top stories eavesdropping on allies the latest n.s.a. leak shows the agency's been monitoring the german chancellor cell phone for over a decade adding fuel to europe's frustration over u.s. surveillance practices also this week. i remember flying out of the window and suddenly i was in the street and in a panic r.t. talks to survivors of a suicide blast that hit a crowded bus in the russian city of volgograd. america's unmanned killing machines draw condemnation from amnesty international and human rights watch who say the drone strikes in pakistan and yemen may constitute war crimes. of the syrian government presents its plan to destroy its chemical weapons while one thousand opposition groups refused to attend a long awaited peace conference in geneva.

just after nine pm in moscow a very good evening for me kevin owen if you just joined us here at r.t. this is the weekly a roundup of the top stories of the last seven days and the german chancellor has been a target of u.s. surveillance for over a decade according to a leaked n.s.a. document obtained by german media that follows those early reports of american spies tapping the phones of dozens of world leaders that say it pans out in a phone call to president obama merkel said the monitoring would be a breach of trust if confirmed she also said that spying among friends just doesn't work apparently obama apologized and reportedly claimed to have heard no for knowledge of such practices however germany's billed newspaper goes as far as suggesting he actually encouraged the bugging of merkel's phone the documents no

show that her number was on the n.s.a.'s watch list from two thousand and two three years before she became chancellor former french prime minister dominique de villepin says he never expected american surveillance to go this far. we knew that . some practices were existed but the search and overall system this came as a surprise for everybody in fact what we are seeing today is the incredible privileges of the u.s. administration all over the control of the world system we knew that the us were controlling the financial system through the banking dominance of some big banks through the dollar currency reserve currency but controlling internet controlling the information you know world this is a privilege and monopoly if we are going to follow up in the same direction then confrontation might be in electable the leaders that are demanding explanations

from washington france and germany are pushing for a new deal on transatlantic surveillance angered over the report has been tracking of phone calls of as you mentioned thirty five world leaders a new statement warned lack of trust could harm its partnership with washington and germany is also teaming up with brazil as well to push for a un resolution restraining u.s. surveillance such a main road from the new american foundation think tank told us the spy scandal is dealing huge blow right now to america's image this has. created a massive reputational crisis for the united states the entire populace is now in essence on edge about what is the united states government doing what is the n.s.a. doing what is being surveilled and so in essence what we're saying is everyone's a suspect everyone is being surveilled and this is probably not just france and germany and mexico and brazil this is probably global certainly with the last a lot of credibility as an ethical internet steward domestic shock waves

a big shoulders well thousands rallied in washington d.c. saturday venting their anger against the n.s.a. and demanding reforms of federal surveillance laws the protests was billed a day does the largest pro previously demonstration in american history is going to teach you cameras there. thousands of people gathered here on the anniversary of the signing of the patriot act twelve years ago they believe that was the day when in the name of fighting terror their rights have been taken away from them they believe that the tradeoff between security and privacy is a false one people here say that they're tired of lies that the government has been telling to cover up their mass spying after all just a year ago the director of national intelligence james clapper said no when asked whether the n.s.a. was collecting data on millions of americans edward snowden's revelations of course confirmed that was a lie in the latest i've heard was that just within a month the n.s.a. spied on more than one hundred and twenty four dealy and phone calls worldwide

that means that every single person on earth is facing the risk of being caught up in the n.s.a. dragnet and the person edward snowden thanks to whom this protest is happening is now holed up in russia because here in the states he would sure be in jail by now people at this rally dows of people in fact demand a meaningful surveillance a long way for him they came with a petition signed by more than five hundred thousand people demanding congress investigate the n.s.a. spying programs the senate judiciary and intelligence committees planned hearings on those programs so they want to make sure that their voices are heard actually one of the main messages of this rally is watch the watchers but the question is is it really possible because so far any light that's been shed on the watchers was through whistleblowers in washington i'm going to check on. head to call for more details more updates on this own going back for privacy as well as expert analysis

as well in the same leaks in the triggering. a suicide bomber killed six people in russia's southern city of volgograd on monday dozens more were injured when a bomb went off on a bus lindsay fronts retraced the events of the day. october twenty first started just like any other monday here in volgograd people woke up with places to go and things to get done heavily using bus stations just like this but for several people needing bus number twenty nine they could never have foreseen how quickly their lives would change when they took that ride. the route ran without incident from morning till afternoon until one person got on board thirty year old why you don't see all of that is when things took a tragic turn anastasio the very on the boy was on her way home from classes at the university laughing and talking with the other students crucially it was in the

middle of the bus which say trade life. when the blast hit everything around me went flying and then i don't remember anything but i remember flying out of the window and suddenly i was on the street and in a panic i understood that something happened with my hands i was covered in blood. it was right here at about two pm local time that a blast ripped through bus twenty nine filled with about forty people first responders thought it was perhaps a malfunction of the bus fuel systems but aside from the shop they felt to ask themselves if this was a gas explosion what was the fire. and you're driving down the street right there in that everybody in the blast was touching their faces and heads asking what happened what happened there was a lot of blood on them and a lot of flesh everywhere i was very afraid i got out of my car and i saw a headline there he had my friend took a young boy and his father to the hospital the remnant of an explosive device told

to change shrapnel t.n.t. and a grenade the accident site became a crime scene while edgy hottest from republic of dagestan became the central focus of the investigation authorities will be keen to find her husband teacher so cool off an ethnic russian convert to islam missing since two thousand and twelve in the hope he may have the answers lindsey france r.t. in volgograd. on the misters syria's brutal conflict and information wars being fought we talk about that some night syrian rebels desperate silence pro-government media of put several employees on the hit list late in the program we'll bring you a witness accounts from some of those journalists. next though america's ongoing unmanned aerial strikes in pakistan and yemen should be regarded as war crimes as according to reports released this last week by the human rights group amnesty international it's despite the u.s. government's attempts to play down the civilian death toll from his drone campaign let's take a look at some of the numbers should be on the news all the it all began in two

thousand and four under the bush administration the number of drone victims then drop dramatically rose in two thousand and six almost one hundred were killed then another escalation came in two thousand and eight with seventy five lives lost then the toll in seventy in two thousand and nine it was a hundred sixty two the year barak obama took office a record number of strikes my man jets were recorded over the next twelve months as well under twenty two and the drone war continues now the obama administration's responsible for about ninety percent of all those strikes carried out since two thousand and four most a thousand civilians have been killed killed including up to two hundred children well according to some estimates the total number of drone fatalities in the region now talks three thousand artie's lucy catherine of looks next into the latest report from amnesty international. the predator drone remotely controlled and heavily armed it's the weapon of choice in the cia's undeclared war in pakistan

that's where the u.s. is believed to have launched more than three hundred strikes since two thousand and four the target suspected taliban and al qaeda militants the white house says better drones then boots on the ground and justifies the covert program as both affective and legal america does not take strikes to punish individuals we act against terrorists who pose a continuing and imminent threat to the american people not so according to amnesty international in a damning new report the human rights group warns u.s. drone strikes could amount to war crimes documents recent killings in pakistan's northwest tribal areas and the lack of transparency surrounding drones this is a secret program in fact in our case we've found at least in some cases they've clearly killed civilians in some of these cases might be war crimes that really concerns us one such case is that of sixty eight year old man nama bibi killed by a u.s. drone last october she was picking vegetables with her grandchildren when that

attacks took place a double strike the children miraculously survived. first it was so then i heard that. the first hit and the second hit my cousin. but her grandmother's body was pulverized these missile fragments are all that remain of amnesty documents other such cases but its main point the need for transparency and accountability the u.s. must explain why these people have been killed people who are clearly civilians must provide justice to these people compensation it must investigate those responsible for those killings now in a separate report a un investigation looked at thirty three drone strikes around the world not just in pakistan that violated international humanitarian law and also resulted in hundreds of civilian casualties that report also calling for more transparency and accountability from the united states reporting from moscow i'm lucy calford of. a

convicted terrorist is will free space now for a european court ruling apparently it's all in the name of humanlike so we'll be looking at the protests there for spot by that controversial decision and bring you some analysis on it after the break. for good. good. great hopes for freedom and democracy. substituted by great peace in china that. what was expected to be a blessing to the country. turned out to be its curse.

georgia the story of a disappointment. more news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. trying to corporations are old today. again in madrid thousands of people taken to the streets to protest against a court ruling in favor of the basque separatist movement etter the european court of human rights has ordered spanos release in a torrijos member of the armed group it is delirium who've been in jail since the late eighty's for her role in twenty three killings the spanish government accepted the course decision but warned that it sets

a dangerous precedent now john laughlin for in studio democracy in corporations says the stroudsburg courts doing the exact opposite of what it was created to do. it's incredible isn't it that the european court of human rights should intervene in this way to alleviate the sentence of a woman who has been convicted of to due process of the murder of more than twenty three people this woman is a mass murderer and the idea that a body european court of human rights which was set up to safeguard citizens against the abuses that could be committed by states against their own citizens that such a body should now be as it were to beaning in favor of people who have themselves grossly abused the rights of citizens by murdering them coming up the refugees who are getting a cold reception in europe hundreds of my goodness of managed to leave their troubled homes find europe's increasingly tough asylum policies of very little

choice but to live on the streets. of. the syrian government's submitted its plan to destroy its chemical weapons meeting an internationally imposed deadline however peace efforts in the country been dealt a setback nineteen opposition groups refusing to take part in a long awaited geneva conference which was supposed to bring all sides to the negotiating table for pentagon official michael maloof says the rebels including extremist factions have been emboldened by continuing western support. the united states cannot be caught in the position of giving arms to the moderate so-called moderates when in fact most of those weapons would go to the opposition they just take them away it know the out the extremists already control about seven of the eleven palestinian camps already in in in syria and they're using them as a base of operations and they're intimidating the moderates and the moderates of course are can't can't stand up against the more extreme elements and

they just don't have the the capability in the fight in the fighting fighting power to do that syrian journalists are increasingly getting caught in the crossfire of the country's civil war two several state media employees have found themselves on hit rebel groups. have met some of those journalists. these pictures were a long time coming syria's state t.v. headquarters in flames but the attack occurred just hours after rebel groups warned they'd showered damascus with mortars on the young women turn call for i think their main goal is to intimidate people to stop us from working they want us to think twice about working for syrian t.v. like other employees of syrian state t.v. this woman is afraid to show her face she is one of the names listed in this website set up by the rebels and each a name and photograph is the word one tid those with crosses through them are

people who have already been killed. the irony is that those who make t.v. are now too afraid to appear on it this video editor was given an ultimatum either come work for us the rebels threatened or we'll kill you he managed to escape but a few weeks ago he came home to the message wherever you are you dog of the regime we will find you painted on his front door and this witness i've lost the feeling of fear after i saw a man beheaded in front of me and mortar shells falling all around you forget what fear is but the pain and heartbreak remain idea buses brother ali carmel was an editor in chief of the syrian news agency he was killed by four bullets shot at close range after masked gunmen broke into his home and going to make to rally the strange thing is that we were never afraid for him we were afraid for my other brothers quine the army without our lives

a severe in you'll be safe but they kill him because they don't want anybody to tell the truth even just those appearing on t.v. are being threatened they call couple of time to adjust to it say that your body will be shut off long they haven't they said we know who you are we know the location. we cannot kill you we can a culture or head from the body you are should be this is what they see exactly the fear for many is that this list is long there were many names on it and scenes like this could well be repeated until every last one of them is deleted policy r.t. damascus syria online for us tonight the cryptocurrency bitcoins battle for mainstream acceptance appears to be gaining momentum were reporting that the first ever a.t.m. allowing customers to turn the recordings into hard cash is about to be launched in canada's support of it so it's

a step forward that for all the details about that interesting a twist party dot com their profits may be skyrocketing but they're managing to stay clear of the tacksman of the less find out what tools the richest corporations in the u.s. are using to do it on our website. recent surge in migrant deaths as spread alarm through the european union hundreds of people have drowned in the mediterranean this one of the lone trying to reach safe shores in overcrowded boats you can see here on the news all the main routes that the asylum seekers have been taking one of them come from countries gripped by a long running conflict of syria one of them then they go to the first one of the main points italy southern islands like lampedusa others make it maybe to spain or france which are also top destinations for the refugees along with germany and maybe the united kingdom to his paper all of it met some of those who made it to berlin. we have feed we are not anymore we have feeling we all want to be jobless homeless and thousands of kilometers from home this is the reality for refugees who

were forced to flee violence in libya and twenty eleven there is no option not even allowed to work in germany since i've been to germany i just slip and it's not what i do they arrived in europe through its early however the italian authorities told them they couldn't stay and sent them packing with five hundred euros and give me some money i should go bank and collect the money i have the right to go anywhere what i want to go sawyer just to leave it to livy to leave because it is a disaster on the european law it's really shouldn't have done that it's the responsibility of the member state where refugees arrive to look after them by sending these refugees away it's left them in a difficult legal predicament my document is getting expert and the five hundred who is finished can't go back i can't i can't even go back to italy to renew even

my documents. fall far for over a year more than five hundred from all over sub-saharan africa being packed into this camp in the german capital i don't. know how you think they'd been working in libya when colonel gadhafi was toppled in the nato backed war the documents these people have gives them access to basic medical care nothing else mentions it in now in berlin and it's up to germany to find a solution to their problems we're trying to get them residents grammont so for now there is no long term solution they have no right to work no right to social housing and are forced to live on handouts there's a feeling in the camp that e.u. members who took part in the twenty eleven action against libya have a responsibility to help i think this is. all due to appear you do because this italian. nat'l you did you are good to go i distribute we because there will be

lots of good work today as germany decides what to do they get ready for a second winter in a berlin city park these people came here because they were fleeing violence but in running for their lives they found themselves stuck in limbo here in the e.u. peter all of a r.t. . and a footnote to this as well the construction of a new shelter for asylum seekers in east berlin is added to the unrest this week right wing activists launched a protest against the facility they closed the clashes broke out and they're confronted by a rival group got the pictures there as you can see around twenty people were arrested. more world news in brief tonight a series of explosions across iraq has killed at least fifty four wounded dozens more most of the bombs were placed inside parked cars and targeted predominantly shiite muslim districts the deadliest attacks from the city of mosul it killed twelve iraq is in the midst of the worst sectarian bloodshed in years almost a thousand people died in violence across the country last month. apartment in

brooklyn turned here into a scene of carnage after five people were killed in a stabbing attack four children under mother became the victims in their own apartment the suspect to his family brother and his feet is believed to be a relative and the rest of the sea. at least eighteen people have been killed by a roadside bomb in afghanistan's it goes near providence the victims are mostly women and included one child there on the way to a wedding celebration at the time the taliban has denied any involvement in the attack. georgia has been voting in a new leader bringing to an end the macaw suckers release decade long rule exit polls point to a landslide victory for the ruling party's candidate yogi margret margret really they have former education ministers campaign have the backing of the country's billionaire private hister both men are outspoken critics of the outgoing president that is rare for national look so what makes it a success really such

a decisive and divisive figure. they are among the maize determined detractors of georgia's outgoing president. they follow me how socially everywhere to leave him in no doubt of where they stand . circus really was the once popular leader of the rose revolution the first color evolution which so power change in posts of his republics. in the last days of his near ten year presidency even former allies are on the attack. after his successes start a building an authoritarian regime the media was attacked one million people fled one quarter of the population went through the penal system they were either arrested or interrogated in two thousand and seven police used tear gas and rubber bullets against protesters one thousand cycles phillis government to resign. in two

thousand and eleven they did it again. boudin i'm ugly there are people who are afraid to express or even have their opinion if they faced injustice they failed to report it as good a fact their families. told me his brother used to run the state audit office and claims he was tortured in jail when he took his case to the human rights cotton strasberg told nikki says he too was arrested over a fabricated case becoming another recognised political prisoner. i got eight and a half years if it wasn't for new premier ivanishvili i wouldn't have got out in just one week i saw they took out four dead bodies from jail they said those young men died from diseases but that's nonsense days before last october's parliamentary election videos showing young inmates being humiliated and beaten became the last straw for the georgian people. party last year but this georgian media veteran says

the public euphoria over circus will is defeat is tempered by how much the people had already lost individually and. promoted georgian people estelle and and the nation with history and we started believe in it we started moving away from also obvious past p.r. he was a p.r. genius he managed to convince then tile world and under the flag of democracy we got fascists. as george's electorate votes for many here it's nessa both welcome in the future but say goodbye to their past the law prevents macalso kachina from running for president again now he's a mission's life far away from politics in the wine business but the public seems a new mood to simply let him fade into the background there is a strong desire here in georgia for second relief to be broad justice and it seems his detractors won't stop until that thirst is quite just. now t.

tbilisi georgia and if we're just getting an update to this now just coming in to us the candidate for mickelson has for these parties just admitted defeat in georgia election and congratulate is his opponent. marvellous really the one thing the outgoing georgian president will be remembered for though of course was calls to boycott the sochi twenty fourteen winter olympics his latest comments this month right after the kickoff of the games torch relay a prominent russian t.v. presenter of georgian origin kind of lucky was among the team played through the streets in petersburg she believes sports and politics should be kept separate. georgia does not have many winter sports competitors people who have been working hard to take part you're going to relate makes has nothing to do with politics so no matter what politicians say i'm absolutely sure that sport is beyond political against georgia and russia will certainly leave the friendship and i hope that no

one and nothing proven in georgia from taking part in the winter olympics in sochi the program stays with george and. the report of a dash hopes of the rose revolution way back then and the checkered legacy of the nation's outgoing leader. new zealand is boldly going where no government has gone before and according to reuters has decided to create a regulatory body to oversee recreational drugs that is their opening pandora's box it have at least temporarily given approval to fifty substances for sale at special stores which are banned in most other countries the body is trying to take a more scientific approach and determine which substances are actually harmful to

the user you know i've heard the argument that the war on drugs just wastes massive sums of money effort and lives and you need turn a futile battle which is true it does but the only option people give is just legalize all drugs there are a few problems with this when something is legal that tends to make it ok is it really ok for you to spend your whole life in a trance to avoid reality is it really ok for everyone in town on friday night after work to go on an ice crystal meth rampage the other problem is that the war on drugs fails because it is fighting the drugs and not the reason why people take them which is to escape reality why do people want to escape reality because in modern times or post modern times we live a soulless pointless isolated consumeristic existence of working in a pointless office job just to get poor so we can scrape by and get some cheap plastic junk at walmart when people's lives are empty they will fill them with something through a needle but that's just my opinion.