this is our take tonight president obama introduces curbs on the n.s.a.'s bulk phone data collection program but there's concern the surveillance is not being scaled back enough. 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 here in moscow ahead of the peace talks. scotland please stay britain's foreign secretary is on the charm offensive to try to convince undecided scots to quit the u.k. as the months tick through a decisive referendum. kevin

zero in this is r.t. international it's just past eleven pm now here in moscow our top story president obama's outlined a few changes to how america conducts its controversial surveillance tactics which it ensnared millions of people's phone calls texts and e-mails around the globe but there is still praise nonetheless for the n.s.a. and its importance to security even though he admitted he had made mistakes made a poor listen to what barack obama had to say. u.s. president barack obama was expected to really introduce some sweeping reforms on and say surveillance that did not happen instead the u.s. president defended and applauded and applauded the job of the national security agency and made it clear that the indiscriminate collection of everyone's mehta data will continue obama's so-called reforms did not address the prism program which allows the n.s.a. to monitor everyone's online activity including e-mails chats web searches and video calls us president also didn't address the n.s.a.'s counter encryption

activities or any geo location information that the agency may have or may be collecting so what's changing here's what's changing obama doesn't want the government to control the method data storage anymore proposing that phone logs belonging to all americans be moved into the hands of a third party the u.s. president says that his attorney general eric holder and other intelligence officials will cross to a war on who should hold the metadata announcing various options in late march so this essentially means that the same u.s. officials who spearheaded and authorized the expansion of america's surveillance practices are now in charge with curbing their own authority also affected immediately obama says that the n.s.a. will now have to get permission from the foreign intelligence surveillance court. every time it wants to query or abscess the phone records database that it's compiled but we have to keep in mind that the free support is

a secret or it's hearings are closed to the public and records of proceedings are classified so many critics would say that the n.s.a. is not going to have a hard time making requests to for each time it wants to access someone's metadata now the u.s. president did insist that the efforts that the n.s.a. has made over the past decade have prevented multiple attacks and saved innocent lives around the world but a study actually. least this week by the new american foundation actually concluded the opposite it found that the bulk data collection by the n.s.a. has had no discernible impact on preventing acts of terrorism so right now the bomber can make whatever claims he wants but the study and the research is not supporting his words report well president obama described his reforms as concrete and substantial. i am therefore ordering a transition there was an end section to fifteen bach metadata program as it

currently exists. president's much anticipated speech left those who'd been pushing for crucial intelligence reforms though some were disillusioned technology writer glenn moody told me to me afterwards that everything the president promised wasn't specific enough. everything's been punted into the long grass he said i'm going to set up a committee to do this i've asked this department to look at this everything's in the future we just don't know what is really promised and so i was very disappointed there was probably nothing concrete in there for example as far as the metadata collection is concerned he announced grandly well we're going to stop doing this but i haven't actually decided how we're going to stop doing that so obviously the details matter there similarly in terms of the spying on the rest of the world it is very important to note that foreigners have far fewer rights than the u.s. citizens on that he basically said well we will do it in our sort of fair way and don't worry about it i mean there were just no real guarantees that. we had some of the figures but the cost for us of effectiveness the global spread of america's all

seeing eyes has cost taxpayers a pretty penny of course the actual figures as you'd expect top secret but we managed to get some leaked information that lifts a bit of a lid on the spy spending to give you some idea the so-called black budget reportedly amounts to fifty two point six billion dollars for two thousand and three out of over ten billion went to the n.s.a. its biggest grow by a staggering fifty three percent in a decade yet sources say terrorist attacks in methods are only making use of the n.s.a. surveillance capabilities just seven point five percent of the time raising questions that over why it needs all those billions if you can looks next into the effectiveness of american spy agencies. 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 it 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 the fifty four cases you keep getting cited by the administration or not all plots how the village for 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 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 locating 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 fading and ends to privacy many americans thought at least they'd be safe but with recent revelations even that tradeoff is under question in washington i'm going to check out our take well if you want more analysis of barack obama's n.s.a. or for my to a website out. to details a fresh legs revealing that the u.s. and u.k. you've been harvesting millions of mobile phone text messages worldwide every day. to be in the. next the syrian government says it's ready for a limited ceasefire with rebel fighters as well as a prisoner swap the foreign minister announced a readiness to cooperate with moderate opposition groups against radical extremists

and for a meeting with his moscow counterpart at the same time sergey lavrov raised the issue of an opposition taking part in next week's peace conference. i believe all those who are backing the syrian national coalition and those who consider it the only legitimate representative of the syrian people which does not correlate to the real political situation all of them need to consider the role they're playing in preparing the geneva two peace conference position the syrian national council for its parts meeting in istanbul to decide whether or not it will attend next week's peace talks it's still a decision about that's going to be announced on saturday former french prime minister dominique de ville powers spoke to r.t. as a geneva two he told us that dropping all preconditions is essential for any dialogue to take place next week. i believe we have two problems one is we need of course 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 think we should take away the jihad these are all the 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 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 crit crises of the region we'd of course we will be much more efficient one more comment

after calling it syria a magnet for terrorists an extremist state john kerry is now blaming it all on president does sad. he himself has even been funding some of those extremists even purposefully shooting some territory to them in order to make them more of a problem so we can make the argument that he is somehow the protector against them nobody is going to be fooled america's top diplomat was speaking there a news conference in washington earlier friday shia political analyst eric draitser told us the u.s. may be trying here to divert attention from its own faults the united states has backed itself into a diplomatic corner on the one hand they've been funding funding and funneling weapons to the extremists that if infiltrated into syria on the other hand they claim to be playing diplomatic matchmaker as if they're going to somehow resolve the crisis so what you're seeing is this sort of dual diplomacy but this is all collapsing because as assad is regaining control of territory and as the world opinion has shifted against the jihadi elements and against those backing them the

united states is forced to then put the blame on to assad a sort of a pot calling the kettle black situation and a few minutes we're going to look at the tough choices facing the scottish people later this year and who is willing who in the battle over independence. controlling the media agenda 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 ethical that conventional media is doomed to follow the whims of those hijacked the internet. right close to. her street. and i think you're. on a reporter's twitter. instagram. b

m o o o. again over the next eight months whether or not to cut the cord with britain and the heavy weight so westminster of their full wooing that know all the neighbors to stay as far as a pub is concerned the decisions fall from a done deal polly boy could next looks to be an easy choice the scots who go to make. westminster's new scotland analysis papers set out the british government's

position on why scotland is better off within the united kingdom say part of the focus of today's analysis is britain's extensive diplomatic network and how much scotland benefits from it said the document even goes as far as reminding scots about some of the relatively modern day in pleasures that they enjoy as british citizens such as consular services when they travel abroad which they might be taking for granted at the moment and of course william hague was keen to remind scots that should they vote for independence there their membership within the european union would have to be renegotiated nor would they be able to use the pound and of course you also spoke about the u.k. protecting scottish business interests for example the world famous scotch whisky and the salmon industry protecting it from excessive taxation and so forth but today scotland analysis comes off the scottish government produced its white paper

back in november which propagated why scotland should vote yes to independence it was somewhat of a road map by the scottish government despite everything that william hague said today about scotland being better off within the united kingdom the white paper back in november argued that independence would boost scotland international profile it would deliver new opportunities for exports and it also said that scotland has contributed more tax per head of population than the u.k. suggesting that scotland is certainly wealthy enough to go it alone but what we're seeing is two very big campaigns getting very much big in the run up to the historic vote on the eighteenth of september and i suspect that you case foreign secretary william hague is going to be making a few more trips up to scotland it's all part of westminster's intensified no campaign in the run up to the vote is going to see celebrities sports stars and

business figures with scots to vote no to independence on the eighteenth of september. now it seems pretty boy there in the world pro independent scottish coppola gordon market told me how scotland can go it alone whatever the westminster scare tactics scotland is a wealthy nation we're just not a wealthy society and the reason for that is that we have for the last thirty two years generated more time in every single year per head than the rest of the u.k. but that money doesn't stay here it's actually taken from scotland given to the treasury in westminster and then a small budget comes up to scotland for us to spend if we had been investing in scotland then we'd actually have a much better economy than we actually have right know so on can more than afford to be independent westminster politicians in the no campaign would see that they are bluffing they're trying to create a. to scaremonger the scottish public into not making a decision that would be of

a huge benefit to them and the reason they're doing this is because that is no positive case for scotland to stay within the union. building news that you can build a house from scratch in just twenty four hours california scientists say the next generation three d. printers well they're going to be big. day in theory that says. to the computer if you get into your kitchen kitchen it seems that there branching out from. getting smart household appliances. to fridge.

russia's dagestan republican the caucuses have been reported there. well the incident happened near one of the restaurants in the dagestan capital city of first an unidentified person fired a grenade launcher at the restaurant and then when police and other security services arrived at the scene a parked car exploded and nine people are reported to have been injured but thankfully no one was killed in this incident police say the bomb was not packed with things like nails and other elements to increase the number of casualties so they say most likely this is a case of underworld violence rather than a terror attack with moscow is situated around five hundred kilometers away from sort you were just getting ready to host the winter olympics due to start in less than a month the city was visited by the president earlier on friday who wants to get reassured the security a ring around the city and the olympic venues to ensure the safety of the athletes

and the spectators course that's taught most want to keep a major event like the winter olympic rowing like local you need more than just the top venues really provided more than the world class class athletes who are going to be there to make it all happen you also need as in many other forms of life an army of helpers to the such the twenty fourteen recruits that and they're getting a presidential pep talk. from a. but that meeting was also an opportunity for a question and answer session and one particular question of note came from a forum volunteer he watched why did the official track suits for sochi 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 he 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're against now what was his message to you. mr putin says their own begins is holiday for everyone but we're in tears first because haters for for resisters 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 of 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 as we've heard that 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 over 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 do 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 tracksuits yeah absolutely and the innocent me we're going to be there as well throw february or an r.t. international take you through what's happening in sochi looking forward to it. now december in bahrain saw hundreds of rallies suppressed and hundreds of campaign is including young people arrested findings collated by the country's opposition party document the lengths gone too in cracking down on protests calling for greater freedoms and equality in the sunni led kingdom out of more than seven hundred

protests last month in fact four hundred were brutally dispersed by security forces according to this report there are almost two hundred arrests made with raids being most the most common tactic used by police these raids often carried out instantly as well at night and in all cases it seems security forces refused to prove any warrants for arrests there the report also reveals cases of vandalism torture and other heavy handed treatment by the authorities in fact in almost four hundred cases a crackdown on dissent took a form of collective punishment no human rights advocate side had the almost so he told me that he holds out little hope of achieving his aim a true constitutional monarchy any time soon. the violation. remain lots of people are arrested and detained vandalism tortures the ongoing while the authority are denying that they are torturing people in the investigation rooms but actually it is ongoing practice the constitutional monarchy is our

aim and our goal we are going to work is the author of the respect the opposition demands and consider what's going on in the region it will be achieved but not recently let's say it will take years unfortunately. for the big stories tonight it's been a suicide attack in the afghan capital thirteen people have died there a bomber blew himself up at a restaurant and foreigners are thought a bit of the new victims the interior ministry says guards killed two other attackers who tried to storm that restaurant is popular apparently with afghan officials and diplomats update from thailand's capital which is in june days of intense mass anti government action and has seen twenty eight injured now by a bomb that device was thrown from a derelict building onto a truck carrying protesters at least eight people have died since the rest first began in november and the latest shut down bangkok movements the roads and

ministries blockaded but the prime minister insists that the only solution to the crisis will be fed theories alexion. a bomb here is a real the train in central pakistan it killed at least five several carriages came off the tracks when the blast struck on route from push our in the north to crash in the south it's unclear who was behind it but the pakistani taliban say they were not involved and africa's white farmers say they're living in an increasing climate of fear these days mirroring the apartheid was inflicted on the country's black people for decades it's now part of the white communities here ensuring racist attacks we have brutal killings to support marty's paullus lier. 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 were all right the family got a wife and daughter. told this to the police and they've done nothing of that 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 them 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 mill has been farming cattle and maize for nearly forty years he's convinced the killings are part of

a systematic bird to dr 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 . to curb gun which are used to shorten the thirty three year old was killed in front of her two small children from the years. i think the farmers of these really the old farmers was good of the way 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.

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 in the 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 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 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. r.t. south africa. about with more news just over half an hour's time next though crosstalk funny how social networks are changing the news agenda coming up.

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 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 are 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 . as a. hello and welcome to crossfire all things considered i'm peter lavelle controlling the media agenda as social media expands in 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 now.