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reporting from washington, i'm katty kay. america's surveillance practices will be curtailed. we speak to the former head of the national security agency. and the great train robber dies at the age of 86. we look back at his famous heist and his years on the run. welcome to our viewers on public television here in america and also around the globe. the white house released a report from a presidential task

force calling for more than 40 proposed reforms to the national security agency surveillance programs. keep collecting massive amounts of phone data but it should be stored by a third-party. president obama will address the report in january. i spoke to the former nsa director a short time ago. 46 points of recommendations that the board has come forward with. let's start with a collection of phone call data from americans. >> the 215 program from the patriot act. those are all the phone records to, from, when, how long. all calls made to and from the united states. that this data not be held by the government, but by a third

party. either the phone companies or a to be determined third-party. and not without the specific permission of the fisa court for that query. that is different from where the andrnment holds the data can query the data on a reasonable suspicion. the government did that 200 times last year. communityntelligence has to tell the president is how much of an operational impediment it will create in intelligence analysis. >> it will be collected but with restrictions on how it can be used. let's look at leadership. on collectingarry

the phone call records of foreign leaders. >> sometimes. is the only logical possible sustainable answer. that this kind of activity will be reviewed at the highest levels of the government. i think this will be conducted in the national security council staff. through. go intelligence gain isn't the only one. due respect and deference for foreign leaders. i suspect we will do this less often. we will still do it and when we do it, it will be an american choice. >> will angela merkel be happy

-- >> i think she will. said we will not do this to you. the president can't say we won't do this to any chancellor or any german official. presidente unwise for .o predict the future so much you reviewed all 46 recommendations and we don't know which will be adopted. do they address the concerns you might have had? >> i was pretty comfortable with how they are being conducted. there was no evidence of abuse. my old community is taking a bit of a public whipping in the united states and somewhat globally.

not so much for what they have done, but it was so secretive. you did not have consent of the governed. they did not know. we are in a new culture with shifting standards. they will have to be more transparent. these recommendations are a series of steps that will create transparency. it is not an argument not to do some of these things. making this more public will shave points off of operational effectiveness. if we don't do that, it won't matter. >> thank you for coming in.

>> financial markets around the world are waiting for the u.s. federal reserve to announce the decision to reduce the amount of stimulus to the american economy. thefed said it will trim $85 billion a month bond purchases by $10 billion starting in january. we all expected this to happen. did we expect it so soon? >> there has been talk for months and months. in june, ben bernanke said the fed would look to get out of this policy. the question was when. we got the answer today on the back of improving economic data. the u.s. economy has been adding around 195,000 jobs each month for the past year. it is that improvement that brought the unemployment down to

seven percent and it has given to go ahead. the fed the confidence it needed >> what are other countries so interested? risk has essentially made slightly more attractive. not just in the u.s. but overseas. people getting less returns on their investment were prepared to take greater risk, for example, in emerging markets. the talk of starting to pull back from this, you start to see this pullback of money from some of the risky investments. that is why this is so closely watched. in some ways, it is more symbolic. the senate passed a budget with bipartisan support and goes to president obama. the agreement avoids a government shutdown and relieves

what a lot of uncertainty. parliament approved an amnesty law. it is being seen as an attached to ease western concern about the human rights record with the olympic's coming up in sochi next year. >> this legislation has moved to the parliament at the highest possible speed. it had its first reading yesterday and is now already enforced. thousands of people convicted of minor crimes. the winter olympics a few months away, it is likely to take the most controversial cases of recent years. the women from pussy riot are ending the two-year sentence and could be released before the new

year if the paperwork goes through quickly. they pointed out that the relief is only minor. it is a double-edged sword. it is a chance to show some government concessions at the end of the term. it can also have an effect in some circles it in russia. also, the greenpeace activist should have the charges against him dropped which would allow them to leave the country. it doesn't take too long to have our passports stamped and be returned back to our country. >> human rights activists are disappointed. they hoped legislation would be much wider.

international thought a better way would be to again -- begin to abide by the russian constitution. >> egypt's public prosecutor has ordered the formerly ousted morsi to stand trial on charges for conspiring to commit terrorist acts in egypt. accused of working with has blocked -- the shiite group hezbollah. thousands seeking refuge as fighting between government forces and rebel groups continue. president has said that he is prepared to enter into talks with his rival to end the violence that left hundreds of people dead. value afternged in

reports to restrict the trade. they ordered financial institutions do not provide those services and products. the u.s. secretary of state says america regrets the treatment of an indian diplomat that was strip searched by police after she was arrested on a visa violation. they say she lied about how much she paid her housekeeper. it sparks protest outside the american embassy and the white house had this to say. episode is notd indicative of the close and mutually respectful ties that we share. we understand this is a sensitive issue. we are looking into the procedures to ensure that all standard procedures were followed and every opportunity for courtesy was extended.

with whoe earlier formerly served as the american ambassador to india. secretary kerry has expressed regret. how damaging do you think it is? >> having been in politics and diplomacy, it is very important that it is not just what you do, but how you do things and where you do them. may be mistakes were made. maybe this could have been handled better by components or hearts of our law enforcement. we need to get this behind us. we all know having proudly served our country, that the

president deeply values this relationship. that john kerry does. democrats innd this country deeply value it. it should not be defined by this one instance. responsehe ferocity of suggests that there is a fragility in the relationship? >> we don't want to see either side escalate this right now. we want to get to the facts of what happened in new york. --ing sure that both guys sides don't have a cascading problem.

india and the united states can work together in afghanistan. india has invested over 2 billion there. the u.s. and india and pakistan should be working more closely together for peace. >> emagin iran. not so much to help the united states, but to help themselves move toward the legacy of nonproliferation issues. and they are economic issues. we can create more jobs in america by exporting more to america. we want to make sure people respect the law when they live and we have an important

policy of treating people with respect and dignity. and we need to make sure we get to the bottom of this right away. >> is washington doing enough to quiet the row? three years ago, the women of yemen to to the streets in protest. on thursday, the space agency will launch what some say is the most ambitious science mission ever undertaken. it maps the position of a billion stars to give us the first accurate picture of what the milky way is really like.

our earth is one of eight worlds that orbit the sun. the sun is one of billions of stars in the galaxy. the european space agency's latest mission is to find out exactly where they are. a camera that is sensitive enough to detect stars that are millions of miles away. the camera that made have one just like it they are keeping on earth. a different color to detect different kinds of life. this is the most powerful camera ever built. it can take a picture of a human hair 1000 miles away. its job will be to measure the size, brightness, and position of more than one billion stars. they will test if it will withstand the vibration of

rockets during takeoff. we will be able to look at the color information of those stars and elements of where they are and where they are moving. >> it will chart stars similar to our own sun and find exploding ones called supernovae. , we may for black holes even discover that our galaxy is a completely different shape to what we see here. >> yemen was one of the first countries to be caught up in the mass protests that swept across the middle east. their voices against

unemployment and corruption. yemen has the dubious distinction of being ranked the worst country in the world to be a woman. half of all girls are married off for the age of 18. >> one of the most conservative countries in the middle east. it has been a male-dominated society for centuries. boys are taught from a very early age that it's the men that control every aspect of life here. women are almost invisible. and for generations, had no say. as the arab uprising spread throughout the region, hundreds of thousands came out in protest.

women were at the forefront of demonstrations that overthrew the former president and his government. they went to help other women that are voiceless. , it ist majority difficult to buy property and half of them are forced to get married when they are still very young. >> if anyone needs change, it is this family. her family is desperately poor and heavily in debt. says she had to do this to pay off her debts. >> within have a choice. what do you want him to do, beg in the streets?

>> i did not want to get married, but they made me do it anyway. e what do you say to them in came here to marry me and my sisters know we are poor and my parents won't do anything to stop it. all i wanted to do was finish school and become a doctor. marriage is aild priority. they get married when they are very young. sometimes they can get pregnant and many died. >> child marriage is just one of

many challenges women face here. there is a long road ahead before they see the progress. the hope is that the next generation will have a chance for a better future. >> a sad fate for so many girls in yemen. the great train robbery has gone down as one of the greatest heists of all time. one of the masterminds has died at the age of 84. joe for his part in the $7 million crime and after escaping from prison, he spent 30 years on the run before returning to britain. the petty criminal that took part in the crime of the century. one of the gang stopped and rob the glasgow to london mail trade in 1963.

they took 2 million pounds, equivalent to 40 million today. driver to this point. the man that he came up with simply couldn't do it so someone in the gang hit the real driver. >> dozens of police officers were brought in. they questioned his minor role. he is a criminal with a they acted all. within their own interest. he was quickly arrested and given 30 years in jail.

walle clambered over the and leapt onto awaiting lorry. he ended up at rio to avoid extradition and frittered away his 150,000 cut from the robbery all without remorse. >> it has given me a little place in history and i made a mark for myself. >> he exploited his fugitive relishing and embellishing his role of celebrity criminal to anyone who would listen. his death coincided with this film screening tonight. say he wasst to him always misunderstood. >> he was funny and very intelligent. he was a very well read man.

spent eight years in prison. to the end, he gestured his defiance. >> ronnie biggs died at the age of 84 after an incredibly colorful life. that brings today's program to a close. updates andy on for read around the world. look at local listings, you'll find our channel number there. from all of us here, thank you for watching.

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captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> woodruff: the federal reserve scales back, deciding today that it will start putting the brakes on its stimulus program. good evening, i'm judy woodruff. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. also ahead this wednesday, a presidential task force calls for placing limited controls on n.s.a. surveillance at home and abroad. >> woodruff: plus, an update from tacloban, where typhoon damage can still be seen in all directions and a massive aid effort keeps churning away. >> in this temporary warehouse, there are some 200 volunteers from the community preparing care packages for an estimated 2.5 million to three million mouths