Alive, not held by isis. The Syrian Government denies having him. It is been more than two years that austin is missing. After all the emotion and the american beheading of james foley, we know theyre still an american journalist allied in syria. As Reporters Without Borders campaigns to free austin tice, his parents will join us in our new york studio. Then in a democracy now exclusive, we speak to environmental activist eric mcdavid. In007, who sentenced to 19 years in prison for conspiring to bomb sites in california, including the nimbus dam. He is just been released 10 years early after federal prosecutors acknowledged withholding key evidence about how he have been entrapped by an may fbi informant he had fallen in love with. The government will not say it was deliberate or malicious. They say just the opposite. They say it was inadvertent. It is very hard to imagine that this was a mistake. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Funerals were held tuesday for seven victims of last weeks violence in paris that began with the massacre at the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. Three Police Officers killed in the attacks were laid to rest in france, while four jews slain in the siege of a kosher supermarket were buried in israel. The French Parliament paid tribute to the victims with a moment of silence that spontaneously turned into a singing of Frances National anthem. French lawmakers also overwhelmingly backed an extension of their governments role in the u. S. Led bombing of isis. The vote was 488 to 1. The yemenbased group al qa issued a new statement coming responsibility for the massacres. In a video posted online, a Top Commander said the organization financed implant the attack. As for the blessed battle of paris, we and the organization in the Arabian Peninsula claimed responsibility for this operation as vengeance for the messenger of all of. We clarify the one who chose the target they do plan, finance he operation, and appointed the leadership of the organization. French Authorities Say they continue to search for any of the gunmens associates and potential accomplices. This comes as new video was released of the pair, cherif and said kouachi, in a shootout with police right after the Charlie Hebdo attack. One of them says they avenged the prophet mohammad, and shouts the name of al qaeda in yemen. The gunmen fire on a police car, get into their vehicle, and then open fire again as they drive way. The kouachi brothers were killed in a shootout with police two days later. Charlie hebdo, meanwhile, has just published its first issue since the attacks. The cover features the Prophet Muhammad holding a sign that reads, je suis charlie, or i am charlie, with the headline all is forgiven. At an emotional News Conference on tuesday, the cartoonist who drew the cover, renald luzier, known as luz, explained how it came to be. Been there was nothing else but that. This idea of drawing mohammed. I am charlie. I looked at him. He was crying. Over it i wrote, all is forgiven. I cried. We found the front page. We had at last found the damned from page. It was ours, not the one the world wanted to do, but what we wanted to do. It wasnt the front page that the terrorists wanted us to do because there isnt a terrorist in there, just a man crying. A character crying. It is mohammed. Im sorry, we drew him again but it is a man crying above all. North korea has offered direct talks with the u. S. To resolve an impasse over the regimes Nuclear Tests and American Military drills next door. The Obama Administration has dismissed a north korean offer to freeze Nuclear Testing if annual u. S. Military drills with south korea were also suspended. Speaking at the u. N. , north Koreas Deputy ambassador an myong hun urged the u. S. To take its offer seriously. This year we propose to the United States that the United States should, at the least temporarily suspend these exercises. But the United States organization responded by saying that military exercises are different, a separate issue from the nuclear test issue. They not want to accept our proposal. North korea has been hit with International Sanctions for three Nuclear Tests since 2006. The u. S. Says its open to talks in general, but wont link its annual war south korea war games to north koreas Nuclear Tests. The news of north koreas offer came hours after u. S. Officials warned of new sanctions in retaliation for the cyberattack on sony, which the Obama Administration blames on the north korean regime. North korea has denied involvement, asking the u. S. To provide proof and offered a joint inquiry, which the u. S. Rejected. President obama hosted Top Republican leaders including House Speaker john boehner and new Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell at the white house on tuesday for a meeting aimed at finding common ground. Obama said he expects to work with republicans on issues including cybersecurity and trade. I think we agree this is an area where we can work hard together, get some legislation done, and make sure we are much more effective in protecting the American People from these kinds of cyberattacks. I think there is going to be opportunities for us to Work Together on trade, opportunities for us to Work Together on simplifying the tax system and making sure everybody is paying their fair share. There are going to be opportunities for us to streamline government so it is more responsive. On tuesday, obama unveiled new cybersecurity rules in the wake of the hack on Sony Pictures and the compromising of the pentagons own twitter account. The proposals would allow for increased information sharing between corporations and agencies including the nsa, in part, to give firms legal immunity for providing their data to the government. The white house says the sharing would not include any data wit personal information. The Obama Administration is set to announce new regulations to cut emissions of methane gas. The plan will reportedly seek a 45 cut in methane levels by the year 2025. The Environmental Protection agency will formally proposal the rules this summer followed by final regulations next year. Rallies have been held across the u. S. To oppose a new republican push for the Keystone Xl Oil pipeline. The Republicancontrolled Senate is expected to vote for keystones construction this week following house passage on friday. On tuesday, activists gathered in cities across the country to urge president obama to follow through on his threat to veto the republican bill and to reject the pipeline for good. Georgia has carried out the nations first execution of 2015. On tuesday, 66year Old Army VeteranAndrew Brannan was killed by lethal injection for the 1998 murder of a sheriffs deputy. Defense attorneys had unsuccessfully sought clemency by arguing brannans jury was never fully informed of his severe physical and mental damage from serving in the vietnam war, including ptsd. Oklahoma is set to be the next state to carry out an execution on thursday. It will be the first time oklahoma attempts to kill a prisoner since botching a lethal injection in april. The new york city board of corrections has voted to ban solitary confinement for inmates between the ages of 18 to 21 at the troubled Rikers Island jail. If all a scrutiny of the prisons treatment of him prisoners are calling the rules a step forward for the new York Civil Liberties Union said an institution is profoundly broken as Rikers Island will require wholesale reform to transform it into a humane environment that of the sizes treat meant and rehabilitation over punishment and isolation. Newly released video shows a Police Officer breaking down in tears after fatally shooting an unarmed man in montana. Last week, a coroners jury found billingsleys officer Grant Morrison was justified in shooting Richard Ramirez during a traffic stop last april. Video from the aftermath of the shooting shows officer morse and collapsing over the foot of a Police Cruiser and sweeping as his colleagues try to console him. Morrison can be heard saying i thought he was going to pull a gun on me. I thought he was going to pull a gun on me. Maybe he wanted to. Maybe he wanted to. Jesus, grant. You survived. [sobbing] lycee the man morrison shot Richard Marin or mears was high on methamphetamine and reached for his waistband. Ramirez did not have a gun. A federal Appeals Court has heard from civil Rights Groups seeking to reinstate a lawsuit against the new York Police Departments secret surveillance of muslims and arabs in neighboring new jersey. District judge William Martini dismissed the suit in february saying the programs main harm came not from the antimuslim surveillance itself, but from the Associated Press is exposure of it. Speaking outside the Appellate Court in philadelphia, attorney baher azmy of the center for Constitutional Rights said the surveillance was unconstitutional because it focused on religion, nationality, and race. The police have tools to deal with Law Enforcement problems, but they cannot rely on race or religion or to assume that people were more religious are more dangerous, which is what undergirds the entirety of the nypds program. Religious profiling is just as illegal as racial profiling and the center for Constitutional Rights, we fought against racial profiling and challenged and the citys unconstitutional stop and frisk practices, and we aim to do the same here with respect to the citys unconstitutional muslim spying practices. A bartender at an Ohio Country Club has been indicted for an alleged plot to kill House Speaker john boehner. Michael robert hoyt has reportedly served drinks to boehner at the Wetherington Country Club over the course of five years. Hoyt appears to suffer from mental issues, having blamed boehner for his recent firing and accusing him of being responsible for the spread of ebola. Police found weapons and ammunition in his home. And in a followup to coverage on democracy now over the past few days, the news network cnn has been given some direct onair criticism about its use of socalled terrorism experts for discussion of Violent Attacks like the Charlie Hebdo massacre. Speaking to cnn, the intercepts Jeremy Scahill was asked about his comments during a democracy now interview on monday in which he criticized Corporate Media coverage of the attacks aftermath. Scahill called out cnn and other networks for using pundits he said have no right to call themselves terrorism experts. Cnn and msnbc and fox are engaging in the terrorism expert Industrial Complex where you have people on as paid analysts are largely frauds have made a lot of money off for train themselves as terror experts and have no actual on the ground experience. Some of your paid analysts you have on this network or other networks, basically, just making money off the claim they are experts on terrorism and really dont have the scholarly background or on the ground experience to justify being on your network or any other network. Go to our website democracynow. Org for our interview with Jeremy Scahill from mondays broadcast, and our followup interview with the intercepts Glenn Greenwald from tuesday on socalled terrorism experts. 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. Before we go to our first segment, you did an interesting column in the New York Daily News on the Patrolmen Benevolent Association and its leader. Ivan following as many people have, the ongoing standoff between mayor deblasio and the policemans union, which has been going on now for more than a month. It has been marked by incredible allegations by the head of the police Union Patrick lynch that, for instance, the two officers who were assassinated on december 20, that their blood was on the mayors hands. And then by hundreds of policeman policeman turning their back at the mayor. A complete slow down by new york city Police Officers refusing to write summonses or do misdemeanor arrest, has been about a huge drop in a number of arrest and ticket issued in new york city. That has begun a change, finally, in the summonses and arrest are going back up. There has clearly been an attempt by the policemans union, very much to almost i dont want to call it a coup but an attempt to try to tell them a year mayor of new york you cannot run the city without us. Now it turns out theres a huge dissension within the ranks of the Police Department itself falls there was cap which issued a letter asking cops did is invite the mayor and the City Council Speaker from any funeral in case there were killed in the line of duty, only 4 of the cops have signed on to the letter. Yesterday there was a meeting of the union of the police delegates and there was an open fight that broke out between several of the prolynch people and the antilynch people saying, we dont care about an apology from the mayor, what we want is for you to handle our grievances and problems would have as Police Officers because the police have been without a labor contract for five years. And now i am reporting in todays daily news there is an entire slate of people preparing to run against lynch in Union Elections being held in june. And he has not had a challenge since 2003. He has been the president of the union for 15 years. There is a major convulsions going on within the police union. It is against the backdrop the new York City Police department now has a majority of minority officers africanamerican, latino, asian officers. It is not the same Police Department that existed 15 years ago when Patrick Lynch was first elected. Many of those officers are equally angry over past practices of stop and frisk arrests, and they are also demanding some kind of change. We will have to see what happens. Clearly, there is not the kind of unity among the police against the mayor that has been portrayed so far in the press. We willing to your column at democracynow. Org. I encourage people to go to our website to look at our interviews with new york Police Officers talking about who actually represents the police in new york. This is democracy now democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. As we turn now to the case of an american journalist who went missing in syria over two years ago. Courts in syria, lease 23 members of the press were killed and 30 are currently missing. That includes austin tice who would missing 500 days ago. A native of houston traveled from the outskirts of damascus he went missing 31yearold Georgetown Law School student when he traveled overseas to cover the conflict in syria. Including him in his imprisoned list. His family does not know who holds him. Oh, jesus. Jesus. When we come back from break, we will talk about the case of austin tice. Missing from list 2. 5 years in syria. Who is holding him, what is the was government doing about it . We will be joined by his parents. We will be back in a minute. [music break] this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. 884 days ago, austin tice disappeared while covering the war in syria. The date was august 13, 2012.