this is r t this morning ultimatum for ukraine's president voiced a massive protest in the capital where the opposition hope to gather a million man march and lay siege to the government quarter. and fanning the flames of foreign politicians with obvious statement supporting the opposition some even coming to kiev to spur the anti-government movement. more than big headlines us all joined chevron resumes really near a village in romania where furious locals have been engaged in fighting against the fracking site that they say destroyed their livelihoods. the day of prayer for south africans for their former leader an international symbol of peace nelson mandela we look at how we have attained within the region from countries with

queuing to. talk to about the scanning scandinavians that emerges that sweden buddied up with america's n.s.a. to listen across russia's leadership and also some major to. why for moscow this is the weekly roundup of the big stories of the last seven days here on out international my name is kevin owen good to have you with us our top story then at least one hundred thousand people have gathered in the ukraine ian capital this last evening for a major anti-government protest the opposition's warning that this rally is the last chance as they put it for the government and the president paul scott's. there's a still ambiguity over the exact figures but some of the certainty is that thousands do still remain in the square behind me despite the bitterly cold conditions and

there's also are no one certainty 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 a symbol ten years late 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 have 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 yushchenko vagina'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 that 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 and the whole movement really has been boid by support from european officials as my colleague arena galicia now reports the only way in is not the only one neighbor seeing on the government's anger on its street but for some reason cleaves independence square has captured the minds of not politicians from europe and the u.s. we have. in a variable rate of member here one summer we're running out what's with the opposition leaders they are in sometimes or they can do this all day to speak for the crowds and get

a 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 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 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 coach to make concessions and current members of the european parliament we support civil society and democratic opposition 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 from the president because going to college to admit has been beaten this is

clear appearance in the internal affairs of arsalan hodge and they're not even hiding the more so this is something that's 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 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 removed from. defeated by the democratic process opposition m.p.'s. went home to block the stage installing 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 in peaceful european natter 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. that owner sports journalist neil clark compose the mass protests in ukraine to those in turkey this year and sees a striking difference there for the use approach hundreds of thousands of people protesting not just in the capital but throughout turkey and it was much more national protest this protest in ukraine is very much approaches in the western ukraine and we didn't get that we didn't get international going out to. show solidarity for anybody from the e.u. really that the protesters in turkey were peaceful they would go with great brutality by the police there were no calls for them to be arrested to be to be degree talent you want them to be sacked as always easy crazy. rhapsody clarity to go on the streets of brighton demonstrate here the spine of european courage.

turkey you know they don't hear it in spain they don't say the double standards are absolutely outrageous or. clarke there will really party officials are urging the protestors to go home for their part saying their blockade of the administrative buildings is now preventing the approval of the twenty fourteen budget and that could have an impact on state salaries and pensions across the country so far there is no sign of those rallies abating early this evening thousands of pro-government activists meantime descended on the capital in towns across the east of the country to make their voices heard they want the opposite recent polls suggest ukraine then is sharply divided on the issue of e.u. integration this is how it's panning out of the moment more than seventy percent of people in the west of the country favorite trade deal with europe but that figure dropped sharply down to just below thirty percent in the east now analysts believe the revolutions unlikely but if it happened those in the east they say would be likely to support the government if the reason 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 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 and their 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 same time i doubt very much that e.u. countries will certainly express an interest in buying ukraine real goods so even if there is an 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. well believe all

the political problems rupturing ukraine or even more current pressing economic concerns cascade appear before venture capital bit later today on r.t. when she explained just how close the country is to going under right now and the ramifications and of its predicament. in more news this week despite violent clashes between locals and the authorities operations of memory started yesterday at that fracking site in northeast romania there's been a development there the shale gas wells 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 been pumped into the very land that provides their only livelihoods . 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 the show overall. 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 just 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 the silly. people with them they could compute you destroy us 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 after one man i was punched in the face it was humiliating rumanian but the police treated us like criminals i felt like we were thrown down. we tired 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 are at an end 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 m d c catherine and on top of the chemical felician on top of the water contamination fracking is also blamed for causing earthquakes too when we did more about it on our web site you can read how texas communities so recently two of three rock unexplained tremors were locals are insisting that. sunday's been a day of prayer and reflection in south africa a memory of former president nelson mandela who died on thursday paula slater next reports on how is life was a long walk from being labeled at one point a terrorist to becoming the world's most respected freedom fighter. he's the man who had a troubled and divided land back on 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 and 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 leader of the struggle. a radical. someone. an 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 arrested 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 are 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 was standing up merely for the rights of others and it slowly turned 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. a face that will be sorely missed well now. for inspirational and eloquent comments we put

together some of the ones that are rarely seen elsewhere on our website. but you can take a look at the iconic leaders thoughts on america's influence on the world the invasion of iraq and the israeli palestinian conflict with want to check it out. case ramping up the pressure on journalists working to expose britain's pivotal role in global surveillance. if you. will want to do it from some as it comes into race coming up said the editor of the newspaper at the forefront of the expose a call to a terrorism hearing facing some seemingly far fetched accusations but also right sympathy to report on that updating on the story been covering always thought kidnapped in syria and now in the last twenty four hours appeared on video saying the big treated well by the rebels but middle east watches have been speaking to us that it's hard to believe that the n.t. is said fighters are entirely the good guys here so after the break.

quite often countries rich in natural resources are the poorest africa's a colony it's a colony of the big corporations it's a colony of someone's home leaders who are under the thumbs of the big corporations so they have to beg from the world bank's development of social programs goes to pay back debts whole country is drowning under the amount of debt that they did and so every year they would borrow money. and they would use that same amount of money to pay back. all that money really. the wages of debt. choose your language. we could know if things. the consensus.

choose to get to. choose the stories that if you. choose access to. a group of syrian nuns were missing off the rebels captured the christian village of milou love made contact with the world saying they were not kidnapped but were rescued from a shelling attack now the video statements raise questions that with many suspecting the women were speaking under duress the new locks and wife is a journalist who's been to syria several times has met with christians there he doesn't buy claims of the rebels good intentions. we have to see that. doesn't have a military strategic well you butted heads a symbolic well you would it's a very old it's an ancient christian pilgrimage with

a very old monastery so when we see now that we all wear the nonstarter film when this one 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 a couple of the it's really all sort of kidnap christians of course they are saying we are treated well we get good food we should look on the facts on the very fight facts what we see is that. was attacked right now the second time within several weeks. iraq continues its deadly downward swing dozens of people have been killed as bombs exploded marketplaces there and shops to across the capital and activists speaks was bit later tells us how it compares now to life of then under saddam

hussein it's a bit later this. next big story that came out of the we could emerge that sweden is in all the n.s.a. spying game what's more it's accused of peeking through the kremlin is keyhole to swedish t.v. reported fresh legs made snowden that stock which fed intelligence from russia's leadership and also energy giants to the united states this is what the chief editor of the news program the broke the story told r.t. earlier about the findings we have revealed that. a 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. 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 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 investigative journalist duncan campbell says sweep the story help the u.s. with intelligence betraying the privacy of their citizens and neighboring states in the process. sweden always had a lot of a covert intelligence relationship with the west using the years of the cold war.

being tempted secretly in to the club of the big spies in which they are for the two goodies to give to their prime minister in return for betraying we receive in security of all of their neighbors and many of their own citizens sweden was the largest collaborative in europe which the internet tapping program run by every prime drives group of being we speaking countries. and so it does so because of its kind of direct access because for the votes you can it's no surprise that you see it skewed and i say with one half as well as everything else you can take from. me to cross the north sea the editor of britain's guardian newspaper was grilled terror here in this past week for publishing stories exposing the scale of global surveillance which the u.k.'s no small part of the government accuses the paper of encouraging terrorism by revealing how the big spied on the journal is good modi

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. elected his whole story get me to check out a website today when your image is battered those the n.s.a. should think wouldn't you would want to downplay the dragnet her you know this is how the u.s. intelligence community regards its latest secret surveillance mission in fact a logo of an angry all seeing up to person gobbling up the world with more time on the whistleblowers waiting game after clocking up three years no time flown in

britain under house arrest and at embassies political asylum we look at why julian assange still hasn't been charged. a series of bombings and shootings across the iraqi capital of killed at least thirty nine wounded ninety the deadliest attack was in the shia suburb of baghdad where a car bomb went off near a workshop or a catalyst of peace activist gejdenson says the situation's worse for many now 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 did die because there was no no not enough clean water and so on a lot of diseases go about a sanctions imposed by the united states but there were basic services that people have to work and it's not like the situation now where after ten years. your

patient eleven years and. there are no basic services. it's exactly one twenty five am here in moscow you're watching r t international company tonight hopefully i'll see you again some point next week. it will be news next know ahead why some of africa's economies are still up against the wall despite years of large scale foreign aid which one of the most questions the next. just imagine of foreign leaders like alexander lukashenko or vladimir putin to shoot up an anti e.u. protest and greece are hungry to urge people to leave the e.u. and join up with the eurasian customs union obviously the media would be on fire screaming that this is part of an attempt to usurp democracy and steal the country's away some sort of imperialist agenda and you know what they might be

right about that but the weird thing is that for some reason the mainstream media isn't talking about foreign politicians speaking to and or possibly agitating protesters in ukraine like speaker of the lithuanian parliament loreto grows in india and e.u. vice president got sick put to sea of each and former polish pm jaroslav kaczynski he had the european union brassfield is just fine for their politicians to go to foreign countries and fire up protestors to start a pro e.u. revolution but then all their journalists write about is how russia is trying to put pressure on ukraine to not join the e.u. the obvious hypocrisy of this stinks all the way up to moscow but the shust by pain . so the lesson we teach to the world is that the best way to defend yourself is to get yourself a nuclear weapon and of course the biggest culprit of using nuclear weapons and producing nuclear weapons and weapons about struction is my birthplace of the

united states and i find it absolutely insane that we sit here and talk about iran suppose and. weapons program where you know the united states is producing every kind of weapon under the sun is spending more than every other military on the planet combined and it's involved in more war and more death and more suffering than every other nation combined and yet it's sitting there on a pedestal talking about other nations developing weapons of mass destruction it is insane that we even allow them to do this the first nation that needs to disarm without question is the united states. advent to do last year twenty two million hc tesco fertile arab stolen from african farmers by sea declare the woods it was handed over to board by a hedge funds and multinational societies we. so when the world bank says yes we have to encourage foreign investment. to give this pool exploited african

land rights to the fruit farms in ma say. or to new york hedge funds. did you order because then they are capable of making this land profitable now that is a motorists argument for the farmers who work locally. to process i think for a country to make the best use of those resources that it has in abundance and to. given the limits of its own domestic market of course to export those resources in order to generate wealth and that's a strategy that a number of not just african countries but countries in throughout the world that have done very well by. so i wouldn't look at it in the narrow perspective of just been able to reimburse death debt but in fact as

a way of generating wealth and generating opportunities for growth and through growth. on poverty reduction. everywhere where the i.m.f. imposes structural adjustment involving the extension of land devoted for export led agriculture the greater the number of people going hungry. only twenty percent of africa's population has access to drinking water and contrary to widely held belief there is no lack of water in sub-saharan africa however the policies put in place by the i.m.f. in the aftermath of structural adjustment plans have only aggravated the difficulties people experience in accessing water sources. said access to drinking water in this village is an acute problem and it is because of these.