are you until next time listen. to.

in india in the movie. the gateway hotel the grand imperial truly. brotherson the kennel was hotel retreat. russian icebreaker finally reached four hundred people in prison to. true. love high praise. just because we're in a financial recession issue we know when to morrow the recession residents feel. like the masses on the streets of the city.

and the streets. named places after those they were daughters heroes. live from moscow this is. off the far eastern coast of russia is battling extreme weather so finally free three ships trapped in ice the four hundred people aboard have been stranded for a week now let's get all the latest details from. there were standing by for us here in the moscow region hello to you must be quite a sigh of relief for those stuck on board with the icebreaker having finally reached stole ships. up to date now what's what's happening at this moment. well that's the koreans must be very relieved and deeds we know that the largest of the

ice breakers is now with a three vessels there remain trapped in the ice and they've been deciding now which order to take the ships free they certainly got their work cut out for them we've heard from the department of security another occasion that it really is a complex problem progress. when you do you always break is me to know they have to decide which of the three ships will be. the situation is complex the ships will have to be towed one after another to very short distance from the tug boat here. sara give us the broader picture here if you will i understand the harsh weather conditions are the main reason as to the duration of this rescue. absolutely yes the progress of this rescue operation has been sleigh done by the extreme conditions that we know we know the temperatures been as low as about minus seventy they've had go force winds we've

heard in some areas that the ice is up to eight meters thick so the ice breakers themselves have actually come in some trouble trying to reach these vessels the smaller one actually itself got stuck and had to be aided by the large and also the three that were originally started calling for help last week after the country ministry issued a warning but we saw a number of other vessels also getting into the area and getting stuck so the icebreaker taking working with they said we know that they. and of course now they're working very hard with the remaining three but incredibly tough conditions inside the cycling bay where the ships is stuck is actually names are being quite a dangerous marine area there's very few clear water gaps so a lot of ice that is he said with the conditions that we've seen at the moment that these three vessels made it very hard to even the ice break is to get three i know you heard the crews were never in any particular danger obviously they've now been

there for a week they say we're sure that they're it's family pleas to not being reached by the rescue operation and everyone very much looking for this to be completed and for days just to be freed and everyone here at all to you wishing those involved in this rescue mission and good luck to you sort of life in the most original thank you all in a city of skyscrapers it's now possible of garbage that over the streets of new york residents are outraged that glamour city is beginning to look more like a junkyard. dives headfirst into the big reality. if you're standing next to a pile of garbage taller than yourself how does that make you feel it's a pretty impressive world 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 want to sit discreet. antony is

a mailman his job takes twice the time these days sadly he notes his salary has not doubled that makes my work very very hard because the blog really box. to do the work in one instance however the mounds of garbage prevented a tragedy as one new yorker suicide attempt proved unsuccessful this weekend when it jumped out of the window did not turn fatal due to an unexpected software glitch 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 if there were more recession but it will of recession is exactly what the trash invasion has turned the big apple into and while some officials have graded themselves and

a plus for handling the situation new yorkers are outraged he was very upset about it it's gross it's ridiculous good enough for 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. two years of a democrat dominance on capitol hill have now come to an end a new u.s. congress has been sworn in with republicans now sitting in more seats the party seized control of the house of representatives in november's midterm elections obama's democrats did manage to retain a slim majority in the senate chamber the republicans have been putting up the opposition against the president in recent months and are now aiming to do rail obama's health care reform they also stole the passage of

a nuclear arms reduction treaty with russia which was eventually ratified by the senate late last month west benedict from the libertarian party says the current bipartisan system is leading america down a dead end. 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 millett on the military if congress stop 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 being 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. this is all to live from moscow still ahead for you here in the program how goods from a nuclear contaminated area may soon end up in european shops ukraine to turn the noble of atomic disasters aren't into an agricultural center we take a look at the safety for us also. balancing ancient mysticism with a modern technology i'm sure on thomasson coming up on our t.v. we explore the world of the siberian sharman. christmas is over for most christians across the world but for some orthodox believers the holy day it's yet to come so this day is christmas eve for the russian orthodox church that

celebrates the birth of christ on january the seventh the differences because russians mock religious feasts using the julian calendar where as most western countries use the gregorian calendar on thursday night rituals will be held in thousands of russian churches across the world patriarch kirill of moscow and all of russia head to a service in the nation's main place of worship christ the savior cathedral here in the capital a number of other orthodox churches also celebrate christmas on a january the seventh including those of serbia macedonia and montenegro a decision by authorities in the west bank city of ramallah named streets after prominent palestinians is proving controversial as paula reports some streets have been named after people who israeli cues of planning suicide bombings but who want palestinians to regard as martyrs and heroes.

in palestinian ramallah they are naming their streets to celebrate the city's one hundredth birthday this is. 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 the one there were northern 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. 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 what's 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. so that the murder and the smarter 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. been very pleased even in drugs in streets after my son is in my heart and i miss him his the hero of those times. 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 . to ramallah after her was unanimous rachel was part of the international

solidarity movement a group israelis charged aides her masts and other palestinian extremist groups the people. with for the with the way that they have been doing the past fifteen years. eager to try something polls show her mask growing in popularity in the west bank as talks between rival palestinian faction factor and israel deadlock the promise is changing the trying to speak with. the with. 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 palestinians here understand placea r t. or you can always head to r.t. dot com for much more news blogs and analysis is a taste of what's waiting for you right now at any attempts to seize russian territory on a coin find out more about the controversy surrounding estonia's in euro currency

at r.t. dot com. and the russian scientists enlist the troops over tiny astronauts to humanity's quest from just in front two years it's space mice that are paving the way for a mission to mars. well that was the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster but now ukraine has plans to develop parts of the contaminated noble zone for agriculture scientists believe that some plants have actually become immune to the radiation caused by the explosion at an atomic plant twenty five years ago but as r.t. is alexy the reports not everyone is convinced that products from the area should end up being sold in europe. 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 noble exclusion zone which made nature develop here rapidly after the one 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 plant life is immune to radiation. we still don't understand how it's possible plans. of the earth where life started the. activity on the surface so.

much problem and the millions of hectares of land were left contaminated a quarter of a century on key it has decided that this soil no longer poses any threat to humans in march twenty eighth 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. that half a million people works to clean this land of radioactivity now we're being told this is did land this is not true just look at nature's riches in the exclusions. 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. see reporting from chernobyl ukraine ok now let's get to some other international stories making headlines this hour the white house report says a bad management leading to failed safety procedures caused last year's all spill in the gulf of mexico it warned the industry to change the way it operates to

prevent it from happening again a blast at a b.p. oil rig in april millions of gallons of oil into the sea before finally being kept in july the investigation found of several other firms other than b.p. were also at fault. and its police have arrested a man who was attempting to hijack a plane he was overpowered by passengers on a flight from oslo to istanbul police say the turkish citizen demanded the plane go back to norway saying you had an explosive device but the bomb was found to be a fake and the motives of the man at this point are still unclear. amid predictions of more heavy rain in australia flood water has begun to recede in the northeast of the country water levels in the city of rockhampton reached a peak that was lower than feared hundreds of homes are underwater with more than two hundred thousand people affected the floods left at least ten people dead in queensland since november. the twenty two people have been killed and over

a dozen injured after a bus crash in northern india thirteen children are among the dead police say the vehicle skidded off a highway overturned and plugged into a gorge the incident happened when the bus was returning with tourists from a popular resort well sharman mystical messengers between humans and spirits they have been called upon for healing and spiritual guidance for centuries and it's an ancient tradition still alive in siberia despite modernization causing a fall in the number of practicing charmaine's. thomas travel to russia far east to meet them. 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 i couldn't way of life that he put it there so there are answers does

always had very powerful shamans around the law to protected them gave them blessings and ensured security and safety in all circumstances and every day life as a hand on a journey that will. as sherman 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 practiced the faith were persecuted now there are only three recognised sharman living in all of the government to live. with 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 head 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 aged mysticism is a problem for the sherman. real shermans live far away from big cities and small villages because contemporary cities with computers cars cell phones and the constant rush distract from true unity with nature and the spirits i myself am from a remote northern region. trying to make the best of it all life is a delicate balancing act for the cuttin people start with the day but we are an interesting people when we are in trouble we do three different things at the same time we turn to sherman we pray in a church and then make use more mattson a unique way of keeping a tradition that has been part of your code for centuries but it. made us some protect what it created the spiral in the middle is a symbol of fire may the warmth of the fire in your name protect you and may your three spirits be united the spirit of the womb the spirit of air and the spirits of

the earth in your good year sean thomas artie. that you are the latest business news with sharon. hello welcome to our business program i'm sure on a q. on the food and agricultural organization has warned that the world is facing a food price shock this comes after f.a.r.'s benchmark index of agricultural commodity prices shot up to a nominal record last month surpassing the levels of the two thousand and seven and two thousand and eight food prices the surge in the food index is based on rising costs for corn sugar vegetable oil and meat the situation has been made worse by inflation and increasing economic challenge of developing countries including those of china and india however the f.a.o. and food aid agencies are drawing comfort from bella to flee stable prices for

rights one of the most important agricultural commodities for global food security . and russia is the leading export or of energy resources but also one of the most energy any fish and 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 archies column break 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 these plates. the leaders in terms of efficiency our industrial giant 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 costs drain the desire to conserve fuel there is no other remedy tool and energy efficiency apart from letting the consumer speedy video economic prize 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 may help project to build an inexpensive hybrid car in southern russia but there's still a long way to go for the last twenty years so we've been reducing energy consumption very g.d.p. by roughly three to five percent but you know a lot of other countries moved much much faster and down this road and. right now in our energy inefficiencies are everywhere it's public buildings. and budget consumerists electricity gas wearing etc it's around us 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 plants right now russia uses twice as much energy than china uses to produce the same amount of goods and russian company. these are struggling to go in clean could bring in the green culling break. we'll take a look at the markets in russia the borders are closed till the eleventh of january for the russian new year holiday break european markets following gains on wall street and a strong trading session for japanese shares b.p. shares rose to a seven month high after the u.s. panel investigating the gulf of mexico oil spill said how burton and trans ocean work partly to blame.

and russia's inflation in two thousand and ten grew eight point seven percent that's according to pull him an airy data of the federal statistics service the figure fail to meet the government's seven point five percent target and almost equal to the previous year's inflation in a bid to curb price growth in two thousand and eleven experts believe a refinance rate hike is in the cards and. tatyana reports. russia's central bank account interest rates on 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 of fuel inflation which has risen above target and currently stands at more than eight per cent central bank has to react in order to keep a lid on inflationary pressures that's one of the major most important mandates of the central bank so i think it's also 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 is hard to predict which is helping to limit hot money different assessments which makes it all 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 cap 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 oil prices but economists believe the country is well

placed do you bank for instance predict g.d.p. growth of five percent in two thousand and eleven significant ruble appreciation and higher capital inflows that you're about equal the business. and that's your update for this hour but you can always find more business stories on our web site that's argue dot com slash business stay with us.