this. is why you should care only on the. stories that shape the way you can r.t. edward snowden. from home we report on the long awaited arrival of his father and talk to the former u.s. officials who came to moscow toward him his whistleblowing. for a change hundreds of cities across the globe see protests against genetically modified food and the company seen as the face of the industry. and of washington faces up to the looming threat of a national to fold we look at how the government shutdown has become a matter of life and death side the political arena.

so i welcome you watching the week here on our. now edward snowden has broken months of radio silence 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 whistle blows in the 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. met him at the airport. i cannot speak for my son and really the legal issues i'm a father and i don't want to really share my opinions at this point in time i'm simply thankful that my son is safe and free i'm going to follow mr to train his advice and if the opportunity presents itself i certainly hope that i'll have an opportunity to see my son another negotiate a 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 the same atoms prize for intelligence and integrity the any of whistleblower awards. for you know place to go where we have an executive for just this one last. night this line to the senate on it but they'll sell it the. first song all 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 before u.s. officials turned whistle blowers who met edward snowden in moscow also dropped by the r.t. studio this week and they told my colleague kevin snowden is adjusting to his new life and why they think he deserves praise for what he did either doing remarkably well or the circumstances in which he came here and we've we've obviously came to find out personally how easy you know what to look like 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. to think that's taking any toll at all on the 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 is that 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 an ask what it is is a candlestick holder for someone who has shone bright light into the dark corners. so he knew 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 senior people alumni you know some of the size senior people who speak for a lot of people still within these organizations that are admired greatly where they would snowden. hopefully will summon the courage to follow his example and r.t. also discussed snowden and security in an exclusive interview with the world's most renowned whistleblower julian assange not full interview is available on our website www dot com. activists across dozens of countries held rallies to call for the permanent boycott of genetically modified food with biotech 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 death 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 research now it is in washington for arctic. many cities across the u.s. took part in this second organized 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 shut down months onto a lobbyist 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 o's 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 held 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 sons have also

maintains that many people already can sheen g.m. food with no ill effects but jeffrey smith who's written extensively about the dangers of g.m. food banks to different. when you look at the animal feeding studies on genetically engineered foods at 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 m o's are introduced the current generation of g m o's has nothing to offer feeding the hungry world or about a cave in 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. on a matter when are louis i mean it's please listen to the people and know that it's affecting so many. americans who have had access to lifesaving treatment thanks to political squabbling over the budget in washington plus off to the right we investigate and say chines investment plans for the affected the pride of one of london's most iconic symbol.

millions around the globe struggle with hunger each good. what if someone offers a lifetime food supply no charge. against g.m.o. and we think that's. pretty cool too. there is no. evidence that there is any problem with genetic engineering when you make a deal. or is free cheese always in a mouse trap. is profit. for this golden rice. as afghanistan prepares for

a presidential election many in the political and media mainstream speak of the country's first democratic transition but it's less talked about is the dire security situation on the ground where the karzai is angling to succeed him so the powerful presence of the taliban and whether the u.s. will ever actually leave afghanistan. welcome back 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 the for two weeks now with the world bank chief warning the crisis could become a disaster if not resolved decisively and as artie's marina portnoy reports politicians are also 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 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 air taishan 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 a please listen to the people and know that it's affecting so many us 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. and american political commentator name chomsky told us he believes u.s.

politics is too inherently corrupt to deal with the budget that's a look. in the history of parliamentary democracy and 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 sets of the street groups specifically the neo liberal programs and they're having the same kind of with. the. direct wealth to a very narrow sector the increasing inequality. as an immediate effect on politics and. democracy as power begets more concentrated political power at those as well so right now elections are almost void it's so plutocracy. both political parties are to the right

the u.s. is still a one party state the business party while truck drivers circled the capital to protest against president obama who they say is abusing the constitution is how one truck a wants to sell the country's problems. out of our agenda is we're counting for his resignation or impeachment. like marci in egypt and if we raise one hundred million americans across the country we will demand his resignation or pressure of the house and senate to call for his impeachment on trees and fraud. the protesters on wheels condemned obama's policies since he came to power support for al qaeda raising of the debt ceiling and the government's notorious spying program all came under fire the campaign has received a large amount of support on facebook and twitter. now china based investors

are using global economic uncertainty to their advantage at the moment and buying up ailing european firms are not even iconic london taxis are out of reach for cash rich businessmen from beijing as artie's. 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.t. 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 taxi. meets with the shafi of the taxi here but it's the 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 a hundred and fifty million pounds into the coventry based business over the next

five years promising to create jobs and develop new engines to future really previously when we were a company the financial resources to continue to develop the product as we would like to now that. gives us the ability to develop. a which we could have only dreamed of financial analysts have called it a win win situation the cab comes back from the brink of extinction while a major chinese manufacturer gets to invest in an exciting new project but what does that 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 to some it represents

a hollowing out of corporate britain and i'm happy that it's not but it shows government policy for a long time now as encourage foreign companies to take over our british companies that means our 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 six welcome to have new investment it always is in the long term this takes away economic productivity from this country it means that stuff and jobs are more liable to go because there's allegiance between the companies that are owned by foreign entities and their country rover 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 going to the wall a day lead a company they're still british they way be faced with anything seen. i see

london. and here is the picture of some of china's most recent lucrative investments 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 in that same month it's how you not build a ferretti moved into chinese hands and even a top french fashion brand has moved under the control of a hong kong based firm or roger nightingale founder of an economic strategy consultancy says many european countries believe chinese investment poses a threat. a lot of european countries are very nervous about except seeing chinese cash who many of them and i think you find this in southern europe you find it in france you find it to some modest degree in germany

also some countries think that they are threatened if china buys into their industrial base my own view is that that is entirely wrong my own view is that the industrial base of these countries will fail if you don't get the investment into them that are allow them to raise their productivity and to raise raise the profile of their products it's something comparable to that which afflicted the africans earlier they think that by selling out their assets they actually somehow undermine their capacity to have an economy that is viable in the future i think they're wrong but time will tell let's have a quick look at some other news making headlines this hour at least fourteen people were killed in over thirty injured when a car blew up in iraq's northern city of simyra the attack was on a crowded street as people shopped in preparation for muslim holiday iraq has been

struggling with a record spike in violence this claimed over six thousand lives since the start of this year. a bus carrying fifty one people his beard off a two hundred meter high cliff in peru killing all on board the passengers including children and many members of a single family were on their way to a local celebration in the course of the accident is yet to be determined the high altitude roads in peru and the tories for bus disasters with over four thousand people dying in similar accidents last year. the. man in spain and the fascist activists have staged a march to counter groups of far right supporters that took to the streets on the country's national day while in barcelona a rally was held against independence for catalonia people chanted slogans for unity and against secession from madrid despite overwhelming support for separation

among the cattle and population. powerful cycling fail in this battering eastern india at the moment is 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 unclear. iran will sit down with american negotiators and five other world powers for a fresh round of nuclear talks on tuesday and made a recent thaw in relations the move could lead to a process of lifting the economic restraints on surround despite israel demanding even more are put in place sanctions have hit iran's oil sector politically hard but there's one industry that's been performing very well despite restrictions will 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 oh are many more goals are still made in iran and the country produces its own cars based on french designs 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 secure their positions and journalist shooters mel bruno believes the u.s. is just waiting for the right time. i think already there of been. secret contacts between u.s. firms and iranian counterparts in order to 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 who tried to to to go to iran because for the last the last years france was extremely active in the in the fighting against iran from is exerting a lot of pressures you know for the last twenty years the u.s. where outside from iran and the the french businessmen i do quite good position in iran. or know in the autumn in automobile sector and now they're afraid that these all these years of the force will be cleaned 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. now don't forget we have got a website full of stories too on there at the moment maybe we're not alone after all the discovery of a water heavy asteroid reinforces scientists belief that there might be more in

habitable worlds beyond our solar system you can find the full story online at r.t. dot com plus also there are some death row prisoners in america face execution by drugs used to kill animals amid a shortage of supplies of the usual form of lethal injection you can find out what is behind this at r.t. dot com. the elimination of chemical weapons was recognized by this year's nobel peace prize the international watchdog that's currently monitoring the destruction of syria's stockpiles receive the award 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 mark macaulay describes the main challenges facing the group. in a war zone some of the chemical weapons may be in rebel held territory. how do you access to rebels who say they don't have it. we'll have to verify

that would be very tricky because a little negotiate with rebels and how many rebel groups are the dozens of them but this is a very very difficult decision for them because previously globalisation always operated if you like. peaceful this is the first time the really got involved the middle of a civil war and it's really a challenge for them they may in fact put one hundred people in the. hopes that they are secure and that they actually get on with the business of living new 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 who were proved to be eliminated by the middle of next year or even the end of next year. this week elim pick torch began its long journey from moscow to sochi and the twenty fourteen

winter games the flame and box in a four month read like covering more than sixty five thousand kilometers across russia and space it was late last sunday in greece before traveling by plane to russia where the flying was met right group of bikers who were on hand to score to the kremlin. and their president putin looked ahead to the games by hosting the ceremony to start the torch relay after visiting nearly three thousand cities and towns across the country the olympic symbol is expected in sochi on the seventh of february to open up the games and you can enjoy the highlights and see the reports from the related ceremony over at our website at our take dot com. up ahead now in r.t. on a boyko talks to apple co-founder and computer engineer steve wozniak about online

n.s.a. surveillance. you know it's getting old trying to beat the war drums to invade iran i think the let's agreed around 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 is trying to spook a certain country with nuclear destruction the delegates from namibia were probably moved simply 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 all.