Degrees fahrenheit. Wildfires raged through five of australias six states. Meanwhile, the United States records its hottest year ever. We will go to australia for report. Three men of somali descent are arraigned in new york. President obama continues the controversial practice of rendition, secretly detaining, transporting, and holding prisoners overseas. Part two of our exclusive interview with sami alhajj, the of jazeera journalist imprisoned and tortured at guantanamo for six years. When i was in guantanamo, i asked myself maybe it is a good chance for me to be a journalist in guantanamo to be a witness. [indiscernible] we speak with the al jazeera journalist at al jazeera headquarters in doha, qatar. All of that and more coming up. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. New figures have confirmed 2012 was the hottest year on record for the continental United States. On tuesday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced an average temperature for 2012 of 55. 3 degrees, one degree above the previous record and 3. 2 degrees more than the 20th century average. Temperatures were above normal in every month between june 2011 and september 2012, a 16month stretch that has not occurred since the government began keeping track in 1895. Among a number of other milestones, 2012 also saw the second most extreme weather on record. The news comes as across the globe, australia is dealing with record shattering heat. We will go to australia for more on this story after the headlines. The Obama Administration has launched a review of offshore oil drilling in the arctic following a cascading series of blunders and mishaps by the oil giant shell. Shells recent troubles culminated when its drill rig ran aground last week off the alaskan coast, sparking concerns of a potential spill. Past problems have included safety and environmental violations on its vessels and the failure during a test of a device meant to control a gushing well. Government officials said the new 60day review could potentially limit or halt shells ambitions for arctic drilling. The escalating issues have followed repeated warnings by environmental groups that shell is unprepared for the harsh and dangerous conditions associated with arctic drilling. Greenpeace to the New York Times the coast guard has launched a separate investigation into the grounding of shells drill rig last week. Alleged u. S. Army whistleblower Bradley Manning has had his potential sentence reduced should he be convicted for the leaking of classified documents to wikileaks. On tuesday, the judge overseeing the Pretrial Hearing said manning is entitled to 112 days less in prison due to the unlawful conditions of his imprisonment and Marine Corps Brig corn, in quantico, virginia. Mannings ordeal included being held in a six by 8 foot cell for a least 23 hours a day and being banned from lying down or even leaning against the wall unless was sleeping. His attorney argued his imprisonment was so harsh and inhumane, that either his charges should be dropped or he should be given 10 times credit for the nine months he spent there in any sentence he received. In her ruling, judge lind agreed with the allegations of unlawful abuse, but said manning will only get one to one credit in the reduction of any sentence. In a statement, the Bradley Manning support network said a u. S. Military contractor has agreed to pay a more than 5 million settlement to 71 former prisoners who suffered torture at the notorious abu ghraib prison in iraq. Engility holdings becomes the first u. S. Corporation involved in the abuses at abu ghraib to compensate its victims, eight years after the scandal first broke. Filed in 2008, the suit accused engility of one of the plaintiffs, an iraqi farmer, alleges he was caged, beaten, threatened with dogs, and given electric shocks during more than four years in u. S. Detention. A case against another contractor, caci, is set to go to trial later this year. The Obama Administration has left open the possibility of removing all u. S. Troops from afghanistan once combat operations in 2014. On tuesday, Deputy National security adviser ben rhodes told reporters the white house has not ruled out a zero option policy, rather than other proposals to leave up to 20,000 troops behind. President obama is scheduled to discuss post2014 troop levels with afghan president karzai later this week. The United NationsWorld Food Program continues to warn its been unable to meet the demands of the millions of syrians who require assistance. The u. N. Is currently feeding some 1. 5 Million People in syria, but around 2. 5 million are believed to be in need. On tuesday, a spokesperson for u. N. Secretarygeneral ban ki moon said aid workers have been unable to reach less than half of those requiring food aid. Humanitarian partners continue to reach hundreds of thousands of people in syria. Road closures, fuel shortages, and lack of access to conflict affected areas. Since the beginning of january, the World Food Program has reached 800,000 people, and hopes to reach 1. 5 Million People with food distributions in syria this month. It is estimated 2. 5 Million People are in need of Food Assistance in syria. Venezuela has delayed the third term swearingin ceremony of president hugo chavez as he continues to receive medical treatment in cuba. Chavez has been in cuba for nearly a month undergoing and recovering from his fourth surgery for cancer. On tuesday, the head of an as well as National Assembly confirmed chavez is not well enough to make it back in time for thursdays swearingin. The commander president has asked me to inform you in accordance with recommendations of the medical team that is taking care of reestablishing his health, the process of post over to recovery will extend further than january 10 of this year. Because of this, he will not be able to appear on that date in front of the National Assembly. The delay has sparked a heated dispute between the venezuelan government and political opposition, with chavezs foes arguing that cabello should assume the presidency as head of the National Assembly should chavez fail to be sworn in. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is reportedly preparing to unveil what is being described as one of the toughest gun control laws in the country. It reportedly includes new restrictions on assault weapons, harsher sentences for gun claims. Gabrielle giffords of arizona has announced a new initiative to take on gun violence. She suffered major head injuries and nearly lost to life in the tucson shooting rampage that killed six people in 2011. On tuesday, the twoyear anniversary of her shooting, she and her husband announced a new group called americans for responsible solutions, which they said will raise the funds necessary to balance the influence of the gun lobby. They said that in the aftermath of the newtown massacre in connecticut the insurance giant American International group, for aig, is sparking outrage over reports it is considering joining a shareholders lawsuit against the u. S. Government. They add tos board is said to be weighing whether to join former ceo greenberg in accusing the u. S. Government of shortchanging investors and violating their fifth amendment rights in the companys 2008 bailout. The move comes just to mix after aig finally repaid the 182 billion in federa keep it from collapse. Greenberg himself has come under wide criticism for running aig when it helped create many of the complex Financial Instruments that helped cause the current economic collapse. In a statement, democratic senator Elizabeth Warren of massachusetts said a new report says the Obama Administration spend more money on Immigration Enforcement in the past fiscal year that it did on all other federal law for the agencies combined. Immigration policy institute says the u. S. Spent about 18 billion on Immigration Enforcement programs, surpassing the combined budgets of the fbi, bureau of alcohol, tobacco Crossfire Arms and explosives, Drug Enforcement administration, and secret service. The number criminal prosecutions for immigration related violations has skyrocketed, now accounting for more than half of all criminal prosecutions of the federal level. The reports authors conclude obamas top priority when it comes to law enforcement. Illinois is said to become the latest to allow undocumented immigrants to obtain drivers licenses. The governor has pledged to sign a new bill that will allow about 250,000 immigrants to become licensed drivers. Only washington and new mexico currently allow licenses for undocumented people while utah allows driving permits. Connecticut recently announced young immigrants who qualify for the Obama Administrations Deferred Action Program to apply for drivers licenses. A federal judge in manhattan has dealt a major setback to the stop and frisk. Tuesday, the judge of u. S. District court for the Southern District of new york ruled police are not allowed to routinely stop pedestrians outside a private residential buildings in the bronx. The socalled clean Halls Program has prompted allegations of Police Harassment by residents who say there been accosted outside the buildings in which they live. In a statement, the center for Constitutional Rights said and the lgbtq rights activist jane manford has died at the age of 92. She founded the group pflag, parents, families and friends of lesbians and gays. In 1972, manford made headlines after denouncing police for failing to protect her days son when he was attacked at a protest of the gay activist alliance. In a letter to the new york post, manford wrote i have a homosexual son and i love him. Those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. Welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. We begin our show in australia for hundreds of bush fires continue to rage amidst the countrys fiercest heat wave in more than 80 years. Its so hot, the Australian Bureau of neurology has taken the unprecedented step of adding two new colors deep purple and pink to its weather maps to show to ventures between 122 and 129 degrees fahrenheit. On monday, the australian Prime Minister toured fire ravaged tasmania where some 50,000 acres of forests and farmland were destroyed in fires. We live in a country that is hot and dry and where we sustain very destructive fires periodically. So there is always going to be risk. While still would not put anyone down to Climate Change, the weather does not work like that, but we do know over time, as a result of Climate Change, we are going to see more extreme weather events and conditions, so we live with this risk and we need to have the best systems to manage it. While australia is suffering from record shattering heat, in the United States the National Oceanic and at miss Barrett Administration announced that 2012 was by far the hottest rear on record hottest year on record. The average temperature was 55. 3 degrees, one degree above the previous record. For more were going to sydney, australia where were joined via democracy now videostream by anna rose, the cofounder and chair of austrian Youth Climate Coalition as well as the author of, madlands a journey to change the mind of a climate skeptic. Anna rose, welcome to democracy now what is happening in your country, this record shattering heat, it is being described as a dome of heat. Your country literally on fire. For people around the world to are not following this, just describe what is happening in australia. Right now in austria, were having recordbreaking heat waves. There are fires in almost every single australian state and territory. People have been evacuated, some have lost their homes lost everything. Meteorology is in these are the heat waves that are unprecedented in our history in terms of the direction, a ferocity, and it is expected to continue to get worse. Anna rose, can you Say Something about how these fires follow on all that happened in climate terms in 2012 in australia . There were extreme floods, much of queensland was submerged. Can you talk a little about that . The last two years have been wrapped in terms of extreme weather events. In queensland, we had floods cover an area bigger than the size of france and germany combined. We had entire towns that were literally destroyed by flooding. I come from a farming background were seeing the impact and agriculture all over the country. Farmers will tell you it rains less often, but when it does rain, it comes down at once. Essentially, we are messing with the water cycle with our climate system. We know warmer air holds more water vapor, meaning there is less vapor in the soil. When it comes down, it comes down all at once. Were seeing huge drops in china, massive floods in pakistan. There was Hurricane Sandy in the u. S. All around the world, a couple of years back in the kremlin, they had to ban wheat exports because theyre having such extreme heat waves the could not export it anymore. We saw the price of grain go up threefold around the world. The message from all of this and what our weather agencies have been telling us, this is the new normal. This is not some freak extreme weather event. We have seen a trend over the past few decades of extreme weather events on the rise, getting worse and worse as we put more Carbon Pollution into the atmosphere and make Climate Change worse. Youre just in antarctica. Can you describe going from australia to antarctica and back . I just got back to australia yesterday from antarctica, where i was talking to people there about the impacts of Climate Change. Western and predict that is still very cold, but it is actually the most quickly warming land mass. West antarctica has more than three times the global average has warmed more than three times the global average. It is having an impact on marine life and ocean acidification. We can see what is happening on land and the air, but other changes are in our oceans, particularly with the formulation of carbon which is a poisonous substance for marine organisms which the provide protein for much of the world. When it comes to Climate Change, sometimes you hear people talking about rainforests, but really we have seen the impacts for a while on human health, human and infrastructure, Food Security and our daytoday lives. That is certainly what is happening here in australia. People are starting to see the impacts in a very scary way in our everyday lives. The u. N. Climate summit just concluded last month in doha. Given what you have outlined of what we have seen of extreme weather events, can you give us your assessment of that conference and how the world body is dealing with this problem . The United NationsClimate Conference will never and higher than what the government demands. Those governments will never and higher than what the people demand. I dont believe we will have particular progress at these National Levels until were able to build an Even Stronger movement in australia and america and around the world. That movement has certainly begun. There is enormous, Justice Movements all over the world, particularly the youth, which is what ive been working with the past two years, has grown exponentially. In australia, we have a current price. We are investing 10 billion in Renewable Energy to shift away from fossil fuels and toward clean energy, like wind and solar, but we still have a lot of work to do, particularly on coal exports from queensland. I know in the u. S. Be of similar issues with the power vested interest in politics. The u. N. Climate talks will continue, countries will continue to make incremental steps, but we will not achieve the really genuine significant deep cuts in Carbon Pollution until we are able to get to work to do an Even Stronger movement for Climate Justice in 2013. The u. N. Climate summit will be taking place in poland, and massive the country massively reliant on coal. Australia is the Worlds Largest exporter of coal, the most carbon in tins of fossil fuel. The guardian rights, australians for an average of slightly more carbon per capita than the citizen