Transcripts For ALJAZAM Consider This 20140701

Consider this. Here is more on what is ahead. The Islamic State of iraq and levant has declared the area it occupies in iraq and syria as the new Islamic State. The announcement comes as iraqs military gets help russia sending jets to iraq. What is the state of Nouri Almaliki, struggling to put together a government. A major ruling involving the hobby lobby case. Companies refusing to pay for certain contraception. The Supreme Court decided americans dont give up religious freedom because they open a family business. Five justices ruling that discrimination against women is books. And journalist has you thinking about beauty, saying sent this untouched photo asking make me beautiful. Theres no universal standard for this. More american troops are heading to iraq to battle i. S. I. L. Fighters who declared an Islamic State. The pentagon announced on monday that 300 soldiers are on their way to baghdad, along with a detachment of helicopters and drones, bolstering security at baghdads airport. Russia delivered 12 su 25 ground attack fighter jets and sent russian experts to prepare the plain. Fighters from the Islamic State continue to struggling with forces for control of the home city of tikrit. On sunday a spokesman for the leader declared the creation of a calafat, a muslim state he would rule under the title of calaf ibrahim. It was said that breaking the border between syria and iraq ambitions. This is not the first border we will break. Well break others. Chalet will break the barrier of iraq, jordan, all. In a bombastic statement, it was claimed he was the leader of all muslims, and declaring outline other groups devoid and under his control. Reuters was told the calafat was an illusion. Im joined from baghdad by New York Times correspondent rod. Thank you for doing this for us. This group says the new calafat is the loyalty of all mus lems. Youve written that the announce was little more than a propaganda ploy showing the ambitions. How has it been received by the Iraqi Government and the people in baghdad. With a lot of mirth. It shows the huberous of this group. As far as any practical consequences, its doubtful. What it has down is arouse the hornets nest amongst the jihadi community who dont feel like they should be their leaders. Now, on the other hand the Islamic State is holding on it tikrit, saddam husseins city. The governments offensive to retake the city has stalled. Its not as if the ricky progress. No, but they have stopped the advance. That is important. They are fighting offer tikrit and up tos and towns around it. Its stail mated. A week ago we were worried about the possibility that they would push on to take baghdad. The longer they are stalled 100 miles north in tikrit, the less worried everyone gets. That gives the government a boost in moral and support. Theres a lot less concern that the fighters might move south and attack the capital. Theres a lot less concern. I dont think people would dismiss them. They are not likely to become the rulers of the known muslim world. They have a lot of capacity and weapons. They controlled much of syria and defeated jihadis, and have a huge chunk of iraq under their sway. They are a serious threat. Iraq took delivery of 12 russian su 25 Ground Support planes, and, you know, the strange bedfellows, that we are on the same page with the russians, and the you rainians, and to some extent you iranians and to some extent the irrians, and you wrote that three special forces teams are said to have been deployed north of baghdad. A lot of talk was most of the advisors would not be far outside the green zone. What are they doing, how closer they to the fighting, raising concerns that there could be a slippery slope and may be mission creep. Perhaps. I dont think anybody with much knowledge of the situation would think theyd sit in the green zone and gi advice to headquarters. Give advice to headquarters. They have to get out for a number of reasons. They have to get out if theres going to be air strikes, in order to have Ground Forward air controllers. To see what the younts are like, what units are like, what condition they are in and need. A characteristic is clear, that iraqi generals are lying up the chain of command no Prime Minister Nouri Almaliki, and theres a lot of delusion going on at all levels, and they want to get out and see for themselves what the military them. You bring up Nouri Almaliki, the Iraq Parliament is supposed to meet tuesday to start the process of electing a Prime Minister. Is Nouri Almaliki still expected to win a third term. Theres a lot of push against them. Hes been very sectarian, hasnt included the soupies and the kurds. Heats has the largest block of parliament. He has the largest block of seats, hes a long way from a majority. We are hearing that his participation collision partners are not willing to play. Certainly the sunnis and the kurd will not accept any government with Nouri Almaliki, and a lot of the fellow shias said they dont want to make a government with them. We are hearing that a couple of other names, shia leaders who might come forward and topple Nouri Almaliki. Lots of developments there seemingly, by the days, and by the hours. Rod of the New York Times, plarure to have you pleasure to have you with us. Thank you for joining us. For more, soim joined by washington d. C. By the former director of the counterterrorism center. Robert grenier, good to see you. A States Department spokes woman said it was a critical moment to stand together and a spoptionman for the Islamic State said the announcement of the calafat opens a new era of jihad. What does that say about the threat from the Group Calling itself an Islamic State . Well, this is in line with the aspirations all along. Not only members of what we used to call i. S. I. L. , but many lib minded jihadis, i wanted to recreate a calafat. They dont recognise international borders, that said, theres a lot of hype involved. People havent consolidated the gapes. They are a lopping distance from establishing anything like a viable Islamic State. Right now it controls a lot of territory in iraq, syria most empty desert. Does seizing all this territory by force and dollar yourself a new transnational state, will the country make it a state to get some sort of international recognition, were they an army of thugs. I dont think they care much at this point about international recognition. What they care is seizing the intention of liningminded people in the islamic world. The declaration may have that effect. It may encourage some international jihadis. Many have joined them in increasing numbers. The downside may be more serious. There are others who are allied with them, particularly in iraq, for whom this is a marriage of convenience. There has been a wilful inspection of disbelief on their part, trying to fool themselves into thinking they can control the people while using them against the Nouri Almaliki government in baghdad. I think this tells them that they are going to have to deal with the people sooner or later and it may be a more potent threat than they realise. Into how much is bombastic. Islamic state and its leader, claiming leadership of all terror groups worldwide. Charles lister , a senior fellow says, put simply, says . Do you think that happened here, that al qaeda is, in effect you know, theres react. There is animosity, and, in fact, perhaps the most potent winning of al qaeda is actually accepted by the al qaeda leadership, the al nusra front in syria. Al nusra front has been fighting with i. S. I. L. For about six months now. So these are people who essentially are living in their open world. Theres a tremendous amount of bombbast. It gives us insight into their thinking. These people are thakfiris, they believe they understand gods will and under gods law better than established islamic scholars. They believe they can decide who is a muslim and who isnt, and reserve the right to kill nonmuslims. Again, by making this bombbostic statement, its a very potent reminder to muss limbs around the world what the people actually represent. They are not going to get much of a following in the islamic world. There are rumblings that fellow sunnis are not happy because of heavyhandedness that these people are displaying. Everywhere the people rule, they have many are willing to fight with them in the short term because they want to throw off the oppression of the government in baghdad, but dont want to live pontly under a so werently under k permanently upped a socalled state. Called Islamic State. Given the fighters were europe and the United States, is defeating this Islamic State just as imperative today as attacking alqaeda in 2011 . The short april is yes. Not only is the Islamic State the people now refer to themselves as Islamic State, but other groups are focussed on their own issues, theyve been at war with the bashar alassad, with one another, and the Nouri Almaliki government in iraq. Sooner or later the situation will stablilize. Once that happens, their tendency will be to refocus on what they see as the western powers propping up their enemies, including the government. Right now, as i say, they are concerned with their local parochial issues, more so than when attacking the United States and the west. Theyll turn that way again. There were a significant number of westerners who have established themselves whom they now trust, who received training at their hand, and they could pose a threat. No question about that. Talking about the threat, and you mentioned alnusra, as this Islamic State is doing what its doing, the al nusra people are looking into creating a new generation of undetectable bonds that will be put on commercial claims. The reports claim Homeland Security and fbi have been looking into this, thinking about boosting security at airports. A threat said . Apparently, al nusra is also working with al qaeda in yemen, one of the most dangerous branches much al qaeda. How worrisome is this for those of us in the west . This its hard to judge at this point. We only have a few glimpses into this, and maybe thats the way it should be at this stage. Im a little skeptical of these reports. We are talking about different groups and dispirit geographies coming together. To the extent that that may be the case, because theres personnel links, no question about that. Having the desire and the intent to develop new aviation capabilities and achieving the knew capabilities are different things. Its difficult to judge the threat at this point, but the larger point we made before is valid. Sooner or later as much as the people have been focussed on local issues and not so much international terrorism, a day will come when theyll focus on the United States and the west. That. Good to have you with us. Thank you. Youre welcome. Now for more stories from around the world. We begin in israel where the Government Forces have unleashed air strikes against hamas after finding the bodies of threeize raily settlers. They had been three israeli settlers. Theyd been missing since june 12th. The remains were discovered near hebb rob in the wayning hebron, in the west bank, not far from where they disappeared. Binyamin netanyahu pointed the finger at hamas saying . Israeli planes retaliated by dropping two dozen guns on hamas controlled gaza. Next to nigeria, where boko haram is blamed for a new wave of attacks. The militant group is said to have burnt churches, happening in three villages near chick okay, a town where 200 april. We enterwashington d c. President obama nominated former proctor gambles bob mcdonald. He will be tasked with repair aring the veterans administration, fighting claims that overworked theres and thursdays may have contributed to the deaths of more than 1,000 veterans and cost the United States 845 million in medical malpractice suits. On friday a review found evidence of a corrosive management culture, and a lack of response and inability to manage or communicate at veterans affairs. That is some of what is happening around the world. Coming up, from religion to obamacare. A controversial ruling handed down. Side. And Border Patrol president obama asks for more money and blasts the house. Back. Web . A lot of people are mad at facebook, saying they crossed a privacy line in a recent experiment. Ill tell you more. What do you think . You can join the conversation hundreds of days in detention. Al jazeera rejects all the charges and demands immediate release. Thousands calling for their freedom. Its a clear violation of their human rights. We have strongly urged the government to release those journalists. Journalism is not a crime. In perhaps the most hotly debated ruling of the year. The Supreme Court ruled that some companies could opt out. It marks the first time a high court has allowed forprofit companies to declare a rely ipingous belief. A dissenting judge argues it opens the door for others it challenge something that restrict their religious ability yix. Todays decision jepo dieses heath of women. For more, we are joined by adele kim, a Legal Counsel for the becket fund which represented hobby lobby in the Supreme Court case. Washington. You must be pleased with the ruling. The barack obama said it promotes public health, ensuring that women have equal access, and, in fact, doctors and not employers should decide what form of contraception is best. We agree that doctors and patients should make their own health care decision. Its the government and not the greens that are dragging them into the doctors office. The greens are a family who established hobby lobby in their garage. They are unusual insofar as corporations go, because david and barbara green and their daughters and two sons own hobby lobby and they make the decisions they sit around the table and decide what is going into the health plan. They have a great plan, its a cold standard. They know that, thats part of their faith, they have to take care of their employees. They pay them twice the minimum wage. They lose about 100 million to do that, and excluded abortions and abortion causing drugs from the health care plant. There has been a new class of contraceptives developed that the f. D. A. Admits can destroy a newly developing human life. Many religious groups object to this contraception much the baptists, the bishops all object because of their belief. You were fighting for dropping morning after pills and iud, but not other Birth Control. The issue for the greens is that are these nods that they see as tapta mount to abortion. The greens cover the nil, and required. Not the narrow class of emergency constra tensions. Its something most americans understand. For many of us, our faith decides how we decide the issues. The president Obama Administration adopted the mandate knowing it would violate the religious beliefs of americans. They knew that because they were told repeatedly. They knew it because they received 400,000 Public Comments when they floated the rule. Its the most Public Comments that had been submitted on any federal regulation in american history. They knew they were doing it. What do you say to those that shay there could be unintended consequences that might be worse than what the greens intend. Because requiring the courage would reduce unintended pregnancies and abortions. If people dont have access to the Birth Control they want, you might have more abortions. Sure. Thats one way to draw the moral line or weigh the concerns. And Many Americans will draw the line that way, but the greens and the hahns, coplain ants, they didnt draw the line that way. The catholic british possess havent drawn the line or others. What the First Amendment says, and the Supreme Court said, was you are still protect by the First Amendment, even if you incorporate your family business. I think the court got it right. Its limited to narrowly to corporations held by a family like the greens. What do you say to justice ruth bator grips berg and the dissenters, who said it could lead to a parade of horrible, including a slew of companies could come forth and say any law they dont like is a burden on religious freedom, and they brought up scientologists, Jehovah Witnesses that dont believe in drug transfusion, that it could opt the door t unintended consequences. The religious freedom restoration act has been on the books for 20 years. In a case involving blood transfusions which i have been practicing in the area for a while, i never heard of a case with a jw tried to limit someone elses use of transfusions. These cases have never come up under 20 years of this law. During this time, all these people na justice ginsb, rg were free to bring the claims. Lets talk about what is really going on. The government is continuing to impose a mandate even after today, and mother anjelica. Income, at mid night tonight Mother Angelica was facing millions and millions. The government refused to back down, only because the 11th Circuit Court of appeals jumped in and blocked the irs, two hours ago. What i think we need to be focusle on here is the governments effort to coerce ordinary americans with deepseated objections to the mandate from serving them. The deposit has lots of willing partners. They go to planned parent hood. They give out contrastepives for free or little cost. Why not partner with the people that agree with the policies. Why coerce the greens and the hahns to do something that their faith forbids them to do. The court protected hobby lobby. I hope the government gets the message and acts to protect the Little Sisters of the poor. Many issues brought up. Thank you. For more on what the ruling means, we are joined by jamie floyd, good to see you. Big day. Caser family foundation, 85 of american corporations offer contraceptives as part of health insurance. We know that hobby lobby offers all sorts of contraceptive, its just this few. Is it a mind field or is that narrow field. That remains to be seen. It could affect a lot of companies, they really did try to narrow the majority, the opinion. The four justices, or five in the majority, or the four signing on to the main part of the opinion with kennedy in the swing who wrote the concurrence. They tried to limit it and narrow it as much as they good. We are talking about this set of facts. We are talking about these closely Held Companies and family businesses. Nine out of 10 companies are closely held. As the dissent points out, closely held doesnt mean small and families. It Means Companies like mars candy, and del computer, and toys r up, big companies, multibillion, and multimillion with tens of thousands. It could be very narrow, or as gens berg warns it could turn out to be lots and lots and lots of companies, depending on who wants to avail themselves of their opinion and how the court will ply the future. Justice kennedy in his concurrence narrowed it more. The concern is theyll use this as a precedent and broaden it in the future. Lets look at the issue of the corporate person hood and something that was written. The majority wrote the corps is a form of organization you heard what the hobby lobby judge told me, he said that this never happened, that a corporation has taken this any further than that, and this is exceptional and narrow. That was a ter offic interview and shes a terrific interview and shes a great spokesperson. She was talking about preAffordable Care act, and now ber talking about specifically the Affordable Care act, which is brand new legislation which they have to follow. Which they have to follow. As Justice Ginsberg points out. This is established as constitutional law in a previous case you point out that the majority, the four justices represented in the majority opinion, they are dangerously close to the Citizens United case, corporations or people for purposes of the First Amendment. Case. This focuses on the restoration freedom act signed into law by the bill clinton , passed overwhelmingly by both houses of congress, if you force the family. The greens. Against their religious principals, wont you violet that law. That why violate that law. Thats why they dont find a corporation is a person. They are saying we cant force the greens, under the religious freedom restoration abbing, its too much act, its too much of a burden on their rights to put the mandate of Affordable Care act, or the Affordable Care act. Whichever name you prefer on the greens or any other family that owns a company. Its about the greens, not the company. Justice ginsburg says im not buying it. Its close to calling it a company, a person, of not the First Amendment, it was never intended to be so broad. Gallop finds 30 of americans its down 7 percentage points. Congress would wish to have 30 approval. But its bad for the Supreme Court. Here are some tweets i have. They are an atroshes hard of misfits, hell bent on ideological ridiculousness. And they are it look like my love affair with scalia has come to a holt. You and i know that the courts have had ups and downs we are both lawyers we know that they go through periods of popularity. Justice roberts knows it and is trying to build the institution, and is trying with yuninality, more than ever, the majority of unanimous. A lot over the past few years. Hes working on it. Always fun to talk to you. Turning to the crisis on the border, an angry president obama lashed out for failing to pass immigration reform. He vowed to bypass congress and act on his own. I take executive action when i have a serious problem, a serious issue and congress chooses to do nothing. House Speaker John Boehner called president obamas announce sad and disappointing adding. The president s fix is to ask for 2 billion, hundreds of children are ask at the border every day. The system is to broken, so unclear, folks dont know what the rules are. Im directing the secretary of Homeland Security and the attorneygeneral to move available and appropriate services from the interior to the border. The president is unlike lay to find allies, we are joined by jennifer, an attorney and Senior Programme officer at the immigration advocacy group, the womens refugee commission. She joins us from washington d c. Great to have you with us. The letter the president september to Congress Asked for two million, get more judges and to help deport the immigrants more quickly. One of your colleagues told the l. A. Times that it is sad if the one thing they passed this year is deporting a bunch of kids. Not just deporting but rolling back due process. Is that what you think the president is trying to do . I think what is happening is hes conflating with immigration issues, this are not happening with the humanitarian crisis and a Foreign Policy crisis. I think the migration that the children coming on their open, that women are building babies, crossing the desert, its not an immigration issue, its a humanitarian issue to keep these separate and treat them separately. Hes rite to push congress. I dont think that rolling back protections for the people coming seeking safety will help anybody. Nor will it stem the tide. It will take a middle ground. It talks about the u. S. Fulfilling legal and moral obligations to make sure we take care of the kids. Exactly. I think asking for money is what we need right now. This will be a shortterm expensive problem. We need to take care of people here, these are children first, how would we want our children to be taken care of. We need to spend the money, and we are complying with all due process, international protections. Making sure the children have lawyer. Make sure they can go before a judge. We support the acting of money, not the rolling back of applications or allowing Central Americans to see judges. The u. S. Doesnt dictate policy based on numbers of people. We have longstanding humanitarian and human right protections and we need to stick by them. You coauthored a report and you asked the kids why they made a trip over the border. This is debated by anyone. What was the main reason that children gave you. When i spoke to clig. When i speak to them, they say to me look, i felt like i was pushed from my home. I was in a dangerous situation and did the only thing i knew thou do which was go somewhere and seek safety. There has been a lot of talk is this driven by rumours or immigration reform. We need to remember whether or not theres a rumour that someone might get a piece of paper, they are not going to risk their lives or families and Communities Just pause they might have a piece of paper, they may be capital icing or decide where o go now. No one will make ta decision lightly or take the journey without feeling they need to do it. We have the series border land. People that followed the trails of in one case a 13yearold boy, and they heard about the why they were leaving, why they were afraid of the gangs, the homicide rate the highest in the world. We are seeing video of the train called the peest. Others are killed. Theres the danger of the border crossing. Its a dangerous thing. We have known that this was happening. You did your report two years ago. There were children in that series talking about how theyd risk their lives to come to the United States. Is there not a partial responsibility, u. S. Policies that are inspiring them to get here . I think what we need to think about, we spend a hot of money, and not as much money as needed to happen on security on those countries, helping to instill rule of law and helping the countries crack down on the gaption. I think we turned a blind eye to it. Its a shame because its in our own backyard. When theres similar situations of children fleeing dangers, children recruited as child soldiers. We dont think about if in the same contest of Central America or children in our backyard. We think of it as a tragedy if it happens in africa or the middle east. Its something we could have helped to prevent. Its a long game to go into the countries and help provide the services. For example, creating Child Welfare systems. If we could help them do that, that will help to stem the tide, not locking them up, denying them access to a judge. Turning a blind eye created that crisis on the border and in those countries. A pleasure to have you with us. Thanks. Stereo time to see what is trending on the website. Aregawi. Facebook users say abused its power in a social experiment. In a study researchers from cornell, prince phone and facebook explored how social media affects userss emotions. They showed half of the group are positive and happy, and the other half mostly negative or sad posts. What they found is that the users that saw hope consent were more likely to post positive things themselves sh and the same with the group that saw sad post. The people are not talking about the studys results. They are angry that facebook would allow researchers to manipulate moves. There was this tweet . There was to so Much Negative reaction that it forced him to apologise. I understand why some people have concerns, and my coauthors and i are sorry and the way the paper proids research. In hyped site the Research Benefits may not have justified the anxiety. Not everyone was angry. The Company Always manipulates your feed, using algorithmses to make you click on posts to spend money . Facebook denies wrong doing and said the users agreed to be part of the research when they signed up. Let us know what you think. Did they cross the line . Tweet us or leave a when on our facebook page. I know how much you love these. They agree in the small print that nobody reeds. Exactly. Straight ahead clashes could heat up in ukraine after a ceasefire ends and talks of a government offensive begins. New concerns for college grads, why are americans falling behind. Later, a modern day lesson in on the stream, computers impersonating people, facial recognition nabbing criminals in apps that know way too much about you. Mindblowing Artificial Intelligence on the stream. The stream on Al Jazeera America now inroducing, the new al jazeea america mobile news app. Get our exclusive in depth, reporting when you want it. A global perspective wherever you are. The major headlines in context. Mashable says. Youll never miss the latest news they will continue looking for suvivors. The potential for Energy Production is huge. No noise, no clutter, just real reporting. The new Al Jazeera America mobile app, available for your apple and android mobile device. Download it now ukraines fragile ceasefire with prorussian forces is over. Monday petro porashenko said his troops will go on the offensive against the separatists, ending a 10day failed attempt to pause the violence. His Office Issued a statement saying we will attack and free our country, it was intended to give the rebels a chaps to disarm and begin a bigger peace process. Separatists did not give up their weapons. Jonathan is a photo journalist who joins us after two stints covering the crisis in ukraine. You have been in and out of ukraine and witnesses as well see from your pictures a lot of fighting, but you think we are not seeing the full picture of what is going on. I agree. Especially since social media has been taken obvious, both from the prorussian and the european side who disopinions all kinds dispense all kinds of information much the western granted. You think there has been a lot of misinformation out there about the new technologies that allow new technologies to get out. Lets look at your pictures. The first is an april 16th. Things were getting ugly in eastern ukraine. This was a wellpublicised incident. They have seep vehicles, stripped Ukrainian Forces of their records, these are prorussian separatists, faces covered, very well armed with ukrainians. Basically they captured these guys. They set them free, and like you said they had tanks, antiaircraft weapons, heavy machineguns, everything that they could get their hands on. Do you think they were too . I wouldnt be surprised. This is the following day in donetsk, one of the hot spots in eastern ukraine. There was a huge rally in favour of the ukranian government. This picture and really powerful. There were thousands of people supporting the government but they needed police to protect them. This is the playgrouped, the kids sandbox. There were 4,000 people gathered together. You see the men gathered. There were rumours that the prorussian groups would come in, when that happens, the prorussians win. And the police at times couldnt protect themselves you were in the middle of one of the most fritening moments frightening moments, donetsk. Where a group of separatists took over the state prosecutors office. There were dozens of Police Officers there, and they were overwhelmed and as we could see in this picture, you have prorussian separatists throwing anything they could get their things. There were about 100 riot police in the area, protecting the building, and they were dispersed quickly and wept back into the building to seek protection. Next they tried to negotiate fighting. They had to at times they had to put the shields on top of themselves and hunkered down, and you could see that in the next picture. There was one brave Ukranian Police officer who decided to stand up to the protesters and talk to them directly. Some of the police had been beaten so that guy was brave to stand up and talk to him. What happened there. He tried to calm the situation. He came out in front of his men and tried to calm everybody down. It didnt work so much considering what happened, as you see in the footage i the Police Officers were all put together. All their shields and guns were tan from them. And they had all kinds of equipment that they would use for data purposes. And you know they were witness to another fight between the ukranian forces and prorussians, in this case the ukranian forces won. What you see there is a tactic by the prorussian forces to protect themselves. Usually the check points of these technical areas are manned by unarmed older men, young prorussians, and if the Ukranian Army comes in and shoots, the way to cover the retreats and burn which burns for hours. Covering the retreat. Its amazing pictures. Its a shame it is all continuing there. Now that the ceasefire was over. Great to have you with us as always. Coming up, a 21st century goes viral proving how beauty is in the eye of the beholder. First, questioning conventional wisdom on colleges, why on average the u. S. Does not have the best in the world. Im ali velshi, the news has become this thing where you talk to experts about people, and al jazeera has really tried to talk to people, about their stories. We are not meant to be your first choice for entertainment. We are ment to be your first choice for the news. Todays data dive questions conventional wisdom on merp colleges. While many think the u. S. Has the best universities in the world, new data raises questions. The upshot the New York Times data driven venture took an indepth look and found the u. S. Dominates most polls when it comes to the top colleges in the world, thanks to the iv league and other universities like stanfield and caltech. When you look at the broader picture, Americas College grads lag behind universities in many other developed countries. The organization for Economic Cooperation tested grads in 24 countries on a series of skills. Americans with a bachelors degree had belowaverage skills, less than one in five scored at the top levels. U. S. Placed 18th out of 24. More than a third of minister with a bachelors failed to make the third level of the 5level numeracy skills test. When it comes to technological and literacy bills they fared better, hovering around the average. Things seem to be going downhill. The times reports when a similar test was given to 15yearolds, they scored above the international average. 12 years later the same age group, college grads, scored below the average. The scores look worse when you consider the cost of a college education. Coming up, which of these faces is prettiest. A look at how people around the the news, go deeper and get more perspectives on every issue. Al jazeera america. Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder, attributed to plato 2,000 years ago remain as true today, never more so than my next guest who wanted to explore beauty, and decided to test the adage by asking people to digitally enhance of picture of herself with a direction make her look bust. Joining us is esther. Lets begin, you learnt about an International Site and you used it to Contact People that could photoshop pictures who were advertising their skills. You hired them, september a picture of yourself, and do what you wanted to do and make them look beautiful. What were you expecting. Initially i was expecting to identify patterns. Maybe if i sent one image to workers in the same country, maybe id get results, theyd look similar, or maybe i would see commonly assumed stereotype that had become apparent. I didnt see any of that. What i saw was striking. Every image was from an individual and the same country. Each was distinct. Lets get to some of those images. Lets talk about the one that surprised you the most. The imaging i received from morocco. The this individual, when i prompted him with a request they chose to dress me and it brought in an element to this conversation of beauty standards that i had never assumed before, it opened my eyes to a different insightful. You had the conservative job to put on you and put makeup on you. It was somewhat of a contrast between the conservative and not so conservative. The u. S. Ones struck me. They were some of the most shocking images to reveal. Opening my inbox, they were some of the images that gave me a shreek and a bit of a shock to look at them. We are looking at them with the long hair, and another that will pop up. As you were talking about how each country, how you didnt find a pattern. Nowhere was more striking than the philippines. In one picture you looked dowdy and in the other you were a glamor pus. Absolutely. One of those images, the individual offered to put me in a 1980s business suit. Im not sure the variations are drastic. I feel that something important to remember is yes, we are looking at cultural concepts, but also individuals personnel aesthetics. What they saw compared to what thinks. One of the things that struck eyes. Absolutely. Some people lightened my eyes, and others my skin tone. That says something about the euro September Rick values September Rick values that we see and it speaks to the layer of globalisation and what people perceive as beautiful in many different countries. I was surprised some made your nose smaller and changed your draw. I thought the best one was your unretouched picture and i think its proof you dont need to gild the lily. Fascinating promote and its nice of you to join us. Thank you for having me. Thats all for now. Coming up tuesday, an angle on immigration that you are not seeing. Some Migrant Children have p. T. S. D. From their journey, as they saw other crosses killed along the way. You can find us on twitter, google for facebook. See you next time. The funerals have begun for the israeli teens whose bodies were found on the west bank. President obama says he will send more u. S. Troops to baghdad as the iraqi lawmakers talk about the future of their country. American fans hoping that practice makes perfect for team usa. Todays world cup match with belgium is win or go home