find out what's really happening to the global economy cars report on our. stories that shape the week on r.t. edward snowden welcomes guests from home we report on the long awaited arrival of his father and talk to the former u.s. officials who came to moscow to award him his whistleblowing. hungry for a change hundreds of cities across the globe see process against genetically modified food and the company seen as the face of the industry. and its washington faces up to the looming threat of a national default we look at how the government shutdown has become a matter of life and death for those outside the political arena.

where they welcome you watching r.t. broadcasting live from moscow. now woodward snowden has broken months of radio silence after being granted temporary asylum in russia the n.s.a. leaker received an award for integrity and intelligence from a group of fellow american whistle blows and 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 r.t. 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 shipley thankful that my son is safe and free i'm going to follow mr q. train as advice and if the opportunity presented itself i certainly hope that i'll have an opportunity to see my son another negotiator is the same warner 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 sam adams prize for intelligence and integrity the enemy of will blow or awards. you know places to go where we have an executive for just this one last. night. live to ours and they want it but they'll sell 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 leading 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 and using 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 him particularly because it's unclear whether edward will ever be able to return to the u.s. again you want this going off moscow. while the full u.s. officials turned whistle blowers who met edward snowden in moscow also dropped by the studio this. week and i told my colleague kevin i mean how snowden is adjusting to his new life and why they think he deserves praise for what he did i think you're doing remarkably well under the circumstances in which you came here and we've we've obviously king to find out personally i was you know what you 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. do you think that's taking any toll 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 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 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 he knew 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 you know some of the size and senior people who speak for a lot of people still within these organizations that admired greatly whether it would snowden. hopefully will summon the courage to follow his example well are to you also discuss notan and security in an exclusive interview with the world's most renowned whistleblower julian assange and the full interview is available on our website at r.t. dot com. now activists across dozens of countries have 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 and he now is in washington for arctic. 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 a lobbyist are hard at work here in washington many concerts by actually came up to activists what we were standing there holding anti 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 death 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 the end 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 use in the way our city. well the company itself insists it is playing a key role in feeding the world's rapidly growing population on science and wilson 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. food expects to death. when you look at be edible feeding studies are 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 a kid in poverty so this is just been a public relations fish 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 shut that. is not a matter when are louis i mean it's ok please listen to the people and know that it's affecting so many. looks at these sick americans who have had access to life saving treatments cut off thanks to the political squabbling over the budget in washington plus often the break we investigate how beijing's investment plans have affected the profit of one of london's most iconic symbols.

millions around the globe struggle with hunger each good. what if someone offers a lifetime food supply no charge. they can the very strong position against g.m.o. and we think that's. the genetic anymore the right products are priest. there is no. evidence that there is any problem with genetic engineering when you make a deal. or is free cheese always in a most truck. the. poor and the free. enterprise is profit. for this golden rice.

come back now with less than four days until the u.s. runs out of money senate leaders from rival parties still come find a way out of the budget deadlock most of the government has been shut down for two weeks with the world bank chief warning the crisis could become a disaster if not resolved decisively and as artie's marina portnoy in a report 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 a 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 age 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 michel langbehn who is battling sarcoma 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. langdon 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. ation 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 louis 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 limbo reporting from new york marina artsy. well renowned american political commentator name chomsky told us he believes u.s. politics is too inherently corrupt to deal with the budget deadlock. human

history problem and true democracy it's interesting to see we're talking. there have been significant economic changes in the past generation. but one of the surface of the street. in the liberal programs and they're having the same kind of if it were. the. direct will to a very narrow there's increasing inequality. as an immediate effect on politics. the. power of bigots more concentrated political power those as well. now look almost boy it's so plutocracy. both political parties are to the right.

one party state the business for. meanwhile truck drivers circled the capitol to protest against president obama who they say is if using the constitution is how one trucker wants to solve the country's problems. part of our agenda is work for his resignation or impeachment. 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 own treason and for a while the protesters in wales condemned obama's policies since he came to power support for raising the debt ceiling the government's notorious spying program coming under fire the campaign received a large amount of support on facebook and twitter. china based investors are using global economic uncertainty to their advantage and buying up

european not even iconic london taxis are right of reach for cash rich businessmen from beijing is artie's reports. this time last year it looked like the iconic london cap would be consigned to the history but after its maker the financially troubled london taxi company went into administration chinese manufacturer g.t. which already owns volvo 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 tax. meet with the shafi of the taxi i really care but it's the marriage between the chinese manufacturer and he and 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 to future really previously when

we were an independent company the financial resources. it's to continue to develop the product as we would like to know that we're part of daily the finances are sent out by dearly and that gives us the ability to develop. new taxi 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 cab is just the latest in a raft of businesses being sold off to foreign companies cadres chocolate is now american jagger made his 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 going under but it

shows government policy for a long time now as encourage foreign companies to take over our british companies and what that means is that 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 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 rode 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 going to the wall i dial m. and a companies that are still british they won't be faced with anything see. i see london. so let's have

a look then at some of china's recent 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 make use of concrete pumps and that same month italian yacht builder ferretti moved into chinese hands and even a top french fashion brand has moved under the control of a hong kong based firm well 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 will 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. some international news in brief now at least seventeen people were killed in a he injured when a car blew up in iraq's northern city of samarra the attack was on a crowded street is people shop 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. a bus carrying fifty one people has veered 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 because of the accident is yet to be determined the high altitude roads in peru on a tourist bus disasters with over four thousand people dying in similar accidents last year. i and 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 i rally was held against independence for catalonia people chanted slogans be unity and again secession from madrid despite overwhelming support for separation among the catalan population. and powerful cycling phailin that's battering 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 treated severe landslides disrupting communications and forcing road i'm rail closures rescue workers say the full extent of the damage is still not clear. the elimination of chemical weapons was recognized by this year's nobel peace prize the international watchdog that's currently wondering 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. but there was some of the chemical weapons may be in rebel held territory how do you access those rebels who say they don't have a. relation we'll 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 the dozens of them this is a very very difficult decision for them because previously globalisation always operated if you like. peaceful this is the first time really got involved in the middle of a civil war and issued a challenge for them they may in fact put one hundred people in there i would hope that they are secure and that they actually get on with the business of eliminating the weapons but it will be very very difficult 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 we've got plenty more news for you on our website including maybe we're not alone after all the discovery of

a water heavy asteroid reinforces scientists belief that there might be more inhabitable worlds beyond our own solar system you can find the full story online at r.t. dot com also there are some death row prisoners in america fakes execution by drugs used to kill animals amid a shortage of supplies of the usual form of lethal injection you can find out what's behind this at r.t. dot com. 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 stress restraints on taran despite israel demanding even more are put in place sanctions sanctions have hit iran's oil sector particularly hard but there's one industry that's been performing very well despite the restrictions one point six million cars are produced in iran every year placing

the country's 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 i'm reading models 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 to secure their positions and journalist george is now 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. dissipate a political deal between iran and the united states mainly these contacts. 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 is exerting a lot of pressure you know for the last twenty years the us were outside the the french businessman i do quite good position in iran to draw noise. but will be the sector. is all these years of force will be cleared by the new deal which will happen between us and iran for sure the european companies will be most probably losers in this kind of agreement now this week feeling picked torch began its long journey from moscow to sochi and the twenty fourteen winter games the flame and barks in a four month relay covering more than sixty five thousand kilometers across russia

and into space and it was lit last sunday if you remember in greece before traveling by plane to russia the flame was met by a group of bikers who were on hand to escorted the kremlin. president putin looked ahead to the games by hosting the ceremony to start the torch relay here 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 and you can enjoy the highlights and see all the reports from the relay ceremony over our website at r.t. dot com. protesters voice that takes them on stance that we take take a look at the genetically modified crops the corporations say can save the world from hunger crisis that's a quick break. 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 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 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 federal.