>> coming up on r.t., in new york the u.n. general assembly continues. circling around the thawing u.s.-iranian relations. in california, a law was signed that gives teens an online era sure button. while that was passed, there was growing privacy concerns over future twitter ads. we will talk about that and more in today's tech report. and synthetic marijuana is slowly becoming an alternative to the real stuff in the u.s. but it's an alternative that can

have deadly consequences. now local governments are battling to regulate it. we will tell you more in the special investigation. it's thursday, september 26, 5:00 p.m. in washington dc r.t. you are watchingr.t. -- you raeare watching r.t. first, the five permanent members of the security council continue their efforts to find agreements on a resolution addressing syria's chemical weapons. john kerry and the russian foreign secretary had been working closely to draft a pact to convinced syria to give up chemical weapons. also today, john kerry is meeting with iran's foreign

minister and top diplomats from four other country to talk about iran's nuclear program. today, iran's president rouhani, called for the complete eradication of nuclear weapons all around the world. >> no nation should possess nuclear weapons. since there are no right hands for these wrong weapons, as you, mr. secretary-general have rightly put it, iran is determined to make every effort to realize the vision of a nuclear weapon free world without further delay. >> also today, the general assembly heard from the palestinian authority president abbas regarding palestine's

effort towards permanent membership of the u.n. and the prospects of peace with israel. joining me from our new york studios for the latest on all of this r.t.'s anastasia -- let's start with the u.n. security council. we are hearing reports that a deal may be reached on syria. the russian foreign minister address reporters within the last hour. what did he say and what are you hearing in regard to this deal? >> well, sam, finally confirm a diplomatic breakthrough has finally been reached on syria resolution to now be voted on by the security council. the russian foreign minister had confirmed that a text has been agreed upon by russia and the united states. this was something that was worked on for days if not weeks because of a major disagreement on whteether the use of force should be mentioned in this resolution. russia'position has been that

this is out of the question and military intervention or use of force or simple chapter 7 of the u.n. charter should not be mentioned in this resolution. whereas, theue u.s. believes the opposite. they did agree that the use of force will not be mentioned in this text. basically, the security council today will already start putting together the document that they are likely to vote upon in the shortest time to come, maybe tomorrow, maybe in the days to come. what is going to be and this resolution is a framework that the u.s. and russia had agreed upon in geneva in september last year when they decided that a political transition for syria would be best. now the text will continue to ensure that syria moves its chemical weapons under international control. >> interesting. that is breaking news coming from the u.n. moving onto this iran nuclear program. russia will play an

integral role in whatever talks come. did the foreign minister address this in his press conference? >> sam, no. iran was not addressed in this press conference. it was very brief to update us on the latest on the aching news on syria -- breakingn ews on syria, but we know a meeting between iran plus five members of the security council plus germany should be underway as we speak. waited continue to discuss the iranian enrichment program -- the u.s. foreign minister and the iranian sit face-to-face. there have been major disagreements tha. the new iranian president that has been indicating left and right that catehran is

ready for a lessening of the tensions, that they are ready to cooperate. we have heard barack obama earlier this week say that he believes that the door for diplomacy is open if toronto is willing to walk through it. this meeting today that -- tehran is willing to walk through it. . this meeting today will determine what steps come next. >> this meeting comes, the iranian president rouhani addressed the u.n. this morning. he called for a nuclear weapon free world. does that give us insights into what is going on in this meeting that is taking place right now on iran's nuclear program? >> to some extent, it does. it shows us that it change of tone has taken place between iran and the united states. in the speech you referred to, ira's rouhani says dangerous weapons, no hands that hold the

mother right hands to have these weapons. he has indicated that iran believes the world should be nuclear free. this is certainly something that is welcome by the west that had been expressing concerns. really, we should be waiting, staying put and waiting to hear what comes out of these latest talks, because they could be a game changer. although, it could be baby steps in a positive directoion of dialogue. >> abbas address the general assembly. syria and iran have been taking up all of the news here but u.n. has always been focused on the middle east peace process. has this move this process forward at all and where does palestine stand on his bid for permanent membership that the u.n.? >> we know that the obama administration has, of course sy ria and iran did steal the headlines, we know the middle east peace process has also been the third headline in their list of priorities this week.

we heard from palestine today, abbas, yes. he remembered the international community that palestine is thankful that it received observer status at the u.n. g.a. last year. this is certainly thatth the palestinian people have been thankful for. a new round of talks have been going on over the last several weeks, and that there is hope that finally the peace process will also move forward. this is something that has been difficult for many years, but it was a very hopeful message today that further negotiations and talks that have been underway may be able to push this process forward as well. >> giving us the latest on the u.n. general assembly from new york city. now stuck in the middle of the two-year long syrian civil war is a small town, home to 3000 residents, mostly christians. r.t. has been ringing continuing

coverage from the city, as it became a battleground between extremist rebel fighters affiliated with a terror group and the assad government. the fighting continues. the town is dealing with a share of destruction. recently we spoke with an arch chris about the -- archbishop who told the story of the town and the hardships wrought on by the civil war. >> we are an ancient town, northeast of damascus, and it is on the list of heritage sites. it is made of mainly christian, some muslim families who have lived together for many centuries peacefully. it is was one of the few towns in syria where aramaic is still spoken. the inhabitants originally come

from the aramaic people of syria, which was the dominant race before islam. now many around here have become "arabized" through language and other things, but the town kept its aramaic identity. it is not different than other christian enclaves in the large cities. they have always said that what is happening in syria now is against their own interests as citizens and especially as christians, as it's well known and documented, christians entered the -- and the assad rule have lived relatively peacefully. and the government and the city and population - -the syrian population have been nice to the christians, because the christians are the original inhabitants of syria. therefore, keeping the christian

presence in syria is a richness and is enriching the society. therefore, they understood -- always stood with the country. i cannot say with the government, because they love the country. they think the current regime is good for christians. it is a secular regime. they are afraid of what comes after. >> it is on the unesco list of tentative world heritage sites, famous for two of the oldest monastery surviving and the convent. residents are urging the international committee of the red cross and other nongovernment organizations to provide aid to the village as well as the convent and residents who have taken refuge within it. amid all of the bluster on capitol hill about government shutdown, debt limits and green eggs and ham, very quietly efforts to reform the national security agency are moving forward in a bitg way.

since june, snowden's revolutions -- revelations have led to more than a dozen pieces of legislation being introduced to rein in the nsa and bring light to the foreign intelligence surveillance court. this week, all of those bills were fused together into one bill, the most comprehensive and most aggressive nsa reform bill introduced yet. the bill was unveiled wednesday by a bipartisan group of senators. it will restrict the nsa's ability to continue the mass collection of american xfone data under section 215 of the patriot act. it limits certain internet communications. and it closes the back door that allows analysts to search through americans data that may have been swept up into the

databases. while it also reforms the court by putting in place a special constitutional advocate to act as an adversary against government requests for more information. today, nsa chief keith alexander was called to testify in front of the senate intelligence committee alongside the director of national intelligence, jaems maeses clapper, who defended his spying programs. >> all of us in the intelligence community are very much aware that the recent unauthorized disclosures have raised concerns in congress and across the nation about our intelligence activities. we know that the public wants both to understand how it's intelligence community uses its special tools and authorities and to judge whether we can be trusted to use them appropriately. we believe we have been lawful and that the rigorous oversight we have operated under have - - has been effective. >> sensing congress may take action, the nsa is making

appeals to the american public. alexander said, " the american people have to weigh in and help us get the tools we need to defend this country." since the leaks polling has showed the american people uncomfortable with the nsa's activities. now on to some interesting development regarding online privacy. first, there is twitter, which announced this week it will seek a $1.5 billion initial public offering from the new york stock exchange. as the news china's social networking giant readies to cash in, there are concerns that might sell out its privacy record. twitter recently purchased an online advertising platform which takes bids from online advertising to create targeted ads on mobile devices. thanks to the unique way that people use twitter and how they collect user web traffic data

from sites they tweet from, the coming together of these groups could give advertisers unprecedented access to data on users. should we expect twitter to be met with the same sort of privacy skepticism that now plagues facebook? speaking up privacy on social networks, this week california became the first state in the nation to give minors the right to have their data erased completely off social networking sites. the new online eraser bill requires websites that cater to teenagers, including social media sites, to give users under 18 years old the ability to delete any posting they made on the website. the website must clearly inform underage users how to do this. the idea is to give miners who were not fully aware of the implications of posting certain things on the internet chance to erase it all before they enter adulthood and start apply to colleges and jobs. that law is slated to go into effect on january 1, 2015.

joining me for some talk on these issues and others is the president of tech freedom. welcome. let's start with twitter. it has gotten better privacy marks than some of its, some other social networking site like facebook. but with pursuing a huge ipo and the acquisition of this company, do you see twitters changing his tune on privacy? >> they will be criticism but a lot of it comes from misunderstandings of how online advertising works. so a lot of people are afraid that somehow twitter will share information with advertisers, the weight of people have said that about facebook. that is not how online advertising works. if you are an advertiser and you have a list of twitter accounts or names, you can have twitter show ads to those users, but that does not mean that you get any information aout that user. so people will see better ads, more useful ads, so twitter can

provide more services, but there is not a privacy problem because advertisers will not be seeing any more information. >> in regard to this company mopub, which sounds like an online marketplace where advertisers can see where people are on social media and bid on ads, is it a legitimate concern that by acquiring this company, twitter can populate it with all of this data from its users and when online advertisers go there to figure out which users to target, they suddenly have a lot more information than they had before? >> it is pouring to understand that all that would be happening is that the ads would be better targeted. advertiser would not be getting more information. there is always a concern when more information is shared about data security. as long as twitter has good data security and is letting users opt out, there is not a problem here. this is not the kind of information he nsa or government

agencies care about. what they want us contents of e- mail, browsing history. that's truly sensitive. that is not what we're talking about. >> in regard to privacy, and that is some pretty sensitive stuff, you do not want people knowing where they are making phone calls, and who they are associating with, couldn't privacy stretched and not wanting corporations to know what you are searching for on the internet? maybe you are searching for some stuff that might be personally embarrassing and then you are inundated with these ads. people can infer this person must be searching. >> privacy means different things to different people. the situation you described is a situation that is over the shoulder privacy. somebody sees what is shown on the screen. if that is what you're concerned about, you can do private browsing mode on all of the major browsers out there today that will actually conceal even from the company that you are using the search engine what you are searching for any ads that will show will not be targeted to you. you can opt out.

or use do not track. >> let's move onto this california protecting minors from making decisions on the internet. do you think this is a good law? if you do, why should o nlnly minors be given a chance to make a second decision about what they publish? >> there has never been a good state law regulating the internet. the states have tried. california has over 200 bills pending. states are not very well situated to do this. they do not have a lot of technological competence. they are also legally questionable as to whether they are able to do that. this particular law is something everyone can understand and relate to on a visceral level, but it raises a host of problems. by allowing people to delete things they posted online that are public, which you may end up doing them practice is removing online discussions with other users. so that is not the kind of thing

we embrace in a country that values free speech. "in depth but conceptually,d there be a mechanism by people who post certain things on the internet, where they have a way to get that off the internet. how do you go about creating that? >> i do not think you legislated. there are told for companies like facebook have offered. you can remove posting and delete your account. a great set of privacy controls. that's fine. the problem is that when you start legislating, when you tell people there is a silver bullet solution that will remove every piece of content out there, you create a false sense of security, because the reality is anything posted on the internet can be copied. it is very difficult to take it down. the most important thing is teaching kids, especially younger kids, to post responsibly. >> it comes down to personal responsibility when it comes to what you are doing on the internet. there is another component of this law that prevents websites

from targeting minors with ads in cigarettes and tobacco in tanning booths. >> it is another example of how states try to regulate the internet. they come up with all sorts of zany rules and one which might make sense. over rtime, if you get 50 states writing rules, it becomes very hard for the internet to work. if there are going to be laws, they should be done at the federal level, not by all 50 states. >> you seem optimistic about what these -- and not as concerned. where do you see this in 10 years or even sooner as far as targeted advertising? you have seen that minority report. do you see it's going that direction? >> a lot of the things that we are concerned about today we will realize were not the real problems in the future. the real problems are things like nsa access. for the last 10 years, many people in the privacy community have been worried about advertising.

it is pretty silly. it reminds me when the camera came out. it is where migrant -- modern privacy law came from. the idea that you could have a camera that would take a photo of you without sitting still for an hour disturbed people. we got used to it. we will get used to online advertising. most younger people have. what we are really worried about him privacy is the government, identity thieves, and peer to peer privacy. on those scores, we're making good progress, where the government is not the problem. we should keep fighting. >> the president of tech freedom, thank you. on to th emoe monsanto protectin it. it is the provision that was quietly inserted into a spending bill last spring and signed into law that a sickly allows mon-- that allows monsanto to continue disturbing genetically modified seeds even after a court has ruled they may have not have met

certain environmental test. it makes the gmo seed industry exempt from the court system. since that was inserted into the short-term spending bill, it expires when that spending bill expires at the end of this week, when the government shutdown. now the house's spending bill passed last week, the one that de-funded obamacare and included an extension of the monsanto a ct. but the senate, that is working on its own spending bill was not included an extension of the monsanto protection act, that is according to barbara mikulski and mark pryor. as if there were not enough differences between the house and the senate when it comes to averting a government shutdown, the monsanto protection that could be a sticking point, too. on wednesday, the senate caucus on international narcotics control held a hearing on the rise of synthetic drugs. testifying at the history was michael botticelli, the deputy

director of the office of national drug control policy. he discussed the difficulty of cracking down and synthetic drugs, since their producers often change the chemical pickup of them so they are "not technically illegal." senator deiiane feinstein. >> it is not at all clear cut. and i don't know how you keep, can make cases if the chemicals keep changing, but the intent of the producer is what i would go for, because clearly the intent of the producer is for human consumption and they guise it thise wa way, and with not inted for human consumption and by name, candy or whatever it might be. i think it is -- this is what makes a diabolical. >> megan lopez has been looking

into the dangers of synthetic marijuana. here is part two of her investigation. >> it is a wonderful town. i love this place. we have got great character, great people. >> the quiet city of frederick, maryland, is perhaps best known as the final resting place of francis scott key, author of "the star spangle banner." and while this little city no longer has to worry about bombs bursting in air, frederick is a battleground of the different sort. >> we got to the point where we realized we had to do something. >> something about a drug problem taking over the city. synthetic marijuana. it is a designer drug wear nail polish remover mixed with chemicals is sprayed on dried herbs. sold -- similar to that of actual marijuana. with sometimes serious side effects. >> you are smoking chemicals. smoking something that is laced with, you do not know what.

you might be smoking lighter fluid. >> what started off as a community nuisance turned into a public health emergency. >> we started noticing that more with some reports from the frederick memorial hospital. something was happening in our town. >> the u.s. put a ban on 26 types of synthetic drugs in 2012. but the chemical makeup can be so easily manipulated that drugmakers quickly found ways to skirt the law. >> we had to figure out how it banned, and every combination. it was not that easy. >> frederick came up with a stricter law of its own last year, banning any synthetic substances that mimic the effects of drugs that are illegal under federal law. yet just a short drive up the road where towns do not have loss of their own, the product still stocks store shelves. i wanted to find out for myself how easy it really is to get your hands on the synthetic dru

gs. so i went outside the city limits, within the county but within the city of jefferson and sure enough, right off the highway is this guest station where i was able to get my hands on this bag. this is a bag that cost me $32. it is just as easily accessible and much of the u.s. and is sometimes wrongly described as a marijuana alternative. in order to truly understand the complexity of it, we need a quick chemistry lesson. it looks like marijuana and that that they are both kind of green-brown plants. these look very different. >> it all comes down to science. in the beginning were only a few classes of the chemical, most notably the jwh series named after the scientist who discovered it. its formula is c-24, h-23, no let's say i add a next or oxygen

molecule over here and i made all of these nitrogen. well, then i have a whole new chemical. for what happens if i took a couple of those nitrogen molecules away? i have created an entirely new drug. this is how many of those drugs are actually slipping past regulations. drug dealers have come up with over 200 compounds and counting. it is tough for authorities to identify them. >> with heroin and cocaine, we have this little kit that you can drop something in that changes the color. we have not kit like that. so how do we say this is illegal? >> by the time the lab has results, the drug dealers have come up with a new chemical structure. more and more local governments are trying to make laws that are not only stricter than the federal law but more enforceable. so far 43 states have taken it on. the state of maryland will join that list october 1.

it is a daunting hurdle facing the drug enforcement agency. >> this is the new frontier of drug trafficking and drug abuse. we were not dealing with this five years ago. >> over the past two years, they have conducted two major operations. operational logjam resulted in 90 arrests. 4.8 million packets seized and material to create another 13.6 million. they are making progress, but this public health emergency does not only rest on the dea's shoulders. >> this is like any drug issue, we are never going to arrest or enforce our way out of drug problems. what we need are for parents to be better. we need kids to be better. >> and that is going to do it for now. for more on the stories he covered, from the u.n. to the nsa go to youtube.com/rtamerica. and check out our website --

rt.com/usa. and you can follow me on twitter. we will see you back here at 8:00 p.m. thanks for watching. . . hello there and welcome to nhk. it's friday, september 27th. i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. japan's prime minister has stepped into the spotlight at the u.n. general assembly to weigh in on some of the world's most pressing foreign policy challenges. shinzo abe gave his take on the situation in syria and the threat posed by north korea. we have details. >> reporter: like many leaders, prmi