policy in vietnam during the u.s. invasion of vietnam the troops were going very often from okinawa so they've been used in a way that's been very unfair and that they've protested against there's also a lot of chemical waste there a lot of toxic elements there plus noise pollution accidents of helicopters crashing people they're really been exploited and they're strongly opposed to it in all the polls between seventy and ninety percent of the okinawan population has come out against the base relocation they want entirely off of oak in our they've got more far too many bases already more than half of u.s. troops in japan are located at okinawa so it's part as you said before part of this u.s. empire of bases as charmers johnson called it and we're very critical of all of that our group came together narrow really around the relocation to have no go and opposition to governor naca in the statement but many of us have much broader concerns about the u.s. military footprint and the. this is also part of obama's rebalanci

keep in mind, tyler, the u.s. is still the number one market in the world when it comes to luxury auto sales. sergio is saying i want a piece of that, that's where the profits are and that's why they want it to expand and bring alfa to the u.s. >>> still ahead on the program, could a number of rail accidents involving balk and crude impact the price of oil? that answer coming up. >>> senate democrats are looking to fast track legislation to extend jobless benefits to the more than million americans that saw benefits expire five days ago. jean the assistant to the president for economic policy says ending the benefits right now is bad for the economy. >> we as a country have never cut off emergency unemployment benefits when long-term unemployment was this high. to simply allow 1.3 million workers and families to lose benefits between christmas and new years doesn't reflect economic common sense or our values. over the course of the year, it will be 4.9 million people who will be affected. >> senate majority leader

the maid thanked u.s. officials and rights groups for their support and the rights groups that support her same that despite this latest move that this was still a victory and it sends a strong message to other diplomats that cannot this -- exploit domestic workers. when it comes to amazing images, few can rival those captured by the mars rover. there was an opportunity to survive martian winters to bring an incredible view. to solo with the 10th anniversary of the landings. will betion of images displayed here in washington. at the since we gazed red planet, we wondered what mars was like. two robots have roped the surface for the last 10 years. >> this tells the story of mars that was very different in the past. mars was different. it was warmer, it was more wet, it was more like earth. this tells a story of exploration might not just the science but the process of uncovering that and driving for climbers across the surface of another world and exploring as you go. >> the exploration mission was launched

the u.s. economy. >> the combination of financial healing, greater balance in the housing market, less fiscal restraint and policy accommodation bodes well for u.s. economic growth in coming quarters. >> the bernanke pep talk helped but not a jolt of red bull. today's final numbers, the dow up a modest 28 points and the nasdaq lower by 11 and s&p was a fraction of a point lower. well, big blue chip stocks started haltingly. dominic chu reports why many market pros are watching small, fast growing companies more closely than those suddenly stumbling big company shares. >> reporter: the skies are getting a bit darker for some investors. it's not a full blown storm yet but many traders are keeping a close eye on small cap stocks. they had a rocky start to 2014 and there is a big reason why investors care. they are considered to be leading indicators for the overall market and economy. >> small cap companies are the largest employer in the u.s. they are reflective of what would be going on in the

but i think the u.s. has come a long way in terms of its position about of if the u.s. has demanded the assad must step down or must leave must depart right now the u.s. is accommodating the situation in which he is actually a player in the geneva conference very much. there and not going anywhere and i think the u.s. administration is realizing that you know you could offer his departure you can say you can call or demand him to leave but recognizing the reality on the ground is that he's very much there and he may be staying and i'm not sure everybody here in washington would want at the end of the day to see you know i know for israel for a fact that people are those who are unease with the situation because on one hand if the outcome would be that assad stays you would have them aligned with iran the radical access to feed the leaves and you're left with the. groups that are would be controlling syria and that's a good news either so i think that the u.s. has come a long way i think the u.s. as the leader of the western world must demand to depart on the other and i

u.s. president assured. critics say the. british. during the iraq war which began in two thousand and three. try. to win the release of the russian. you'll join the chorus of voices supporting the first. time for the weekly international. with the top headlines of today of the week and following months of uncertainty syria's main opposition. has finally decided to meet face to face with the assad government this in wednesday's geneva two conference now this is the first time the sides will be in the same room struggling to strike a roadmap for peace some key groups members of the syrian national coalition had previously rejected talks and tried to impose preconditions for the books participation in the meeting just fueling the internal disarray inside the body and right before the decision the country's foreign minister a prisoner swap with the rebels the latest from syria's diplomatic front line with . with time running out before the start of geneva two conference on syria it was a busy

in the u.s. she is urging the fund's largest shareholders to fulfill a pledge made three years ago to approve the increase of the imf's lending capacity and allow developing countries including china. clearly for the iron lady of the global economy the challenges are far from over. to hear about these matters today least join me in getting a warm national press club welcome to managing director of the imf, christine lagarde. [applause] >> thank you so much. as you can tell i do as i'm told i thought i had to. >> about the time when the media clearly failed. good afternoon and thank you very much for having me with you. i would like to thank the national press club and especially angela greiling keane for not only inviting me to this prestigious venue but presenting the outline of what i want to talk to you about now. as is if we have prepared that together which we have not. let me first of all of course begin by wishing all a happy new year. i guess it's still time to do that given we are just e

with the u.s. economy to do well and the feds providing liquidity, obviously they are tapering and will continue to taper, we would expect investors to look for a bargain opportunity, possibility before too long. i think as far as emerging mark are concerned, which is what we focus on day by day, the issue is what point do you look at the economies like turkey and brazil. does it warrant investors getting back into the mark. it may be prem fewer for that to be the case. the logical thing is the u.s. and european markets will probably bottom out. as long as the market is on track it will provide a better 2014. >> thank you for making this simple. geoff dennis head of global merging market exit strategy. >> more and more americans looking for quick cash can look somewhere they didn't dream of looking - the human resources department. >> they didn't make me feel like i was a poor person. i didn't feel that way at tall. this meant a lot. >> we look at workplace loans and whether they are a burden. >> a

russia the u.s. and the u.n. agree there is no military solution to the syrian crisis and that peace talks cannot be to wait any longer but the main opposition groups reluctance to attend the initiative at risk. in britain is private a series accused of bribing local authorities and homeowners to sap. in their areas with cash incentives to sweeten the. we'll. take a leap forward in germany we hear people's concerns about spreading islamization at a cost their fate.

is the u.s. state department released something yesterday a statement yesterday saying that ukraine needs to move more toward a parliamentary system instead of the strong presidential system and this is the same week that president obama in a state of the union address said well if congress doesn't go along with with my with these laws that i plan to pass i'm going to start ruling by executive order so it's it's quite ironic is there a united opposition as john kerry said he's going to support it if you're a covert she does perhaps go in the long term is there a credible opposition to replace him. well certainly you see you know there's a debate as to whether the people on the streets are being controlled by the opposition or if they're out of control of the opposition. there was some information i'm sure you've reported on already that some of the computer seized from some of the opposition parties indicate that this had been planned for quite some time including the violent component of the pro

u.s. forces a decade ago we look at who these insurgents are and how they became so strong. while in syria al-qaeda linked rebels and other opposition groups are engulfed in bloody infighting the forthcoming peace talks are under threat from the growing divisions among those aiming to topple assad. lost confidence biting austerity is taking its toll on the e.u. leadership with approval ratings hitting a record low for a handful of bloc members. they can dream they can. they can make. each and every kind of. draft. because they don't have to paid instead it's taxpayers who will make up for politicians mistakes even in the e.u. as most efficiently run countries such as germany. and playing it safe concerns are growing about how athletes and visitors will be protected at russia's upcoming winter olympics r.t. is in sochi to see what is being done to secure the olympic host city. broadcasting live direct from our studios in moscow this is shawn thomas glad to have you with us now al qaeda affi

do you expect the u.s. dollar to remain on the backfoot if you're talking about further sell-off of yields in the u.s. markets right now? >> yes. i think in the short-run as i say, if the next few days' reports are impacted negatively by the weather, aside from putting downward pressure on yields, it could keep the dollar up or a little bit on the backfoot, but it's a temporary thing. i really do believe that the growth in the u.s. economy is picking up. it's sustainable at this time. we've seen previous swoons in u.s. activity, it's always been related to fiscal or political events. there's nothing on the horizon right now like that. i think it is a temporary weather-related impact. and that will recover relatively quickly, i think, as we get into the february/march period. >> phillip, you did mention one of my favorite words, which is the periphery of europe, and i'm going to come back to you on that. but for now just bear with me because every week cnbc asks me to talk the trend by taking part in the onl

to restore u.s. leadership, president obama should reinvest in the global order in which norms are not only articulated and endured, but protected and enforced wherever possible of stop this means doubling down on higher standards in the trade arena, rolling back nuclear weapons development, and protecting civilians from the ravages of civil conflict and authoritarian violence. it also means making new bets on rules for governing the internet that would protect our profound interest in an open information system. we should also make the most of regional and international peacekeeping efforts in africa and protect our investments in a more stable afghanistan. while pursuing these opportunities, the administration must mitigate potential damage posed by the turmoil of the arab world, fraying alliances, and provocations from russia and china. we believe that with dedicated presidential leadership, properly resourced by congress, these threats could be managed and the united states can remain the leader

top u.s. intelligence officials say all these efforts are in their early stages but nonetheless the f.b.i. director says that now tracking americans who have returned from syria has been among the bureau's highest counterterrorism priorities now according to senior counterterrorism officials islamic extremist groups in syria with ties to al qaeda are trying to identify recruit and train americans and other westerners who have traveled there and to get them to carry out attacks when they have returned whole u.s. officials say at least seventy americans have either traveled to syria or tried to since the civil war started three years ago that number to this point was never disclosed this is the first time that that number seventy has been disclosed by u.s. officials now syria's civil war no doubt has become a magnet for westerners seeking to fight with rebels against the government of president bashar al assad and all this news is coming ironically as the obama administration is reportedly consi

position has changed and u.s. is now willing to actually come to an agreement richard is this a window of opportunity because we do have a new administration in iran and i think it's already been mentioned on this program that obama would like some kind of foreign policy achievement in its second term because he didn't do too well to date so far you know how does this play into it because a lot of that you know when you think about ten years ago when all of the sanctions started coming on there was no enrichment now there's a lot of enrichment going on in iran and now we're at the table is this an opportunity in your mind. it may be an opportunity we're still i mean we're still i think that the ministration of this thing is it could be and so we're going to try and see if we can make this into an opportunity it's still a bit uncertain i mean there are some uncertainty over for example how much power president and his team has versus the. supreme leader if there's going to be a difference in the revolutionary guard

the u.s. capitol empty. area schools, city and state governments all closed. >> we plow it up and salt it as well. >> reporter: plow driver torrance dockens was hard at work, in early and working late into the night. >> at this point i think we beat mother nature right now. just keep our fingers crossed. we definitely don't count her out too early. >> reporter: up and down the east coast, a heavy day of de-icing. but with more than 3,000 flights cancelled, many airports were virtual ghost towns. flight aware's misery map showing boston, new york, washington and chicago the most affected airports. steve watts was trying to fly through the storm, leaving out of d.c. >> we're from chicago. this is not an awful lot of snow. >> reporter: with so many flights grounded, amtrak picked up the slack. its trains running on time. and twitter was full of snow photos from cincinnati to west virginia to pennsylvania. in indiana this morning, the visibility was terrible. on i-65, between indianapolis and louisville, so many

plus a u.s. court ruled that a former guantanamo bay prison cannot sue the state over torture claims as dozens of former american office.

obama has held up at meetings with u.s. lawmakers, internet corporations, and the heads of u.s. intelligence agencies, and he says he will announce changes in a speech set for next week. diplomatic tensions between the u.s. and india have deepened. the state department is saying that an american diplomat will be leaving after the indian government asked washington to withdraw the official. >> it's the latest retaliation following a highly controversial arrest and strip search of an indian diplomat in new york last month. >> that indian diplomat was flown home on friday after being granted full diplomatic immunity, something not usually offered to consular officials. >> a diplomatic solution to a deepening crisis. >> i am not at liberty to talk about it at this point of time. let me just content myself to say that i'm glad my officer is finally coming home. >> the row began last month and opened up a huge rift between india and the u.s. he faced charges of -- she faced charges of visa fraud and underpaying her housekeeper. she was let off in handcuffs and strip-searched after the

the u.s. did very well, u.s. growth maintained about 4% to 5%. the u.s. is probably the place to be once again at this moment. if the em is going to continue, i would not say full crisis mode, but in this fashion, the u.s. is the place to be. >> what is the catalyst for all this? people talk about tapering and china to economic weakness. >> we have to go back to the middle of last year in terms of what was going on. there was weakness that was permeating through all the current account deficit countries. people felt these countries had grown too fast. the key source of this, people mistake this. this is a credit problem for most of these countries, excess credit manifesting itself in the current account and external deficits. people are focusing on the symptom and not the cause. i am glad you bring it back to fundamentals. turkey has a credit problem, they have a real estate boom, they are spending too much. they built a new bridge from europe to asia. this selloff and emerging-market currencies is very broad-based. you are seeing currencies spell off --

this does not apply to u.s. citizens and it does not apply to people living in the united states the president's defense of these programs even as they've come under fire in the court system and within the white house's own review panel have alienated privacy and civil liberties advocates so let's move on to the syrian disaster for the past two years the crisis in syria has worsened but most americans could agree on one thing that a u.s. led war in syria would not be the answer and fact according to a reuters it's this poll from august of two thousand and thirteen only nine percent of respondents were in favor of intervening militarily in the country but despite the overwhelming public opinion president obama remains steadfast in his september speech to americans that it's harder to strike be the next course of action ultimately a diplomatic solution was announced however some analysts have said that obama's drumming up of support for military intervention chipped away big at his liberal base and that takes us t

the u.s. play in all of this? >> the u.s. actually doesn't play a great role or doesn't have great influence in syria because it is -- it is not really a party to the conflict. the united states is trying to protect its interests in the middle east and this is why the syrian war is so important to the u.s. and not to mention the fact of the shia-sunni conflict which has stemmed from the war of syria which the white house has mentioned is the most important threat to the u.s. so the united states needs to protect its interests not necessarily because it has influence in the ultimate outcome. >> we'll see what happens next week. thank you so much. >> thank you for having me. >> slowing down iran's nuclear program, iran shu shut down its reactors as part of a six month deal, iran will also stop building new facilities but can repair current ones. in return the u.s. will ease sanctions on iranian oil, gas and auto industries. the u.s. will release $4.2 billion, in restricted funds and installments

well so what i like to refer to the u.s. government as a contingent currency issuer so that means that technically the actual government doesn't create most of the money the banks create most of the money through the lending process banks create deposits by making loans so the majority of our money supply is created by the banking system but the government has the potential option to always create currency if it wants to so the government is sort of like the entity that's sitting on the you know the button there they have this potential mechanics where they can potentially create the money supply if they need to so you know i always like to point out that the u.s. government can't really run out of money as we all know that the government has a printing press technically so you know the people who worry about the government potentially running out of money i think they're they're also forgetting that the government has a printing press so you know we all had a printing press in our basements we wouldn't worry about being abl

the u.s. secretary of state john kerry says his is -- needs with his israeli counterpart outdoor lieberman. secure aing to framework for a palestinian agreement. kerry wants to sign off on a comprehensive treaty by april. let's go to our correspondent in jerusalem. kerry is continuing his shuttle diplomacy today. how are his tactics being received? >> the secretary of state, i think, has people here worry. he is shuttling between jerusalem and ramallah. it is significant that the two leaders, even after four and a half months of negotiations the dream people below them, are not prepared to meet yet. a are not yet ready to meet. john kerry is going between them with a combination of charm and determination, but i think it makes people here nervous. you could see that both sides in advance of this talk were spinning, taking open, and, suggesting that these talks might fail for a variety of reasons. each of them are trying to prepare their defense and saying it is not my fault. it is now put up o

the u.s. especially what is happening there. certainly 30 months ago. has the state department at all questioned our efforts there? has there been any feeling like we could end up in a place there that is good? what's the effect on state departments there? >> i think i can say that we are disappointed with the way things are going in sudan. but we are committed to ensuring that sudan does not fail. we're committed to staying with the process to get them to the peace negotiation table and committed to sudan having a future for their people. they are disappointed. they've been failed by their leaders. we still we have to stand with the sudanese people to take this to a conclusion that that will lead the country back on the right track. >> chairman menendez was asking a little bit about the u.n. forces. many of us have been to darfur and seeing the mandate the u.n. had there and been frustrated in the past by that. does this have a right to mandate on the ground in south sudan right now? >> we th

u.s. air force and its nuclear units. let's bring in our new senior white house correspondent joe johns. got a new title but he's still reporting the same ole news. unfortunately, this is a major problem. >> senior washington correspondent, wolf. the air force officers were from the global strike command from the base in montana. the air force says some of them cheated on a proficiency test last august and september. other officers apparently knew about the cheating but didn't stop it or report it. all 34 have been decertified and restricted from missile crew duty. the cheating involved text messages shared during the exams. here's some of what the air force secretary debra lee james told reporters earlier today. >> this is absolutely unacceptable behavior, and it is completely contrary to our core values in the air force. and as everybody here knows the number one core value for us is integrity. >> and so this is just the latest in a series of scandals involving those watching u.s. nuclea

i do not see that from the u.s. i think that the u.s. is acting in a very provocative manner toward ukraine. like inciting violent acts. >> demonstrations in the streets? >> not because of the u.s. government, but when the government has to take measures to prevent -- the u.s. says the riot police -- threatening sanctions on government officials. or completely disregarding the acts of those who are trying to destabilize the situation in ukraine. >> what is your government's position about gays in russia? >> no discrimination. we do not discriminate. >> you have laws that are not enforced. >> we have a law. they ban gay propaganda among minors. >> why the associate those two things? >> those are things that we have seen in some countries. >> that is what president putin said. >> it is not about gay rights. there is no discrimination in russia. there is no discrimination of gays or any others. we believe human rights should be upheld. >> the conventional wisdom is otherwise. as you know, the president has even spoken. president obama has s

the u.s. conclusion that a chemical attack damascus in august was carried out by the government is being challenged by a team of highly respected experts washington immediately blamed president bush a new report for the mustard too since institute of technology for the rocket couldn't have been fired from government controlled areas. we went through two to three months worth of study to determine the types of rockets. the weight the size the propellant and we determine that the range is on the order of two kilometers i like to make a note that the u.n. also had come up with a range of approximately two kilometers so this is very confusing to us in our studies and we're trying to understand exactly what the white house map means because right now as it stands these rockets could have never been fired from government controlled territory they would be fired more from a rebel type of territory or a border of a contested territory so it appears something in america's official conclusions does not.

is a former u.s. marine and he thinks the u.s. led invasion has helped why did the sectarian gaps in iraqi society. i think the reason that there's discontent in iraq right now is because the u.s. led occupation put in place a lot of structural injustices that are the root of all the violence in iraq right now one of the results of the occupation of iraq was that the sunni community. became a very marginalized targeted group within iraq so this is the root of a lot of the fighting in on by province right now. i think for the u.s. government to continue arming the rocky government to facilitate their internal oppression of various ethnic minorities within the country i think that would be very immoral on our part and i think would be even more immoral for us to send troops to participate in this repression. hundreds of people have reportedly fallen sick in the u.s. after messrs. chemical spill into a west virginia area the incident has led to an indefinite ban on tap water for around three hundred thousand people who have been affe

the u.s. director of national intelligence claims that syria has not successfully weaponized biological agents in an affective delivery system but he says the government possesses conventional weapon systems that could be used to launch biological weapons now speaking to the senate intelligence committee james clapper said that america's spy agencies believe that some elements of syria's biological warfare program might have advanced beyond the research and development stage and might be capable of limited production you know the timing of these comments are quite interesting you have to understand them in context mr clapper is making these allegations as damascus has been successfully complying with the russian u.s. brokered deal to remove and destroy its arsenal of chemical weapons do you bring that was brokered as a way to avert u.s. missile strikes that president obama was threatening in september to carry out now it looks as though the u.s. administration may have a new reason to revisit

u.s. in almost 20 years. it's a phenomenon they call the polar vortex. one beneficiary of this deep freeze, natural gas. for the second day in a row, demand hit a record. prices pulled back late today on hopes the cold snap will soon end. jackie deangeles has more. >> reporter: yeah. it's cold outside. teeth are chattering from the plains through the upper midwest and all the way to the east coast. >> wind chills, though, are negative 20 or so. >> reporter: new york city hit a record low of 4 degrees. and even atlanta was feeling the sting of single digit temperatures. all anyone wants to know is when will it warm up. >> the question on everyone's mind, is this a very limited event? >> reporter: to cope with the falling temperatures, most of us are turning up the heat and wondering what the next fuel bill might look like. >> i'm worried about this weather having an impact on my heating bills. it's cranked up all the way. >> i'm absolutely concerned. it's already high because i have young c

created wit for the u.s. in syr. one, if the u.s. intention is to support the syrian uprising how can it be translated away from a victory for al qaeda? >> the position has changed since 2011 in syria because of the rising of opposition groups. when ayman al zawahiri has to plead for the situation, that is not the sign of a unified organization. i discount these guys being unlike core al qaeda. bin laden would not have had to plead. a good two-thirds of the liberated territory is now controlled by extremists and the united states is simply not interested in supporting them or furthering their goals or allowing them to take ore damascus. so although the congress has pressed president obama to arm the rebels, we haven't seen anything serious on that scale. and i think that likely, the u.s. will do what it did in the case of the algerian civil war which is just keep hands off until it subsides. >> okay but brian do these pleas that juan is talking about do they fall on deaf ears or do you suspect they might get some action and unify som

the u.s., 202-585-3883. mr. baninformation, right before on you said you were night withviews last folks overseas. can you talk about the reaction to this speech overseas as it so far? >> well, there was a lot of disappointment from the people i talked to. a sort of a, made the president sort of approved not to targettion foreign leaders. specify which foreign leaders or whatever, just said partners. but that's not really that big a concern to the average citizens over there. there were something like pieces of data from french citizens that the n.s.a. month or something like that, so there was a there was a lot of worry that the nsa is going to keep doing what it is doing. the president did make a comment about having similar types of protections in terms of what they are looking for, terrorism and that kind of thing, not going after personal information. still, there was no discussion about restricting the amount of collection, the amount of eavesdropping and so forth. i think that has them

the intention of u.s. negotiators right now is to try to focus very narrowly on the nuclear aspect of this. we can talk about whether or not this is a successful approach. when it comes to the iranian perspective, i'm not sure that they're looking for friendship -- i think the intention of u.s. negotiators right now is to try to focus very narrowly on the nuclear aspect of this. we can talk about whether or not this is a successful approach. when it comes to the iranian perspective, i'm not sure that they're looking for friendship with the u.s. they want to get out from under the burden of these sanctions. i don't think they see themselves as ending up as aligned with the u.s. at the end of this process. they look to other countries in the world as their natural allies such as china and russia. host: let me summarize how "time" focuses on this deal. the easy part in dealing with iran, iran and six major powers have agreed to a six-month freeze of tehran's nuclear program. the deal goes into effect this wee

many people here in the u.s. have been asking the three governments update nafta taking into account the reality for example of the recently energy reform in mexico. so i would ask the three of you are you willing to update nafta or reopen it and secretary kerry to reopen nafta formally and secretary kerry especially for you, how do you respond to those who believe that at some point a u.s. should include canada and mexico in negotiations if only to avoid future problems with the nafta and whether not you agree with the europeans. >> i invite her guests to address this also, over the last 20 years as i mentioned we have developed this incredible network of. agreements in the western hemisphere and we have long wanted to open up those benefits. i think that's stepping up all of this to the tpp is a very critical component in moving the next tier post-nafta. i don't think you have to open up nafta per se in order to achieve what we are trying to achieve. there are plenty of ways for us in cooperative then we discus

hong kong first, canada second and the u.s. third. last year canada was sixth and the u.s. second. the bloomberg ranking used ecomic integration, startup costs, labor and material costs, transportation, inflation and corruption as well as the consumer base. boeing is hiring contract workers. wants to avoid manufacturing issues that could slow overall output of theigh- tech plane. boeing is hiring about 300 contract mechanics, part of an effort to increase production, and investors like the sound of that. the company's stock price rose sharply when theen news broke. amazon.com has found a way to make deliveries even faster. amazon has filed for a new patent for its anticipatory shipping. thonline giant will use a massive amount of data it collects. amazon knows about your searches, purchases and wish list, even how longer mouse hovers over an item. items will predict which will be popular in areas, and ship items to hubs in the areas. be cute,ly, they might but they can also be dangerous. new test results showed most mini-cars did not do well in frontal car crash tests. the insuranc

pressure from the u.s. and western countries cause concessions to be made the conference will be held under the auspices of the un and it's co-sponsored by russia and the u.s. it's scheduled to begin on tuesday january twenty second it is aimed at finding a way to install a transitional government that will subsequently pave the way for to ending the nearly three year old civil war which has reportedly claimed the lives of some one hundred thirty thousand people. and with one opposition group now ready to join the talks it's still not clear if any of the others will follow suit a recent british defense study has found the newly hof of those fighting against the assad government are either jihad ists or hardline islamist let's take a look at what it says is more than one hundred thousand rebel fighters in the country who are split into many different factions these including al qaeda linked groups with about ten thousand jihad this is more than thirty thousand hard lined radicals but they're focused on the w

if you are a u.s. investor who is not used to these issues it may make you think twice. >> i also wonder, the same day as all of this there is news about the auditors and new changes as well as a judge saying that the chinese auditors cannot audit some of these companies now. >> they have been suspended for six months, this will certainly be appealed by those firms but today, what you have is a situation where the accounting firms don't have the ability in china to hand over their work to the fcc and this is going to be a -- the you see a kobe -- usaob? >> the pcaob? for those of us who are not accounting geeks. this is all about risks. you see this huge risk in china, that the center has been inadvertently turning off the chinese internet company. >> they can and what you are dealing with is you have the chinese government, the state that can do just about anything they want and we have seen that come into play as they pretty much thumbed their nose at u.s. regulators who said, if you are listed on th

but the u.s. says this is now iraq's fight. >> the resurgence of al-qaeda-linked violence in iraq has the obama administration defending its foreign policy. it stands by its decision not to send u.s. troops back to the country. mike viqueira joins us now from washington with more. mike what are the options on the table for the president? >> john, here in washington and across the count tremendous, the names that he was just talking about evokes some of the most violent images of what was a deeply unpopular american involvement in iraq that lasted some eight years. but now the militant resurgence on the ground and the involvement of al-qaeda fighters, there is finger pointing and blame, but one thing is clear, the u.s. troops are gone and they are not coming back. today the white house scoffed at critics that said that american forces could make a difference in iraq. >> there was violent sectarian conflict in iraq when there were 150,000 u.s. troops on the ground there. so the idea that this would

u.s. senator is planning to file a class action lawsuit against the n.s.a. more just ahead and death row boston bomber prosecutors in the case against dzhokhar started i have decided to seek the death penalty a report on this decision ahead and the fighting in syria has created extremists and not just in syria that's all according to a top u.s. intelligence official more on that in an exclusive look at a syrian city captured by islamist later in the show. it's thursday january thirtieth five pm in washington d.c. aaron david and you are watching r.t. america we begin today with the news that the obama administration has decided on the next head of the national security agency vice admiral michael rogers will take the place of general keith alexander who are announced his retirement for later this spring this is all according to information provided to the new york times by senior u.s. officials admiral rogers will command both the n.s.a. and cyber command the new pentagon unit that directs

u.s. marshals was put forward by the white house today. huge, long list of nominees. and most of these nominees are renominations of people who had already been put forward by the white house last year, but the senate didn't act on them. so maybe the length of this list is deceiving since it's a lot of renominations, but this is a very long list of people. and it is possible that a great number of these people, if not all of them, could happen now that the democrats in the senate have changed the rules so republicans can't block nominees with just a minority of votes anymore. it's a huge list that the white house put out today. so janet yellen, that happened. that list of nominees, that could happen. and tomorrow morning, at 10:30 eastern time, we will find out what else can happen because tomorrow morning the united states senate has scheduled a vote on a bipartisan proposal to extend for three months the unemployment benefits that got cut off at christmastime for 1.3 million americans. t

quotes as u.s. government long determined it did not seek to detain these individuals as --my combatants, and a 2008 the latest was released were among 17 uighur detainees ordered released by u.s. federal court. we have long maintained our position we will not repatriate uighurs to china due to our humane treatment policies as we've also said we're taking all possible steps to reduce the detainee population at guantanamo bay and it is certainly our position that these latest transfers market important step in furthering that objective. >> eight other prisoners have been removed from guantÁnamo since august, but 155 still remain. snowstorm is blasting the midwestern and northeastern united states, opting flight cancellations in school closings. feet of snow had fallen north of boston as of early this morning, with up to seven inches here in new york city. new york and new jersey declared states of emergency advising residents to remain indoors. secretary of state john kerry has returned to the middl

>> strengthen u.s. capability? >> yes. prospects -- let's broaden this to a question on the u.s. nuclear deterrent overall for the republic of korea, the strength of that deterrent and anything that could call that into question. what prospects do you see for proliferation or what the u.s. might do to strengthen that deterrent if necessary? >> i think there is an agreement between the republic of korea government and the united states and the united states will protect the republic of korea. there is a nuclear umbrella. is there a need to strengthen that? i think the agreement is rock. i think there have been discussions between various and theials presidents of the republic of korea and the united states. i think it is a rocksolid agreement right now. shouldre asking me - there be nuclear weapons laced on the peninsula themselves, i would say absolutely not. >> i agree. i think the alliance is moving forward in the right direction to strengthen the alliances capability to be able to deter and defeat a nuclear type of threat. if you look at what south anda's increased isr increas

today the u.s. operates 34 bases on the island and is planning to build a new state of the art marine base despite mass protests. we'll get the latest. then we will talk to a founder of peace boat, one of japan's most prominent anti-war groups. peace -- who will make the piece? it will be us. >> and as the u.s. congress holds a key hearing on the tpp or transpacific partnership, we'll look at why many japanese activists oppose the trade deal. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are broadcasting from tokyo, japan. tens of thousands of west virginia residents remain without tap water one week after a chemical spill in the elk river. the state's water ban has been lifted in stages over the past several days for about half the 300,000 residents in the effected areas. but that still leaves close to 150,000 without tap water for drinking, bathing, or cooking. dozens of people have been hospitalized with symptoms related t

u.s. objections, two men who are behind the deadly suicide bomb attacks in russia release a video threatening to carry out more attacks as the sochi games approach. the president of ukraine calls with talks after violent clashes against kiev with protesters and police. >> we are willing and must be willing to go to the jail from the powers of alabama. >> reporter: how martin luther king junior's legacy is still being felt across the country today. ♪ good morning and welcome to al jazeera america, i'm stephanie sy and this week's peace talks are in danger of ending before they even get started, on sunday the united nations invited iran to a conference after wednesday in geneva switzerland and that up set syria opposition groups who are now threatening to pull out, the u.s. also wants iran's into vacation rescinded unless the syrian president steps down and signs that may not happen any time soon and syrian president bashir al-asaid says he may seek reelections in june and says it's totall

and we're now learning that the u.s. made efforts to oust afghan president hamid karzai by attempting to manipulate the country's election in two thousand and nine this is all according to the headline making book by former defense secretary robert gates in the book called duty memoirs of a secretary at war gates called this attempt to influence afghan elections ugly he said quote it was all ugly our partner the president of afghanistan was tainted and our hands were dirty as well our future dealings with karzai always hugely problematic and his criticisms of us are at least more understandable in the context of our clumsy and failed pooch karzai has long claimed us trying to manipulate the two thousand and nine election to remove him from power and response to the allegations one karzai spokesman said that this confirms that their suspicion is true karzai administration officials have also pointed to this as a reason to hold off signing a bilateral security agreement that would allow for u.s. troops to stay in the count

u.s. senator rand paul plans to bring the n.s.a. to court for violating american rights while the n.s.a. sidestepped the question when asked whether or not they've spied on congress more on that coming up and four states which have fostered the nation's energy boom have found that there is a link between fracking and water pollution look at the states that have found the connection later in today's show. it's monday december sixth i'm meghan lopez in washington d.c. and you are watching r t well over the weekend an already volatile situation in iraq turned deadly when al qaeda linked forces took hold of two key cities in the anbar province numbers with the islamic state of iraq and syria or the i.s.i. yes launched attacks on the cities of ramadi and fallujah if lucius sounds familiar to you that is because it is the location of some of the bloodiest fighting between u.s. forces and al qaeda groups back in two thousand and four at least twenty people died on sunday in bombings iraqi militar

really hurt a number of u.s. companies by undermining the really the quality of their products the bill would also. repeal the five amendments act and would. remove the justification that the n.s.a. has invoked for seizing the mete data of virtually everyone saying they will treat it with care and we won't abuse people's civil liberties unless we suspect them well that's kind of a backward way of of enforcing the law or detecting. evil doers and in fact the last time we spoke you said that you believe that u.s. citizens right now are being treated as suspects first and citizens second now i understand that right you believe the white house is panel recommendations on n.s.a. form as well as a bill that competes with yours that's known as the usa freedom act don't go far enough in reining in the n.s.a. i first want to focus on the downfalls that you believe come with the usa freedom act if you could walk us through a couple of the well the the the legislation that is the leading legislation in congress but it may n

and u.s. working here. no security forces will be coming together to protect places like this is the brand new purpose built train station in the olympic village is going to be one of the main transport hubs during the games moving thousands of spectators. we have cameras into crumbs that connect you with the engineer and the police present train stations and on the train security is pretty tight with the bulk of the work now complete with all venues and transport networks built and tested so she is now just waiting for the sporting world to descend. altie. the traditional olympic torch relay has been a collection of first this time around it's been taken to the north pole underwater and into space and r.t. has followed it all the way one of the torches even ended up here in our studios but to my colleague lindsay planted by ideas james france james brown welcome to the studio what do you have with you here the torch of the olympic games can you give us a look at this as you say this is my. personal torch i

. >> reporter: it was 1964 when the u.s. surgeon general, luther terry, released his landmark report. it concluded that smoking causes illness and death. the news was not well-received, especially by the big u.s. tobacco companies. in the 1960s it was one of the most profitable industries in the world, hiring celebrities and even doctors to promote the enjoyment and even safety of the cigarettes. >> more doctors smoke camels than any other cigarette. >> reporter: the surgeon general's report on smoking and health led the u.s. congress to require warning labels on tobacco products, and eventually it imposed tighter restrictions on advertising. it was part of the most successful public health campaigns in the united states. smoking rates are now down 59%. back in 1964, 42% of u.s. adults were smoking compared to just 18% in 2012. the government tobacco control efforts, which include taxes on cigarettes and bans on smoking in public spaces, have helped to save as many as 8 million lives. >> in the past half-century nothing else

actually u.s. submarines are deployed not too far away off the norwegian coast it would take us missiles sixteen to seventeen minutes to get from there to moscow so we really hope that with all the things that have been happening in the world over the past few decades we put the cold war confrontation behind us in all five countries bordering the arctic sovereignty rights to resources within two hundred nautical miles of their territorial waterways but a growing opportunity for a bigger slice of the pie is what many fear can inevitably spark a twenty first century cold war in the frozen waters there are also unexplored resources that we don't know yet to which country belongs which could be of course of interest to many countries i do think that. smaller things could spark. tension and maybe more tension that we would like to see marina port r.t. new york. polarizes setting up new perspectives for trade and the northern syrup is a shortcut for russia. and europe to ship goods to asia the whole jour