new york the u.n. general assembly continues diplomatic talks circling around the thawing u.s. iran relations and if a resolution to me passed dealing with syria's chemical weapons the latest updates just ahead. also the u.s. war on terror has been waged for over a decade now but how does the u.s. government to find terrorists the answer may surprise you that it's coming up and synthetic marijuana is slowly becoming an alternative to the real stuff here in the u.s. but it's an alternative that can have deadly consequences and now local governments are battling to regulate it we'll tell you more in a special r t investigation. it's

thursday september twenty sixth four pm in washington d.c. i'm sam sax and you are watching our team and we begin with the latest coming out of the united nations general assembly in new york city first the five permanent members of the u.n. security council continue their efforts to find agreement on a resolution addressing syria's chemical weapons secretary of state john kerry and russian foreign minister sergey lavrov have been working closely to draft a resolution compelling syria to give up its chemical weapons the syria situation is at the top of the un's agenda this week also today john kerry is meeting with iran's foreign minister and top diplomats from four other countries to talk about iran's nuclear program or earlier today iran's president hassan rouhani called for the complete abolition of nuclear weapons all around the world he made no nation of all you should possess nuclear weapon. sure since there

are no right hands for these wrong weapons as humans mrs secretary general has rightly put it. would you. if you want to shout now is determined. to make every effort to realize the vision of a new clear weapon free in a world without further delay also today the general assembly heard from palestinian authority president mahmoud abbas regarding palestine's efforts toward permanent membership at the un and the prospects of peace with israel joining me now from our new york studio for the latest on all of this our tease on a stasia turkana on a saucer thank you we have we have these conflicting reports coming out just recently that the u.n. security council may have reached some sort of agreement russian's foreign minister sergey lavrov will be speaking with reporters at any moment and we'll get some more

information from that but what are you hearing on the ground as far as any sort of deal coming from the security council. well us and there have certainly been plenty of controversial and conflicting statements and reports about this hugely awaited syrian resolution even you know a media war of sorts because every once in a while we would hear in the last couple of days that russia and the u.s. have agreed on a resolution tacks to five permanent members have agreed on a resolution tax and then delegates would come out and say that this is not the case we aren't waiting for the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov to speak any minute now and definitely bring reporters some sort of details about what exactly has been so far agreed when it comes to the syrian crisis we do know that the main point of disagreement between russia and the u.s. has been the potential use of force the so-called chapter seven of the u.n. charter and whether or not this resolution is going to be under that charter from

what we hear from russian delegations this will be a clause included in this resolution but there will be according to reports no specific ations of. a following the use of force if the syrian government does not comply with the result that is being put together as we speak so we're going to of basically be able to bring you all the latest details on this probably next hour for now we're waiting for the foreign minister to speak. the russians will play an integral role in talks over the rowland's a nuclear program should we expect lavrov to address this issue to us certainly samad because that we do know that the russian foreign minister and u.s. secretary of state john kerry were in fact and might actually still be meeting right now to discuss the situation also not just syria but around iran because later on today there will be a meeting taking place between the five permanent members of the security council plus germany plus iran to discuss the uranium enrichment program and this will be

a groundbreaking meeting in itself because this will be the first time u.s. secretary of state meets with an iranian foreign minister and the last. six years after speculation that obama and rouhani might be able to meet on the sidelines of the why of this did not happen but this meeting will be the first in six years where some kind of outline for the steps ahead will be set forth so we're definitely expecting to get more details on iran as well will on this issue we did hear from iranian president rouhani talk to the general assembly session on nuclear disarmament he called for a nuclear weapon free world is there anything we can take away from his speech today this morning that can give us insight into how these meetings this afternoon between that you mentioned between kerry right his iranian counterpart might go definitely sam because you know these are these are not just empty words that these are in fact it seems indications of change having come after the change of presidency in iran these are kind of repetitive note that we have been hearing from tehran in the last several days that they are in fact willing to be more open about

their specifically uranium enrichment program but also we've heard from our rouhani say that they don't have a nuclear weapons program in their diplomatic doctrine that they would like to see a world of free nuclear free of nuclear weapons and he has said that there are no right hands for this dangerous for these wrong weapons so certainly this is an indication of a change of tone and we are likely to see some kind of progress if not you know if not a breakthrough but certainly kind of finally be new baby steps taken in terms of being able to find more cooperation between iran and the u.s. on the on the on this issue that has been a point of contention between the two countries recently on the west moving on the president of the a palestinian authority mahmoud abbas addressed the general assembly today to know amid syria iran nuclear weapons issues there's been less attention on the middle east peace process how is this u.n. g.a. moving this process forward if at all and where does palestine stand in its bid for

permanent membership at the u.n. well a sam you know we will we probably shouldn't see that it's definitely theory in iran have been stealing the headlines. no question about that but the middle east peace process certainly diplomats have been working on this too we know for the west in particular this is been now for john kerry a kind of a specific. point of interest and for the obama administration to try to improve the middle east peace process and move it forward while he is the president certainly today we did hear from. him he did thank the general assembly for allowing palestine to receive an observer member an observer status at the general assembly and this has been the first speech since that happened last year and has been basically was a very kind of positive speech he talked about a new round of talks going on already has to having started several weeks ago and that this will continue with an open mind set forward and he basically reiterated the point that the aim an issue eventually is to reach

a lasting peace accord with israel where these two states can coexist alongside each other in peace finally artie's on a saucer we'll continue checking back with you for updates from the u.n. in new york city thank you now stuck in the middle of the more than two year long syrian civil wars the small town of maluco home to just over three thousand residents mostly christians are to has been bringing continuing coverage from the town as it became a battleground between extremist rebel fighters affiliated with al nusra and the assad government the fighting continues around moon the town is dealing with the chair of destruction recently i spoke with an archbishop of the syrian church for eastern us who told the story of maluco and the hardships brought on by the syrian civil war. very ancient town northeast of the mask is and it is on the list of the heritage. centers the u.s.

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 where our 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 have become arab ised through language and through other things but my really kept its make. identity malula is no different than other christian and claves and 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 asset 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 prison 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 ates a secular regime and they are very much afraid of what comes after. moola is on the unesco list of tentative world heritage sites famous for two of the oldest monasteries surviving in the country and the st tok look convent residents are

urging the international committee of the red cross and other government and non-governmental organizations to provide aid to the village as well as the convent and residents who have taken refuge within it. later this year congress will have to pass a new version of the defense authorization act now in previous years this bill has included new power for the military to indefinitely detain those who are suspected of affiliated with terrorists as well as limiting the transfer of suspected terrorists out of guantanamo bed and this year those skeptical of the more than decade old authorization for use of military force that underpins the global war on terror want to have this authorization narrowed along with narrowing the definition of exactly who is considered to be an enemy of the united states but the problem is even our own government seems to have a difficult time defining who is in who is not a terrorist artie's perry and boring has more on the ever changing definition of

the word. terrorism is in the headlines every day with the people carrying out the attacks described as everything from freedom fighters to focus on terrorist but even the official line is less than concise you can see the many government agencies and the u.s. don't have a cohesive definition according to the state department no one definition of terrorism has gained universal acceptance within our government this could have an impact on why the media has been to find the difference between regime states and rebels in various countries around the world that harvest stayed home and security f.b.i. fema they all use different definitions and this could also play a part into why senator rand paul is concerned about who could be considered a terrorist. at this debate with john mccain on the floor and i said you could send an american citizen to guantanamo bay without a trial with out a jury without a lawyer without a visa jennifer there are dangers he says this could happen because the national defense authorization act gives the government the power to indefinitely detain

american citizens who are accused of just having an association with terrorism and congressional statement he warns when the government can arrest suspects without a warrant hold them without trial deny them access to counsel or admission of bail we have shorn the bill of rights of the sanctity but a spokesman from senator john mccain's office who was a leaf bonsor of the bill refuted paul's statements saying there is a faction that preserves not just the right behaviors corpus but all constitutional rights enjoyed by every person before court of the united states so not having a clear definition of terrorism is problematic because americans might not have equal protections if they're considered a terrorist and what constitutes a terrorist is rather expansive. having more than seven days worth of food is one of the criteria for being a terrorist having multiple weapons at home we won't ask you to raise your hand. likes to pay in cash. has changed the color of your hair recently we're not going

to get too personal here. stains on your clothing means you might be making bombs missing fingers maybe ever met a farmer who might be missing a finger president obama's former chief of staff rahm emanuel lost a finger after accidentally cutting it off and i mean it's life there but how is this criteria for a terrorist suspect according to a document obtained by public intelligence a training program for law enforcement that's funded by the department of justice included the following potential terrorist and decatur's. records on computers near identified potential target carrying video cameras person observed with maps rental of self storage space presents a pamphlet having hair dyes in your home so i took to the story of to see if i could find anyone who met this criteria. hey i just noticed you guys had a map you have any points of interest highlighted on that map everything you have

you at any point in time ever had more than seven days worth of food in your home seven days. that's too short a time. so should you ever keep more than seven days worth of food in your home yes no you don't keep a week's worth of food in your house we yeah we do yes yeah yeah do you like to keep records on your computer. we all keep records on a computer don't you guys prefer to paying cash yeah usually we do small items yes why don't you have some flyers on your way when you got back there. more mad. you have a camera with you oh sure i mean take a picture of you know our government says if you meet these criteria such as have. cameron your point adventurous like to paying cash has more than seven days where the food you know you are a terrorist suspect. that's pretty scary do you think we should look like here's i mean i think yes but the criteria doesn't sound like we

should be concerned being a terrorist so expect right this is the criteria. that we should be concerned about here and should be concerned doesn't make sense about the government a clinician a government doesn't make sense isn't that ridiculous i mean every time to review their criteria. they have other criteria parth us back to people pretty much everyone that could be considered a terrorist and according to rand paul this is how american citizens could be indefinitely detained and washington parian boring r.t. moving on the bluster on capitol hill about government shutdowns debt limits and green eggs and ham very quietly efforts to reform the national security agency are moving forward in sort of a big way since june edward snowden's revelations about how the n.s.a. goes about spying on american citizens have led to more than a dozen pieces of legislation being introduced to rein in the n.s.a. and bring light to the top secret foreign intelligence surveillance court this week

all those bills were fused together into one bill the most comprehensive and most aggressive n.s.a. reform bill introduced yet a bill was unveiled wednesday by a bipartisan group of senators including ron wyden mark udall richard blumenthal and rand paul and we will restrict the n.s.a.'s ability to continue the mass collection of americans phone data under section two fifteen of the patriot act it also limits collection of certain internet communications under section seven zero two of the fires amendments act also it closes the backdoor that allows analysts at the n.s.a. to search through americans data that may have been swept up into the n.s.a. data bases the law also reforms the pfizer court by putting in place a special privacy advocate to act as an adversary against government requests for information. today and i say chief keith alexander was called to testify in front of the senate intelligence committee on side the director of national intelligence

james clapper who defended once again his spying programs all of us in the intel's community are very much aware that the recent unauthorized disclosures have raised serious concerns both here in congress and across the nation about our intelligence activities we know that the public wants both to understand how it's until this community uses its special tools in the thor days and to judge whether we can be trusted to use them appropriately. we believe we have been lawful and that the rigorous oversight we've operated under has been effective now sensing congress may take action the n.s.a. is making appeals to the american people keith alexander spoke at the national press club yesterday saying the american people have to weigh in and help us a good the tools we need to defend this country of course since the leaks polling has routinely showed the american people un comfortable with the n.s.a. is activities. they want to the month santo protection act you remember that right

it's that provision that was quietly inserted into a spending bill last spring and then signed into a law that basically allows monsanto and other biotech corporations to continue distributing their genetically modified seeds even after a court has ruled that they may not meet certain environmental tests that basically makes the g.m.o. seed industry exempt from the court system well since that provision was inserted into a short term spending bill earlier this year it expires when that spending bill expires to which is at the end of this week you know when the government shuts down now the house is spending bill passed last week the one that defunded obamacare also included an extension of the monsanto protection act but the senate which is currently working on its own spending bill now will not include an extension of the monsanto protection act that's according to senate appropriations chairwoman barbara mikulski and senator mark pryor as if there weren't enough differences

between the house and the senate when it comes to averting a government shutdown the monsanto protection act could be a sticking point too. on wednesday the senate caucus on international narcotics control held a hearing on the rise of synthetic drugs testifying about hearing was michael bought a cheli b. w. director of the office of national drug control policy in the hearing discussed the difficulty of cracking down on these synthetic drugs since their producers often change the chemical make up of them so that they are quote not technically illegal here with senator dianne feinstein speaking at the hearing and it's very hard because it's not at all clear cut and i don't know how you keep making can make cases if the chemicals keep changing but the intent of the south of the producer is what i would go for because clearly the intent of the producer

is for human consumption and they guys it this way and was not intended for human consumption and by name you know basque bice's or candy or whatever it might be right and i think this is what makes it so diabolical archies made in lopez has been looking into the dangers of synthetic marijuana and here's part two of her investigation. it's a wonderful town i love it i love this place we've we've got great character we've got great people the quiet little city of frederick maryland is perhaps best known as the final resting place of francis scott key author of the star-spangled banner . and while this little city no longer has to worry about bombs bursting in air frederick is now a battleground of a different sort we got to the point where we realized we had to do something

something about a drug problem taking over the city synthetic marijuana it's a designer drug where nail polish remover mixed with chemicals is sprayed on dried herbs sold and smoked to get a high similar to that of actual marijuana with sometimes serious side effects you're smoking chemicals you're smoking something that is laced with you only know what you might just be smoking lighter fluid what started off as just a community nuisance quickly turned into a public health emergency we started noticing it more with some reports from our from the federal world hospital and we were realizing something was happening in our town as well the us as a whole put a ban on twenty six types of synthetic drugs in two thousand and twelve but the chemical makeup can be so easily manipulated the drug makers quickly found ways to skirt the law we had to figure out how to ban it and what was banned and every

combination of it it wasn't that easy fredrick came up with a stricter law of its own last year banning any synthetic substances that mimic the effects of drugs that are illegal under federal law yet just a short drive up the road where towns don't have laws of their own the product still stocks store shelves so i wanted to find out for myself how easy it really is to get your hands on these synthetic cannabinoids so i went right outside of frederick city. it's still within the county of frederick but in the city of jefferson and sure enough right off the highway is this b.p. gas station where i was able to get my hands on this bag this is a four gram bag that cost me about thirty two bucks it's just as easily accessible in much of the u.s. and is sometimes wrongly described as a marijuana alternative in order to truly understand the complexity of it we need a quick chemistry lesson it looks like marijuana in that they are bull kind of

a green brown plant material but to a forensic chemist these look very different and it all comes down to science now in the beginning there were only a few classes of the chemical most notably the j. w. h. series named after the scientist who discovered it john w. hofmann it's formula is c twenty four age twenty three in oh well let's just say that i add an extra oxygen molecule over here and i made all of these nitrogen well then i have a whole new chemical or what happens if i took a couple of those nitrogen molecules away again i've created an entirely new drug this is how many of those drugs are actually slipping past regulations drug dealers have come up with over two hundred compounds and counting and it's tough for authorities to identify them with you know like heroin and cocaine and stuff we have these little kids that you can drop something in that changes the color we had no kid like that so how do we say. this is illegal we have no way of testing to

make sure it was illegal so by the time a lab has the results the drug dealers have already come up with a new chemical structure more and more local governments are trying to make laws that are not only stricter than the federal law but more and forcible so far forty three states have taken it on the state of maryland will join that list october first it's a daunting hurdle facing the drug enforcement agency. this is the new frontier of drugs and drug trafficking and drug abuse we were dealing with this five years ago over the past two years the da has conducted two major operations operation logjam resulted in ninety arrests four point eight million packets seized and material to create another thirteen point six million packages they are making progress but this public health emergency doesn't only rest on the d.e.a.'s shoulders this is like any drug issue in the united states we're never going to arrest or enforce our

way out of drug problems but we need are for parents to be better we need kids to be better in washington meghan lopez r.t. then finally this week i downloaded the new iowa seven for my phone what i did not do however was then drop my phone into a bowl of water unfortunately i can't say the same about others shortly after the i phone's new operating system was available for download and online to add started popping up touting the benefits of this new operating system including it making your phone waterproof says in an emergency a smart switch will shut off the phone's power supply in corresponding components to prevent any damage here i phones delicate circuitry that ad was not true that ad was a hoax now it probably should have been immediately clear that downloading your software couldn't possibly protect the hardware in your phone from getting to image by water

but to some it wasn't as you can see by these tweets from those who would be prime targets for today's social darwinists as one tweet read ok whoever said iowa seven was waterproofed go yourself. but no worries folks stay tune for i.o.'s eight which we here make your phone shatterproof really a smart switch inside your phone senses when your phone is in freefall and immediately reinforces the glass on your screen really really. that does it for now for more on the stories we covered go to youtube dot com forward slash our to america and check out our website archie dot com forward slash usa you can follow me on twitter at sam sachs we'll see you back here at five thanks for watching.

wealthy british style it's time to. market why not. come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike stronger for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune in to kaiser report. spice k two scooby snacks the insulting thing is that they actually have the nerve to call if. you smoke and chemicals you're smoking something that is laced with

your even know what. many many different that. there is no real close for. this now with new regulations on. the must just be smoking light with no idea what is in the. the media leave us so we leave the media. by the same motion security. policy physical. issues that no one is asking with the guests that you deserve answers from. politic you. are to.

cool. hello and welcome to this special edition of technology updates where we look to the skies to see the peak of russian innovation on today's show we cut to glimpse of bush's latest stealth fighter. we find out it's a cross between a battery and a combustion engine isn't just a load of. undone in the ground we learn about the mysterious night. but first let's take a look at some of the highlights of this month's knox astro. the international aviation space show is the highlights of the calendar not just for aviation enthusiasts but for anyone who enjoys a good day out show started off in one thousand.