a secret partnership reportedly been working closely with u.s. intelligence despite its public show of indignation over america's surveillance of your. german chancellor angela merkel faces stiff questions over just how involved germany was in the prism spying program. the toxic legacy of war the us invasion of iraq is accused of causing an epidemic of birth defects thanks to the use of uranium tipped weapons are to be found the problem could be worse than originally thought. and elections not tanks the son of egypt's ousted president tells r.t. that's the only way to change the country insisting his father's rule was truly democratic.

welcome you watching r.t. with me and tree farm. now germany has been working handing gloves with the u.s. spy agency who sweeping global surveillance was revealed to the world by edward snowden according to do spiegel news magazine both germany's foreign and domestic intelligence have been using n.s.a. spy programs that hasn't stopped then from demanding that washington explains its snooping activities in europe as artie's peter all of our reports. german chancellor angela merkel had to rigidly said that she only found out of the extent of the united states's spying programs through the media and it now comes out thanks to n.s.a. internal documents that have been reported by dish spiegel newsmagazine that well

they were far more involved than she let on that indeed in fact they quote in the dish biegel article the internal memos that say that there was a willingness to take risks and pursue new opportunities for cooperation with the us that was shown by the german authorities they also were talking about the head of the b n d germany's foreign security service that he showed an eagerness and a desire to cooperate turns out that germany actually operated one of the main parts of the the expansive spying program it's called x. keyscore program that basically anybody who they were looking into they could find out exactly what was being searched online by that particular person and it's estimated around five hundred million. connections were being monitored every month by the spying program here in germany alone so it was quite an extensive program this news comes out is quite embarrassing time for german chancellor angela merkel

there's an election coming up in september the involvement of germany in the n.s.a. spying program is being used extensively by the opposition and what this essentially means is that what mrs merkel was saying before she either. didn't know what her own security services were doing or that perhaps she has misled the german people in what she said by saying that well germany wasn't involved so it's come out of quite an embarrassing time for her with the election coming up it set certainly to be a major issue in the buildup to that vote that takes place on the twenty second of september but germany it seems far more involved in the n.s.a. spying program. perhaps there were let on before what i'm going merkel says america needs time for examination before it offers its explanation for spying in and on europe and that's being seen as an attempt to calm the initial rage triggered by reports e.u.

citizens were being monitored so let's recall some quote shall we which suggests there's been a u. turn in the rhetoric bugging is not what friends do you said merkel slamming u.s. actions as cold war tactics one german m.-e. pay even compared this to the infamous secret police in east germany and the justice minister said the reports are to alarming to be ignored well former am i five agent and he says the inconsistency between germany's official and he said vaillant stance and its own operations will trigger much anger and lots of questions. we have a situation in germany where because of their historic experiences with ixtapa in world war two in the stars in east germany they put in place a very strong cast iron constitution to protect people from invasion that they're pretty convinced spied on and this is what the germans have for decades taken for granted they have certain legal protections and we've seen this time and again when other european like

a lot of try to impose on germany where you know things like her facial recognition date or on google face facebook have been banned in germany and yet the b.m.d. and even to intelligence agencies in germany have been doing this sort of spying so i think the hypocrisy is is quite astounding the mark it's a great deal of anger and questions rightly to how much the german government you know about what was going on illegal phone tapping on your side led to the recent resignation of luxemburg prime minister we analyze that on our website at r.t. dot com also there the n.s.a. surveillance using private fiber optic cables which serve iran ninety nine percent of the world's internet and phone traffic more details on that at r.t. dot com. right. and i think.

on our radar. now more than a decade after u.s. led forces invaded iraq there is a legacy of horrific birth defects scientists blame the weapons used by the u.s. military fallujah is the best known example the number affected there is fourteen times higher than in hiroshima after an atomic bomb was dropped on it in the second world war but as artie's lucy caffein off was the first to take an in-depth look at the lesser known extent of the human suffering in the jaff. hundred sixty kilometers south of baghdad the sacred shiite city is known for its holy shrines and is surrounded by one of the largest. some of the heaviest fighting of the iraq war took place amid these graves its legacy still haunts the residents

it was born with severe birth defects he's only eight months old but the doctors don't expect him to live past his first birthday. i felt these are you are no hook the noose around out the door to his office in the taxi. but for his mother layla there's no escaping the reality. her son has a nervous system disorder and his muscles are slowly wasting away. it's a recurring nightmare for leila and her husband three of their children were also born with congenital deformity as none of them survived and while they don't have proof they believe the radioactive ammunition used by american forces during the war is to blame the rule isn't over yet if the americans are grown but were filled for free from the consequences of spiraling numbers of birth defects and high

miscarriage rates have also been reported in fallujah and basra where american and british forces used heavy munitions at the start of the war but our visit to knowledge off revealed that the phenomenon may be far more widespread in the law than previously known dr sundin's and as one of the few scientists who's been documenting cancer and birth defects here and she says as in the midst of a growing health catastrophe. after the iraq war rates of cancer leukemia and birth defects rose dramatically the areas affected by fighting so the biggest increases we believe it's because of weapons like depleted uranium and hospitals here cancer is more common than the flu. depleted uranium or d. you cuts through armor like a hot knife does through butter more than four hundred tons of it is estimated to have been used in the two iraq wars the vast majority by u.s. forces the pentagon did not respond to our request for comment but the military generally denies any link between exposure and cancer or birth defects it also says

deal weapons are only used to penetrate enemy tanks but a new report funded by the norwegian government found that was used against civilian targets in populated areas including not jobs in two thousand and three it notes a lack of transparency by coalition forces over the use of depleted uranium but describes one incident in najaf where a bradley armored fighting vehicle fired three hundred five d.-u. rounds in a single engagement. the heavy fighting may be over but in nearly every street we visited in this neighborhood multiple cases of cancer and children with deformities no one knows what's making people here sick the families want answers and they want help. is old enough for school but have to be cared for as if he's a toddler he can't walk he can't speak he can't even go to the bathroom on his own use of brother is healthy but the family has birdied two other children one severely deformed the other with

a hole in her spine like many of the couples in the city they're simply too afraid to have another baby and they're left feeling totally abandoned no one cares about what's happening to the other families in this area even our own government doesn't do anything to help what can we do because our fate is a fate that many and suffer in silence. how it was the rockies lost their lives in the decade since the u.s. led invasion all across the country their memories are honored in cemeteries like this one the dead may be the most visible reminder of the human cost of the war but if the living victims of that war's talks look like a scene we're still paying the price this accounting of our team knowledge of iraq while doctors also fear depleted uranium weapons have cause the spread of disease is not present not previously seen in iraq and iraqi government statistics show cancer rates to have been steadily rising ever since the gulf war in one thousand

nine hundred ninety one but artie's lucy catherine of told my colleague mattresses that it's still to fickle to gauge the full extent of these problems. we've heard about the depleted uranium the birth defect story coming out of fallujah for example because there's been several t.v. pieces and print reports talking about and showing in fact we hear in r.t.f. showed the birth defects in the city of fallujah when we were completely stunned by is the fact that this is happening in many more cities that have been previously reported including knowledge of where we visited when we showed our filming her and i on the ground in the city literally every single residential street that we visited in several neighborhoods we found multiple cases of families who had children who were ill families who had lost children had to burry children families who had many relatives who were suffering from cancer and while these people can't necessarily prove that it was depleted uranium or are the causes of these diseases

this is something that they say has risen dramatically in the years since the invasion how widespread is it i mean how far across the country the problem is that nobody knows exactly and that's because there haven't been large scale studies done we haven't seen a big teams of international doctors for example going in and sort of looking at different cities comparing the number of birth defect cases between the different cities there really simply are no reliable statistics for birth defects in iraq and so nobody can really say exactly how big this problem is and the big problem with with the iraqi government as well one of the surprising things that we found in speaking to the doctors on the ground is they say that they reportedly have been discouraged discouraged by the government from talking out openly about this to the press in fact the biologist that we had spoken to who was researching the issue in the city had to give us the interview in the privacy of her home on the roof there instead of in her laboratory she said that there is an active sort of push by the government perhaps not to embarrass the coalition forces not to really talk about

this issue which we were really quite surprised by we tried to visit the hospital in knowledge of that was dealing with. some of the victims some of the deformed birth defect that children they didn't let us come in they didn't let us film in fact they didn't even let us do interviews with the governor with the families or the doctors working there at all the iraqi officials certainly had not put in the resources that they could be we spoke to families not japanese that they've gone to local officials you know they've asked for help they were essentially told tales said by you know it's a really sad story. dr crispus b. has researched the effects of depleted uranium extensively and he told us what he learned after visiting fairly to see how civilians there have been affected we went to where you found the levels of concern about formation and cancer and we looked at the parents of the children with congenital malformation and we did analysis of the head to see what was inside the head that might be do you know toxic might be

the sort of thing that could cause congenital malformation and the only thing that we found was you really knew we found your brain in the hair of the mothers of the children with congenital malformation is not that we know that you're a numerous do you know toxic that it causes these these levels of genetic damage and because of that it also causes cancer so you can work slowly back from that towards your own you know the only the only source of uranium was the use by the american forces the american led forces of uranium weapons not only depleted uranium weapons as we later found enrich uranium weapons which we believe they were using in order to cover their tracks so i think we have more or less proved that these facts. were as a result of the use during the two wars of uranium and the particles that the uranium weapons produced. still ahead backtracking on syria we look at high britain's leader has changed his rhetoric on the conflict admitting there's too much extremism among the opposition also ahead for my golden sun so to the depths

of we travel to j. wake whose residents say they've been forgotten and left to rot by the british government in a time of hysteria tape that's coming up. many americans still have the almost cult like believe that america is the greatest nation on earth for the past thirty years the us has been in decline relative to other countries during this time washington continues to fight wars abroad and you're using nation building is america becoming a third world country. more news today violence is once again flared up. and these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. giant corporations rule the day.

hello again now n.s.a. whistleblower edward snowden is still stranded without paperwork in the transit zone of sheremetyevo airport in moscow but that could change within days he's finally set to receive temporary documents allowing him to enter russia washington remains adamant that snowden should be sent back to the u.s.

artie's paul scott has more. america are remaining steadfast in their pursuit of edward snowden where he is wanted on charges under the espionage act and they're determined to get their hands on him russian president vladimir putin remains steadfast also in his conviction that there will be no extradition of edward snowden back to the united states now obviously there's no extradition treaty between the two countries and also the reason being cited is that no one will be returned to america because of washington's continuing use of the death penalty now one russian official has even suggested that america's pursuit of snowden and demands on moscow are hypocritical and also a form of double standards that's because over the years there have been a number of extradition requests that moscow who've given to washington that have been rejected one notable case is that of akhmed off he went into hiding in one nine hundred ninety nine at the start of the second chechen war now he is wanted he's on russia's most wanted list and he's been charged with organizing terrorist

training camps and armed insurgent actions russia simply say he is a terrorist but he has been granted asylum in the united states and any request for extradition has been ignored and there's another case that's of thomas of who's been on the international wanted list since two thousand and one for kidnapping and extortion a moscow have in fact had to extradition requests to washington rejected one in two thousand and five and another in two thousand and nine so it seems as if america's request for an extradition of edward snowden are likely to continue to fall on deaf ears. meanwhile britain's prime minister is changing his tune on syria david cameron said he still fully supports the opposition but it there is too much extremism among the rebels that's quite a change from november twenty seventh about half a year after the syrian conflict erupted back then he called for more engagement with the rebels the following year and called for more international aid to put the

syrian government under pressure and fast forward a year he was still vehemently anti is sad but not so sure that arms shipments were the way forward syria's top rebel commander has already accused the british pm of betrayal to he abandon plans to arm his fighters the government was strongly considering it and lobbied the e.u. to end an arms embargo and that brings us to the present with the syrian government advancing on rebel militias the official opposition failing to unite and cameron describing the situation as a stalemate political analyst deepak for the path he explained what could be behind the u.k. lead is shifting position. i told him he will have difficulty getting. approval. because there is a lot of i need to eat after iraq but just religion partners the liberal democrats are a remark brought to you we probably couldn't it's not. wrong just being

realized in the west. how much there are sure instance from western governments that. only the good guys will get help in terms of our lives but that's not the case on the ground and saudi arabia is where you are worried about the rise of slum fundamentalism in syria because jordan. where it looks a minute the united states and britain indirectly. are helping. the syrian rebels that has not stopped. well has killer is now being targeted by the west for its involvement in the syrian conflict the e.u. has just agreed to put the armed wing of the lebanese group on the terror list at a meeting of foreign ministers in brussels hezbollah is being accused of fighting

on the side president bashar al assad the move required the agreement of all twenty eight european union members britain has insisted on sanctions after kids in the grip of being behind last year's attack on a bus carrying israelis and bold garia up to now brussels has resisted pressure from washington and israel to label them terrorists this is some there is some concern about staking tension in lebanon where hezbollah is an official part of the government. to other international nice starting with china where seventy five people now reported dead after a five point nine magnitude earthquake in the west of the country over four hundred are injured but no. media fear that number will rise but this was under way and several villages cut off the quake was shallow striking twenty kilometers below the surface eight towns in the remote mountainous area sustained serious damage and there has been flooding and mudslides gansu province is one of the least populated

in the whole country. elsewhere at least one hundred people have been injured in bahrain during the authorities crackdown on protests over the past three days violence took place in several villages across the country mid growing unrest in the kingdom just a few days ago the opposition leader valued to continue protests in the face of the government's on fist policies he said the recent reports about an attack on a shia mosque had been fabricated to tarnish the protestors image the oil rich state has been struggling to quell a mess since twenty eleven the protest movement has not been put off by the imprisonment of hundreds of its members and the deaths of more than eighty. and a suicide bomber has attacked an army convoy in the iraqi city of mosul killing at least twenty five people most of the casualties were soldiers but there were also some civilians among the dead meanwhile security forces day they fought off an armed attack on the abu ghraib and taji prisons need the capital baghdad although

officials say eleven members of the security forces were killed in fierce clashes that raged all night. for egypt's stability remains elusive and it remains locked in political turmoil and violence six people were killed in several militant attacks in this sinai peninsula and egypt's borders with israel and gaza dozens were injured in clashes between islamize supporters and opponents of the ousted president morsi in the town of cus meanwhile despite political divisions egypt has started to amend its constitution which is needed before elections next year but islamists have rejected the cabinet with its supporters van to continue mass protests r.t. sophie shevardnadze spoke to the son of the deposed president morsi to find out what went wrong when his father was in power what chance is egypt has the pace. the harmony morse's rule was democratic while going to democracy you have both the

ruling regime and an opposition but the case of armed forces taking on a certain political stance is something unprecedented this is sort of a sure sign of a military takeover with all due respect there is no doubt morsi has a lot of supporters but in a very short period of time an overwhelming majority turns against him it's not about the military it's the people in a democracy such political differences and confrontations are normal settle it through elections rather than turning us is there any true democracy where an army commander discounts the will of the people to legally deposes the president of the crew is actually a crime committed by the egyptian military. and you can see the full interview with the son of the deposed egyptian leader at fourteen thirty g.m.t. here. once a much loved holiday resort just

a short drive from london j. wick is now one of europe's most deprived areas is home to junkies there dealers and generations of families with no hope of employment artie's party boy visited the forgotten seaside town. golden sands beach front property and just a stone's throw from the london wish you were here we have been really completely forgotten a lot of people are enough to enjoy you because that's the last place to go there's no work for everybody and i think this is going to continue for at least twenty years of what could fix the problems of today with money has been ranked at the bottom of the government's poverty index for england and wales for three years running it's a national embarrassment and. doing something about it we're trying to get into. the country where you think in the end i don't think it's the third party polls in the whole of you it. was once

a proud holiday location for london's burgeoning middle class says the time was thought up as a holiday resort for city dwellers back in the one nine hundred twenty s. these are all meant to be summer houses but because rents were so cheap people started living here all year round it's in a flood risk zone which resulted in the government never investing any money into the area some parts of the town lacked tarmac roads street lighting or even pavements some of the locals say the cheap rent and precarious location has attracted vulnerable families and social problems for free we got drunk which we really don't want. a junkie up the sopranos or something because throat and then it all gets blown no. forty percent of residents are either disabled or have a health condition that makes it impossible to work which might be just as well seeing as there are no jobs going in the town the last few shops that were hit have been boarded up unemployment is rife in the town in fact sixty two percent of the

people that live heads append on welfare payments there isn't the word you say so if they've been used to just get enough of a moaning and sitting around assume they're doing according to one local counsellor it's. westminster's idleness that's brought on j. wicks demise whatever problems we've got down there i think it's politically all of them to blame for whatever party they are it's something that they let happen it's a dumping ground we've been the most people i now for three years not one penny of we've got to come in and help with the government counting pennies in austerity britain many say that financial the chances of the town's redevelopment of washing away with the time. r t j wick sounds essex. thanks for watching r.t. up next how is the american economy to that is the question cross talks paid to develop

discusses with the scouts that's in just a few minutes. i talk with you and many times about the absurd things going on all around us like kids being thrown out of school because they had a gun that shoots bubbles or various people getting punished for their tweets and facebook posts it's all really abstract it's hard to truly get angry over until you see the results or playing a stupid video game just carter sarcastically said to someone who called him crazy oh yeah i'm real messed up in the head i'm going to go shoot a bunch of kids at school l.o.l. j.k. and for this bit of sarcasm he spent quite some time awaiting trial in a texas prison not only that according to his father he was being attacked brutally

on many occasions leading to both paul concussions and black eyes and in the end he had to be thrown into solitary confinement for his own good you see this is the ugly reality of those who follow the bad side of political correctness you know i don't talk about these stories just for fun the main thing that i'd like to say is that it wasn't for some anonymous coward in canada turning him into the authorities for doing absolutely nothing this young man would not have to live with the memory and possible injuries from numerous assaults to the anonymous canadian who turned him in i sarcastically wish you a horrible fate but you probably get me arrested for it so just say that it's people like you who allow tyranny to exist but that's just my opinion. isn't.