moment of the truce after days of fighting there appears to be a ceasefire between israel and hamas but will it last we'll have an update on the efforts to bring back some stability to that region. and hurricane sandy left behind major damage across the east the northeast now police in new york are learning floodwaters may have washed away evidence in criminal cases so what does this mean for people facing charges story coming up. and big brother watching from above now that more people are questioning the use of drones some police departments want to keep the public in the dark but should citizens have a right to know that drones are hovering over their city as our looks into the

issue in a moment. it's wednesday november twenty first five pm here in washington d.c. i'm liz wahl and you're watching arts. well we begin with the deadly conflict between gaza and israel a cease fire has been in effect for just a couple of hours now and it was announced at a news conference in cairo with secretary of state hillary clinton and the egyptian foreign minister for the past eight days israel and gaza have environ missiles and rockets back and forth resulting in nearly one hundred fifty deaths in total both sides both sides launched more than three thousand rockets or not too long before the ceasefire announcement a public bus was bombed in tel aviv reportedly injuring twenty eight people the

spokesman for the israeli prime minister's office alex spoke to r.t. international earlier today. of course you insist it's simply responding israel simply responding to attacks against hamas but let's take a look at some figures more than seventy palestinians civilians killed in the past seven days whereas in israelis have died in bulk rocket attacks actually from gaza since the last major israeli operation four years ago is that your government's response disproportionate to you. it's definitely big numbers and we do and we do know as this but as a continue hiding behind civilians so please if you feel that it must start so we call upon all the international community and we call upon everybody who really doesn't want this violence first of all to pressure on terrorist organizations to

stop this violence and to call upon them not to use civilians then israel will stop any kind of operations because all we need is safety all we need is species all we need is peaceful life for our children and for ourselves we just want safety for us . for the ceasefire isn't a fact for now but it remains to be seen whether both sides will continue to respect it. all it's like superstorm sandy they're damaged beyond homes and bros the n.y.p.d. is facing a troubling consequence of the hurricane it looks like critical evidence in criminal cases has been destroyed there's after two large storage houses where evidence was stored was flooded so what does this mean for new yorkers facing charges are to correspondent honest r.c. a churkin has more. had anastasio what kind of evidence it has been damaged. well liz yet another blow to new york city to new york after hurricane sandy not

only were the lives of over one hundred ten people taken in this hurricane just in the united states not only was the life of tens of thousands of people made a virtual nightmare during this hurricane where people didn't know where to store food they were out of power you know they couldn't get to work voting troubles that we've been reporting on really a complicated situation for thousands of people and now we have this latest blow to the new york police department where several facilities have been that have been containing and storing crucial evidence in what is for now an unknown number of criminal cases has now been destroyed so we have a situation where these facilities with this evidence. because of the major flooding experienced in the state now have the evidence either become completely unreliable because of the destruction of the contamination of the water and some evidence was just simply washed away and what we're talking about here is literally thousands of containers of biological evidence officials are right now estimating

this number that it might be as high as tens of thousands of containers and one of these can hold anything from one piece of evidence to several which could include anything from blood stained clothing to bedding to objects with fingerprints you name it we know that thousands of bicycles that could have been used for evidence and hundreds of cars and bikes and motorcycles for example have been destroyed and we're talking about in terms of specifically what kind of cases this might affect anything from very crucial d.n.a. and homicide cases for example to more petty a crime so definitely a serious situation and it's just unraveling now officials are yet to learn exactly how much of an impact this is going to have. i mean that was going to be my next question how could this affect pending criminal cases could it be damage to the evidence affect the outcome of some of the cases and beyond that could some suspects be freed. well is the situation here is the following basically because of specifically what kind of evidence we're talking about here d.n.a.

for example this is something that's extracted of course in the initial stage stages of a case so the d.n.a. that was needed for certain cases was extracted and stored in other facilities so this was not affected but if prosecution for example or anybody in the trial needs to revisit some of the objects that are used for evidence this is going to of course be a major problem and as i said right now officials are kind of flabbergasted they don't know what they're going to have to do because they have to investigate specifically what was what was what was lost are these cases that are just in the first stages are these cases that are you know a completely reliant on these on this evidence that's now been destroyed so that's something that we're going to have to obviously wait and see and that's something they're still working on we do hear reports that reap cases for example are not going to be affected officials here have said that reap kits are being stored in different locations and it's important that you know this storm was so huge police did actually try to take precautions to store the seven and this is not a complete surprise they did use these kind of wooden wooden stools to try to lift

up the containers with the evidence and use sandbags but because the storm was so enormous there's not really much they could have done would you say that the big problem that they're now facing shows that maybe they didn't prepare enough. well like i just said liz you know they did certainly take the precautions that they could and we knew this was a major storm coming but even with all the measures that were taken by officials in new york we've seen how how crazy the storm has been that it's just literally ruined for weeks the lives of tens of thousands of people so this is just really one of the consequences we're seeing you know thankfully in this particular case it can play out in many different ways in terms of what cases it can affect and some are saying maybe it will you know end up freeing some people we're not sure if that's a good thing necessarily or not depending on which cases we're talking about but we do know that the officials did do what they can to try to help this help this evidence stay safe but because this was these of her syllabi is that we're talking

about were held in zone eight places that were likely to be most affected maybe they should have done a better job of evacuating it they didn't. so they would you say this is another example i mean we're seeing the aftermath of this storm in the northeast. you know some of the long lasting and far reaching effects of sandy i know you did extensive reporting on the election and how people were saying that was affecting the voting outcome bear and now even court evidence that's right liz i mean it's just been really crazy to witness how much of an impact sandy has had on people's lives and you know right now as we speak here in new york city alone about two hundred buildings are being talked about being demolished because they've been ruined to an extent where they can't be used by families anymore we know that the future of hundreds of other homes is still up in the air and of course you know reports are saying that thousands of people you know with their families have filed for help with the government to try to be able to get some sort of help with housing in new jersey there are still tent cities around where people are taking taking you know

getting a roof over their heads in this in these cold months so certainly you know just crazy consequences the donations we've been seeing coming from all over the united states specifically to the tri state area some of the work some of the groups have been doing such as occupy we've reported on that other groups as well it's really been a struggle and certainly something that the many thousands of people here in new york continue to deal with. thank you that was our correspondent on the stasi it. well still ahead here on our it's here we all know the u.s. news and drone warfare overseas but more and more drones are being used here in the u.s. and that has some people asking why one police department wants to keep their drone program a secret. here's

mitt romney trying to figure out the name of that thing that many americans call a dollar. i'm sorry i missed the guy who cares an awful lot of money for you solo artists who you know what kind of them are there terrorist cells in your neighborhood i want you to listen to featurism me on liberal christian public you. can see there's only so far there's. no call for you to distract us from what you

and i should care about because they're a profit driven industry that sells a sensationalistic garbage he calls it breaking news i'm having martin and we're going to break this that. please. the american power continues.

and it. came. to the capitol and i'm lauren lyster. a keeping drone use a secret it appears that's what's happening in a california county this after

a freedom of information acts from an organization called amok rock and the electronic frontier foundation the request as part of their ongoing efforts to conduct a drone census across the country to find out who has them and who wants them but when the san diego sheriff was asked to fork over drone documents he said there weren't any at first there was no cause for alarm but after looking into responses from other cities it became apparent that san diego did and fact have documents pertaining to drones so why the big secret for more on this artsy correspondent ramon glinda during this earlier i first asked him how it came to light that san diego had documents relating to drones take a listen. the electronic frontier foundation and mark rock have been conducting this drone census where they're using the freedom of information act to get this information regarding drones from several different law enforcement agencies now when they asked sandy was sheriff's department anyone shares apartment didn't give

them any information but when they're poring over the documents that were handed over from the seattle p.d. they noticed that some of the sales people who are trying to sell unmanned aerial vehicles to the seattle police department had also been trying to sell these same drones to san diego sheriff they were able to find this sales quote which really details how much the system would cause the city along with cause for training so even though this annual sheriff at the time of the request has said that they had nothing to do with drone systems the documents which were handed over by the seattle police department definitely showed that there had been some sort of inner interaction between manufacturers and the san diego sheriff's department. so what do you think doesn't look like there was an intentional coverup. well i just got off with the san diego sheriff's department just a few minutes ago and what they tell me is that there is no intention to cover

anything and that they have been as transparent as they can be with the public and the press however many investigative journalist will tell you quite the opposite i've been on the phone all day today with fellow journalists and you said that they've also been stonewalled before when they file for your requests with the san diego sheriff's department however as i mentioned i did speak with. department spokesperson just a few minutes ago who did mention that they have looked into drone surveillance in the past however that it does not fit their purposes at this moment and therefore they say that they're not going to buy any in the near future did they comment specifically on the contradiction that was there that they sad that there was never any intent there were no documents when in fact it did come out that there were documents and they respond to that. right well i asked him about this they again

refused to comment on the investigation that croc had. had brought out reiterating the fact that they were very transparent and that they may at some point look into drone usage in the future they say that they are not. actively searching for joan manufactures to service them with drones they say that they were approached by this drone manufacture and according to the shares apartment there's nothing nefarious however when the sheriff's department comes back with responses that there's no right for the public to know about this and they come out and deny and then later facts come out say that they were dealing with many factures there's still a lot of suspicion within the public and in the press about what their true intentions are now why would the san diego sheriff's department want to keep this a secret from the public. that's right and this is not unprecedented i mean we were

remember that up in the seattle police department contracts were being made with drone manufacturers without the public knowledge a lot of backlash so there's always that possibility you know the san diego sheriff's department also has not applied for any sort of approval from the f.a.a. that excuse me from the f.a.a. to conduct any sort of testing. when it when it comes to drones over san diego county so there's also that the county is not prepared with regulations to all of that so if there is any sort of negotiating negotiations happening with many factures it would likely stir up a lot of controversy about whether the agency will be flying those drones over the city of san diego right now this was all this all came to light after this freedom of information act request was requested filed by these organizations are known as

california that the public they're entitled to know this information. well many of the public and many journalists believe that yes because when you talk about drones i mean when we talk about drones they're known as these unmanned aerial aircraft which just cause havoc in places like pakistan and afghanistan so whenever you hear that there's going to be drones and up to thirty thousand drones flying in the skies over the u.s. i mean that really puts a lot of concern into people's minds i mean these drones that will be used here in the united states will most likely not be weaponized however there's always these surveillance privacy and you know data security issues the more that we get into this drone technology the more advanced they become you know they have infrared sensors and one of the uses that the senate was sheriff's department said that they are looking at possibly using drones in the future is when it comes to eradicating

marijuana fields or at least spotting marijuana fields in the hill country so so definitely a lot of security and privacy concerns when any time that you bring up drones and any time you bring up domestic surveillance here in the u.s. right i know vermont you spent some time on the border there and it's there on the border where drones are used can you talk about how drones are used on the border and and by local police departments we are looking at video reporting on the border that's right we were reporting on the border now the department of homeland security has acquired several drones to monitor not just the southern border along u.s. and mexico but also the northern border now these unmanned aerial vehicles the purpose of them is to help catch drug smugglers or undocumented immigrants which are

crossing the border now this program costs hundreds of millions of dollars and even the homeland security. department itself there are others have said that this program has not really given them much results when you take a look at how much it costs and how many drug seizures. have actually happened now besides trying to catch drug smugglers and immigrants crossing the border will remember that in north dakota a local. local law enforcement agency there called the homeland security department to help them arrest of family which was suspected of stealing livestock and they are able to surround that family and arrest them without firing any shot so these are the things that are. that the drones are currently being used for here domestically. interesting yeah we're seeing that they're finding a lot of different uses for drones these days so we we know about this we know that

at least on some level there was. i guess the sheriff's department wasn't completely truthful or they didn't they didn't disclose all the documents when they didn't fact have them this is what was revealed through this investigation but so we know that this is happening it was kind of happening in secret and san diego is it possible around that it's happening and other areas of the united states and is it possible that other cities are getting ahold of drones are planning on it without the public knowing and therefore not being able to respond would many of these cases the public doesn't know what is going on behind the scenes and that's concerning to a lot of journalists and just a lot of the people in the public which really want to know how their government is spending their money and whether their government is actually spying on them as i mentioned earlier in seattle when the police department there was secretly acquiring these drone systems i mean there there was

a lot of anger in that community and we haven't just seen protests there we saw protests in oakland when the. so you found out that the sheriff's department there was looking into drone usage there and that's why we see the really strong importance of this drone census which is being conducted by the electronic frontier foundation and muck rock where they've gone and as hundreds of law enforcement agencies whether they have whether they're using or planning to acquire this drone technology and that's really given out a lot of knowledge. and power to the citizenry and then they'll they'll react accordingly you know and that's what the privacy advocates are hoping for anyway. thanks for staying on top of this that was our t. correspondence among you that. i also had here on r.c.s. thanksgiving credit tradition at the white house is to pardon attorney for its hero

but how generous as president obama when it comes to pardoning people find out when we return. our g. is the state run english speaking russian channel it's kind of like al-jazeera.

russia today has an extremely confrontational stance when it comes to us. we just put a picture of me when i was like nine years old like that you know like truth. says i am a total get of friends that i love rap and hip hop music and for. that it was kind of a yesterday. i'm very proud of the world without you it's a place. to

sleep. not just burn your eyes right right i mean it's like a derivative of actual pepper it's a product essentially. it's much stronger than anything it's you by. thousands of times i'm stronger than any kind of.

and now putting an end to a bloody massacre that happens each and every year and keeping up with tradition today president obama pardon the turkeys gobbler and cobbler you know they say the life is all about second chance. and this november i could not agree more. so in the spirit of the season i have one more gift to give the goes to a pair of turkeys named cobbler and gobbler. for many though the president's empathy for the poultry just underlines the lack of pardons granted by obama when it comes to his fellow humans at this point in his presidency obama has granted clemency less frequently than any other us president and modern history the numbers

say it all take a look president obama has pardoned twenty two people and granted a one commutation of sentence since taking office if you've applied for a pardon with the justice department's office of the pardon under pardon attorney under obama you have about a one in fifty chance of receiving clemency compare that to george w. bush who gave a pardons at a rate of about one in thirty three of those who applied or under bill clinton one in every eight people who applied received a presidential pardon. now the constitution gives the president the power to forgive people who are found guilty of federal offenses whether to acknowledge an unfair sentence or community community work that was done since the crime apart in kind allowed people rights by that were lost by becoming felons that includes voting business permits gun rights and more and while obama may be saving all his

pardons i guess we'll have to wait and see for his second term he has only granted one commutation which allows a person currently serving time to get an early release from prison for those people each and every day counts and though obama may have pardoned gobbler and cobbler it will be interesting to see who the unlucky turkey is on his dinner plate tomorrow and we're going to leave it off there bud for more on the stories we covered you going to head on over to our web site our you to website as youtube dot com slash r t america our website artsy dot com slash usa you can also follow me twitter outlives wall i'll be back here at.

mr. klein of american power continues. things are so bad might actually be time revolution.