coming up on r t in new york world leaders are gathering for the united nations general assembly how much of the conversation will focus on the crisis in syria and the chemical weapons attack there we'll take a look at that and more ahead. in kenya's capital of nairobi terrorists a terrorist attack on an upscale mall has left dozens dead so will the u.s. ramp up the fight against the group reportedly behind the attack al shabaab more on the attack coming up. and for the u.s. private prison industry another man behind bars means more money in the bank many private prisons have quotas to keep most or all prison beds filled up more of the industry that combines money and bars later in tonight's show.

it's monday september twenty third eight pm in washington d.c. i'm maggie lopez and you are watching r.t. world leaders are gathered in new york city this week for the sixty eighth annual united nations general assembly this meeting could not have come at a more important time of the war in syria and a potential u.s. strike will undoubtedly command the spotlight at the conference along with the u.s. recent u.n. report detailing chemical weapons used in the country also we are on lookout for a potential warming of relations between the u.s. and iran it has become a sort of preditions in recent years for the american delegation to get up and walk out right in the middle of former iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad speeches but this year could be different iranian president hassan rouhani has taken numerous steps to demonstrate his commitment to diplomacy such as releasing a hand. all of the country's most notorious political prisoners and those aren't

the only issues that make it right now the opportune time to meet this is also the first time in years that actual results could come from this meeting and that's because many of the big players at the u.n. are fresh out of elections and said they don't have to worry about politics now they can concentrate on the issues are to correspondent on a stasia charkha joined me earlier to tell me what to expect from this meeting. you know you just presented a great summary of some of the issues that are bound to come out of the you one this week certainly syria is the top of this agenda as major world powers namely russia in the u.s. continue meeting round the clock talking around the clock trying to find a good next step which would be the u.n. security council resolution that they need to vote on in order to continue with this plan to have syria bring its chemical weapons under international control so whether or not tangible results come out of that is a certainly

a huge headline that we're going to be watching of course sort of tension between countries like brazil and by the venezuela with the united states those speeches are going to be interesting to observe major one that a lot of analysts are looking out for is what exactly is going to happen in terms of iran and the u.s. with the new iranian president coming here to new york might there be a meeting might there not be a meeting might there be a handshake or you know a wink certainly something that might shed more light on what kind of relationship and turn the rayney of u.s. relations might take in the time to come certainly we're expecting almost two hundred speeches to take place in new york thousands of bilateral meetings and you know we're certainly going to be bringing all the details to our viewers and it's just going to be this huge array of issues that we're coming up with we're expecting to see in the days to come honest usually whenever a u.n. g.a. meeting happens in new york it's very exciting but really very little actually comes out of it what's the environment like surrounding the u.n. g.a. this. well it's certainly yet again

a diplomatic beehive lots of delegations here with you know it's over one hundred nineteen countries presented in the united nations general assembly and we're hearing that reportedly countries like nigeria for example are bringing in as many as reportedly six hundred delegates so certainly a crazy buzz around the u.n. g.a. this year as as is the case every year but we did hear from bonn ki-moon that the turnout is unprecedented the first the biggest turnout in u.s. history according to the secretary general and you know what's of money being pumped into security crazy traffic everywhere the environment is certainly as is as insane as it is every year but we are expecting the issues that we have just outlined to be a little more productive and in the diplomatic sense that hopefully the previous years and as you had mentioned a little bit earlier not one of the biggest issues is syria what have you been hearing about some possible resolutions or have we heard anything yet right while i may definitely you know syria at the top of the agenda here at the u.n.

this week we do know that tomorrow on tuesday russian foreign minister sergei lavrov and his u.s. counterpart john kerry of course are going to be meeting syria will be at the top of the issues discussed will certainly as the united nations security council has the working round the clock to bang out a resolution on syria so this idea of syria handing over its chemical weapons to the international community can be implemented through a document passed at the security council and a further steps could be taken for an actual political transition to take place while the potential use of military force by the united states does remain in the air so it's high time that specific steps are taken and that we are expecting for that to take place in the near is time to the security council and of the u.n. more generally and as we had both alluded to a little bit earlier this could be a very monumentally year for u.s. and iranian tensions to warm up we have been hearing a lot of speculation about president obama. meeting with possibly meeting with an

iranian delegation is there any truth to that rumor right there's certainly lots of reports about this lots of statements that u.s. officials have said it's certainly an option we don't do know that nothing has been scheduled yet but both leaders will be here will their presence here take the shape of a particular meeting that's unlikely because a lot of the leaders schedules are worked out a long time in advance but a certain you know nod or certain warm up and we're certainly going to see exactly what kind of mood there is between iran and the u.s. in the speeches that are going to be made and it is both the u.s. president and the radiant president speaking tomorrow at the u.n. so as early as tomorrow afternoon we should be able to tell whether or not there is some kind of thaw forming in this whether or not a meeting takes place analysts you know one journalist certainly are looking out for that but it's still under wraps very much under wraps and in recent years on a stasia many people have criticized the role of the u.n. in the world even bunking moon has gone on the record criticizing it with the

serious standoff between the u.s. and russia but considering the fact that some of the most important people are not in election year we expect to actually see some type of progress come out of this. well you know one person that would come to mind is of course u.s. president barack obama because last year he was a middle action scenes and he was kind of stepping carefully when it came to certain issues this year we have already heard pretty intense rhetoric coming from him especially when it comes to syria certainly with the idea of using military force even without the backing of the international community so at this point at least when it comes to the biggest issue being syria whether or not he's going to use this is an opportunity to use more tough words is quite unlikely since the u.s. and russia so far have been able to find a common area to work on which is exactly what they're doing now so it's unlikely that any leader in this case particular crisis would take a more on. i guess aggressive approach is very interesting obviously this is

a meeting of some of the biggest minds in the world will be very interesting to see what comes out of it and how tensions warm up are actually cool down r.t. correspondent ana stasi are reporting for us from the u.n. in nairobi kenya heavy gunfire sent journalists sense of ilion scrambling for a third day in a row as government forces squared off with al shabaab militants at the local mall there the gunfire started saturday afternoon at the westgate shopping mall where a group of ten to fifteen militants walked into entrances and began firing on shoppers the kenyan red cross reports that at least sixty two people have been killed and one hundred seventy five others have been injured including five americans. posted a list of nine people it says took part in the mall attack three of those names are of american citizens that's a claim that the f.b.i. is currently investigating but lawmakers are already alarmed about bob's influence

in the united states. that's extremely deadly organisation very well trained and it's one of the only or kind of affiliates which actually has actively recruited here in the united states there's at least forty to fifty somalia murders are gone from the united states to somalia to be trained and the mood there are very carol but there are still. at assume that the f.b.i. and local law enforcement looking into those family american communities really leads you indicate as usual we're sources and resources to make sure that there's no of all of the terms. i spoke earlier with honey all monsoon a writer at the huffington post dot com website who wanted to know more detail about all shabaab and will trust the group poses to american interests. potentially a group of extremists started an extremist group that didn't have a militant strategy at first but then when they recruited to a group that took advantage of the power vacuum in somalia and then they started

recruiting locally and after the war in somalia a lot of solace left to do around the world to be safer and a jury and around africa a lot of them came to the united states and europe and they've built these strong community is a lot of them are successful people who are part of the communities where they live however some of them still maintain ties tobacco meant to see the tragedies back home and all the drama and to try to blame it around to the powers of the world and then you see a few cases of them they get recruited and they feel animated to defend their homeland and you know as we know that there is a global jihad network that's happy to pick a new recruit and for them the somalis seem to be the perfect constituency because you have the drive and essentially there's a lot of brainwashing there's a lot of sixteen like zeeshan going on and for that they manage to succeed locally and. century to be a threat to their neighboring their neighbors in africa sub some parts of the work and as i understand it one of the fundamentals of that al-shabaab rope is global

jihad or that seriously what they've been preaching in recent years can you talk about this in a little bit more broad context because a lot of people tend to acquaint al qaeda with some of these other terrorist organizations but there are similarities and also difference that i am i correct essentially you are correct the reality is the shabab is not a one group there are more than one group and faction among them the essentially there is the international leg of the shabab movement which is the link to al qaeda does over here and they are part of the global jihad they have a lineage to somalia but a lot of them are more the pledge allegiance to the pirates and they're their method and usually they are violent methods as we see but they're also the local ones the local ones who care about the local government services and things like that this still extremist not mr. violent and in the past throughout this year there was an inner struggle between the two factions of the group and the reality ended by the international faction of such a bob is now essentially in control to the local communities and somalia you know

these guys are just imports they're not really from the community that are just there to cause shenanigans and make the place a tougher place to live and the local government is trying to work to work against them with coalition with other countries as you see kenya the buffer zone in southern somalia that and that sort of supported by the world community just because they do want to spill over into the african region and the african command and african united states command in africa is really keeping a close to disagree we don't hear much of that action but there is a lot of activities in yemen to hunt some of their leaders in in yemen and that's one of the issues that the u.s. has been very active on as far as domestically you know the united states here will be stepping up their game against these groups here and their local recruits in places where ever they have their communities like in minnesota or again and they would be doing a lot of wiretapping and things to just make sure they prevent these things from

happening especially any domestic threats would be a major concern for the united states and honey i'm glad you brought that up this domestic issue because as you say they have influence locally and internationally but they also have as well as right here in the united states i know peter king just mentioned how can you talk about the influence that they have within the united states how large it is and should the american citizens be concerned that this means more security more surveillance and that's a legitimate question there hell it is there is a large community of somalis are you once flew to the minnesota through the airport and everyone essentially is from somalia they're hardworking people the lovely the smile you know they live the american dream however you have people living in the margin who really think like oh the motherland are struggling we need to make this right but these people. usually they're not very successful in their life and they just pick up terrorism and extremism they spend a great time at the local mosque with their own people and then they get brainwashed but the greater somali community is

a very affluent community here in the united states but again to say another other entities in the united states would be happy to use that as an excuse to do more surveillance on the people and there is ground to actually spierer you know monitor these activities as we know the new york new york police is very active in this front there is the cia there's a lot of people who are there's a lot at stake here and i think the shabab is a perfect group for them to to to go after especially because there is networks believe that oregon bomber few years ago at a christmas tree had some links to the al shabab group and that's one of the biggest concern was at the time but now i think as more time goes and they step up their game in the international stage now the attack the morning kenya and causes a lot of people to be raising questions and i know one of the biggest things that really stuck out to me when i was reading and researching about al-shabaab was out

last week a report filed in a court case in new york eastern district allege that all shabab is or was recently operating a research and development department in order to research and obtain chemical weapons now how credible is this threat should americans be worried given the volatility in the region given the voluntarily volatility in syria that these people could actually get their hands on chemical weapons i mean as far as the somali community this sort of like look at the language don't speak arabic they're not like they are arabic by name but i mean defeat allegiance to their word but they're a little bit away from that community and the concern is syria if syria goes the situation goes south there is a lot of stockpiles of weapons that you would not be able to count and you know there are but there is who by these weapons and. spirited to another place and then boom you get some major weapons the shabab has it and you know chemical weapons do really take much space to operate they just you know you don't either have training your sensually something that could be conducted in

a small operation and that would provide for them supplies for arms and weapons and i think that's one of the biggest concern for the united states not necessarily that they like what the regime is doing in syria but the fear that they after what will happen with all these weapons i mean look at the libyan scenario there is a lot of worries for what is leaked out of the country and go into the wrong places and that's why essentially the united states refused to provide arms and publicity stunt they said yes to would give it was but the reality they have not given the amount of just because they don't know where these weapons will end this is not likely going to vanish after. after the regime in syria folds if it does that was honey all madhu and writer at the huffington post dot com. well for decades the united states has been an important financial backer in egypt the u.s. sent of billions of dollars in aid to deposed ruler hosni mubarak during his reign and continue to support the country's throughout the interim government headed by mohamed morsi and it looks like despite the continual change and leadership and the

instability in the country the u.s. will honor its commitment to send five hundred million more dollars in aid to egypt each year the u.s. sends about one point five billion dollars in aid to the country one point three billion of which is a spent on military assistance the rest is considered economic aid now was a large amount of the money is actually spent on the military which is backed the overthrow of mohamed morsy american lawmakers have been vocal about halting this money flow even president obama's top security aides have recommended suspending the money flow however with the end of the fiscal year fast approaching a new state department memo sent to congress outlines the administration's intentions to give the money to egypt after all now the state department says much of the cash will be used to compensate american companies for so-called wind up costs to help them in assistance programs in the country though we will have to

keep a close eye on to see where that money actually goes. well still ahead here on our t.v. for us private prisons another man behind bars means more money in the bank many private prisons have quotas to keep most or all present beds filled up more in the industry that combines money and bars after the break. dramas that try to be ignored to. stories others use them noticing. things changing the world. to make sure these days. from around the globe. look to.

welcome back well we've talked a lot here on r.t. about the prison pipeline as well as private prisons otherwise known as for profit prisons these private institutions are supposed to be more cost efficient and safer than government run facilities but what happens when lower crime means these companies miss their bottom line the answer to that is that taxpayers foot the bill a new report by a group known as in the public interest describes the prison bed occupancy guarantees clause that is included in private prison contracts take a look at this of the contracts that the group reviewed it found that sixty five percent contained these occupancy guarantees meaning that the state promises these prisons that they will stay eighty to one hundred percent full at all times or else

the taxpayers will pay for every bed that is not filled these prisons are a business after all but this does raise serious concerns about who the state locks up and where they choose to do that r.j. correspondent joined me earlier from the incarceration capital of the country california and i first asked him to explain how large the private prison industry really is. sure well according to congress nearly twenty percent of the inmates in federal lockup are in privately run facilities about thirty years ago that was less than two percent and when it comes to the top three private prison corporations c.c.a. the correction corporations of america the geo group and t c they say that they have the capacity to hold nearly two hundred thousand inmates so and a lot of times these contracts which they negotiate with governments last three to

five years and in some case they've been it's been reported that they've even tried to negotiate contracts as long as twenty years with governments now can you give us a little bit more detail about these occupancy guarantees and how these guarantees have actually added extra cost to the taxpaying public that's right well when these niggas these contracts are negotiated between governments and these private prison companies the private prison companies require that the their these facilities be nearly full capacity so that means as you mentioned entered into the introduction sometimes they can negotiate a capacity of eighty percent eighty percent to one hundred percent required so just to give you an example of how this works in the in the real world in colorado where there is this requirement to have a certain amount of prisoners in these private facilities sometimes a stay has to move in mates from state run prisons to these private facilities so

the taxpayer is on the hook to pay for the private bed but also paying for the state facility which remains in use sometimes and but at the same time i'm on it seems a little counterintuitive to have to pay for our state doing well for low crime rates so how are the states just to find these types of contracts. that's right in many of these states and really around the country it seems like the prison population is starting to reduce is starting to reduce but these states are on the hook to fill a huge amount of beds these contracts are justified because a lot of these states are cash strapped and are looking for a quick fix to reduce these deficits there's so these private companies offer that quick fix however in the long run many times these private companies are plagued with cost overruns and safety issues and then you have situations like here in

california where the state prison department is is having to deal with overcrowding and one of the solutions to deal with that overcrowding has to has been to send inmates to private facilities now i know there are some cases where the state governments actually agreed to signing on this amendment to allow this guarantee after they signed the original contract does it all come down to money here i mean what's the reasoning behind that absolutely well some of the complaints about these contracts are that they're behind closed doors again going back to the example of colorado where some critical lawmakers say that the governor c.c.a. and lobbyists. did this deal behind closed doors arguing that this was going to be beneficial to local economies they didn't want to close down these private facilities claiming that it would've killed jobs at a time when the state is still recovering from recession and obviously ramon these

private prisons are without problems are they. absolutely world just this year the cia prison and i don't hole was held in contempt because he could not deal with its overcrowding in staffing issues that prison has been called a gladiator training center by the by some of the prisoners we've also heard of cases allegations of abuse c.c.a. centers that are contracted through homeland security and there was a terrible case of inmates escaping from a privately run arizona facility who eventually murdered a couple after the escape so these private facilities are not without controversy and kind of seems like one of those situations where they're damned if they do and damned if they don't they either have low crime and they have to pay a lot of they have high crime and they fall the beds are to correspondent rym uncle in our reporting to us from l.a. thank you you bet with all the buzz over an upcoming federal government shutdown

over the possibility there of a lot of explanations are coming out for how we reach this point one of the reasons that people are coming up with is that congress is out of touch with the american people an issue all the more clear when you compare how much the two sides are making in wage is for a look at the split between the people and the politicians who are supposed to represent them the residents laurie harshness. if you're still on the fence about whether or not our lawmakers are out of touch with what it's like to be one of their constituents this story should help firmly knock you off to the side that says yes they are very much out of touch here's the

deal new census bureau data on income and poverty shows the real median annual household income for the average american family is fifty one thousand seven hundred dollars our congress members make one hundred seventy two thousand dollars a year about three times more than the national average income but that isn't enough for some congressman george's republican representative phil gingrey recently complained in a closed door meeting about being stuck making a measly one hundred seventy two thousand dollars a year in congress when capitol hill aides can go work for a lobby shop in d.c. and make five hundred thousand only one hundred seventy two thousand dollars a year how does a congressman supposed to afford private just on that salary. the comment came up in the context of a fight over obamacare gingrey is actually leading the charge on the nose special treatment for congress act under it members of congress would be forced to give up

the awesome health care coverage they now enjoy and that we pay for gingrey is no special treatment act would force congress to use the health exchanges under obamacare and that would end up costing them more than their courage taxpayers subsidized insurance plans so gingrey was supporting congress getting no special treatment. when he whines about making only one hundred seventy two thousand dollars a year see he's a good guy a when you complaining about making three times as much as the people he represents the most maddening part of the story so is the fact that he is admitting to how much money congress can make through washington's revolving doors he's saying he could go make five times as much as he makes now if you became a lobbyist he's admitting to washington's completely corrupt revolving door. the fact that gingrey complained about one hundred seventy two thousand dollars

a year as a salary is a clear cut proof that our representatives are out of touch with our reality if that still isn't enough to knock you off the fence onto the side where we know they're out of touch they consider that according to his latest financial disclosure forms gingrich net worth is that least three million dollars welcome to the right side of the fence tonight let's talk about that by following me on twitter at the resident. and now i want to special programming note for you over the past two months i have been conducting an in-depth investigation into the growing popularity of synthetic drugs we've spoken to families affected by the drugs legislators trying to ban it kemet specialists the d.a. and more here's a sneak peek about what my team and i have uncovered. the

moment when he walked into the house he looked fine half an hour later and he just couldn't get his car and people who are calling nine one one say see a car going one hundred miles an hour now road needing to get out of traffic his car only ended and there. was a horrible ending to a beautiful life. if you could have been americans you could have been to any. and the impact of these drugs goes beyond the human factor turn tune into our t. all this week to find out what synthetic marijuana is who is behind it why it is so hard to regulate and how terrorism plays into all of this it's unlike any media coverage you have ever seen on the issue so don't miss it but that's going to do it for me for tonight but for more of the stories we covered go to youtube dot com slash r t america or for the latest and greatest information coming out from our website r.t. dot com slash usa don't forget to follow me on twitter at meghan underscore lopez

and from all of us here at r.t. have a great night. technology innovation and all the developments around. the future are covered. these. things are.