it was. president obama set to deliver a speech on the n.s.a. the civilians and methods and many question whether the government is ready to limit the agency's fine reach. russia has a final diplomatic push or to ensure all sides get a bus say at next week's international peace conference on syria. and the u.k. foreign secretary william hague had some north to try and convince scotland not to go it alone with an independence referendum eight months away. is just going past ten am here in a moscow

a very warm welcome to you if you've just joined us here on r.t. international and to them with the millions of those who are concerned over the extent to which they've been washed by america's national security from the country's president he's expected to announce much anticipated changes to the way the agency works but it's unclear how far the reforms will go artie's a sense sex reports from washington d.c. . today president obama heads to the department of justice just a few blocks from here and he'll deliver a speech on n.s.a. reforms specifically what he supports from the forty six recommendations his own review panel put forward a few weeks ago the president is expected to devote a large portion of his speech to the privacy concerns of non-u.s. citizens and businesses basically trying to assure foreign consumers that their privacy will be protected when they communicate using american tech companies like google and yahoo now you might remember when it was disclosed that allied world

leaders like brazilian president dilma rousseff were spied on by the n.s.a. the president was quick to order a review of that program but the president has not shown the same concern for tens of millions of non u.s. citizens in germany and brazil and france who are also being spied on so there's a high likelihood that he will finally tackle that issue today now the big question is what happens to the most controversial n.s.a. program revealed by edward snowden and that's the n.s.a.'s bulk telephone metadata collection program the president could order an end to that program right now we could do it today if you wanted to and he wouldn't need congress's approval instead the president is expected to introduce some limited reforms to the bulk collection program and then take it to congress to have the final say on whether or not it should continue the president's speech they will set up a fight on capitol hill between lawmakers cozy with the surveillance state and lawmakers pushing to substantially reform it ultimately though a lot of what happens to the n.s.a. moving forward is out of the president's hands the courts are weighing in on the

constitutionality of these programs and in congress the patriot act which underpins many of the n.s.a. surveillance programs expires on june first of next year and it's unlikely the votes are there anymore to extend the more controversial parts of it so you can think of the president's speech as him reaching out to congress to save at least some of these spy programs that he is spy chiefs have been defending before those same programs are completely dismantled by the courts or congress next year in washington d.c. same sex artsy. just in reading a campaigner for government accountability does not believe that any of that entails the pay to changes will make it and one difference so far what has been telecast through government leaks look a lot like a lot of cosmetic changes in other words it does not appear that the president will be reigning in the largest controversy with just probably the bulk collection

of american data nor will he be adopting any recommendation to house and store that data in for example a telephone company rather than five a national security agency again i think a lot of these changes are are really discuss magic and they're contrary to what his own internal review panel recommended to us a democratic congressman the democratic congressman rush holt is more optimistic there he told us about a bill that he proposes reining in the n.s.a. it does several things it grants whistleblower protection to members of the intelligence community it would prevent the n.s.a. or any similar agency from installing back doors into hardware or software or the bill would also remove the justification that the n.s.a.

has invoked for seizing the metadata of virtually everyone saying that they will treat it with care and we won't abuse people's civil liberties unless we suspect that we don't want those who are doing the surveillance to be the very same ones who decide who the bad guys are. spying on the whole world doesn't come cheap the actual figure is as with much else in the field of intelligence a top secret now leaked information however has revealed. budget amount into fifty two point six billion dollars for twenty thirty in fiscal year out of that pie over ten billion went to the n.s.a. its funding has grown by a staggering fifty three percent since two thousand and four yet sources say terrorist detection methods only involve n.s.a. surveillance of seven point five percent of the time or he's granted you can look

into the agency's effectiveness. three years the u.s. government had been hiding its dragnet surveillance of entire nations under the national security rug in fear of another nine eleven americans had no idea of just how pervasive the government spying program became but following edward snowden's revelations lice came to the surface does the n.s.a. collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of americans. no sir. we know of at least. fifty threats that have been averted because of this information. there is only one case where this was useful somebody sunday thought eighty five hundred dollars to somalia to an al qaeda affiliate not to be encouraged but even in that case the government wait of two months to investigate this case so you know the idea that this is kind of critical to stopping terrorism is overblown public policy group the

new america foundation has analyzed hundreds of terrorism related cases and says traditional investigative methods such as the use of informants in tips work best. the n.s.a. sweeping surveillance did nothing to prevent the bombings in boston last year even despite multiple tips from abroad concerning one of the perpetrators the president's own surveillance policy review board has concluded the n.s.a. bulk data collection was quote not essential to preventing attacks the head of the n.s.a. was eventually pressed to admit that the government had exaggerated the effectiveness of the program would you grant that fifty four cases a keep getting cited by the administration or not all plots how the verge of war my thirteen had some nexus to us do you agree with that yes or no. yes the obama administration found itself in hot water when edward snowden revealed that

the n.s.a. was busy spying on allies and trading partners not just terrorists the n.s.a. has built a vast new center in to talk to store people's private data and much of it will have nothing to do with terrorists what we're doing is said to catering to tell a tarion procedures which is gathering information about all the individuals in the world. thousands have been taking to the streets to protest against what they see is their government becoming big brother when in the wake of nine eleven the patriot act or for an end to privacy many americans thought at least they'd be safe but with recent revelations even that tradeoff is on the question in washington i'm going to check on our team. head to our web site to learn more about america's surveillance that both then get expert analysis on what he was spying for the rest of the world and of course we'll bring you more on president obama's upcoming speech later today on our. last ditch

diplomatic effort find full swing to bring all key poll players to the upcoming international peace conference on syria some major issues remain to be ironed out with less than a week left before the summit kicks off in switzerland. has the latest. one of the major hurdles of course is the presence of the syrian opposition to the geneva two talks for example the syrian national council is yet to vote just on friday it's going to do that whether or not it will actually even take part in the talks in fact the faction is so much split over this decision is that some members already resigning by the dozen moreover it's not quite clear just how much of gravest has the s.n.c. carries over there is syrian opposition factions for example the jihadism the syrian free syrian national army and the free syrian army have already said that they do not recognize the authority of the syrian national council for its part of

the syrian government has already said that they for sure will attend the geneva two conference. rated during the meeting between the ministers of the iran syria and russia which moscow was hosting and it's important to say here that iran is all willing to participate in the conference the united states however wants to see it to be just a member observer from the sidelines however moscow believes that iran is should be present at the geneva two conference as a fully fledged member as the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov has retreated and his statement. like the syrian people and the people of iran we want to eliminate the hardships of terrorism on serious territory this is our unified position well it is hoped that this had to with just days literally days left before the syria the geneva two conference which is to take place in switzerland on january twenty second at least some of these issues will be ironed out however at this point it's not even clear who exactly will attend and whether or not the hopes

that for the first time the warring sides in the syrian conflict will sit down and try to take a step forward to peaceful resolution of the conflict that has been raging on for three years almost and has claimed by some estimates more than one hundred thirty thousand lives where that step will even be taken in geneva in the coming days. washington is also urging the syrian opposition to attend the geneva two summit spot the top u.s. diplomat has come out with a sharp condemnation of a stream is activity in syria secretary of state john kerry says the country has become a hotbed for terrorist groups seeking to capitalize on the strife of the syrian people the world needs no reminder that syria has become the magnet for jihadists and extremists it is the strongest magnet for terror of anyplace today so it defies logic to imagine that those who bruges whose brutality created

this magnet how they could ever leave syria away from extremism and towards a better future is beyond any kind of logic or common sense. france is among the countries that will be attending the geneva two conference the country has voiced concern over hundreds of its nationals fighting alongside the rebels in syria amid fears the return home radicalized a former french prime minister told us that the talks in switzerland must take place without preconditions. i believe we have two problems today one is we need of caused the opposition to take part in this discussion because how can we have any settlement without having everybody around the table but also we have within the opposition a very strong. very strong fights between the two parts of the political opposition and the jihadists are fighting very strongly on the ground i think we should take

away the jihadist all the people that are behind al qaeda and we should not focus on the plot of assad that we should not have any preview condition. before starting this political discussion the are you really believing that iran should be as much as possible part of the talks because ukraine is a very regional player and if we can have you run on board in discussing the crit crises of the region we'd of course we will be much more efficient. still ahead for you this all on our change a national the fama said living under constant fear of violence. they threatened us with their lives and that there will write. the words. on correspondent a yes from white south africans who say the country's a racist get from people treatment when it comes to security we'll have that story

up to this. low the flame. the olympic spirit travels with the flame from its birthplace in greece. joining james brown for an elemental and a big journey around russia and beyond. where are supposed to go.

so. there is so little self reflection on the part of both them public and the american decision makers i wonder why is that. country of three hundred fifteen million people. or. slated from the world by two large oceans. we're trying to think of foreign policy is something we do to other people rather than the good something we participate in .

a feel good. there's a media leave us so we leave that maybe. by the sea motion security play your part of the musical. push use that no one is asking with the guests that you deserve answers from it's all on politics only on our t.v.

. through. things to stay with us here on our team the people of scotland have eight months left to decide whether to split from the u.k. and london is making its concerns clia with britain's minister for europe warning that an independent scotland would not get an easy pass into the european union foreign secretary william hague is also determined to keep the scots in the fold details now from pali boyko. u.k. foreign secretary william hague is in glasgow today to outline the case for why scotland should stay within the united kingdom. unveiling the latest scotland analysis papers which are a response to scotland's white paper which came out last november and propagated voting yes in the referendum in september now the analysis today is doing the

direct opposite and it's focusing on the breadth of the u.k.'s diplomatic network and just how much scotland currently benefits from it so take for example business based in scotland they say that it benefits directly from efforts to protect the u.k.'s economic interests like defending the world famous squad whiskey against counterfeits against excessive taxation and against trade barriers but the battle from both the yes and no camps is really heating up in the run up to the referendum in september and we've had accusations of propaganda war being waged from both sides of the barricades certainly critics of westminster have accused the british government of fear mongering in order to secure a no vote to come september but let's take a listen to what the minister for europe said about scotland's independence bid just yesterday first of all of scotland quits walks it leaves behind all that it

gets as part of the united kingdom not just about membership of the e.u. the un security council the commonwealth the g eight the g twenty but in very concrete terms we've got this very large international network of embassies and high commissions around the world to promote scottish business including things like scotch whisky scottish egg recall to produce beef and so on. the analysis on bail today goes as far as your minding squats about the relatively modern day in pleasures that they currently enjoy as british citizens such as consular services when they travel abroad but we know that westminster is better together campaign is really stepping up the fight for the union and sort of love bombing the scots with p s two stay in the united kingdom from english celebrities prominent business figures and sports stars but in reality scottish independence is quite a remote possibility according to the latest polls just twenty six percent of scots

plan on voting yes come september so the war of words on both sides is sunny hostin are going to be watching as it progresses in the run up to the historic vote on the eighteenth of september. a quick look at what's in straw over on our web site building a home from scratch in under a day california scientists say that very soon this will be no challenge for a new generation of giant three d. printed now we get to the bottom of the technology and r t v dot com. plus a slam dunk for big quine an n.b.a. club or becomes the first the professional sports organization to accept the digital currency find out which team is with bitcoin user pens plenty to cheer about online. right seem to be. first rate. and i would think the true.

on our reporters were the. instrument. the in the old. africa's government has vowed to tackle violent crime a problem that is says poses an equal threat for all races living in the country many white farmers see things differently they say they are living under constant fear of attack plus here's their side of the story. is fixing his fins last night burglars again trying to break into his farm two weeks ago they story quickly and after killing six of his horses they threatened us with their lives and that they will break the family to get a wife and a daughter told this to the police and they've done nothing about it for thirteen

years when he has lived here in south africa the successful farmer grew and sold horse feed but three months ago he gave it up the constant harassment that he's convinced is coming from some of his former black farm laborers had simply become too much in fact last week. there are a few women not far from here and she said to being well if you want to use a condom and they boil the kettle a board or. water on the back because i think the they saw that she was not afraid . farm killings in south africa have hit a record highs according to genocide watch in the last twenty years since nelson mandela's african national congress has been in power more than four thousand white farmers have been killed but ten times that number of white south africans have been brutally murdered in what many came of racially motivated attacks an hour's drive from willy's farm and cornelius mill has been farming cattle and maize for

nearly forty years he's convinced the killings are part of a systematic bird to drive white south africans and in particular farmers out of the country he's paid the ultimate price his daughter vanessa was shot dead on his farm. where. and it took her gun which we used to short the thirty three year old was killed in front of her two small children from the years maybe they think the farmers the these really old farmers was good of the way i mean the government is saying that every day we're going to take the forms because we stole the ruling a.n.c. has dismissed such claims pointing out that south africans of all colors suffer violent crime i don't. come from africa belong to all who live in age.

both black and white and there's never been an intention to victimize rides and the vision in the mission of the south african police service is to protect everybody any citizen but the recent passing of nelson mandela who devoted his life to be consigning the races has seen white nerves shoot up personally i think it's going to get worse. preachers they were skewed for you if true it's a sad legacy for a man who devoted his life to building a rainbow nation the unfortunate reality is that south africa is still a very racially divided country there's a huge discrepancy between the haves who tend to be white citizens and the have nots who tend to be blacks who live in townships like this one paula c.r.t. south africa. in other news around the world this hour on that explosion at a crowded islamic cemetery in northwestern pakistan has killed at least eight

people and injured sixty others at last occurred as are thousands were gathering at the religious school for traditional friday prayers no group have admitted to carrying out the attack the country is a bitterly divided along sectarian lines with in terms of rivalries between sunni and shia muslims. they israeli prime minister has hit out an international critics of jewish settlement expansion branding them hypocrites he also dismissed claims that a further construction in the occupied territories poses an obstacle to peace meanwhile state media says netanyahu has drawn up a list of jewish and claves in the west bank that will remain in place regardless of any deal with the palestinians over half a million israelis live in settlements that are considered illegal under international law. south korea has rejected the north's a demand that it call of military drills with the u.s. plan for that reason march on yanna warned that failure to do so could lead to

a catastrophic escalation of tensions on the peninsula korea's criticize last year after it conducted a nuclear test defying you will security council orders to freeze its atomic weapons washington meanwhile is pledging to send another eight hundred troops to the south in addition to almost thirty thousand already stationed there. the mexican government is stepping up efforts to restore order in a troubled just southwest and state local vigilante groups have been fighting with the pople drug cartel and have now occupied much of the gang's heartland this week of those stayed to had to increase police numbers after self defense troops rejected a federal order to lay down their arms volleying to drug lords out of the region. it's almost time to track be a limp a plane long with a relay in history in our special record.

the majority of congress are now millionaires for the first time in history according to the center for responsive politics which sounds pretty insulting when the average american is that doing so well financially this seems bad like a bunch of rich guys rule the country which they kind of do but one could argue the congress isn't rich enough first off due to inflation a billion dollars is not as much as it used to be especially the cost of a campaign to get in the congress costs around one million six hundred thousand dollars so you're a million dollars of net worth may sound pretty rich to you or me but the expensive game of us politics these guys can't even afford the costs related to getting a work electoral campaigns are a big money affair so it is no surprise that people like you or me can't get into the law making business without selling at least

a little piece of our souls to someone who has very deep pockets so again the problem isn't that congressmen are wealthy it is that many of them have to get constant financing in order to maintain their positions and as you average folks know once you're in debt they've got you by the throat well that's just my opinion . it was supposed to be just another news or of course although admittedly for a special occasion it was one hundred twenty three days before the start of the winter olympic games in sochi and i was in greece for the lighting of the olympic flame the ruins of one of the most famous monuments of ancient greece the site of the very first olympic games where stones like this would. been part of the tent pole. the term pulls us temple oath.

home. mom.