a chance to action. true. stories that shape then we can all see edward snowden welcomes gas from the problem group or from the long awaited arrival of his father and talk to the former u.s. officials who came to moscow to award him for his whistleblower. hungry for a train trip hundreds of cities across the globe see the first test as against genetically modified food and the company's seen as the face of the industry. and faces up to the looming threat of a national default look at how the government shutdown has become a master of life and death for those outside the political arena.

the latest news on the week's top stories you're watching the weekly on aussie with me your national profile thanks for joining us broken months of radio silence after being granted temporary asylum in russia the n.s.a. leaker received an award for integrity in intelligence for a group of fellow american whistleblowers and that the show from the ceremony became the first public radio him speaking since july shortly after snowden's father arrived in moscow to see him. might have had apple. 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 trainers advice and if the opportunity presents itself i certainly hope that i'll have an

opportunity to see my son another negotiator 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 it 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 any of whistleblower awards. you know relationship to god where we have an executive for just this. last. minute this live to. long 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 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 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 particularly because it's unclear whether edward will ever be able to return to the u.s. again you want this going off moscow. and the four u.s. officials down to whistleblowers who met at the snowden last also told by the all say studio this week and they told my colleague kevin irwin house not an is adjusting to his new life and to why they think he deserves praise the wellhead. i think he's doing remarkably well under the circumstances in which he came here and we've we've obviously came to find out personally i was the you know what you look

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. 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 oscar 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 you know that he had received the award and you were coming you know and the reception we got was just so hoarse warming it was a person now realizes that he has very senior people alumni you know some of the size senior people who speak for a lot of people still within these organizations that admire greatly. hopefully will summon the courage to follow his example. and see also discuss snowden and security in an exclusive interview with the world's most renowned whistleblower drew an astonishing the full interview is available on our website and see dot com. access across dozens of countries held rallies to cope with a permanent boycott of genetically modified food with buyers and giant monsanto the main target of the 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 ronnie's took place in the u.s. but people also accuse the multinational company of aggressive lobbying and suppressing food safety research and he said now is in washington for sea. 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 shut down months onto a lobbyist are hard at work here in washington many concerts by actually came up to activists what we were standing there while 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 deaths well 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 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 see now

a arts. well the company itself playing a key role in easing the walls of rapidly growing population and some to also maintains that many people already consume g.m. food with no ill effects but clinton knew from enduro the scent of food safety first profits and not house to giant corporations like monsanto these marches are raising awareness about the issue and bring awareness not only about monsanto and its influence in agriculture but also other chemical companies that have become major agribusiness influences on capitol hill i think you we see an overwhelming influence in governments and that really has to do with money that these are major chemical companies the top i mean fifty three percent over fifty three percent of seeds are owned by just a handful of these major agribusiness chemical companies so they exert tremendous

influence in politics and have millions upon millions of dollars to spend to ensure that their products get spread through reviews and also to ensure that consumers are not informed about what the products they are eating so for instance not labeling genetically engineered foods. this is the weekly on the had they sound surviving the government shutdown. 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. leagues have basic americans had access to lines saving treatments consols thanks to political squabbling over the budget in washington. don't solve the break we're investigating how beijing's investment plans have affected the pride of a one hundred london's most iconic symbols that lights.

soldiers you're in the military no more joking anymore. and sometimes one life. every day would be the stall speed limit. you think it's going to be easy. but everyone's. still. i don't know if i'm going to make it to the end. you stop filming so i'm just about done up and left i don't know what to do. first rate. and i think that you're.

going to. be in the. you're watching the weekly here on r.c.s. good to have you with us with less than four days until the u.s. runs out of money senate leaders from rival polishes still can't find a way out of the budget deadlock most of the government has been shut down for two weeks now with the world bank's true warning the crisis could become a disaster if not resolved decisively more and upward now reports now politicians are accused of ignoring their 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 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 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 mothers 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 a 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 portnoy artsy. and renowned american political commentator said no charm skate told us he believes u.s.

politics is too inherently corrupt to deal with the. perception in the history 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 going through but one of the steps of the street was specifically the neo liberal programs and they're having the same kind of effect there they were they now are the. direct will to a very narrow sector the increasing inequality it was an immediate effect on politics and. democracy as power begets more concentrated political power 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 meanwhile trunk drivers circled the council to protest against president obama they say he's abusing the constitution and he is now one trucker wants to solve the country's public. part 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 will's 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 received a large amount of support on facebook and twitter. china based investors

are using global economic uncertainty to their advantage and buying up ailing european firms and not even iconic london tocs is out of reach for cash rich businessman from beijing as a point of boycott reports. this time last year it looked like the iconic london cap would be consigned to the history books after its may cut the financially troubled london taxi company went into administration chinese manufacturer 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 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 a company the financial resources to continue to develop the product as we would like to now that. gives us the ability to develop. which we could have only dreamed of financial analysts have called it a win win situation 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 cab 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 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 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 industries come 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 own by foreign entities and their country rather than britain peace has 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 or the companies that are still british they won't be faced with anything seen. r.t.

london. and let's now have a look 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 so wouldn't trouble manufacture a volvo not cherry china also helped out one of germany's top makers of concrete plans the same month in your build of a recipe moved into chinese hands and even a top french fashion brand has moved on to the control of it all there hong kong based and roger nightingale founder of an economic strategy consultancy says the many european countries believe chinese investment poses a threat. a lot of european countries are very nervous about except seeing chinese cash who they are 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 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 and they call me that is viable in the future i think they're wrong but time will tell and to some world to any stories in brief now a stampede at a hindu temple in central india has reportedly left over sixty people dead it happened as a why should those trying to cross a bridge over the river near the shrine some reports say the tragedy was caused by

of rumors that the bridge was about to collapse others claim police failing to control crowds as they moved to the temple led to the panic. explosions how once again ripped through iraq police say at least eight people were killed and over twenty injured by that time start hitting civilians one of the blasts hit a gathering of mourners for seventeen others who died after and it's hot in the northern city of samarra this year's massive surge of violence has already claimed over six thousand lines. a bass carrying fifty one people has veered off a two hundred meter high cliff in peru killing all on board the passengers including fourteen children and many members of a single family were heading back from the local celebration because of the accident is you have to be determined. and is paying anti fascist x.-rays have staged

a march to counter groups of far right supporters took to the streets of the country's national day while in barcelona a rally was held against independence for catalonia people chanted slogans of for unity and against from a trade despite overwhelming support for separation among the catalan population. 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 received board o.p.c. w. experts are working inside syria now as part of a binding resolution brokered by russia and the us political analyst martin mccauley describes the main challenges facing victory. in a war zone some of the chemical weapons may be rebel held territory. how do you actually lose rebels who say they don't have it but obviously there's

a she would have to run for that that would be very tricky because a lot of the good with rebels and how many rebel groups although there are dozens of them this is a very very difficult decision for them because previously globalisation always operated if you like in 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 a hundred people in the. hopes that they are secure and 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 the world and this is going to be a long no one really expects one hundred percent of the weapons to be liberated by the middle of next year or even the end of next year. the fracturing of the syrian opposition threatens not only the elimination of chemical weapons but also the

prospects for peace talks syria's national council one of the major opposition groups said it will not attend the geneva two conference which products to facilitate and then to the bloodiest civil conflicts it was hoped talks that russia and the u.s. have been striving to make a reality in months now could take place at the beginning of november and the syrian government has itself committing to committed to taking out. and of course we've got more news for you on our website including maybe we're not alone after all the discovery of the will to have the asteroid reenforces scientists believe that there might be more inhabitable worlds beyond our solar system you could find the full story online plots. some death row prisoners in america face execution by drugs used to kill animals i meet a shortage of supplies of the usual form of lethal injection find out what's behind this on a t. dot com. this week the olympic torch began its long journey from

moscow to solitary on the twenty four seven wood to games the flame embarks on a four month relay covering more than sixty five thousand kilometers across russia hundreds in space it was lit last sunday in greece before traveling by plane to russia the plane was met by a group of bikers who were on hand to escort it to the kremlin president putin look to have to the games by hosting this 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 reports on the relay ceremony of ice how website r.t. dot com. and have a back with the knees and around thirty minutes time but coming out with send to one of. the rigorous training of russian troops.

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 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. it could be the most exciting see the most terrifying. one way from everyone you. one year in the complete unknown. it's a rite of passage for thousands of young russian men

a chance to find out what they're really capable of. i was joining them on this journey of discovery and god knows it was going to be tough. to take a deep breath and hold it. was your full name wrong james pell ever done in this once. i swim. everything's fine you could. take these two or the arad ten to arm to a side squeeze called a. perfect. zero sauna i can't believe i'm actually writing this i'm going to join the russian paratroopers the video of it. my fellow recruits are all just eighteen and they look at it this is their first.