this is why you should care what you only. know sweeping changes for sweeping surveillance president obama is expected to introduce some limits to the infamous intelligence programs but there is little hope of any fundamental reform. syria says it's ready to unite with moderate rebel groups in the fight against hardline radicals according to the country's foreign minister who's in moscow had of the peace talks. scotland's please stay britain's foreign secretary is on a charm offensive to convince undecided scots not to quit the u.k. as the months to take decisive referendum.

five pm and moscow watching are to international memory josh welcome to the program i was been embroiled in some pretty dirty business now president obama could be about to clean up america's notoriously invasive intelligence reforms on friday which could impose limits on the n.s.a. after whistleblower edward snowden revealed to us all just how far it had gotten to our private lives but expectations of any fundamental change are pretty low as are to some sachs 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 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 take it to congress to have the final say on whether or not it should continue lawmakers on capitol hill are divided over where the spying programs boundaries should be democratic congressman rush holt proposed his own bill for reining in the n.s.a. we don't want those who are doing the surveillance to be the very same ones who

decide who the bad guys are deciding what to do with the n.s.a. has diluted the usual partisan rivalry between democrats and republicans with bills the founding their surveillance and calls to restraint coming from both sides just erratic 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 at bat 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 been national security agency again i think

a lot of these changes are really discuss medic and they're contrary to what his own internal review panel recommended of 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's some leaked information that lifts the lid on spy spending the so-called black budget reportedly amounts to fifty two point six billion dollars for two thousand and thirteen and out of that over tan billion went to the n.s.a. as funding has grown by a staggering fifty three percent in a decade that sources say terrorist detection methods only involve ses or mail and seven point five per see end of the time our washington correspondent looks into the agency's activities. for 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 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 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 of 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 in to 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 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 are for the 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 take well there are reports that president obama may announce a ban on the n.s.a.'s bulk phone data collection and that's according to an unnamed white house official read about that authority dot com as well details of fresh leaks revealing that the u.s. and u.k. has been harvesting millions of mobile phone text messages worldwide every day. the in.

the syrian government says is ready for a limited ceasefire was rebel fighters as well as a prisoner swap the foreign minister announced a readiness to cooperate with moderate opposition groups against radical islamist after a 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. i believe all those who are backing the syrian national coalition under those who consider it the only legitimate representative of the syrian people which does not correlate with the real political situation all of them need to consider the role they're playing in preparing the geneva two peace conference. the opposition syrian national coalition is meeting in istanbul to decide whether it will attend upcoming peace talks next week in ports a decision won't be announced until saturday and we spoke exclusively to syrian presidential political adviser saying siobhan and she says the opposition doesn't

understand you were a deal the syrian people are suffering. these parties first of all they have been living outside for so many years they are kind of. you know are brode the whole do not know what the syrian people are going through and second i think because of the source of finance i think many of them are deceiving prime answers from different parties but anyone who lives with the sudan people who wants the interest of the syrian people to be above that i think as we would give the utmost priority to stopping this terrorism that is this throwing the lives of the state and i believe it's a question of what is the one the proudest is is it the sea that people 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 condemnation of terrorist activity in syria syria has become the magnet for jihadists and extremists. i hear a rise group says that up to us 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 dummy devil fan spoke to r.t. ahead of the geneva two peace talks and he said that dropping all their conditions is essential for any dialogue to take place next week. i believe we have two problems today one is we need of cause 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 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 any 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 want is a very regional players and if we can have you run on board in discussing the crude crises of the region we of course we will be much more efficient while for such a twenty four team the values are ready and the athletes are primed but you need a whole heap of help to make sure that all runs smoothly. that's right because up in the mines of present president putin has given a pep talk to the army of volunteers the sochi twenty four to.

controlling the media agenda his social media expands in scope and influence you tube twitter and facebook entertain and inform hundreds of millions of people every day however the same are used to promote hoaxes in mass propaganda pursuits is it inevitable that conventional media is doomed to follow the whims of those games hijack the internet. write the scene. first strike. and i think you're. on our reporters' twitter. instagram. to be in the.

welcome back over to the national that over the next eight months scotland's pondering whether to cut the cord was britain and to have a waits of westminster are there warning there are northern neighbors to stay as far as the public's concerned the decisions far from a done deal volleyball go looks at the an easy 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. say 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 squad whiskey against counterfeits against excessive taxation and against trade barriers but the battle from both the yes and no 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 scotish a group called to produce and beef and so on. the analysis on veiled today goes as far as reminding sports 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. 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. it's a topsy turvy world at the best of times but take a look at this. for anyone who needs a roof under their feet russian our good acts have turned a whole idea of homeowning on its head take a tour at our t. dot com. computer hackers are itching to get in your kitchen it seems they're branching out from computers and are now targeting smart house hold appliances from high fives to fridges. and.

more news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. giant corporations are on the day. of the flame. the olympic spirit travels with the flame from its place in greece. join james brown for an elemental and epic journey around russia and beyond.

where are supposed to go around. play. right to see. first street. and i were being butchered. let me. go back to what you ninety international to keep a major event like the winter olympics running like clockwork you need more than top venues and world class athletes to make that happen you need

a small army of helpers and as such the twenty four thousand recruits have been getting a presidential past talk are designed to farm has more. that meeting was also an opportunity for a question and answer session and one particular question of note came from a former volunteer he was asked why did the official tracksuits for saatchi contain the rainbow colors of russia is against gay propaganda well mr putin initially jokes saying he did not design the tracksuits but then on a serious note pointed out that it was a law against gay propaganda to minors and also stress that being gay in russia is not a criminal offense but he also had plenty more to talk about in that meeting he joins me now i get your name right you know you're in against now what was his message to you will. be so for this says their games is holiday for everyone but twenty years first because taters for four resistors for the country for people who are going to avoid them but for us it's. quite hard and i say and that makes the question why

have you become a volunteer because it's many months hard work and it's also one paid. for military 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 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 and as we heard there they do have different responsibilities in general they're here to meet and greet the athletes as well as the 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 escorting 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. 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 like the color tricksy. in other news this hour. thailand's capital which has endured days of intense mass into government action as seen twenty eight injured by a bomb a device was thrown from a derelict building on to a truck carrying protesters at least eight people have died since the unrest first began in the van for the latest shutdown bangkok movement has seen roads and ministries blockade of but the prime minister insists that the only solution to the crisis will be election. a bomb has derailed a train in central pakistan at least fifty five people have died several carriages came off the tracks when the blast struck on a route from peshawar in the north to iraq in the south it's unclear who is behind

the attack but the pakistani taliban deny it was involved. but he wave that scorching its trail here has turned deadly killing one woman as dozens of wildfires gripped the southeast the record breaking heat have already cut power to tens of thousands of homes and forced the australian open tennis tournament to postpone matches it's fear of the blazes are affecting the weather cycle causing the thunderstorms and lightning have sparked further fires and injured several people. south africa's why farmers say there 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 who are enduring races attacks and even brutal killings this report comes from policy or. on is fixing his fans last night burglars again trying to break into his farm two weeks

ago they stole equipment after killing six of his horses they threatened us with their lives and that they will rape the family to get away from their daughter. told this to the police and they've done nothing of that for thirteen years when he has lived here in south africa a 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 women not far from here as you see today in 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 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 . used to short the thirty three year old was killed in front of her two small children from the years. i think the former these really the old was good of the word i mean the government is saying that. they're going to

perform. 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. black and white and there's never been an intention to victimize rides and division 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 because they were scared for him 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 policy r.t.

south africa. up next in cross talk how social networks are changing the news agenda. 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 especially the cost of one campaign to get in a 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 . hello and welcome to crossfire all things considered i'm peter lavelle controlling

the media agenda as social media expands. and scope and influence how are we to assess what is really news you tube twitter and facebook intervene and inform hundreds of millions of people every day however the same are used to promote hoaxes in mass propaganda pursuits is it inevitable that conventional media is doomed to follow the whims of those aiming to hijack the internet. to cross not the influence of social media i'm joined by my guests rachel clarke in london she is a social media and digital consultant also in london we have david cushman he works at the social partners and is author of the ten principles of open business and in new york we cross in brunton he is a media culture in communications professor at the new york university all right cross talk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i very much encourage it david if i go to you first in london what is the relationship

between conventional media and social media because i have the impression that social media is now leading conventional media well you only have to look at the newspapers certainly here in london you'll see that it is very often the case that people are the news media is following the agenda set by trends that are emerging from. platforms like twitter. now whether that's the most relevant news to the individual's thoughts for me the bigger question of what's happening with me because news has traditionally been a kind of lower storm skews very low a lowest common denominator. a way of reporting the facts of the world i think what social media are unable to see is to really focus on a major issues of interest that we care about and therefore what becomes our standard of news varies depending on what we're interested in who we're connected to so i think whilst mainstream media is still in this game of what are most people to.