in a record setting trip. there. your numbers for the. olympic torch relay. aren't you argue. with a little bit of. an ultimatum from ukraine's president his voice today massive protest in the capital where the opposition hopes to gather a million man march and lay siege to the government quarter these are live pictures you're watching from kiev. and fanning the flames of foreign politicians with ardent statements supporting the opposition some even coming to kiev to the anti-government movement. remaining villages back chevron's fracking advances with weeks of violent clashes forcing new york giants and its police back up to suspend operations for

a second time. press. for their former leader an international symbol of peace nelson mandela we look at how he overcame bitter derision from countries who are now queuing to mourn him. and of this scandinavians it emerges this weekend buddied up with america's n.s.a. across russia's leadership. are you watching r t international with me. tens of thousands have gathered in the ukrainian capital for a major anti-government protest the opposition call it the last chance and hope for at least a million people to show up. is in kiev. ambiguity over the exact

figures but the certainty that thousands still remain in the square behind me despite the bitterly cold conditions and also no uncertainty over the demands issued by the opposition heavyweight boxing world champion vitaly klitschko urging the protest on the protesters to remain peaceful while simle taney asli giving an ultimatum to the government now the ultimatum contained can demands these demands are the release of all price protesters who have been arrested over the course of these demonstrations punishment for those who violently clamp down on the demonstrations last weekend the resignation of president viktor yanukovych and his government and an early election now one opposition leader has even gone as far as to suggest that if those key demands are met within forty eight hours the protests is should march on the private private residence of president yana kovac there are also reports emerging locally that the key opposition figures have divided up key roles in any future possible interim government and the ukrainian security services

for their part of launch an investigation into what it calls an attempt to seize power in the country for now the opposition has called a nationwide general strike on protesters continue to blockade and surround key administrative governmental buildings here in the center of kiev authorities are urging protesters to go home and stop hindering the work of government but the whole movement this weekend really has been boid by further support from key european officials as my colleague arena reports the rain is not the only one neighbor seeing and government anger on its street but for some reason cleaves independence square has captured the minds of not politicians from here up and view west we have seen a veritable parade of them here are some running out was where the opposition leader isn't even sometimes take 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 in

their supporters ah right. as 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 share 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 coverage to make concessions and current members of the european parliament which of course civil society and democratic opposition in its claim to have a possibility for the nation to express its will in four days which means early 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 now with all the people there interest first with the not so subtle calls for president the king of college to admit his been beaten this is clear where appearances mean total fear is arsalan conscious and they're not even

hiding the more so this is something that should be unacceptable. about them i think stan 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 meeting with opposition members is one thing but taking part in rallies that's interference in domestic affairs the mission early in the week the government survived a no confidence vote in the ukrainian parliament was which emerged. defeated by the democratic 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 fueled meddling to boost an opposition. a different axe to grind really goes go r t. and in the latest development ukraine security service says it started an investigation into what he calls an attempt to seize power from the ukrainian government well as for the interest from abroad political and financial commentator patrick young told me earlier that the e.u. politicians in kiev are more concerned about their own image than ukraine or the union's welby m.e.p. its 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 you is trying to be seen or wrong 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 where is the anti-government protests in the 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 in towns across the east of the country to make their voices heard recent polls suggest ukraine is 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 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 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. beneath

all the political problems rupturing crane there are even more pressing economic ones the next hour here in r.t. venture capital with katie pill being reveals just how close the country is to going under and the ramifications of its predicament. is costing the basing but protesters have nonetheless managed to again whole work at a fracking site in northeast remaining in the shale gas well was being developed by u.s. 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 own legal livelihoods you see catherine of is there for r.t. . 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 price. protection called twenty four or 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 you from 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 vassily. 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 while i was punched in the face it was humiliating rumanian but the police treated us like criminals i felt my group was slowing down . 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 what began as a peaceful demonstration was broken up by force another arrest the protests started in and 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 are already here and the work looks set to go on reporting input in jest romania

for r t m d c cafe. on top of chemical pollution and water contamination fracking is also being blamed for causing earthquakes and not so you don't call me you can read high tech says 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 islay reports now on how his life was a long war 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 walks 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 in need of a struggle. a radical. someone. in braced 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 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 flour. is around your neck one day and a rope the next point r t johannesburg south africa nelson mandela did have 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 this hour the case of ramping up the pressure on journalists working to expose britain's pivotal role in global surveillance. if you learn about the enigma code during world war two would you put it down as it were a sheet of the notes. the editor of the newspaper the forefront of the spying expose a call to a terrorism hearing facing some seemingly fall fetched accusations but also write sympathy. also egyptians are feeling the impacts of a new regulation restricting public rallies two leading revolutionaries standing trial charged with taking part in an illegal gatherings we report from colorado.

well again it emerged this week this week is in on the n.s.a. spying game what's more it's the keys of peeking through the kremlin scahill swedish t.v. reported fresh leaks from edward snowden stockholm had fed intelligence from russia's leadership and energy giants to be united states here's what the chief editor of the needs program that broke the story told r.t. yearly about their findings we have revealed that. the very close relationship between the swedish defense radio 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 they're talking about classic intelligence and they also mentioning cables the spokesman of f.r.a. didn't give any comments but. asked about being. seen as a leading partner that's the way that spell it in these documents for a is the leading partner to n.s.a. then he says ok that's flattering he say's so that's the only comment we have

received so far. well across the north sea the editor of britain's guardian newspaper was grilled at a terry 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 are being spied on but journalistically moody 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 and the government that's saying we shouldn't do that eleven separate attacks across the iraqi capital have killed at least thirty nine

people and wounded ninety the deadliest blast struck in a shiite suburb in the west of baghdad when a car bomb was detonated near a car workshops violence has escalated these here with more than eight thousand five hundred people killed with me now is author and iraqi activist. thank you very much for coming on to the program now these attacks were mostly carried out in sheer areas is this violence only affecting that particular religious group. i think this is a bit of a hoax i mean the attacks are carried out against shia communities and sunni communities i would like to refer to. a message. we last week. that. big capital and sunni arab parts of northern and western iraq have borne the brunt

of the upswing in bloodshed so it's clear that not only. it's the sunni and shia the iraqi people started as a whole because they're not satisfied with mr malise handling the security they're not satisfied with. the services that don't exist and she was attacked special what is special about this is. there seems to be a return of the counterinsurgency all of the. you know was brought to iraq by the rails in two thousand and five to seven in the same press release from a.f.p. he said the most troubling bloodshed came early friday which is dirty november when authorities discovered the village of eighteen men including two tribal

chieftains along in a farm near the sunni arab army. can i start and i and i get certainly get the line of what you are saying that it can i just ask you this is happening at a time when the justice minister has said he's looking to allow different areas interact in posts you're a law do you think the country's politics is becoming more fundamentalist. you know you know the fundamentalists regimes are best friends the united states look at sobibor a view of the gulf states and so on so. because apparently they listen to the. united states the same happened in libya same happening in syria. so the sharia law. that is being imposed now jaafari. in shiite areas. have already been complaining about the religious leaders and not just so. the shia leaders themselves and not just are not defending the

ministry of justice or we all running out of time here but i would just like to ask you one other thing i mean you have spent time in iraq when saddam hussein was in charge how would you compare the country now it's what it was like then. well we're not around during the time of the sanctions you know that the harshest sanctions and these three are. after six months after the bombings in ninety one there was electricity there was telephone again there was a fair distribution. russians so people didn't die of hunger people died because there was no no not enough clean water i'm sure on a lot of diseases going about a sanctions imposed by the united states but there were basic services that people have work and it's not like the situation where after ten years. occupation eleven years and. that there are no basic services there. we understand

i certainly get the drift of what you were saying there but i'm afraid mr rankin since we have an active time but thank you very much for giving us your thoughts and i'll say the same thing thank you. 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 may have been 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 trying to do 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 information in 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 their police force and they will give security forces a copy 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 backed by the military and defending the legislation saying it's essential to restore law and order and also to help egypt's talked of 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. a russian proton rocket carrying a british telecommunications satellite has successfully blasted off from the baikonur cosmodrome in kazakhstan the process consists of several stages and is expected to be completed fifteen hours after launch the satellite will be used by

a british company to provide global voice and high speed data communications you have heard such satellite launched with the help of a. boy on board. next to look at the emotional trauma suffered by american families of servicemen who lost their loved ones to so-called friendly fire. 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 of 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 some 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 storming 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 research of dr scott's a retired lieutenant colonel in the harvard business school highlights the difficulties in determining both the cause of and criminal culpability in friendly fire incidents so friendly fire have

a perverse relationship with friendly fire paratrooper and eighty second airborne division was a victim of friendly fire in operation urgent fury in grenada and so for years this was ninety three i had a perverse sense of curiosity how could sometimes some of the best trained best equipped people in the world sometimes fall short of the mark in his book friendly fire dr smoke and. esta gates an encounter in a no fly zone in which two u.s. f. fifteen fighters shot down two u.s. army black hawk helicopters instantly killing twenty six u.n. peacekeepers this happened in one thousand nine hundred four full three years after the end of the first gulf war it was not a high shooting war going around there's not a lot of bad guys running around on the ground there aren't a lot of enemy planes flying around near broad daylight unlimited visibility relatively benign conditions and it's on camp lane this one in the fog of war on the call sheet that morning the two f. fifteen pilots were briefed that they would be the first aircraft.