area to prevent a possibility of ethnic clashes that were planned to happen here around six o'clock earlier this evening now there's been no major violent clashes no huge fights that have broken out but there certainly have been some incidents break it down from around the city as well not just here now about more than seven hundred people have been arrested some of them armed as you mentioned coming towards this area at different stations around the area police have been picking people out of the crowds and questioning them and pulling them aside taking them detaining them asking for their papers but also there have been reports of fights at smolensk am metro station as well as purgatory metro station which is right by the studios in central moscow in fact reports of an ambulance being dispatched to that location because someone having been internet that fight here ad you have sky what we have seen is the mcdonald's has actually been evacuated for fear that there may have been an explosive device in fact you can hear some sirens in the background indication of some activity but what we did find out is around two hundred people

threw some smoke bombs at police at that location in fact right now that's about three hundred yards away from where we're standing right now and we can still smell that acrid smell smoke every once in a while loft in our direction also reports of people marching from a street from a park down the street a ways away from here we cannot confirm that at this time but we do know that once we heard that a lot of police were dispatched in that direction to to prevent anything that might happen coming from that way also while the metro remains open the train station remains open the european center which is a big mall here has been closed as well known as being allowed access into that point so after tensions all around the city very tense situation in the air we've been lucky so far that we haven't heard any reports of major violence but little clashes all throughout the city causing tense situation here in moscow so sean with the police shutting down so you can transport a corridor and the masses still congregate congregating. tell me how the police

dealing with the rallies. how the police dealing with violence well actually very well believe it or not i mean it's a well coordinated effort in fact if you go closer to the european center a mass amounts of police in riot gear with helmets ready to tackle any situation they also have bus lines buses lined up for people to bring them in the question detain them we've seen many people hauled off and basically in an orderly fashion there hasn't been any resistance to this but let me take you back a little bit and tell you why this all happened one week ago we had the actual brawl after a spar tac football match that ended up in the killing of video tof he was shot and killed one person from the north caucuses arrested then on wednesday at a football match a spartak match once again in slovakia but there was an interruption of the game twice and they had to leave the field because of violent clashes there then on saturday violent clashes in red square as well so this has been a steady escalation moving outside of the football rina and then into more of

a racial tension between two groups from the north caucuses and also russian nationalists now this event tonight specifically there was a web circulation saying hey come down to this location arm yourselves if you have to we do not want to stand we don't want to stand for this anymore so people from the north caucasus is basically saying they want to stand up for themselves but there's evidence that this is also an organized well organized event having incidents in st petersburg tonight and tomorrow as well so police have been ready for this because president medvedev has said that he is going to do whatever it takes to deal with the instigators of this violence he's saying he's not standing for any of that which is why you see such a strong police presence here in central moscow and elsewhere in russia as well. reporting live from a central moscow thanks very much. now let's discuss the developments of this further with political analyst dmitri babich from rio news agencies thank you for joining me today so we've seen similar well organized and even the armed groups in

moscow and other cities at this point is this possibly a sign of the conflict spreading do you think well i don't think anything really dramatic will happen because such things never happen when there are announced in advance because police prepares itself and rush a steel strong enough as a state to prevent an attack which had been announced. spontaneously everything may happen and i think the state now understands that. problem of racism in the country has been neglected for a long time i think now i hope you know the state officials will realize that they do need to combat hate in the internet hate in the press they should stop some people from appearing on television and making inflammatory speeches that. unfortunately all these things have become part of the mosque culture and the loss of the police seem quite well prepared for these riots also called demonstrations

do you think nationalist groups will continue to try and stage these kind of events knowing that there's such opposition in such control from the police well during the. online years now square police i don't think was very well prepared because they steal a walled hooligans or the organizers to use about the what they still allowed them to penetrate the metro and they still would not prevent them from assembling or when you. start to get better prepared. in general you know when you have this atmosphere in the city when people are nervous during the whole day and when they tried to leave earlier than scheduled and when they're afraid to waltz into the street all visibly this is not very good. and you think there could be any kind of reaction to this level of violence from people who are not involved in it. i already know that from society or from all that healthy force

in society their reaction is very strong people are very angry at also looks priests for example who failed to really condemned the violence who talked like. like spiritual progress of the nation there are many people who are angry the state in general for the north been able to fly speech. there are many people who are angry at these so-called food bowl fans who are not full fans full fans you know with all the stadiums and they don't organize. in the central the city so a lot of people are angry i mean an average moscow where it is angry of course some people have racist prejudices and there might be envy also against the ethnic minorities but i noticed that during these three days number of such people at least in my surrounding decreased because they see what happened ninety nine

percent of the violence comes from the so called football fans already beat you about which political analyst from the news agency thank you you thank. well and now back to our top story you can watch live coverage from the square at the railway station the scene of a recent ethnic unrest on our website that's r.t. dot com and other stories are also available for you there and here's just some of what's waiting for you online right now on our web. a suspect that happens to be a young. woman now released on bail in london but banned from her workplace in parliament also. get an exclusive inside into the war in afghanistan from a man with intimate knowledge of the country our military contributor. his blog and plenty of others always online twenty four seven. dot com.

the prime minister of cars is accused of being the boss of a mafia ring in volved in the trafficking of drugs out of human organs in a draft report from the council of europe. who just recently cemented power in the self-proclaimed independent nation is also accused of being behind brutal assassinations the western community also comes under fire for allegedly turning a blind eye to the war crimes. kosovo is reeling from allegations that its prime minister missed the house and she is the head of a major fia like crime network connected to all aspects of organized crime here in the region including the trafficking of arms people and drugs the most seriously of all is linked to the killing of serbian prisoners both during and after the cost of

an war whose organs within harvested to be sold on the black market these allegations are made in a draft council of europe reports led by the human rights investigator dick marty the result of a two year long investigation in that report mr morsi says it hasn't touched links to organized crime date back to well over ten years from when his the nice a group became the dominant faction within the cost of the liberation army or the k l a the other major point to come out of this report is the level of blame that is heaped on the international community and western powers who lot he chose to ignore the actions of the k.l.a. and to not properly investigate the reaction from the international community has already started to come out to this report and the russian foreign minister sergey lavrov has already given this response says the report prepared by the council of

europe has very much worried this document must not stay confidential it's necessary to make it as widely available as possible the screams are very serious and if they're confirmed equal crimes against humanity. and the serbian foreign minister has also made a statement in response to the allegations made in this draw of a council of europe reports this information is horrifying both russia and serbia have been trying to attract attention to it for some time the report shows what course of really is now and who governs it but many here in cost of a say that the allegations relating to the actions of the k.l.a. that are listed in this report on the. thing new nobody will be surprised except for the fact that now we also have a sort of connection that through our report makes in between this i think it is a prime minister what is do you is the official level of blame attached

to the international community in this report regarding their lack of action their lack of proper investigation of the actions the senior k l a officials. have with their reporting on organ trafficking allegations from kosovo well meantime a cause of his government has denied the claims calling them baseless and defamatory but the report to be published in full on thursday has already caused widespread expressions of concern now bush up mileage a serbian historian and blogger thinks it's significant that the draft report wasn't published until after recent election when i don't believe in coincidences and this is definitely a. very interesting timing touchy one yes he won because in the two precincts that are considered his strongholds cows and chickens turned out to vote nobody's knows how many people actually have the right to vote in kosovo and nobody knows how many people actually live there and that the whole vote was being bought with fire wood stoves and indeed eventuality i've heard reports of people

actually be offered money to vote so i wouldn't really put much stock in the legitimacy of this election he's been getting away with murder for four years he wasn't nicknamed snake by his compatriots in the caylee because he was a great humanitarian. and he's for the past ever since one thousand nine hundred eight when he emerged as a caley leader he has had unconditional support from washington and other european capitals which has enabled him to become the so-called prime minister of the so-called independent state. it's just approaching quarter past the hour now here in moscow you with r.t. and coming up for you in the program. the final preparations are being made ahead of the latest expedition to the international space station we'll be having a look at the personal stories behind the cozy little of the astronauts they'll be blasting off from baikonur. the european trade union confederation is holding a day of action across the continent against sweeping new austerity measures a fresh national strike has already paralyzed greece meanwhile leading credit

rating agency has warned it may downgrade spanish bonds citing heavy debt refinancing and banking problems helen scopus athens based journalist and artist has our silly who's in spain explain what's caused the. today strike the seventh general strike this year following tough reforms needed to receive this one hundred billion euro i.m.f. bailout loan now police have said that there were about fifteen thousand people taking place in the march protesters started fire fires at the finance ministry and luxury hotels inside that mosque where outside the parliament building. the protesters attacked former conservative minister course these cards evacuees they punched him they kicked and they were shouting that they're going to be all of them i assume they mean the politicians now there are reports in the news there are

problems there is rioting going on outside the polytechnic university in central athens let's turn over to you know spain also braced for a strike now receive some financial news because the details on that if you will spain with the largest economies and be a european union has been hearing reports that moody's rating agency may downgrade the country's ratings of course for such a big economy this really has been sending jitters down in the soft markets all over the world how to address these such fears the spanish government did impose a new more sturdy measures just last week the third of december and included in these new measures are cutbacks in key jobless benefits and this has really hurt the local people they've really protested against this because on that day when it was announced air traffic controllers are staging massive walkout and this has resulted in the closing down of airports in spain so this is just the beginning of the massive protest stage for saturday if they're planning to stage it on saturday

the eighteenth is expected to be massive because you in measures are in addition to the fifteen billion euro a certain measure already passed in may of this year as well as talks that the country will increase the retirement age from sixty five to sixty seven wages of civil servants have been cut so. a lot of discontent certainly in a country that used to provide more than half of the jobs in europe it's now dealing with a twenty percent unemployment that's about five million people without jobs here is a lot of discontent and we can expect a big protest on saturday because first of all this is not just a financial crisis this is a social crisis we're talking about high unemployment we're talking about a two tiered justice system meaning that we don't see politicians and bankers being persecuted prosecuted excuse me but we see the people being not only prosecuted but also persecuted. we see that. the measures that are being taken are leading to cover d. and unemployment and they see no light at the end of the tunnel they see no future

for themselves they see no future for their children and they really cannot how can i say digest of what the leaders are telling them what the officials are telling them it's either this or bankruptcy it certainly seems that way for the people because they're seeing the benefits employee benefits caught they are having to deal with having no jobs and these measures they're saying that it's not their fault and why why is it the ordinary people who have to pay for the fault of what they see as a fault of the banking system of the whole eurozone area even the u.k. we just saw protests in the u.k. violent ones coming from students because tuition. fees will now be passed on to the students rather than the government so they're seeing very painful painful cuts that really hurts them to the core and here what's interesting in spain is that the part of the a certain measure is that the national lottery thirty percent will be sold to the private sector and now this lottery has been around for the last two centuries and

for the first time in a very long time they're seeing that it's called el gordo the fact what they're saying that it's not so fat people cannot spend on little things that they need to survive and the last three and spinning this just the way of escaping the problems that even that is having its problems so the year when maybe. but certainly for european countries across the euro zone including the u.k. they're not seeing an end to this economic crisis just yet so this is a very high price definitely for ordinary people having no jobs not enough money to make ends meet certainly a high price. for their reporting from madrid helen scopus from athens and international journalist well a three person crew is making final preparations for a five month voyage into orbit later today the soyuz rocket is set to blast off to the international space station with its new group of explorers a russian an american and italian peter all of them at the head of the mission to discover more of their personal side including one special love story. when it

comes to space travel clinical accuracy and pinpoint engineering of the norm that these on science his main concerns she's the wife of european space agency astronauts on this poorly and watches the soyuz rockets that are husband safety depends on absolute the sure that means i'll be fine and i am. really glad to see that we all take them to international space station family with space exploration running through their veins the couple met while paolo was training near moscow sasheer was a nurse at the space center and her father is a constant instructor i met my wife in star city actually during training some years ago and we figured out that nevertheless our culture are fairly different she is russian i mean talian there was a lot of things in common and so we decided to to join together and that went in your life today we have a daughter a year and a half old daughter and we're very happy paolo married his russian bride while she

was visiting him in houston a spur of the moment decision after the couple realized that they couldn't stand being apart from one another. the italian will spend the next six months on board the i assess but paolo will be able to stay in touch with sasha and their young daughter through phone calls and video links and just because he's working in space doesn't mean every day life back home on earth comes to a halt i asked him how it's going to be when you're up in space eastern time so i'm going to make phone calls and i pay my credit card so it's going to be just just as if he's here standing at one meets in ninety two when a spall he will be the tallest man ever to fly in a soyuz rocket so told in fact that a special seat had to be made for him. the mission commander is cosmonaut dimitri khandahar chair of it will be this russian's first journey into space a very serious and focused individual he plans to use any downtime on board the i

assess to train for his black belt in karate not an easy task without gravity help but. i will be restricted of course i won't be doing any fully fledged sessions there are a lot of exercises in karate static ones breathing exercises some of them could be done in a confined space urns no gravity. now says katherine coleman makes up the crew this will be her third trip into space and this time should be bringing along a passenger as a reminder of home a son's cuddly tiger and what it means to go to school and learn to write doesn't know how to write so well we're trying this. taking good look tokens into orbit is one of many traditions associated with launches from baikonur strange that even in the most high tech of environments that the human belief in fate play such a major part moving at a snail's pace so as not to cause any damage to the spacecraft the fully constructed rocket moves its way towards the launch site and even at this stage

there are traditions and superstitions it baikonur the placing of koreans on the track in front of the train is supposed to bring good look to the mission on the launch pad and ready to go the soyuz t.m.a. twenty rockets now wait for its crew peter all of a baikonur kazakhstan. all right now let's recap of our top story here and rival groups of russian nationalist groups and ethnic north. of garbage in moscow small clashes reported in different parts of the city. thomas at the city center of the city center train center and that's where the focal point a focal point has been shown us up to date now what so what's been happening where you are. thousands of police have been deployed around. city and here kids the kids . to prevent these supposed clashes we had reports of mcdonald's being shut down for potential bomb threat smoke bombs being thrown there at police also reports of

fights at smolensk i metro as well as the metro the reports of injuries there although that is being denied by the police also reports that this is part of a concerted efforts that more than seven hundred people detained around the city some of them armed tonight more than sixty people have been detained in. st petersburg also people and some are gathering as well so interesting night tense situation here in moscow and around russia as well. as the film is right there in the center of moscow thanks very much. for that coming away in just a few minutes daniel's here with the business news. hungry for the full story we've got it for. the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers. in some petersburg she's available in hotels a story. ambassador. hotel petro palace hotel patristic

hotel new golden. gate. and see if this city visit. which bright. sun from feinstein crashing. on team.

six exchanges started rubel you on trading trying to move to scrap the ball in bilateral trade the russian balls expects about three million new one to change hands a day that's about four hundred fifty thousand dollars a month six present total t. who will use the new system. it's the cross border traders who are going to come in and then it's going to be exporters and product producers and then in my opinion financial institutions would know the need to be worth considering as far as i've heard the plans to raise money and you i mean this could be an effective tool for the fall for people to get between you and rebel so i think the demand will come greater with. direct trade between the yuan and ruble will help raise the prospects of both currencies to become international reserves but eventually from merrill lynch believes the dollar will remain dominant. from the point of view of russia and china i think this is an important step for them locally and probably did help

elevate the status of the of the world but only from a regional perspective as you know very well that trading will be a number of a couple of hours during the day and while again i think it's important for this country see regionally i don't think that this will take away from from the shine of the u.s. currency at least over the medium term. of the checked stock markets off the topsy turvy day for stock markets the my six had a late spurt to close in like the basement but it's pretty sweet and morgan stanley to value the ts ahead of a potential merger of moscow's two my boss's. energy stocks most of the ground from almost a percent roi is in u.s. fuel stockpiles pushed light sweet eighty eight dollars a barrel. on a new russia second oldest says it could buy a controlling stake in bank of moscow which is the country's fifth largest in the first half of next year the deal will become thirteenth purchase in the last years

. russian induct group production rose six point seven percent in november beating for costs but the economy ministry has cut its full year expectations for g.d.p. growth from four to three point eight percent despite saying it now thinks the average price will be higher than previously thought at seventy seven dollars fifty cents. that's the latest you can find more stories on our website dot com slash business.

wealthy british scientists. sometimes the type of. market why not come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike's cancer for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into cons a report on our. india policies available in the move go on to join c hoto i love you lots the gateway hoto the grand imperial trying to talk western. new kind of let her tell the closeness giotto says don't need to go publicly and run the same the kennel was

her job as a retreat. is now off last hour here in moscow while we don't see the headlines now around two hundred people detained in central moscow as police attempt to prevent ethnic violence at a protest linked to the mother of a football fan reports say some of the crowd were all. because of as prime minister is accused of having been the boss of a mafia ring which bells in the trafficking of human organs the same draft report from the council of europe blames the west for turning a blind eye to alleged crimes by the cause of the liberation of. europe prepares for new protests against austerity measures with greece already in strikes. public servants saying they're being used to pay for the mistakes of corrupt politicians.

but my colleague bill dog will be here in half an hour's time but for now. guests about the relative merits of the so-called dream act in the u.s. and whether it can solve america's immigration issues crosstalk is next. and if you. follow in welcome to cross talk i'm peter lavelle they have a dream the development relief in education for alien minors act is languishing in the u.s. senate legislation most americans agree with is this bill commonsense immigration policy or is it a shame rewarding those who break the law. and.