this is bbc america. and now, live from london, "bbc world news". >> hello. i'm geeta guru-murthy with "bbc world news". our top stories. russia dramatically inflates the price of gas it sells to ukraine as tensions remain high over moscow's annexation of crimea. approval has been given by ukraine tpoefr joint exercises with nato. malaysia released the

transcripts from the final voice transmissions saying they reveal nothing abnormal. who is he and what can he do to help the president? >> plus, a special day of freedom here on bbc exploring your perception of freedom and how it compares with reality. hello. less than a month after russia's annexation of crimea, ukraine has approved a series of military exercises with nato this summer, which could see tension rise still further. ukraine is not currently a member of nato, although it's been a partner of the alliance the last 15 years. the crimean parliament approved two sets of military exercises

with the united states, something that caused friction with russia in the past. let's go to our correspondent david stern who is there. what has the parliament said and is this going to be very inflammatory? >> well, we'll see about whether it's inflammatory or not. the parliament has approved a series of military exercises with nato countries, including the united states. there are two exercises with the u.s. one in particular, sea breeze, has been conducted in the past and the russians have objected to. now, this exercise, sea breeze, took place on the crimean peninsula. obviously this time around that won't be happening. but it will be taking place near crimea in dessa on the back sea and within the black sea. so it remains to be seen how russia will react this time. obviously this is something they very likely will not take -- at least they will not look on positively. >> of course mr. putin,

president putin said last week the last thing they wanted to see, they did not want to see nato anywhere near sevastopol, the home of the russian black sea fleet. we have seen the tension, haven't we in the last few weeks, the idea of having a lot of troops from opposing sides in close proximity. there is danger in that, isn't there? >> yes, there is. exactly. nato membership or nato proximity is very much an issue for russia. one of the things they are calling for -- now, whether they are going to actually push for this, is that ukraine becomes a neutral country. that they get assurances that ukraine will never become a part of nato. ukraine is not a member of nato, as you said. but obviously nato troops in ukraine conducting exercises, whether this is within ukraine's rights or not, will probably be -- russia will see this as

something they would rather not see. perhaps they might even take some political or diplomatic action. >> thank you. earlier russia announced it is putting up the price of gas by a third. until now, ukraine's gas supply as come at a discounted rate. the price increase will be another financial headache which until now made consumers may a quarter of what the gas costs. they have been telling us about what the change in gas price will mean. >> reporter: the agreements will set were made in december. it stresses that ukraine is simply not paying out. the debt of ukraine stands at $1.7 billion. ukrainians knew the gas price

would be risen. they anticipated a slightly higher price. ukraine knows it will get a substantial assistance from the west. for ukrainians it is the question, whichever comes first, the pinch of the gas prices. >> in the u.s., millions of people have scrambled to sign up to president obama's flagship health care program ahead of the deadline. officials say it is thought that as many as 7 million americans have signed up for medical insurance. that was the national target set by the white house. a last minute surge saw more than two people visiting the health care website. a glitch added to numbers who had to go to the enrollment centers. >> i think it's going to be a bumpy start.

they put the word socialized in front of medicine and everybody gets scared of it. >> i do a lot of sports. so in my sports i could get injured. and if i don't have the right coverage, i could get a lot of those. if i'm covered now, i'm good. >> the affordable care act known as obama care was intended to extend health insurance to the roughly 48 million americans who don't receive it through their employers, government or privately purchased plan. the law now offers subsidies to make it more affordable for people to sign up. and it bans insurance companies from denying health coverage to people with any pre-existing health conditions. those who don't sign up will face a tax penalty. well, the republican party has vigorousry set its introduction.

its launch was marred on healthcare.gov. it made it difficult to sign up and proved an embarrassment for president obama. >> no excuse for it. and i take full responsibility for making sure it gets fixed asap. we are working overtime to improve it every day. >> while the surge in enrollments yesterday saw a much more upbeat tone yesterday. >> it's important because i know there's been a lot of focus on glitches, there has been a remarkable story since the dark days of october and november which has resulted in a situation where here on the last day of enrollment we're looking at a number substantially larger than 6 million. >> jay carney there o new obama care scheme that is finally finished and rolling. now, to france.

he's france's answer to tony blair. he's been named the new prime minister following a crushing defeat for the socialist party over the weekend. he faces an uphill battle, including mistrust from within his own party. christian favor reports from paris. >> reporter: sit a stinging humiliation. it affects the president himself as much as the performance of his government. >> translator: i assume total responsibility. i have to look beyond the immediate results. >>reporter: right now it's the destiny of the socialists. lost 155 of some 500 town halls. a good night for the opposition ump. but 11 towns fell to the far right. among them, a depressed commuter

town west of paris. a 32-year-old history teacher explains his success. the defeated socialists blame the president. >> translator: it disappointed everyone who voted for him. it's like being betrayed by your own family. >> reporter: the leader of the far right is appealing to disillusioned voters. they have soefpbted the image. the goal now is to top the on polls in may. >> translator: a sovereignty across europe. >> reporter: when in trouble, ditch the prime minister. a guiding principal of many modern french presidents. the trouble is there's so much doom and gloom at the moment. debt is still not under control. unemployment over 11%.

31,000 new job seekers. so it falls to manuel vows. not entirely popular on the left of his party, but the voters like him. mr. hollande, though, needs more than just a fresh catalyst. what he really needs is results. christian frazier, bbc news, paris. now, masked protesters clashed last night. they cheered as they set fire to a police motorcycle and launched rocks and bottles at officers. venezuela has been shaken about a month and a half of demonstrations. for the last few months we have been asking what does freedom mean to you. to mark the end of the season of 2014, how free do you actually

feel? in a poll between december last year and february this year, we asked people across 17 countries for their attitudes to freedom. let's have a look at some of the results. well, first we asked about internet freedom. half of all the people told the bbc that the internet was an unsafe place for expressing their opinions. and how free people felt from government surveillance. in u.s. and germany, less than half felt they were free from surveillance. we asked eight countries about media freedom. 40% believe their country is free to report the news accurately, truthfully and without undue bias. a day of events outside the bbc,

daniellea is there. >>reporter: lots and lots happening. we have performances. i think you can hear a little bit of applause behind me. we are seeing world service radio being broadcast. that is happening in a special box here in the piazza. that's are roz adkins from "bbc world" tv as well. we asked you to bring in photographs. that freedom means to you. i'm very happy to have murray with me. one of the men who did send in a photograph to explain what freedom means to him. and coming to london. what amazing timing. we'll show you the photograph you sent to us. we'll get you to describe it for us. >> it was in bangkok at night. i had been there a couple

nights. it was not the most accessible city in the world. i'm from vancouver. back home it would be raining, snowing, dark. it was the reason i decided to take a trip. that night i felt so free and so liberated to be out on my own in a foreign continent and enjoying myself. it was a great night. >> how did you hear about the freedom season? what made you send it in to us on the bbc. >> it was just a lucky coincidence. the night after i took the picture, i came home and turned on bbc and asking for the pictures. >> you had an accident in 1996? >> in 1996, i had a car accident caused by a drunk driver. later an emergency room mishap. the doctor misread the x-ray and

made me paralyzed. before that i was a snowboarder, skier. for not being able to move. for rebuilding myself as a person in a wheelchair took a long time. so what i learned from that is i was imprisoned by being paralyzed. i lost my world. and now to be able to travel and have mobility to get around town is my freedom. and also to take risks. a big thing for me is risk taking. if i can't take a risk, i have lost my freedom. so if i don't push my limits, i'm not free. if i'm not home or in hospital, i've lost my freedom. >> you've been traveling for six months? >> six months, yes. >> was bangkok the toughest place to get around in a wheelchair? >> honestly, i think paris was. it was absolutely the most difficult. the language barrier, old

infrastructure. bangkok actually worked out. the people were so helpful and friendly. that made that part of the world wheelchair friendly. >> what does freedom mean for you next? >> the next trip is making it home safely. i have a couple weeks left on the trip and i go right back home to whisler to visit my old friends. when i'm able to celebrate with them, i know i've had a successful trip. >> it's been amazing having you here. thank you so much for sharing your story. >> thank you. >> geeta, we have been so privileged to ever so many of you who have shared your story with us as part of the freedom season. >> lovely to see you outside there enjoying the weather. daniellea, thanks very much indeed. much more on bbc.com/freedom.

if you want to find out more, do take a look. stay with us on "bbc world news". much more to come. take seven, not five. new research suggests we should be eating more fruit and veg if we want to stay healthy. for you have entered the promised land of accomodation. ♪ booking.com booking.yeah! [ boss ] it is a very smart plan. so we're all on board? [ paul ] no. this is a stupid plan. hate drama? go to cars.com. research. price. find. only cars.com helps you get the right car without all the drama. no, no, no, stop! humans -- one day, we're coming up with the theory of relativity, the next... stop, stop, stop! my car! not so much. but that's okay. you're covered with great ideas like optional better car replacement from liberty mutual insurance. total your car, and we give you the money to buy one

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where you get to do... whatever it is that you love to do! booking.com booking.yeah! this is "bbc world news". i'm geeta guru-murthy with the latest headlines. ukraine's parliament approved holding a series of joint military exercise witness stand nato countries that would put them in direct proximity to russian forces in the black sea. and they increase the price they charge for gas. more than a third as tensions remain high over the annexation of crimea. >> now, five a day is what we have always needed apparently. a new study says we need more. we have been told seven portions

of fruit and vegetables is the magic number to keep you healthy. dominic hughes investigates. good diet with lots of fruit and veg could have benefit to our health. up to seven portions a day reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease. but could we manage to eat that much? >> that's how we do it. it's easier said than done. >> i like fruit. and i like vegetables. but i don't eat them every day, no. >> this study seems to tell us something we already know. eating five portions of fruit and veg each day is good for you. it seems there's graeter benefit eating vegetables compared to fruit. the only problem is not that many of us are currently hitting the five day a day target. the world health organization

suggests we eat 400 grams or 5 a day. >> every additional portion gives an added health benefit. people who did 1 to 3 did better than people up to one fruit and vegetable. >> the research also questions whether sugar rich fruit juice should count as part of the five a day target. but five at day at least feels achievable. asking people to do more. maybe too much. well, with me is one of the report authors from the university college of london. very quickly explain how you actually did this research. >> well, every year in the health survey for england we interview 8,000 to 16,000 adults and ask a lot of questions about

those sorts of things that affect their health. what we have done is take the results from 65,000 adults whom we saw between 2001 and 2008 and we then followed them up. and we found the more fruits and vegetables people told us they had event the lower the risk of dying. >> so you then charted even on just one day. >> yes. >> and saw how many of those passed away. is that really indicative? >> because of the large numbers it balances out. it is a good estimate. >> okay. >> if anything, it probably underestimates the importance. >> so the numbers are extraordinary. you say your risk of dying is reduced by 14% if you eat one to three portions of fruit and veg, 29% if you have three to five portions. 36% if you have five to seven portions. your risk of death is cut by 42%

if you have seven or more portions a day. that's almost half your mortality risk. >> i think what's important is it shows that whatever you're eating, if you're eating some fruits and vegetables, even if you're not making five a day, you still have some benefit on your health. >> fruit has got so much sugar. we are told it was not poison like tobacco. >> vegetables do seem to have the strongest affect and salads. >> we need to radically changes our diet. >> around the mediterranean people would be laughing at us because they eat that every day. we need fruits and vegetables cheaper in this country. we need to change people's habits. >> sunshine. that would change our diet certainly in this part of europe. thanks for explaining it.

now, moving on to a story of course we have been covering the last few days. that of the fate of the missing malaysian plane. because authorities have issued a transcript today of the final communications exchanged between air traffic controllers and the crew of the missing malaysian airlines passenger jet. it is 24 days since the plane disappeared. the final words from the cockpit were not as previous thought, all right, good night. they were good night, malaysian 370. is that significant? does it shed a new light? >> it reinforces the picture throughout the first 14 minutes of the flight, everything was entirely normal. from the moment the crew in the cockpit had their first communication until they signed

off 19 minutes past 1:00, there was nothing suspicious. the previously recorded all right, good was extremely casual. good night, malaysian 370 is form formal. its radar transponder has been turned off. and the beacon which sends information to ground stations had also been turned off. so you have this stranger picture of a perfectly normal flight and yet something happened very dramatically shortly afterwards. >> the difficulty some when a relatively small detail is changed after this length of time, it really knocks confident in the way the whole thing is being carried out, the investigation, the seven, whether we have been told the

truth, the conspiracy theories are given more weight. >> there is very little verifiable information out there. the cockpit -- the transcripts of the conversations between air traffic control and the cockpit are verifiable information. so the malaysian authorities can't get that right, what other information is being distorted or not coming out. they have come under a lot of pressure the last three weeks. there have been concerns they were slow to respond to information from satellites, which suggested they had been several hours longer than thought. it does serve to undermine confidence in the malaysian authorities. >> just briefly because we're nearly out of time. a lot of focus on the pilots. the transcript looks normal. >> i think there's something key in what the malaysians said today. they remain of the opinion up until the point in which it left

primary military radar coverage which was foreign to the flight, mh-370's movements were consistent with deliberate actions. so they are stick to go somebody did something on the plane after it disappeared from air traffic control screens. >> thank you very much indeed. back in a couple moments. and quiet of a beach escape. funny, there was no mention of hail in the weather report. go & smell the roses! so i can reach ally bank 24/7, but there ar24/7.branches? i'm sorry, i'm just really reluctant to try new things. really? what's wrong with trying new things? look! mommy's new vacuum! (cat screech) you feel that in your muscles? i do... drink water. it's a long story. well, not having branches let's us give you great rates and service. i'd like that.

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our top stories. russia dramatically inflates the price of gas it sells to ukraine as tensions remain high over the annexation of crimea. a series of joint military exercises with nato would put western forces in direct proximity to troops. malaysia releases the transcript of the final communications from malaysian

flight 370 saying they reveal nothing normal. who is he and what can he do to help the president? plus, a special day of freedom here on bbc exploring how your idea of freedom comparing with reality. hello. less than a month after russia's annexation of crimea, ukraine has approved military exercises with nato which could see tensions rise further. ukraine is not currently a member but has been a member of the alliance the last 15 years. they suggest the ukrainian parliament approved two sets of military exercises with the kphaoeudz, something causing

friction with russia in the past. well, david stern is in kiev for us. he told me it remains to be seen how the russians will react. >> we will see whether sit inflammatory or not. as you said, the parliament has approved a series of military exercises with nato countries, including the united states. there are two exercises with the u.s. one in particular, sea breeze, has been conducted in the past and the russians have objected to. this exercise, sea breeze, took place on the crimean peninsula. it will be taking place near crimea near dessa on the black sea and within the black sea. so it remains to be seen how russia will react this time. obviously this is something they very likely will not take -- at least they will not look on positively. >> and of course mr. putin, president putin said last week the last thing they wanted to

see, they did not want to see nato anywhere near they satisfactory poll, the home of the russian black sea fleet. we have seen the tension, haven't we, in the last few weeks, the idea of having a lot of troops from opposing sides in close proximity. there is a danger in that, isn't there? >> yes, there is. exact. nato membership or nato proximity is very much an issue for russia. one of the things that they are calling for, did whether they are going to actually push for this is that ukraine becomes a neutral country, that they get assurances that ukraine will never become a part of nato. ukraine is not a member of nato, as you said, but obviously nato troops in ukraine conducting exercises, whether this is within ukraine's rights or not, will probably be react -- russia will see this as something they would rather not see. and perhaps they might even take

some sort of political or diplomatic action. >> david stern in kiev. in the last few minutes we have been hearing from the secretary-general who said today's meeting of the foreign ministers will make it clear russia's actions are unacceptable in their view. they said nato can't go on doing business as usual. he confirmed they can't confirm russia pulled troops back from its border with ukraine. and inside ukraine itself, the price paid for russian gas will go up. they were putting up charges by a third, almost $2 billion. it has come at a heavily discounted rate until now. they have made consumers pay only a quarter of what the gas actually costs. >> well, much more of course on all that at our website. >> now, other news today, the man coordinating australia's

part in the search for the missing malaysian airlines passenger jet warned it could take weeks to produce results. it's now 24 days since it took off from kuala lumpur. the final communication between the cockpit and the air traffic controllers was not all right, good night as previously reported but good night, malaysian 370. that indicates everything was normal just before it disappeared before radar. >> from the moment the crew in the cockpit had their first until 19 minutes past 1:00, there was nothing speurbgs. all right good night may have seemed a little bit overly casual. good night malaysian 370, that's exactly what you would expect. but the fact remains within minutes of this conversation taking place and before the aircraft made contact with

vietnamese air traffic control, it disappeared from the radar screen. the transponder had been turned off. and the beacon, which sends information about the plane to ground station, had been turned off. so you have this picture on a perfectly normal flight and yet something happened dramatic shortly afterwards. >> the difficulty is when a relatively small detail you think is easy to check is changed after this length of time, it really knocks confidence in the way that the whole thing is carried out. the search, everything. whether we have been told the truth, all the conspiracy theories are given more weight, aren't they? >> with this, there is very little verifiable information out there. the transcripts of the conversations between air traffic control and the cockpit are verifiable information. so if the malaysian authorities can't get that right, what other information is being distorted or not coming out.

the transport ministry has come under a lot of pressure the last few weeks i think it's fair to say. there is concern that they suggested it had been flying several hours longer than thought. the search was in the south china sea and malacca strait when it had already flown beyond that. >> just very, very briefly because we're nearly out of time, focus on the pilots. the transcript looks normal. the switch-off would have been deliberate. >> i think there's something key in what the malaysians said today. they remain of the opinion up until the point in which it left primary military radar coverage, which was foreign to the flight, 70's movements were consistent with deliberate actions by somebody on the plane. so at that point they are stick to go somebody did something on the plane after it disappeared from air traffic control screen.

to the u.s. because millions of people have scrambled to sign up to president obama's flagship health care program ahead of last night's deadline. officials say it is thought as many as 7 million americans have signed up for medical insurance. that was the initial target set by the white house. a last minute surge in applications saw 2 million people visiting the health care website. a temporary glitch added to the numbers and they had to go to the enrollment centers themselves. >> i think it's going to be a bumpy start. they put that word socialized medicine in front of it and a lot of people get scared of it. everyone having health care to fall back on if something happens is good. >> i do a lot of sports. in my sports i could get injured. if i don't have the right coverage then i could get a lot of bills. if i get covered right now, then

i'm good. >> well, the affordable care act, known as obama care, was intended to give health insurance to those who don't get it through the employment, government, or privately purchased plans. it bans insurance companies from denying health coverage to people who might have pre-existing health conditions. those who don't sign up will face a tax penalty. of course this is all deeply political. the republican party has vigorously fought its introduction. it is set to become a major campaign issue later this year. its launch was marred by healthcare.gov which made it difficult for some people. that proved a bit of embarrassment for president

obama. >> no excuse for it. >> the surge this week in enrollments saw a much more upbeat tone. >> it's important. there's been a lot of focus on glitches. is that there has been a remarkable story since the dark days of october and november, which has resulted in a situation where here on the last day of enrollment we're looking at a number substantially larger than 6 million. >> jay carney on obama care. to france next. he's described as their answer to tony blair. he has just been named as the new french prime minister following a crushing defeat for the socialist party at the weekend's elections. his first job will be to name his new cabinet. a short time ago the paris

correspondent christian frazier told me why that is. >> he is quite a divisive figure. there he is. mr. charisma. he is seen in the guise of tony blair. many things he said in the past are quite new labor. so that does become quite divisive. this is a quiet, smart headline. the former prime minister. in french it means to pirouette someone off the dance floor. they do talk about the problems on the left of the party. the financial newspaper here. all bets are manuel vows. they pull out three important things, geeta. the sweetener will be releasing

social charges on salaries. a sweetener, it was buried in the reshuffle. they missed their deficit target of 4.3% which they pledged to brussels. more cuts, less spending. and the question, how is he going to sell that to the electorate. i will just show you the figure again. mr. hollande throws it in with mr. vows. mr. vows in the back ground, does have presidential ambitions of his own. it is a gamble for mr. hollande. if he is to pull it off, in 2017 mr. vows could become a challenger. is it "mission: impossible"? an old quote to the former prime minister. when i look at you i don't doubt your sincerity. when i look at your majority i doubt your success. really pointing to the very

difficult balancing act that mr. vows has to do in the next few months. he has to get to grips with it quickly because the european elections are upon us in may. >> the french president has been written up here and others waging this war on the weighty. we have seen the plight of big names in france. who does he have to win over? is it the people in the middle, the poor? where is he he is struggling right now? >> both sides is the answer to that. he has to keep hold of the left of the party. he has to keep them on side. yet also he has to talk to the business community. he talked about businesses walking away. it fell in 2013 by 77%. and if you have an unemployment that continues to rise, 31,000

new job seekers in february was one of the biggest jumps in almost a year. you have to get money in. you have to get employers in. he has to talk to both sides of the community. >> christian frazier in paris. >> much more to come. take seven, not five. new research suggests we should be eating more fruit and veg to keep healthy. avo: wherever your journey takes you the expedia app helps you save with mobile-exclusive deals download the expedia app text expedia to 75309

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this is "bbc world news". i'm geeta guru-murthy with the latest headlines. the russian energy company has increased the price it charges ukraine for gas. tensions remain high over the moscow annexation of crimea. ukraine's parliament joint military exercises with nato in proximity to russian forces.

five a day is what we need. seven portions of fruits and vegetables is the number to keep you healthy. good diet with lots of fruit and veg could have benefit to our health. up to seven portions a day reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease. but could we manage to eat that much? >> that's how we do it. it's easier said than done. >> i like fruit. and i like vegetables. but i don't eat them every day, no. >> this study seems to tell us something we already know. eating five portions of fruit

and veg each day is good for you. it seems there's greater benefit eating vegetables compared to fruit. the only problem is not that many of us are currently hitting the five day a day target. the world health organization suggests we eat 400 grams or 5 a day. >> every additional portion gives an added health benefit. people who did 1 to 3 did better than people up to one fruit and vegetable. and the most benefit was those eating seven plus fruit and veg a day. >> the research also questions whether sugar rich fruit juice should count as part of the five a day target. but five at day at least feels achievable. asking people to do more. maybe too much. masked protesters clashed with police in venezuela's capital last night following a

resumption of anti-government protests. demonstrators cheered as they set fire to a police motorcycle and watched rocks and bottles at officers. venezuela has been shaken by a month and a half of demonstrations. an official says ebola outbreak is unprecedented. it is making it difficult to control. >> construction work has been suspended at a brazilian world cup stadium where a builder was accidentally killed on saturday. the death was the third at the ground in sao paulo which is supposed to host the match in june. chief executive over one of the biggest car firms has been called before congress to explain why it took so long to recall more than $2.5 million with faulty ignition switches. general motors has recalled 1

million cars to fix power steering issues. it's not just lawmakers who want answers. so do the families. >> amber marie was 16 died in a g.m. cobalt. sarah was 19 passed away in 2009. for their families, their young age makes the loss even harder to bear. in fact, many of the victims of general motors delayed recall were first-time buyers. >> i never got to say good-bye. i never got to touch her warm hand or give her her hug that she loved. this confirms everything to the pains that i have been going through. >> for them, g.m.'s recall of 2.6 million cars isn't enough. they want these vehicles off the

road so nobody else is at risk. >> it's got to stop. it's got to stop now. not until we have more death and fatalities. these are our young people, our future, who lived and wanted a great life, a great future. and now they lost that. >> so what do you want to hear from mary berra when she testifies before congress? >> we want answers. we want to know exactly what happened. we want to know going forward how are they going to prevent this from happening again. >> deep death for all those affected by the recall. we are determined to earn our customers's trust and to take actions necessary to make our safety processes world class. >> this is for all of our children. >> absolutely. >> we're here for them. and for us. but we're representing them because they can't represent

themselves. >> when g.m.'s boss testifies before congress, she will apologize to the families who have lost loved ones in crashes linked to faulty ignition switches. but for them, g.m.'s promise to do the right thing is too little too late. michel flurry, bbc news, washington. >> we will be bringing you coverage here on bbc news later in the day. stay with us for that. for the past few months on "bbc world", we have been asking what does freedom mean to you? we are reporting on how free you actually feel. the results of our poll from 17 countries around the world might surprise you. it was carried out between december last year and february this year. it asked do people's perception of freedom correspondent with how free they really are?

we have a look at the findings. >> reporter: freedom has never been a simple nation. but what does it mean in our modern digital age? internet and social media mean we can communicate more freely than ever. but we are also under more surveillance from the government. our poll began by asking people about freedom and the internet. more than two-thirds of those we questioned told us internet means they have greater freedom. more than half also told us they thought it was an unsafe place to say what they think. >> edward snowden's revelations about widespread surveillance by the u.s. government have really had an impact on the public consciousness in terms of their understanding in the fact that anything they do online can potentially be monitored. >> the prying eyes of the states seem to be everywhere. tpoft say they need it to fight

crime. what do the public think? in our survey we asked there they felt free? the results were surprising. in countries like the united states and germany, which like to think of themselves as freedom and democracy, fewer than half those surveyed said they felt free from government surveillance. and china and russia, the picture very different. a sizable majority didn't think they were subject to online surveillance. >> we have 80% of american and german households who do have access to internet in their homes. it seems as the people in countries with higher internet connectivity naturally feel more exposed to to surveillance. >> finally, we asked about freedom and the media. here at the bbc, we like to

boast about your freedom from government and other outside influences. there are other global media organizations that do the same. according to our survey, only 40% of people around the world believe their own media are free to report the news accurately, truthfully, without undue bias. here in the uk, that figure is 45%. but in the united states, with first amendment commitment to free speech, it's just 42%. how free you feel it seems is not necessarily a reflection of how free the society in which you live is supposed to be. well, as part of all this we have asked you to send in pictures to show us what freedom looks like to you. you can end the program with some of the most striking photos we have received. >> what does freedom look like

to me? living your life acting, speaking, thinking with no limits. >> being able to do the impossible. >> being able to step anywhere bare feet like animals do. >> freedom to me is risk taking. and i just wanted to show everybody that was my freedom. i made it to the other side of the world in a wheelchair. >> you have to set your mind free.

>> you know, kids just don't need that much to be happy. if you don't get out there how will you tell people the fish you caught was twice as large as it actually was, hmmm? go and smell the roses!

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hello, everyone. you're watching "gmt" on bbc. will nato foreign ministers allow troops to go up against russian forces. their secretary-general says there is no sign of russian troops pulling back from the border with ukraine. >> this massive military buildup can in no way contribute to a de-escalatn