protest as a storming the main government building tell us what's happening where you are. while at the moment we're here in independence square in the heart of the belorussian capital minsk i've just come back from the main where the main action is just outside the house of parliament and up close you can see that some windows have indeed been broken there are a large amount of people by the doors and they're sort of half heartedly trying to break the doors and push their way and so far there's not been organized attempt to break the doors down and for the people to actually enter the building but the situation in the crowd is indeed very tense just a few moments ago we saw a riot police leave before they did that however our very own camera crew got injured during filming they came up closer to the police barricades and were hit on the head with but tongs police batons they're quite shaken they've got serious bruises we don't know if there's any chance of concussion yet because they're

refusing to go to hospital they say they're fine and they will continue working but this is just one of the many incidents here in independence square the situation growing more and more tense by the minute. we're here to defend our freedom which is being threatened by one man who's in power and he's making all the decisions by himself the entire system is riddled with fear we've just seen with the presidential candidates beaten brutally flues went off everyone was put down on the ground and told to stay down we heard the attackers swearing he broke the glass in our booth and began stealing our equipment like thieves only people were kicked out some of us regrouped and came here to protest. so there are thousands of people here in independence square they're not looking like they're likely to leave anytime soon specifically of course judging by the slogans that they're shouting out we will stay we will fight for our country. long live valorous

and leave that last one specifically directed at incumbent president alex on the who seems to have just secured his fourth consecutive victory yes and quite convincingly reportedly received almost eighty percent of the vote so what are international observers saying about this overwhelming victory. well so far we haven't heard any detailed comments from international observers on the process of voting and what they've managed to see at polling stations here in the capital and across the entire country you've only heard of one official registered violation or an international observer was not allowed access into a polling station but so far that has been the only violation on record and some international observers specifically those from the always have already said that they believe these elections should be a lot more calm and peaceful than those of two thousand and six of course then

police clashed with protesters in the streets with police using brutal force to disperse protesters and. basically break down any sort of protests and violence it is looking likely that this situation could repeat itself again because tens of thousands of people are here in independence square and they don't look like they're going to leave anytime soon. bringing us the latest on the aftermath of the presidential election there and going to roost thanks very much indeed for that. the moscow region is own security with more than four hundred people detained as part of attempts to prevent violence linked to ethnic tensions the rest of the recent wave of clashes between russian nationalists groups minorities and the police more than three thousand people have been detained in the last week tensions baldry worth an unsanctioned meeting eight days ago following the death of a football fan in the brutal native. turned into a group minorities and police attacked there was a repeat. the clashes on wednesday when extremist russian units of migrants from

were all caucuses were gathered for a group consultation suspected of leading unrest and killing a migrant who couldn't stand is now in jail because between the forty's not to hesitate to use force to quell the twilight. saga. clashes fighting in vandalism are not just administrative violations but crimes and those who commit these crimes should be locked up rather than just told off the police should be using their legal authority to prevent extremism and incitement to listener kate should what happened in moscow and some other russian cities has shown that although requires very efficient management i'd like to draw attention to the fact that inciting ethnic violence in our country is a crime. democrat senators are making a last ditch attempt to convince their republican rivals to ratify

a new arms reduction treaty with russia most of whom are against the deal the strategic arms reduction treaty was signed by dmitri medvedev and barack obama in april and would slash the two country's nuclear arsenals very alert but it won't come into force until ratified by lawmakers in both countries something the russians say they're ready to do time's running out for obama's democrats whose majority in the senate will be sliced in january and need at least fourteen republican votes to pass the deal the conservatives say they need more time to think political analyst joel rubin says failure to ratify the start treaty will tarnish america's political reputation. if it doesn't get passed actually fails there could be serious consequences for american leadership on arms control follow up for the american reputation around the world would be significant if it doesn't pass but it is not turned down but just delayed that to also signal that president obama is weak at home that's why advocates for the treaty are saying it is to get past their oil. well still ahead for you this hour an r.t.

blasting off for the holidays. with dominoes. by. the side. of the rocket blast off of the cosmodrome in kazakhstan. to catch the action in a couple of minutes here on r.t. . this week saw another spate of unrest in street protests across europe amid government attempts to tackle the economic woes at an east summit in brussels a permanent fund was agreed upon to bail out euro zone countries that are at risk of bankruptcy thousands of people continue to take to the streets all over europe protesting against tough spending cuts and other general strike in greece caused public transport disruption and closed schools and banks and court demonstrations were staged by trade unions all across the continent from the czech republic to spain probably olds the director of the euro skeptic bridge group says the new fund will not solve the euro zone's problem. it's

a short term measure to for the markets but it will not solve the underlying problems that are causing these massive debts within these countries which is the euro they hope that so we attempting to solve the greek debt crisis would stave off contagion that still spread to arlen and it's now spreading to portugal and spain and will also spread to italy. so just too great the eurozone bailout package isn't big enough and it doesn't address the underlying problems in part partly that the euro zone's policies of forcing austerity on the nations that do in these days you have these massive debt crisis isn't helping because it's creating these massive austerity it's destroying their economies for generations what they need is economic growth to get their way out of the depression we can call them that depressions that they have in stimulate recovery and then they can pay off the debts at the moment they can't because their economies are just too badly damaged

because they're in the euro. and now to some other world news here in our world update a suicide attacks have targeted military bases in two afghan cities leaving thirteen members of the security forces dead in the northern city of shootout began when the government stormed an army recruitment center a military pass outside another recruitment center the main one in the country was then ambushed in a separate incident on the outskirts of kabul the taliban has claimed responsibility for the attacks which five assailants were. at least twenty two people have died after an oil pipeline exploded in the central mexican state of puebla authorities say five blast took place during an attempted theft but the cause is unknown dozens were injured and over thirty homes were destroyed firefighters say the flames and now under control and an investigation is under way. the u.n. secretary general ban ki moon has rejected

a demand from the disputed ivory coast government the u.n. peacekeepers should leave the country incumbent president laurent gbagbo accused the u.n. of arming his rival. both candidates claim victory in last month's election sparking fears of another civil war after dozens died in clashes among their supporters france and the african union backing. refuses to step down. thousands of stranded at airports across europe are severe winter weather continues to disrupt travel hundreds of flights are canceled at london's international airports heathrow and gatwick due to the amount of snow france italy and the netherlands also reporting problems in germany at least two people were killed in traffic accidents caused by the across the city temperatures are predicted to last beyond christmas. earlier this week prime minister vladimir putin set the record straight on a number of issues as he held his annual q.

and a session with the russian public. over a million questions were sent in and putin spent four half hours during the live t.v. broadcast to answer as many as possible that on another followed the nation wide event. not quite truth are there in his annual q. and a session the russian prime minister wasn't given a choice and some of the questions were rather daring like the one about former oil tycoon mikhail who that core ski who is currently serving an eight year term in prison for fraud and tax evasion it was a question that got put in going so we should be just like a character in a famous russian movie i'm sure that the thesis place is in prison because he's accused of stealing tax evasion and fraud with a new charges he faces is about stealing hundreds of billions trillions his company security chief is in prison for murder they didn't like the mayor of nifty uganda so they killed him then there was another woman in moscow who refused to sell her little store to them and they killed her when they didn't like the hitman they

hired he's dead as well. another sore spot was the issue of recent ethnic clashes between russian vaticanus and people from the north caucasus that the government failed to prevent the prime minister said nationalism is a common disease and there's no sort of radicalism is like a virus if society weakens the immune system goes down diseases start to spread but if societies mature in these bugs of radicalism and extremism simply lie dormant it can cause any damage but you are going to. russians domestic worries you can everything from social security and police reform to real estate prices and if you foreign policy issues were touched upon as well such as the recent spying many of that has spread across the atlantic over set a bit and then use them as we don't need to use special squads to punish traitors but i can assure you all of them will fall off the perch themselves they can take their thirty pieces of silver but it will stick in their throats the. conference

was held in the rather chatty and up marriage of the film it was introduced by bush and when he was still president back in two thousand and one and then become a prime minister he's continued the tradition of the annual informal discussion with the public and as ever he likes a good joke politics mixed with a little ironic humor but i will tell you the country when you're president good oversleeping. we sleep in turns to worry everything is under control now that explains why most go is a city that never sleeps after an exhausting q. and a session of four and a half hours russian prime minister vladimir putin can now go and rest as russians now know they will still have their backs covered up i look at r.t. moscow. well as we heard the fate of me was touched upon in that q. and a session and this week a moscow court delayed its verdict in the second trial of the former oil tycoon the

decision of been due to be announced on wednesday but was postponed by the court until the twenty seventh of december the former c.e.o. was arrested in two thousand and three and is currently serving an eight year jail term for fraud and tax evasion in the latest trial he faces charges over the theft of billions of barrels of oil from his company and will drink the proceeds if found guilty he will face a prison sentence of up to fourteen years but if the court clears critical of the latest charges he'll be released next year the forty seven year old made his fortune joining the turbulent ninety's through the privatization of state assets which made him russia's richest man. the u.n. security council is holding an emergency meeting behind closed doors discussing the increasing tension on the korean peninsula south korea says it will go ahead with military exercises on its shared border with the north despite a promise from pyongyang to respond forcefully the drills are to take place in the coming few days on a south korean island shelled by the north a month ago four people were killed in the november assault but this time killing

and wanted will strike even harder russian something which says it's deeply worried by the crisis called for the u.n. meeting china backs russia's efforts to restrain south korea but the u.s. maintains seoul has the right to hold the military drill political analyst ruediger frank says russia is best placed to act as mediator in the korean conflict with russia that is the only country that does have a box nor specific interest. which actually is a difference between russia and the european union so russia can actually be a trustworthy and reliable mediator a neutral broker the want to trust that russia doesn't have a concern to korea is stability but never there is a situation emerging market major war that will inevitably not only import both careers but also china us will have a negative effect on the ability of the region and on russia and hands russia's

major preoccupation is actually maintaining peace u.s. officials claim the war effort in afghanistan is on track and making progress but back on american soil it's a message fewer people are willing to believe what is going to let some who say the was costing the u.s. to do. at the same time as obama was trying to put a good face on the war in afghanistan we are on track to achieve our goals hundreds of people were marching outside the white house calling those announced ghouls lives which benefit just selected few who don't know well think of the overall giants of the defense wants not know that they are going in the only language they understand and shutting down. whenever we're doing here today we're going to continue to do it will be more and more over. the u.s. says it will take its forces out of afghanistan by twenty fourteen but many people believe that that line could be stretched indefinitely it will take time to

ultimately defeat al qaida it's been a year since obama stepped up efforts in afghanistan by adding thirty thousand troops to the existing contingent there it's also been the deadliest year for the u.s. forces there with casualties almost doubled in many places the gains we've made are still fragile and reversible but there is no question we are clearing more areas from taliban control and more reclaiming their communities you hear a different message from veterans like man who fought in afghanistan having been there myself i can tell you the u.s. army is not a liberating force it is not a nation building force and it is a destructive force the mission statement is to engage and destroy the enemies of the us and in close combat period there's nothing in there about bringing food to poor people a record sixty percent of americans say the almost ten year old war in afghanistan has not be worth fighting both in terms of lives and dollars

a new price tag was announced for the war this year one point two trillion dollars we could have universal health care for every working person in this country if one tenth of what has been spent on the war was spent on working people you know we could do it we could have saved their infrastructure in iraq and afghanistan if one tenth of what we spent on destruction had been spent on to. destruction. what about security people here don't seem to feel safer either i believe that our presence there and in all the interventions we've had across time in other countries only serves to make the world a lot less stable i think we're creating a lot more violence i think there are more if you would check this year compared to last year the number of taliban for example i think is increased. knowingly getting arrested in front of the white house could hardly help end wars but these protesters hope if they shout loud enough. and don't put here that the wars that

america has been fighting have taken trillions of dollars out of u.s. taxpayers pockets and apparently they will continue to do so and people who came here protesting outside the white house and hoping the president will see them from his windows are saying they don't buy into the argument the war on terror any more than a check on our team washington d.c. . kosovo's prime minister hushing toci is facing questions over a report for the council of europe which claims he was involved with a group that killed prisoners in the late ninety's to sell their organs there are also reports that western governments knew about the allegations but have been turning a blind eye to them for use as him it has more. this ellen has never spoken to the media before he's been to angry his brother went missing in the summer of one thousand nine hundred ninety eight and no one has helped to find him while he went to work as usual with his friends to the barrage of it's mine and that was it i never saw him again we went to the police and everyone else we can think of after

the war i thought there'd be an exchange of prisoners and hundreds of our binion's were freed the so many serbs are still missing now after twelve years i've lost all the international officials who didn't do anything when they easily could have his brother is one of the near two thousand four hundred people who went missing both during and after the late ninety's kosovo war and is still unaccounted for and allegations leveled against senior members of the kosovo liberation army including the prime minister has since had she and the council of europe are not help to ease the minds of men like this one in the report claims mr touches links to organized crime dates back to when his the next a group became the dominant factor within the k.l.a. and the alleged decision of western powers to largely ignore its activities in the hope of the stablish ing some form of short term stability in the region allow

tetchy of his followers to assume positions of political pillow with kosovo in the years following the war. everybody including western countries knew all about these allegations for years but he wanted to keep them hidden the only. other was in charge here ensures the e.u. is rule of law mission in kosovo says it will now launch its own probe into the allegations in general. on what crimes and other serious crimes very serious. should be sufficient evidence. should we be responsible for dealing with them we will certainly look into the issue. mr hashem times she has dismissed the reports is baseless and defamatory and is threatening to sue it's another shocking twist in the history of this already troubled region. and e.u. peacekeeping in police cars stand guard twenty four hours a day each side of this bridge that divides the serbian and albanian parts of the

town of meet the ten years after the end of the cost of unworn ethnic divisions he is still run very deep bass with the release of this report people are now saying that they feel about a let down by the international community here supposedly charged with protecting them all these. are less a bit. more still to come for you this hour for the frost visits the kremlin. christmas tree to light up the heart of moscow get in the festive mood here in just a few minutes from now. the new crew members at the international space station and making themselves at home for the last almost six months the soyuz craft carrying three astronauts successfully docked with the us on friday the crew brought seasonal gifts to those currently on board the station and all of it was at baikonur cosmodrome in kazakhstan for the blastoff. over my shoulder you'll be able to see the soyuz t.n.a.

twenty rockets that will be blasting off sending cosmonaut the meeting called the r.t.f. and astronauts apollo nespoli from the european space agency and kathryn coleman from nasa into space now this is the product of two years of very intense training in the trio of the spending six months on board the international space station while they're up there they'll be carrying out a number of experiments and continuing the work in space that the international space station carries out now i think. the stuff behind me i'll let you get on with the. domino theory by you know as the saudis twenty rocket blasts off from the cosmodrome in kazakhstan sending them a three continents you have paolo nespoli and katherine coleman off to the international space station. peter all of our reporting there now don't forget to

log on to our website harty dot com where there are always more stories for you to follow and something that might catch your eye there at the moment he's a singer dancer and entertainer iranian born rush has told r.t. about his international roots and skyrocketing career. can sometimes feel like galleries but this time not tree fashion houses got a real exhibition here on in moscow it's on until christmas so you can get the details on that. dot com. it takes pride of place at the heart of russia's capital over the festive season a century old christmas tree was delivered this week to the kremlin's cathedral square where it will stand tall for the next three weeks this year the tree was

blessed by a russian orthodox priest for the first time it will be decorated with thousands of russian trickier lights and ornaments christmas trees have been back in use at the kremlin for nearly fifteen years now and president bush revived the revenues from the tradition this is event was accompanied by the trickle show including a visit from father frost and the rabbit. according to the chinese culture. well that was our look at the big stories of the week and i'll be back in just a few moments with the headlines stay with us here live in moscow.

this is a cable from the u.s. embassy in colombo to talk about here an apparent june seventh incident of extrajudicial executions the military according to the press that on that day that killed nine guerrillas in combat desiccation by instructs you including you know and they 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. usaid continued to flow. wealthy british style it's time to. markets why not scandals. find out what's really happening to the global economy in concert report on our. chosen from among many. he was given

a clear cut mission. a mission he successfully accomplished. became the first ever. space. hero of the soviet union one of the best known persons in the whole world. all his thoughts were focused on flight. could he ever think that his life's work would cost him his last. one happened in those few seconds. and what see good season sealed barrels still hold. your regard any. is eve it's.

easy to. see. with us the. opposition demonstrations. in the clashes of parliament buildings take to the streets in protest against the pound landslide victory for incumbent president. to come across. presidential candidates have also been hurt. and ethnic tension between russian nationalists groups in the caucasus forces moscow authorities to take preventive security measures to avoid a new wave of clashes. over the last twenty four hour. taking the total to more

than three thousand in a week the result of clashes in various parts of the city. was off limits as promised. the hot seat for. the russian public nationalism and justice were among the issues that came up and before long discussion other subjects covered including social security police reform and property prices and. european speak out against governments and the methods used to deal with. the single currency is increasingly being seen as the brute of the problem this came as leaders agreed to set up a permanent fund to rescue eurozone economies. one of the e.u. has been the west bank and gaza strip an independent palestinian state even without a peace deal with israel this comes on the back of stalled negotiations after the jewish state resumed settlement building already spoke to rabbi andrew.