your time. coming up on our t.v. president obama tells us how he wants to change and i say surveillance but are the proposed reforms enough to silence critics the latest just ahead and iran suspends part of its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief could this temporary deal pave the way for a future troops more on these developments coming up and the company responsible for poisoning an entire city's water supply in west virginia is in trouble yet again freedom industries says its approach is this just a way to avoid dealing with dozens of lawsuits more on that later in the show.

it's monday january twentieth four pm in washington d.c. i'm meghan lopez and you're watching r.t. america well ever since former contractor edward snowden leaked one point seven million classified documents to the world detailing the n.s.a. has internal structure president obama has been walking the fine line of political fallout during a speech at the department of justice last week the president finally addressed the issue and announce sweeping reforms to the way the national security agency collects digital information the changes and put it more oversight by the executive branch reworking national security letters that force private companies to hand over customer information to the n.s.a. and an end to section two fifteen of the patriot act which allows for bulk collection of metadata now some say that the president's reforms went too far others say that they didn't go far enough once this historic speech enough to quell the privacy concerns expressed by civil liberties advocates and lawmakers. like ron

wyden and rush holt well matthew calibra was a little fellow at the bill of rights defense committee and he joins me now matthew thank you so much for joining me tech companies and industry groups like the computer and communications industry association which represents google microsoft and facebook say that this reform speech was a step in the right direction but it didn't go far enough do you worry with that statement yeah i do there was a lot left out of the speech the president made although he did acknowledge a couple of really important points that i think many civil liberties activists like myself really care about specifically connecting the legacy of systemic oppressive abuse of surveillance programs to current data collection institutions that was a good that was a good thing to use to acknowledge so what major reform would you have liked to have seen announced in this n.s.a. speech well i mean in a dream world what i really like to see is the patriot act revalued reevaluated you

know. all of the reforms that the president offered in the speech sort of still occurred under the rubric of the patriot act which in my opinion and i think in the opinion of many states. adequately prioritized public safety weighted against constitutional concerns meanwhile he did take a closer look at one section of the patriot act in that section two fifteen the bulk collection of metadata now he did say that he wanted to reform it in india in the way that you and i know i mean that the government will no longer be responsible for collecting and storing that information as i understand it he wants to put that into the hands of third parties what do you think about that. i think it's a good but i mean it's a good choice d'art section two fifteen and metadata collection are kind of really only the tip of the iceberg of the total amount of information that the n.s.a. collects and processes and it's the it's not simply the n.s.a. that's engaged in data collection i mean it's also the d.n.a. and it's the f.b.i.

and to a certain extent it's the cia although their domestic concerns are a little limited the. thing that i would have liked to see more of and that i think went unaddressed when we focus on metadata collection is internet surveillance and it's incursions surveillance and it's sort of the convergence between multiple technologies together when we focus only on metadata collection of the call records you know and we sort of lose the bigger net that is also being cast simultaneously now throughout the speech president obama was trying to balance between defending the n.s.a. and reforming it now i want to play a part of where he's talking about the steps that he had taken in the past to keep the surveillance apparatus is in check and then i'll get your opinions ok we increased oversight and lot of it including new structures aimed at compliance improved rules were proposed by the government and approved by the foreign intelligence service surveillance court and we sought to keep congress continually updated on these activities what i did not do is stop these programs

wholesale not only because i felt that they made us more secure but also because nothing in that initial review and nothing that i have learned sense indicated that our intelligence community has sought to violate the law or is cavalier about the civil liberties of their fellow citizens so he says nothing violated the law or the civil liberties of americans if that's the case then why call for this massive reform why not stick by the n.s.a.'s policies. well i mean calling for the massive reform comes an ambiguously from the disclosures made by edward snowden and when the president says that the n.s.a. hasn't stepped over the line or violated civil liberties that's simply not true in fact there's quite a bit of journalism around the n.s.a.'s use of their data collection systems to monitor their ex-girlfriends and it's like the the history of abuse weighted

against the potential for abuse is i think the bigger question the potential for these systems to be abused even with the safeguards that the president is suggesting is still extremely high and that's what really concerns us i think the lack of transparency and the incredible amount of secrecy with which these organizations operate permit the types of overreaches that can go totally unnoticed until a person like an edward snowden comes forward so i don't think that those reforms although they acknowledge the appropriate direction don't do enough to date the structure of the face of court fisc order for intelligence surveillance court which itself operates in secret and the level the ability of congress actually effectuate meaningful regulations on n.s.a. activity none of that is really addressed in any real depth now we've talked about reforms being made on a federal level i understand there's also a number of legislations coming up on the state level can you walk us through a couple of those ideas yeah absolutely so there is i think i heard you mention the whole bill the surveillance state repeal act by rush holt that's one approach at

the national level i think many activists and people who are just concerned with their civil liberties generally think about where they live and you know the state individual states and individual communities are the right place to really be active and an individual sense so to that end there is the fourth amendment protection act which came up in california and there's another version of that in washington state is about six other states indiana tennessee has more on the way all the time these state level. lation prohibit the state from participating and or assisting in bulk data collection not limited only to the n.s.a. but to any federal agency that would undertake it and so that's applying state constitutional privacy standards to the state's participation with federal programs but at the same time given those national security letters is there any way to know whether or not those companies are actually participating given the nature of those at classified national security letters so here's the brilliance of it is that it

doesn't deal with private conduct like i think the civil liberties concerns around google data collection are one thing and the work that's a conversation worth having but the fact of the matter is google's never going to kick in your front door you know that's that's the job of the f.b.i. and so what this legislation does is it prevents the state from writing material resources to organizations federal organizations that are engaging in bulk data collection that means water that means power that means access to roads and access to internet bandwidth so without the states cooperation these federal programs couldn't operate so when the state withdraws its cooperation on privacy grounds on constitutional grounds it really cripples the programs from going forward and puts the onus on the federal government to come up with better more comprehensive more secure programs that are really going to fit what people in regular communities and regular towns are willing to accept very entrusting thank you so much for walking us through some of those state legislations as well as how some of the privacy advocates are responding to the n.s.a.

reforms matthew kelly grew a legal fellow at the bill of rights defense committee thank you. us supreme court has agreed to take up two cases that deal with the search of cell phone store going to arrest the issue at hand is whether police officers first need to obtain a warrant before searching through a person's phone or whether it falls into the same category as any other device found on the suspects body now the cases stem from two incidents where police searched through phones and found incriminating evidence during arrests which led to more serious charges the lawyers of one of the defendants says rapid advances in technology require updated laws that take the it capabilities of smartphones into account stanford university law professor jeffrey fisher wrote quote modern cell phones provide ready access to a vast array of personal data and are distinct from the types of possessions such as cigarette packages and footlockers this one high court has previously considered

loss of search incident to arrest could at the touch of a button become a search of private and confidential information such as medical records banking activity and work related emails now the issue of unreasonable searches and seizures has split courts across the country six courts have ruled that the fourth amendment allows for cell phone searches three other wrist disagree the law currently in place is based off of a forty year old supreme court decision while the four ninety one percent of americans own to and stored personal information on their cell phones. the european union has suspended some of its economic sanctions against iran as part of a groundbreaking nuclear deal this could be the first sign that tensions are finally beginning to ease between western countries and the so-called rogue nation in exchange for these lifted restrictions iran has agreed to scale back its uranium enrichment program that deal less restrictions on the trade of petro chemicals and precious metals it also creates a special banking channel to facilitate payments for goods like food and medicine

now this is a temporary deal that will last for six months while negotiators work on a more permanent agreement artie's policy or has more. from today a deal between iran and the international community goes into effect that will see iran freeze parts of its nuclear program in return for the easing of sanctions in terms of the agreement they will no longer be restrictions on the rain and exports of picture chemicals the country will also be able to import parts for its auto manufacturing industry and trade in gold and other precious metals the next six months are critical because it is stringless time frame that the international community and iran will need to reach a final agreement that many fear without which could ultimately see the border middle east descend into chaos and possibly even a war what is clear is that there has been goodwill and the wanting for this deal to work that has overridden the skeptics and the voices calling for fresh sanctions

but what is not clear is how the united states is going to maneuver its way forward it has a very fine line to walk on the one hand you have his role that continues to say that this was a deal with the devil you also have it was congressmen and women who are calling for fresh sanctions but on the other hand you have iran which essentially the american president barack obama is urging to come to the party and he himself needs to show transparency and commitment are not alienating for example his friend tel aviv in the region so the next six months are going to be critical the hope is that at the end of half a year you will have a permanent deal in place between iran and the international community here r.t. tel aviv a last minute invitation from the united nations secretary-general ban ki moon to iran because in syria peace discussions into a spiral the invitation a lot of officials from tehran to me in geneva was a host of western nations the syrian government and its opponents to discuss peace strategies now the talks are set to begin on wednesday however american officials

warn this newest information could have put the entire meeting in jeopardy syria's main political. opposition says that it will not attend if iranian delegates do iran was barred from the meetings because it refuses to support a core calling for the transitional government to step in in syria u.s. state department spokeswoman jen psaki underscored the seriousness of this accord in a press statement saying quote if iran does not fully and publicly accept the geneva communique the invitation must be rescinded but that is not the story iranian officials were told when the moon extended that invitation deputy foreign minister hosain. on said quote iran will attend the talks without any precondition based on an invitation by un secretary-general ban ki moon now for his part on the moon says he was given assurance by the foreign minister mohammad beer that the.

iranian delegation respects the un's positions on the syrian civil war saudi arabian officials argue that iran should not be allowed to participate in the talks since its troops are on the ground helping syrian president bashar all all sides meanwhile assad has announced intentions to run for reelection later this year or this could be yet another hitch in a very sensitive negotiation process that is currently under way while negotiators attempt to broker peace talks european supporters say that the syrian opposition so called jihadi one a b s or heading to the country to take up arms an estimated eleven thousand europeans have reportedly headed to syria in order to participate in the fighting artie's sara for more. a young british traveling to syria. and according to

one expert the now part of the largest european islamist foreign fighting contingent in recent times to at least eleven hundred. two. hundred it was from this picturesque seaside town in portsmouth this a group of young men recently left to go and join the fight in syria about a month ago when news reached the community that twenty three year old it's a kitchen man was killed last fighting on the syrian front line this is the local mosque that is to curl a number of his friends attended before they left syria where they joined one of the most radical opposition groups operating in the country isis the islamic state of iraq and show the before he died if the kid was active on social media pasting videos an update. now in the first interview since his brother's death

mistaken djimon exclusively tells r.t. he wants to set the record straight about his brother really was and why he thinks he went to fight difference between. a uniform just because he was in uniform. or something else. just because. different. people in uniform always fight for the people who will benefit as a country. for the people like many foreign fighters crossed into syria via turkey it was only once he informed his family he'd gone to fight jihad or holy war do you think the young men listen to what you heard. completely misinterpreting the women and specially in the city

a case interests in this completely wrong concept and wrong wrong idea the other members of the religious community we met in portsmouth agree and they're under no doubts as to what are the major challenges in tackling you think gauge moment social media their friends in other places they get led a path of who this looks interesting and suddenly they're listening to the teaching and i know that our leaders here in paul's with would not support i don't think the problem exists within any of the mosques in portsmouth per se the issue lies in where if those mosques are not delivering what the youth want. they may look for it somewhere else because the country and europe wise and the syrian conflict is gauging a young generation like near the few years ago a member of the french we were just ordinary boys you know just never thought about it so in this book about you know we're still you know still aware of what's going on around the world but you know if the you know my brother when this when you're

older than me is. going to be a dud in a bowl for just something that doesn't sunk in for me or a lot of people so i know it's happened but it still hasn't sunk in some of the forward for the full force and you hit it. so let's see the posting from portsmouth in the south the big. charleston west virginia businesses that suffered economic hardships as a result of the recent chemical spill in the elk river are going to have to hold out just a little longer for health that's because the company responsible for the spill freedom industries filed for bankruptcy on friday in order to cope with the dozens of lawsuits it faces as a result of that leak the company which produces and stores chemicals for the coal cement and steel industries filed for chapter eleven bankruptcy listing assets and debts between one and ten million dollars freedom industries is now asking for five

million dollars to continue operations now bankruptcy usually puts a stop to most litigation a company faces which will force the plaintiffs of the two dozen lawsuits filed to fight with other predators for a share of the company's assets and that fact is bad news for anyone to buy the spill this incident happened at an interesting time for the company it had just signed a four way merger nine days before the spill the spill what was reported the company broke of silence for the first time in weeks blaming the leak on a broken water pipe which caused its own pipes to freeze and crack residents were given the all clear will start using tap water once again last week the warning. these are still in place for pregnant women although the center for disease control says the levels of mc h. are now below the wet recommended one part per million and increasing number of people are reporting symptoms from the local tap water two hospitals as of saturday four hundred eleven patients have been treated for and reported chemical exposure

according to a spokeswoman for the west virginia department of health and human resources also the west virginia poison control center says it received two thousand three hundred and two calls about the chemical leak by saturday evening whether these calls in hospital visits were made out of an abundance of caution or from legitimate threats is still currently unknown however some residents are still refusing to drink the water. well the new york police department is in hot water this week after a police officer beat him bloody to an eighty four year old man accused of jaywalking on the upper west side come along was a real illegally crossing ninety sixth street over the weekend when police tried to stop him witnesses say the officer stood long against a wall and started writing him a ticket when he suddenly walked away one hundred have university law student said it appeared as though the eighty four year old didn't understand english the man was eventually arrested and taken to st luke's hospital with injuries to the head

now he was charged with jaywalking resisting arrest obstructing governmental administration and disorderly conduct mr long's family is considering pressing charges against the officer the n.y.p.d. explains that it has been ramping up the prosecution of jaywalkers in the wake of several traffic deaths in recent weeks. well at least fourteen people were arrested over the weekend during a protest against the california courts ruling to exonerate two police officers who are on trial for the beating death of a homeless man police are reviewing the footage from a local c.b.s. news station whose female photographer paul time when one after being attacked by a protester while filming the rally. some of the demonstrators began surrounding our news photographer moments later my photographer was attacked by one demonstrator it are some radical groups out here i was a opportunist saying they happen anaheim but it's not indicative of who kelly's army is what we're trying to get across to ron thomas kelly's father says blocking

cars and causing problems is not what this demonstration is supposed to be about. around one hundred fifty demonstrators gathered on saturday in front of the fullerton police department to speak out against former police officers manuel ramos and jason nelly the protesters are believed to have caused the protesters believe the death of kelly thomas highlights systematic problems with police brutality liz wahl has more. we've seen image after image showing scenes like this. force men using force to subdue people with guns but tons of tasers pepper spray or their bare hands but is it just a few bad apples or is there a systematic problem well it's hard to tell because accurate statistics are hard to come by well the f.b.i. compiles crime information on just about everything and something called the chief uniform crime report but what you won't find in that report is the number of police

shootings that have happened or really any information on police use of force we asked the f.b.i. if they had any recent statistics their response quote justifiable homicide would be the only f.b.i. uniform crime report program data available to determine use of deadly force justifiable homicide is not considered a crime and not all agencies report the data the spokesman tells our t. that the f.b.i. only collects information if the officer is seriously injured or killed that means we can find out how many cops were killed by citizens but not how many citizens were killed by cops and when it comes to local police departments again the statistics are murky i would say on a daily basis i receive inquiries from around the country numbering anywhere from five to ten inquiries per day peter granular is a d.c.

based attorney says he hears about police brutality cases all the time he shows us the. video of one of his clients on the phone when an officer confronts him and punches him in the face he missed the first time in the second time he hit him in the jaw in the place in a cell for at least three to four hours without providing any medical care while he sat there with his jaw shattered but instances like this may not be rare i think that there are many communities where the people would be brutally honest or feel fearful of the please they are fearful of making the reports oftentimes they are members of the parliament to whom they would make a report scott lucas represents a mother that says d.c. police officer mark washington violated her daughter after an investigation into her runaway he came back anyway and he came back into the guise of as we understand it needing to conclude his investigation and document injuries photographically and o.t. we had a child and took some inappropriate pictures prosecutors say there were other nude

photos of minors on washington's camera he was arrested in december and after being released on bail his body was found in the potomac river as d.c. police continue the investigation into the case the police chief says they have put stricter recruiting rules in place since but without reliable statistics that document just how common police misconduct is concerned citizens and organizations are taking it upon themselves to find out when they see police stop that they stop and watch and record that activity and then after they do so that they that they publish those videos on social media networks and those often spread rather virally looking at these videos shot by citizens and compiling media reports benvar kauto puts the pieces together and found police brutality cases are highly underreported

in some of these larger studies that have surveyed so. million experiences with police about about fourteen percent of them have indicated that they've had. interaction with police that was either violent or in which they felt threatened or that there was some kind of misconduct but among those who experience that only thirty percent of them filed complaints with departments the hope is that more people will come forward so policing will be more transparent and those that inforce the law will never be above it in washington liz wall r t well boom bust is coming up next right here on r t aaron zero eight zero joins us now with a preview erin what do you got for us thanks maggie now coming up on boom bust we'll talk about the wall street watchdog group systema they're trying to work against private equity firms attempting to help folks who have found themselves with underwater mortgages plus the latest on the global four express are going

probe it's all coming up so please stay tuned thank you erin and that is going to do it for us for now but from one of the stories we covered go to youtube dot com r t america or check out our website r.t. dot com slash usa and don't forget to follow me on twitter at meghan underscore lopez stay tuned to boom bust is next and i'll see you right back here at five pm eastern. we welcome their innate in. to a precocious teen network. it's going to give you a different perspective give you one star never i'll give you the information you make the decision. bring to you this is a revolution of the mind it's a revolution of ideas and consciousness in. the extreme right you produce would be described as angry i think in a strong no one single. that

was a new alert animation scripts scare me a little closer look. there is breaking news tonight and they are continuing to follow the breaking news the tamerlan alexander's family cry tears and so why it is great thinks other that had read or cared for a wall around alive there's a story made for a movie is playing out in real life. please .

play. a little. little. little. little. little little. little cross talk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want. a

little. you. know there i marinate it this is boom bust and these are the stories that we are tracking for you today. coming up my interview with ben style he takes us on a walk down monetary memory lane yes monetary memory lane and david back with joins me to talk about marketing monetarism kind of interesting stuff you won't want to miss that plus amazon dot com is coming up with ways to serve your every need and you will not believe what their latest scheme entails i'll tell you all about it now let's get to this.