it 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 crowds large capital short term kind of 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 the as much as it could given the current oil prices but economists believe the country is well placed 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 that you have about equal the business. and that's the update for this hour but there's always more on our website that's r.t. dot com slash business stay with us. sergeant

of the israeli defense forces. during his service scorched the street fight. if i am from the current. all of the chilean armed forces participated in

a military revoke. the sergeant of the u.s. army. tried to become an american flag in part in the. ranks and reasons differ but one thing brings them together once they disobeyed. a back to watching are to life in moscow a reminder of the top stories deep freeze hundreds of russians in the country are being stranded aboard a group of vessels walked in by in the icy trap two ships have already been. rushing to rescue three more. and the united states republicans step in to take control of congress we're now odd number obama's democrats experts warned the

change could make life more difficult for the president has lost his majority on capitol hill the first time in two years. and palestinians in the west bank start naming streets after their fallen heroes but critics say the scheme is horrifying people with a lot on their hands on streets been named after an infamous bomber killed dozens of israelis. are regarded as one of the greatest writers of all time leo tolstoy has made a significant imprint on literary history over one hundred years on from the russian novelist das his award winning biographer and wilson says tolstoy's message is just as valid now as it was back then. the seventh of november two thousand and ten is the hundred anniversary of player tolstoy's death and to mark that anniversary i'm talking to one of his biographers a n. wilson he wanted award in one thousand nine hundred eight for

a biography of tolstoy and wilson thank you very much for talking to r.t. now first as a biographer what attracted you to tolstoy here's a giant he was the great giant of the novelistic form greater even than dostoyevsky who i suppose the great dr so that was what attracted me to him and the fact that ever since so it's really become a serious reader in my teens it was his novels and so regarded as the greatest tell stories books i'm thinking specifically of war and peace consistently tops these lists of the best book ever do you agree with those kinds of rankings you can't really compare war and peace with any other novel he himself said it wasn't a novel and it isn't really a novel it's a book about everything it focuses yes all the years you know five campaign culminating in the battle of our salutes and then the invasion of eight hundred twelve but the further it goes on you realise that it's

a novel about the whole of russia and also it's a novel about personal regeneration so it's really about everything. there aren't many books that you can say are really about everything tolstoy was as much a philosopher as a writer what do you think in compass is his philosophy in life well i mean it's a very interesting question what compass is tolstoy's philosophy of life and i answer it in two ways if you think of that. really quite early work of his cause aki the cossacks there's a moment in that when elaine in who's been hunting. for the deer and it's all covered in that is beautifully described fantastic scene and he's all alone and he doesn't quite know where he is in the caucasus covered in that very hot very sweaty and he suddenly gets down in the hole. where the itself has been lying and he has this strange feeling of life. and. with which he's

connected he's not sure whether the future life whether there's life after death but the significance of life itself for each one of those mosquitoes are biting him just as for him just as for the. warriors and justice of the muslims they're supposed to fighting there's an extraordinary significance in every single life and he has all his thoughts about being an heiress to trapped being a member of society in wall street they mean nothing to him what matters is this feeling of the sacredness almost the holiness of life and the importance of trying to live for other people now that's a very very early story and then when you get to the end of tell stories life and career the thousands of people who were following his coffin when he died and will no doubt get on to this. they weren't following him because he was a great novelist they were following him because he had taught not only russia but

the world how it ought to live how we should be less selfish how we shouldn't be wrecking the planet we shouldn't be fighting wars so this early story in which anyone has a sense of of the goodness of life the significance of life and how we should live more simply and more response to nature and to our conscience that really runs through the whole of his life. and he essentially and underwent this transformation didn't he from high society author to spiritual on a case told well what i was trying to say by mentioning is that it's always there from the beginning actually this feeling that we are called to a deeper truer life away from the absurdity of society and so forth the tolstoy family were very grand i mean some of them were advisers to the emperor the family . on whom old prince both more in pieces but it's his maternal grandfather was also

a very grand military and political figure tolstoy himself lived almost entirely in the country at his estate and yes my apology on the he never really. played a big part in the political life unlike his cousins caught in petersburg or in moscow but you're right to say there was this huge crisis in the middle of his life when he'd finished and i trained you know. which was a fantastic success as was war and peace and i made him very very rich which he hadn't been before he'd been landed and he'd had peasants and he'd had the states but he wasn't very rich he then became a multimillionaire as we would say and he had a crisis what's the point of it all there's a moment in his autobiography where he said he couldn't even be in a room in the room with a piece of rope for fear that he would want to hang himself he then thought the way to live was to try to be like a peasant and for a few years he pretended. he'd by the way set up schools not only on his own estates but for vast acres and miles around the us and i probably on the starting

education. he was the great pioneer of russian education and even now they sometimes in some russian schools use his a.b.c. to teach people to read. so it wasn't just sort of pious try dreaming but having pretended to be a peasant he then went back to being the reasonable lightman and he was and he thought what is due to christianity and the church is teaching on ethics how to live. the miraculous stuff meant for leicester and it was out of that was here volved his core philosophy of life which as you say is an excuse and he felt that. all governments not just the governments of the sars the particularly evil in his eyes all governments are based on violence and the only way that we as individuals and we as society is to get away from a system of the military of war solving problems of torture is in ourselves

to forswear violence but also to forswear the idea of authority so he was an extremely subversive figure and an extremely conflicted person if i'm not mistaken he has an anecdote that i remember hearing about about tolstoy that he was working on the raid one day and he came across a gang of rock breakers you know people who break rocks with other rocks and he thought to himself. how much he enjoyed them because as poor working people they were so much closer to god than he was and you can imagine this rock breaking hearing this story and thing here you have no idea of the privations and hardships of my life is there and there was a great deal of on realism about him which was why his wife for example phantom so maddening in the second half of his life and you know for example in part of the great creed he built up apart from being a vegetarian and a pacifist and so forth was that sex itself was evil. well he was an

extremely highly sexed man and even when these tracts calling upon the world to forswear sex were coming out his wife was having her tenth or eleventh child and so forth making her look absolutely ridiculous of course as well as making him look ridiculous. and did his contemporaries frequently see him as ridiculous well he. ridiculous isn't really a word one uses of these great giants and were one. dismaying feature of him is that he didn't have a sense of humor certainly not about himself but i think over the six question he did make himself ridiculous yet also i was a deeply religious man but he did get into quite serious conflict with the orthodox chat well he was religious in this way that you get in the novels i think if you think of pierre or prince andrew in war and peace if you think of the of being in. their worldly young man. soldiers or landowners and people very much like himself

everest attracts with women trouble and all that and then they reach a crisis in their lives and they turn to what it's all about to member prince andrew thinking he's dying. and then what it's all about is this great stride you can switch. and identify with the ministry of nature tolstoy was full of that to the end of his days where he parted company with the church was over the claim that for example the miracles were literally true or that the church had the right to dictate to men and women what they believed in what they thought and how they should behave and so he fell out with the church in a very very big way and they eventually after he wrote the novel called resurrection which has a lamp of the literature of the orthodox church in it the extreme indicated to him didn't make any difference to him because he hadn't been going to communion anyway but he was excommunicated it meant he couldn't have

a church funeral. which was quite a big deal in its days it was a big deal for his wife who was who was an orthodox it wasn't for him he never wanted to be buried in church ground anyway he was buried in the place the states where his brother thought he'd buried this green stick when they're playing it but a game in childhood on the green stick was written the secret of how we should live the secrets of human happiness so it's very appropriate it should be buried there. we are celebrating the hundredth anniversary of tolstoy is that what celebrate was to celebrate is the greatest novelist who has ever lived but also this man who was dry he did with a passion for the truth and he alone stood up against this extremely powerful regime and told the truth in a world of lies and this was a fantastic example for russia because in all the terrible years which followed his death he died in one thousand in the civil wars the first of all the civil war the

revolutions and so forth the tradition of tolstoy lived on and it enabled the dissidents when they courageously began to emerge and stand in this times to look at his example and see that it's energy is one voice telling the truth look at a lot of our look at social needs and they would guided by the influence of tolstoy and that's really what we have to celebrate. and you said that he was in essence an advocate if told so he'd be alive today what do you think he would be doing when. he wouldn't be very surprised that for example the americans just as the russians did before were trying to defeat the afghans nobody's ever defeated the afghans so he behalf amused by that he wouldn't be very surprised that the bag because of the world. had made a complete mess of things and that what we call civilization was collapsing two of the bangs and he would be saying just what he was saying in one thousand between yourself live more simply try to love people try to live for others and wilson

thank you very much thank you. list

. is filled with joy. with parades and marches. inspiring people with enthusiasm. but most everything is really good and it feels to speak out. though she shared her thoughts only with her diary it became evidence in the trial for counter-revolutionary activity. the evidence which condemned to label. the diary of a soviet school on.

phrase hundreds of russians in the country remains fran of the war the group of. have already been. rushing to rescue three more. united states republicans step in to take control of congress were the number obama's democrats experts warned the change would make life more difficult for the president and his party has lost his majority on capitol hill for the first two years. and palestinians in the west bank start naming streets after their fallen

heroes but critics say the scheme is poor people with water their hands named after an infamous bomber killed dozens of israelis. have lines here in our rushes junior hockey team canada and is now world champion for sports highlights here's andrew farmer. hello there thanks for watching the sport and this is what is coming up. another name heads to k h l n god climb to the summit with victory over all. this city a two points behind munchie a nike golf pro bowler school. preaching we high russian tell me she said. useful to get. out

a top of the table of the k h l seems to be changing every day at the moment is now even god who are the leaders off today trying for nil on wednesday with a brightened up and god replaced welcome to the sun makes most of those magnificent coarsely just behind after that over time when you could at. least also got a win in overtime against the all who had to come from behind twice but eventually fell just. salad hang on to the coattails of the top great despite a four three sheets loss of bodies oddballs up there with them falling dead she won when i reported inside. and nothing can be got the better of simply every. now in english premier league city an arsenal played at a goal destroy at the emirates and the game where they going to hit the woodwork several times and both sides finished the game with ten men yet it's about that to send to the final minutes after a confrontation the point put city within two points of manchester united to do have two games in hand elsewhere chelsea lost to wolves will sing well with an

angolan in the minutes not when the relegation zone while the blues stay fit everton go to choose one win over coleman was a last minute window of their new castle hit by cost west how to spot the absence of their star striker andy carroll the own best scoring a hat trick got a three one win over little. johnny scoring twice bolton and we're going through one apiece and sunderland got a one zero win over ten man aston villa who had them all pesky sense of. what was done with football because when you face people not seen the premier league is run with didio a similarly say their strike is heading back to brazil and he's in talks with his hometown club where it's reported he's about to sign. the deal but going rovers had expressed an interest in signing the former world footballer of the year. switching to tennis and the cat open where fourth seed there were junk is safely through to the last eight the four seed mark in

a minute break stetson joined rafael nadal in the next round after he came from a set down to be laughter and also through to the next stage is world number two roger federer he looked late but it times before coming through it's a remarkable. face be deployed skipper upright in the last. good see joe will free to come to me so if you could junior the son of the world record breaking pole vaulter of the same name was no match for the big show in french and to some one sixty six to cruise into the future for. now just as the new tennis season is getting underway there are a number of exhibition tournament taking place one such event is in taiwan and it has featured the former greats on the agassi marat safin as well as the current world number ten mikhail youzhny usually last tasted success in october the middle age you know you can miss him playing the seven for a championship and now the twenty eight year old russian is hoping to add more consistency to is going to try to stay in the top ten.

for it to improve. and you really need to grab. my throat. throw. a little bit more gutsy. but i can see usually a fellow russian. alongside each other at the exhibition tournament might be a bit rusty he retired after the two thousand and nine paris masters and is currently busy helping the russian olympic team prepare for london two thousand and twelve. no i mean the sports rise of the president because he became vice president. very far away from where we want to be well russia has had his fair share of penny

stocks recently but he's hoping for a bit of success in a new form of the game the country's cold climate isn't exactly ideal but the russian tennis federation is keen to promote it is only expected. the western part of russia is not your typical place. especially in winter when it's minus ten side and could only be found on the pavement. however that hasn't stopped in st petersburg holding a christmas tournament. this morning in northern italy over thirty years ago particularly in rivendell a place the world's top beach tennis players still call home today a resort holiday makers call it the scene of people hitting a tennis golf paddle on the beach well it's now an official sport with established rules and regulations one that's gaining popularity in colder places like russia as

well as looking down the chimney of the city we started playing beach tennis in st peter's bank we only have four rockets in full people now take a look at how many people are in hand for the eighth inning many people a curious to get to try and find it fan and that's what we're doing we have numbers of people who wish to try out each techniques because it's bad because it's easier . well beach tennis is starting to attract athletes from its much older sibling regular tennis while it's on the three years old in russia drastically as an infant stage the country's national teams are already competing for top honors on the international scene county dominated by its release. well it's late outstanding results are tough to beat alexander crab did manage to come close in two thousand and nine by winning silver at the european championship at the city but it is not a scrap the italians have this hour fifteen years now so they are obviously believe . been doing the support and we haven't had the opportunity maybe he lives in

moscow for instance we only have outdoor facilities and sounds good but it's a great thing that we now have an indoor facility in st petersburg we can keep training in winter to go up as they were making beach tennis official in russia is a major push towards advancement into the masses but will that be enough to make it popular in the biggest con fan or much of which is covered by snow six to nine months out of the year all this the not as this new sport requires some infrastructure investment to adjust to the harsh climates in russia and make any headway in international tournaments and this is where private capital comes to the rescue namely a former athlete himself and now a successful entrepreneur. who founded a beach sports center in st petersburg look at some of please be sure present us that we originally ran a food business and our first profits were spent on providing for our families and to maintain a decent standard of living today luckily we can move forward and don't need to

gross and. you know what we'd like to do is find a way to do business many areas of personal and professional with all that put together business. and fun too why not st petersburg has always been on the forefront of change in russia and each tennis is one fun example the city is now the center of the sport during the color season the russian language although large the cold can still provide a natural habitat for beach tennis not only in souter's cities like tsotsi but in st petersburg as well as this all but you could also tennis doesn't require that much investment in infrastructure where we are the go finland is just not northern italy where you can easily. he said to each tennis grounds in the summer you don't need anything big on the other hand what you see here is in a way revolutionary petersburg has had a history of revolutions and this is a new revolution that has happened before you see some of beach schools more in the country's northern capital. well said their revolution indeed russian tennis

players like i did as one i don't even get a cockney go and maria sharapova to name just a few have already made a name for themselves in their regular game will there be colleagues follow suit to make russia a major player in this sport well the abundance of tournaments in twenty eleven will make that evident room on cost artie st petersburg. and i've got time to give you some boxing is heavyweight champion that may klitschko will fight britain after all the pair were defying keller last month that klitschko scored it off at the last minute up to picking up the stomach in free however the i.b.s. and champ has now agreed to face his or on a fourth the. classic consequence that he has any potential bat with w.p.a. champion david haye up and he had hoped for unification five at around the same time that we're now after like a little longer behaved child it's. so that is all sport for now more.

early. enough that you are. a bit. much to crop up and then spread all over the country. virtually all terrorists today are muslim do we have the right to make such provocative statements and do muslim schools have the right to exist. in new york city on our children now see about a thousand murders by the end of elementary school five two hundred thousand violent acts by the age of eighteen from movies to television shows to video games

to children. twenty four hour news channels is now team every day formulate a stable industrial in. a lot of shakespeare those while those who fail. to first think about it while it was a good job with artistic and journalistic future but most of the violence. but i have been. god came down from heaven and stopped. at the amen a mormon in a free what. makes the pill easier to swallow. everybody was coming.