the spanish. visit. stories that shape the week on r.t. edward snowden is seen by the wider public for the first time since receiving asylum in russia as video emerges of him receiving an award from fellow us government whistleblowers. hungry for change hundreds of cities across the globe see protests against genetically modified food in the company seen as the face of the industry. and as washington faces that the looming threat of a national default we look at how the government shutdown has become a matter of life and death for those side of the political arena.

and i welcome you watching are with me andrey farmer edward snowden islands after being granted temporary asylum in russia the n.s.a. leaker received an award for integrity in intelligence from a group of fellow american whistleblowers in a video from the ceremony became the first public view of him speaking since july shortly after snowden's father arrived in moscow to see him r.t. as you go piece in of met him at the airport. i cannot speak for my son and really the legal issues here father and i don't want to really share my opinions at this point in time i'm shipley thankful that my son is safe and free i am going to follow mr coo trainers advice and if the opportunity presents itself i certainly hope that i'll have an opportunity to see my son and i don't negotiate to is the same lawyer who's been consulting and representing edward snowden in russia he

promised the two would meet the next day and so they did at an undisclosed location one of the precautions many journalists have already gotten used to throughout the story but it wasn't only his father that the former n.s.a. contractor got to meet with this week a group of other former u.s. security service officials turned whistle blowers also flew into moscow to award him with a semi adams prize for intelligence and integrity the emmy whistleblower awards. you know places to go where we have an executive for just this one last. night. live to. long but they'll sell. the first song on the. edward snowden arrived in the transit zone or should i mean it's about airport in moscow in june after leaving thousands of documents with details of how u.s. security services spy on officials and ordinary people all across the world

washington has been calling for his extradition accusing him of espionage but russia granted snowden temporary asylum and that of course means snowden's dad may not be the only family member heading over to visit particularly because it's unclear whether edward will ever be able to return to the u.s. again you want this going off moscow. well for former u.s. government officials turned whistle blowers came to moscow to hand the sam adams aboard for integrity in intelligence to edward snowden they also made it to the r.t. studio this week and told my colleague kevin snowden is adjusting to his new life and why they think he deserves praise for what he did doing remarkably well and the circumstances in which he came here and we've we've obviously going to find out personally how is the you know what is looking at these days. i thought he looked great he seemed very centered and and. brilliant smart funny

very engaged. i thought he looked very well considering the amount of pressure. do you think that's taking any toll at all i think psychological toll i think it would in ordinary circumstances but this is an extraordinary person he's made his peace with what he did he's convinced that he put he did was right he has no regrets and he's willing to face whatever the future holds for him the person you saw in front of you colin yes actually we discuss this intel integrity and intelligence issue quite extensively and we talked about prior examples of great people in history that had themselves been under this type of pressure and he's remarkably centered i found that continuing pattern the more secret the us became and the more we grew into a surveillance state the more people who were willing to just do their job and tell the truth and obey ethics rules were getting in trouble so while i suffered

i was under criminal investigation and put on the no fly list things like that i thought were very draconian i could never have imagined in a million years that president obama would begin indicting and prosecuting people like thomas drake and edward snowden and bradley manning and john kiriakou and a number of other people under the espionage act which is the most serious charge you could level against an american what was the reaction from snowden last night when you told him that he'd won this civil war he already knew because we awarded to two months ago that the problem was getting it to him and it is our tradition starting with colin that we physically present this it's sort of like an emmy or a mask or what it is is a candlestick holder for someone who has shown a bright light into the dark corners. so he knew what he was he didn't know about the candlestick holder he knew that he had received the award and you know we were

coming you know and the reception we got was just so for the warming it was a person who now realizes that he is very sure of your people you know and some of the size senior people who speak for a lot of people still within these organizations that admired greatly where they would snowden. hopefully will summon the courage to follow his example. edward snowden and the n.s.a. spy scandal were among the topics r.t. exclusively discussed with the world's most renowned whistleblower songe the full interview is available on our website at r.t. . now activists across dozens of countries held rallies to call for the permanent boycott of genetically modified food by tech giant monsanto the main target of their anger hundreds of cities across the world from australia to europe were involved demonstrators claim crops produced by the company could be harmful to humans even resulting in some of the biggest rallies took place in the u.s.

where people also accuse the multi-national company of aggressive lobbying and suppressing food safety and he now is in washington for r.t. . many cities across the u.s. took part in this second organize march against the agricultural giant monsanto protesters rallying against the company's use of genetically modified organisms and trying to raise awareness about its corporate practices some protesters told us that even though the government is shutdown months onto lobbyists are hard at work here in washington many pouncers by actually came up to activists what we were standing there holding ante g.m.o. signs and asked what is the g.m.o. so awareness is very low in terms of what exactly genetically modified foods are let alone the dangers they cause in the capital the protests began with activists going into large grocery stores and retailers trying to ways raise awareness about

controversal insecticides which affect the nervous system and have been repeatedly linked to deaths while the demonstration then made its way to the white house all sorts of activists students even young children our gannett farmers caterers chefs so real wide range of people there are a lot of veterans actually showed up to talk about the dangers of g.m. most just outside the white house they then began to march made their way to the i.m.f. world bank and eventually to monsanto offices here in washington d.c. now other cities across the u.s. los angeles portland denver orlando just to name a few how similar demonstrations also up in canada and vancouver british columbia there was quite a large turnout for their march against monsanto organizers say this is just the beginning that momentum is going to pick up and they will continue their fight against the g.m.o. giant monsanto reporting from washington and you so now we are. well the company

itself insists it is playing a key role in feeding the world's rapidly growing population and maintains that many people already consume g.m. food with no ill effects but jeffrey smith who's written extensively about the dangers of g.m. foods begs to differ. when you look at the animal feeding studies on genetically engineered foods the american academy of environmental medicine they said there's gastrointestinal problems immune system problems excel aerated aging organ damage reproductive disorders there's massive infant mortality multiple massive tumors early death there are so many things that are going wrong with the animals that are being fed g m o's and now we're seeing those things rising in the u.s. population since g. of those were introduced the current generation of g m o's has nothing to offer feeding the hungry world or about acute and poverty so this is just been a public relations fin and they spent two hundred fifty million dollars over five

years trying to convince americans that they needed to accept because it would feed the world i ask farmers all the time what do you think about santa even those farmers that use monsanto seeds often hate monsanto or fear might said oh. so that's why monsanto has been continuously voted as the most evil company on the planet year after year with stiff competition. still ahead this hour surviving the government shutdown. it's not a matter of when or louis i mean it's a please listen to the people and know that it's affecting so many. looks at the sick americans who have had access to life saving treatments thanks to political squabbling over the budget in washington plus the u.s. poised to pounce on a run we report on the thames to move into the country's automobile industry by posturing tough sanctions that story does offer quite frankly.

it's not good james. to. respect some of the toughest try to. trip. them up to. see. the media leave us so we leave the media. by the same bush and see your. mother your party there's a bill. for shoes that no one is asking with to get that you deserve answers from. politics. to.

cut. hello again now with less than four days until the u.s. runs out of money senate leaders from rival parties still can't find a way out of the budget deadlock most of the government has been shut down for two weeks and as artie's marina portnoy reports politicians are accused of ignoring the effect on every day americans. u.s. president barack obama's signature health care legislation is supposed to provide millions of americans with the medical coverage they desperately need but the political debate over obamacare has also ironically created

a life or death situation for hundreds of citizens for each week the shutdown continues roughly two hundred patients cannot be accepted for clinical treatment at the national institutes of health that's nearly four hundred sick americans desperately in need of medical treatment and the and i says among the patients being turned away includes roughly thirty people with cancer and many of them being children about seventy five percent of and i was employees thousands of people have reportedly been furloughed because of washington's self-inflicted shutdown as a result michelle langbehn who is battling sir coma a rare form of cancer was supposed to begin receiving medical treatments at the beginning of this month until the october first shutdown forced and i to temporarily turn her away langbehn a new mother's started an online petition to put pressure on congress to reopen the

government the movement has garnered more than one hundred thousand signatures in an interview with r.t. langbehn says she's been able to restart her treatments after receiving financial donations but says hundreds of other people in her position have been denied a chance to live because of washington's political partisanship it's a matter of life or death it's not a matter of inconvenience or just an irritation for us i have heard a couple of instances where they find that this is just the game between them and it's a matter of winning and i'd like to say that it's not a matter of when or lose i mean it's please listen to the people and know that it's affecting so many u.s. leaders who have the power to change this situation have so far failed to agree on a budget a political deadlock leaving the lives of cancer stricken. adults and children in them reporting from new york marina fortnight artsy. well renowned american political commentator named chomsky told us he believes the u.s.

politics is too inherently corrupt to deal with the budget that. subscription in the history of the mantra democracy it's interesting to see what's happened. there have been significant economic changes in the past generation where the economy struck. but one of the effects of the street blues specifically in the liberal programs and they're having the same kind of effect they have everywhere they. direct wealth to very narrow sectors the increasing inequality. as an immediate effect on politics. democracy is higher because it's more concentrated political power goes as well so now elections are almost boy it's so plutocracy smug about. both political parties to the right.

of one party state the business forty. iran will sit down with american negotiators and five other world powers for a fresh round of nuclear talks on tuesday amid a recent thaw in relations the move could lead to a process of lifting the economic restraints on taran despite israel demanding even more or put in place sanctions have hit iran's oil sector particularly hard but this one industry that's been performing very well despite restrictions one point six million cars are produced in iran every year place in the country as the world's thirteenth largest automobile manufacturer the industry accounts for ten percent of the country's g.d.p. and despite a ban on shipping parts some of the most popular persia and rare models are still made in iran and the country produces its own cars based on french designs were despite official business not being allowed between the u.s.

and iran until sanctions are lifted american companies such as general motors are already said to be moving in to secure their positions and journalist georges moore bruno believes the u.s. is just waiting for the right time. i think already there of been. secret contacts between us for and iranian counterparts in order to prepare or to anticipate a political deal between iran and the united states mainly these contacts of kurds in the automobile sector and fortunately for us in france we are the brother the last one in europe to try to to to go to iraq because for the last the last years france was extremely active in the fighting against iran from the is exerting a lot of pressure you know for the last twenty years the us were outside the the

french businessman i do quite a good position in iran to draw noise put them in a computer and now they're afraid that these all these years of force will be cleared by the new deal which will happen between us and iran for sure that the european companies will be most probably losers in this kind of agreement while our world news update is our begins with iran's neighbor at least fourteen people were killed in a thirty injured when a car blew up in iraq's northern city of samarra the attack was on a crowded street as people shopped in preparation for a muslim holiday iraq has been struggling with a record spike in violence that's claimed over six thousand lives since the start of this year. to spain now where thousands held a rally in barcelona against independence for catalonia time to coincide with the country's national day marches chanted slogans for unity and against separation

from madrid despite overwhelming support for separation among the cattle and population of the demonstrations by far right parties where challenge by left wing opponents. and anti fascist demonstration anti fascist demonstration is being held in the german city of stood to counter a march organized by supporters of the far right clashes were reported between police and youth groups who tried to breach barriers separating the two sides police say several officers were injured in scuffles. powerful psycho's phailin spattering eastern india has now claimed seven lives hundreds of thousands have been forced to flee their homes winds in excess of one hundred twenty miles per hour have triggered severe landslides disrupting communications and forcing road and rail closures rescue workers say the full extent of the damage is still not clear. they're using based investors are using the global

economic uncertainty to their advantage chinese money is pouring into the huge sometimes rescuing iconic european business is seen as severely undervalued due to the tough financial climate well here's a look at some of china's most lucrative investments at the moment the european car market is increasingly attractive to beijing's enterprises and in twenty ten they snapped up sweden's troubled manufacturer volvo and then last january china also helped out one of germany's top makers of concrete pumps the same month italian your builder for ready moved into chinese hands and even a top french fashion brand has moved under the control of a hong kong based firm the u.k. is one of china's preferred shopping spots where it's bought shares in london's heathrow airport and invested billions of pounds in nuclear industries in india of iconic brands is also strong as artie's police reports. this time

last year it looked like the iconic london cab would be consigned to the history books after it's made because the financially troubled london taxi company went into administration chinese manufactured g.d. which already owns volvo has stepped in and bought the company for eleven million pounds the factory is now back in business this part of the assembly process is called the marriage of the carriage where the shape of the time. meets with the shafi of the taxi here but it's a marriage between the chinese manufacturer and he on the london taxi company that managed to save a british icon from going out of production g.-d's pledged to invest in getting fifty million pounds into the coventry based business over the next five years promising to create jobs and develop new engines so the future really previously when we were an independent company in the form of resources to continue to develop the product as we would like to. finances and. gives us the ability to

develop. i wish we could have only dreamed of financial analysts have called it a win win situation the london cab comes back from the brink of extinction while a major chinese manufacturer gets to invest in an exciting new project but what does it say about the state of british industry business secretary vince cable called the chinese buyout a clear demonstration of the strength of the british car industry but the london cap is just the latest in a raft of u.k. businesses being sold off to foreign companies cadres chocolate is now american. indian and the british airports authority spanish it represents a hollowing out of corporate britain and i'm happy that it's not going on that but it shows government policy for a long time now as encourage foreign companies to take over our british companies that means i would british companies are not competitive across the globe. so we're

not putting in the right tax policies we're not dealing with regulation that hinders these companies welcome to have new investment it always is in the long term this takes away economic productivity from this country it means that staff and jobs are more liable to go because there's allegiance between the companies that are owned by foreign entities and their country rather than britain pieces been a cabbie for over forty years in a scene the london taxi company goes through several british owners i hopped in for a ride and asked him how he feels about turning chinese this is a shame that it's not owned by a british company but it's better then go into the wall i dial m. of the companies that are still british they won't be faced with anything seen. i see london. the elimination of chemical weapons was recognized by the she is nobel peace prize the international watchdog that's currently monitoring the destruction of syria's stockpiles receive the award o.p.c.

w experts are working inside syria at the moment as part of a binding un resolution brokered by russia and the us political analyst martin mccauley describes the main challenges facing the group. if there was some of the chemical weapons maybe you'd rebel held territory. how do you access to rebels who say they don't have it it. would have to verify that that would be very tricky because they have to be good with rebels and how many rebel groups are all of a dozens of them this is a very very difficult decision for them because previously globalization operated if you like. peaceful this is the first time the really got involved the middle of a civil war. challenge for them they may in fact put one hundred people in there one hopes that they are secure and that they actually get on with the business of eliminating the weapons but it will be very very difficult the first task is to eliminate the wherewithal which makes weapons. get the

chemicals take them out of syria and destroy them and this is going to be a long process no one really expects one hundred percent of the weapons to be eliminated by the middle of next year or even the end of next year. now let's get we've got plenty more websites searing pleading maybe we're not alone after all. the discovery of a water heavy asteroid reinforces this belief that there might be more inhabitable worlds beyond our own solar system you can find the story in full online plus. some death row prisoners in america face execution by drugs used to kill animals the media shortage of supplies of the usual form of lethal injection you can find out what is behind this at r.t. dot com. this week the olympic torch began its long journey from moscow to sochi and the twenty fourteen winter

games the flame embarked on a four month relay covering more than sixty five thousand kilometers across russia and space it was lit last sunday increase before traveling by plane to russia on the flame was met by a group of bikers after that you were on hand escorted to the kremlin while president putin looked ahead to the games by hosting the ceremony to start the talks relay and after visiting nearly three thousand cities and towns across the country the lympics symbol is expected in sochi on the seventh of february to open up the games you can enjoy the highlights and see reports from the relay ceremony over at our website at r.t. dot com. i'm back in about half an hour with more knees few coming up that i will what it is like to try and the pirate in russia.

you know it's getting old trying to beat the war drums to invade iran i think the let's invade iran talk has been going on since i was in college to keep the saber rattling rolling israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu declared in front of the un that iran is building nuclear weapons that could hit new york in three to four years no he said new york obviously he was trying to spook a certain country with nuclear destruction the delegates from namibia were probably unmoved sadly this time netanyahu failed to bring a funny cartoon bomb picture with him like in his two thousand and twelve un speech in which he also warned the world about the threat of a nuclear iran you know i might be more optimistic about israel accusing other countries of being nuclear threats if they had

a better track record themselves although israel is a bit candid with their arsenal according to a b.b.c. article the federation of american scientists believes that israel's arsenal has grown to about two hundred nukes based on their surveillance of ever expanding facilities inside the country also let's not forget that israel has plenty of ways to deliver those two hundred nuclear bombs if the need be so my question is why should we automatically trust israel with a lot of nuclear weapons but not iran is it because they're bureaucrats where european suits and shave i don't know it just seems to me that disarmed countries are better advocates for nuclear disarmament but that's just my opinion. russian paratroop regiment small so is nobody but. they will push you harder than you've ever been pushed in your life. they say once a power weighs

a pound and many of the conscripts like mine. that's all. you see you're one of us now. dress right. dress right there attention. and hand combat maneuvers on my count by division. one. three. for my new regiment another received heavily focused on combat training and every day we're out on the square learning our own fighting drills at the moment we work individually but it won't be too long before we're facing off against each other.