test was heartfelt there were thousands of people here despite the bitter winter cold that protest unfortunately did not last very long some people started breaking down the windows of the parliament building trying to push through the doors destroying the property riot police pushing them back almost immediately clearing out the square our crew actually got injured in the process while filming and the crowd right by the windows riot police started pushing everyone back until like hell and then actually got hit on the head with police batons they were able to continue their work their feeling all right but it was still quite a sight it seemed for a moment that police couldn't really distinguish between civilians and journalists anybody that was in the crowd risk getting hit or kicked for a punch. only later did they see you distinguish the foreign journalists protesters and actually tried to avoid the press we saw some protesters being

cornered by riot spent quite severely was quite a frightening sight right now it does seem that everything is calm down riot police and gain control of the square have cleared out all of the protesters there are still some groups. about a block there very small rescue people in each one in there very quickly cornered by riot police detained and moved off waiting a police car and saw a lot of people being detained a lot of people were injured as well in the protests that turned violent in a matter of moments what have just as quickly been extinguished by officials. which were going to say we're here to defend our freedom which is being threatened by one man who's in power and who's making the decisions but i'm still being charged system is riddled with fear we've just seen where the presidential candidates look human a client beaten brutally flares went off everyone was put down on the ground and told to stay down as we heard the attacker swearing he broke the glass in our booth and began stealing our equipment like feeds. some of us regrouped and came here to

protest so of course many people showing the will to protest what they believe a fraudulent election presidential election that seems to be once again won by incumbent president alex on that has apparently enjoyed a fourth consecutive win in a presidential election the only presidential elections that valerie's has had a force for all of the one company president nixon that looks good morning to opposition leaders these results are falsified and over eighty percent that lukashenko a seemingly gathered according to exit polls is also a falsified number that's precisely why they were out in the street so far international observers haven't reported any major violations involving heard of one registered record where an international observer was denied access to a polling station but so far that is the only report on the record and we are of course waiting to see whether international observers will wake or a more detailed report of their observations of the money incentive in there having

a positive conclusion is a very big one the european union has promised umbrella respond a lot of financial aid billions of euros if there is evidence of free and democratic elections perhaps that is why i think so that will allow the opposition some semblance of freedom giving them on air time and sanction for anti-government rallies but critics of course say that that is all for show international observers are still to publish their reports and we'll of course update you when we get. the mosque originates on security alert with more than four hundred people detained as part of a tense to prevent violence linked to ethnic tensions there arrests for the recent wave of clashes between russian and right wing groups minorities and please although three thousand people have been detained in the last week violence erupted in legal protest eight days ago following the death of a football fun in brawl with a native north called cajuns the gathering turned into a riot with ethnic minorities and police at times there was

a repeat of the clashes on wednesday when extremist russian hit seven y. words from the north lucas says gathered for a room of confrontation a man suspected of leading and arrested killing a migrant from kyrgyzstan is now in jail president dmitry medvedev urged authorities not to hesitate to use force at first sign of trouble. clashes fighting and vandalism are not just administrative violations but crimes and those who commit these crimes should be locked up rather than just told. the police should be using the legal authority to vent extremism and incite literally ethnic hatred what happened in moscow and some of the russian cities has shown requires very efficient management i'd like to draw attention to the fact that inciting violence in our country is a crime to. u.s. senate democrats have beaten back

a second republican attempt to scupper ratification of the new start nuclear arms reduction treaty with russia a motion by senator jim risch has been defeated hot on the heels of a similar one by john mccain who called for their agreement to be sent back to the drawing board meanwhile president obama is urging rhetoric asia as soon as possible saying it's critical when actual security monday is the last day for democrats to push it through before a republican majority senate is formed in january a new strategic arms reduction treaty was signed by dmitry medvedev and barack obama in april and was. class to two countries nuclear arsenals by sad but it won't come into force until ratified by cite something moscow says it's been ready to do for moments and max bagman from the center for american progress believes that treaty is reading in the best interest of the us. it confirms that the us russian relationship will remain on track i think the second thing is that it maintains the nuclear stability that we've had some see end of the

cold war importantly the start treaty maintains and monitoring and verification measures that allow both the u.s. and russia to check out what each other is doing in the nuclear arena and it enables progress to continue to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in the world so i think it's a vital treaty it's one of the priorities that the administration has set forth and it's too important for us national security for russian national security of a global national school for the security of the world for republicans in the senate to hold this hostage and i think they won't i think this will be the one piece of legislation that actually gets massive bipartisan support although you know nothing is certain until it's certain and there's still a ways to go but i think i think we feel confident that this is actually going to get ratified in the next few days. this is all see and coming up for you later in the program links to secret detention centers and we're going trafficking. against the prime minister find out who's behind the door he has to say about it and why

some say say the revelations are not surprising. this week saw continue and rest in the streets of europe as the government seek to impose austerity measures across the continent in economic crisis at a summit in brussels the he created upon a permanent fund to bail out here is a country is at risk of bankruptcy strike in greece close schools banks and and disrupted public transportation trade union station demonstrations in france luxemburg belgium the czech republic and spain and danish land of european parliament morton messerschmitt spoke about how the crisis is proving the euro to be on the list. the euro as a construction has created this problem because it has destroyed the southern europeans countries to compare the mess and the bailout now is just prolonging and thereby crew creating an even bigger problem because the dept will just to grow and

grow a new three now the eurozone is reacting to it desperately introducing the suggestion on euro bonds of course we need to be solidarity in the european union but we also need to be economically realistic and the realism of the euro zone is that it doesn't work it hasn't been working for for years and there are at least several non harmonious regions within the euro which makes it impossible to maintain the common currency so i think that the even the strongest part of a little have to either recognize that we need to have one hundred percent of governance from brussels and since the europeans don't want to have to go with the second lie which is to admit that the euro is a failed currency for spain is going to most likely going to be the next big topic either spain or portugal in spain the unemployment rates are right now around twenty percent which is a huge which puts a huge pressure to. finance is in there in it's pain in the depths rises just getting bigger and bigger if portugal falls which is on the lip of everybody here in strasburg that will be a disaster strikes the spanish economy because those those two countries are

interlinked so severely in economical terms so when i don't know whether portugal or spain falls first but when the one falls the other one will do as well. let's now have a look at some other stories from around the world people have been going to war wounded into a time in afghanistan for taliban militants stormed another recruiting center in the northern city of could do with two of them detonating suicide vests they ensuring fire fighting lasted five hours local officials said and the second attack militants ambushed a boss carry on officials to the center of kabul the tyler has claimed responsibility for the tux. at least twenty seven people have been killed after an oil pipeline exploded in the central mexican state of said two people were injured while schools of houses were destroyed in the blast a government spokesman sad the first explosion occurred as a tenants were made to steal gas oil from the duct and distributed success of

smaller blasts forcing people to flee this small town fifty five kilometers outside mexico city firefighters say the flames are under control. u.n. secretary general ban ki moon has said peacekeeping forces will remain in ivory coast despite being ordered to hold by the incumbent president laurent gbagbo is ignoring international calls to step down the group claims the un has been or his rival others say what tara the international observers say one last month's presidential election in the u.s. is to pull out most of its personnel citing increasing until western sentiment and fears are growing of renewed violence in a country still recovering from the bloody civil war that ended in two thousand and three. thousands of travelers have been left stranded as severe weather destroyed airports across europe hundreds of flights from london's gatwick and heathrow airport have been cancelled and there is also major air disruption in france italy

and the netherlands in germany at least two people were killed in traffic accidents caused by the conditions forecasters say the arctic temperatures of predicted to last well into the new year. russian prime minister vladimir putin held his annual q. and a session this week with the russian public protests spend four and a half hours on live t.v. all seeing some of the million plus questions which flooded in and out is that i don't know the quote for that they haven't heard. 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 of course 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 a thief places in prison because he's accused of stealing tax evasion and fraud

with the new charges he faces is about stealing hundreds of billions for his company security chief is in prison for murder they didn't like the mayor of new if the 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 hit man they hired he's dead as well. another sore spot was the issue of recent ethnic clashes between washington radicals and people from the north caucuses that the government failed to prevent the prime minister said nationalism is a common disease. radicalism is like a virus if society weakens the mean system goes down diseases start to spread but if societies mature in these bugs of radicalism and extremism simply lie dormant and can't cause any damage but you are going to get 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 is it a bit of that in the same as we don't need to use special squads to punish traitors i can assure you all of them will fall off the perch themselves. they can take the thirty pieces of silver but it will stick in their throats the video conference was held in the other charity and a big marriage in the form 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 dog but i was really country when you and president medvedev are sleeping. we sleep in turns don't worry everything is under control now that explains why was 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. and as we heard that the fate of me was touched upon in the last q. and a session and this week a moscow cooled didn't made its verdict in the second trial of the former oil tycoon until the twenty seventh of december he faces charges over these theft of billions of barrels of oil from his company and laundering the proceeds before you could see you know was arrested in two thousand and three and is currently serving an eight year jail term for fraud and tax evasion if he's found guilty he'll stay you in jail for another six years if the court clears hold of the latest charges he will be released next year the forty seven year old made his fortune during the turbulent ninety's through the privatize ation of state assets which made him russia's richest man. still ahead blasting off for the holidays. going to be voted by the door. while the rocket blast off from the

cosmodrome in kazakhstan. the action in a couple of minutes here or not see also. bring in a century old christmas tree to light up the heart of moscow but in the festive mood here and also interesting in that. the u.n. security council is holding an emergency meeting at russia's request to address escalating tension on the korean peninsula moscow's concerns come as south korea announced new military exercises along a disputed maritime border north korea attacks the south last month in response to similar naval maneuvers russia and china both called on south korea to cancel the exercises while the u.s. has condemned the repeated north korean aggression four people were killed in last month's northern office hillary assault on a south korean island but this time pyongyang warns it will strike even harder the security council has drafted

a resolution calling on the parties involved to avoid any steps that will worsen the tensions in the region and all working on a. an old fashioned political analyst average of frank says russia is best placed to act as a mediator in the korean conflict russia is the only country that does have a stake box no specific interest career which actually is a difference between russia and the european union still russia can actually be a trustworthy and reliable mediator a neutral broker the want interest that russia does and how concerning korea is stability but never there is a situation emerging market for a major war that will inevitably not only pull both careers but also china us it will have a negative effect on the ability in the region and on russia and hands russia's major preoccupation is if you maintaining peace. u.s.

officials claim their war effort in afghanistan is on track and making progress but back on american soil it's a message a few people are willing to believe has gone education met some who say they was costing the u.s. two daily. 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 goals lie which benefit just selected few don't know of one of the overall giants of the defense launch not know if they were 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 all crowded 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 solid bond 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 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 for people a record sixty percent of americans say the almost ten year old war in afghanistan is not being 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 we could have saved their infrastructure in iraq and afghanistan if one tenth of what we spent on destruction had been spent on construction. 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 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 and wars but these protesters hope if they shout louder no. someone could hear them the wars that america has been fighting they've taken trillions of dollars out of u.s. taxpayers pockets and apparently they will continue to do so when 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 anymore than a check on our washington d.c. . prime minister how toci is facing questions of a reporter for the council of europe which claims he was involved with a group that killed prisoners in the late ninety's to sell the organs there are also reports that western governments in new allegations but have been turning a blind eye to them for years this habit has. this ellen has never spoken to the media before he's been too 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 blotch 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 obedience

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 he went missing both during and after the late ninety's kosovo war and the still unaccounted for and allegations leveled against senior members of the class of a liberation army including the prime minister has to be touchy and the council of europe are not help to ease the minds of men like this when the report claims mr links to organized crime dates back to when his then it's 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 establishing some form of short term stability in the region allow tetchy and his followers to assume positions of political will over the course of the

years following the whole model for 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 and. the e.u. is rule of law mission in concert though says it will now launch its probe into the allegations and general unix takes a legal actions on war crimes and obviously with crimes very seriously and should be sufficient evidence. should be responsible for dealing with them we will certainly look into the issue. mr hashem taji 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. peacekeeping in police cars stun god twenty four hours a day you saw i did this bridge that divides the serbian and albanian parts of the town of meet the reeds or ten years after the end of the concert been reborn ethnic

divisions he is still run very deep bass with the release of this report people are now saying that they feel of bounds and a let down by the international community here supposedly charged with protecting them all these years. kosovo. and don't forget to log on to our website home but there are always more stories for you and here are some that might catch your eye. and he's a singer dancer and entertainer iranian born in iraq she was told on chair about his international groups and skyrocketing career. greevy told stories can sometimes feel like galleries but they stand in luxury fashion house has got a real exhibition in moscow and it's all right up until christmas get the details at. the new crew members of the international space station are making themselves at home for their stay in last in

almost six months they soyuz craft carrying three astronauts successfully docked to a day i said on friday the crew brought seasonal gifts is currently on board the station peter all of ours and thereby can a cosmodrome in kazakhstan for the blastoff. over my shoulder you'd be able to see these so used to make twenty rockets now be blasting off sending cosmonaut the meat recall that you have and astronauts apollo nespoli from the european space agency and katherine coleman from nasa into space now this is the product of two years a very intense training and the trio be 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 to work in space that the international space station carries out now i think. they have a i'll let you get on with that. by

you know as the story twenty rocket blast off from the cosmodrome in kazakhstan sending them a trick on the once you have paolo nespoli and katherine coleman off to the international space station. well 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 which will stand tall for the next three weeks and these here the tree was blessed by a russian orthodox priest for the first time and it will be decorated with thousands of russian tricolor lives and ornaments christmas trees have been back and he said the kremlin for nearly fifteen years now when president boris yeltsin of revived the great revolutionary tradition this year's event was accompanied by a theatrical showing creating a visit from father frost and the rocket the symbol of the coming year according to

the chinese calendar. that was our look at the big stories of the week and up the back in just a few moments what they had lying stay where you are. it's the secret incursion into the country. it's the invasion by means of.

tradition the language. this is the first day copied could be done of. culture. to think. the dems are still unaware of what's going on in their mouth this. we'll ask him. like. i don't know if you broke. the grade. on our cheat. discovery. communicate with you want to. test yourself and become free. see what nature can give you. hungry

for the fall we've got it from. the biggest issues get the human voice face to face with the news makers. welcome back to the now the latest headlines and the week's top stories for you now opposition demonstrations turned violent and by the worst with clashes at parliament buildings as thousands take to the streets in protest against an apparent love slide victory for the incumbent president and examine the question and also a camera crew have been injured as riot police tackle crowds while two opposition presidential candidates have also been hat. a sneak tension between russian nationalists and groups from the caucuses it's also small school forces to take preventive security measures to avoid a new wave of clashes hundreds have been detained over the last twenty four hours

taking the total to more than three thousand in a week as a result of isolated clashes in paris part of the city. no topic was off limits as prime minister vladimir putin today hoped to see toys annual q. and a session with the public and justice were among the issues that came up and before a long discussion. other subjects covered included social security police reform and property prices. and the europeans speak out against their governments and the methods used to deal with their volatile economies the single currency is increasingly being seen as the root of the problem of the scale as a leaders agreed to set up a fund to rescue faily economy. up next in our special report into allegations against the colombian all of me and its links to the deaths of civilians. alone.