deaths in russia every year. and attempts to drop down gang away from the brink of conflict are underway as russia's foreign minister holds talks with his north korean counterpart in moscow close meeting comes just weeks after the north shelled a south korean island killing for. now e.u. leaders hope to be able to move decisively and save in the euro at this week's summit on the continent wide debt crisis the eurozone is battling to prevent the single currency from disintegrating john gaunt who leads the e.u. referendum campaign in the u.k. says countries are better off leaving the union before it collapses. today i'm talking to john gaunt british media personality and head of the e.u. referendum campaign he's demanding that the british people should be allowed to vote on whether they want to remain members of the european union john gordon

thanks very much for talking to r.t. now first of all tell me a bit about the e.u. referendum campaign is this is purely about getting our democratic right to have a vote because three leaders of promises that it was a labor party manifesto commitment by tony blair then gordon brown of course and then david cameron famously in oppositions gave a cast iron guarantee that he would have a referendum on the subject so once i realized it was vance i thought yeah hold on this is wrong and i do believe we've been denied our democratic right so that's why i'm involved in the you referendum campaign it would be costly to implement a referendum on being in e.u. i mean the u.k. is already a member of the european union isn't it better just to let sleeping dogs lie yes you would be costly to leave but it's costly to be in it it's costing the british taxpayer forty eight million pound a day to be in the e.u. we've just given the island another seven billion pounds of our money saw another four hundred fifty million pounds in the budget increase it's going to be even more

than that so it's costly already and anyway i'm not saying vote to get out what i'm saying is let's have the discussion you know on the b.b.c. and on programs where there is you know the pros and cons of europe so that the british public can decide whether they want to be in need and i must stress i'm not and certainly this campaign isn't until european it's it is just saying let's have a vote let's have a democrat who are and i think democracy no matter what it costs it's a price worth paying but you say you're not telling people how to vote but surely the very fact that you want a referendum suggests that you're not happy with the status quo and therefore want out more or clearly clearly the reason why. want a referendum is because we want the british public to decide and i would i of course i personally will probably end up voting to come out but what i want more than that i don't want to have the big grown up debate about it i want the b.b.c. to fulfil its role to have both sides the argument properly discussed rather than

just as long as they have done for so many years the pro e.u. line we need to have an honest grown up debate who knows i might change i may change my views i may begin to think the forty eight million pound a day would you see is good value us in one thousand but i'm quite willing to find out what i just believe in democracy i'm a democrat and i believe you know i ask you straight forward question i'll ask anybody watching this program give me three good reasons why we shouldn't have a referendum now people could give me three good reasons why we should stay in the e.u. or three good reasons why we could should leave but i don't think people can come up with three good reasons why we shouldn't have a democratic vote on it well i'll give you one constitutional reason and the lisbon treaty you said successive leaders have promised a referendum of course that's true but since the implementation of that has been cheating that's become rather a moot point as now do you think we missed the boat on a referendum no i don't i think gordon brown had absolutely no right to sign the lisbon treaty stroke constitution it was the same thing at the manifesto commitment

by labels to have a referendum on that they played with words david cameron played with words once he got into power he said oh no we cannot we're now because he's been ratified he could say he could have said yes we can't just what nick clegg wanted one of the straight in or out so no this is why our campaign is so simple laura it's a straight show we stay well shall we go down the clash over punk rock song group used to sing that's where we keep an eye on that so the man in the street can understand it we don't want to get carried away with this treaty that constitutional that discussion let's center on the basic facts. should we be in this club or not you know with the e.u. so the euro crashing and burning at the moment there's never been a chime persons first to have this discussion arlen's in a lot of trouble at the moment in the e.u. in the i.m.f. of step ten to bail them out surely arland would be in

a lot more trouble if they didn't have that kind of backup so isn't the e.u. a force for good but let's not forget of course to referendum they were forced to vote again because they got the decision was the political elite know personally i don't think we should be bailing out ireland i mean that's my own personal view i thought it is ironic i was watching the budget this week in ireland their stamp duty up to a million euros and one percent losses at four percent to seven hundred fifty thousand buying their child benefit is crazy the amount they pay out in child benefit their corporation tax to keep it at twelve and a half percent no wonder countries a reader companies are relocated from germany from portugal from spain and from the united kingdom to ireland well how can you have monetary union if you haven't got every other form of union and political union in place the answer is you can't how can you tie the economy of greece to the economy of germany it's just ludicrous the holding is a nonsense and the worst thing is with the british people have never been given

a chance to vote on it so i think ireland actually makes the focus our minds even more on whether we want to be in this club and it's ironic that we're not even in the euro zone and we have george osborne of course playing on the seven billion pounds now of course that's to protect banks like the rollback of scotland but we've already bailed out the role of bank of scotland wants the british taxpayer and i'm no great union supporter normally but i actually agree with people on board pro at the moment using charge of the. union the trade our trade drives the train workers union when he says it's not his members who got us into this mess is the bankers and the politicians are the larger issue but it's his members who are paying for it just like the. students who are protesting it's them who ended up having to pay for it the ordinary taxpayer and we've already bailed out of the u.s. once annoyed by now we're bailing them out again effectively by the back door of ireland and the british people haven't been asked about this you know david cameron came to power in me in a budget he said we're going to ringfence the n.h.s.

and we're going to ring fence for a night but he didn't just ring fence for eight he's increase for a week now but island he also run focused our contribution to europe and we increased of course when bragged that he was going to keep the budget down actually increased the budget that was no. comeback shrinking victory for the united states look it was a dismal failure and people should say and he's spinning it him and clegg at the moment got more spin than a washing machine assembly line and the british people are waking up to this in the british people are saying no we can't afford we can't pay we won't pay that's what the student protests are about and we're going to see more protests during this winter of discontent because ordinary folk who say why should we lose forty thousand police officers why should public sector workers be losing their jobs why should me along with mirrors on wheels because why should help for the elderly because why should the arts budget because why should we not have enough money in our coffers but we certainly can find seven billion pounds there'd be no need for

these cuts what's that economists argue if we weren't in the year so there'd be no need for the students to be protesting and that's what needs to be discussed and we are seeing lots of protests they started off in continental europe and they've now undoubtedly spreads the k. do you see this as the sort of beginning of the end of the e.u. i certainly think the euro is crashing and burning our belief portugal will go spain will dollars in spain just true three weeks ago and a lot of radio shows over in spain there's swathes of swathes of council not so it's not council housing estates with brand new houses in apartments completely empty just like in ireland they're never going to be. occupied property boom fueled by a reckless lending again i believe that they'll crash i think we need you when the euro begins to crash then you have to ask yourself can the your oh so when the euro collapses cammy you survive as well and as you say you brought across europe i mean you know in germany there are people protesting they don't want to bail out these

countries that they've had a sensible banking system and the great irony was in brussels one two months ago in brussels over discussing the budget they were discussing the hospitality budget they put it up to two point one million pounds meanwhile one hundred thousand europeans are on the streets all different languages order from nationalities protesting about the austerity cuts one hundred thousand people inside there were basically voted to increase their budget for oysters and champagne that's what's wrong there's a disconnect between the political elite not just in the united kingdom but right across europe and the ordinary man and woman in the street and i think ordinary men and women have had enough they're the ones losing their houses they're the ones losing their jobs through no fault of their own and something's got to give and i think what's going to give is definitely the euro and probably the and in a what lot of ways bring it on say i but first and foremost let's have a democratic vote maybe much better for us to have a vote and decide we want to leave this before it collapses with people on the

streets demonstrating what really amounts to civil unrest is this really the time to be talking about something like an e.u. referendum which seems like a separate issue in the face of all this trouble that we're seeing you can't really discuss our economy you can't discuss our laws you can't discuss our human rights you can't discuss any kind of cases than in the u.k. without thinking either of the e.u. or the your pm court of human rights in affects every aspect of our lives because we are part of it we were never given the chance to vote on it that's why it's becoming a hot potato and this lie that they're spinning in a nick clegg and david cameron we're all in this together well actually we're not because nineteen out of twenty four of the. cabinet a multi millionaire and briefly about the students do you support what the students are doing in terms of going out onto the streets burning stuff throwing things but our support students completely in their right to protest today in the daily telegraph front page the metropolitan police chief are saying don't let you choose children go on these protests what a load of nonsense i don't live in

a country where our chief of police tells you to come protest me calling of course you can't condone kids send throwing extinguishers up through she could have killed somebody however on the same token they got married like i do think you tried protesting i do think the unions are joining them i do fully support their protests i don't support the calm down the violence and i fully support the troops and i hope the protests escalate. and i think they were running she protests this week for example have been university sit ins and stuff i hope they do it's great to see students protest against the silly healthy about young people being angry now that the coalition governments approved these cuts in student funding what the students and the trade unions and others who might join with them going to do now that was really going to happen is come january thirty first into february because what's going to happen is christmas so traditionally british people of them still celebrate christmas they're still going to bother children christmas from thirty first fabulous first on the door mat before the credit card people will be

beginning to lose their jobs people being living proof of this on their credit cards to pay their mortgages they're going to start defaulting that's when the real protests are going to stop and parliament can think it's out about it isn't over it certainly isn't over and the debate about europe is definitely not over and about the game that will continue don't go on thank you. to moscow all she's available in mary's grand hotel. which colson royal marriage renaissance could. clone. encircled the. holiday inn. the roles are really emotional in the region country club so full of shirts and fun this piece of the first book called sure can pinsky switzer till closing the whole

. golden apple boutique hotel. this is a cable from the u.s. embassy in colombo to talk about here it apparent june seventh incident of extrajudicial executions the military according to the press that on that day the children guerrillas are the best edition by instructs you including you know. strongly suggest however that the nine were executed by the army and then dressed in military fatigues. explain how you know this kind of phenomenon where bodies are dressed up as guerrillas and presented as killed in action and this and this idea that you need to produce bodies actually encouraged paramilitary collaboration this is a cia document central intelligence agency they knew about these activities they knew they were happening they knew about links to paramilitary groups and yet the usa continued to.

hungry for the full story we've gone to. the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers. riot police are back in central moscow amid fears of fresh football family violence president medvedev is valid to use any legal means to punish the perpetrators of the weekend's clashes thing nationalist and racist slogans heard during the riots are the greatest concern. russian absent drunks can. payne is setting out to shop for the producers the only way to stem the country's plague of narcotics there are over one hundred thousand drugs related deaths in russia every year. and attempts to draw pyongyang away from the brink of conflict are underway as russia's foreign minister hold talks with his north korean counterpart in moscow

a closed meeting comes just weeks after the north shelled the south korean island killing for. a time now for the sports highlights here in r.t. with you. at the top your company this is sports today i mean you know the u.s. are headlines sitting pretty u.h.c. i regain the lead in the kontinental hockey league with victory over rivals c.s.k. . demolition job barcelona take no mercy a real sociedad to stay top in the league with the executioner in chief once again the line on this. eastern promise new england stretch their winning run in the n.f.l. to five rushing chicago thirty six seven. at

the start of the continental hockey league era not very many observers gave newly merged club u.h.c. denominate chance of success but midway through the season it's the moscow based club who are looking down on the rest after a come from behind win over near neighbors c.s. richard poor fleet took up his seat for this one. says cantor namo two of world hockey's most famous clubs however moscow rivals are enjoying contrasting fortunes this season at the halfway point beyond human such as been their poor form are in danger of missing out of the playoffs or the nama have been excellent and find themselves leading the western conference zero are all stars are so good like we don't have any stars but we have a good team like good players playing for the team all year and. everybody is doing hard work every day and. it's fun to be in this demand i really like to do damage dominate to be a bit exchanges as they bombarded the visitors goal but

a mixture of a bit of luck and wayward shooting can be on women in the game or serious car was struggling to generate any off ends as nama goaltender alex the bulk of it was a virtual spectator for most to be opening period but try as they might the western conference leaders just couldn't find a goal as the teams in the first period tied at zero wall on the home side were made to pay for their wastefulness in front of goal just thirty six seconds into the second period and say a scout would take the lead very much against run a plane thanks to d.s. passion strike it wouldn't take long for the number to draw level despite being short handed and exceed pradesh or managed to skate the length of a ring and do not accounting manage to get the puck past the bunny kits have a second attempts and just a minute later bloom wants to take a deserved lead justice is cause power play was coming to an end to his credit of the penalty box and he got on the end of an excellent pass before leaving the goaltender for dead and made it to one did on a one finish to meet everyone midway through the second of a powerplay. reverse pass by muscle you off and he was there for the simplest of

chances to score it doesn't happen so often and. i think it helped us and it didn't hurt them because we're both hands went up and of course it was. hard for them so maybe that was the most important game most important. time and again. we managed to turn into a prime sign of a perfect opportunity to make the game safe early in the first as they were awarded a penalty shot but this time a son you of couldn't get the puck possibly kids kind of his signing line for line and says kalpana go back minutes later things to your mind it's excellent shot which sailed over a bowl of scrubs trying to set up a grandstand finish the home side hold on preserve free to win support and three points to get to scores a good team but they play pretty good too. but they still want to get an important

victory for the nama who are really starting to look strong contenders to win this series could go in camp. will be hoping for much to improve two thousand and eleven and they'll need it be one to think about making the playoffs which we don't see. ok that brings us to football where chelsea have missed a chance to return to the english premier league summit the blues look in fact to come away with just a point against tottenham among the public open for spurs after a quarter of an hour but didier drogba surprisingly on the bench for the first level matters seventy minutes in then in stoppage time the ivory coast man had the chance to win it for chelsea from the spot but spurs goalkeeper. and lead off for giving away the penalty in the first place was one how it ended up one of three darby's on sunday stuart holden scored an eighty eight minute winner ten month old to beat blocker two one in a scruffy like a shirt clash while wolves winger stephen hunter made all the difference in the

midlands match up with birmingham. game ahead on monday with leaders are still taking on a month cesc united side to trail by just a point no end of banter in the run up to the highly anticipated clash with gunners manager arsene wenger claiming united defender patrice evra was being disrespectful that statement arising after the left back said arsenal were in crisis and wouldn't win the championship. by the way we want to play. not by a statement show for a new. phrase against us personally i believe. your order is. or is respect your opponent and much would retry to do. messi is up to his old tricks again in the premier league the reigning world player of the year by getting a brace made easy work of. trim in a top the league table in spain the home side got off the mark nine minutes in

a typical barcelona move and the typical fashion diva via with the final touch. things got worse for the day out after the how far mark and raising the s. the doubling his side's upon to support of one two with pedro in the second half would offer even less response for the visitors from san sebastian messi getting in on the act and minutes after the break a stunning effort but his second fourth deserves equal time on the arjun tines highlight reel of the sociedad defenders on able to even get in a tackle five know how the one sided much up would eventually finish her kitchen making sure at the second attempt here. the reality was vital which is our golf if they were to keep the pressure up and pep guardiola charges the coast delivered a brilliant touch from christie under now though getting things going for goal

number one it was a message they finished it off. himself and ensured he would finish the weekend joint top of the goal scoring charts with lionel messi both men not seventeen so far this season. di maria out aids another two realities tally just after the break took the full advantage of a wonderful pos from. the home side did manage a reply from the spot. soon afterwards but that was to be their solitary contribution note two points behind champions boss. the new england patriots are shaping up nicely for another shot an n.f.l. glory the a.f.c. top dogs into the postseason for the time in a decade courtesy of a rush of the chicago bears famously beat tennessee fifty nine zero in the snowy game last year and also does one sided the writing was on the wall early on tom brady finding rob gronkowski for the score in the first on the birds third drunk

the fence having a tough time under rated unit storage devin mccourty for joining knox the fumble and gary guyton mix at twenty one with the return twenty six points second quarter that was key for the patriots branch ending it with a fifty nine yard touchdown reception as time expired in the first. thirty six seven. looking menacing and. the pittsburgh steelers also showing they know a thing or two about dominance on the night the cincinnati bengals did get on the board first but things went swiftly down hill from troy polamalu one against his former us see college team with carson palmer taking the interception forty five yards to tie the game at seven somewhat surprisingly the pittsburgh defense getting into the end zone twice while their all fans feel to not a single t.d. lamar woodley again preying on the art of form palmer in the fourth twenty three

seven the final score the steelers remain on track for a post season berth. switching codes and staying stateside were the bron james list cavaliers are free falling in the n.b.a. ranks the oklahoma city thunder handing cleveland an if straight loss streak that previously managed to avoid since two thousand and three the up on coming oklahoma team seemingly working on their highlight reel to start the contest kevin durant blowing out for a game high twenty five getting a good person of his points with efforts like this one james harden helped facilitate that effort before the reserve guard decided to take to the skies and sell the crowd witnessing a dunk fest in the first quarter alone thirty one thirty team the thunder at this stage the couple years finishing with only two players in double figures the one hundred six to seventy seven blue eyed putting them in further difficulty after the

departure of homegrown star le bron james at the start of the season. pablo martin has written himself into the gulf record books the spaniard becoming the first player to successfully defend the all for dunhill championship title in south africa having gone five shots clear at the start of the back nine martin so his lead reduced to one after a triple bogey on the seventeenth his playing partner third round leader on three and michael was hot in his heels but the martin sent his second shot on the par five hole into the green while michael frost on the water and the twenty four year old would then hold his nerve to sink a birdie which gave him a two shot victory and a third good clean truer title martin also becomes the first player to successfully defend the title on the tour since quarter cardington won the two on the open championship problem. let's end with a spot of winter sports where marcel her church claimed his first world cup victory of the season on the volga sera slopes in france the austrian who was fourth after

the first slalom clocked fifty three point zero six seconds in the afternoon time was enough to create benjamin rake by three tenths of a second frenchman steve missed seeing wrapped up third place finish in half a second behind the winner. in switzerland test worley took victory in the women's world cup giant slalom moritz the french native skiing to the top step of the podium by the narrowest of margins seen off tiny petain in the fin then by a tiny one hundredth of a second slovenian. completed the top three. and that is all your sports and. weather is next.

the full. riot police are back in central moscow amid fears of fresh football sam violence president medvedev is vowing to use any legal means to punish the perpetrators of the weekend's classes. argy continues to monitor events live from the heart of the russian capital we'll bring you all the latest in just a few seconds. lead also one hour to attempt to draw away from the brink of conflict are underway as russia's foreign minister holds talks with his north korean counterpart in moscow.

leg and a disturbing bra some anti drugs campaigns.