british. it's time. to.

find out what's really happening to the global economy. headlines to watch. some immigrants. in the u.s. . state of. new york immigration is a way to. speak in an exclusive interview all the details from new york. get together to celebrate christmas day. and winter.

the news from russia and around the world this is. good to have you with us this hour for the millions of immigrants that dream of a better life in america the green card symbolizes entrance to a land of opportunity but for the right to work is not always what it seems that's why qualified doctors and teachers often end up driving cabs or cleaning floors if they're lucky to reports. in the united states and here in new york every year countless people play the lottery. entering for a chance to win for you a mega million dollar fantasy believing a few dollars and a dream could buy them turn for the life of

a ticket that could change their lives every year more than ten million people also play a different kind of lottery and fifty thousand when meet one of them. and her husband teenage son and seven year old daughter you see here. are immigrants from nepal they entered and won the united states diversity visa lottery this lottery is a congressional mandate it's supposed to be an opportunity for people to come to america from countries with historically low rates of immigration the jackpot coming out residency the prize is not cash but green cards and this startling experience was we had to start from scratch from zero once we got here two years of struggling with joblessness after finding their education in nepal doesn't count in the u.s. setbacks they never expected. we didn't know people used to say you're educated it will be easy america is a big country with

a lot of facilities life will be better but in reality it was eating the food and. yes to all i mean by experts who work on immigration issues they lottery winners really are given no resources from the government that invited them here and the struggles of jimena and her family are not unique for most people we have been counted it's been very difficult they reflect a group of immigrants who come to the u.s. not because of a job lined up or a family sponsoring them but for many because of the vision of what they can achieve they really have that american dream of coming to the u.s. they know that they've invested in their education and they. i think that the united states is the place to put that skills those degrees and that ambition to work with the greatest possible return. when many find is maybe some familiarity with an ethnic neighborhood like this one that has southeast asian music restaurants and fashion many struggle with is finding economic opportunities that

are any better than what they had in their home country or even finding jobs that allow them to survive here we're seeing a lot of downward mobility of immigrants and often very highly qualified and. finding foreign degrees an experience don't count for many u.s. employers these immigrants end up taking anything it means engineers and business managers and up his cab drivers and cashiers according to a study two out of five ford educated immigrants are either in this situation or unemployed all together it's an american dream they want to wake up from if we had known this we wouldn't have come life was much easier in my country people who see their plight firsthand argue the government should help more i do think it's the state department's responsibility and i think that the united states is going to lose out relative to other countries taking that step possibly losing out to countries such as canada and germany unless they make sure of winning the lottery

actually pays off lauren lyster our new york staying in new york where the wife of alleged russian. children were detained for hours in question on arrival to the u.s. it's family travel to the city where he's being held in custody while he awaits trial pretrial hearings have been postponed until the end of the month and. the latest now. the family of victor boot arrived to new york for the first time since his extradition from thailand took place two months ago and we did speak exclusively with his wife all aboot outside the airport after they were held inside the airport for over two and a half hours and she did really seem quite traumatized by the experience she was telling us how her self her teenage daughter and victor boots mother who is over seventy years old were held by u.s. officials and al the boot was questioned they were scooped up by officials as soon as they stepped off the airplane and really asked calculus questions take

a listen to how she described this situation to us and we had to spend two hours in some strange room turned our luggage upside down and took her side of things from my bag they told me to switch off my cell phone and didn't allow me to get in touch with the russian consul until the interrogation or questioning was over one person introduced himself as a special on to terri and he said he wanted to talk to me about the purpose of my visit an immigration officer i think also asked me whether i knew my husband was a terrorist and why he had been arrested i said i didn't know why my husband was being kept in new york because no one has proven he was a terrorist or linked to terrorism the russian vice consul was present at the airport to greet all aboot and her family members and try to reach her on her cell phone several times but she did not pick up the phone she later told us that she was told by u.s. officials at the airport that she was not allowed to speak to the russian vice consul even though this of course did raise questions since a russian citizen should be entitled to have the members of the consulate present

especially when they're working with this particular family specifically on this case was extradited to the united states two months ago and was initially arrested upon the request of the united states in thailand back in two thousand and eight and for those two years the united states was demanding that he be extradited tight courts did refuse twice to do this however the extradition. it eventually take place in november and this extradition has been raising a lot of questions in terms of how exactly was conducted among them is the fact that viktor boots case continues to remain in a thai court of appeals which technically means that he's still his case is still being considered in thailand and he should be there for that but he's here in the us a picture of himself has always denied all of these allegations that are being made against him and his wife all are told us last night that she believes that what is her family's dealing with is a propaganda war and doesn't count on the trial here in new york to be fair. we

came here to fight for victor's freedom and to win i hope common sense will prevail in court because it's very hard with all the propaganda against victor in the american media but i do hope for a normal proceedings and professionalism in court because it's difficult to fight with the kind of image of victor that has been created here and i doubt the court will be unbiased also told us that she intends to remain in new york in the united states until she gets to meet with her husband to something which is out of the question for now since he's in solitary confinement and the only contact he has with the outside world is with members of his defense team as well as members of the russian consulate. that was going to start your reporting from new york. coming up this christmas celebrations across russia. in the last spent the day probably themes like you didn't memory already telling you what. is the day of the break but. that's still to come for you but first when black

birds started falling from the sky in the american state of arkansas the problem was blamed on festive follow works when bird started dying thousands of miles away in sweden and italy triggered some far fetched online speculation that nature itself was sick and most pessimistic suggested it could even be the harbinger of some bigger disaster well let's discuss this story with filmmaker and blog danny schechter danny thanks very much for joining us there from the u.s. now these animal deaths are really quite unusual aren't they what do you make of all of this. well you know i really know how unusual they are but certainly when one set of incidents happens followed by another set followed by a third set suddenly it becomes a trend then it becomes a much bigger story in the media but it's still sort of a mystery it may be that each example is actually specific to a particular local set of circumstances we don't know scientists say they're

looking into it they're concerned they're there they're some of more worried than others but certainly it's unusual when you have you know birds dropping from the sky you have bees disappearing you have fish turning up dead by the thousands in chesapeake bay in maryland a lot of this speaks to maybe climate changes and other you know phenomena environmental phenomena that we don't fully understand that is possible you know for things to happen in this world that we don't understand we're not such geniuses sure but what about you all thoughts on the way the media is handling this some people are saying that it's all being exaggerated and that people are going over the top. well they're calling it. you know a flock of birds coming up with new catchy words in the way headlines and the like obviously it's it's something that intrigues audiences even if there isn't a lot of explanation it seems to be

a pattern of this sort of thing where you have alarmist headlines followed by a few examples which then you know lead to sober conclusions about the dramatic events and then there's no follow up for so you know if we really never find out what really happened and this is the in attention of the media maybe even the amnesia of the media the refusal to speak to the people who are most in the know because all of this is sort of titillation for the public and yet it could be a very serious well you say that maybe the experts haven't really been consulted but i'm reading that many experts still very unclear i'm baffled by what's happened and of course bearing in mind if you were in italy and something like seven hundred birds found on you had that's going to be a newsworthy story isn't it and you want a well it's enough about it. i think so you know we've come a long way from alfred hitchcock's movie the birds the birds who are attacking people now the birds themselves seem to be under attack and you know there are

suggestions you know among the conspiracy minded that this has to do with some sort of secret experiments done by the american military using sound using you know dangerous pesticides and the like which are leading to these problems you know you can't discount any of this really until we have some basic facts that have been established and so far it's mostly speculation but unfortunately surely it is not is not the only show the story sorry danny i mean you are a blogger a filmmaker yourself surely and as a journalist you'll roll is not only to question but also to speculate and when you think of the coincidence and the enormity of what's happened what's been reported in such a short amount of time that is worthy of some sort of notable coverage is now and indeed speculation absolutely and you know the point is you know we just had the climate change conference and can call in mexico and no journalist showed up or

very few even showed up i mean the more serious the problems are the less they tend to get covered unfortunately and or follow it up or analyze it with any in any depth or dimension that's the problem of our media it's sort of a hit and run media today it's birds falling from the sky tomorrow who knows but you know i think this is something that does deserve scrutiny and i hope that you know the scientific community will get on this and really try to explain it because people are possible and alarmed some people to accuse the media of just filling in time filling in the online screens and of course t.v. news channel screens and newspapers just to to fill enjoying a time when much of the world is on holiday during the festive season makes the so-called silly season that some are saying the media just blowing this out of all proportion is just to fill up the pages in the screens which would you agree with that. well you know as a media critic i would agree with that you know however as somebody who also is

a little worried about what's happening to our environment which is not really being covered very well you know you have to take this into account and try to think through what's what's going on here why is this happening do we know and what does it mean do we know know we don't know and that's why i think it's important for the media to really try to look at this more closely and not just play with it you know as if it so again well you know of you know isn't that funny ha ha ha ha ha sure until we find ourselves in a much more serious situation or no matter what the people of us or whoever may accuse us the media of doing at least we've covered this topic it is a newsworthy story by all accounts and thank you for filling in some of the time and a very happy new year to you thank you very much thank you very much thank you pleasure yes. other news now one of three vessels stuck in ice off russia's far eastern coast is now free but the two others a still awaiting rescue the icebreaker. is returning to the second ship to tell

it's a safe waters and a more powerful icebreaker is on his way to help rescue the third vessel which needs a bigger path through the ice to get out more than three hundred people on board the ships that are still stranded but officials say they're not in danger and have enough supplies rescue is being hampered by extreme weather conditions for example somebody from the federal fishing agency says the mission is far from plain sane. the weather has got worse. storm has settled in with winds of up to twenty meters per second the temperatures well below minus twenty degrees celsius visibility is low it's difficult to see how long the admirable car of will take to get back to the remaining two ships in the path forged by the ice breaker through the ice closes back up quickly and this makes the risky operation even more difficult. there is plenty more news here's an analysis on our web site r.t. dot com here's someone. what you'll find online right now twenty five years off the world's worst nuclear disaster could that food grown near the radioactive site

really end up on european dinner tables. to fix the find out when the russian fighter. will step back in the rain. one available online it's called now some of the news in brief this hour for you tests on contaminated animal feed in germany showed levels of the toxic chemical donaldson at seventy seven times above the legal limit five thousand forms of already being closed off of the chemical was found in eggs produced in the northwest of the country none of them are now able to make deliveries of their produce someone picked today reported to be exported to britain involve the netherlands. a suicide bomber has killed at least seventeen people and injured more than twenty others in southern afghanistan the blast happened in a crowded public bathroom where people were getting ready for prince officials say the attacker was targeting a police commander who was inside the building the taliban has claimed

responsibility. also on a world update the south of southern sudanese living in the north heading home to vote in sunday's referendum on whether the self should become independent international and the former south african president and a former u.n. secretary general are in the region to monitor the situation in this part of the deal six years ago that ended two decades of north south civil. war the next christians are celebrating christmas here in russia with lavish church ceremonies and family feasts across the country. is in central moscow to see how people there celebrating. well it's happy christmas from us and russia thirteen days after it's celebrated in the west and it's january the seventh the christmas day is marked now in the center of moscow a out of christmas and you can see the lovely colored stones that people have been coming to visit we've also had an ice flight the children have been able to play

all day they've been having a lot of fun we got the peaceful ice sculptures that you can see here that are such a traditional whence a solid ration the really beautiful you might actually they would say this is my favorite one head of the absolutely lovely everything having a good time we've also had a concert going on in the background where lots of people have turned out so they've been enjoying up but of course christmas in russia is much more of a tradition a religious celebration say last night they had the midnight mass at christ the savior cathedral where huge number of people and today they'll be lots of people attending the church and getting together with their families for the day traditional christmas mail it does vary greatly from the way that the west celebrate christmas and my colleague catarina the chamber went to take a closer look at the history of christmas in russia. the.

thirteen days really the difference in dates is because russian christmas isn't the seventh of january. julian calendar but it wasn't always this way so he's parents celebrated christmas in much the same way as the rest of the wounds on december the twenty feet but the bilchik revolution changed they simply moved the christmas tree on to new years they moved the gifts on to new years they moved south across to new years and they banned the christmas suki's a child of the soviet you. which slapped a ban not only on freedom of speech and freedom of faith too it's only after its collapse in one thousand nine hundred ninety one that christmas was again celebrated publicly i don't know what we could learn the shows on christmas eve go to church and never decorator for a tree for new year it took a while to explain it to our child but

a christmas tree is that great on christmas only poor god and not for santa. their family has traveled a lot they lived in canada and in brazil but no where they say screw isthmus recognized so solemnly as if he's back home that from a clear less capitalistic because christmas in the west today i believe is essentially buying gifts having a good time while in russia. it's becoming more and more it's spiritual thing russians believe you can start your festive dinner the food the first star appears in the night sky marking the birth of christ a strict diet cruelty doing nice no animal produce preparing yourself physically for the special people. on christmas night vigils are held and thousands of churches across russia but the main service takes place here at christ the savior

cathedral which is symbolic because just like christmas itself it saw a rebirth only after the collapse of the soviet union religion is the opium of the people the communist leaders declared and leveled to the ground the country's main cathedral for many years there was a swimming pool on the side thousands of other churches felt a similar fleet to davy's child of ambulances happy to be back in a country which has returned to its roots in the west churches are closing down. they don't know what to do with their buildings they cannot grade them they cannot maintain them they are selling down their town or burning them than two apartments this capex here it's the other way around it is integration of the soviet union almost twenty thousand churches have opened up. that's around three churches and

doing it with the country's new seanie i think is leading by example it's clear the christian tradition now. aren't. rushing chris actually pulling. a holiday. the holiday runs from january to january the time people have already and the holiday spirit and enjoying this occasion mocking christmas with these festivities. reporting there from central moscow well in ten minutes from now we discuss the future of the world's energy supplies that seem crosstalk out of the program but first the business news that's on the way for you. well welcome to our business program. the stock when gas field is home to one of the world's largest natural gas deposits in the world and was discovered twenty

years ago but production has yet to start despite numerous attempts by various companies there are signs however that things could change for the better in two thousand and eleven r.t. correspondent tim say has more. one of the biggest discovered natural gas fields in the world the stockmen fields hidden deep in the barren sea lion estimated three point nine trillion cubic meters of natural gas despite being discovered two decades ago the gas still remains untouched these combine these two factors that it is number one it is arctic and number two it is offshore makes this. globally unique i don't think there is. there is of toyota with such a tough weather such a tough environment conditions as stop one but it does have its advantages the field is located significantly closer to its main consumer europe russia's gas giant gazprom pardon of french to tao and norwegian stat oil in two thousand and

eight to have a go at developing the fields various attempts have been made since the ninety's but both russian and foreign companies but no significant progress was made however analysts say this time gas from has what it takes for has. enough power to. propose and to push with the development plan that gas from considers to be the right one but it's more about actual demand and. the returns on this project the stockman project is heavily tied to the global oil prices low prices in two thousand and ten were one of the reasons that the project was virtually put on hold due to low profitability however by the end of the year oil prices went back up gas from start now to consider stalk one as its next priority project as the next priority for small project again. but

at the same time on our hand just a month ago gas from has caught up its program by more than one hundred billion rubles for two thousand and eleven another major issue. as logistics there's an ongoing dispute between the partners about how to transport the gas and what type of pipeline to use but in the midst of all these control over seas ahead of stockmen development bubbles of confidence. by two thousand and sixteen we plan to start producing gas there are no problems with the schedule which has been determined by the shareholders. analysts say those hopes are inflated and most expect only a modest pick up in demand over the next five years and little reason to accelerate the pace of development timothy cross suit business r.t. mosco. and seventy percent of the first line of the north stream gas pipeline which will connect russia and germany across the baltic sea bed has been laid

that's according to. your stream agent project manager for germany eight hundred fifty kilometers of pipes have already been laid out of a total length of twelve hundred kilometers the plan for the offshore pipeline is to build two parallel legs each was a capacity of twenty seven and a half billion cubic metres per year with the first gas delivery scheduled for late two thousand and eleven when finished it will be the longest subsidy pipeline in the world. and global car production has journalists in a rebound from the recent economic downturn this excel orating growth however should see some historical changes on the global as well as russian auto market within a culture that has the story. just ten years ago the production in the developing countries accounted for just twenty percent of global output twenty eleven it's expected to reach parity russia is one of the principal drivers of that trend it's

projected to supply six percent of the global market in the coming twelve months another factor for the growth in the domestic sector was due to the government's cash for clunkers program that lag the way for increased consumer spending however for the first time the majority of vehicles produced will not be as domestic brands as just loggers and vulgus instead russians will be making renos full time and fought back that the growth of the economy as a whole drives the market the further development of bank loan programs and the recent car utilization campaign run by the state have been the factors for increased consumer spending. world car sales have accelerated an impressive nineteen percent in two thousand and ten rebounding strongly from the financial crisis the growth was driven mainly by the bric countries brazil russia india and china analysts believe china will take over the global center of car production.