germany has been working hand in glove with the u.s. spy agency who sweeping global surveillance was revealed of course to the world by edward snowden according to news magazine both germany's foreign and domestic intelligence have been spying and using n.s.a. spy programs but that hasn't stopped from demanding that washington explain its snooping activities in europe as a tease peter all of us now reports. german chancellor angela merkel had to rigidly said that she only found out of the extent of the united states's spying programs through the media and it now comes out thanks to n.s.a. internal documents that have been reported by news magazine that well they were far more involved than she let on that indeed in fact they quote in the dish people article the internal memos that say that there was a willingness to take risks and pursue new opportunities for cooperation with the us that was shown by the german authorities they also were talking about the head of the b n d germany's foreign security service that he showed an eagerness a

he promised egypt germany possible support. >> this is a very emotional moment, he said. something very special. two years later, president morsi arrived in berlin for a state visit. back home, egypt was in the grip of renewed violent protest. under his presidency, the constitution had been revised, and members of foreign ngo's, including germans, arrested. the moves hurt relations with berlin. chancellor merkel made clear demands. >> to defend human rights in egypt, she said, and above all else, to protect people's freedom to practice their religion. germany is watching the latest developments with great concern. >> this is a major setback for democracy in egypt, and it is all the more important that egyptians quickly find their way back to a constitutional democracy. germany's social democrats called on the eu to put more pressure on cairo to set a timeline for new elections. europe must be clear -- an army has moved against a democratic president. if it is true that members of parliament has been arrested -- have been arrested, the army has to answer for that. >> after

national security agency in germany? assuming that chancellor merkel's chief of staff is correct in saying that germany did not actively provide the americans with massive amounts of private data, that is a relief, but what if authorities knew about it and just looked the other way? many germans believe the german government knows a lot more about this than it is letting on. >> there have been these allegations that chancellor angela merkel and her government knew about what was going on at long time before it became public. do you think that has damaged her reputation? is it going to hurt her at the polls when the national elections take lace in september? >> it's interesting -- a new poll came out on thursday showing that again, most germans do believe the government knows more about the snooping activities than it is letting on, but people also expect the german government to have secret intelligence that remains secret in the interests of security. so far, chancellor merkel does not seem to have suffered a knee polit

surveillance of europe german chancellor angela merkel faces stiff questions over just how involved germany was in the n.s.a. prism spying program. the toxic legacy of war the us invasion of iraq is accused of causing an epidemic of birth defects thanks to the use of uranium tipped weaponry. found the problem could be much worse the numbers in only four. elections not tanks the son of egypt's ousted president tells us the only way to change the country insisting his father's rule was truly democratic. thank you for joining us here on r.t. today a river sushi life in moscow with your headlines from all around the world germany has been working hand in glove with the united states spy agency who sweeping global surveillance was revealed to the world by edward snowden now according to dust spiegel newsmagazine both germany's foreign and domestic intelligence have been using me n.s.a. spy programs that hasn't stopped from demanding that washington explain its snooping activities in europe peter all of a told me this just a little bit earlier in the program. german chancellor angela merkel had t

how they do business and how they see the relationship between between germany and russia with fifty four percent of them saying that the relationship has deteriorated in recent times now fifty percent of those who were polled said the reason for that deterioration was the foreign policy of chancellor angela merkel and the fact that russia hadn't been given the required importance in that foreign policy. germany is russia's major trading partner in europe billions worth of euros of trade between the two countries free every year so it's seriously a quite a big deal economically also this could. a warning shot to chancellor merkel there is an election coming up in september and her main opposition in that election is. now he has called for a change of attitudes towards russia saying that germany should be less combative and more understanding to its russian partners and this is what's been echoed by the business leaders now they've called for a and you strategy from the government they say that they will welcome a strategy that will lead to close the cooperation and closer integration

particularly germany. there is a great sense of -- sensitivity here on issues of privacy, partly because of the country's history with authoritarianism. >> melinda, many thanks for your insight. >> a very different note now, over the years, news viewers have become accustomed to hybrids of the new genre from infotainment to complete news satire shows often containing more insight than many a straight news show. >> some performers in senegal have taken the new approach to a new level, wrapping the news for a growing audience of enthusiastic followers. >> he covers everything from a passports to obama's africa trip -- fake passports to obama's africa trip. nothing is off the table. correspondence out on streets also wrapped the news. the satirical news show is the brainchild of senegal's two most famous hip-hop artists. they see rapid and powerful weapon for signaling change -- they see rapid as a powerful weapon. >> is poetry and rhythm. there is a poet and everyone. you just have to have the beat in your b

particularly germany. there is a great sense of -- sensitivity here on issues of privacy, partly because of the country's history with authoritarianism. >> melinda, many thanks for your insight. >> a very different note now, over the years, news viewers have become accustomed to hybrids of the new genre from infotainment to complete news satire shows often containing more insight than many a straight news show. >> some performers in senegal have taken the new approach to a new level, wrapping the news for a growing audience of enthusiastic followers. >> he covers everything from a passports to obama's africa trip -- fake passports to obama's africa trip. nothing is off the table. correspondence out on the streets also wrapped the news. the satirical news show is the brainchild of senegal's two most famous hip-hop artists. they see rapid and powerful weapon for signaling change -- they see rapid as a powerful weapon. >> is poetry and rhythm. there is a poet and everyone. you just have to have the beat in yo

. >> germany's interior minister heads to washington for what he says is some straight talk with the u.s. on spying. >> the german government meets its target for more nursery school spots, but will this work to get people to start having more children in this country? >> a russian lawyer very critical of the government has been found guilty of tax evasion three years after he died. the verdict came in the country's first-ever posthumous trial. >> he was just 37 years old when he died in a moscow prison in november 2000 nine. human rights investigators say he had been beaten and denied medical treatment for a serious illness. >> his arrest and detention came shortly after he accused russian officials and police of stealing millions through tax fraud. >> an empty seat for the accused . this was the end of a posthumous trial, the defendant dead for three years, but that did not stop the russian court from delivering a guilty verdict. >> in accordance with a previous decision by the constitutional court, this court sees no reason to rehabilitate the defendant. due to the death of the ac

now he is germany's most prominent tax dodger, and he is not the only one. germans of all stripes have stashed billions of euros in foreign tax havens. for many voters, tax evasion and fairness have become key political issues. especially since the government is short of cash for schools and universities. social security and infrastructure. it is a controversial issue, and one the opposition social democrats and the greens have decided to put at the forefront of their election campaigns. both parties want the rich to dig deeper into their pockets. both would raise the top eight of income tax from 42% to 49%. -- both would raise the top rate of income tax. both hardee's also want higher inheritance taxes -- both parties also want higher and heritage -- higher inheritance taxes. some tax experts have given their seal of approval. >> the well-off have had to pay less taxes. in recent years, their income has risen significantly, so it would certainly be a good thing to reform taxes to disproportionately target the well off. >> but the governing coalition has bee

german chancellor angela merkel faces stiff questions over just how involved germany was in the prism spying program. the u.s. invasion of iraq is a plane from epidemic of birth defects and cancer jus to the military use of depleted uranium the report from a former war zone where the health cost is turning out to be even worse than originally thought. britain's prime minister meets there's too much extremism among the syrian rebels his clearest indication yet that london's i'm willing to go full scale arms deliveries will be asking what's behind the apparent need to. khloe alchemy watching our take coming to you live from moscow with may and pharma . now a german magazine claims that lynn's intelligence services have been making good use of the us national security agency secret spying program and that's raised questions over chancellor merkel's earlier condemnation of washington's surveillance tactics peter all over reports from berlin. german chancellor angela merkel had originally said that she only found out of the extent of the united states's spying programs through the media an

." >> coming up -- >> how much did germany know? >> the growth the sheen continues to slow down, but than many had feared. >> a shock for athletics. two of the fastest man in the world have tested positive for doping. pressure is growing on the german government to go public about how much it and its foreign intelligence agency knew about u.s. surveillance activity on citizens here. >> angela merkel has been saying she only heard about these dropping by the nsa in media reports. >> mass circulation. a newspaper is reporting. the agency was aware of operations here. >> in just over two months, the ongoing revelations could become a big election issue. >> what did germany's foreign intelligence service really know? if reports are true, the answer is a great deal. it said the u.s. soup -- snoop dogg the country's traffic. they even repeatedly requested the data from american authorities. what about the german government? the chancellor spokesman was tightlipped. >> i am unable to address specific aspects of intelligence work. that fall

. >> germany's interior minister heads to washington for what he says is some straight talk with the u.s. on spying. >> the german government meets its target for more nursery school spots, but will this work to get people to start having more children in this country? >> a russian lawyer very critical of the government has been found guilty of tax evasion three years after he died. the verdict came in the country's first-ever posthumous trial. >> he was just 37 years old when he died in a moscow prison in november 2000 nine. human rights investigators say he had been beaten and denied medical treatment for a serious illness. >> his arrest and detention came shortly after he accused russian officials and police of stealing millions through tax fraud. >> an empty seat for the accused . this was the end of a posthumous trial, the defendant dead for three years, but that did not stop the russian court from delivering a guilty verdict. >> in accordance with a previous decision by the constitutional court, this court sees no reason to rehabilitate the defendant. due to the death of the ac

he promised egypt germany possible support. >> this is a very emotional moment, he said. something very special. two years later, president morsi arrived in berlin for a state visit. back home, egypt was in the grip of renewed violent protest. under his presidency, the constitution had been revised, and members of foreign ngo's, including germans, arrested. the moves hurt relations with berlin. chancellor merkel made clear demands. >> to defend human rights in egypt, she said, and above all else, to protect people's freedom to practice their religion. germany is watching the latest developments with great concern. >> this is a major setback for democracy in egypt, and it is all the more important that egyptians quickly find their way back to a constitutional democracy. germany's social democrats called on the eu to put more pressure on cairo to set a timeline for new elections. europe must be clear -- an army has moved against a democratic president. if it is true that members of parliament has been arrested -- have been arrested, the army has to answer for that. >> after

germany's minister has given concrete per -- protections. we want to do all we can to ensure data security. >> the eu's just as commissioner recently criticized berlin for dragging its feet on data protection. the new law would apply to all companies operating within the eu, even foreign ones, and it would shield personal information of eu citizens. brussels also wants to scrutinize existing agreements on data exchange with the united states. >> it is a question of citizens rights, a question of the common market, and of whether we europeans can impose our own rules in europe, of whether european law of lies or lawlessness. >> now, it is up to european governments to turn the political momentum into enforced rules. >> we spoke earlier to our dw correspondent in lithuania. i put it to him that merkel once german data protection law to be european standard. how likely is this to happen? >> the european authorities are now trying to do that. german standards should be european standards, said the home affairs minister. now they are trying to ge

rush revelations from edward snowden he claims the us national security agency worked closely with germany contradicting chancellor merkel's reason anger at america's quote cold war tactics. plots. the wounds of civil war in mali are yet to heal as the country hands towards its first post conflict election with security threats still looming. it is two pm in moscow you're watching r t a marina josh welcome to the program a peaceful sit in to support it gets ousted president morsi has turned deadly with forty two people understood to have been killed the muslim brotherhood claims police and the army used live bullets and tear gas on campaigners during dawn prayers outside the republican guard headquarters but the military blames the gunfire on terrorists saying that five people have died artie's lucic often have discussed this earlier with our middle east correspondent policy or. re situation here in egypt is deteriorating and deteriorating fast the entire it nasa city where these clashes happened is in lockdown the military has closed off the whole area and as a result ambulances are unabl

out that germany actually operated one of the main parts of the the expanse of spying program it was called x. keyscore program that basically anybody who they were looking into they could find out exactly what was being searched online by that particular person and it's estimated around five hundred million data connections were being monitored every month by by the spying program here in germany alone so it's quite an extensive program and it comes this news comes out is quite embarrassing time for german chancellor angela merkel there's an election coming up in september the involvement of germany in the n.s.a. spying program is being used extensively by the opposition and what this essentially means is that what mrs merkel was saying before she either. well she didn't know what her own security services were doing or that perhaps she has misled the german people in what she said by saying that well germany wasn't involved so it's come out of quite an embarrassing time for her with the election coming up it's set certainly to be a major if. in the build up to that vote that takes

. >> to spanish companies are negotiating a multi-billion euro deal to create germany's number one cell phone company, and that has everyone talking. >> germany could soon see its cell phone sector dominated by a new giant. the companies are minor players, but a merger would make them the number one. that distinction currently belongs to t-mobile with almost 37 million customers. just behind is vodafone. together, these two spanish companies would have 40 million users, the largest customer base in germany. both companies are interested in combining their forces. doing so could save them more than 5 billion euros.

germany's minister has given concrete per -- protections. we want to do all we can to ensure data security. >> the eu's just as commissioner recently criticized berlin for dragging its feet on data protection. the new law would apply to all companies operating within the eu, even foreign ones, and it would shield personal information of eu citizens. brussels also wants to scrutinize existing agreements on data exchange with the united states. >> it is a question of citizens rights, a question of the common market, and of whether we europeans can impose our own rules in europe, of whether european law of lies or lawlessness. >> now, it is up to european governments to turn the political momentum into enforced rules. >> we spoke earlier to our dw correspondent in lithuania. i put it to him that merkel once german data protection law to be european standard. how likely is this to happen? >> the european authorities are now trying to do that. german standards should be european standards, said the home affairs minister. now they are trying to ge

he was last heard of in germany. he says he is frequently confronted with tales of suffering and ill fortune. >> people, the most incredible war stories. when i look in their faces i can feel the great burden of responsibility that i carry. >> for now, the priest is responsible for the 40 people who will accompany him to germany. part of them are bikers and the other half are members of his congregation, men and women. packedgage is so tightly he wonders if they will find anything. >> he expects to reach the border on time if they set off at 10:00, but this is a long trip and you never know. >> i hope that the weather is great. i have never been to europe, this is exciting. >> this will be fine. thee is surprised by goodbye -- and says that they will see each other again. the sound of their departure is hard to ignore. st. petersburg, 300 kilometers before we reach the border of finland. he rides at the head of the convoy. five hours later we reached helsinki. allweather is great and we enjoyed the baltic sea air. th

overall, it was a successful tour with germany -- for germany with five stage victories. >> i'm really happy i have had a chance to get the best sprinters in the world at the highest level and to even win in the end. >> but the 100th tour de france belonged to christopher froome. last year's runner-up confirmed his superstar status with a complete performance in a race that fans hope has finally cleaned up its act. >> in golf, phil has won his fifth major with a spectacular performance at near field -- at muirfield in the british open. he was trailing lee westwood. he went into the day five strokes off the lead, but made light of tough conditions on the back nine to win what was his 20th open. given rivalsa hav a sign of things to come in the forthcoming bundesliga season. in the final of the telecom cup, bayern won 5-1. it was the first appearance of alcantara. football, germany's second division started again this weekend. saturday's big match -- >> the loan goalkeeper was trying to prevent the corner, but he ended up giving away far worse here it this was the unusual strike for dres

national security agency in germany? assuming that chancellor merkel's chief of staff is correct in saying that germany did not actively provide the americans with massive amounts of private data, that is a relief, but what if authorities knew about it and just looked the other way? many germans believe the german government knows a lot more about this than it is letting on. >> there have been these allegations that chancellor angela merkel and her government knew about what was going on at long time before it became public. do you think that has damaged her reputation? is it going to hurt her at the polls when the national elections take lace in september? >> it's interesting -- a new poll came out on thursday showing that again, most germans do believe the government knows more about the snooping activities than it is letting on, but people also expect the german government to have secret intelligence that remains secret in the interests of security. so far, chancellor merkel does not seem to have suffered a knee polit

. >> and charges of a massive bribe in germany. there are just hours to go until a crucial vote in greece's parliament. lawmakers are debating whether to go ahead with government plans to cut thousands of jobs in the public sector. >> those cuts have been demanded by greece's international lenders in return for the next batch of bailout money. the threat is that that money will not be forthcoming if lawmakers are unable to get to the plan, and that could mean a new process. >> we will go live to athens and just a moment, but first, this report on another day's protests in greece. >> they are not ready to give up hope or stop fighting for their jobs. police officers paraded through athens to protest the proposals. they were joined by thousands of other public service workers including schoolteachers, transport workers, and even dozens of city mayors. >> for the rights of the people that work for the municipalities. >> up to 15,000 government employees could lose their jobs by the end of next year. another 12,500 would face job trans

reports emerge that germany's intelligence service. the n.s.a. and its surveillance. program. and broadcasting live from our studios in moscow this is our recapping the week's top stories with the weekly. thousands have been gathering all week in cities across america to protest against the equivalent of george zimmerman this after a jury found him not guilty of murder in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager trayvon martin the ruling set off a nationwide debate on racial hatred from washington artie's going to has the story . we've seen protests in dozens of cities in the u.s. throughout the week following the verdict in the george zimmerman case people took to the streets demonstrating at courthouses and police stations throughout the country demanding justice for trayvon martin the seventeen year old black man who was shot dead by a neighborhood watch volunteer dozens of people were arrested most of the arrests were made on charges of a lawful a sampling in some places like examiner and you know protests turned violent demonstrators to rocks at passing cars too ma

german chancellor angela merkel faces stiff questions over just how involved germany was in the prison spying program. an epidemic of birth defects and cancer in iraq is blamed on the u.s. led coalition's use of depleted uranium in military assaults we report from a. health cost is becoming increasingly visible. and britain's prime minister admits there's too much extremism among the syrian rebels his clearest indication yet that london is unwilling to go for full scale deliveries. what is behind the apparent top stories. live from studio center in moscow this is with you twenty four ounce a day a german magazine claims that intelligence services have been making active use of the u.s. national security agency secret spying program now that has raised questions over chancellor merkel's earlier condemnation of washington's surveillance tactics of the reports from. german chancellor angela merkel had to rigidly said that she only found out of the extent of the united states's spying programs through the media and it now comes out thanks to n.s.a. internal documents that have been reporte

both germany's foreign domestic intelligence. programs. that washington explained. just a short while ago on the. german chancellor angela merkel had originally said that she only found out of the extent of the united states's spying programs through the media and it now comes out thanks to n.s.a. internal documents that have been reported by big news magazine that well they were far more involved than she let on that indeed in fact they quote in the dish people article the internal memos that say that there was a willingness to take risks and pursue new opportunities for cooperation with the u.s. that was shown by the german authorities they also were talking about the head of the b n d germany's foreign security service that he showed an eagerness under desire to cooperate turns out that germany actually operated one of the main parts of the the expansive spying program that's called x. keyscore program that basically anybody who they were looking into they could find out exactly what was being searched online by that particular person and it's estimated around fi

an estimated 800,000 people in germany are systematically stalked. among them of this woman and the members of her self-help group. most of them are women arassed by former partners. the victims suffered damage to their reputation among family and friends. most find it difficult to defend themselves. >> at some point, you enter a phase where you become extremely lonely because you put yourself into this solitude. you are imprisoned in yourself. you want to scream. >> bringing in the police does not always solve the problem. stalkers often know how to operate just within the law. >> i think it scared him a bit that i informed the police. but he did a lot of things that he cannot be stopped from doing. he can park in any public arcing spot. he can go for a stroll where i work. >> for the police, dealing with stalkers means treading a fine line. the victims often have high expectations, and they hope for a restraining order, but the law sets limits to what the police may do. >> we cannot issue a restraining order in every case. we have to be careful abo

. >> and charges of a massive bribe in germany. there are just hours to go until a crucial vote in greece's parliament. lawmakers are debating whether to go ahead with government plans to cut thousands of jobs in the public sector. >> those cuts have been demanded by greece's international lenders in return for the next batch of bailout money. the threat is that that money will not be forthcoming if lawmakers are unable to get to the plan, and that could mean a new process. >> we will go live to athens and just a moment, but first, this report on another day's protests in greece. >> they are not ready to give up hope or stop fighting for their jobs. police officers paraded through athens to protest the proposals. they were joined by thousands of other public service workers including schoolteachers, transport workers, and even dozens of city mayors. >> for the rights of the people that work for the municipalities. >> up to 15,000 government employees could lose their jobs by the end of next year. another 12,500 would face job trans

." >> coming up -- >> how much did germany know? >> the growth the sheen continues to slow down, but than many had feared. >> a shock for athletics. two of the fastest man in the world have tested positive for doping. pressure is growing on the german government to go public about how much it and its foreign intelligence agency knew about u.s. surveillance activity on citizens here. >> angela merkel has been saying she only heard about these dropping by the nsa in media reports. >> mass circulation. a newspaper is reporting. the agency was aware of operations here. >> in just over two months, the ongoing revelations could become a big election issue. >> what did germany's foreign intelligence service really know? if reports are true, the answer is a great deal. it said the u.s. soup -- snoop dogg the country's traffic. they even repeatedly requested the data from american authorities. what about the german government? the chancellor spokesman was tightlipped. >> i am unable to address specific aspects of intelligence work. that fall

now he is germany's most prominent tax dodger, and he is not the only one. germans of all stripes have stashed billions of euros in foreign tax havens. for many voters, tax evasion and fairness have become key political issues. especially since the government is short of cash for schools and universities. social security and infrastructure. it is a controversial issue, and one the opposition social democrats and the greens have decided to put at the forefront of their election campaigns. both parties want the rich to dig deeper into their pockets. both would raise the top eight of income tax from 42% to 49%. -- both would raise the top rate of income tax. both hardee's also want higher inheritance taxes -- both parties also want higher and heritage -- higher inheritance taxes. some tax experts have given their seal of approval. >> the well-off have had to pay less taxes. in recent years, their income has risen significantly, so it would certainly be a good thing to reform taxes to disproportionately target the well off. >> but the governing coalition has bee

that we got into the war with germany. if hitler had not done that do you think we would have had only a pacific war? >> that is a really good question. the answer is i don't know. we would not i am sure have gotten into the war against germany for a while. whether we would have gone into the war in time to saving 7-saving and from going down is an open question. roosevelt at the time of pearl harbor was surged by a number of his closest aides and members of his cabinet to declare war on germany and japan at the same time but he said no. it is a different situation, germany and japan. he was prepared to stay out as long as he could. quite frankly one of the stupidest things hitler ever did was declare war on us. it was one of the best things in the sense that it got us in at that time because as i said, i am not sure how long england would have been able to hold out against germany and japan. they would have been facing a two front door. we would have been focused on japan. that is the country that attacked us, if we had n

today what you make of germany's data protection dr g. think this is an and to win votes or do they have a genuine concern for privacy. i think this issue is much more than a mere election issue it is something very substantial at stake right now as all federal president has pointed out under the german law and the german constitution there is a fundamental right of informational self-determination or privacy as you might call it and data protection commissioners all over the world have for a long time called for an international treaty to have privacy regulations in place to protect individual privacy and data when surfing the internet and crossing borders and now the n.s.a. scandal is just the last tip into the water to do this problem to make it completely clear that we urgently need an international agreement in this fear you say that the g. feel is these measures that only been put in place now with this reaction is only happened because of snowden's revelations of the revelations mr snowden has made. removed the last doubt that we h

as if this be proved can only because a great part of the germany has that it really wants to be the year the protection of a divided got unsee but it doesn't want the federal democratic process simply because a federal government in europe would mean that the germans one controlled but i have a balanced way out is when you say that germany is not pursuing a federal democratic process it sounds as though germany is playing to type as they say in hollywood where they are in what some of described imposing kind of an imperium over the arrows on through the back door with their actions is that too heavy handed to describe germany in this way or at how you see ungracious again i don't think that it was german isn't tension to create a fourth reich and in very i think it's falling into that situation as a result of lack of comprehension of what it takes to keep a monetary union together. they need to have a fiscal union if they're going to keep this your guy and sit together they understand that but there was a time the understand that if they do respect the rules of one person one vote t

the situation is less acute in eastern germany where day care was a priority in eastern bloc times. there is a day care center in frankfurt. >> our capacity here is completely exhausted. the coats rooms, and more children. >> it is hard to keep disappointed parents that want to have their children taken care of here. parents should use their new rights in this to -- and sue. that is the only way to wake authorities up. >> current legislation is a definite improvement on what we have before. i also believe that ultimately, all parents will get a day care spot. but with less space of one or two years. >> they have hired a nanny, a lot more expensive than public daycare have a plan to sue the government for the difference. >> germany's opposition, democrats racing to turn their campaign around. >> the efforts to unseat german chancellor merkel, the party is pledging to fight for a legal minimum rage, -- wage and low rent. >> they are not the only one struggling to assert dominance. >> she still holds the best hand. the left party could still pull out an ace and the free democrats. opin

nick spicer, al jazeera, germany.

he was last heard of in germany. she tells me that -- he tells me that he's frequently confronted with tales of suffering, drama, and ill fortune. "people tell me the most incredible war stories. they hope that i will find their relatives. when i look in their faces, i feel the great burden of responsibility that i carry," he says. for now, the priest is responsible for the 20 people who are going to accompany him to germany. half of them are bikers just like himself. the other half, members of his congregation -- men and women. the luggage is so tightly packed, he wonders whether they will be able to find anything. to reach the finnish border on time if they set off but it.m. -- 10:00 a.m., is a long trip. you never know. "the weather is great. i've never been to europe. it's exciting." "it will be fine." >> he is just surprised by his mother's goodbye. we will see each other again, he reassures her. bikers set off punctually. the sound of their departure is hard to ignore. petersburg -- st. svidanya, st. petersburg

. >> security lockdown and protest as germany's finance minister comes to town. >> we have a special report. >> russia's president, vladimir putin, is being condemned as a dictator after the latest in a long line of his rivals was jailed. >> the opposition leader has been seen as a thorn in putin's side and potential challenger for the presidency. after what was widely seen as a show trial, he will not be able to run. >> we will go to moscone just just a moment, but first, this report. >> the verdict did not come as a surprise. he was found not guilty of defrauding a timber firm while working as an unpaid advisor to the provincial governor five years ago. >> having examined the case, the court has established that he is guilty of a crime against russia. >> back in december 2011, he was one of the leading figures behind protest rallies that roque out in the wake of national elections. "who has the power," he called out to demonstrators. he became a well-known figure for exposing political corruption. his plan was to run for mayor of moscow later this year and stand for president in 20

their spiegel suggested germany and the u.s. may have cooperated more closely than previously assumed and nsa spying software being used by german intelligence services. opposition politicians demanded the chance -- demanded the chancellor make connections the agency. >> the chancellor must have known what the americans were up to. i can't believe she's the one person who didn't know what your money's agency had been practicing for years. but the focus on the chief of staff. he's responsible for coordinating the intelligence agencies and informing parliament about their work. on thursday, he faced questions before a parliamentary committee about germany possible when in the scandal. >> there have been speculations that massive amounts of data on german citizens were given to the nsa. that assertion is definitely he saidea >> intelligence agencies had not broken the law. but with a general election in september, the issue of data protection is unlikely to go away. >> the eu foreign ministers placed hezbollah on the list of terror

. >> germany has rejected a request by snowden for political asylum. while the news of the internet spying activities has caused outrage in berlin, germany is already reviewing the competence of their own domestic intelligence services. >> a string of racially motivated murders between 2000 and 2007 raise serious questions about the activities of the german intelligence services. today, the german interior minister revealed details about the agency's informants. >> the office for the protection of the constitution has to change. they are facing stiff criticism, something the interior minister is well aware of. the terror cell killed 10 people without the agency noticing the link and staff destroying indiscriminately -- incriminating files. now the agency intends to reform. >> we now want to focus more than ever to phenomenon related to violence. i think it's a very important point. >> we need extra capacity to combat extremist propaganda on the internet, which is partially from outside germany. >> it includes this group who sends videos from syria. the