no sweeping changes for sweeping surveillance president obama is expected to introduce some limits to the infamous intelligence programs but there's a little hope of any fundamental reform. serious as it's ready to unite with moderate rebel groups in the fight against hardline radicals according to the country's foreign minister who is in moscow ahead of the peace talks. scotland please stay britain's foreign secretary is on a charm offensive to convince undecided scots not to quit the u.k.'s and months tick to a decisive referendum. which

you are going to live from the russian capital welcome to the program it's been brought in some pretty dirty business now president obama could be about to clean up america's notoriously invasive intelligence reforms and friday which could impose limits on the n.s.a. after whistleblower edward snowden revealed to us all just how far it has gone into our private lives but expectations of any fundamental change are pretty low as are two same sex reports from washington. 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 may 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 you 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 ticket the congress to have the final say on whether or not it should continue lawmakers on capitol hill are divided over where the spying programs bantering should be democratic congressman rush holt proposed his own bill for reining in the out to say we don't want those who are doing the surveillance to

be the very same ones who decide who the bad guys are now deciding what to do with the n.s.a. has diluted a usual partisan rivalry between democrats and republicans with bills defending the surveillance and calls to restrain it coming from both sides just an radek who campaigns for government accountability doesn't believe that any of the proposed changes will make a genuine 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 by the national security agency again i think

a lot of these changes are are really just cosmetic and they're contrary to what his own internal review panel recommended and the global spread of america's all seeing eyes have cost taxpayers a pretty penny as well the actual figures are as you'd expect top secret but here is some leaked information that lifts the lid on spy spendings the so-called black budgets reportedly amounts to fifty two point six billion dollars for two thousand and thirteen out of that over tan billion went to the n.s.a. its funding has grown by a staggering fifty three percent in a decade yet sources say terrorist attacks and methods only involve n.s.a. surveillance seven point five percent of the time our washington correspondent dan it looks into the agency's effectiveness he 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. 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 somebody thought maybe five hundred dollars to somalia to an al qaeda affiliate you know 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 did numerical 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 you keep getting cited by the administration were not all plots how the verge of all of 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 and not just terrorists the n.s.a. has built a vast new center you talk to store people's private data and much of it will have

nothing to do with terry's what we're doing is said to catering to tele 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 are 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 out our teeth. while he waits to see what president obama plans for the n.s.a. here's something else you probably ought to know every day details of millions of private mobile phone text messages have apparently been shared between american and british intelligence agencies so take a look at r.t. dot com for more on that. the in the.

now the syrian government says is ready for a limited ceasefire with the rebel fires as well as a prisoner swap the foreign minister announced a readiness to cooperate with moderate opposition groups against radical islamist after meeting with his moscow counterpart at the same time sergey lavrov raised the issue of the opposition taking part in next week's peace conference. since you have to do it so i believe lou's who are backing the syrian national coalition under those who consider it the only legitimate representative of the syrian people which does not correlate to the real political situations all of them need to consider the role that's playing in preparing the geneva two peace conference. now the opposition syrian national coalition is meeting in istanbul to decide whether it will attend upcoming peace talks next week reports a decision won't be announced until saturday we spoke exclusively to syrian presidential political adviser saying

a shabani and she says the opposition doesn't understand the ordeal the syrian people are suffering these part is first of all they have been living outside thirty hours for so many years they are kind of. you know are brode the whole do not know what the thirty one people are going through and second i think because of the source of finance i think many of them are assuming finances from different parties but anyone who lives with the syrian people who wants the interest of the syrian people to be above it i think as would give the utmost priority to stopping this terrorism that is this throwing the lives of the people i believe it's a question of what is the one the proudest is is it the fear that people have and syria and its territorial integrity or is it some personal interest being an ally for other forces america's top diplomat has come out with

a sharp on nation of terrorist activity in syria. syria has become the magnet for jihadists and extremists and human rights group says that up to a thousand people have been killed in fighting between al qaeda linked militants and other rebel groups with some civilians even being executed former french prime minister pound spoke to r.t. have the geneva two peace talks and he said that dropping all preconditions is essential for any dialogue to take place next week 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 jihadist are fighting very strongly on the ground i think we should take away the jihad these two old people that are behind al qaeda and we should not

focus on the problem of assad we should not have a knee preview condition. before starting this political discussion of the i really believe that iran should be as much as possible part of the talks because you were uneasy very regional players and if we can have you run on board in discussing the current crises of the region we of course we will be much more efficient. for such a twenty fourteen of danny's are ready and the athletes are primed but who's going to make sure it all runs smoothly. yes will join me live in the on where president putin has just given a pep talk to the army of volunteers to sochi twenty four take.

the media leave us so we leave the media by the same motions to truly play your party there's a goal. for shoes that no one is asking with the guests that you deserve answers from it's all on politics only on our team. choose your language. of choice make it with zero in federal custody still some of . the consensus you can. choose to give opinions that degrade to. choose the stories that impact your life choose me access to your office or.

well the makah want to hear national over the next eight months scotland's pondering whether to cut the cord was britain and the heavyweights of westminster are there wooing their northern neighbors to stay as far as the public's concerned the decisions far from a done deal playboy go looks at the uneasy choice the scots have to make. 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 breath and the u.k.'s diplomatic networking 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 scorching whisky against counterfeits against excessive taxation and against trade barriers but the battle from both the yes and the no chance 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 scottish business including things like scotch whisky scotish a group called to produce beef and so on. the analysis on veiled today goes as far as reminding 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 forming the scots with p. to 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 and we're going to be watching as it progresses in the run up to the historic vote on the eighteenth of september. there is a topsy turvy world of the best of times but take a look at this. anyone who needs a roof under their feet russian architects have turned the whole idea of home owning on its head take it to war at r.t. dot com. plus the computer hackers who are it ching to get in your kitchen it seems they are branching out from computers and are now targeting smart household appliances from high rise to fridges. right see. first street. and i think the church.

on our reporters would. be in. to give a major event like the one to fix ronayne like clockwork you need more than toppings and world class athletes to make that happen you need a small army of helpers and the such a twenty four thousand recruits have been getting a presidential pep talk let's get more from andrew farmer who's in sochi for. hi there andrew so i mean those volunteers are of course a backbone of keeping the games going so do tell us about their activities how they've been preparing as we know they've had a very busy day today. they haven't had

a day which will live long in their memory i think that's because we all know that they do a very important job in helping the olympics run smoothly but that point was underlined today because of them how to thirty minute meeting with president putin around that meeting was also an opportunity for a question and answer session and one particular question of the night. why did the official track six for sochi contain the rainbow colors that russia is against gay propaganda well mr putin initially jokes saying he did not design the tracksuits on a serious note pointed out that it was a law against gay propaganda to minors and also stressed that being gay in russia is not a criminal offense we also had plenty more to talk about in that meeting he joins me now i'll get your name right you again now what was his message to you. mr putin says again for everyone but here's first the taters for visitors for

the contrary for people who are going to avoid them but for us it's work and it's quite hard and i say. the question why have you become a volunteer because it's many months hard work and it's also one paid. for me winter is very important because you give something to a country and you get something back you get experience you get friends to get a lot of things actually a lot of skills and i think it's very important for everyone and you all have particular g.t.c. what will be your responsibilities i look at the men for a center the men help turn a list to as i answer the questions and i try to make their work in a more sort of training if you have to do for this we had a lot of training so had a lot of skype interviews but language training strengths about history of the olympic games in building ahead a lot of them ok you're well i'll let you go now because i know you are very busy

while you're is just one of twenty five thousand volunteers it sounds like a huge number actually they are the chosen few because organizers did receive applications from one hundred fifty thousand people from all around the world and over the majority of volunteers are russian the rest are made up from people from or from around about sixty different countries as we've heard that they do have different responsibilities. in general they hate see the athletes as well as delegates as well as members of the public and also help them find their way around sochi but other responsibilities do include things like translating press conferences and also scooting athletes to doping control so there's a lot for them to think about and do more importantly all of them to have a very nice smile because they do and will try their best to make us all feel very welcome and he won't miss them either because they will be wearing those life because the tricksy absolutely andrew and we do feel their enthusiasm and good spirit there and a former thanks so much for bringing us the atmosphere from the olympics. and other

news around the world this hour here on r.t. international thailand's capital which has endured days of in mass and government action as seen twenty eight injured by a bomb a device was thrown from a derelict building into a truck carrying protesters at least eight people have died since the unrest first began in the vampyr latest shutdown bangkok movement has seen roads and ministries blockaded but the prime minister insists that the only solution to the crisis will be sam your usual action. bomb has derailed train in central pakistan at least five people have died several carriages came off the tracks when the blast struck on a road from peshawar in the north to garage in the south it's unclear who was behind the attack but the pakistani taliban deny it was involved. the hate wave that scorching australia has turned deadly killing one woman as

dozens of wildfires grip the south east the record breaking heat have already cut power to tens of thousands of homes and forced open tennis tournament to postpone matches it's feared the blazes are affecting the weather cycle causing thunderstorms and lightning have sparked further fires and injured several people. south africa's white farmers say they are living in an increasing climate of fear mirroring the apartheid that was inflicted on the country's black people for decades it's now white communities and during races attacks and even brutal killings this report comes from policy or. on is fixing his fans last night burglars again tried to break into his farm two weeks ago they stole equipment after killing six of his horses they threatened us with their lives in that they were all right the family got a wife and a daughter. goddess 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. they arrived a woman not far from here and she said to the him 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 that ten times that number of white south africans have been brutally murdered in what many claim of racially motivated attacks an hour's drive from willy's farm and cornelius nel has been farming cattle and maize for

nearly forty years he's convinced the killings are part of a systematic bid 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 he was. 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 are the these really old farmers was get out of the way i mean the government is saying that. they'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. belong to all who live image.

both black and white and there's never been an intention to victimize whites 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 reconciling the races has seen white nerves shoot up personally i think it's going to get worse. because there was kid for you if true it's a sad legacy for a man who devoted his life to building a rainbow nation and the unfortunate reality is that south africa is still and to be racially divided country has 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 point. something africa. times go head to head next as larry king meets legendary american newsman dan rather international.

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 not 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 that congress isn't rich enough first off due to inflation a billion dollars is not as much as it used to be a special in the cost of a campaign to get in the congress costs around one million six hundred thousand dollars so yeah 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 the 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's your language. clearly because we know in the federal case you'll come up. with the consensus of. the opinions that you think are great. choose the stories that in fact. you access to your office. welcome to politicking with larry king one of my favorite people a legendary newsman dan rather what does he expect from the president and the

president's political opponents in the years ahead as you see parallels between the bridge controversy surrounding new jersey governor chris christie and the watergate scandal that brought down richard nixon plus how far would he go to get a story it's all next on politicking with larry king. on the politicking he's a bestselling author he was one hell of a white house correspondent one of the best anchors ever the long time ago the c.b.s. evening news he currently is the host and managing editor of dan rather reports on access t.v. and i'm honored to have the legendary newsman and my friend then join me he's been with us many times in fact this man while anchoring to c.b.s. news would cover hurricanes for us on larry king live he got lower number standing

orders read very well no victory dan rather when the man or let's get right to it what do you make of the gate. well first of all it's an overstatement call it bridge gate and i want to start of all this serious but if you first wrote about it this all started with watergate watergate became a shorthand word for a widespread criminal conspiracy led to say by the president of united states out of the oval office constitutional crisis of the country more than forty people serve hard time now those who know that story to be true of this widespread criminal conspiracy tried always to soften it by saying well these things happen all the time as bridge gate in this this case in that case there's only one gate and that's watergate goodness series now this bridge fiasco you can call it that as we head toward the bundy better word see what i mean if there is one.