area ready for anything that could have taken place and this is all in response to some information that was circulated around the internet calling for people from the northern caucuses to come to this site armed if possible and defend themselves and stand up for their own right now there were some incidents that took place at the mcdonald's it was about three hundred yards behind where i am right now on the other side of the european center it was evacuated our look past small bomb scare at that time there were some smoke grenades that were thrown by people in the crowd at police very acrid smell of smoke still lingering in the air but at this moment in time things have calmed down and are back to normal talk let's turn to you now there were reports of some minor clashes in different parts of the city center tell us more about them. well we'll call tourist station behind me was one of them it seems that the trouble this started at kiev stiring the groups that congregated there when they were dispersed they were they farmed out to different metro

stations around the city one of them was sparkle turi and there was a minor clash there earlier and so supporters glee called there was also groups trying to gather a small linspire metro station also a central station police there trying to head them off and stop the use because they were leaving the metro station there and converse case any suspected weapons they had on them also paula task guy or that their reports that there may still be a group of use there blocking entrance to the station under novokuznetsk or another central mosque metro station there was a group of about two hundred people marching in protest earlier on all this activity brought the traffic in the in the capital to an absolute standstill and that was the situation in moscow wider field in russia in the second capital in peter in some petersburg up to eighty people were reported having been detained there and about a hundred people in the city of san. east of moscow so activity in n.y.c.

to russia also in the capital at the moment it's still full of birds situation for the moment has largely calmed down. thanks to the police's actions were turns do you now assure the the right in a very well organized to tell us what actually triggered the demonstration in the first place. well bill let me take you back a week in fact after spartak moscow match there was a brawl if you will just a simple brawl between us protect moscow fans some people say that are russian nationalists and people from the northern caucasus throughout the week and this has escalated beyond the football arena into riots and then there was an incident on saturday as well where there was violence at red square also an organization sent out through the web saying people from the northern caucuses unite come armed if you will to this location tonight at six o'clock in the evening it was supposed to be a mass gathering police coming here to prevent that in fact president did of saying he's going to doing everything he can to try and prevent any type of violence

inside gated at this site at this time a lot of police came here and basically stopped things before they happen to other parts of the city as well. sean thomas there talking to be a little earlier in central moscow other news now here in r.t. the prime minister of course of those accused of having been the boss of m f a a ring involved in the trafficking of drugs and human organs in a draft report from the council of europe touchy who just recently cemented power in the self-proclaimed independent nation is also accused of being behind brutal assassinations the western community comes under far too for allegedly turning a blind eye to the war crimes bodies on his habits as the details. 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 kemal kit 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 that i mean it's 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 where it dresher this document must not stay confidential it's necessary to make it as widely available as possible the screams are very serious and if there are confirmed the crimes against humanity. and the serbian foreign minister has also made a statement in response to the allegations made in this draft the 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 a 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 report makes between the prime minister what is new 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 of senior k l a officials. or designers here but reporting on organ trafficking allegations from. the three person space crew is seconds away now from starting a five month void into orbit any time now a russian soyuz rocket will blast off to the international space station carrying a russian american in italian and pete on the boat will be reporting from there a little later from baikonur as we bring you live coverage of that launch so do stay with us as i say we'll be bringing you live coverage of that event in fact we've got some live pictures now of that space craft preparing to launch into orbit to join the international space station. and we have. just

a few seconds to go now before that rocket launches and just remind you there are three crewmembers on board and italian also a russian and an american the soyuz commander is in fact the russian the forty one year old russian cosmonaut dimitri. and he's a pilot in the russian air force he's joined with nasa astronauts katherine coleman she'll be making her third trip into space and also an italian. who will be the tallest ever man to fly in a soyuz rocket and as we can see in our live pictures as the rocket launches now twenty in space. this is live pictures for you coming from the like an order cosmodrome. with three new explorers heading into space towards the international space station on a five month mission. so use lighting up the night sky. everything is gone

according to flight controllers perfectly well we can hear. communications in the background. so used to living one hundred astronauts on the cosmonaut on board obviously in communication with ground control and we can just see the rocket now disappearing into space some remarkable pictures now of inside the cockpit as we can actually see the three crewmembers at the controls all spacecraft heading. for you here on t.v. and no doubt we'll get more reaction and more coverage of that rocket launch a little later from our correspondent peter all of a he's there at baikonur and no doubt we'll be hearing from him a little later. well of course people go into orbit and back every

few months now so in some ways it's not a big deal but all it is now going to be looking at how it all began that's coming up a little later this hour with our special report about the first man in space yuri gagarin and that report be coming away at nine pm g.m.t. time stay with us for that here on r.t. . chosen from among many. he was given a clear cut mission. a mission he successfully accomplished. became the first ever again. one of the best known persons in the. talks were focused on flight. could he ever think that his life's work would cost him his life. what happened in those few seconds. and what secrets sealed barrels still.

curing the current. use continues now here in r.t. 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 the leading credit rating agency has warned it may downgrade spanish bonds citing heavy debt refinancing and banking problems and in scope it's an athens based journalist and a syria who is in spain explain to my colleague what's caused the anger. today strike is 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 in square outside the parliament building. the protesters attacked

former conservative minister course these evacuees they punched him they kicked him 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 strikes now receive some financial news because the details on that if you will spain with the largest economies in the 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 as such fears the spanish government did impose a new austerity 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 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 saturdays they are planning to stage it on saturday the eighteenth is expected to be massive these you in measures are in addition to the fifteen billion euros thirty 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 a lot of discontent if we can expect a big protest on saturday the 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. the measures that are being taken are leading to poverty 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 die just 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 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 of the year and maybe ending 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. according to research here that talking to a city who's in spain and hadn't scopus in athens based journalist. but we can always keep up to date on our website with all the latest news and other stories here's just some of what's online right now. cruelty a form in russia several million baby chicks into the freezing cold leaving them to die to cash for food runs out. and it may not be everyone's idea of a pet to snuggle up with on the sofa but one family in northern russia believes is a man's best friend. this story don't come on line all the time.

the u.s. senate is set to debate the ratification of a new nuclear arms reduction treaty between moscow and washington the document known as start faces obstacles from republican senators who are threatening to delay its approval. joins me live from washington best case scenario then how quickly could the senate ratify start after debate start today. the senators were supposed to take the start treaty for debate after voting on tax cuts which they did but then they moved on to discussing a completely different day should not start does this mean that the chairman of the senate foreign relations committee john kerry made a wrong statement this morning saying the treaty will be taken out for debate later today we really don't know and hopefully he will clarify where the senate is where the senators are standing on the new start and

a press conference that we're expecting in about two hours from now so far we have they had of the senate majority harry reid saying that they will get the start done in this congressional session even if it means working until christmas maybe even beyond the holidays as he said democrats are greasing against the clock here to pass through a number of priorities there are other domestic issues on the agenda of the senate and some republicans are bringing up this lack of time are given to put off the ratification i haven't heard one senators say they would take up the start for debate in this session but would put off the vote until next year but one can barely understand why this uncertainty considering all the tremendous support that the new star has received over the last eight months of meticulous hearings the country's military top officials former and present they all said it's a win win treaty and yet it could be bogged down or not it is substance but in

the politics of the day and behind the scenes bargaining on capitol hill which has nothing to do with the content of the treaty speaking of barking at some point the senate minority leader mitch mcconnell republican went out and said republicans would block any of the democrats' initiatives if they don't extend tax cuts for the rich so you get a sense of the extent of the bargaining kalter in capitol hill needless to say that they have voted on tax cuts but the future of the new start is still murky when you talk about politics being the fact that they could skype with this whole plan and of course it's down to the republicans isn't it so tell us what is the main issue the republicans have with this treaty. you know republicans favorite argument against ratifying the start in this congressional session goes something like this you know the old treaty expired almost a year ago and nothing terrible happened we're not in cold war anymore so the treaty can wait that's basically what they're saying president obama and a whole lot of father other people have been really going out of their way to

explain the significance of the treaty the new start is not just about reducing nuclear arsenals of both countries by a third and a sort of showing an example of nonproliferation to the world which in itself is very important but it's also seen as a symbol of trust between the two nuclear superpowers and obama made it very clear that cooperation plans with washoe could really go south without these key treaty in place his stress how important russia's assistance is in afghanistan how crucial russia's cooperation was on iran and some other aspects of us where share where he said the president has been really calling for republican senators to step away for a moment from this desire to undermine his presidency and do what he and a whole lot of other national security experts believe is right for the country and with a new senate in office in january the desire to undermine obama is going to get even bigger they're going to be more republicans in congress so democrats are really trying very hard to push it through this session and it is hard surprisingly hard

for a deal like the start treaty which which seems to be a win win for everyone going to thanks very much for that. reporting that live from washington. the u.s. forces still off from accessing media websites that publish leaked american diplomatic cables an air force spokesman said its employees have been denied access to at least twenty five cents you know actions are said to be in accordance with the policy of the books in the prepared content it follows the u.s. defense department's decision to burn stuff from visiting the could leaks web page or downloading classified documents from the site british journalist tony goldwyn says the measures won't help to save the tarnished reputation of u.s. policy. well it starts to look like massive amounts of hypocrisy going on how can the u.s. criticize china for example for blocking access to the internet when it is blocking access for its own citizens at least for its military personnel to sites like wiki

leaks actually it's not just wiki leaks that they're trying to block here it's all the other newspapers so it's which have been reporting the leaks i mean what they're doing here is a kind of blanket form of mass censorship so whereas the population in britain in america can read the guardian website the military can't it seems absolutely bizarre and totally critical this is really just disaster management of the worst kind and it seems that this is sort of moving away from some of the basic facts about the leaks to actually stopping the air force and the u.s. military accessing the sites this is one of the most crazy things i've ever heard and of course they will go home they can access it from home what is the point of what they're doing and it's maybe possibly what we're seeing here is an attempt to clamp down in the us anyway or on public and other people's access to the internet which is rather frightening. well before daniel joins us for the latest business news that have a quick look at some other headlines from around the world at this stage of the day

to day two suicide bomb explosions have killed at least thirty eight people in southeastern iran the blast which left fifty injured took place at a mosque in the city of jabbar on the border with pakistan officials say the bombings appeared to target a group of pilgrims commemorating assure a religious holiday celebrated by shia muslims security forces detained a third attacker who failed to detonate his device here is home to an armed militant group and it's long been a place of ethnic conflict. and facebook founder mark zuckerberg is time magazine's two thousand and ten person of the year accolade is awarded to the figure time believes most influence the year's events twenty six year olds are coburg one of the world's youngest billionaires is described by the magazine as transforming the way we live our lives. of the contenders include pop star lady gaga and wiki leaks founder julian assange bush. so that brings up to date for the moment i'll be back with more news for in about eight minutes

from now the meantime it is next with daniel daniel wall street's nearing a two year highs right bill better than expected figures just released for the economy have pushed the bell jones near eleven and a half thousand points more later in the program but first this hour moscow's my six exchange has started ruble you on trading as russia and china move to scrap the dollar in bilateral trade russian boss expects around three million yuan to change hands a day that's about four hundred fifty thousand dollars the most exposed told r.t. who will use the new system. it's the cross border traders who are going to come in and it's going to be exporters and private producers some of them in my opinion financial institutions would know that we to be worth considering as far as i've heard the plans to raise money and you i mean this could be ineffective for fall for people to get between you and ruble so i think the demand will come great deal with. direct trade between the yuan and ruble will help both choruses become international reserves it's ivanchuk or for merrill lynch believes the dollar wolf

they don't want. from the point of view of russia and china i think this is an important step for them locally and probably this will help elevate the status of the of the world but only from a regional perspective as you know very well the trading will be done only 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. for the stock markets now that they're always of the u.s. industrial production group point four percent. industrial supply caterpillar benefited most it's up almost two percent this hour what the nasdaq has swung into the red in the last few moments as concerns remain on european debt. for markets around the world the most six had a late spurt to close in the black. bank credit suisse and morgan stanley. yes and of a potential merger of moscow's says. some energy stocks lost for the ground

gluco with almost a percent of the roys in u.s. fuel stockpiles push light sweet eighty eight dollars a barrel. plus the second largest bank says it could buy a controlling stake in bank of moscow which is the country's fifth largest lender in the first half of next year the deal will become v.t.c. thirteenth purchase in recent years. in economic news the russian industrial production rose six point seven percent in november beating forecasts but the economics ministry has cut its full year expectations for g.d.p. growth from four percent to three point eight despite saying it now thinks the average price will be higher than previously thought at seventy seven dollars and fifty cents. is business to join me in fifteen minutes or more.

hungry for the full story we've got it first hand the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news maker. chosen from among many. he was given a clear cut mission. a mission he successfully accomplished.

and became the first ever man in outer space. hero of the soviet union one of the best known persons in the whole world. all his thoughts were focused on flight to could he ever think that his life's work would cost him his last. one happened in those few seconds. and what seat good season sealed barrels still hold. your regard any. place on our team. is eaves. it's. easy to. see.

the russians would be soo much brighter than if you live on soon from fines to christians. from stunts on t.v. dot com. in india oldies available in the movie joyce the hotel rooms the villas the gateway photo the grand imperial truly the top western coast coral until you can to let her tell her to sit don't need to go and. run to some of the kennel was hotel as

a treat. good to have you with this is all to come july from the russian capital twenty four hours a day top stories now this hour almost a thousand people detained in central moscow this police attempt to prevent ethnic violence at a protest looting the budget of the full time reports say some of the crowd and put all. of us prime ministers accused of having been the boss of a maffia ring which dealt in the trafficking of human organs the same drop call from the council of europe blames the west for turning a blind eye to alleged crimes by the kosovo liberation army. europe prepares for new protests against austerity measures with greece already engulfed by strikes and riots public servants say they have been used to pay for the mistakes of corrupt public. the u.s.

senate is set to debate the ratification of a top obama priority the nuclear reduction treaty between moscow and washington republicans continue to threaten to delay its pretty. well next here on r t will be talking about russia's success in winning the right to host the football world cup in twenty eighteen and what now lies ahead the interview with the chief executive behind russia's world cup bid is coming up next on. thank you very much for your time congratulations also on winning the right to host the two thousand and eighteen world cup you just tell me what you think was the key facts in helping russia to get over the finishing line and win the right to host the world cup well honestly there were. plenty of factors i think among the key ones or the government support that we had all the way including the support of the chairman of our government but the reports in.