the surveillance control spirals in the u.k. amid new revelations naming three telecom giants who allowed a british intelligence agency to look through private data of millions of clients. in the u.s. debate of a massive valences swept under the carpet while whistleblower edward snowden dominates the headlines. in america calls on its citizens to stay away from the middle east in light of a major al qaeda terror threat some experts say washington's policies in the region continue to fuel resentment our top stories this hour.

international news and comment this is r.t. within twenty four hours a day live from moscow where it's now just turned midnight there have been further revelations in the ongoing spy scandal in the u.k. the world's major telecom companies have been working alongside a british intelligence agency handing over swathes of private data documents leaked by u.s. whistleblower edward snowden suggest that a rise in business vodafone cable and british telecom were among those who gave g c h q unlimited access to their network of cables collaboration and now the agency to harvest millions of phone calls e-mails and facebook conversations and this comes in the wake of reports that america's national security agency has generously funding british surveillance details now from sort of in the. those companies operate a huge set of the high capacity undersea fiber optic cables and that carries data

for millions of uses now back in june the guardian newspaper has revealed details of an operation named temp. it was alleged been looking at the data hoovering programs from the british spy agency g c h q and that had said that the c.h.p. were able to access these companies' fiber optic cables and access that huge chunk of information that was being carried in and store it for thirty days data that's being released by whistleblower edward snowden prior to his gaining asylum in russia not some of the companies have actually come back in the wake of these claims and have said that the questions relating to national security are for governments to answer not for the telecommunications companies but bt spokesman reported as having said they can reassure customers that complying with the law and not disclosing customer data in any jurisdiction and less legally required to decern now under the one nine hundred eighty four telecommunications act these

companies can be compelled to cooperate with government and pass along that information if legally required to do so the question of privacy act because right now is going to be whether or not these big companies are actually challenging enough when asked to parse over this big chunk of information and of course this is just the latest in a sense of revelations that look into the level and scope of snooping by u.s. and u.k. intelligence agencies and indeed the degree of cooperation between the two countries now some of the recent revelations say that a g c h t had actually been funded by washington to the tune of one hundred million pounds now that was for a period of eva three years and those payments made to secure access to british intelligence gathering programs and in return is a list the g c h q were required to quote pull its weight another where the environment a real headache for downing street and the situation at those communications

companies obviously going to be fearing a backlash from their customers over those alleged breach of privacy. well earlier i spoke to british intelligence analyst glenmore turner harvey who says that the u.k. us to for tat spy affair is really nothing new back in the one nine hundred fifty s. there was an arrangement between the united kingdom the united states canada australia and new zealand. where they all shared information and g.c. h.q. like the n.s.a. and it's a very big place in their operations in fact there are three main locations in the united kingdom menwith hill hara gate. the big dome. as they call it. and more when so these have all been funded in the main by the national security agency and. there are seven hundred fifty national

security agency american employees working there so they meld together they might as well be known as the n.s.a. g.h.q. there are so close and while the scope of american that surveillance is raising eyebrows across the world nothing has been done on capitol hill to curb the practices what is going to come explains what the government is doing to plug the voices of discontent both at home and abroad. while edward snowden as the messenger remains the focus of everybody's attention the u.s. government is trying to kill his message or at least contain it senior intelligence officials have testified in congress so boring everything is done in accordance with the law congress has already killed the bill that would make the n.s.a. walk back some of its powers so as of now no concrete steps have been taken to rein in n.s.a. surveillance but call for reform keep coming lawmakers are putting forward new initiatives earlier this week the president met with members of congress

specifically to discuss and. of course attacking snowden is much easier for the white house defending this of their own state and here's what president obama said about that just in the wake of snowden's revelations and if people can't trust not only the executive branch but also don't trust congress and don't trust. federal judges to make sure that we're biding by the constitution due process and rule of law then we're going to have some problems on that trust issue a gallup poll shows fifty three percent of americans now disapprove of the government surveillance programs thirty seven percent approve and now the poll by the quinnipiac university conducted just in the wake of snowden's revelations shows forty five percent of americans say the government's anti-terrorism efforts have gone too far restricting civil liberties three years ago that percentage was twenty five so it's a massive shift in attitudes but his longest snowden's own destiny remains the top

story it will be much easier for the government to sweep the debate under the rug in washington i'm going to get. from reporters without borders thinks washington's tough stance on. dissuading any potential whistle blows from coming forward but just would like to remind you there. the last fare of war our war against we saw glowers. was abducted in one thousand nine hundred seventeen. prosecution have been launched against me so blowers have been under the obama administration it's clear that the obama administration hopes that the war will discourage any potential that we saw glow or to reveal any information that you also have to understand that here and us any information related to national security is considered a secret it's considered classified so everything is classified so it's really easy

to become a creamy now in the days of the obama administration if you're revealing any information which are related to national security well that would snowden has not only made headlines is also become the hero in a new video game and you small phone app called snowden run three d. puts a digital version of the whistleblower in the never ending chase from what looks like a cia agent in the game the man on the run is collecting u.s.b. sticks and laptops containing secret information if the digital snowden gets a one way ticket to guantanamo bay there's also a call on putin option which is a hydrogen bomb on the chase or allowing the player to escape.

a suicide attack on the indian consulate in afghanistan has left at least nine people dead and around twenty injured in the latest case of violence against civilians a recent u.n. report shows a staggering hike in casualties among nonmilitary in the country with the midget toll supposing one thousand three hundred people go to bid it day from the university of north korea says the taliban only want sympathy points among locals because of the u.s. military operation there. but western horses the two need. couldn't actually recall who. never tried to understand their needs and instead of trying to implement a deer defined point you find ways of which michigan running. was not large and. created the scene.

in the first c.e.o. have to actually in the local tradition the local or you have to be in the country didn't it is the only one sage to. the developing countries are still capable only to joggle problems and the only. one afghanistan is among twenty one countries where the us has decided to close its embassies on sunday and it fears of an al qaeda terror threat most of the nations are in the middle east it's not yet clear when the facilities will reopen washington has also issued a worldwide travel alert author and historian gerald horne says america's regional policies have backfired i think that what this alert basically reflects is the fact that the united states policy in that part of the world has backfired for example in syria united states basically encouraged if not supportive of war against the damascus based regime of all suck this isn't involved

a number of u.s. nationals and european nationals going into syria to fight with the so called the hearts this is given to shut me armed to our. back forces sources such as they are not refract in syria which is tied to al qaeda and iraq which in the last mark has been engaged in a spate of car bombings in baghdad in the surrounding region so it seems to me the state department i'm not basically reflects a failure of u.s. policy. terrorist violence in the middle east is also taking its toll on smaller communities in the region a militant jihadist group affiliated with al qaeda is holding some two hundred kurdish civilians hostage in syria following an attack which claimed the life of one current leader artes and he made this report. considering the complexity of syria you have to understand that there are dozens of groups of people who are divided by either faith or nationality or of the city all of them are also involved in this bitter battle which has been going on in the country for the last couple of

years kurds are among the biggest ethnic groups kurds are actually the largest nation in the world that does not have this date the dream of statehood is something that kurds have entertained for hundreds of years they are originating in iraq turkey and in syria now increasingly kurds in syria are coming under under extreme pressure from the radical groups which have permeated syria and are affiliated with al qaida recently severe clashes broken out in several villages on the border between syria and turkey primarily in the northern province several hundred kurds have been taken hostage by fighters of all loser front and they are also helping videos posted on the internet which claim to be pictures of kurds who have come under attack from the from the extremists truly horrific pictures and now the kurdish militia house call them kurds in the region to unite in their struggle against the radical islamists are deleted with al qaida forces are also dreaming of

their own state and it's not other than syria that they're planning to initiate their state out in fact they're saying they're going to get right to it's immediately after ramadan ends and that is just in a week sign so the situation in that region is in creative incredibly harsh and literally boiling at this point as we're having this very happening again hundreds of people of abducted from their homes. we're also hearing about people being killed just for the simple reason that they're kurds and it really doesn't seem like anybody is especially paying attention primarily the western media there is very little information on the subject if you try to look for it. and dr annan summa is a representative of the foreign affairs and relations office of the kurdish democratic union party in syria and he thinks militants are now resorting to brutal tactics through desperation. it will be filed that could not mean. that these terrorist groups. and they cannot.

resist. that didn't defend all of the kurdish forces because the kurdish forces on the ground protecting themselves not at taking anybody all the kurdish people now are supporting them i'm going to defending them stop these groups are failing and they are running away from there. for they are using this as a method to keep not lost people. out and that end of the date. exchange is that they have the arctic meet to exchange. a new president has taken the reins of power in iran has been officially endorsed by the countries where this is needed amid questions about whether the west is really trying to make the most of a fresh. rock band the bloodhound might

want to restart their relations with russia after one member of the country's flag was on the panel that one of the stories coming up after the break. from one shot reverberate through the centuries when vengeance called for blood. of a magical hanging and this member him for eight years. it outweighed law and faith in the caucasus. vendettas were handed down from generation to generation and they killed my son with impunity to kill them with impunity there was a question of can once mortal enemies be reconciled today. blood. on oxy.

plug right on the scene played the first trick. and i think the church. on a recorder splitter linster live . to be a little odd. live live. live live.

live. live close. i would rather abstractions for people in positions of power instead of speaking on their behalf and that's why you can find my fellow larry king now right here on

r.t. question more. he continues here on aunty has son rouhani has just been endorsed by ron supremely to become the country's next president and officially take the oath of office in parliament on sunday honey promise for form and to the country international isolation as part of his election platform this comes as more than seventy u.s. sentences have signed a letter calling on president obama to further tighten already draconian sanctions against iran political analyst professor mohammad marandi says the importance of the presidential post in iran should not be underestimated what's interesting is often when in the western media when it's convenient they say he's powerless but when it's not they say he's a threat like the former president ahmadinejad but he is

a very powerful figure he is the second most important person in iran and he has the vote over half of iranians in are in another election that had a very high turnout over seventy two percent almost seventy three percent if the united states is willing to take this opportunity to reevaluate its policies towards iran and take a serious step toward the iranians and president rouhani will definitely be willing to make a positive move themselves and to move toward. and you can read more about the iranian election and check out the latest footage on the web site dot com also for you at the moment more than two weeks of war games russian and chinese. massive joint drills taking out the photos and the videos and. boils over in the capital after a convicted paedophile is pardoned photos and video online dot com all the time.

now to a stunt that appears to literally want to band off stage american rock group the bloodhound gang of being scattered with eggs and tomatoes beaten him banned from performing in russia after that base play the country's flag down his trials is during a gig in ukraine discuss a story. now the famous american punk band the blood hound gang had a concert in the city of odessa in ukraine several days ago and during that concert will be able to see that in the video now the bass player jared hasselhoff took out

a russian flag all of a sudden and put it into his trousers before taking it out and throwing it into the crowd the front man of the band jimi properly later intervened said that he did not support of this action which is hard to believe because several days before that concert they had a gig in key of and during that concert jimmy properly was shouting the f. word russia from the stage now this story gets even more crazier because this band was supposed to perform this weekend in russia in south and part of the country during the festival they came over there they were told that they will not perform because the ministry of culture deemed this act as very offensive and that and they canceled their performance still they received their money and were on their way back to the airport when they were thrown eggs at their bus to majors and there was even a small demonstration in front of the front of the bus so they arrive to the airport went into the v.i.p. section when several men stormed into the base of the section and attacked the band

reportedly one of the members of the band was strangled with this american flag so we can definitely say that this time lot on again would not need any water to let things burn because their bridges with russia are totally torched so after getting clearly a very angry reaction after arriving here in russia earlier you said you want to show what the motivation was did they try and explain what did happen because obviously there are a lot of questions when they arrived in russia why did it happen while they try to apologize and said they did this simply to their fans in a death so of course they are a punk band they're no strangers to different sorts of controversies and during concerts in moscow and they've had lots of concerts in russia i've been to several of them personally they've been chanting something anti-american so this is like maybe their definition of controversy another time but definitely the antics with the flag putting it into the trousers this is something and seen before just as the attack on the musicians in russia something unseen before as well. more news from

around the world now in our world update and turkish police have fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse groups of government protesters in central istanbul there's been a heavy police presence around tax and square off to call for rallies against what activists see as prime ministers prime minister authoritarian policies nationwide wave demonstrations that started the many smaller protests and continued sporadically in recent weeks. tens of thousands of people to stage a rally in taiwan mali further investigation into a young soldier's death. was punished for possessing a camera phone and was forced to do tough exercises while being denied drinking water he died of heat stroke only days before completing his military service his death has triggered outrage across the island as people cast down save the military investigation the defense minister has already resigned and he twenty army officers have been indicted on charges related to the case.

in the south of england a protest against oil drilling has entered its tenth day or an exploration operations of finally begun after a delay caused by nonstop protests by local residents those who live closest to the drilling site are concerned that if oil or gas is found hydraulic fracking will be used to extract it destroying the environment in the area. a series of shootings and bomb attacks across iraq have left at least nineteen dead many of them civilians the deadliest attack took place about one hundred kilometers north of baghdad when a convoy carrying a top military commander was ambushed by gunmen the commander skate at six of his bodyguards were killed more than four thousand civilians have been killed in iraq since january and the most deadly violence for five years. but i think that with the news team with morphine about half an hour from now in the meantime we look at the ancient custom of blood feuds in russia's caucasus region how they're changing

in the twenty first century that's a special report after the break. i got a big question for you how stupid can stupid terrorist paranoia get according to four progressives dot com the texas department of public safety demanded that any women entering the state senate hand over any tampons or pads before entering wow so why would they do this are they really that scared that some terrorists are playing a sneak a bomb into the place at any cost according to news dot yahoo dot com the official reason is that they're afraid of people using projectiles as a form of protest against a law that would really restrict abortions oh well no i kind of see where you abortion is an issue that people really get furious over now it kind of all makes

sense but wait wait wait wait what's that they're afraid of projectiles but people with guns were allowed to take them into the senate are you kidding me i think the second amendment does a lot more good than harm by i think it goes without saying that for women to concealed carry their hygiene items they should need a permit or permission from anyone but that's just my opinion. good speech.

all. right to me that her little. police officer with the if cleaning his gun after being on duty is a matter of priority it's almost a ritual for him and he's helped by his seven year old son ismael yak a good thing with i want my son to be a soldier everybody in our family has been

a military man me my father and even my grandfather and his time it's always been that way you could say our family loves weapons. which is male can already disassemble the pistol by himself and knows where each individual part goes . and it is zero and he says it's not too heavy for him it's just his hands are too small. smile is being prepared for adult life in chechnya several generations of the family have followed the chechen code every shooting is on side with another. they have taken revenge for each one of their murdered klan members. guns yes very much so he says are you going to carry a gun i will he says we have always had respect for weapons and i suppose it's been

that way for centuries it's hard. ismail's grandfather of. the church and world for father. to also trained his children and nephews to handle weapons when they were still very young. being able to handle a gun is one of the most important skills for a chechen man. a good shot. during the chechen war commanded a group of separatists fighting against russia in a bid to achieve independence which. but when the gunmen turned ideological war into a business by abducting.