and.

on. more news today violence is once again flared up. again these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada from china corporations are on the day.

both. of them. a russian icebreaker one of three ships imprisoned to safety four hundred people aboard the trapped vessels have been stranded for a week. 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 mission and we know we're in a moral recession new york succumbs to rubbish residents are outraged at the high rise refuse heaps now growing in the city of skyscrapers. and here in russia christmas bells ring in the holy nights as the orthodox faith marks the birth of

christ thirteen days later the most christian. thousands all the leaders gather around the country at the primal scale to celebrate all the details coming out. with news from russia and around the world this is r.t. here in moscow an ice breaker off the coast of russia restoring one of three ships stuck in freezing waters to safety through extreme weather a second vessel is trying to follow while the third remain stranded four hundred people are aboard the ships which have been frozen in for a week now. following the developments. it seems that things are beginning to move maybe just slowly the ice breaker that's managed to smash a path towards the ship stranded in the ice is now towing one of those ships out of

its having been freed out of this zone and they're going to try and hook up a second ship to that our team managed to contact or the captain of one of those toads ships he said that currently everything is going ok but off of the icebreaker is telling us towards clear waters right now the situation is normal we are getting out of the ice one of the other ships trying to free us but was unsuccessful we are very happy we will be home soon we hope everything will be all right we're hoping to reach clear waters by friday night the third ship which is slightly larger has about three hundred people on board they think that at the moment they're not going to be able to pull it out with the existing icebreaker they'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 ice breaker reached the three vessels break in a canal through the ice it's towing one of the ships and they have started to leave the icy blockade they've been followed by another three stranded vessel was the two ships arrive in a safe zone the icebreaker will return to the biggest of the three vessels the sadrist for 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 our 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. ferocious gales 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 encased them other ships have also run into trouble on the first icebreaker that was sent there wasn't strong enough requiring this extra help that was sent on the ships themselves the crew that we've spoken to reports that we've heard say that things are currently all right there's no immediate danger to the crew is 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 in the city of skyscrapers it's now piles of garbage that tower over the streets of new york residents are outraged there glamourous city is beginning to look more like a junkyard auntie's and started chatting on a dive headfirst into the big apple's reality. you're standing next to a pile of garbage taller than yourself how does that make you feel. while the world

marks the new year marking new york are many. huge blow to the city's traditionally glamorous. antony is a mailman his job takes twice the time these days sadly he notes his salary has not . in one instance however mounds of. want to jump out of the window. unexpected. into. one of. many. thousand miles of new york city streets the average american is said to produce fifty tons of garbage. city has reportedly accumulated as much

as fifty thousand tons of garbage in just one week. but it will recession is exactly what the trash turned. themselves plus for handling the situation. as an economic crisis leads to budget cuts. in the sanitation department lead to all this garbage out on the street it may be time to ask how soon before the big apple turns rotten and. new york. where the streets had no names find out why a west bank cities choices to identify the highways and byways is causing road rage . roads are in danger of mysticism

a riff of modern technology i'm sure i'm thomas and coming up on our to explore the world of the siberian sharman. those stories still to come but first christmas may be over for most christians across the world but for some orthodox believers the holy day is just coming the russian orthodox church uses a different kind and from the west so celebrates the birth of christ on the seventh and visual will start shortly and russia's main place of worship christ will. joins us from there. a lavish spectacular ceremony. is about to kick off in the cathedral just behind you tell us more. christmas may be over for most christians across the world but for some orthodox christians the holy night the holy days yet to come the main service lavish ceremony will be held here at the very. at the christ the savior cathedral. tonight christians all christians christmas eve.

the day before jesus christ was born on january the sabbath the difference in dates is because the russians mark their. calendar named up to julius caesar while the rest of the world christian catholics and the mom. could. be full of the revolution in russia nine hundred seventeen the russians were also celebrating pretty much as the rest of the world on december twenty five but then it was changed up to the revolution the whole of it was that throughout the country along with other we just celebrations and only after the collapse of the so . of it union in nineteen ninety two christmas was began to be celebrated openly again of course for many russians still new year is the main holy tale these best to hear it but the main difference between the catholic world and the altered

office christians is that for russia the smaller day is more of a really just event and it hasn't grown into a commercial holiday as it has happened elsewhere across the world perhaps today what we expect is that. they'll be of the chill attended by thousands of people at this main cathedral of russia some five thousand people are expected to be attending this ceremony including the president of the russian federation and his family real patrick called on to all of russia will lead this speech will this service first in the central mosque and then inside the cathedral christ the savior cathedral it's the second christmas for to realize the patrick of all of russia that last year he held a very inspiring christmas speech to the float up to the end of the service on today thousands of people have been gathering around in the streets of iraq because

they want to be the first to get closer to the altar and to listen to the speech of the spiritual leader well the traditional russian orthodox mass includes the liturgy it lasts more than an hour and people are of course free to say there are no restrictions they meet take a seat during the leverage but mostly attendance prefer to stand out of respect to the the solum and by far the most important holy day for all christians the birth of jesus. country and given what you explained a little earlier about the situation during the soviet times just just hope popular is christmas now in russia these days. well as i as i've said there indeed during the time when this holiday. as well as all other reaches holidays people of course celebrated it but don't openly and they decorated the trees on the new year's not rather than on christmas night as in the rest of the wallet among the christians

but today the holidays popular again and most people say that it's a very solemn pola day when they feel like children and the fine presents sun to the trees so it's getting back to what it was before the revolution nine hundred seventeen today b.c. here it is expected that some eight and thousands monasteries and churches all across russia will be holding these jewels at christmas speech will send as many as turned a half million people million russians will be attending both christmas day when the first star rather than christmas not when the first here is in the sky there is a feast which marks the end of a forty day fast it's the second longest fos stop to the one which precedes eastern russia very strict after that there is a feast the family is gathering the quantity table there is celebrating and after christmas two weeks of the so-called christmas stud all scout good follows and this is a period between kenya with the seventh russian christmas and epiphany on january the

nineteenth but always of course the house and tonight people are celebrating not only in russia but also in serbia and montenegro in macedonia all other christians are celebrating this holy day the birth of jesus and it's certainly a magical christmas setting where you are and of course snow here in the russian capital thanks very much for the moment more from you a little later and of course will be bringing you live coverage of the vigil not only on the screen here on our team but also on our web site too dot com will be joining country to move across to say we can see from moscow thanks very much a very of. a decision by authorities in the west bank city of ramallah to name the streets off the prominent palestinians is proving controversial as poorness new reports some streets have been named off to people who use red accuses of planning suicide bombings bought the palestinians regard as martyrs and heroes. in palestinian ramallah they're naming their streets to celebrate the city's one

hundredth birthday this is and right for this visit to know where they are imaginary case on your way around here but no street signs to help well until two years ago that was the case in the one bar there were no numbers for the houses and normally stored the sticks but now yasser arafat's gets a street as does a neighborhood that used to exist in arab jaffa 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 read on this issue here but really in the ground or there or a mass 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 form of faith named after chief amassed bomb maker

yahia yosh dubbed the engineer for three years he was the most wanted man by israel for his part in suicide bombings that killed ninety is rabies until he himself was eliminated killed by those that he was even by. the murder and thus martyr was killed by these radio 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 crown the lot of i'm very pleased even in drugs in streets after my son is in my heart and i miss him no sign. 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 street busy. to ramallah after that was unanimous rachel was part of the international solidarity movement a group israelis charged aids her masts and other palestinian extremist groups the

people. with for the with the way that they have been doing the past fifteen years. or something polls show her mask growing in popularity in the west bank as talks between rival palestinian faction fattah and israel deadlock. trying to speak with. the language of the word. 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 poissy r.t. ramallah. because you can head to r.t. dot com for more news blogs and analysis here's a taste of what's there for you right now at the moment to stonier attempt to seize russian territory on a coin and find out more about the controversy surrounding estonia's new bureau currency on science. and russian scientists in this the trip of the tiny astronauts

a humanities quest for more distant front is its space moist the paving the way for a mission to mars. tonight update you on some other international stories this hour a white house report says bad management leading to failed safety procedures caused last year's oil spill in the gulf of mexico it won the industry to change the way it operates to prevent it happening again blasted a b.p. oil rig in april millions of gallons of oil into the sea before finally being kept in july investigation found several other firms other than b.p. also at fault. in china twenty four children have been taken to hospital with lead poisoning caused by battery factories chinese media suggest at least two hundred children have high lead levels in their blood it's thought that battery factories in the eastern province and we are the cause of the poisoning of the main. plants in the area have been shot. i mean predictions of more heavy rain in australia floodwaters begun to recede in the northeast of the country. 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. the un says two hundred ten people have died in ivory coast since november's disputed presidential elections the latest figures come after fourteen more were killed during ethnic clashes un wants up to two thousand additional troops to protect the headquarters of. the man internationally recognized as the new president located means around the world and despite west african him it is reporting that ivory coast incumbent leader had agreed to lift the. chairman's of the mystical messengers between humans and spirits they've 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 causing a fall in the number of practicing shellings. travel 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 cuttin way of life. so there are answers days 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 on a journey and that's. a showman 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 recognized shaman living in all of you want to live through both i help people find faith in the fact that their wishes will be fulfilled their family relation is in conflicts that 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 shonen has his own mission. to have 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 mysticism is a problem for the sharman. real shamans live far away from big cities and small villages because contemporary cities with computers console phones and the constant russians distract from truly unity with nature in the spirit i myself am from a religious northern region that. trying to make the best of it all life is a delicate balancing act for the akutan people. are an interesting people when we are in trouble we do three different things at the same time we turn to a sham and we pray in a church and then make us more than. it's and a unique way of keeping a tradition that has been part of your code for centuries i think even if it

actually made us some protect what it created this spiral in the middle is a symbol of finally made a warts and by anyone and to take away your three spirits being united the spirit of the womb the spirit event and the spirits of the earth in your critique of sean thomas party. when in just ten minutes from now we'll be talking to leo tolstoy biographer to find out whether the russian classic author's work is still valid today but first it's time for all the latest business news with sharon at that's after a short break stay with us here in moscow hungry for the full story we've got it for us has the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers on.

line. would be so which brightened if you knew more about someone from finest impressions. these stunts on t.v. dot com. hello welcome to our business program. the food and agricultural organization has warned that the world is facing a food price shock this comes after f.a.o. benchmark index of agricultural commodity prices shot up to a nominal record last month surpassing the levels of the two thousand and seven 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 in developing countries including those of china and india however the f.a.a. and food 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 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 collen 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 governments approved a three hundred billion dollar energy efficiency program to trim the fat from factories and buildings inherited from soviet times it was. 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. as 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 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 where our fleet three to five percent but you know a lot of other countries move much much faster and down this road. right now in our

energy inefficiencies are everywhere it's public buildings. consumers electricity gas for airing 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 learn how going clean could bring in the green collar in bray r.t. . 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 john a political 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 you do inflation which has risen above target currently stands at more than eight percent 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 home to money 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 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.

for this hour but you can always find watch stories on our website that's. business stay with us.