Allowed businesses to discriminate against lgbt people. The laws were rewritten after a National Outcry and moves to boycott the states. We will speak to the legendary star trek actor and gay rights activist george takei. The lgbt buying power, as well as our allies, as well as you know, i maintain the majority of americans are good, decent people. And they will not tolerate this kind of abuse of the legal process. Amy and we will get the latest from kenya, where 147 university people, mainly University Students were killed when , militants stormed their campus on thursday. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. After eight days of talks in switzerland, iran and world powers have reached a Framework Agreement on curbing Irans Nuclear program for at least a decade. In return, the United States and europe plan to lift economic sanctions on iran. As part of the deal, iran must reduce the number of its centrifuges that can be used to enrich uranium into a bomb by more than twothirds. It also has to redesign a power plant so it cannot produce weaponsgrade plutonium and be subject to regular International Nuclear inspections. The parties must now reach a final agreement by june 30. President obama said the deal is a good one. Ive always insisted i will do what is necessary to prevent iran from acquiring a Nuclear Weapon, and i will. But i also know a diplomatic solution is the best way to get this done. Amy israel has condemned the deal while republican lawmakers are demanding the rights to review it. Well have more on the deal after headlines. In kenya, Officials Say 147 people, mainly University Students, were killed when al Shabab Militants stormed a university in garissa, making it the worst attack on kenyan soil since the 1998 bombing of the u. S. Embassy. Gunmen reportedly went through the university dorms, separating muslims from christians, and killing the christians. The siege lasted about 15 hours before Security Forces killed four militants. In yemen, Houthi Rebels have reportedly retreated from the former palace of president Abdrabbu Mansour hadi in his former stronghold of aden. The rebels seized the palace thursday, but were forced to retreat following saudiled airstrikes. The fierce fighting in aden comes as the British Red Cross warns of a catastrophic humanitarian situation with more than 10 Million People in need of food. According to the United Nations, violence in yemen has killed over 500 people in the past two weeks, 90 of them children. The United Nations has acknowledged its peacekeepers used unauthorized and Excessive Force when they opened fire on protesters in northern mali in january. A u. N. Probe found up to four u. N. Troops shot and killed three civilians and injured four others in the town of gao. The peacekeepers will be returned to rwanda, where they are from. The governors of indiana and arkansas have signed revisions to two socalled religious freedom measures which would have allowed businesses to discriminate against lgbt people. Indianas enactment of the law provoked a National Outcry, with celebrities, top corporations and city and state governments condemning or boycotting the state. Flanked by business leaders, indiana governor mike pence signed a revision specifying the law does not authorize antilgbt discrimination. Eli lilly executive and former indianapolis mayor Bart Peterson hailed the change. For the first time ever, the words Sexual Orientation and gender identity appear in the indiana statute or they will after this law is passed. In the context of nondiscrimination. Amy Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson signed a similar measure thursday after he balked at signing an unrevised version, following condemnation from walmart and the outcry in indiana, as well as a petition signed by his own son against the law. In a statement, the aclu said the events in indiana over the last week represent a dramatic change in the way our country reacts to discrimination hiding under the guise of religion. In queens, new york, two women accused of plotting to build a homemade explosive device have been arrested in an fbi sting. Noelle velentzas and asia siddiqui, both u. S. Citizens are accused of sympathizing with al qaeda and the sophist islamic state. Meanwhile, a u. S. Citizen who was seen as leading al qaeda member under consideration for the u. S. Kill list, has been secretly flown to new york after being detained in pakistan. Muhanad mahmoud al farekh, known as abdullah alshami, was recommended for the kill list by the pentagon before the Obama Administration balked at killing another u. S. Citizen. German prosecutors say the copilot accused of deliberately crashing a germanwings plane in the french alps, killing all 150 people on board, had researched suicide and cockpit doors in the days before the crash. The german prosecutor unveiled the findings. According to the results, the user informed himself about medical treatment as well as different kinds of in the implementation of a suicide. On at least one day, he search for several minutes about the doors and or safety precautions. Amy data from a newly recovered black box appears to show the copilot intentionally sped up the planes descent. After locking out the captain of the caught it. Nearly 800 former guatemalan Research Subjects and relatives have sued Johns Hopkins university for its alleged role in a u. S. Government program which deliberately infected hundreds of people with syphilis and other sexually transmitted diseases in the 1940s and 1950s. The 1 billion lawsuit filed in a Maryland Court accuses Johns Hopkins and the Rockefeller Foundation of helping design, support, encourage and finance the nonconsensual tests. At Philadelphia International airport, baggage handlers, cleaners, and other workers went on strike thursday to demand higher pay and benefits. The workers, who are paid as little as 7. 25 an hour, want the airport to comply with a living wage requirement for cityowned facilities. Meanwhile, mcdonalds workers rallied in dozens of cities, from new york to los angeles calling for an expansion of the companys plan to raise wages to at least 1 over the local minimum wage. Some 90 of mcdonalds workers are excluded, since the hike does not apply to franchises. Officials at Duke University in North Carolina say a student has left campus after admitting to hanging a noose from a tree. Duke says the student will be subject to School Disciplinary procedures. The noose was discovered wednesday, days after another incident where a black, female student said a group of white, male peers harassed her using the same racist chant that prompted the expulsion of Fraternity Members at the university of oklahoma. The new york affiliate of boy scouts of america has announced the hiring of an openly gay eagle scout to work at a scout camp, defying the National Organizations ban on lgbt scoutmasters. Pascal tessier will work at a scoop camp this summer. Last year, the boy scouts lifted a ban on gay scouts, but still prohibits gay scoutmasters. In alabama, a prisoner who has spent nearly 30 years on death row is being released today. Anthony ray hinton was accused of murdering two fastfood managers in 1985, but subsequent tests found bullets at the scene could not be matched to the gun he was accused of using. According to the equal justice initiative, which won his release, hinton is among the longestserving deathrow prisoners ever to be freed after presenting evidence of innocence. And imprisoned journalist and former black panther Mumia Abujamal has been transferred back to prison after he was moved to an outside hospital following a blackout from diabetic shock. Abujamals supporters said he was kept under heavy guard and isolated from visitors in the hospital. Following an interNational Outcry, relatives including his brother, keith cook, were allowed to visit. Mumia or shackled to the bed. As a matter of fact, there were two policemen in the room and three outside the door. You could not talk about anything you did not want them to hear. When i saw him, i helped him cut the meat. He had one arm with handcuffs on it and then he had a needle in the other arm. He was smiling. It was obvious that he was weak and not his normal self, but he did have some smiles and cracked a couple of jokes. His sense of humor was there, he was just in a lot of pain. The report the following day is that he was doing worse. Amy Mumia Abujamal has been moved back to the prison infirmary. His supporters plan to rally at the prison today to demand he be allowed outside medical care. That is from doctors outside the prison. They say authorities may have withheld from abujamal details about blood test that could have indicated he was suffering from diabetes. 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. After eight days of talks in switzerland, iran and world powers have reached a Framework Agreement on curbing Irans Nuclear program for at least a decade. In return, the United States and europe plan to lift economic sanctions on iran. The parties must now reach a final agreement by june 30. President obama described the deal as historic. Today, after many months of top principled diplomacy taft for the bulldogs on the sea, we have achieved a framework for that real. And it is a good deal, a deal that meets our core objectives. This framework would cut off every pathway that iran could take to develop a Nuclear Weapon. Iran will face strict limitations on its programs and iran has also agreed to the most robust and Intrusive Inspections and transparency regime ever negotiated for any Nuclear Program in history. So this deal is not based on trust. It is based on unprecedented verification. Amy as part of the deal, iran must reduce the number of its centrifuges that can be used to enrich uranium into a bomb by more than twothirds. That is to about 5000 or 6000. Iran also has to redesign a power plant so it cannot produce weaponsgrade plutonium and be subject to regular International Nuclear inspections. The Iranian Foreign minister javad zarif said the deal recognizes irans right to a peaceful Nuclear Program. The decision we took today is very important. It is for the basis of a full agreement. We cannot begin final Draft Agreement based on the solutions we have reached over the last few days. Iran will be able to continue its peaceful Nuclear Program but there will be limitations placed on the level and duration of its enrichment program, and the quantity of enriched material that can be kept. Juan while u. N. Secretarygeneral ban kimoon praised the deal for contributing to peace and stability in the region, praise the deal was not universal. Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu condemned it as threat to israels existence. Lawmakers are demanding the right to review the deal. Republican senator mark kirk said, Neville Chamberlain got a better deal from adolf hitler, referring to the 1930s british Prime Minister and his policy of nazi appeasement. On thursday, president obama urged congress not to scuttle the deal. If Congress Kills this deal not based on expert analysis and without offering any reasonable alternative, then it is the United States that will be blamed for the failure of diplomacy. Amy to talk more about the nuclear deal, we are joined by Seyed Hossein mousavian, a former Nuclear Negotiator for iran. He served as irans ambassador to germany from 1990 to 1997. He joins us from princeton new jersey where he is an associate Research Scholar at Princeton Universitys Woodrow Wilson School of public and international affairs. Last year, he published the book, iran and the United States an insiders view on the failed past and the road to peace. Welcome, ambassador. Do you see this deal as historic and a road to peace . Good morning. Definitely, the deal is a historic achievement and definitely, this is a road to peace because the deal practically prevented a new war in the middle east, which could be much more disastrous for the u. S. And for the region compared to the war against afghanistan and the war on iraq. I believe diplomacy worked. They have achieved excellent conclusion. They should continue to reach the final conference of deal by the end of june, the first of july. And then iran and the u. S. , they should negotiate on for the disputed issues through diplomacy. Juan , could you talk about the key aspects that have been announced of the framework, what you think are the most important . The whole issue of the sharp reduction in the number of centrifuges that iran will have an operation . And also the issue of the breakout period that has been discussed . For iranians, two points were important from day one. The first point was to accept to respect the rights of iran for Peaceful Nuclear technology, including enrichment on the nonproliferation treaty npt. This was the first key issue for iran from day one when we negotiated when we Began Nuclear negotiation in 2003. This deal covers this key demands of iran. Iran would be entitled to have Peaceful Nuclear technology. The second key issue for iran was lifting the sanctions. This deal also contains, ultimately lifting all unilateral, multilateral sanctions nuclearrelated sanctions. That is why i believe this deal is good for iran because the two key elements iran was asking already is covered in the deal. However, the deal is good for the u. S. , for the war powers because for them, the red line was no nuclear bomb. Although, iran does not have a nuclear bomb although there is no evidence of diversion in iranian Nuclear Program however, because of mistrust between iran and the u. S. , iran and the west, this was a big issue for the u. S. And for the west to make sure any deal would guarantee no diversion on iranian Nuclear Program toward weaponization. This deal contains exactly the key element the u. S. Was looking. Because, first, iran has accepted the maximum level of transparency and verification ever during the history of proliferation. Even transparency verification measures beyond the current nonproliferation treaty npt. Second, with all the limits which you mentioned already, and president obama also in his statement mentioned, iran has accepted all confidence Building Measures that there would be no breakout and there would be no diversion toward weaponization. As long as the deal covers the maximum level of transparency, all measures on nondiversion toward weaponization, this is a good deal for the u. S. And i told you why the deal is good for iran. Amy i want to turn to the spokesperson for israels Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu. Shortly after just a deal was reached, he tweeted pm netanyahu to pres obama a deal based on this framework would threaten the survival of israel. Regev later appeared on cnn and lambasted the deal as very dangerous. He suggested iran will become the next north korea. We see this deal as ray dangerous. We say this is moving in the wrong direction. It becomes the foundation for a final deal with iran, then we see this like a deal with north korea. I mean, if you will recall, in the 1990s, north korea signed a deal and committed themselves to nonproliferation and kept their Nuclear Program intact. And when they were ready, they proliferated they exploded a Nuclear Device and today, they threaten used asia. Iran is much, much more dangerous than north korea. Amy your response, ambassador . He said iran is an axis dental threat to israel existential threat to israel and iran is try to build a nuclear bomb. I think theres no difference between israel and north korea because north korea has a few number of nuclear bombs. Israel has about