sunday's news in the stories that shape the week ukraine's capital braces for a million man march that the ukrainian opposition refers to as a last chance you are seeing live pictures from kiev's independence square in r.t. correspondent it's there will join us shortly as western politicians fanned the flames of the protests flocking to kiev to pledge their support for the crowds anti-government sentiment. david versus goliath a tiny romanian village fighting to get an energy giant chevron off limits land. protesters from a remaining village claim a small victory against a major u.s. oil company that's exploring fish oil gas near their homes but the corporate giant is still looking to win the war. and its people across the globe mourn the death of

nelson mandela we'll look at how the anti apartheid leaders image has changed over the years. plus a swedish relationship is being revealed the scandinavian country has been helping america spy on russia's leadership. hello welcome you're watching the weekly with me andrey far. thousands are gathering in the center of the ukrainian capital kiev for a major anti-government rally that the opposition has called a last chance they are hoping for at least a million protesters to show up so let's find out how things are looking at the moment artie's paul scott is in independence square paul a million people were expect. it one of the numbers looking like so far away you

are going there because it was billed as the march over the million there's more people in the square behind me than we saw at any stage on the saturday but from the people that i've been speaking to there's a feeling that the figure of one million could be quite an optimistic target now the atmosphere among the protesters at the moment they're in good spirits and the atmosphere is quite jovial but there is an air of uncertainty hanging over the ukrainian capital right now there are so far unfounded rumors surfacing on social networks that you keep the ukrainian special forces are heading to kiev to help disperse the crowds later on sunday while another rima during the rounds is that a state of emergency could soon be declared by president viktor yanukovych now the so far unfounded rumors are so far only really hardening the resolve of the protesters who are continuing to defy the weather as you can say on the off dorothy's as well and another thing pushing the demonstrators is the support that they're continuing to receive from european officials now it's

a merger the us is reportedly set to ask the e.u. to allow ukrainians visa free travel to e.u. countries as a way of forcing closer integration on saturday a group of emmy page descended on the ukrainian capital to reiterate european support for the opposition movement as my colleague arena commissioner reports for you wayne is not the only one neighbor seeing anti government anger on the street but for some reason cleaves independence square has captured the minds of politicians from here up and the us we have seen a variable parade of them here on similar running out was with the opposition leaders and even sometimes taking this way to speak for the crowds and yet few seem to have made the pass to hear it from both sides from the country's leaders and their supporters. right there from an assistant secretary of state we stand with the people of ukraine. who see their future in europe and want to bring

their country back to economic health and unity to former polish president the supporters of euro integration must remain firm and seize the momentum of the protest this is the only way they can get you know coach to make concessions and current members of the european parliament we suffer all civil society and democratic revolution in its claim to have possibility for the nation to express its will and choice which means every election what began as a pro e.u. push descended into an out and out attack on the leadership the usual buzzwords of democracy justice and the will of the people were interspersed with not so subtle calls for a president they can acquire each to admit his been beaten this is clear clear here it's an internal affairs arsalan hodge and they're not even hiding the more so this is something that should be unacceptable. as a bombing standard widely seen as

a clear breach of diplomatic conduct it also raised questions in moscow. but i can imagine how our german partners would have felt if russia's foreign minister decided to attend a rally that was being held against german room i don't think they would consider it a friendly step with meeting with opposition members is one thing but taking part in rallies that's interference in domestic offense and wish that the private mission early in the week the government survived a no confidence vote in the ukrainian parliament was younger she was defeated by the great process opposition m.p.'s went home to block the stage and stalling parliament. outside protest leaders called on people to take over as many civic offices as possible what should have been a public debate on the pros and cons of the e.u. friendship has descended into a foreign fuelled meddling to boost an opposition with a different axe to grind in english go r t f. meanwhile thousands of people have

also gathered for a pro-government rally in the ukrainian capital many of the activists that support the blocking of the trade deal with the you came from the east of the country to make their voice heard recent polls suggest ukraine sharply divided on the issue of e.u. integration with more than seventy percent of people in the west of the country favoring the deal while the pro e.u. mood is shared by less than thirty percent of people in the east dr. is a prominent foreign affairs analyst and he says in the unlikely case of a revolution people in needs to take action to defend the government if the reason a pro e.u. . orange revolution there would be a pro customs union pro russian counter-revolution so it would be the path to the civil war because let's face it in the industrial base in of the east they know that if they join the e.u.

package they will of course they will never join the e.u. itself they would lose customs privileges in russia very industrial goods which are still being exported to russia in increasing quantities would certainly become thirty five percent more expensive which would price them out of the market in the saying i doubt very much that e.u. countries will certainly express an interest in buying ukraine real goods so even if the reason attempt the violent overthrow of the government there would be there finitely very sizeable counterforce ready to come onto the streets it is no longer two thousand and four when no one was willing to risk their skin for for quite a while later today r.t. also looks into the economic troubles ukraine faces in addition to the political crisis that's in venture capital with katie. how bad is ukraine's financial

situation right now is the economy we be having friday felt the markets are expecting and dissipating in the vault i ukraine so it is a very serious situation the ukrainian central bank. is almost broke and doesn't have any money and won't be able to support the ukrainian currency going forward unless you brain gets credit immediately. residents of a tiny village in easton remain yeah have managed to stop a u.s. oil giant exploring fish oil gas me where they live if it least for the moment the demonstrators are now refusing to leave the drilling site despite a heavy police presence saying the controversial extraction method could permanently damage the environment you see caffein off has the details.

in a remote part of romania a day of rage and fury. protesters stormed a work site operated by chevron and police responded with full force those who didn't leave willingly were dragged away so you can see. in what country we are living the police forces are behaving like a private protection company for a so wrong. but what the people here want to know is who will protect them from big business this is one of the poorest corners of the european union but it's believed to sit on top of large reserves of valuable natural gas it's the sort of place that's changed little over the centuries and most of the residents still live off the land land which could soon be pumped full of toxic fluid in order to get the fuel underneath it's

a simple everyday action drawing water out of the well for the villagers here and put in jest this is really what's at the heart of the matter the environment and the water for them it's not so much about fighting chevron as it is about protecting both their lives and livelihoods which is the root of this all my years i have been working on the land it is the only live the time now. during the day isn't your typical sort of protester a farmer all her life she and her husband were also some of the first villagers to speak out against chevron's plans to drill for natural gas in their community. we've heard horror stories of water supplies being polluted for is no longer being green. we don't want to risk everything for this company to make a profit chevron says it's committed to working with the local community to drill without damaging the environment it insists that it is abiding by all safety rules but that's not reassuring for farmers like the silly. little they could completely

destroy us we just want to protect what's important in our land and that's what they've done for more than a month now braving the cold villagers set up makeshift tents across from the company's drilling site chevron did temporarily suspend its operations but last week the camp was raided by the police about the one i was punched in the face it was humiliating rumanian but the police treated us like criminals i felt like we were sold out. of the deal we tied ourselves together to form a human chain they were kicking ass and beating us with their bottoms i was kicked here there was another villager who's in hospital now because of how hard they had him in the stomach. and on saturday more violence would began as a peaceful demonstration was broken up by force another arrest the protests are adamant and but demonstrators continue to get taken away in this car in some ways it's a case of david versus goliath

a tiny romanian village fighting to get an energy giant chevron off of its land but despite the arrests despite the protests and despite the clashes the chevron trucks are already here and the work looks set to go on reporting in to ingest romania for r.t.e. and lucy craft on. sunday is a national day of prayer in south africa to mark the death of nelson mandela a leader who fought racism and inequality in his own country he became an international symbol of freedom and justice packed with controlled history his transition from a vilified armed robbery call to a freedom fighter has been regularly polished by the mass media and hollywood as poorest reports. he's the man who proved it troubled and divided land back from the brink of civil war the man who after twenty seven tough years behind bars walks

free from prison in his heart was not to avenge or i think his greatest legacy to this country is reconciliation. in the last three decades the world tirelessly polished the image of nelson mandela and image recognized around the world only coca-cola is better known better men who struggle for racial equality again south africa's ruling white minority had a dark side the world has conveniently forgotten about now some one leader of a struggle. a radical. someone. embraced violence as a necessary political instrument at a particular juncture in our history this house was the secret headquarters of the african national congress it was here in the early sixty's that mandela and his comrades launched the armed struggle it was also here that most of them were arrested put on trial and sentencing to life in prison south african journalist

chris bishop believes the one nine hundred sixty four trial that saw mandela and his comrades sentenced to life helped turn the world in their favor during the trial. these gentlemen who were on draw the rivonia trial as they went from being the accused of being people on in the dark as slowly transformed they became the benjamin franklin's of africa they became the freedom fighters they began the man of principle who is standing up merely for the rights of others and it's only to turn the world opinion around from a vile terrorist to one of the greatest freedom fighters to have ever walked the earth the story of nelson mandela is remarkable a man who stood up for the rights of people everywhere but also a familiar tale of governments putting a garland of flowers around your neck one day and a rope the next. r t johannesburg south africa mandela was of

course renowned for his inspirational speeches but on our website right now we've lined up some of his words that rarely made it to mainstream media had to r.t. dot com for a look at what the iconic leaders thoughts were on america's influence in the world the invasion of iraq and the israeli palestinian conflict. coming up on r.c. an instrument of order called launch to. critics of a new protest nor in egypt fear it's a sign the country's turning into a police state plus. an insight into the future of the series really just one or it's easy after the rebel attack on a christian village. do you think that you as a representative of the. gazan government and government in general could achieve that easing off live for the palestinian people through all the way they

communicate through the way the present themselves to do want to crimean they need we need respect to live from older kind of governments good and to recognize this government which recollected a from the people actually. presented it from the palestinian people themselves respect our choices respect what i would believe someone needs someone runs.

welcome back now in syria a group of twelve nuns who went missing after rebels took control of the ancient christian village of moola have appeared on video saying their evacuation was a rescue operation and not a kidnapping in the footage they claim they left the village to escape shelling however you authenticity of the video has been questioned christians are often seen by the rebels as being loyal to the syrian government will for more i'm joined now by a man or ocean writer a journalist who's been to syria several times and spoke with christians there it is difficult isn't it to be sure the facts until the video is verified but what do you think actually took place well we should look on the facts on the what we see is that. was a text right now the second time within several weeks i think the first take was in

the beginning of september starting with a suicide attack against the checkpoint we have to see that. doesn't have any military strategic well you but it is a symbolic well you would has a symbolic where you were is a very old it's an ancient christian church with very modest three in this is perfect this is what about all this is when we see you know that we deal where the nuns are filled and then when this one man is telling that they are treated well and all like this we shouldn't forget that the shelling that take on the monastery wasn't turned off by the syrian army it was turned on by the so-called rebels who are in reality nothing else then terrorists that's that's the fact so and we saw in the past the couple of that's really all sort of kidnapped christians. in the power of those terrorists of course they are

saying we are treated well we get good food that was one of your trust is the last sentence there was one we all from the last year it was showing in armenia the men used to live in the aleppo one tree side area who was kidnapped by terrorists off the free syrian army and was brought to sorry our core established by free syrian are free and there he picks to convert to islam it was army norfolk's before he had to convert to islam and take islamic name and in the video message she gave saying things like he prays for the safety of his children and even praising the good food to. the rebels where giving him so it was the real kafka esque image we got and i think it i fear to be honest that those your food we have know from those not we have to see such a context ok now with the question of regards to the motives behind this were there

were reports that the militants wanted in exchange for the nuns the release of a thousand prisoners that are currently being held by the government do you think that that is likely that they would have made such a demand and secondly is it likely that such a demand would have been met. generally we have to see that there are very kate your teach complication go beyond in syria what rebel groups say this is not a core you need to have several speakers or groups have their own speakers so i think right now we can even say you those voice who say we want to exchange those nuns against prisoners if this is really a group who is now in part so it's really good months and really this is going to be of course greece no not recently right but because again there is no military strip recent to. to conquer my hula my love was even in the short time for many

many months a peaceful city because no site was interested in establishing their military police or or a lot of military stronghold so they started now by the side of the terrorists by the side of the rebels so this would be a lot. to do that we cannot verify this is really a group which goes months ok we do have to leave it m.m.r. but thank you very much we do apologize also to our viewers because it was quite a bad line there but it was a man well oxen writer and journalist who has been to syria several times thank you . and r.t. crew was covering the events and ledger in the combat operations this autumn you can watch our full reports including dramatic images from the village online at r.t. dot com. sweden has been a key provider aspire data on the russian leadership to the us apart from targeting

high profile political figures the country's also been engaged in industrial espionage against russia's energy companies the accusations come from swedish t.v. citing documents leaked by edward snowden in a recent program called mission investigate its chief editor told r.t. what they discovered we have revealed that. the very close relationship between the swedish defense radio authority every. american counterpart n.s.a. and. according to the documents. f.r.a. have spied spying on the russian leadership and they are passing this information on to n.s.a. we got access to these documents thanks to edward snowden so for 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 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 they spell it in these documents for a is a leading partner to n.s.a. then he says ok that's flattering he ses so that's the only comment we have received so far well with sweden strategic location in the baltic the country has always been the end the at america's national security agency at least that's according to investigative journalist duncan campbell. sweden norway has had a lot of a covert intelligence relationship with them when i stupidly in the years of the cold war. they've been tempted secretly in to the club of the

big far east in which they are for the goodies to give to their prime minister in return for betraying we receive in security of all of their neighbors and many of her own citizens sweden was the largest collaborate too in europe which the internet tapping program run by the private eyes group are being respecting countries. and so it does so because of its fact access to cables to the voltage then it's no surprise that you see it's q. and a saying we want that as well as everything else so you can take from st despite public criticism some governments protect their spying programs is something essential earlier this week the editor of britain's guardian newspaper face questioning by m.p.'s who believe that the publishing of snowden's revelations put a dent in national security generously made he believes it's all part of a public flogging campaign. it's theater because it's actually for internal

consumption it's really for the united kingdom and david cameron is trying to demonstrate that he's the strong man that he's tough on terrorism that he's not going to let journalists you know tell him what to do and therefore he's coming out with these statements which for the rest of the world thinks pretty crazy because everyone is saying from president obama downwards that we should have this debate about what are the limits of surveillance and what kind of oversight should we have and it's really only david cameron the u.k. government that's saying we shouldn't do that and as we report online the n.s.a.'s appetite for private data seems only to be growing as the tentacles of u.s. intelligence continue to intertwine the world after it successfully launches a new surveillance satellite with the logo speaking for itself. plus. remains holed up in ecuador's london embassy the world famous whistleblower marks his thirty years spent in virtual detention in the u.k.

without ever being charged you can find all the details at r.t. dot com. egyptian activists are feeling the effects of the country's latest law which bans unauthorized demonstrations two leading campaigners the set to go on trial charged with taking part in illegal gatherings parties bell true reports from kyra. two leading secular activists mehan dhamma will be in court today for the first session of the trial they're being taunted legally protesting and for allegedly assaulting police officers in demonstrations last month the two men who were prominent voices in the january two thousand and seven revolution among the first to be trying to for the offense related to egypt's new controversial protest though it was in force by the government last month and bans all rallies over ten people from gathering without permission from the ministry of interior there was mass aprile when the law was promulgated as people here say most protests are against interior ministry and the brutality of that

police force and that will give security forces a cop launched the by let me disperse demonstrations this is something we've certainly seen in the last few weeks security forces have used tear gas water cannons and birdshot but it's against protesters attempting to rally without permission of the government that backed by the military is defending the legislation saying it's essential to restore law and order and also to help it is tied to the economy the trial marks a key turning point in the summer the military in the government had targeted islamist supporters of mohamed morsy with measure and dameron trial is showing that the government is widely is cracked down to include all forms of dissent even people here in egypt to fear the country is returning to a police states. that makes its worlds apart with oksana boyko he speaks with the spokeswoman of the palestinian government in gaza.

ukraine is in a tough spot right now trying to figure out whether to join the e.u. or the regime's custom union it would be nice if they would you know maybe allow the populace to vote for their future via referendum but sadly it looks like the politician. i'll be making the historic decision i can see why some people want to look west and some people want to look east but i don't understand why so-called ukrainian nationalists want so desperately to join the e.u. first off any nationalist groups in the e.u. are automatically demonised as right wing extremists and the politically correct west patriotism is pretty much a dirty word generally nationalist like their culture and the people who are part of it but if you look at migration trends within the e.u. we see that the slavic part of it is flooding western europe looking for work i have many relatives from the slavic part of the e.u. and almost all of them have to work abroad and might sound nice to be able to work in europe but the reality is that ukrainians will probably be paid even less than

bulgarians rumanians to clean toilets in london ukrainian nationalists don't have to like russia or join the customs union or join any bloc of countries but advocating a future for themselves the e.u. seems absolutely backwards at least to me but that's just my opinion. hello and welcome to worlds apart we here is the israel has used the villager and rhetoric of autonomy's to justify its own military actions a policy that was recently dealt a blow when iran switch from accusations to negotiations securing a lot of mark new clear deal isn't it time for.