rand jury decides not to try a white police officer for killing a black suspect. it is once again taking to the streets. can putin's popularity whether the perfect financial storm? the russian president gives a defiant state of the address despite economic turmoil. and mission to mars, the countdown is on to what nasa is handling as the first step in mankind's journey to the red planet as the orion spacecraft

prepares for blast off. also coming up in the next hour, in business, as vladimir putin announces new measures to shore up the economy, we will look at what is sending russia into recession. andy you consider yourself a foodie? bargains galore at the first travel pair of the year taking place. perhaps some christmas gifts. more on that later on. >> it was captured on video for all to see. graphic cell phone footage of a black, unarmed man put in an apparent chokehold by a white policeman, even as he said, "i can't grade -- breathe."

the decision not to indict that officer has dark protests again after another grand jury decided not to charge darren wilson for shooting unarmed teenager michael brown. >> choked to death by a white police officer, this amateur video captures the incident that took the life of 43 euros eric garner, the unarmed father of six was arrested by police in july for selling untaxed cigarettes in staten island, new york. they forced him to the ground where officer daniel pantaleo sustained him in a chokehold despite his cries. garner, an asthmatic, fell to the ground unconscious and later down -- died. garner's grieving family demands

justice. >> somebody needs to pay. my husband's death will not be in vain. as long as i have a breath in my body, i will fight. >> hundreds of demonstrators gathered in times square overnight, leading to some arrests as mayor bill de blasio urged residents to stay calm. while daniel pantaleo will not face any criminal charges, u.s. attorney general eric holder said there could be an investigation into possible civil rights violations. >> this has had -- tested the sense of trust that must exist between law enforcement communities and those they are served -- charged to protect. this is not a new york nor a ferguson issue alone. >> the justice department launched a similar investigation after the grand jury in missouri decided not to indict the police

officer that killed michael brown in august. >> there is a sense that there is a breakdown in trust by the police and communities. organizers are calling for a march in washington next week. more people's reaction to the decision. >> protests had already broken out in new york city when mayor bill de blasio stepped up to the left turn on staten island. his first comments of the grand jury's decision not to indict the nypd officer involved in the death of eric garner. >> it's a very emotional day for our city, a very painful day for so many new yorkers. that is the core reality. so many people are feeling pain right now. >> than they are then spoken highly personal terms, admitting that he and his african-american

wife often more and thereby racial son when encountering police officers. garner's death is a string of high-profile incidents where police are using unreasonable force against black suspects. for residents, it is just more proof of the police's aggressive tactics, especially against black men and boys. >> i am afraid. both are away at school. maybe they will be murdered by a police officer. these are collars, smart, intelligent children. every day we have to worry about whether or not they will be safe, whether they will be murdered in the street by people who we pay to serve us. >> president obama said the incident highlighted the frustration that many african-americans have harbored about a legal system that has a

long history of discrimination against black people. >> he is facing economic turmoil on one hand and on the other hand sky high population ratings. ms. as vladimir putin gives his annual state of the union address. the russian president portrayed his country as a strong state that would overcome its difficulties and western sanctions. >> regarding sanctions, this is not just a nervous reaction of the united states and our allies in regards to the coup in ukraine. i'm certain all of this -- it all of this did not take place -- and i want to underline this for you politicians in the hall today -- even if all of it did not take place they would have come up with another reason to contain russia's growing capabilities to influence it or better, to use it for their

own goals. >> or more we go to our moscow correspondent. julia, as we heard, putin was blaming russia's enemies for destroying its economy, but did he mention any concrete measures he would take to combat the country's economic woes? >> this year's state of the nation address comes at a difficult time for russia. the economy is sliding into recession because of falling oil prices and western sanctions against russia, but according to putin, russia is a strong and confident country able to overcome any difficulties. he did not mention oil prices in his speech or how this may affect the budget but he did propose several measures of how to help russian businesses, and one of them was amnesty to russia and another was a freeze on tax rates. he also spoke about the russian ruble, which has lost 40% of its

value this year already and he urged the central bank to take tough measures against what he calls financial speculators that influence the ruble. he said the authorities knows who this the -- who these financial speculators are. he said that russia is ready to take on any challenges and win. >> despite the economic problems, putin has not lost any popularity over there. how is this speech likely to be viewed? >> the whole speech felt more like an address to the nation rather than to his government officials, which have in order to tackle the economic situation. in his speech come he said the priority is a healthy family and national security. he also talked about children and the future and all of this

is likely to appeal to the population. according to some opinion polls his population ratings are 72% at the moment. according to another opinion poll, about half the population said they would support putin for the next election in 2018. while his presidency up until now has been run on high oil prices and relative financial stability, all of this could change if the situation does not get better. >> before his speech took place, there was fighting in chechnya. what did he say about that? >> a few hours before the address, some explosions were heard and gun battles erupted in the capital of chechnya. according to some reports six gunmen and up to reportedly 10 police officers were killed and many injured. the investigation is underway but what we know is they

attacked a publishing house known as the press house. an islamic group took responsibility for the attack. putin mentioned the attack in his speech and said police officers are tackling the problem, eradicating the militants in the area. also, the leader of chechnya blew into moscow to be at the speech. he said the situation is under control. >> thank you for the update. the u.s. secretary of state john kerry says washington does not want to see russia isolate itself or its own actions, calling on moscow to halt the raging ukraine crisis. he made the comments at a conference in switzerland with top diplomats to discuss the conflict in eastern ukraine among other issues. he will meet with his russian counterpart later today.

less than two months ago, europe commemorated the 25th anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall. right now there is another divide going on in europe being dubbed project wall, an ambitious plan by the ukraine government to tighten security among its 2000 mile border with russia. it comes after another attempt to shore up a cease-fire between government rebels in the eastern part of ukraine. >> kilometers of barb wire and watchtowers, a divide under construction. none of this existed two months ago until ukraine decided to take control of its border with russia. >> do you see any movement on the other side? >> no, it's all quiet. >> the aim is to isolate rebels and the tour russian incursions into ukraine which kiev claims are commonplace. the defenses include ditches and

vehicle barriers with the military alleging progress is monitored by moscow. >> a day does not go by with a helicopter flying at low altitude for verification. >> the barrier also veers into ukrainian territory, cutting of separatists who control the cities of donetsk and others. instead, kiev is using economic warfare. no pensions or public salaries are being paid, and so every morning people go into the city's only open bank trying to withdraw the last of their money. >> so what do you live on? >> i saw the last of my savings. >> construction will take 54 months but there is no estimate for how long the barrier will remain. >> the countdown is on to what

nasa is hailing as the first death in mankind's journey to mars. in just a few minutes time, the orion spacecraft is expected to make its maiden flight above earth to test key technologies. given this is the first outing, there will be no people on board. nonetheless, the u.s. space agency describes the demonstration as a major event. >> nasa has a new space capsule. it is called the law ryan, but no one is on board yet. today is just an unmanned trial run. the new caps on represents a major advance in americans place declaration. for the first time in 40 years, this nation will launch a spacecraft intended to take humans beyond earth's orbit. that's a big deal. >> the test will send orion

twice around earth. when it comes back into the atmosphere, it will be traveling at speeds of around 32,000 kilometers an hour. the spacecraft heat shield is expected to reach temperatures around 2000 degrees celsius. >> they wanted to accelerate the vehicle to speed and energy that we need to be able to test at. is it risky? yes. is it necessary? yes. anything worth having is worth taking the risk for. >> the capsule will need extra power to take humans further into space than ever before. nasa has been hard at work noting a new rocket just for that. it is the largest and most powerful ever designed. thursday's test run will be followed by another unmanned flight in four years time. then they hope to send astronauts to mars in the third flight in 2021. >> let's get you back to our top stories.

outrage spreads in the u.s. as another grand jury decides not to try a white police officer or killing a black suspect. people once again take to the streets. can putin's popularity whether the perfect financial storm? the russian president gives a defined state of the union address amidst economic turmoil. and mission to mars, the countdown is on to what nasa is hailing as the first step to mankind's journey to the red planet as the law ryan spacecraft prepares to blast off imminently -- orion base kraft prepares to blast off imminently. >> are to have you with us. we are focusing on china this week, the country's new silk road ambitions. >> the president wants to make

china the center of the world again by reviving the ancient silk road trading route. it's on the front page this week . it's a colossal project that the magazine symbolizes what this bowl of world soup and the two chinese chopsticks. the very first stage of this new silk road kicked off last month with the inauguration of a railway line between the eastern cities in china and madrid in spain. this railway line basically means container freight trains can travel between the two cities, which are 13,000 kilometers apart. they travel through central asia in just 21 days, the longest railway line in the world. it is really a tool for economic and diplomatic conquest, according to the article. >> a french magazine claims that

china is spying on different countries from here in france. >> "lux" claims it discovered a secret chinese listening center. they say that you can see photos of the alleged listening center located in an annex of the chinese embassy, so technically it's chinese territory and french police cannot intervene there. reportedly, three huge satellite dishes on the roof of the annex that china, according to "l'obs" is using to listen to conversations around the world. the latest one is five meters high and is brand-new and they are wondering why france is not doing anything about this. >> and exclusive interview at the weekly met.

>> it is usually known for its concept -- gossip sections. this week it interview this. president bashar al-assad. you can see a photo that was taken during this interview in damascus. he is very critical in the interview of u.s.-led airstrikes on the islamic state group. he says there have not been any tangible results in the two months that the strikes have been going on. you cannot end terrorism with aerial strikes, he says. troops on the ground that no the land and can react are essential. another thing he says is that he is ready to reestablish ties with the french president, and he says that i am neither a personal enemy or rival of francois hollande. i think the islamic state group is his rival. their popularity is very much the same.

another point that i picked out of this interview, he is asked whether he is afraid of ending up like saddam hussein or moammar gadhafi. he says the captain does not think about life or death but saving his ship, regardless of what happens. we will never allow her country to become a toy in western hands. >> sounds like an interesting read. on the front page, a familiar face in french politics. he is hell-bent on making a comeback. >> nicholas sarkozy is back on the cover with his wife carla bruni. last weekend he was reelected leader of the ump party. they promise a look behind the scenes of his political comeback. there is a much more stern sarkozy on the front page of another magazine, much more calculating. he has vowed to unify the divided ump party but not many believe him.

they say there will be trouble according to "le point." they say there is a vicious ideological more happening behind the scenes. >> someone paying attention to his every move is current president francois hollande. he is getting a lot of attacks from his former girlfriend. >> that's right. in september, she published a book about her time at the palace. it is called "thank you for this moment." that came out here in september and sold 600,000 copies. now it is being released abroad and is being translated into 11 languages. they take a closer look at this phenomenon in general, the fever of revenge.

they wonder, what do psychologist say about this age-old phenomenon? >> thank you for that look at what is making headlines in the weekly magazines and papers. it is time for a look at today's business news. for that i am joined by stephen carol. you have been looking into those economic announcements made by vladimir putin. >> two in particular. one has to do with the russians that chose to move money back to their home country. he says they would face no questions over how they earned it. the second interesting announcement was that the sovereign wealth fund would be used to support the russian banks. the idea is to stop the outflow of money that russia has seen since the currency has plummeted and sanctions have effective access to western capital markets. the government more the country was heading into recession and

are looking into their economic difficulties. >> russia's struggling economy was one of the subjects of vladimir putin's annual address. in an effort to give the economy a boost, the president announced amnesty for capital returns in russia. an estimated $100 billion has fled the country this year. he also posed a four-year freeze on tax rates to reduce the strain on ordinary russians. western sanctions and high inflation have contributed to moscow's economic woes come and the ruble is also in freefall, losing 40% of its value this year. he urged russ and shannon jewell bank to step in and curb speculation on the currency. russia's reliance to gas and oil revenues has contributed to this depreciation with the ruble vulnerable to prices lower a barrel, but analysts say the current situation will not last much longer. >> even if it decreases by

another 10%, it will not change much. the ruble has dropped almost 40% from years and years. that is why it does not have much further to fall. >> the russian economy has been significantly dented in 2015. authorities predict the country will enter recession next year regardless of what affects putin's measures announced on thursday will have. >> let's take a look at how the markets reacted to that. we saw the ruble move in price against the dollar as vladimir putin spoke, getting weaker, now worth just below 54 rubles. you are looking at the rates between the dollar and the ruble right now. in european stock markets broadly trading up today. the bank of england announced they would keep interest rates at their record level at .5%.

airlines doing particularly well in europe today. >> one thing that we will be watching closely is the european central bank meeting. >> mario draghi is not expected to announce any new measures, but he is expected to lay the groundwork for possibly new monetary stimulus next year. the rate of inflation is about zero .3% in november, well below the ecb target of 2%. earlier we spoke to the chief market analyst who told us that the falling price of oil may also play into his calculations. >> if the oil price is lower that means if we are producing goods, the price will go lower. inflation will go further down. that is a massive problem for ecb who is fighting inflation. that is important in these press conferences. what is the view that draghi

will take when it comes to oil prices? will it influence on the growth side more on the inflation side more? >> let's look at today's company news. ryanair saw its shares hit a record high on the back of a sharp rise on seat sales. they expect profits of 810 million euros this year. the british luxury group mulberry has reported pretax losses of 1.4 million euros. that compares to profit of 9 million last year. they wore market conditions remain difficult in the sector as sales have picked up in the past nine weeks. pilots for lufthansa have begun their second strike this week around -- this week. around half of their flights have been canceled through midnight. the dispute is over changes to their early retirement provisions. one more story in business, this

is apple's latest invention that could have you -- prevent smashing your phone when you drop it. some of the ideas seem far-fetched, it has to be said. perhaps the most far-fetched is the mechanism that would apply compressed gas around your phone when it is dropped. if they manage to do it, i will be impressed. this is a tactic that companies often take. they patent the idea but never makes itccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc