The Obama Administration is asking congress to hold off on new sanctions against iran. At a white house meeting, top officials asked for the continued delay of the Senate Banking committee measure targeting iranian oil. The administration wants to stall the new sanctions pending the outcome of ongoing talks over Irans Nuclear program. In an interview with voice of america, the lead u. S. Negotiator on iran said she expects congress to ck it sanctions pause. We think this is a time for a pause to see if these to go shenzhens can gain traction. Congress has its prerogatives. We are hearing having very serious discussions. We work as partners with congress. I think they have been very as weant partners approach this because she asian we need them to continue to be effective partners to reach a successful conclusion. A new round of talks is set for next month in geneva. Despite the white house called but to craddick and republican lawmakers have expressed support for holding a sanctions vote by the end of the week. Womans rights activists in saudi arabia took to the road over the weekend in defiance of the nations ban on female drivers. It was the latest action in a multiyear campaign in which saudi women openly flout the band and upload video of themselves behind the wheel. Organizers say some participants were intimidated into staying home after warnings from the saudi interior ministry. Inses of people marched moscow on sunday in a call for the release of activists the tainted in opposition rally last year. More than 2000 critics of russian president Vladimir Putin have been kept behind bars over the roles of the rally that turned violent. The colombian rebel groupfarc former u. S. O free a marine held in captivity since june. Was seizedtsutay while trekking through the colombian jungle on a solo backpacking trip. Has begun a newtown, connecticut sandy hook elementary school. The intent to complete the demolition before the massacres First Anniversary in december. And one of the latest deadly shootings nationwide, five people died in phoenix over the weekend after a gunman shot four members of his family then turned the gun on himself. President obama appeared at a brooklyn, new York High School friday to promote federal spending on education. A budget that cuts what we dont need, poses wasteful tax loopholes that dont create jobs, free up resources to invest in the things that actually do help us grow like education and Scientific Research and infrastructure, roads, bridges, airports. They should not be an ideological exercise, we are just using common sense . What is going to help us grow . What will expand our middle class . Those are the things we should be putting money into. Internal records show north dakota has kept silent on scores of oil spills over the past two years. According to the associated press, or dakota has reported nearly three hundred oil spills since january 20 12, but none of them publicly disclosed. It took 11 days before north dakota just recently announced that the tesoro oil spill that dumped more than 20,000 barrels of crude oil. Dakota north dakota is the nations secondlargest oil producer. Lou reed has died. A legend of the new york rock scene, he cofounded the velvet underground before going on to a prolific solo career. In hisater years, he took part in civil and Environmental Activism along with his wife, the musician and artist laurie anderson. In one of his final appearances last month, he discussed the power of music to affect change. Theres only one great occupation that can change the real rock n roll. [applause] i believe to the bottom of my cell, that rock n roll can change everything. Warhol a graduate of university and i believe in the power of punk. To this day, i want to blow it up. Thank you. Was 71 years old. He had a liver transplant last may. Those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. The latestecome country to be the target of widespread u. S. Surveillance. According to an article published today in a spanish newspaper, the nsa agency recently tracked over 60 million calls in spain and the space of a month. The disclosure comes as the delegation of german and french lawmakers were in washington today to press senior u. S. Intelligenced officials for answers on allegations of widespread spying by the United States and the home countries. The german newspaper der spiegel has revealed the nsa was using the u. S. Embassy in berlin to spy on germans including chancellor Angela Merkel. According to the magazine, merkels mobile number had been lifted by listed by the nsa special Collection Services 2002. All of these reports have been based on leaks by Edward Snowden. In a moment we will be joined by journalist Glenn Greenwald who first broke the snowden story. First, we turn to saturdays protest in washington. It was organized by the stop watching us coalition. Jesselyn radack, a former Justice Department who now works for the Government Accountability project, read a message from Edward Snowden. We are here to remind our government officials that they are Public Service servants. This is about the unconstitutional, unethical, and immoral actions of the modern day surveillance state, and how we all must Work Together to remind the government to stop them. Know,bout our right to our right to associate freely, and to live in a free and open democratic society. [applause] witnessing an american moment in which ordinary people from high school to high office stand up to oppose a dangerous trend in government. We are told what is unconstitutional is not illegal. But we will not be fooled. We have not forgotten the Fourth Amendment in our bill of rights prohibits government that only from searching our personal effects without a warrant, but from seizing them in the first place, and doing so in secret. [applause] holding to this principle, we declare that mass surveillance has no place in this country. [applause] it is time for reform. Elections are coming and we are watching you. [applause] you, from Edward Snowden. A Jesselyn Radack reading message from nsa whistleblower Edward Snowden at saturdays stop watching us rally in washington, d. C. Thomas drake also spoke. She was charged with espionage after he was suspected of revealing information about the agencys warrantless wiretapping program. Evidence revealed by Edward Snowden, we now know in great detail, the nsa does not have an honorable track record of telling the truth. While keeping track of us with our with out our consent. Unacceptable i agree. We only know of the wrongdoings and violations due to the disclosures of whistleblowers. These public eyes and ears, exposing abuse of government power in the public interest. But without adequate protections, theyre more likely to turn a blind eye to the privacy risk of innocence. It renders creativity new come in gender sphere and erodes our freedom served up by the potent [indiscernible] security wallf for sticking our liberties is a price we must pay to make us feel safe. I dont think so. [applause] upas fortunate i did not end an actual prison, having lived the virtual version for a number. F years for speaking truth clearly, a dangerous active civil disobedience in these times. And now defined as a criminal act, aided and abetted [indiscernible] [applause] a free and open Society Needs is a digital fence around us creating virtual turnkey tierney with a bar bar surveillance not only keeping track of our comings and goings, but now increasingly wanting to know what we think and feel, the very essence of who we are and share as human beings. I fundamentally reject this premise. [applause] so do we if we just give up our essential liberties, given what happened to me another whistleblowers like Edward Snowden. And so, it is time to roll back the surveillance tape. It is time to restore the Fourth Amendment. It is time to repeal the patriot act. It is time to rebuild the fisa act. It is time the United States government stops watching us. Former National Security agency whistleblower, strake speaking saturday at the stop watching us rally. He was charged with espionage after he was suspected of revealing information about the agencys warrantless wiretapping program. Original charges against him were dropped. Former republican governor of new mexico gary johnson also addressed the crowd. The government has granted itself power that it does not have. [applause] we have to stand against this. Forla merkel, thank you bringing attention to the world that the u. S. Is monitoring the. Ell phones of 35 World Leaders thank you for allowing us to recognize that 70 million cell phone conversations in france every month are being monitored. Edward snowden, thank you [applause] thank you for bringing to the attention of the world the fact the u. S. Government, the nsa is engaged in massive information gathering. 125 billion cell phone conversations a month. Judges granting Legal Authority 113the nsa to monitor million verizon users. This is not due process. Former republican governor of new mexico gary johnson at the stop watching us rally on saturday. When we come back, journalist Glenn Greenwald, who originally reported the leaks of Edward Snowden. We will be back in a moment. [music break] written and sung by lou reed, he died sunday the age of 71. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Talk more about the latest National Security agency revelations we are joined by Glenn Greenwald, the journalist who first broke the story about Edward Snowden. The spanish newspaper el mundo earlier today published an article cowritten by greenwald revealing the nsa recently tracked over 60 million calls in spain in the space of a month. For the past year he is been a columnist at the guardian newspaper. He is leaving the paper this week to join the new Media Venture foundered funded by ebay founder multibillionaire Pierre Omidyar. Glenn greenwald joins us by video stream from his home in brazil. Welcome. Lets start off with the latest news from spain to germany. There is a series of reports that have appeared in several European Countries over the past two weeks or so, as you indicated. Theres a report this morning in el mundo which i coauthored, reporting the nsa in december 2012 collected the data on 60 million telephone calls made to u. S. [indiscernible] there was an article in the paris daily that i also co authored that indicated the nsa had collected 70 million telephone calls and store them in their system to be monitored and analyzed. Or have been a series of reports in germany really over the past three months, mostly coauthored by Laura Poitras about systematic spying on the people of germany and more recently, targeting the german chancellor Angela Merkel that have caused a very significant political controversy and underscoring the principal point of what these stories do, which is that it really is the goal of the nsa to eliminate privacy worldwide by ensuring all forms of human life, communication are subject to its evergrowing surveillance. Talk about how the german spying work. I mean, for germans angela xfone is very famous. Theyre phone she uses all sessions of parliament. There have been whole pieces written about her phone well before this information came out. Can you explain . The nsa uses different techniques. One of the main techniques that it uses as to her spiegel reported is through a consulate in berlin, the nsa since people who pretend to be the elements are there to engage in mass surveillance on the german population as well as target the individual cell phone calls a such ast politicians the chancellor. We did a similar report in of theon the targeting president , the same as happened in mexico were but the current and former mexican president s were targeted with similar forms of surveillance. This is often done through the way people pretend to be diplomats stationed there for what pretends to be a consulate but really is and nsa outpost. Inexploits its positioning the nation capital under diplomatic treaties to target the population and a leading democratically elected leaders with very invasive surveillance. Itself, thesy placement, this massive Embassy Building the u. S. Moved into in 2008 . Right. The der spiegel report is using a document that demonstrates that embassy is essentially the outpost for nsa spying. It is quite common for the nsa to do in capitals, and the allies mostly aligned with the u. S. It undermines trust between these allies and the american government. It also makes a mockerout of diplomatic treaties, which oflly do bar the expectation diplomatic relations, diplomatic buildings, and other forms of diplomacy as a means to engage in surveillance while focusing democratically elected leaders and citizens. On friday, Angela Merkel demanded the u. S. Strike a no spying agreement with berlin and paris by the end of the year, singh alleged espionage against two of washingtons closest eu allies had to be stopped. Most important thing is to find a basis for the future in which we can operate. As i said today, trust needs to be rebuilt, which implies trust that has been severely shaken. Members of the European Union shared those thoughts. We know we have such important tasks in the world we can only master together. We are responsible for mutual security. Obviously, words will not be sufficient. True change is necessary. That was Angela Merkel on the the german chancellor. Glenn greenwald, you mentioned spying on democratically elected leaders. She was being spied on even before she was chancellor. But exactly. And the current mexican president was as well. The United States government has created a spying system and this is the picture that really emerges from all of the documents that is accessed institutionally with identifying any kinds of communication that it cannot intrude and then developing technologies in order to invade them. Without any thought as to the underlying rationale, weighing of benefits and cause cost. They decide for its own sake to me sure it has the full understanding of what everyone in the world is thinking and doing in choosing, and deciding. That is really a very consequential and i think menacing development for the world and for the idea of individual privacy on the internet and through telephones and it is up to the world, i think, to decide what should be done in light of these revelations. White House Press Secretary jay carney on friday was questioned about nsa spying of the german chancellor. I want to follow up on your comment in yesterdays briefing about how the u. S. Is not and will not monitor german chancellor Angela Merkels communications. Objectedn berlin have to that answer because you have not said whether they been monitored in the past. Has the u. S. Monitor the chancellors calls in the past . We will not comment on every possibility. As i mentioned yesterday, the president spoke with chancellor merkel, reassured her the u. S. Is not and will not monitor the chancellors communications. Glenn greenwald, your response . Remember all of the stories we are reporting are based on the nsas own internal documents, the claim the nsa has fourto itself and to its closest allies when it comes to surveillance programs, which is the u. K. , canada, new zealand, and australia. Theresat this point really nobody rational who doubts the veracity of any of these reports. They have proven to be true in every single case. When the documents group or when other evidence proves that chancellor merkel was targeted with surveillance, it is obviously the case that she was. Jay carneys refusal to deny that she was such a target after inking a point to say she no longer will be in the future and is not right this very second come i think, obviously, demonstrates that. The is the difficulty for government of the u. S. Theres no way to discredit the reporting we are doing precisely because the reporting were doing is based on the claims the nsa itself makes in no documents. , chairman peter king of the house subcommittee on counterterrorism and intelligence speaking on meet the press. Stop apologizing, stopping defensive. The reality is, the nsa has saved thousands of lives, not just in the u. S. But in france and germany and throughout europe. The french are some to talk. They carried out spying operations on the u. S. As first germany, that is where the hamburg plot began which led to 9 11. Theyve had dealings with iran and iraq and north korea. Were not doing this for the fun of it. This is to gather valuable intelligence which helps not just us, but also europeans. That was commerce number peter king who may well be running for president of the u. S. Glenn greenwald . Our democratic, partisans at all embarrassed by the fact the most vocal proponents of the nsa spying program, aside from people like Diane Feinstein, are the very republicans who may be spent years to writing as these radicals and extremists, people like pe