but we allow them to do this the first nation to disarm without questions the united states. but also made some for ukraine's president his voice did a massive protest in the capital where the opposition hopes to gather a million man march and lay siege to the government quarter. and fanning the flames of politicians with ardent statements supporting the opposition some even coming to kiev to be anti government move. remaining in villages beat back chevron's fracking advances with weeks of violent clashes forcing the all giant and its police back up to suspend operations for a second time. a day of prayer for south africans for their former leader and the international symbol of peace nelson mandela we look at how he overcame to derision in countries queuing to mourn him.

and scanning scandinavians emerges in sweden buddied up with america's n.s.a. to listen across russia's leadership. are you watching r.t. international coming to you live from moscow. tens of thousands have gathered in the ukrainian capital for a major anti-government protests the opposition calls it the last chance and hopes for at least a million people to show up they surrounded several administrative buildings completely blocking access to them and threatening to march on the president's residence unless their demands are met within two days artie's poor scott is in kiev. oh position leaders have addressed the crowd draw the course of sunday

including the daughter of former prime minister and jailed opposition leader junia to michigan and heavyweight boxing world champion but charlie klitschko now quick to go reiterated the mons of the opposition now these are all the release of the protesters who were arrested last week and that is punishment for those who violently clamp down on the demonstrations on the president victory on the coverage on his government resign on there is a holy election in order to us he calls it reboot the government now these demands have been part of an ultimatum with a general strike a nationwide general strike being called if these demands are met and some protesters have even made the journey from the square behind me to nearby governmental administrative buildings to blockade those buildings the opposition leaders all the protesters for these demonstrations to remain peaceful now there are also reports emerging locally that some of the opposition leaders of even divided up the roles in any possible future interim government all that up has yet

to be confirmed the opposition i think voyage by far the support from european officials as my colleague arena ghoulish the reports we were saying is not the only one neighbor saying on to government anger on its streets but for some reason peeves independence square has captured the minds of politicians from here up and the u.s. we have seen a veritable parade of them here on some running out was with the opposition leaders and even sometimes taking notice today 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. from an assistant to the 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 here 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 support civil society and democratic opposition in its claim to have a possibility for the nation to express its will employees which means election what began as a pro e.u. push descended into an out and out attack on the leadership the usual buzz words of democracy justice and the will of the people were interspersed with not so subtle calls for a president they can acquire which to admit has been beaten this is clear where you can see meantime affairs are so harsh and they're not even hiding the more so this is something that's should be unacceptable. a democratic stance 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 was meeting with opposition members is one thing but taking part in rallies that's interference in domestic affairs at the national early in the week the government survived a no confidence vote in the ukrainian parliament was simply. defeated by the democratic process opposition m.p.'s went home to block the stage and stalling parliament. side 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. go r t. and in the latest development we are hearing that ukraine security service says it started an investigation into what it calls an attempt to seize power from the ukrainian government as for the interest from a broader political and financial commentator patrick young told me earlier that

the politicians in kiev are more concerned about their own image than ukraine or the union's well being. m.e.p. as members of the european parliament are terrified that they're about to be outflanked by anti european forces in elections in four or five months time therefore they're doing anything to try and get a tinge of popularity and of course the way they do that in the socialist european superstate of the e.u. is trying to be seen around liberal demonstrators at all times because it kind of inflates their ok credentials of looking like hippy liberals the truth is they have no coherent concept of why or what they could do with ukraine and in fact the worst thing that could happen in many senses is that you korean knowledge signs this economic deal because if it did a live free movement of labor it would be chaos for europe as usual the european union a super state of humbug and hypocrisy well as the antigovernment protests in ukrainian

capital grows so do the rallies in support of blocking the trade deal with the thousands of pro-government activists descended on the capital and towns across the east of the country to make their voice heard and recent polls suggest ukraine sharply divided on the issue of e.u. integration more than seventy percent of people in the west of the country favor the deal but that figure drops to about thirty in the east analysts believe a revolution is unlikely but if it did happen those in the east would take action to support the government. if there is 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 would 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 attempts at the violent overthrow of the government there would be definitely a very sizable 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. meanwhile the raf is the upcoming so-called million man march could become thirty grand for a pate of last weekend's violent arrest that we can see here both the government and the opposition agree the riots were deliberately instigated but they differ on who is behind them don't you mcadams is executive director of the rumpole institute

a think tank and he says such provocation is part of a pattern often used in kill attempts. we see a pattern here of of escalation in provocation we've seen it before in these previous revolutions i think really the protesters on the ground they had a very large product provocation a few nights ago and they were using chains and tractors and of course the police as police do everywhere reacted with violence the u.s. has counseled nonviolence but what would happen if someone drove a tractor and tried to drive it into the white house lawn you're going to tell me that there wouldn't be violence against the hundred thousand people trying to break into the white house so everywhere governments would normally protect their buildings up anything all the political problems rupturing ukraine there are even more pressing economic ones later today on r.t. venture capital with k.t. pilbeam reveals just how close the country is to going under and the ramifications of its predicament. is cause them abasing the protesters have nonetheless

managed to again hold work at a fracking site in northeast remain near the shale gas well was being developed by us energy giant chevron with an army of police to ensure security but the locals who make up some of europe's poorest were horrified at the prospect of thousands of tons of toxins being pumped into the land which provides their only livelihoods you see calf enough is there for a. 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 they do from around the beef 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 forests 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. of a camel they could compete you destroy if we just want to protect what's important . 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 for five one i was punched in the face it was humiliating rumanian but the police treated us like criminals i felt my group was thrown down to do for the retired ourselves together to form a human chain they were kicking ass and beating us with their bottoms i was kicked

here there's another religion who's in hospital now because of how hard they hit 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 at an end but demonstrators continued to get taken away in this car in some ways it's a case of david a 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 work looks set to go on reporting and put in jest romania for r.t.e. and lucy catherine. bond on top of chemical pollution and water contamination fracking is also being blamed for causing earthquakes on r.t. dot com you can read texas communities are being rocked by unexplained tremors which locals insist are done to fracking.

sunday is a day of prayer and reflection in south africa in memory of former president nelson mandela who died on thursday poor asleep in our reports on how his life was a long walk from being labeled a terrorist to becoming the world's most respected freedom fighter. he's the man who pulled a troubled and divided land back from the brink of civil war the man who after twenty seven tough years behind bars walked free from prison in his heart was not revenge but i think that 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 nelson mandela been either a struggle. erratic or. someone who. embrace violence and 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 wasted put on trial and sentenced 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 trial the rivonia trial as they went from being the accused of being people 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 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. well nelson mandela had a knack for inspirational and eloquent comments and we've put together some of the ones rarely seen elsewhere at r.t. dot com look at the iconic leaders thoughts on america's influence in the world the invasion of iraq and the israeli palestinian conflict still ahead for you this hour the u.k. is ramping up the pressure on journalists working to expose britain's pivotal role in global surveillance. if you. want to get

down to. the editor of the newspaper the forefront of the spying expose a is called to a terrorism hearing facing some seemingly far fetched accusations but also right sympathy. to be kidnapped in syria appear on video saying they are being treated well by the rebels but middle east watches tell r.t. it's hard to believe that the anti assad fighters are entirely the good guys we've got the details right. 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 the way they

communicate through the way the present themselves to the wall to crimean they need we need respect to live from oh you know kind of government's word to recognize this government which recollected the from the people actually. presented it from the palestinian people themselves respect what china says respect i what i would believe someone needs someone right.

welcome back now a group of syrian nuns who went missing after rebels captured the christian village of malaria have made contact with the world saying that they were not kidnapped but were in fact rescued from a shelling attack their video statement has raised questions though with many suspects in the women we're speaking under duress i'm more right or a journalist who has been to syria several times and has met with christians there doesn't buy claims of the rebels good intentions. we have to see that. doesn't have a military strategic well you but it has a symbolic well you it is a very old it's an ancient christian pilgrimage with a very modest three so when we see now that reveal where the nun sarsfield when this one man is telling that they are treated well and all like this we shouldn't

forget that the shelling the attack 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 of course they are saying we are treated well we get good food we should look on the facts on the verified facts what we see is that. was the text right now the second time within several weeks. gyptian zaf feeling the impact of a new regulation restricting public rallies two leading revolutionaries are standing trial charged with taking part in illegal gatherings we report from cairo later this hour. it emerged this week this week is in on the n.s.a. spying game what's more it's

a key piece of peeking through the kremlin's keyhole swedish t.v. reported fresh leaks from edward snowden the stock own had fed intelligence from russia's leadership and energy giants to the united states here's what the chief editor of the news program that broke the story told r.t. earlier about their findings we have revealed the. very close relationship between. authority f.r.a. and 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. 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 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 so that's the only comment we have received so far. the best to get a journalist duncan campbell says sweden has historically helped the us previously of their citizens in neighboring states in the process. sweden always had a lot of a covert intelligence relationship with them where still in the years of the cold war. they being tempted secretly and to go to the club of the big

spies 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 money of foreign citizens sweden was the largest collaborator in europe with free internet tapping program run by the private eyes group of being restricting countries. so it does so because of its. direct access to cable for the volt to them it's no surprise that you see it few and i say with one half as well as everything else you can take from st. well across the north sea the editor of britain's guardian newspaper was grilled at the terra hearing this week for publishing stories exposing the scale of global surveillance which the u.k. is no small part of the government accuses the paper of encouraging terrorism by revealing how they're being spied on but journalistically mady 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 of 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. some of today's brody's headlines now inspectors from the united nations nuclear agency are touring the heavy water reactor in the uranium town of iraq if a city is significant because if completed it could potentially be used to process plutonium a key step in making nuclear weapons a six month agreement signed a fortnight ago gave to iran a partial lifting of sanctions in exchange for a freeze of some of its nuclear activity. a series of attacks across the iraqi

capital has killed at least thirty three people and wounded ninety the attacks struck into shiite muslim suburbs in the west of baghdad in the car and detonated near a crowded market there when she had admitted responsibility for the explosions this year has been one of the most deadly in iraq and it r.t. dot com we do have an online project at the moment that documents the civilian cost since the american led intervention. the long arm of the law has reached the leaders of the revolution that toppled hosni mubarak in egypt three years ago they are now standing trial under a new law banning unauthorized protests true has the details from cairo. two leading secular activists are with me here and they're being charged with illegally protesting and for allegedly assaulting police officers in demonstrations last month the two men who were prominent voices in the january two thousand level revolution among the first to be tried for the offense related to egypt's new

controversial protest it was in force by the government last month and bans all rallies over ten people from gathering without permission to 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 their police force and they will give security forces a cop launched 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 backed by the military and 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 but with many here and dahmer on trial is showing that the government is widely is cracked down to include all forms of dissent even people here in egypt to be the country is returning to a police state. now some are hailing it is a financial phenomenon while others have their downs islands' economy showing

cautious growth after being thrown into economic turmoil back in two thousand and eight and this follows measures that europe's financial chiefs condemned is suicidal so let's have a quick look at what they did instead of trying to bail out its banks iceland's government let them collapse it also refused to provide any compensation for foreign savers after icelanders delivered a resigned being no vote to their proposal the government did a quarter of the population by waving unpayable debt said also the banking executives that were guilty of causing the financial crisis in the first place or professor of binary economics rodney shakespeare believes iceland is setting a remarkable example. you must rely on your own national bank for your own uses for your own real economy and for the spreading and if you don't do that you'll be trapped into debt in the same way that what you got greece you've

got iceland which you've got every country in the world is being tracked into increasing debt and all that happens is that they increase the levels of the debt and smash the populations down we need a revolt against this global financial system and in its own way iceland is setting a reasonable example thank you iceland all the staging because it's worlds apart at next. ukraine is in a tough spot right now trying to figure out whether to join the e.u. or the arrangements 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 politicians will 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 in 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 we 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.