on. a scandal in scandinavia now sweden is revealed to be in on the spying game helping the n.s.a. snoop on the russian leadership also. but is a systematic. on all of the christian community. religious officials played for action to protect syria's christians where a group of nuns is still being held by rebel forces and. there's no doubt where the united states stands on this. america weighs in on ukraine's ongoing crisis supporting the opposition this protest is give president. an ultimatum. i.

start shooting. party looks ukraine's hardline nationalist groups and the claims they are hijacking the country's pro e.u. demonstrations. and i welcome you watching r.t. international with me andrey farm. now sweden's been helping america's n.s.a. to spy on russian leaders and provided washington with a list of high profile targets swedish state t.v. site documents leaked by whistleblower edward snowden the program which revealed the claims is called mission investigate and its chief editor joins us live now on r.t. thank you very much for being with us this evening that this is a juicy story isn't it in a nutshell what your program find at. well

we have revealed that. very close relationship between the swedish defense radio authority air ferry and their american counterpart n.s.a. and according to the documents. if i may have spied or spying on the russian leadership and they are passing this information on to n.s.a. ok so important and let's name some names who were spied on. no names are mentioned ok but in your interpretation of what you found out when you say the russian leadership are you talking about president putin you talking about to meet you made there if. it were they are talking the documents are mentioning the political leadership internal politics as a. priority target no names are mentioned ok but

we understand it is the political elite now how did you get your hands on these documents well. as we all know these documents we got access to these documents thanks to edward snowden. in. his partner glenn greenwald he has you know a line or reporters from many countries. wanting to get access of these documents and now it was our turn in sweden and how were they able to do this spying what enabled sweden to give so much information to be n.s.a. . well so far we have don't have any details more than the documents are mentioning. that they're talking about unique intelligence

they're talking about classic intelligence and they're also mentioning cables what we do know that russia reaps eighty percent of its internet traffic through sweden . was that involved in your interpretation of what you found out in your program and in your belief did that make russia an easy target. if i got the request all right but as i said before the documents are mentioning. russia as high priority target ok the question was i was talking about the saying that no names i was talking about the amount of internet traffic that is passed russian internet traffic that is passed through sweden and it's around eighty percent of the internet traffic from russia goes through sweden do you feel that is made russia an easy target. yes we haven't published any details

about the jet. but already talk about these cables belonging to the telecom company this. baltic sea and so on ok and are you surprised that sweden got involved in this what could have been their motive. it's a question if we are surprised in sweden. when i mean there has been. many sources talking about this close relationship between a swedish f.r.a. and a say before that's nothing new. news here and the important thing here is that no we can show documents proving this relationship and this cooperation between us between the swedish authorities and the american that's big news now in sweden of course. very important issue today in the

coming week and has there been any response from the swedish authorities so far not many comments. the spokesman of f.r.a. didn't give any comments but. when axed asked about being. seen as a leading partner that's the way that spell it in these documents for a is a leading partner to n.s.a. then he says ok that's flattering he ses that's the only comment we have received so far that's flattering and in terms of the new you don't want to comment or not so much content in the comments so far because of course the politicians are it's be a controversial political issue in sweden of course ok well in terms of the mood on the street and the response you've had from the public to your program what's that been like. so for would be we feel that the us

or very supportive. action for us as a journalist have been so far very positive because this is something that people have suspected but now finally get proof and is there any fear that this could have a bad ramification phil russian sweden relations or do you feel as though this will blow over. if i feel this will blow over yes will it have any long lasting ramifications for russia's relationship with sweden would you know that this whole incident will blow over. i think this will be a loss the fact. we will continue reporting it we will do a one hour program next week on wednesday or next week so so i mean this will be an important issue for a long time coming ok well thank you very much for coming on to r.t.

today to explain what you found that's neil hanson chief editor of the swedish t.v. program mission investigate which made these latest spiral a geisha thank you. and more closely follow this developing story for you with more expert analysis on there and of course online at r.t. dot com. of course our minding for a broad international effort to secure the release of twelve nuns reportedly held by radical islamist rebels in syria the women were seized from him on a street during an opposition assault on a predominantly christian town and his poor leslie reports it's the latest in a series of attacks on religious targets in the country. twelve nines and three of the helpers who belong to the orthodox monastery of moola are believed to have been moved to brood now according to syrian opposition activists the woman will move for

their own safety but earlier religious officials said that the women were abducted by members of the front which is affiliated to al qaida the syrian observatory for human rights says that the women were taken after several days of intensive fighting during which the almost refined find to eventually manage to capture the old quarter of moola and various reports point to the fact that these are mr fund fighters entered the orthodox monastery in the same tone of mono where these women were well there's a lot of concern particularly amongst christians living in syria as the attacks against their communities seemingly escalate we have heard from the pope who has recited a prayer for the safety of these women and earlier we at r.t. spoke with the international christian concern who said that they were extremely worried and extremely troubled by this incident in particular they have called on

rebel forces to ensure the safety of these women and also make sure that all lines of communication with them remain open there are several muslim clerics who have also condemned the abduction in the strongest terms we denounce their deeds confirm that terrorism is a savage monster which wants to do with our all religious and humanitarian values they came to cuba and kidnapped a few muslim in moms and christian priests in our job of ships and the like they kidnapped three some priestess of events in one dangerous conspiracy to do in the church in syria which they want to carry to the stone age continuous or to run for into the country many christians have left and are now living as refugees elsewhere in. mascots because they're so fearful of the situation the last time that i was in syria i visited the city of homes where both the syrian army as well as people who are returning to the christian quarter showed me around and danton churches and

spoke about the fear that they too have as attacks on the christian community inside syria escalate and his video allegedly showing another rebel attack on a christian site in syria this is in one thousand orthodox monastery near damascus the opposition justified be a cell with planes that government troops were using it as a firing position say the rebels unleashed on the site and several people were reportedly wounded in the attack artie's kevin owen spoke with an anglican priest from syria he says christians are being used as cannon fodder in the conflict. thousands and thousands hundreds of thousands of christians where this place from their homes and a lot of christians were killed we still have two bishops missing from from a little we don't know anything about them and now another attack on the of the

christian community in syria and the world is watching rivered it because the christians in syria big specifically targeted just getting caught up in a wider conflict what's the picture i think they are being used by both sides. as a political card because the regime wants also to free to show that they are protecting the minorities specially the christians and they are begging for for the international community to interfere to release the nuns where the the rebels they are turning the blind eyes to. the islamists to target specifically christians there is a systematic attack on all the christian community in syria and hundreds of thousands of christians were displaced. a senior

american diplomat has waded into ukraine's arm rest encouraging the opposition and their ongoing pro e.u. mass protest. this is ukraine's moment to meet the aspirations of its people or to disappoint them and risk descending into chaos and violence there should be no doubt where the united states stands on all of this. assistant secretary of state victoria nuland was speaking at a preplanned regional security summit in kiev meanwhile the opposition in ukraine has delivered an ultimatum to the president threatening to set up a round the clock blockade of government institutions unless an early election is held but as arena reports the nature of the protests is shifting. below lori to green glory to their heroes if they fishel slogan of the hardline nationalist movement known as the ukrainian insurgent army and the chant heard among the crowds in key of these days here are just

a couple of these protesters cheerleaders mr electronically borke founder of the nationalist party and the man inspired by the actions of the u.i. as wartime militias they took out machine guns and fought the russians the germans and the jews those who quote wanted to take away our ukrainian land and this is. another far right activist from the radical nationalist but movement so we need war that's the main thing an organisation like cars can't exist without war. is one of those suspected of arranging the bulldozer action key of over the weekend both men will present the ultra nationalist sentiment that is popular in western ukraine which has traditionally gravitated towards europe rather than moscow. we will fight for the european union until the end and even if they bring your tanks we will win which must go i'm ready to pick up any keep forty seven and start shooting up to

a thousand people go to kiev every day and our motto is to go over to the end our resistance for. consist of afghanistan war veterans and former security service officials recent polls show the country's sharply divided on the issue with more than seventy percent of those living in western ukraine favoring the deal with the european union but that drops to less than thirty percent in the east in kiev what began as a campaign over trade ties with europe is now just ending into a rallying cry for ukrainian nationalism good enough you know but that's when these people are being passed off as innocent kids who suffered during the peaceful process i'm sorry i've seen others there who clearly were nonmilitary and then there were others would not have in their pockets why would anyone do that when going to a peaceful protest. yet it seems to be escaping some of europe and america's political heavyweights that there is a rowdy right wing driving force taking root in the ghost go party.

meanwhile here pain politicians have been visiting protest camps in central kiev and giving speeches russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov described their actions in the accusations leveled at kiev's leadership by governments as hysterical political science professor nicholai petro who's in ukraine told us the e.u. doesn't have the best interests of the ukrainian people at heart. it's a one sided message of support for the policies of the of the u. and it is an attempt to attract ukraine to sign the association agreement i think it's a short sighted position one that seeks to divide drive a wedge rather between ukraine and russia whereas a more alongside it position but actually encourage both russia and ukraine to associate and come together with the e.u. unfortunately it seems to be more of a divisive and

a confrontational approach than one that aims at reagan silly ation. well these efforts may be unwilling ukraine right now but in a few minutes we hear about the struggle in keeping its current citizens out of poverty. this is the place that has been consecrated to god for almost a thousand of years people came here twenty years ago to reestablish mastic life on the silence. and people feel the love of christ working. people say you can attach. something happens on this island that makes them return to it again and again they say the below saves them. join me james brown on a journey for the soul. only on a t.

. see my. first trick. and i think your. orders were. i. can now even while the easy keeps the welcome mat down for potential new members it could be setting itself up for trouble ahead one of the impending threats is widespread poverty which some say the bloc just won't be able to handle over twenty percent of europe's population now is at risk of poverty bulgari here is one of the east most impoverished

countries with nearly half its population living close to the bread line and remain year isn't far behind in second where four out of ten find it hard to make ends meet there in bailed out greece in third slightly over thirty percent of the population are struggling to meet financial demands and among the other major economies you can see italy and spain may have roughly the same proportion of people under pressure from harsher stereotype measures more than a quarter you could piece skin off as it is a food bank in rome where essential provisions are handed out to the city's poorest . marco used to work as a pizza your many talents used to call it the golden skill which would always get you work in a role but it didn't hold true for marco one day he was sacked and has not been fired since he's been living on the street for about four years now and says at forty six he sees little chance of fixing his life he asked us not to reveal his

identity. when you live on the street survival is what takes up most of your time simply getting a shower is a challenge it takes so much time to take care of yourself like a normal person you reach the end of the day and you're exhausted and depressed. with the talian economy going through its longest recession since the second world war over twelve percent of adults are unemployed while four out of ten young people don't have a job there are no official figures on the homeless we have any type of food the three can get for free from somewhere more italians are beginning to turn to charity and humanitarian aid for help two years ago we had about fifty five percent where for no surrender forty five percent value and today we have about sixty five percent valient thirty five percent for us completely. everything on the shelves is free given in exchange for points allocated to low

income families by the global charity network. most of the food is near its expiration date except for specially labeled aid it's real similar to an ordinary supermarket you've got bread pasta dairy products vegetables and so on but the one thing was really stands out are these packages with signs saying not for sale this is humanitarian aid from the european union and all together these products make up around a third of all the stuff here. kerry does is now raising the alarm saying around one third of all italian children are at risk of poverty and are lacking basic essential such as protein rich foods heating and clothes you've got the skin off our t. rome. what's more an international red cross survey says europe is experiencing its worst humanitarian crisis for decades millions are unable to afford a roof over their heads with a seventy five percent increase in people relying on food aid across the continent

the organizations european director told us that the number of people having to turn to charity is beyond their worst expectations. what we have seen since we did our first survey in two thousand and nine and on to two thousand and thirteen is that the crises are really taking root at community level at individual level and at household level to a different degree because people today has used all their savings there's nothing left we are seeing a rapid decrease in what we call the middle class people the british red cross what they are doing right now and what they lost more than a moment is that is the biggest food distribution campaign since the second world war it is serious in even for the ones of force working in this business on a daily basis we were shocked when we saw their cumulated data across europe

in other news yemen's defense ministry complex in the heart of the capital has been shaken by a car bomb and more than two hours of intense gunfighting officials say twenty nine have died including foreign medical staff the managing editor of the yemen times gave us the details of how the tragic events in sana'a unfolded. one of our reporters he did it at the hospital morgue he personally counted the bodies i mean dead bodies at the place gunfire started following the explosion at the western gate of the ministry of defense and it was like that. the second car we are men we get many a military uniform they entered the compound and started shooting and started also chasing soldiers yemeni soldiers and it was. total

chaos a situation i would say it was. country asli even more than two hours after the first explosion there is a hospital mustache what would the hospital or d. and a usually be going to used for for a high ranking military men a yemeni and those people armed men entered the place they started shooting at. medical staff and the have a report about at least two foreign medical staff are among the dead at this point we can say that the that they were just targeting high ranking people but to place ricci's kind of yemen at the heart of yemen's. security the defense. ministry i think the they just target big just wanted to

target anyone at the place medical the staff soldiers high ranking military men all together. meanwhile armed religious clashes in the central african republic have killed at least twenty three people the moon did dozens more mostly muslim rebels who seized power in march of fighting christians supporting yazdi president witnesses in the capital say the victims included women and children while government soldiers have been put on high alert the u.n. is preparing to send french reinforcements to try to restore order. elsewhere iraqi police of storm day shopping in the northern city of cool killing three militants and ending and hours long standoff on wednesday gunmen and suicide bombers attacked the mile police headquarters nearby killing eleven and wounding seventeen more iraq's witnessing a surge in sectarian violence and seen since two thousand and eight with the u.n. estimating eight bags and being killed since the start of each year we do have an

online project which monitors iraqi ongoing violence and you can find that at r.t. dot com. and in other news hundreds of indigenous brazilian people have attempted to stillman government buildings in the capital it's after the justice ministry laid out its new rules for the demarcation of native lands for next year's world cup security guards at the presidential palace use pepper spray on protesters he pushed over metal barriers other activists dressed in national costume tried to storm the ministry of justice saying the rules undermine their rights to incest for land. coming up we take you on a spiritual adventure to one of russia's holiest most isolated christian ministries .

we often see the middle east as a place of constant turmoil and revolution but people in thailand seem to be very fired up as well masses of protesters are force a government ministries to shut down by storming them with human waves one such ministry is the thai equivalent of the american f.b.i. which has been accused of killing around ninety people in a crackdown on those who support ousted prime minister taksin shinawatra who is the brother of the current leader while people are crying out for democracy with accusations of violence against protesters so where is barack obama john kerry the mainstream media i mean whatever sort of group of rebels protestors are i mean freedom fighters rise up for democracy are we supposed to arm them like in syria and or bomb their country back into the stone age like in libya serbia iraq some protests explode across the mainstream media with calls for intervention and others are almost totally silent like thailand and bulgaria where there have also been strong links of buildings less than a month ago i might be a conspiracy theorist but the selective coverage and selective concern for some

humans rights and off the rights of others well it smells a bit fishy to me but that's just my opinion. the windswept journey to below can be an active pennants in itself. doesn't all for excitement or adventure get many come here for months at a time some never leave it all they say that the saves them. this is one of the holiest sites of the russian orthodox church home to a thriving ministry the lay community that works with it and groups of volunteers

that come and go throughout the year for the face full this is a journey for the soul the pilgrimage. this is the plays that has been consecrated to god for almost a thousand of years. people came here twenty some years ago and so reestablish the monastic life on this island. they do in that believing that. christ is the only source of true joy and happiness and life. that understanding penetrated into everything that surrounds us in the monastery.