spanish find out more visit. you're watching r.t. tonight an ultimatum for ukraine's president his voice that of massive protests in the capital where the opposition hopes to gather a million man march and lay siege to the government of course at these live pictures you're seeing now from. fighting the flames of foreign politicians with arden statement supporting the opposition some even coming to spur on the anti-government mood. you know the new series of clashes of the shale gas site in romania seize all giant chevron suspend operations again offering a brief rest by then to villagers who say fracking will destroy their livelihoods. day of prayer for south africans for their former leader an international symbol of peace nelson mandela we look at how he overcame pitted to rishon from country to

the now queuing up to mourn. the scowling scandinavians it emerges that sweden buddied up with america's n.s.a. to listen across russia's leadership and also major firms that's in the program. why from the outside you center at ten pm here in moscow it's kevin and we do this our weekly the round up of the top stories of the last seven days and first one ongoing right now in fact at least one hundred thousand people have gathered in the ukrainian capital for major antigovernment protest the opposition's warning that this rally is the last chance as they put it for the government and for the president where the latest his pull scott. there's a still ambiguity over the exact figures but some of the certainty is that thousands to still remain in the square behind me despite the bitterly cold

conditions on this also no one said to take over the key demands of the opposition as well heavyweight boxing champion batali klitschko taking to the stage behind me and urging the protest and the protesters to remain peaceful was similar ten years later giving the government an ultimatum but i have to say despite klitschko schools we can pull this evening the masked men carrying nationalistic flyer pull down a statue a monumental lenin and smashed it with sledgehammers elsewhere today there are a number of key demands being outlined by the opposition as part of that ultimatum these include the fact that protesters should be released any protesters who've been arrested throughout the course of these demonstrations on those that come down violently on the protesters last weekend should be punished and other key demands include the resignation of president viktor yanukovych china's government and an immediate election now on their part the opposition opposition have called for

a nationwide general strike and they continue to surround the blockade key governmental departmental ministers have buildings here in the center of kiev for their part the ukrainian security services say they're investigating what they are calling an attempt to seize power in the country and it's also emerged on sunday that the e.u. foreign policy representative catherine ashton is set to visit kiev later this week to try and find a political solution to the crisis on the whole movement really has been boyd's choice support from european officials as my colleague arena galicia now reports the only way in is not the only way your neighbor is seeing anti-government anger on its street but first time reason cleaves independence square has captured the minds of not politicians from here and the u.s. we have. seen a veritable parade of them here one summer running out was where the opposition leaders are and sometimes it'll take you to the states to speak for the crowds and

yet few seem to have made the past to hear it from both sides from the country's leaders and their supporters. from an assistant to a 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 which are all civil society and democrat hugo blue suit you need to have a possibility for the nation to express who we are and saudis which means 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 the president because he can acquire each to admit his been beaten this is clear interference in internal affairs arsalan hodge and they're not even hiding the more so this is something that should be unacceptable as a democratic 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 rules 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. early in the week the government survived a no confidence vote in the ukrainian parliament. which was defeated by the democratic process opposition m.p.'s went on to block the stage and stalling parliament. outside protest leaders called on people to take over as many civic

offices as possible the idea of the whole process of walking is to show that ukrainians are ready to be part of europe and they can protest a peaceful european matter and of course majority of the people are trying to keep it civil or keeping it peaceful but what exactly will happen later in the day we have yet to find out. or let's go live now to walk for to hear from history professor mark owen on the situation in ukraine get his thoughts about it either mark evening to you only earlier on today with the german a chance for the french foreign minister saying they quote meet with ukrainian opposition leader vitaly klitschko and support his presidential ambitions that congress sounds like as far as they see it an exit for yet a code which is a done deal no. well i think they hope so yes and i think this is what is deeply problematic because in addition to the double standards that european leaders are showing when very little has taken place in care for could remotely justify foreign intervention there's been no deaths have been

a few. heads hit with truncheons but when we think about the deaths of place in other countries where the european leaders ignored it or even clue did with the regimes that did this in egypt for instance back in the summer when the pup's thousand people killed it's very striking the double standard and i think this is also a threat to our democracy domestically and in the european union countries if crowds on the street are to determine that a government that may be unpopular in midterm should fall where does that stop if that crowd is stimulated with foreign support foreign cash i'm in my side i'm afraid so my misspent youth used to help take money and computers missiles equipment to dissidents in eastern europe so i know that perhaps the fairytale picture of just the people rising up rather overlooks about how the people are stimulated to rise up how there is a media campaign how there is a support basis that requires money for instance that comes i'm afraid from the european union countries and we made part and as you said you see this constant

stream of e.u. official supporting the anti-government rallies but it makes you wonder why are they focusing their attention on you seem so many rallies recently spain italy greece the list goes on here all those countries currently struggling in the e.u. with so many problems of their own what they focusing on that instead why all play . well of course first of all because that would admit that a lot of the policies that they support impulses by the way they wish to impose on the ukraine very stringent austerity policies hikes in the price of gas like christians over forty percent those are deeply unpopular inside europe and they are in a sense saying that we are still representing some kind of ideals abroad in ukraine and i think this is again it's double standards and so the hypocrisy obviously is terribly displeasing but it also masks this problem of. temped for the ordinary people because once you say that what should determine who rules is the crowd in the street not the ballot box then of course in almost any society the reasons why fifty seventy thousand people might be discontented with the government might go

into the streets if they get sympathetic coverage in the media you can inflate the numbers to two hundred thousands but even hundreds of thousands only a small number of countries forty six million people and i think whether it's ukraine today whether it could be it a little spring tomorrow once you start saying that the ballot box can be trumped by the street that is a deep threat to democracy far from promoting european values of democracy and the rule of law we seem to be willing to throw them out a window in order to get our man into power a rocky path as you say i'm afraid when he got time for that quick chat tonight but it was nice to see him our common thanks very much ok thank you. political and financial commentator patrick spoke to sell it to he believes the politicians in kiev are more concerned about their own image than ukraine all the unions well being any piece 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 ukraine not signs this economic deal because if it did ally free movement of labor it would be chaos for europe as usual the european union a super state of humbug and hypocrisy. really party fishel meantime are urging the protestors to go home saying their blockade of the administrative buildings is preventing the approval of the twenty fourteen budget now that could impact on state salaries and pensions across the country so far though there's no sign of those rallies abating thousands of pro-government activists descended on the capital and towns meantime across the east of the country to make their voices

heard as well in opposition recent polls suggest ukraine is sharply divided on the issue of e.u. integration this is how it pans out look at the news wall there more than seventy percent of people in the west of the country favor a trade deal with europe but as a sound that figure drops to just closer to thirty percent in the east analysts believe a revolution is unlikely but if it did happen those in the east would be likely to support the government if there is a pro e.u. neo 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 the e.u. package they would of course they will never join the e.u. itself they would lose customs privileges in russia and their industrial goods which are still being exported to russia in increasing quantities would suddenly

become thirty five percent more expensive which would price them out of the market in the same time i doubt very much that e.u. countries will suddenly express an interest in buying. real goods so even if the reason attempt 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. but when he thought the political problems rupture in ukraine there are even more pressing economic ones in just about two hours time here tonight on r.t. venture capital katie pilbeam reveals just how close the country is to going under and the ramifications of its predicament to. its cost from a beating but pretty poll work again at a fracking site in northeast romania the shell gas well was being developed by us

and he joined 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 very land that provides the only livelihoods lucy caffein off 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 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 but if you have run 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. ivanovitch they could compute you destroy if we just want to protect what's important. an island 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 like we were thrown down there for good but the retired 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 is 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 continue 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 and put in just romania for r.t. and lucy catherine. well on top of the chemical pollution of the water contamination fracking is also playing because an earthquake two on a website called read how texas communities most recently have been rocked by and explain tremors which the locals insist down to for. sunday's a day of prayer and reflection in south africa remembering a former president nelson mandela who died on thursday paula slayer reports next on

how his life was a long walk from being labeled a terrorist at one point to becoming the world's most respected freedom fighter. 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 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 timelessly 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. 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 be 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 gentleman 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. nelson mandela knack for inspirational eloquent comments too we put some of those together some of the ones are rarely seen elsewhere on our website r.t. got dot com they can look at the iconic leaders thoughts on america's influence on the world also the invasion of iraq and the israeli palestinian conflict r.t. dot com. still ahead for you this was me cavanagh in the u.k. is ramping up the pressure on journalists working to expose britain's pivotal role in global surveillance. if you. would do it from some but it does it for a shoot to the dogs well the editor of the newspaper the forefront of a spy expose a cold to a terrorism hearing facing some seemingly far fetched accusations but also receiving our sympathy to. the story been covering all week those numbers thought

kidnapped in syria now appear on a video in the last twenty four hours saying the big treated well by the rebels but at least watches tell it to you it's hard to believe that the fighters are entirely the good guys you see if you talk about that right after this quick break. 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 do want to communicate need we need respectful of from oh you know kind of governments good to recognize this government which recollected a from the people actually. presented from the palestinian people themselves

respect our choices respect what i would believe someone meet someone right. i guess as mentioned before the break up if you know in the story been covering all week the group of serial nuns were missing after rebels captured the christian village of. well have now made contact with the world saying they weren't kidnapped

but were rescued from a shelling attack the video statements raise questions that would many suspected we were speaking of juris when you look so right as a journalist who's been to syria several times he's also met christians there he doesn't buy claims of the rebels good intentions but we have to see that. it doesn't have a military strategic well you would but it is a symbolic well you it is a very old it's an ancient christian pilgrimage with a very modest three so when we see know where the one star filled when this one is telling that they are treated well and there's 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 little sleep you will saw kidnap christians of course they are saying we are treated well

we get good food we should look on the facts on that verify it fits what we see is that. was the text right now the second time within several weeks. keep you posted of those numbers going on we'll bring you up to speed just ahead iraq continues its deadly downward swing dozens of people killed as bombs exploded marketplaces and shops across the capital and that to us tells us how that compares to life under saddam hussein just a bit later this hour. the big story emerging this we could emerge that sweden is in on the n.s.a. spying game what's more it's accused of peeking through the kremlin's keyhole to swedish t.v. reported freshly made snowden that stock would fed intelligence from russia's leadership and also energy giants all to the united states is what the chief editor of the news program that broke that story told us earlier about the findings we have revealed that. a very close relationship between the swedish defense

radio authority f.r.a. and their 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. 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. meantime across the north sea the editor of britain's guardian newspaper was grilled of a terror hearing this last week for publishing stories exposing the scale of global surveillance which the u.k. was no small part of the government accuses the paper of encouraging terrorism by revealing how we're being spied on but journalist glenn moodie believes it's all part of a public flogging campaign it's theatre 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 tying in with all this over a web site r.t. dot com when your image is battered is the n.s.a. should think it want to downplay the dragnet well this is how the u.s. intelligence community guards its latest secret surveillance mission it is logan real seeing up to first gobbling up the world the reader more about that song line also whistleblowers waiting game after clocking up for years now in britain under house arrest and an asylum in embassies political asylum watch dot com look for why julie the site still hasn't been charged. for. a series of bombings and shootings across the iraqi capital killed at least thirty nine people and wounded ninety the deadliest attack was in the shiite suburb of baghdad where a car bomb went off near a workshop iraqi analyst and peace activist and says the situation's worse for many than it was under former dictator saddam hussein. 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 who did die because there was no no not enough clean water i'm sure on a lot of diseases called a sanctions imposed by the united states but there were basic services that people have to work and it's not a lot of a situation now where after ten years. your patient eleven years and. there are no basic services. international next though after the break xander boy could talk so does a spokes person about the role of commerce in kick starting the peace process with israel. 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 a 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 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 for years israel has used the believe tour and rhetoric over tammy's to justify its own military actions a policy that was recently dealt a blow iran's switch from accusations to negotiations securing a lot of market nuclear deal isn't it time for.