7 trillion, making it the most valuable listed company in the world. More than 140,000 people around the world died from measles last year amid a surge in the number of c cases of the e preventable disease partially caused by misinformation about vaccines. The vast majority t the vtimsms were children under the age of five. The new figures come as the Pacific Island nation of samoa has arrested an antivaccination campaigner amid a massive outbreak of measles that has already killed over 60 people, mostly young children. At least 62 people have died after a boat capsisized in the Atlantic Ocean o off the coastsf the west african nation of mauritania. The boat was headed to Spains Canary islands. It was carrying over 150 refugees when it ran out of fuel and sank on wednesday. A shocking video obtained by propublica shows the last hours of the life of 16yearold indigenous guatemalan Asylum SeekerCarlos Gregorio hernandez vasquez. He was found dead by his cellmate in a texas Border Patrol holding cell back in may. A warning to our viewers, this foototage is disturbining. Hernrnandez vazquez z had been diagnosesed with the flu and a fever ofof 103 when he w was pun the e holding cell witith anothr sick b boy. A nurse recocommended he be sent to the emergenency room if hisis conditions wororsened. Instead, Border Patrol l left hm in a cold, cemement quarantined cell whehere he was found deadae following morning inin a pooofof blood next to a toilet. An agent checked on hernandezz vasquez three timeses while t te boboy was dydying, but propublia reports the e customs and Border Protection agent failed to perform adequate checks on the boy and never reported anything alarming with the boys health status. The video also shows that cbp lied a about how the boys body was found. In france, hundreds of thousands of workers are continuing their strike today in protest of french president emmanuel macrons proposed pension plan. Over 800,000 people poured into the streets as the strikes thursday first day shuttered schools across the country and canceled hundreds of trains and flights. This is french pensioner and former construction worker, michel laurent. Today i demonstrate for the next generation because when you see we have worked all our lives, ive worked 43 years, i i doubt young people will have a pension like we currently have. If they want it, they will have to work until they are 70 years old. It is untenable. Amy uber says it received over 3000 reports of Sexual Assault in the United States last year. The wall streetbacked ride hailing app has repeatedly been criticized for not taking passenger safety seriously, and for ignoring reports of rape and Sexual Assault by its drivers. Regulators in london have refused to renew ubers license to operate in the city, citing several breaches that placed passengers and their safety at risk. Uber c can still operate in lonn while it appeals the decision. The guardian reveals congresswomen ilhan omar of minnesota a and Rashida Tlaib of michigan were tatargeted by a mysterious israelibased Facebook Group in a farright campaign to spread misinformation and islamophobic attacks against the two congresswomen. Ilhan omar and Rashida Tlaib are the first two muslim women to serve in congress. They have been subject to racist insults from President Trump and islamophobic rants from Trump Supporters and o other political opponents. They have both also received violent death threats. A retired new York Police Officer has revealed the police dedepartments transit district4 in brooklyn, new york, encouraged officers to arrrrest black k and latino men in exchae for rewards. The testimony is part of a discrimination lawsuit filed by sgt. Edwin raymond and three other officers who say they were forced to apprehend more black and latino men than other racial and ethnic groups. The officer also said asian, jewish and white people who were referred to as soft targets were not to be cuffed and that all officers in that district were required to fill a collar quota. Pierre maximilien retired in 2015 after b being retaliated against for not following these orders. Nearly 700,000 people are poised to lose access to food stamps, after the Trump Administration gave its final approval to a rule change proposed by the agriculture department. The Trump Administration gave its stamp of approval despite receiving over 140,000 letters opposing the highly unpopular rule change in recent months. The university of North Carolina is facing student and faculty protests after the school secretly agreed to provide 2. 5 million to a neoconfederate organization to o preserve and display a confederate statue knowasas silt sasam. Last year tiracisprprotesrs toppled the atue whi h had stood on t u unc cpel l hi campus f o over centntur itics are accing the hool helpingo subside white nationists. Nigean secrepolice he rearrest the pronent nigeriamericajournali and activistmoyele sowore juju hours after r he was releaeasedn babail after fouour months inn dedetention. Sowore is a form president ial candidate in nigeria and t founder of the new yorksesed news o outlet saharara reporter. Sowos codefendant olawale bakarere was also rereleased on thursdsday and then n rearrestd today. Amnenesty internatational rentny declared both men to be prisoners of consciee. To see our interviews, go to democracynow. Org. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We are broadcasting from madrid, spain, where the United NationsClimate Change conference, known as cop25, began monday and will continue through next week as environmental leaders from around the world gather to negotiate Global Solutions to the Climate Crisis. The summit was supposed to be held in santiago, chile, but the countrys rightwing president Sebastian Pinera canceled the conference just over a month ago amid massive protests against economic inequality and austerity. Spains p president pedro sanchz then offered to host the summit. Activists have cononverged on madrid for the summit and are hosting an alternative summit of cumbre social por el clima, the social summit for the climate. The alternatative summmmit has n ororganized by social justiciced environmental groups to draw attention to the ongoioing polititical repressionon in chi, corporate influence on the Climate Summit, spains own failure to address the Climate Crisis, and the e eurocentrism f the clclimate confererence wh is beingng held in europe for te third yearar in a row. The alternative summit begins saturday morningng, tomorrow, at the university of f madrid and will kicick off tonighght with a climate march through the city center. We are broadcasting from the convergence space that activists are using as a hub for their organizing. Its a union hall and former monastery that today is covered in colorful protest art and bustling with organizers that have pulled the alternative summit together with only a few months notice. Thee are right here in social summit for the climate with one of the o organizers, tm kucharz. He is a journalist and activist with ecologists in action. It is great to be with you. Tom, as we sit here, this place is surrounded by posters. Maybe we could do a broad view of the wall. It says the plaza of the people. Save the earth. Colonized. That is a very important issue. We have a huge issue that millions of people who were slaves from africa to america and never have been justice about that. The issue of antiracism and anticolonization is very important for the march today. It is at 6 00 in the afternoon. Hopefully, thousands of people will gather. Amy tell us about this place that we are in. It is a former monastery . Yes, it was built more than 400 years ago. Fortunately, the trade unions said we could have it for two weeks to make gatherings and prepare the march and actions of the different groups who are involved in the preparation of the activities for these two weeks. Like fridays for future, Extinction Rebellion, and many environmental and human rights groups, trade unionists, and many solidarity groups are fighting around the world for justice. Both environmental and social justice. Amy tell us about this social summit for the climate, where it will be held from the university to hear to where else . Talk about the 850 groups who organize the space in a very short period of timime, since yu guys just got the summit a few months ago. Social summit was organized in less than four weeks. First of all, it is a solidarity action with the people in chile, with all of the people in the world who are suffering crimes against humanity, or suffering repression, who are suffering the crimes of Transnational Corporation and corrupt states were only doing business and politics in favor of a very small minority, which are the big businesses who are also guttering here in the official Climate Summit. We have heard in news at the beginning. Also in spain, we have a huge situation of an justice, unemployment. For us, the issues of social injustice, the problem of corruption, the problem of huge economic and social an environment a crisis all over the world brings us together. Social movements, trade unions, environmental groups, but also social Justice Groups from all over the world. It is, first of all, a denouncement also of the repression of the right wing government of chile against the people in chile. We are very connected with the movement. Today, the march activity will be at the same time as the march in santiango. We will be marching together. We connecting also with organizers of the Civil Society space held at the same time in santiango, also criticizing the farce in the theater in the official summit because they are not the solution to the huge Climate Emergency. We, the people come are the solution. Amy talk about health unit of getting the u. N. Summit. Originally it was brazil and when the far right president canceled the cop and then chile ticket but because of the protest come the rightwing president there canceled it. Sanchez of spain picked this up very quickly. Talk about the significance for him and now the right wing government that runs madrid about what it means for them, who actually campaigned against climate regulations, its Major Campaign focus in the last week. Exactly. We should know that spain is one of the European Countries which theost responsible for Greenhouse Gas emissions for the past decades. So spain has a ecological and historical debt with the global south, completely dependent on imports of fossil fuels. The big Transnational Corporations from spain are committing crimes and Human Rights Violations all the time and are very responsiblele for e natural destruction all over the world. So spain is very responsible for the Climate Emergency. And weve had social and conservative right wing government who are very responsible. They were not caring sufficiently about the Climate Emergency. And even if they bring the official Climate Summit from the u. N. To hear, it was a kind of political shift tell them to get for the last elections we had very recently on november 10. Actually, the spanish social democratic government has shown in the last year that they were theyre not really willing to chahange the economic and Energy Policy and spain and that means also completely shift, paradigm shift of the Development Model in your which is completely irresponsible and a root cause of the Climate Emergency all over the world. That is why we are feeling that it is greenwashing both of the darknal very gray and policies of the Spanish Government, greenwashing of the right wing government in madrid because only some months ago, this madrid, from the Rightwing Party who is denying Climate Change, who was saying he would eliminate all the Environmental Policies which the leftwing government put in place only some months ago like low emission scheme to try to stop entering many cars into the center. We should know spain is one of the most polluting countries in the world. Peoplple whoy 40,000 are dying, so have premature deaths, 40,000 a year. That means in madrid, it is about more than 3000 people dying prematurely because of the air contamination. And that is mostly becaus