would you be so much brighter if you. sung from the student christian. school starts on t.v. dot com. a russian icebreaker tozer one of three ships imprisoned in ice to safety four hundred people aboard the chopper vessels have been stranded for weeks. as the start of a difficult rescue operation we'll bring you all the details of it in just a moment. just because we're in a financial recession issue mean that we're in a moral recession a new york residents fear he piles up like the masses of rubbish on the streets the city known as the center of glamour is fast turning into a junkyard. and

a city where the streets have no name palestinians name places in ramallah after those they regard as heroes causing some anger and israel. global news twenty four seven this is r.t. an ice breaker off the far eastern coast of russia is towing one of three ships stuck in freezing waters to safety though through extreme weather a second vessel is trying to follow while the third remain stranded four hundred people are aboard the ships. which has been frozen in for a week. is following the developments it seems that things are beginning to move maybe just slowly the ice breaker that's managed to to smash a path towards the ship stranded in the ice has now started towing one of those ships out of its having been freed out of this search zone and they're going to try

and hook up a second ship to that of the two smaller ships the icebreaker is going to try and attempt to tow them out our team managed to contact the captain of one of those told ships he said that currently everything is going ok but off of the icebreaker is towing us towards clear waters right now the situation is normal we are getting out of the ice one of the other ships try to free us but was unsuccessful we are very happy we will be home see we have everything will be all right we're hoping to reach clear waters by tomorrow night the third ship which is slightly larger has about three hundred people on board and they think that at the moment they're not going to be able to pull out with the existing icebreaker we're going to have to wait probably three more days preferred ice breaker to arrive all of this has been monitored from moscow and from all four it is locally and we spoke earlier to one of the people at the federal fisheries off forty who has been monitoring the

situation you have been negotiating with enormous effort and icebreaker reach the three vessels break in a canal through the ice that's towing one of the ships and they have started to leave the icy blockade they have been followed by another three stranded vessels one of the two ships arrive in a safe zone the icebreaker will return to the biggest of the three vessels the soldiers are this ship is actually bigger in size than any ice breaker so additional help will be needed to pull it out next to icebreaker is expected to reach the ship by january the ninth so as we can hear it's been a long process getting to these ships is going to be a difficult process getting them out but it is now underway this region. the sea of all hearts just off the far east of russia is known to be a difficult place for ships in the winter but that has been much aggravated by the weather conditions this year for rocher scales and also very low temperatures about minus seventeen at the moment in this region have led to

a lot of ice forming up to eight meters thick in some places and that has simply trunk ships and in case them other ships have also run into trouble on the first icebreaker that was sent there was that wasn't strong enough requiring this extra help that was sent on the ships themselves the crew that we've spoken to and reports that we've heard say that things are currently all right there's no immediate danger to the crew there's enough food and supplies for the moment but they just want to get out of this situation now and get on with their jobs so everyone has their fingers crossed is really looking to try and get these ships towed out. reporting there now in a city of skyscrapers it's piles of garbage that are towering over the streets of new york residents are outraged glamourous city is beginning to look more like a junkyard artie's anastasio dives headfirst into the big apple's rotten 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. anthony is a mailman his job takes twice the time these days sadly he notes his salary has not doubled that makes my working very very hard because the blood 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 is sure to mean that we're in a moral recession but it will world recession is exactly what the trash invasion has turned a big apple into and while some officials have graded themselves and a plus for handling the situation new yorkers are outraged very upset about it it's gross it's ridiculous then a good enough job 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 stacy a. new york. democrat dominance on capitol hill have now come to an end us. congress has been sworn in with republicans and now sitting in more seats the party seems to control of the house of representatives in november's midterm

elections obama's democrats did manage to retain a slim majority in the upper senate chambers republicans have been putting up the opposition against the president in the recent months that 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 to 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 millet 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 war 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 either 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. still ahead for you in the program here on out see how goods from a nuclear contaminated area may soon end up in european shops plans to turn a noble atomic disaster zone into any agricultural center we'll take a look at the safety for us. balancing agent mysticism with

a modern technology i'm sure on thomasson coming up on r t we explore the world of the siberian sharman. christmas is over for most christians around the world but for some orthodox believe was the holiday is yet to come thursday is christmassy 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 vigils will be held in thousands of russian churches across the world patriarch kirill of moscow and all russia head of service in the nation as a main place of worship christ the savior cathedral here in the capital a number of other churches also celebrate christmas on january the seventh including those of serbia macedonia and montenegro. a decision by authorities in the west bank city of ramallah to name the streets off the prominent palestinians

is proving controversial as reports some streets have been named after people who israel accuses of planning suicide bombings but palestinians regard rather as martyrs and heroes. in palestinian ramallah they're naming their streets to celebrate the city's one hundredth birthday this is. for the citizens don't 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 there were northern numbers for houses and lives for this digs but now yasser arafat gets a street as does a neighborhood that used to exist in arab jeff in 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 it

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 in 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 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 and. i'm very pleased even in drugs in streets after my son is in my heart and i miss him is 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 . in ramallah after her was unanimous rachel was part of the international solidarity movement a group israelis charged aids her masts and other palestinian extremist groups the people. for the with the way that they have been doing the past fifteen years. eager to try something else poll show her mask growing in popularity in the west bank as talks between rival palestinian faction fattah and israel deadlock to come as it 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 of palestinians here and to stand point is

here r t. now you can always have to r.t. dot com for more news blogs and analysis here's a taste of what's waiting for you there right now estonia tends to seize russian territory but on a coin find out more about the controversy surrounding estonia's new euro currency at r.t. dot com. and russian scientists enlist a troop of tiny astronauts to aid humanity's questions for more distant frontiers of space mice that are paving the way for a possible mission to mars. it was the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster but now ukraine has plans to develop parts of the contaminated china noble zone for agriculture scientists believe that some plants of actually become immune to the radiation caused by the explosion at the atomic plant twenty five years ago but as artie's alexy you're a chef he 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 novel 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 blonde life is immune to radiation. we still don't understand how it's possible plans are able to grow. at

the very beginning of the earth when life started. 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 twentieth loven 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 dead 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 it's

just after quarter past the hour here in the russian capital you with r.t. now it's get to some other international stories this hour a white house report says bad management leading to failed safety procedures caused a last year's oil spill in the gulf of mexico and it warned the industry to change the way it operates to prevent it from happening again a blast other b.p. oil rig in april leaked millions of gallons of oil into the sea before finally being kept in july the investigation found that several other firms other than b.p. were also at fault. in china twenty four children have been taken to hospital with lead poisoning caused by battery factories chinese media suggests at least two hundred children have high lead levels in their blood it's the water that battery factories in the eastern province of and who we are the cause of the poisoning and two of the main factories in the area have now been shot. i mean predictions of more heavy rain in australia floodwater has begun to recede in the northeast of the

country water levels in the city of rockhampton reached a peak that was lower than first feared hundreds of homes are under water with more than two hundred thousand people affected the floods have left at least ten people dead in queensland since november. at least 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 plunged into a gorge the incident happened when the bus was returning with tourists from a popular resort. now 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 some parts of russia despite modernization calling of causing a full brother in the number of practicing shermans. thomas went to meet with 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 cuttin way of life to put it there so that there are answers does always had a very powerful shermans around the law to protected them gave them blessings and ensured security and safety in all circumstances and every day life i don't want on a journey and that. 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 recognised sharman living in all of you want 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 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 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. 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 you small. 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 this 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 knighted the spirits of the womb the spirits of the spirits of you . really are good you know sean thomas r t well ten minutes from now financial guru but spells out the possible consequences for the u.s. if washington continues to increase its national debt in two thousand and eleven first there was the business upload with. hello welcome to our business program i'm sure. 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 commodities prices shot up to

a nominal record last month surpassing the levels of the two thousand and seven two thousand and eight sort of crisis 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 the increasing economic challenge in developing countries including those of china and india however the f.a.a. and food aid agencies are drawing comfort from relatively stable prices for rice one of the most important agricultural commodities for global food security. and russia is the leading export 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 artie's colum bray 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 thought and energy efficiency apart from letting consumers pay 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 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 deeply by our fleet three to five percent but you know a lot of other countries move much much faster and down this road and. right now in our energy inefficiencies are everywhere it's public buildings. consumers 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 companies are struggling to. going clean could bring in the green clean break.

russia's inflation in two thousand and ten grew eight point seven percent that's according to politico 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 in the cards tied to an employer called all 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 if huge inflation which has risen above target 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 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 is hard to predict which is helping to limit hot money you have different strengths 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 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 an equal business. and that's our where you can always find. business stay with us.