Good morning. Welcome to al Jazeera America. Im stephanie sy. The n. S. A. Has been under fire for months following Edward Snowdens disclosure of its mass if collection of phone records in the u. S. And around the world. As alan fisher reports a president ial panel is calling for changes in the way the n. S. A. Does its business. A surveillance review report is due to be published but is pushed out by the white house. The highlights the n. S. A. Will no longer keep a phone database, it will be held by the phone companies or a third party. The agency can no longer ask parties to build a backdoor, and the n. S. A. Should not spy on nonu. S. Citizens outside the u. S. Because of their religion or political views. The scope was revealed by whistleblower. He said any changes need strong support. The congressional committees are completely cooptive, worth else and impotent even if they have the incentive to do so. Courts have been onesided. So i think we need gen urine oversight. The other o
Another. Time is short. Lawmakers have until mid december to agree on a long term budget. If they dont and its business as usual, the impact will be felt well into next year. Libby casey is in washington for us. Libby, are things getting back to normal down there . They really are for the most part. Federal workers are back on the job. You know, it is a ripple effect, though. Even as those workers go back, the personal economics of so many other people who are tied to the government, who work at tourist sites are going to take a while to rebuild after the Government Shutdown. Thats not just here in washington, its around the the country. One more note of normalcy, the white house is going to restart their tours next month. Tours have been off since march, when the the sequestration cuts, these across the board budget cuts went into effect, the white house said this isnt a priority and we cant afford to do it anymore. It got a lot of public pushback. People come to washington hoping for
We coffer the sports as the season gets underway in australia. Ill tell you how new engines cause big problems and a new generation of drivers top the podium in melbourne. Its a vote that could change the Political Landscape and russias relationship with the rest of the International Community. The people of crimea are deciding whether to join russia or stay with ukraine but with more autonomy. Voters have the choice of answering either yes or no to the following two questions, are you in favor of the reunification of crimea with russia as part of the Russian Federation or are you in favor of restoring the 1992 constitution and the status of crimea as part of ukraine. Supporting the second option would grant crimea more autonomy within ukraine. Aljazeeras jacki roland joins us live. We are seven hours into this polling. What has turnout been like . Well, about half of eligible voters have apparently cast their ballots now, according to the election, the Referendum Commission here in cr
President , john f. Kennedy. For a generation of americans the death of president john f. Kennedy was a touch stone, every one know where they were in dallas 50 years ago today and the shooting and aftermath viewed by millions and carried the news around the clock and a half century later the nation is marking the moment that changed our nation and al jazeera will have continuing coverage of the somber anniversary all day long and later in the hour we will look at the final days of jfk and how reporters captured those moments. Plus we will focus on an unique photography exhibit that has snapshots of his presidency from beginning to end. Very good friday morning and welcome to al jazeera and stephanie si has the morning off. We begin with a historic power play in congress, Senate Democrats passed the so called Nuclear Option, the landmark vote limits the use of filibustering to block president ial nominees and democrats say the move will engridlock in washington and allow president obam
Where a severe drought is likely to lead to a bad harvest and higher coffee prices all over the world. Russia officially absorbed crimea after approvals from both houses of parliament, president Vladimir Putin signed into law the treaty making crimea part of the federation. Crimeans voted overwhelmingly to join russia in a referendum sunday, putting pen to paper, putin congratulated them. The eu leaders have not backed down, maintaining crimea is still part of ukraine and signed an Association Agreement with kiev in brussels earlier on friday. In the ukrainian capitol, u. N. Secretary general ban kimoon is Holding Meetings with acting president , saying ukraine and russia needs to engage in direct talks to resolve the cries. We go to brussels in a moment. First, peter sharp joins us from moscow. Its official that in russia at least, crimea is part of the federation. Whats next for the region . It just took five days, unbelievable, really, that the people of crimea who now celebrate bei