childhood ministration urges congress to permanently reauthorize a suspended mass surveillance program prompting an outcry from rights groups. u.s. issues a warrant to seize and iranian oil tanker after gibraltar's supreme court ordered its release earlier this week the vessel was impounded by british royal marines in the mediterranean last month. and the family of a young girl blocked from joining one of germany's most famed boys' choir sues for gender discrimination but the case is thrown out by a court in berlin. broadcasting

live direct from the studios most of this is our team international i'm sean thomas really glad to have you with us. marty wide reaching domestic surveillance program could be back on the cards stateside the trumpet ministration is calling on u.s. lawmakers to permanently reauthorize the national security agency to use it the request was made in a letter sent to congress on thursday signed by the now former national intelligence director dan coats now additionally his appeal also revealed that the controversial call detail records program had actually been suspended after collecting more information than was legally allowed in spying program falls under a section of the usa freedom act which is set to expire in december and comments. the trump white house is speaking up about a high profile n.s.a. program that allows the recording of americans phone calls and personal messages dan coats the outgoing director of national intelligence is urging congress to

reauthorize the law before it expires at the end of the year now dan coats has confirmed that the n.s.a. has put the program on hold however he says it's necessary to have the ability to get the program going again if needed as technology changes our adversaries trade craft and communications habits will continue to evolve and adapt in light of these dynamic environment the administration supports reauthorization of this provision as well a coalition of privacy and civil liberties advocates sent a letter of their own to the u.s. house judiciary committee and said of renewing the program they called for meaningful surveillance reform the government's implementation of the program further demonstrates both the privacy threats posed by the program and its lack of efficacy it is highly concerning that it took almost 3 years to detect the fact that the n.s.a. was collecting records even beyond the broad authorization provided under the program the n.s.a.

should not be permitted to resume this program now the freedom act gives the n.s.a. the ability to build a network with the telecommunications companies to record the phone calls and personal messages not just of the suspects but of anyone that they are in contact with. voted to allow it to proceed for the. i will vote against that it is better than the usa patriot act but it doesn't go far enough in my mind in protecting our civil liberties we find that we're spending resources for no benefit in terms of public

safety in a real cost in terms of freedom and liberty and this is why i voted against the freedom act when they said it would fix the problems inherent in the patriot act just stop spying on innocent americans instead of trying to make it legal. when the freedom act came down it was a way to try to ease americans and say no no we're going to make sure we work out the kinks but i think americans know better than that because that's what dan coats is saying here is that anything the n.s.a. and sometimes the n.s.a. just gets surveillance information that's just hundreds and pages of nothing and they've actually come out saying that it doesn't really help resolve or solve any terrorism or investigate terrorism activities so because of this though now they can send out or they can decimate that disseminate that information out to the cia to other players to the f.b.i. and to people who might not have the knowledge of who really is a threat which is going to put a lot of americans at risk certainly these prizes violation so yes you're allowed to surveil you're allowed to keep your country safe from terrorism from these kinds

of acts but at the rate that it infringes on the privacy rights of people who have absolutely no known ties to terrorism that's where it gets a little bit tricky. the u.s. justice department has issued a warrant calling for the seizure of an iranian oil supertanker released by gibraltar on thursday the document says the ship the oil it is caring and nearly $1000000.00 in cash are subject to forfeiture for violating u.s. sanctions on iran the warrant also cites bank fraud money laundering and terrorism related statutes it alleges additionally that iran's revolutionary guard lawfully attempted to make use of the united states financial system to support illicit shipments of oil to syria. earlier iran's top diplomat sharply criticized the u.s. for attempting to block thursday's release of the ship which was 1st seized by british royal marines off the coast of last month. having failed to accomplish its objectives through its economic terrorism including depriving cancer patients of

medicine the us attempted to abuse the legal system to steal our property in the high seas this piracy attempt is indicative of trumpet ministrations contempt for the law while having performed small maneuvers on friday the vessel remains stationed in your broad her waters as the captain reportedly no longer wants to keep command of the ship gibraltar's chief minister says the detention was lifted after the british overseas territory received formal written assurances from iran that it would not ship oil to syria in violation of e.u. sanctions. the grace one is that for now released from detention under the sanctions act by operation lo on the 30th of august i received assurances from the republic of iran that if we leased the destination of the grace one would not be an entity that is subject to european union sanctions i welcome that assurance the iranian authorities deny that the grace one was ever shipping oil to syria in breach of sanctions 2 weeks after the vessel was impounded iran seized

a british flag tanker in the strait of hormuz claiming it had violated international law the us then later an ounce to its intention to create a naval coalition to combat named iranian aggression in the strait middle east analyst. me thinks the u.s. may have overplayed its hand with its british ally. very skeptical that the u.k. and gibraltar officials will heed the call by the u.s. car meant to continuing pounding and tank air and you know despite their legal sought it is a safe bet that given the fact that iran is also holding a british tank this is part of a quid pro quo whereby the release of the iranian tank it will be followed shortly immediate future by the release of the british tank held by iran we know that.

garmin and their boys john saw that as well as those in gibraltar are. you know annoyed by this lingering crisis and they want to wash their hands off of it and the u.s. is trying every trick in the book to linger descrive says and to keep you as part of this so called time. escort for the oil tankers passes through this strait of hormuz and they will says worries that once this crisis between iran and they use is resolved then they will pull out and yours will be a coalition one. in our new role the german girl has been told by a berlin court that she cannot join the country's most prestigious boys' choir breaking down the case and the debate it as triggered here is r.t. socketed. nobody likes rejection and no one wants to hear that not good enough but it seems for one family in germany no just isn't option picture

a 9 year old girl who just wanted to sing her mother says she's got the voice of an angel and that the best place in the city for her training is the berlin state and cathedral choir set up in the 15th century it's one of the oldest and most renowned choirs in the country and it's pretty much just got 2 rules you have to be over 5 to addition czech and you've got to be a male ah undeterred the god apply twice and was rejected both times but try try try again 3rd time lucky she got back from all dition before the door was once again slammed in her face but the choir is adamant agenda has got nothing to do with the acoustic pattern of a choir is part of its artistic freedom the rejection was not predominantly about her gender and she would have been successful had her voice matched the desired sound characteristics of a boys' choir out unsurprisingly of the decision struck a wrong chord with the girl's mother who is now taking the choir to court over

gender inequality she says she's got a letter from the dean of berlin's university of the arts which the choir is affiliated to and which it's written that aggarwal never sing in a boys' choir boys also argue that as an institution receiving state funds rejecting female singers contravenes germany's gender discrimination laws now many have weighed in on the side of the choir saying that mixing it would bring an end to its traditional sound nobody has said girls can sing as well but the tumble is different and judging that should be left to the musicians and musicologists anyone who wants to misunderstood gender equality here is a cultural essence this standoff between gender equality and autistic freedom isn't exactly new music professionals and academics alike have been debating the. anatomical differences of boys' and girls' voices 3 years saying the former has a purity the latter just can't attain and just last year the famous british soprano

signal lesley garrett called out all boys choirs for being stuck in the past backward looking traditionalist argue that there is an exclusive purity in the boy's voice but i think that's just nonsense it's an excuse to hang on male privilege and perpetuate a dominant male gender stereotype and male power but not ready to dump the carrot secure in his choir rolled out a very diplomatic aren't we recognise different tasks to contribute to that our female singers make to the choral scene here at cambridge we're especially proud to follow mixed voice choir kings voices which was formed 20 years ago precisely to give women students the opportunity to sing choral music in the chapel we all know parents will do anything for that children but trying to shake up an institution that hasn't changed over half a millennia now that dedication. to us are democratic presidential hopeful bernie sanders has been forced to to clarify comments he made about the washington post on

monday every month senator was accused of peddling conspiracy theories by suggesting the paper's editorial position reflects the interests of its owner billionaire founder jeff bezos. boy future is on the phone call you go to washington post what you do absolutely. doesn't work what i think is in media in general there is a framework you go to. the washington post office c.n.n. operates. on anybody you know how much amazon paid in taxes what and. then i thought about all the time and then i wonder why the washington post which is owned by jumping through on time thought all the right thing we got offical about i don't know what senator sanders is a member of a large club of politicians of every ideology who complain about their coverage contrary to the conspiracy theory the senator seems to favor jeff bezos allows our

newsroom to operate with full independence as our reporters and editors can attest . bernie sanders has long been a vocal critic of corporate media arguing that they misrepresent his views and ultimately act in the interests of the elite. the working families that should not have to subsidize the wealthiest people jeff bezos made a leben 1000000000 dollars last year they didn't pay a nickel in federal income taxes wealthy people should stop paying their fair share of taxes etc. bernie sanders makes like skin crawl and i can't even identify for you what exactly it is but i see him as sort of a pro woman candidate or he could seriously bashers billionaires flaming

which many of the problems that many americans most americans suffer just missed most is he just man the world works and just of course he is you know. because he's threatening the class interests and work on trying to keep him through but you know elected president he would be even more static were the billionaire class and. it's definitely an obstacle because they have mormons and conforms and they can reach almost all americans the influence all americans think about but who clearly has a discrete message from the book review that was resonating with his voters and supporters in the den already he could get the nomination he could be trying if you gets the general election but they are the washington post on the new york times and the other south media would be great to offer who think we're looking at all just democrats but independents and even some republicans he would have to decide

to send is up there for the media who are against him and against the would be quite. the media i think the trend both candidates. and african spy scandal has thrust the chinese tech giant wall. way back into the headlines after allegations were published in the wall street journal the newspaper alleged that while weight technicians in at least 2 cases personally helped african governments snoop on their political opponents uganda and zambia allegedly listed the company's assistance for wiretapping conversations cracking through encrypted communications and conducting surveillance while way denies the accusations claiming it has never engaged in hacking activities here is part of an interview given to r.t. on the issue we refute it's quite vociferously again it just feels like it's one of those stories that come up now and again go to completely verify it it sounds like even though the companies that have been cited in terms of involvement have

made it very clear they don't even have contracts in. one of the countries involved so it looks like the story is unfortunately really just fake knees and we have to suffer with. huawei is currently the world's 2nd largest producer of smartphones and has been in the spotlight in recent months over its large scale investment in developing 5 g. mobile technology in may the u.s. put restrictions on the company citing national security concerns after washington accused wall way of spying on governments for beijing which while way has also vehemently denied the strategy of vice president andrew williamson told us once again his that security is a top priority. it's a private company owned by its employees as i say there's about $100000.00 shareholders and to me as someone that's come to this company i think it's extraordinary the benefits of running an organization like that because people

don't necessarily just pick up their paycheck at the end of the week of the end of the month they have a real vested interest in the commercial success you really have to check everything assume nothing. and trust almost nobody and that's that's a process in the system that we stick to and work with many of our partners around the world on that basis. on the hong kong now where the 11th consecutive weekend of demonstrations is taking place police and protesters faced off earlier in one of the city's busiest shopping districts rallies were held both in support and in opposition to the authorities in the chinese semi autonomous territory months of pro-democracy protests were originally calling for the withdrawal of a controversial extradition bill but have since adopted a much more broad set of demands those include the resignation of hong kong leader kerry alam democratic elections and an inquiry into alleged police brutality

concerns are growing though that the ongoing campaign is putting the city's special status in jeopardy and risking intervention from china. meanwhile the lead actress in disney's actor the lead actress excuse me in disney's upcoming remake of the movie milan is facing backlash for her stance on the protests take a look. i also support the hong kong police you can attack me now what is shame for hong kong . i was happy when disney studios in the house said they're making a new mom movie she was my childhood hero it is disappointing to see the actress who plays her does not empathize with the protesters in hong kong they're fighting for their homeland like milan. disappointed at walt disney company for selecting

and leading actress that supports police brutality and corruption and she completely destroyed decent good image definitely will not seen one life next movie . called how to dance you have to be to support police brutality when you just roam the currents are supposed to stand against oppression is rule for. hong kong and china are my birthplace and my home i love my country and my home. i really hope that hong kong returns a piece soon. here we have someone who is standing up for herself you know she's a chinese american and i think she probably knows a lot more about what is happening over there in hong kong then most of us do here in the u.s. or really other places like europe and she's taking

a stance to support war for snit i think it's very important that we take notice of that these are not peaceful protests these are not people that are having a positive message to get an answer to what they want they're using violence they're using force and she's saying you know what i'm up close to that and i support the law enforcement that's going ahead and trying to restore peace so i think that. she's a good illustration really of the character she's playing the character a lot this is really something she should be celebrated for not criticized for. germany's most senior police officer has voiced concern over rising levels of far right hate speech he warned it could lead to the formation of new extremist groups and terrorist cells in the country for several years now with fluctuations we have seen an increase in violent politically motivated crimes coming from the far right we are also seeing a risk of terrorist groups forming. german authorities registered over 8600 right

wing extremist offenses in the 1st half of 200-1000 that is 900 more than during the same period last year but despite the increase the number of violent crimes stayed roughly the same here's a brief look at the scale of the country's problem with far right extremism. one case that potentially highlights the threat from the far right was the murder of the politician walter lukey he was a member of c.d.u. party and was a strong supporter of migrant rights he received death threats and was killed in june and his home with a gunshot to the head is a suspected killer is believed to harbor extreme right wing views. although the

police say they are working hard to tackle extremism martin dots are from germany's left party does not believe enough is being done. and the problem is that the right wing the extreme right wing. or for violence lists as well of any nice place out of one busy group called the north cloyd such is the extreme right wing group and they had a list of 25000 people who do politics christians who do activism for refugees we have a saying in germany which say that the authorities lined on the right i that means they don't really know what the right wing of the real extreme right wing doing and during the last years they did a lot of what we do zation organisation is special we can be extremists and militarists way and so we have the increase of. crime so the

rightly we as well we have a lot of scenarios people of color left wing people. in danger or abused by right. people in the last few. few people would be willing to visit the site of a nuclear disaster if you are still you would think would want to buy products made in the exclusion zone but a group of british scientists is looking to change that they have been working on producing a vodka made with grain from chernobyl jim smith professor of environmental science at portsmouth university says the atomic spirit is completely safe and has been tested in world class laboratories. what we did we set up an experimental sailcloth in the main exclusion zone about 20 kilometers south of the power station and it's not one of the most radioactive parts of the exclusion zone but obviously there's some contamination and so we look 1st at the transfer of radioactivity into crops

and we grew and so then when we amended the grain and distilled it to produce alcohol we as we expected because any chemist knows that when you to still something you leave a lot of the impurities in the waste product and not in the distillate alcohol so what we found was that when we measured the distillate alcohol that we couldn't with very sophisticated equipment we couldn't find any radioactivity except a natural carbon 14 which would get in any spirit drink. returnable disaster shocked the soviet union and the world 33 years ago almost 600000 people were affected by the catastrophe at the nuclear plant according to the world health organization professor smith says the vodka project is not about grabbing headlines but promoting recovery in the economically depressed area. but we want to do is make make money in order to help them develop the area and support the communities

that have been affected it's a long road you know 30 years after the chernobyl accident and there are still issues particularly around the perception of radiation risk and people worried about the radiation perhaps when we scientists think the shouldn't they insert things in forums from that point of view to show that we can make a consumer product that hopefully people will want to drink so i have to say that this is technically this is not it's more like i'm 30 high quality moonshine and what we're producing is something using the more traditional way that's been done in ukraine belarus russia poland for many centuries our distil that he thinks and i agree that it's a good way of doing it because it keeps more of the flavor of the original grain and we've got a tasting and they like the flavor. right something that we're keeping an eye on that we're learning about here at the newsroom an apparent suicide bomb blast has killed and injured dozens of people in the afghan capital

kabul happens a couple hours ago explosion happened at a wedding celebration some witnesses say more than a 1000 people had been invited and interior ministry spokesman claimed that the attackers set off explosives right in the middle of the gathering for now the exact number of casualties is not clear authorities and emergency services are now working at the scene and this comes just a few days after the end of the muslim holiday. which many people have many people. come to the capitol to visit family. all right switching gears now with former u.s. special counsel robert muller's investigation into russian election meddling. we'll have that story later i guess we're done for this hour have more news at the top they are so about that international.

join me every thursday on the alex salmond show and i'll be speaking to guest of the world of politics sport that's less i'm show business i'll see you than. i why a paradise with some all around turned into a round the experimentation field the agricultural chemicals we know that these chemicals have consequences they are major irritants there's no question otherwise why would that the chemical company workers themselves be geared up and suited up locals attempt to combat the on regulated experiments but often in day you have

many of these people who have one foot into the biotech pharma and the other foot in the government regulatory bodies this kind of collusion is reprehensible while the battle goes on the chemicals continue to poison hawaii and its people so one has to ask the question whether there is a form of environmental research going on in hawaii whether these companies feel they can get away with this because the people have less political power. to show the same wrong. rowles just all. i mean you get to stamp out disdain and become agitated and engagement equals betrayal. when somebody find themselves worlds apart when she's to look for common ground.

i'm good see for just our good friends. it's it's it's going good. i am involved with a lady friend at the moment she was in california i live in minnesota so there's a distance there we need to know each other. it's not easy making new friends after something like this. well what do you do before you came here where did you work before you came here when you live. well death row they don't know what to do with that you know that. it's just one of those situations where you have to realize that not everyone out here is out to ruin your life there are some who are actually interested in knowing you and helping you.

the state of ohio says the new drug combo used to execute dennis mcguire in january worked properly but it's increasing the dosage of the pain killers for future executions his family claims the state used as an experiment the state says mcguire was killed humanely. their official position is that nothing went wrong. basically everything was constitutional. was unconscious. medically qualified to be able.