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deep freeze hundreds of russians in the country's far east remain stranded aboard a group of vessels locked in by an icy trap. and ice breaking rescue mission has already freed two ships and is now raising it to three three in the succulent bay. in the united states republican stepped in to take control of congress were they now outnumber obama's democrats acts were warned to change could make life more difficult for the president. and palestinians in the west bank start naming streets

after their fallen heroes but critics say the scheme is glorifying people with blood on their hands. watching r.t. live from moscow i'm marina josh a rescue mission is underway in icy waters off russia's far east coast where a five vessels have been stuck for almost a week two ships were freed yesterday but more than four hundred people are still trapped brings us all the details. the ice breaking mission rescue mission has been slow progress as the ice break is extremely tough conditions now we know that the rescue operation was launched last week the country's transport ministry issued a warning to other ships in the area about these tough conditions now the original icebreaker the mcgahan when it got to the ice came up against this incredibly thick

ice and itself got stuck in a second large ice breaker the admiral marker of then launched an incredibly tough conditions that they've come up against this being an usually code because the temperatures have dropped below minus seventeen and thought to plunge even lower than that that's resulted in incredibly thick ice we've been hearing up to eight meters thick in some areas that we've heard from the official just how tough these conditions really are but if. there's a vast accumulation of ice in the region which in places is almost eight meters thick the ice is being formed as the emma river is strewing out large amounts of fresh water that's freezing the vessels are in constant motion so as not to let the ice form around that the situation is being worsened by the gill force winds now the second day where this is actually known to be an incredibly tricky and quite dangerous marine region we've seen with the gale force winds and the incredibly

thick ice that we've heard that these three vessels have become stuck now the fishermen know the dangers there the sailors continue to sell through the region for high profits that they can get from the fishing in that area we've actually heard from the crew about the conditions on board that they're all doing well. for the icebreaker is getting through to us the situation on the ship is normal people waiting for the icebreaker with bated breath it's captain doesn't advice is to try and break free of the ice and snow people to come as soon as the ice breaker frees us to get back to work we miss it already but don't worry about us we have food and water it's warm we have t.v. and radio because they've been there about a week now so they're of the sea going to be quite anxious to get free from the ice that we've heard they've got plenty of place plenty of food and water so there's no danger of them running out. sara for us there now on the way here on r t a city paved was ben bags i now whining yorkers are feeling rather as their homes become

a dumping ground for the city's waste that's just a few moments. and two years of democrat dominance on capitol hill have come to an end a new u.s. congress has been sworn in and the republicans now hold an overwhelming majority the house of representatives sees the biggest split with obama's democrats outnumber by forty nine seats and they are barely clinging on to the senate where the majority of just a change in power follows the results of november's midterm elections republicans have been trying to sink several of obama's policies since that including a nuclear arms reduction treaty with russia which was eventually ratified by the senate late last month was benedict from the libertarian party says the current bipartisan system is leading america into a dad and. if you look at what the worst policies that congress has delivered most of them have been bipartisan for many years the bailouts of the banks the invasions of afghanistan and iraq but the deficit spending even

a lot of the health care programs have been supported by both republicans and democrats the united states is spending itself into oblivion we're going broke or doing way too much spending on millet on the military if congress stopped doing anything that would be the second best thing that could happen the best thing would be that they start cutting government i think that republicans will pretend they're trying to cut taxes or cut government and claim that democrats are be in a roadblock to it and your only solution is to vote for more republicans democrats have used the same tactics when it comes to various programs if you don't elect more democrats the republicans will stop a so yes they will be playing politics republicans and democrats are both being hypocritical if. you really want change in america you've got to look outside the two main parties that was was benedict executive director of the libertarian national committee. are usually famed for its shopping cutting edge fashion and

love of big business something smelly a bit off and new york residents are starting to complain about mountains of waste being left on every corner of the big apple or jesus you two are going to dive head first into the reality of a city sky high in rubbish. if you're standing next to a pile of garbage taller than yourself how does that make you feel it's a pretty impressive progress while the world marks the new year one thing marking new york are melton's of garbage. striking a huge blow to the city's traditionally glamorous image you can't even cause the street with a baby carriage to hold the people cannot even walk to the discoveries. anthony is a mailman his job takes twice that time these days sadly he notes his salary has not doubled that makes my work very very hard because they really box. in one instance however the mounds of garbage prevented

a tragedy as one new yorker suicide attempt unsuccessful this weekend when it jumped out of the window did not turn fatal due to an unexpected software get into piles of refuse one of thousands filling many of the almost six thousand miles of new york city streets the average american is said to produce fifty tons of garbage in a lifetime new york city has reportedly accumulated as much as fifty thousand tons of garbage in just one week just because we're in a financial recession issue mean that we're in a moral recession but it will world recession is exactly what the trash invasion has turned the big apple into and while some officials have created themselves and a plus for handling the situation new yorkers are outraged you're very upset about it it's gross it's ridiculous. good enough for our taxes that we are praying for as an economic crisis leads to budget cuts that lead to boycotts in the sanitation

department that lead to all this garbage out on the street it may be time to ask how soon before the big juicy apple turns rotten and. new york. and you're watching live from moscow stay with us as we've got plenty more stories ahead. for you. twenty five years after the world's worst nuclear disaster ukraine says it's safe to develop the turn novel zone for growing crops but will anyone actually also. mysticism with a modern technology armstrong thomas is coming up on our to really explore the world of the siberian showman. the west bank city of ramallah as naming a street as part of a virgin aeration scheme started two years ago to markets hundreds anniversary but some of the tiles are causing controversy after being named after people involved in planning suicide bombings as opposed to reports being seen by some as

a sign of growing extremism. in palestinian ramallah they're naming their streets to celebrate the city's one hundredth birthday this is their right for the citizens to know where they are imagine never gating your way around here with no street signs to help well until two years ago that was the case in that one there were normal numbers for houses and for this digs but now yasser arafat to get a street as does a neighborhood that used to exist in arab jeff and the one nine hundred thirty s. the neighborhoods long since disappeared and the streets a call for palestinian refugees to return to israel the criteria are simple palestinian heroes places and ideas supported by the people on this issue here with real. or not there or from as if anything the opposite members of both

groups are glorified which might surprise those who think palestine is most modern city would shy away from praising her master warts like this main thoroughfare named after chief a mass bomb maker yahia yash dubbed the engineer for three years he was the most wanted man by israel for his part in suicide bombings that killed ninety israelis until he himself was eliminated. and this martyr was killed by the israeli internal security service after they tricked a friend of his into giving him a cell phone that was booby trapped fourteen years on his family is as proud as ever and. i'm very pleased even in drugs in streets after my son is in my heart and i miss him his the hero of those time. but not all street names are palestinian rachel corrie was an american activist who was killed by an israeli bulldozer

during a demonstration in gaza in two thousand and three the decision to name this business . st in ramallah after her was unanimous rachel was part of the international solidarity movement a group israelis charge aids him us and other palestinian extremist groups the people. with for the with the way that. the. polls show her must growing in popularity in the west bank as talks between rival palestinian faction fatter and israel did luck come as a changing. and as the new street signs go up in ramallah it's becoming more and more clear a mass is also speaking in the language of palestinians here understand police here are t. ramallah. and i was take a brief look at some other stories from around the world and u.s. presidential palace found a series of codes

a cost cutting decisions helped cause b.p. oil spill and one of the worst environmental disasters in history report concluded bad management led to a failure in safety procedures and explosion at an oil rig in the gulf of mexico killed eleven workers and caused millions of gallons of oil to leak into the ocean till it was kept in july b.p.'s all of us to gauge and concluded manufacturers word of way i'm including the involvement of several other companies. turkish police have arrested would be hijacker after he was overpowered by passengers on a flight from oslo to stamboul to believe the target national claimed to have a bomb when he tried to force his way into the cockpit and demanded the jet return to norway police say the bomb was found to be a fake turkish airlines plane was carrying fifty nine people. in north korea's calling for unconditional talks with the south to fears of conflict on the peninsula so has dismissed the offer as insincere intention is

a high over power. yang's challis in south korean island in of amber which killed four people in north says the attack was in response to south korean military exercises in the area. the united nations peacekeeping chief says he wants up to two thousand additional troops to bolster the un force in ivory coast general longer roy hopes the soldiers will be available in a few weeks the troops have been protecting a hotel that is sheltering al assad atar the man has been widely recognized as the winner of the sample election a blockade remains around the building despite west african and voice recording that i read post incumbent leader had agreed to lift it. well now you might not think of it as fertile ground but ukraine is planning to start developing parts of the contaminated novel zone for agriculture scientists believe that plants in crops there are immune to the radiation caused by the nuclear disaster twenty five years

ago but as are the reports huge doubts over safety remain these berries may look ripe and delicious but they're definitely not part of a healthy diet the bush is inside a thirty kilometer chernobyl exclusion zone in ukraine and radiation levels are off the scale people do not live here anymore but same cannot be said about flora and fauna some say it is the absence of anthropogenic harm in the church nor will exclusion zone which made nature develop here rapidly after the nine hundred eighty six fallout in chernobyl the environment suffered badly one strip of forest was burned by radiation and turned red people left the area but mother nature stepped in now chernobyl is home to many species of wild animals and rare plants scientists from slovakia studying most in the area made an incredible discovery

a lot of the blood is immune to radiation. we still don't understand how it's possible plans to grow. at the very beginning of the earth when life started the. activity on the surface. how much problem and the millions of hectares of land were left contaminated a quarter of a century on kiev has decided that this soil no longer poses any threat to humans in march twentieth love and ukraine's government will launch a plan to get things growing again. we will establish what parts of the contaminated areas could be used for agricultural needs there is a possibility that cultural products will be grown there when we have so much unoccupied land why not use it. those well familiar with chernobyl like the idea.

of half a million people works to clean this land of radioactivity now we're being told this is dead land this is not true just look at nature's riches in the exclusions if you were however there are those who worried about what could end up on the dinner table critics fear ukrainian and russian markets could be flooded with radioactive agricultural products and there are legal hurdles. ukraine has a law regulating any activities in the exclusion zone it says no agricultural product can be drawn on this land and for now experts you know possibility of this law to be changed. the dominant view remains that the nearest save zones from the blonde are still hundreds of kilometers away in northern ukraine and some parts of belarus the dead zone in chernobyl is still deemed too dangerous despite some optimists but the fact is radiation can stick around for anything up to twenty four

thousand years. let's. see reporting from chernobyl ukraine and check out our web site for the stories we're covering on the air and a lot more here are some what you'll find right now. president medvedev cancels his visit to israel find out the story behind this ride by israeli diplomats and why it's causing so much destruction. and celebrating break ups with a bash while half of american marriages end in divorce it seems it doesn't have to be better some agencies are trying to transform the misery into the earth all the details. from healing and protection to marriages and good harvest in ancient times shamans

were in charge of almost all aspects of life in russia's far east they are still very important to native people but there are only a few left thomas went to see how they adapt to modern times and keep old traditions alive. from the ceremonial rhythm of the drama. to ancient rituals and traditions. the belief in the power of the shaman is very much a part of the cuttin way of life to put it there so that our ancestors always had a very powerful shaman around the law to protected them gave them blessings and ensured security and safety in all circumstances and every day life at a hand on a journey and a tool. a shaman is someone who acts as an intermediary between the spiritual and earthly worlds relying heavily on nature to get his message across when russian orthodox christianity moved eastward and then later with the soviet union shamanism

was banned those that practice the faith were persecuted now there are only three recognized sharman living in all of us want to live. i help people find faith in the fact that their wishes will be fulfilled their family relations in conflicts at work will be fixed when a person has this faith he can do anything i live in a time of crisis and my mission is to help people in this troublesome time every sharman has his own mission. to help certain posts with the engine symbols of the sharman adorning them standing right next to power lines from the modern world there's a contrast between the modern technology and age and mysticism is a problem for the sherman. real shamans live far away from big cities and small villages because contemporary cities with computers cars cell phones and the constant russian distract from the true unity with nature and the spirits i myself

am from a far northern region she ganske lucy trying to make the best of it all life is a delicate balancing act for the cuttin people start with them they probably are an interesting people when we're in trouble we do three different things at the same time we turn to share. women we pray you know church and we make use of modern medicine a unique way of keeping a tradition that has been part of your couture for centuries but even if you don't maybe some protect what it created the spiral in the middle is the symbol of may the warmth of the fire in your name protects you and then you will three spirits be knighted the spirits of the womb the spirits of and the spirits of the earth. which you know sean thomas r t. team russia has done canada to become world champions in junior hockey canada began the tournament as an underdog having lost many of its players to the international stage russia was also not a mocking the favorites to win having lost its first two games but it was those two

in the file and what a game it was canada scored three goals but in the last twenty minutes russia came out firing five three was the final score for more sports news you can check out our board in just over an hour's time. and for now though let's take a look what's happening in business. hello welcome to our business program i'm sure on a key on could oil prices have hit two year highs in recent days as industrial production in the u.s. in europe picks up this comes after russia's two thousand and ten oil output beat

post soviet records to reach ten point two million barrels a day jorge want to pick a global director of market reports at plants in london says russia will only benefit from the increased oil production. this recent highs that he has had in production is because a nor fields came into play such as. so over time the geology of the ground of course leads to less production from existing and you need to renew those fields by either having a secondary or tariff. or going into north areas to produce more oil so it's clear that russia needs to have the taxation as well as the incentives to transport that oil from nor very harsh areas such as eastern siberia to maintain that record high in production but so far i think it is clear that

russia is having a really good time in terms of producing more and selling that oil at record prices so again very good news for the russian economy. russia is the leading export or of energy resources but also one of the most energy inefficient economies in the world but both state and commercial businesses have modernization projects in the pipeline in a bid to improve the country's competitiveness artie's colander a has the story. every year russia wastes enough energy to power the french economy but now the kremlin hopes it can turn industry from leaking losses into a green money making machine to get it started the government's approved a three hundred billion dollar energy efficiency program to trim the fat from factories and buildings inherited from soviet times is played some fifty when the leaders in terms of efficiency our industrial giants transport and housing utilities many industrial sectors of the economy are two and a half times less efficient than their european peers the room for improvement is

huge. it is the biggest oil and gas producer on the planet the people of russia enjoy cheap energy with prices set by the state but those low domestic cost drain the desire to conserve fuel there is no other remedy tool and energy efficiency apart from letting consumers be the real economic price for the energy of their consuming president medvedev aims to slash wastefulness by forty percent over the next decade initiatives range from phasing out incandescent light bulbs to state backing for billionaire project to build an inexpensive hybrid car in southern russia but there's still a long way to go for the last twenty years we've been reducing energy consumption per g.d.p. where our fleet for three to five percent but you know a lot of other countries move much much faster down this road. right now in our energy inefficiencies are everywhere it's public buildings. consumers

electricity gas etc it's tremendous being eco friendly goes hand in hand with energy. efficiency recently russia's natural resources ministry drafted a bill to make factories recycled materials they currently throw away by selling them to biofuel clouds right now russia uses twice as much energy than china uses to produce the same amount of goods and russian companies are struggling to learn how going clean could bring in the green calling break party. and russia's inflation in two thousand and ten eight point seven percent that's according to preliminary data of the federal statistics service the figure fail to meet the government's seven point five percent target and almost equal the previous year's inflation in a bid to curb price growth in two thousand and eleven experts believe a refinance rate hike is on the cards touch on employee reports. russia's central

bank account interest rates on the four consecutive occasions in two thousand and ten to seven point seven to five per sound to help spur a landing after the financial crisis however the easy money if huge inflation which has risen above target currently stands at more than eight per cent and central bank has to react to keep. the pressures that's one of the major or most important mandates of the central bank so i think it's also a very important signal that inflation is very important for the central bank a signal that is very important to all of the economic agents i think a hernia refinance rate may boost carry trades with investors cashing in on high interest rates in russia compared to the rest of the world but analysts say central banks monetary policy it is hard to predict which is helping to mentor to money you

have different estimates which makes it a little bit harder to follow policy makes i think the central bank here. has created kind of a deliberate ambiguity you know it's kind of constructive ambiguity you might even say in their minds at least about policy here and i think they did that in particular and successfully in a way because they didn't want to see large large capital short term hot money inflows russian economic growth has been slower than expected in two thousand and ten while inflation has been higher and the ruble hasn't appreciated as much as it could given the current prices but economists believe the country is well pleased do you bang for instance predict g.d.p. growth of five percent in two thousand and eleven significant ruble appreciation and higher capital inflows if you look at equal business. and that's the update for this hour but there's always a.