and. this is why you should watch it only. coming up on our t.v. on capitol hill the debate over u.s. military intervention in syria continues and even though obama gained approval from the senate foreign relations committee there are major hurdles ahead we'll tell you more next and in war torn syria the violence has reached a small town near the nation's capital it's a village that holds one of the oldest christian minorities in the world and growing concerns of this community coming up and don't forget to put your best face forward the department of homeland security is putting together a huge database for facial recognition but does this really help law enforcement more on that and today show.

it's friday september sixth four pm in washington d.c. i'm on your i david and you're watching our t.v. we begin today with syria as the debate for and against a military strike continues in congress president obama cleared a major hurdle this week by gaining approval from the senate foreign relations committee as they voted ten to seven on their own version of the military authorization however it hasn't exactly been easy for the administration continue to continue that momentum giving a full breakdown on the numbers behind the fight is r.t. political commentator sam sachs i've long believed that our power is rooted not just in our military might but in origin as a government of the people by the people and for the people and that's why i've made a second decision. i will seek authorization for the use of force from the american people's representatives in congress and with that president obama dispatched his

top secretaries to congress to make the case for military intervention in syria but today after a week of hearings both open and classified in the house and in the senate the president's plans to get congress on board are falling apart yes on wednesday the senate foreign relations committee move forward an authorization for force in syria and a vote before the full senate is scheduled next week but the senate is not where the president's problems a lot it's in the house republicans and democrats are lining up together to oppose any military intervention in syria archies been on the hill all week and here were some of the responses we received from skeptical lawmakers unintended consequences are the result of the united states getting involved in this civil war is my concern as a member of congress i came here today with a very open mind. to hear the argument of why we need to strike syria and still today they said ministration has failed to show me the direct threat to the united

states of america the question is what's best for us what's best for americans we are not under attack none of our allies are under attack and there is a reason why we call the department of defense the department of defense it's meant to it's to defend us and our allies against attacks that hasn't happened yet we have absolutely no guarantee it won't expand no guarantee of peace in the region a lot of american money spent some american blood maybe american lives and i'm very concerned we have no guarantees that will be successful and now based on what you heard right there it's not too much is of a surprise that early whip count in the house or the president's authorization for force going down in a resigning defeat here the numbers coming out of the house so far there are one hundred seventy three lawmakers still undecided but of those who have made up their mind. close to it only twenty six support strikes and eighteen are leaning toward a yes vote on strikes and on the flip side eighty five members plan to vote no and

another hundred thirty two are leaning no and you add that together that equals two hundred seventeen votes the resolution is defeated the president started sensing this debate is slipping away president obama announced that he would address the american people on tuesday to make his case and he's got his work cut out there too as a reuters poll this week showed fifty six percent of the american people opposed strikes only nineteen percent support strikes so what is going to happen what will the president do if he can't get congress on board well this morning his deputy national security adviser tony blinken told n.p.r. that strikes are off the table without the go ahead from congress he said quote the president of course has the authority to strike but it's neither his desire nor his intention to use that authority absent congress backing him but when asked specifically whether this was the case the president today refused to limit his

options i did not put this before congress. just as a political force or a symbol as the deputy national security adviser said that it is not your intention to attack if congress doesn't approve it is he right i don't think that's exactly what he said but. i think i've answered i've answered the question. so the president refuses to rule out going alone in striking syria yet under his own admission he was elected to stop wars not started and now as he's reversing this position in light of what he believes is a moral imperative to act he's losing international support he's losing congress he's losing the support of the american people so is this war really worth it in washington same sex or two and while top administration officials try and convince congress here at home that a military strike is necessary president obama is seeking out support from the

international community abroad at the g. twenty summit meanwhile on the ground in syria the battle for control has continued with fervor just yesterday government troops along with alleged al qaeda linked rebels fought for control of one syrian christian town north of damascus called ma lula there have been a series of hit and run attacks on the village which holds one of the oldest minority syrian populations the residents of mali speak the ancient language of aramaic which scholars believe was the language of jesus the attack highlights fears among syrian christians and other minorities that an alternative to assad's regime would not tolerate religious minorities earlier this afternoon i spoke with archbishop from kareem of the syrian orthodox church i first asked him to give me a sense of how lula fits into the demographics of syria. very ancient town northeast of the mask is and it is on the list of the heritage.

center is the us coalesced. is made of mainly christian and some muslim families who have lived together for many centuries peacefully. is one of the very few towns and cities in syria with make is still spoken. of course the habitants of my rule originally come from the aramaic people of syria which was the dominant race in syria before islam now many are around malula become arab. through language and through other things but my really kept its make . identity in addition to the syria population of the north east of syria in the jazeera has. and the two villages around it but. the only places where

i make in different dialects is this and indeed that it's a rarity in a south that i wanted to move on and ask you how you would describe the experience so far for syrian christians in particular even pre-sell been targeted there throughout this conflict malula is no different than other christian. population of christians in the large cities they have always felt that what's happening in syria right now is against their own interest as citizens of syria especially as christians as it's well known and documented christians and the as a rule. have lived relatively very peaceful. conditions and the government and the syrian population have been really nice to the christians because the christian after all these inhabitants of syria the original inhabitants of syria therefore keeping the christian present in the middle east especially in syria is a richness and is. in reaching the syrian society therefore they always stood

with. the country i cannot say with the government because they love the country and that's why they think the current regime is good for christians it's a secular regime and they are very much afraid of what comes after if this regime so let me ask you how would christians be affected by u.s. military intervention in syria they'll be affected quite badly and it's me just give you of some examples so far we have lost quite a few priests we have two hours bishops prominent church leaders the two reasons of aleppo you're one and. since april twenty second we have no word about their bows we don't know where they are we don't know what happened to them we are hoping and praying they're still alive and they will come back but they have been kidnapped by by elements who are affiliated with al qaida so what happens if

syria god forbid is ruled by groups affiliated with al qaida are we going to have another afghanistan the year let's just look at iraq although the government there is not affiliated with any muslim regime muslim but the christians being driven out of iraq in their hundreds of thousands of iraq you know i wanted to ask you if syria does border iraq and of course they're seeing a lot of sectarian violence right now do you think that what's going on in iraq is instigating what's going on in syria i don't believe so i don't believe it's instigating but i do believe that elements in iraq are making things things much worse for the syrians there are of course as we hear from the news there are people coming through iraq through turkey through jordan and through lebanon there are elements of extremists who come from all the way from of guidance then and and

those pics that and other countries such as saudi arabia and qatar they are fighting in syria they are doing their jihad in syria yes. they are making things more difficult for christians because these people who come outside of syria do not understand. the syrian society they do not know how syrians live together peacefully side by side for many centuries christian and muslims they come there blinded by the hatred and by the religious convictions they want they want to implement sharia law now the extreme norms in syria my it my fear my fear is that one day will come if god for with this government is toppled that we christians have to make a choice either to leave our country our own land or to be converted or otherwise be killed there be martyred and i know that your fear is shared by many many syrians particularly christians in syria will keep our eyes peeled and we're hoping for the basset thinking so much archbishop archbishop cyro afrin karim from the

syrian church for joining us we appreciate it thank you thank you for having me. it's still unclear at this point whether the united states will take military action in syria the world must wait as the u.s. debates and then votes on the highly contentious issue that hasn't stopped of military build up from multiple countries in the middle east r t correspondent megan lopez has the details well for the past week we have seen one obama administration official after another come out to talk about u.s. military options in syria and they're all using the term limited strike but what does that actually mean well let's break down some of the possibilities based on the various bits of information that are coming out first things first let's talk about what a limited strike is not and for that we turn to secretary of state john kerry the president is not asking you to go to war it's not asking you to declare war he's

not asking you to send one american troop to war he's simply saying we need to take an action that can degrade the capacity. of a man who's been willing to kill his own people by breaking a nearly hundred year old prohibition ok so no official declaration of war no boots on the ground kerry did lay out the two missions that the administration has in mind to deter and to degrade now these strikes are meant to deter syrian president bashar all offside and his military from ever using chemical weapons on their people again more than that the u.s. plans on using cruise missiles to attack the military units that have stored and prepared the chemical weapons that carried out the attacks against the syrian rebels the headquarters that oversaw the effort and the rockets and artillery that have launched these attacks the point here being to go after critical infrastructure needed to conduct these chemical attacks without actually going after the chemical stockpiles themselves and that's because it's simply too

dangerous to go after these stockpiles at this point ok so how are we going to do this well what we were hearing up until today involves shooting out cruise missiles from the for our early bird class destroyers that are currently in the region so let's go over some of the specs of this sea bohème and now these destroyers are fitted with anti aircraft missiles with anti submarine warfare rockets with radar with sonar harpoon missile launchers helicopters the works each ship carries about three dozen tomahawk cruise missiles which are a low flying highly accurate weapon that can be launched from a safe distance of one thousand miles away this is how the military plans to attack those strategic sites but just today we began hearing about a possible change of plan first pentagon officials have announced that they are expanding their list of possible targets beyond the fifty major sites that they had originally planned on hitting with the help of french forces of course this is

because american intelligence indicates that president all offside has been shifting his troops and equipment around the cunt. in anticipation of an attack now according to the administration sources the military is considering fighter jets to help conduct these strikes in addition to the destroyers those would likely include b. fifty two bombers the b. one bombers that carry out long range missions and b. two stealth bombers that use satellite guided bombs and the navy is already readying itself for an escalation the nimitz aircraft carrier has moved into the red sea within striking distance of syria though the planes are likely only to be used if syrian forces retaliate along with the four destroyers and the one aircraft ship the u.s. has a number of strategic air bases in neighboring countries along with france now there are reports that those bases are bulking up on planes and equipment and personnel all in anticipation of these attacks also out today according to u.s.

officials the obama administration is considering a plan to use military trainers to help the syrian rebels by expanding the cia training that is now being conducted in jordan but keep this in mind everything that you just heard me say is subject to change military plans are changing by the minute and our knowledge of exactly what a limited strike will look like is well limited the military is trying to keep some element of surprise after all but no matter how the military plans on these attacks there are still a lot of unknowns and that is something that congress members are worried about. there are unknowable there are things you can't possibly know or understand one of those is what the future will bring if in fact we conduct this is there are so many ways this is the go world for us even military officials have a word serious concerns about how badly this so-called limited strike could turn

out president obama did say today that he does not plan on taking action if he doesn't earn congress's backing so now it's up to the four hundred thirty five members of congress to decide that yes these limited strikes will happen after all from battlefield washington meghan lopez r c. president obama is on day two of the g. twenty summit taking place in st petersburg russia today eleven countries including the united states have issued a joint statement on the syrian crisis and response to the use of chemical weapons it says we call for a strong international response to this grave violation of the world's rules and conscience that will send a clear message that this kind of atrocity can never be repeated those who perpetrated these crimes must be held accountable our correspondent a nice and now we brings us the latest report from st petersburg i was elected to end wars not start a u.s. military intervention in syria dominated talks that the g.

twenty but if obama was looking to gather overwhelming support at the summit he didn't get it in st petersburg no need to be sort of this year. there is no visitation. we will not participate in military action. aside from france turkey and saudi arabia few countries expressed outright support for obama's proposal of a military strike in a joint statement they condemned the use of chemical weapons blaming the office of government and called for some kind of response but they stopped short of backing a u.s. attack on syria summit hosted president putin. a chemical weapons attack near damascus. that he says was carried out to discredit the syrian authorities in the eyes of the way. i view everything that happened with the so-called use of chemical weapons in syria was

a provocation by the rebels who count on help from abroad from those countries that originally supported them that's the reason for this provocation i also want to remind you that the use of force against a sovereign state is acceptable only if it's done for self-defense and we know that syria hasn't attacked the u.s. and only if the un security council approves such action as one of the participants of our discussions on the issue put it yesterday those who do otherwise put themselves above the law. obama continues to insist also it was behind the attack and he was wait for the u.s. response. regimes brazen use of chemical weapons isn't just a syrian tragedy it's a threat to global peace and security the u.s. president is due to address the american public on tuesday and try to make his best argument for an attack on syria one that failed to convince global partners at the g twenty just to give you a better idea of who exactly is opposed to military action in syria along with

russia china india indonesia argentina brazil south africa other countries' economies of the g. twenty did sign joint statement condemning the attacks back in august they do believe that also was behind it and the joint communique. hard to really head into that they also support these countries bypassing the u.n. well russia and many other partners here think that's a very dangerous precedent that's going to be set up and what will happen then to smaller countries what will happen with north korea how will they see this kind of brazen overstepping of international law what kind of precedent will that set up in terms of trying to convince north korea per se to get rid of their nuclear program so very hot debate here over the past two days but it should be said that leaders are leaving st petersburg with no kind of solution on how to move forward with syria. that was artie's and nice and now we if you thought that license plate

readers were invasive just wait until you hear about the latest scanner on the block it's called the biometric optical surveillance system the government's new is the advent of facial recognition software according to recently released documents from the electronic privacy information center we now know that the department of homeland security is making considerable progress on a face scanning tool the system works by using video cameras to scan people in public and then identify them based on the characteristics of their face the technology operates by cross reference referencing state and federal databases of driver's license photos and mug shots and while this technology will certainly aid law enforcement agencies privacy and civil liberty advocates are now heavily cautioning the ways in which this system can be abused joining me to discuss this more is our t.v. producer age of iana was said oh i hope i said that right you got it straight on

the right on the nose in there you so much for joining me so the f.b.i. you know the f.b.i. is separately developing something called the next generation identification program and it also entails facial recognition features all i'm trying to figure out what what's the difference between these two different systems will honestly the short answer is not much because you know official act. it actually works around the same way which is you know you take a picture it scans of your face usually head on it scans and then cross references with a database usually an existing database at this point that actually goes and measures different points in your face in order to make an i.d. right the only difference in this case is that the department of homeland security has a much bigger area in order to be able to call this data and be able to cross-reference it from as you pointed out earlier the us has driving records has different places for being able to come in here and going to access to pretty much everything absolutely well thirty seven states already have their own sort of

state system and they are all incorporating features of facial recognition software so how exactly what's the plan here how are they can be working independently or is there some plan for the states to be working well heed to any of these programs being able to succeed or the key to success is really cooperation. and none of these states are an island in of itself so in order to be able to get that data and fred data to be valuable in any way they have to be able to identify. different red flags that are in different areas in order to better safeguard from you know any criminal activity any acts of terror so on and so forth so different you know faces of law enforcement have to work together in order to just be able to identify these things before tragedies or crimes are committed so this has to exist before hand and of course law enforcement agencies claim that this is going to better help their operations help them catch criminals but why is this going to be such

a threat to our privacy well what's interesting is you know it all boils down to how this information is being used because it's only it's only we would only expect this to happen that technology would modernize in order to catch up with the way that the world works today right but the problem always lies in. how it is being used and how it's being gathered and how at the end of the day how is it going to affect our daily lives right so that's when that problem comes into play it's when we don't know exactly what how and why and when this is going to be used and of course defenders will say well i mean we have no reasonable expectation of privacy when we're in the public well it's interesting right because we live in a you know in a society right now are things posted everything's uploaded right like you dislike you do all these things right but in that situation there is an actual relationship where the user the poster self is actually sharing that information right there

actually choosing to share that information and posted it move it forward in this case however that sort of you know that sort of agreement doesn't exist right so in other words you are not willingly giving up any information you're not willingly giving your consent in order for this to be gathered in order for this to be used so that's again where you know privacy advocates sort of you know come in and say hey we don't know the extent of this so that's why we're worried right now. and what about legal oversight is there any are there any regulations or does the government sort of have free reign on that i mean with all the disclosures that we've seen so far things two. things to the latest from edward snowden and so on and so forth that continue to just roll out every couple of weeks almost we see that essentially there isn't any oversight right that's the that's the big problem or the oversight that exists is secret so we don't know exactly how things are being you know take into account how things are actually being monitored if they're

being monitored in which way what are there were violations are occurring so we don't know because that information is not available to the public so that's also a big part of this conversation right is to be able to create said mechanisms in order for this to exist in order for all of this to coexist in the same show and i finally i want to ask you you know in the case that we willingly do give up our information you know we post our pictures all the time of our family of ourselves is that all just you know fueling the fire in the fire essentially well what's interesting is you see like in the case of facebook for example we also know do you know disclosures that these companies are working together with the government in order to have to obviously work with the government in order to share information right so it would make sense that the information that you would see would be used in some way shape or form in order to correlate in order to just. picture a bigger picture of what is happening right so it only it only makes sense wow i wish we had more time to talk about it america is all you have think you're

a journalist they're all for joining me appreciate it thank you. well little girls around britain are throwing away their barbies and grabbing poles strip dance poles that is in the u.k. now several hundred youngsters are estimated to attend classes in pole dancing or pole fitness as it's called and those numbers are steadily growing the critics who say it will encourage to critics who say it will encourage young girls to use their bodies in a sexual manner well one mother claims that simply not the case she said it's just good now sticks on a pole were nothing to do with sex the strip clubs it's nothing it has nothing to do with sexual moves so perhaps it's all just a part of the new pole dance craze after all there is a highly coveted competition in the u.k. now called this pole dance u.k. is it just me or do you think this could be the pageant of the future well that

does it for now for more on the stories we covered today go to youtube dot com forward slash r t america and check out our website r t dot com forward slash usa you can follow me on twitter and a mirror david thanks for watching i'll see you right back here at five pm. that was a new alert animation scripts scare me a little bit. there is breaking news tonight and we are continuing to follow the breaking news. alexander's family cry tears

and so why a great thing that has. a court of law the crown alive there's a story made for a movie is playing out in real life. so much for a showdown as g twenty leaders meet in st petersburg top of the agenda is obama's drive to strike syria his coalition of the willing is weak and divided with a lot of near putin staunchly against any military strike will this summit be remembered as the last step before still another disastrous western intervention in the arab world. well you know i beg you please your father and your brother all here on who would think of your wife and children think of your family. you know please come out i

promise you that not a hair on your head will be harmed you would come out into the yard raise your hands take off your jacket and show them that you're not wearing a bomb belt or just walk slowly towards our people and let them search you understand me. become a police. minister of the republic of appeals to his son yacoob who refuses to listen as his father has him to surrender. he would soon be killed in a shootout with special forces. in the northern caucasus is the smallest and youngest republic of the russian federation for the past twenty you has lived through several conflicts terror operations and a string of retaliation. terrorists an islamic state would be cool to the caucasus emirate young people that you would into the world with promises of a ticket to paradise when in reality they're trained to become terrorists.