since two thousand and ninety first have been signed the bank has not been established yet but that is something to look forward to the bank the idea of the bank as a matter of fact was created as a way to fight the world economic crisis and then of course there's also the issue of nuclear power as russia is going to build a nuclear power plant in israel that itself plenty of things to be discussed but that is going to come in the second on the second day of the day when israel and president's visit to moscow what he did today was he attended a conference indicated to two hundred years of independence of that america and he read a lecture in their resume the president is known for being talkative but she did to joke about the fact that she is not going to do the same thing this time around if you will try to keep the speech short one. and some people think i'm unable to speak in public for less than five hours i'm going to prove them wrong yet them and of course that is the president also talked more about cooperation between him and russia he did mention the fact that the west seems to be very concerned with the

result of becoming a nuclear power but she said that the only nuclear energy they're interested in is interested in is nuclear energy that is going to be used in peaceful matters and of course it being the missile and president bush others to do talk about the united states as well as in no uncertain terms of all the others you don't know so you must have heard a mexican leader say poor mexico so far from god and so close to the united states all of us latin americans could say the exact same thing are poor america so far from god and so close to the downed empire the yankee empire that has hurt our confidence so badly but it still has been considered as sort of the first socialist state with a slant towards communism by a lot of countries in the west of course one of the things that it is a president mentioned during his lecture today is that it's time to get away from the bipolar world or from the what single call the world and the fact that russian men still are starting to follow political establishment in the world and of course

they have to make this a president of the country who has made several very important social changes in the country allowing to people in the lesser fortunate areas to dissipate more actively in the political life of the country cause my colleague john hof is actually renting is well and she has filed this report for us welcome to democracy one o one venice well a style. there is a people's revolution underway here what is indisputable is that it never would have happened without this man coming to power the figure larger than life at times as president chavez the idea that social reformers prioritize the country's majority poor activated participatory do. in this country. a system which invites the poor not just to vote but to get involved in the political process itself supporters of this process or the president are known simply and perhaps more

vaguely as. in the wealthy neighborhoods it's called communism but in the slums it has a very different meaning in las vegas or the community leader isn't president chavez it's freddie mendoza here during more than thirty five years we've been fighting achieving improvements to our condition of living he is the guidance for the community decisions these are the policy makers of those decisions they are school teachers and bank tellers and the unemployed regardless of who you are or what you do for a living everyone has an equal say in how this part of the body oh is governed it doesn't matter if it's in the middle of the night or raining whatever time it is the communal council is present in available for all of the neighbors of the cabinet there are negative for cultural activities for sickness for whatever is needed far away from the businesses the malls and the fancy hotels in the inner city are the slums of caracas the concept here come from the bill a very in revolution it was introduced to them by president bush chavez the idea of

participatory democracy happened here john huff is our t. could office venezuela. still to come here on our t.v. tycoon trial one new spin in the case of former yukos oil giant boss mikhail khodorkovsky who's serving in an eight year sentence. plus the iranian president and hezbollah had been ahead drawing sharp criticism from the u.s. and israel while some critics say it's just another attempt by both sides to win media attention. first though prosecutors in the case of mikhail khodorkovsky say they will not push for a maximum prison sentence the former c.e.o. of the oil company yukos and his partner are accused of stealing three hundred fifty million tonnes of oil is the second set of charges against the jailed tycoon artie's catarina as are of a has been following the hearings. the prosecutor said that despite the fact that that bill ski did not flat out but make his guilt i did say that the company that made the decision that concerned to specifically those amounts of oil those

decisions were all overseen and the final go ahead on those decisions was made by ucas the main a company and of course he as c.e.o. therefore according to the prosecutors bears full responsibility for any decisions made by you close itself or its sister companies during this time so they believe that they have all the evidence necessary to prove the guilt of the files without both steve and his colleagues look to leave as if despite the fact that they have not yet received a flat out confession for the case as been gone in the going on for years we felt that he was arrested on charges of money laundering tax evasion and various frauds economic crimes and was found guilty and in prison serving an eight year prison term later in the his in his conviction in his jail time prosecutors filed new charges against the man and those hearings have also been continuing for a while but the russian president dmitry medvedev signed

a new amendment to the existing criminal code saying that those found guilty of economic crimes should die in the maximum prison term for those economic crimes should be reduced from fifteen years to ten years so those amendments of course applied to because of that both he and his colleagues see what may be different we also know that one of the men who is involved in the yukos case the so-called ucas case as it has become known in the press and worldwide mr alex on young was released from prison earlier this year due to his a complicated health conditions he's suffering from aids and his condition his health condition was rapidly deteriorating for a prosecutor ruled that the man needs to be released and the bail that was previously set for him for it in the store but a. amount of money a very large amount of money that was also revoked and he was released many of course viewing this as a potential change in the current climate hoping that maybe pales that that he will

of course be released but the prosecutors say that everything that has been concerning this case has been done by the book by the law and of course any further crimes that they do believe mr to that i'm still able to be guilty of will be brought to court if enough evidence is gathered as they have believed to be the case with this person to progress with this current development and other case of a new trial for that. party's caterina's our reporting from moscow stay with us here on r t coming up. once upon a thought this was not just the hope of a powerful trading republic but possibly the birthplace of russia's democracy. parties russia close up team takes you to one of the most ancient cities in the country the king of the. first though a study by a new york think tank based on interviews with former detainees concludes that prisoner abuse is continue why the u.s. military secret prisons abroad despite pledges from the obama administration the

open society foundation says conditions and treatment violate both u.s. and international law for detention facilities are he's gotten a cheeky on as the story. we've heard about this alleged so-called black jail before but a us foundation that is called the open society foundations being new york have recently very recently interviewed eighteen former detainees and their descriptions perfectly coincide with earlier reports on this secret blackmailing of ghana's that they're saying that the cells were so cold that it was like sleeping in the fridge that's a quote and also they had bright lights on twenty four seven they're saying they were given food that was impossible to eat also that they were unable to practice their religion almost claimed they had been detained in those conditions for months although u.s. rules of detention set a limit of two weeks on that anyway if those accusations are true that it clearly violates u.s. and international laws on detention for political implications of this could be

even more upsetting as we know when obama became president he claimed a very tough stance against inhumane detention conditions that american military prisons he wanted to shut down the prison at guantanamo bay in cuba some improvements have been seen like reporters were allowed to tour the main detention facility in afghanistan and the red cross was granted a better access to the detainees there have been certain reforms carried out since two thousand and nine but what is interesting health of those interviewed by this foundation for this recent report on abuses in of galveston are saying they were detained after the changes the reforms had been implemented that could cast a shadow on obama administration's widely popular de pension reforms so despite the announced changes there is not much disclosure on what's going on at some classified detention sites there who run in president mahmoud ahmadinejad has taken aim at his foes the u.s. and israel once more but this time he's moved closer to his about enemy on

a visit to lebanon just across the border from the jewish state raising western fears of arms deals and closer collaboration between iran and the militant group. the president has been visiting villages along the israeli border and move us in israel has called intentionally provocative you see it as emphasizing iran's support for hezbollah against israel but james dance lower right around middle east politics and security says that u.s. criticism is to distract the world's attention away from the vast military commitment that the u.s. is still putting into a rock. as well as weapons are a bit of a strategic surprise and we saw that in two thousand and six where they launched antiship missiles and had a certain degree of technological advantage when it came to anti-tank weapons as well but in addition to the thirty thousand or so missiles that hezbollah has posed in the rearmed itself with since the two thousand and six conflict i think the iranian deals are far more interesting in terms of the welfare aspects they spent over a billion dollars reconstructing large parts of southern beirut there was

a energy deal signed between uranium foreign minister and the lebanese energy minister that could provide much needed gas and oil supplies to a electrical infrastructure here in lebanon that is on its legs really and i think that is much more interesting in terms of iran's use of soft power to improve its relations with lebanon rather than simply weapons alone there is a crescendo of violence regards to the iranian u.s. relationship currently in the middle east and the u.s. has not fully exited iraq it still has some fifty thousand troops on the ground there if you include special forces and the largest embassy the u.s. embassy in the world this is a presence that aims to have a strategic effect in influencing which direction iraq goes and of course a reminder to the neighbor in iran that the u.s. has no exit to the region but remains on their instead the problem we have is that the competency of the iraqi military is in stark contrast to the incompetency of the iraqi political elite and government bear in mind we have had no government in iraq for a record breaking time over seven months now the newly rebuilt u.s.

sponsored iraqi army number some six hundred fifty thousand if you include the border guard in the police and americans are in a weapons spending spree at the moment in the middle east they're just finishing off a sixty billion dollars deal with the saudis and i've spent over sold over ten billion dollars worth of weapons to the iraqis since the war including high tech equipment such as f. sixteen zone and one tanks. the dream of formula one coming to russia has become a reality for motor racing fans with sochi said it was the first ever grand prix race in the country yet one caravan will come to town just after the twenty fourteen winter games as part of a six year deal with racing taking place on a challenging circuit using brand new infrastructure built for the winter games. he has the details this is the movement the russian formula one fans have been waiting for it took more than three decades to find a suitable venue and to convince the formula one manager of the world's most popular racing competition can be held here many other locations including most.

did not pass the test so no one be just skis skates and sleds is that will get sochi into the headlines in two thousand and fourteen in addition the city will be hosting the russian grand prix the contract was signed by the formula one owner bernard. gov alex. several russian companies including bus they'll look oil and megaphone are among the sponsors prime minister vladimir putin met with ecclestone and welcomed the advent of formula one to russian soil the government will also provide support for the project i don't think two hundred million dollars to get the track up and running and the rides to hold the races will cost the city fourteen million a year however the organizers say the profits will be much higher sochi won't be just a ski resort in winter and the black sea beach resort in summer but also a popular destination for f one fans and the low season during the all the months so now the context finds russian sports officials have

a reason of their own for assembling shower the russian prime minister's press secretary dmitri peskov thinks the project will do good not just for sochi but for all of russia. we do appreciate the interest of the relevant companies to sponsor the project we do appreciate the proactive. approach of. regional authorities of crust in the region. i have no doubt that the project will be not important only for for this region but for the whole country in terms of image lots and lots of people will be coming here to such and they will be seeing how beautiful this city is they will be seeing how hospital people of sochi are. a certain a would it will only bring benefits and not only in terms of image but people will be spending money here and. small and midsize business will be paying more taxes so it will bring economic life so i think it's really

a very interesting and useful project. let's take a break now and show you more of what the world's largest country has to offer as we go on another journey had russia close up. today we made a voyage to the leaking of garage which is about five hundred kilometers northwest of the capital founded nearly twelve hundred years ago it's one of russia's oldest cities it was governed by a parliamentary style body event chafer the first in the first democratic system in russia are two zero right now takes a look at the city's rivers. each year they gather in the small city of not garage to celebrate the past a time when novgorod was the capital of a trading empire that spanned from finland today edge of siberia. the worst of it you know we are the army of the ruler of novgorod from the height of its prosperity

so many people have forgotten but we are keeping the memory alive. russia's all the slavic city of god was founded more than a thousand years ago centuries before st petersburg it became russia's gateway to the west filled the whole of europe with candle wax becoming one of the most prosperous cities on the continent once upon a time this was not just the hope of a powerful trading republic but possibly the birthplace of russia's democracy. at the sound of a bell the city population assembled on the main square there they voted on the most important issues facing the republic a new ruler was elected after an old one died each part of the city had its own self government and military commanders were invited from neighboring states and at the but there wasn't much to put on the road offers a glimpse of what a different russia might have been like instead of terry in

a simple they could have been freedom and democracy but it was not to be moscow princes keen to get their hands on its riches subjugated the city. and even the way that somebody in fifteen seventy became the setting one of the bloodiest chapters in russia's history we were. when ivan the terrible came for a visit a feast was laid out for him then just as the guests were getting drunk he suddenly got up and banged his staff on the floor that was a signal for his henchmen around up the citizens of no is going to begin torturing them for two weeks a thousand people were killed every day the legend says a river is reddish in color because of all the blood that spilled into it. political power st petersburg its economic significance and the soviets desecrated its religious symbols for building of it. that is the biggest tragedy before world war two the soviet authorities melted down most of the enormous bells whose unique

peel charmed across the city from st sophia's cathedral was oldest church. passionately that it might one day return. we have all the blueprints if only we had the money we could rebuild them exactly as they were my only dream in life is to his and so he has bells ring out over the city again. like the whole city has to be happy with what he's got and live with hopes of a rebirth glory's. see. civil liberties and the fate of british society under scrutiny next. speaks to conservative member of parliament dominic stay with us.

i'm talking to dominic robb he's a conservative m.p. who claims that successive new labor governments made what he calls an unprecedented just salt on british legacy dominic rob thank you very much for talking to r.t. now you've written a book called assault on liberty what do you mean by that well i think if you look at the individual measures we see whether there are proposals to extend pre-charge detention control orders identity cards some very intrusive surveillance powers used not just for serious stuff like counterterrorism so that most people would

understand but things like surveillance of bins following children home from schools to. check their catchment area things like that i think we've seen a whole so shift in the relationship between the state in the citizen and that's what we need to change it is a bit of a dichotomy there isn't it the government have to be seen to be protecting people but at the same time protecting their individual liberties have they overstepped the mark well that's it i mean the last government was typical played a lot of politics with this and they presented this is a sort of seesaw trade off and yet when you looked at the measures one by one they wrote it all freedom debate did very little for our security the proposal to extend attention that charge to ninety days was not justified on the evidence that we actually saw about police investigations id cards something that was said would help stop illegal immigration and terror and and terrorism as well it was very clear when we looked at both the the very vulnerable design of the cards but also the way the system would work in practice allowing foreign nationals to come in for

three months before they'd need a car well that's no use to stopping terrorism so the real danger is that we've given up a lot of our freedom and it hasn't made us any safer top what can be done now to reinstate russian embassy where you're seeing. a range of things to go home with his counterterrorism review which is great we've seen the new coalition government scrap id cards i spoke out very very much in favor of that there's a whole freedom bill that we're going to be debating shortly great opportunity to repeal some of the draconian legislation and some of the unnecessary legislative graffiti that we've seen littering parliament over the last thirteen years we've had three thousand new criminal offenses hit the statute books but it hasn't come violent crime police record violent crime has gone up that's just i think a few of the example of the kind of things and the way we can change the conversation the state has with citizens it sounds a lot like this government will be dedicated to undoing a lot of what the last government did without actually having any kind of original ideas that say well i'm not sure that's true i think protecting british liberty is a fantastic tradition of got in this country but i think it's also very relevant to

what we've got today but the idea is to have less law so you're going to create a new law you're going to try and get rid of some of the old stuff but i do think it's important that we actually take stop presenting this thing as a debate between having on the one hand security and liberty on the other hand one of the things i'm going to be talking about in the next month is the importance of strengthening the justice system not just so that we've got the safeguards that protect the citizen but the so we can use it to take the game to the terrorists i think we should have a much more abbas prosecutorial strategy where you simply bog lift the ban on the use of intercept evidence so there's also new ideas and i hope some of them will get some favorable reception from the home office in the government as a whole things like the european investigation or seem like they would make it easier for terrorists and other criminals to be prosecuted your watch surely that's a good thing one thing be great if it was limited to counterterrorism that would be perfect great but it isn't and we've seen the european arrest warrant we got from

twenty four requests coming to britain in one year to over three thousand and i'm afraid there's a lot of british citizens who are either innocent or against whom the charges are very shaky being swept. up in this and i feel the european investigation order would only exacerbate that race because what it basically allows is for an investigation authorities to demand not requests demand british police forces to cash the cash strapped at the moment going under all sorts of pressure with a tight budget situation is going to demand that they prioritize every one of the requests they get i think that's bad news for the enforcement but i also think it's bad news for the british citizen because the protections around that data with the bank records of d.n.a. whether whatever it may be just not there in countries like bulger will remain what do you support a referendum in britain at this stage as to whether we should carry on being a member of the european union when i think it's too late for a referendum on that i think at some point and of course once that is britain has been treaty entered into force the whole issue of referendum became legally moot

politically it's still a very hope what do you think the biggest threats to civil liberties in britain today it's almost sure that the single biggest threat but for me henry porter journalist put it quite well he said we seem to be lost on liberty reflex and i heard phil johnson from the other end of the media spectrum from the daily telegraph say this we used to instinctively react against the state's incursions into our freedom to offer free space and i think that we've got to do i think the single biggest challenge is to stop scrutinise text the case for these new laws these new powers and one of the suggestions i had today was i need to have one queen's speech every five years in a parliamentary term that maybe you can get it too far but i certainly would like to see a sort of chilling effect on the legislative hyperactivity we saw in the last government do you think that's the fault of an apathetic population that isn't really taking any notice of a slow but steady erosion of liberty i think is

a little bit about i think the media much more acutely sensitive to it now on both sides of the political spectrum and it's the guardian of the daily mail the very conscious of this issue now but of course it affects one. not one point in time they may complain about it they may try to raise the profile of of the injustice but we picked off one by one as individuals in different ways in different parts of our life and and civil liberties always being inherently vulnerable to that kind of slowed abuse but we've got to do is recognize it as a much bigger issue and protect that tradition of liberty we have in our country otherwise children are going to find themselves growing up in a in a very different kind of society with a very different kind of culture. very much thank you. forty two thousand americans die each year. seven hundred thousand

people. and thirty two thousand will kill themselves cancer in all its forms kills five hundred sixty thousand of us here part disease is even more devastating it kills over eight hundred seventy thousand americans every year.

just. hold some. markets. to the global economy. more news today. these are the images. from the streets of canada. today.

six thirty am in moscow good to have you with us here on our t.v. easier headlines who go chavez once again puts them to the u.s. but offers russia for eternal friendship as the flamboyant latin american leader arrives in moscow on the first day of a state visit energy defense and financial affairs all on the table when the venezuelan leader meets with president medvedev and prime minister putin. a recent report from a new york think tank based on interviews with former detainees claims prisoner abuses continue at the u.s. military secret prisons abroad despite pledges of change from the obama administration. and hand with hezbollah iran as leader wraps up

a visit to lebanon on a trip called deliberately provocative by the u.s. in israel they accuse mahmoud ahmadinejad of seeking to launch a proxy war against israel radical elements in the country but critics say israeli and american arms deals and military activity in the region pose a greater threat. and are revving up not content with just staging the olympics sochi has signed a six year deal to hold formula one motor racing giving it the checkered flag in the race to host russia's first ever grand prix. come your way in a moment and debate with the gloves off peto a bell on his cross talk guest discussed whether the concept of political correctness is necessary for a normal political affairs or just nonsensical nuisance stay with us. ever.