Roger al jazeera reporters. We will go to egypt to speak with democracy now s Sharif Abdel Kouddous as well as the treaty to protect journalists. Two thirds of the journalists killed this year were in the middle east. The deadliest country is syria. Then on the last day of 2013, we will look at 10 hopeful things that happened in 2013 to get you inspired for whats to come. We will speak with sarah van gelder, editor in chief of yes magazine. Then we will go to germany. Among them spoke was Julian Assange. Therell be no person and has not been exposed to this ideology of transparency in keepstanding of what is to the internet free. This is the last regeneration. All of that and more coming up. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Iraq is capping off its worst year of violence since the height of u. S. Occupation. According to the United Nations, civilians and 950 Security Forces have been killed this year, the highest annual total since 2008. On monday, at least 13 people were killed in clashes with iraqi police raided a sunni protest camp. Protesters had been camped out for year to protest the marginalization of sunnis by the shiiteled government. More than 40 sunni lawmakers announced the resignations following the rate. Separate attacks killed at least 11 other people. Police in russia have rounded up dozens of people following the twin bombings of a Railway Station and trolley bus. The toll from the attacks has risen to 34. No one has claimed responsibility and its unclear whether any of those to tame today were involved. Rush is due to host the Winter Olympics in sochi in just over a month. Rebels in south sudan are claiming to have retaken the key town of bor after a fierce battle with government forces. It is considered a Crucial Point on the path to the capital juba. A rebel leader has also reportedly agreed to enter peace talks with the south Sudanese Government in ethiopia. The news comes after the ugandan president raised the prospect of Regional Intervention against the rebels. He said east african countries had agreed to take action last week if the rebels did not agree to a ceasefire by today. He spoke to reporters on monday. Four days to respond. If he doesnt, we shall go for him. When you say you will go for him, what does that mean . Violence in south sudan has killed more than 1000 people. Speaking on monday, the uns secretary Security Council president for this month said 180,000 people have been displaced. Is worrying. Ion there are reports of torturing, killing from the disappearance and ethnically targeted violence. Sector ofan rights the mission has been upgraded and investigations and reporting so there could be accountability at the end of this tragedy. Troops in the democratic republic of congo quashed the court series of attacks on the airport, a military barracks, and headquarters of the state television station monday. In total, about 100 people were killed. The attackers were followers of a pastor who accuse the government of harassing his supporters. The United Nations is urgently appealing for access to a palestinian area of damascus where people are dying from hunger. As u. N. Official says some 20,000 palestinians are trapped inside the yarmouth district of damascus amid fighting between the regime and rebels. Since the last delivery of you and aid in september, 15 people have died there from malnutrition, including five this past weekend. Tasked with overseeing the dismantling of serious chemical weapons is set to miss its deadline to remove the deadliest materials from syria. The organization had plans to transport the materials to the port and ship them out of the country by today im a at the group has cited roadblocks ranging from bad weather to logistical hurdles. The head of the efforts said security is a top concern. I think all parties agree this is a big concern always, but it also impacts the safety of any convoy in the safety of any efforts. So you need to plan to make everything as secure and safe as possible for the civilian population, for those who need to conduct the operation, and then the government needs to plan for any eventuality in the journey from different sides to latakia and within latakia itself. The Lebanese Military said it has fired on steering helicopters that entered its airspace on monday. The incident came a day after lebanon announced it would receive 3 billion dollars in military aid from saudi arabia. Israel has released a group of 26 palestinian prisoners missed reports it will unveil plans for 1400 is settlement homes in the west bank. The prisoners are the third batch to be released since u. S. Brokered peace talks began in july. Both the earlier prisoner releases were also accompanied by israels announcement of new settlement plans. Palestinians have warned the settlements could derail the peace talks. Secretary of state john kerry is returning to the region this week. Speaking monday, state Department Spokesperson marie will present a proposed framework for a peace deal. But he will discuss the framework for negotiations. This framework would serve as guidelines and would address the court issues. This is a detailed consultation with the leaders from continuing to work to bridge gaps between the parties also obviously continuing to encourage both sides to take constructive steps , as we said, including the prisoner release this evening in israel as well. Has begun releasing Political Prisoners after the government announced an end of your amnesty. The burmese president had vowed to release all Political Prisoners by the end of 2013. The amnesty is expected to include some 40 Political Prisoners and another 200 who are facing trial or investigation under laws designed a car to get designed to target activists. Among those released was a man who is serving a seven month sentence for leading a march without permission. He criticized the government after his release. Even though the government says this is amnesty, this is not amnesty for us. Theyre trying to hide the weakness of the legislature by doing this. But i respect mr. President since he kept his promise because he had never kept his promise before. U. S. Regulators have chosen six universities and other public entities to develop test sites for domestic drones. The approved test sites are located in at least 10 states ranging from new york and massachusetts to hawaii, alaska, nevada, and texas. The federal Aviation Administration says the sites will conduct Critical Research the requirements needed to safely enter great drones into the National Airspace over the next several years. Hundreds of entities including Law Enforcement agencies are already permitted to fly drones. The latest testing as part of a push used drones for commercial purpose. Than 80 vey finds more of americans oppose the war in afghanistan, making the occupation potentially the most unpopular in u. S. History. The poll by cnn and Orc International found just 17 of american support the work, a steep drop from 52 five years ago. Cnn reports the disapproval numbers are higher than comparable data for both iraq and vietnam. Only a quarter of americans want u. S. Troops to remain on the ground beyond 2014. But the Obama Administration is currently pressuring afghanistans to accept a deal to keep u. S. Troops behind john that deadline. A new u. S. Intelligence report predicted u. S. Gains from the 12 year conflict will be eroded within three years without a large military presence. A new report by the committee to protect journalists says at least 70 journalists died on the job in 2013. At least 29 journalists died covering the civil war in syria. Another 10 were killed in iraq. Egypt was the third most violent country for journalists with six killed for their work last year. The report comes as four al jazeera journalist were interrogated by egyptian prosecutors following their arrest sunday evening. We will have more on egypt and in a report after the headlines. Residents of the small town of castleton, north dakota have been urged to evacuate after a train during crude oil collided with another train for triggering a series of explosions. Railway train stretched about a mile long it was caring more than 100 oilladen cars, about 10 of which caught fire. A plume of black smoke could be seen for miles. Authorities said shifting winds could raise the risk of health effects. No injuries have been reported. In canada, scientist say Tar Sands Oil operations in alberta are releasing mercury that is impacting an area of more than 7300 square miles. According to post medianews, mercury levels in the area are up to 16 times higher than background levels for the region. Mercury is a powerful neurotoxin that can cause brain damage. The alberta tar sands of the origin point for the keystone xl pipeline from a which would bring oil to the texas gulf coast. A new poll shows the number of republicans who believe in evolution has dropped 11 since 2009. According to the pew research center, just 43 of republicans thats less than half believe that human beings have evolved over time. By contrast, 67 of democrats believe in evolution, slight increase since 2009. Dr. Kenneth elin, an Abortion Provider in key figure in the struggle for reproductive justice, has died at the age of 74. Doctor guy whos africanamerican, was charged with manslaughter after performing a legal abortion and massachusetts. In all white, mostly male jury convicted him. He was later acquitted and became an outspoken advocate for the Health Care Rights of women, particularly poor women of color. In a speech posted by planned parenthood in 2008, the doctor held the womens movement. Whoor all of those women marched, all of those women who love it, for all of those women today,d, we say to you your lives have always been our concern, your sacrifices our motivation. We will continue the fight and our struggle will go on for as long as it must. Die fromnneth edalin cancer on monday in sarasota, florida. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We begin in egypt which is facing a major escalation of a crack down on the Muslim Brotherhood and other critical voices. The military government has designated the brotherhood a terrorist organization after a suicide bombing last week that killed 14 people. This can even though the brotherhood condemned the attack and in unrelated Jihadist Group lamed responsibility. Using the terrorism label, the egyptian regime has arrested hundreds of brotherhood members and seize their assets. It is the latest in a crackdown that began with the ouster president morsi in july following mass protests against his rule. Since his overthrow, the brotherhood has been banned from political activity, hundreds of its members have been gunned down in the streets, and thousands more have been placed behind bars. Meanwhile, the News Network Al Jazeera is demanding the Immediate Release of four journalists who been arrested in cairo. Correspondent peter greste, two werecers and government detained and a camera men were detained on accusations of spreading false news and Holding Meetings with the Muslim Brotherhood. Egypts military government has repeatedly targeted al jazeera, raiding offices, ordering an affiliates closure, and deporting several staffers. The al jazeera rests comes amidst a new report detailing the dangers conditions for journalists in egypt and other troubled areas around the world. According to the committee to protect journalists, conditions in egypt deteriorated traumatically this year with six reporters killed, more than in any previous year. Egypt trailed only iraq, were journalists 10 journalists were killed and in syria, at least 29 journalists were killed. Overall, the middle east accounted for two thirds of at least 70 reporters deaths worldwide. For more were joined by Sherif Mansour here in new york, the middle east and north Africa Program coordinator at the committee to protect journalists. And joining us from egypt is Sharif Abdel Kouddous, independent journalist, democracy now correspondent, and a fellow at the nation institute. Sharif, lets begin with you. The overall picture. Talk about the categorizing of the Muslim Brotherhood as a Tourist Organization and then what has come out of that. Well, that designation came ,n the wake of suicide bombing a car bomb that attacked a Police Headquarters in a delta city north of cairo and killed at least 15 people on december 24. It was the deadliest bombing on the egyptian mainland outside of sinai in nearly three years. And the cap net in the wake of that declare the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization, despite providing no evidence and even Prime Minister later admitted he had no clear evidence linking the Muslim Brotherhood to the bombing. Has claimednt Group Responsibility for the bombing. That claim responsibility for other highprofile attacks including the assassination of a highprofile, highranking state Security Officer last month in cairo. But despite that, the crackdown has targeted the Muslim Brotherhood. Of cabinet use that decision terrorism designation to freeze the assets of hundreds of charities linked to the group come including hospitals and health clinics. This is part as you mentioned, part of a widening crackdown on the group. Just this past monday, yesterday, they sentenced 138 promorsi protesters to two years in prison on charges of rioting and vandalism and weve seen thousands of people be behind desk be thrown behind bars. People who work prominent figures of the group who were not imprisoned have now fled the country. The political process if theres any left of it that could have included the Muslim Brotherhood, has all but been completely destroyed. We continue to see instability of the government, the military backed happened, and the military and Police Forces continue to say this is a war on terror and theyre trying to provide stability. Egypt is extremely unstable. Were seeing increasing militancy, especially in sinai. Were seeing a huge number of are set on a lot of university campuses. Students have been killed protesting. This is all coming with a referendum on the constitution said to take lace in just two weeks in the new year. Before we go to the journalist, three leading activists have been sentenced to three years in prison as part of an ongoing crackdown. ,hmed maher, alaa abd elfattah helped lead the ouster of mubarak. They were the first to be sentenced under a new law that effectively bans public protest by requiring severance of permits for rallies. After the sentencing, the three men chanted down with military rule from their cage inside the courtroom. Democracy now spoke with one of the protesters, ahmed maher, when he was here in new york back in 2011. We need to keep fighting until we have democracy and a real country and a good regime and social justice. We think that will take more than five years. We must keep fighting now. That is our goal now, to finish or complete our revolution, then we can think sharif, can you talk about the significance of these arrests and now the sentence of three years of ahmed maher and the others . He was here visiting occupy in 2011, occupy wall street. This crackdown has extended beyond supporters of Mohamed Morsi to target now really a lot of the activists that really launched and sustain the revolution. April 6, the Youth Movement was a major player in the revolution. Ahmed maher has been given three years in prison for breaking mr. Connie and protest law. Draconian protest law. Another prominent activist who has been on democracy now several times along with 24 others, have been imprisoned for over a month come awaiting charges criminal charges on breaking the protest law as well. We are seeing the police state reempower police state really flex its muscle to try to create clamp down on any outspoken dissent. Sharif, i want to turn to alaa abd elfattah, the leading blogger, activist and the charges he faces now for the calls he allegedly made against protests for protest against military trials of civilians. You interviewed him about the longterm goals of the egyptian revolution back in 2011. We want what happens next to people and to be through dinner credit means. Democratic means. Slogans will not just topple the regime, but [indiscernible] freedom and social justice. We will need a lot of pressure to achieve Something Like social justice. The unit to you see here, the number of people representing all classes, i think it means those who flee the country agree social justice and read and freedom is universal. Sharif, his is an interesting story because he was imprisoned under mubarak and his baby was born while he was in prison and he was born when his father was in prison years ago. His sister was born while his father was in prison. Yes, he is one of these activists who have been jailed by these authoritarian regimes in egypt. Under morsi as well he was targeted with an arrest warr