live from moscow this is good to have you with us this hour top stories now after weeks of anti-government unrest the egyptian president prepares to address the nation the cia says it expects him to step down within hours fuelling further criticism that the u.s. is pulling the strings. christians in iraq fear they're being driven out of their country with constant sectarian attacks targeting the minority group. a surprise visit by the president renewed concerns over transport security in russia is to be treated a person who discovers a major lapses but one of moscow's main train stations. with some u.s. politicians famous for the bloopers they make when advising the world on democracy

it seems that american people have been turned into the object of ridicule. and those are main stories at the moment here on our back with another update from fifty minutes from now the meantime relations between london and moscow have been rocky in recent years with many unresolved issues still hanging over the to what has been speaking to the new russian ambassador to britain alexander about how he expects the relationship to progress that's our interview next. today i'm at the russian embassy in london talking to mr alexander has just taken up the post as the new russian ambassador to the u.k. he was formerly of the press department at the ministry in moscow is the academic thank you very much for talking to us he congratulations on your new pasting and a very warm welcome to london now as you took up your first post as

a diplomat in one thousand nine hundred seventy six how do you think that working for the diplomatic service and diplomatic relations between countries in general have changed since then i think since that time you know there were quite a serious changes. first of all if you look at the gender of the leaders of the countries and the agenda of the negotiations between the ministers or foreign affairs you can find you know thirty thirty five years ago. more than fifty percent were the by little issues know when the ministers are meeting they are talking about the climate change they're talking about the international security so basically the big issues you know the global issues takes almost sixty or seventy percent of the agenda and that is very important this is first second there are no diplomats in the purest sense remember my experience when i headed the do russian delegation on the international space station negotiations

you know for us that was a challenge and since there was a political decisions that the diplomats should have this negotiation process. well i had my view you know in the u.s. state department you know who are basically started learning the subject together with us but after five years of negotiations we're made a good treaty and the space station you know is on the orbit and that means that we're bringing in more and more specialists which has nothing to do with the diplomacy. but this special is a very important you know for the international issues this is and public diplomacy is very important and in old democratic countries you know you hear you hear the voice of the parliament you hear the words of the people you know and the diplomats of course taking this all of these things into account that is very important for the foreign policy of every country and the media media is very interesting you

know you can wake up in the morning and sometimes you receive the news much faster than you can get this from the embassy and everybody is watching you know russia today or b.b.c. or c.n.n. and of course everybody is aware was going on. but the role of the embassies is still very important because it is they're talking to the to the heads of states you know to the minister for foreign affairs we have every day contacts between the different departments that means that we have the precise information what's going on in the country and this is information so-called certified so on the one hand we have. some old stories but on the other hand we have a new new let's see demonstrate of the diplomacy which is which is quite normal on a human level relationships between the u.k. and russia are very good lots of precedents work in russia russian culture it's whitely celebrates it's here but our diplomatic and political level that not sake

it why do you think that well i think it's the task you know for the diplomats and for the political leaders you know to get the of course. to do their best to have good to political relations and as far as the russian britain racer who i would like to say that the last year was very fruitful from that point of view there were two meetings of the. mediator for the president of russia and the prime . mr britain that was in canada and in seoul we expect the visit of mr rove this will be next week which is very important in the event mr hague was. in brusha you know the negotiations were very productive and we expect the visit of mr cameron this year i mean the embassy we're studying preparing this visit so the the texture of the political context a very important but i would like to say what is even more important that you know

of course the. as you said the. the connections between the people and the russian culture is the probably this is the test for that and we know that a lot of events are going on in london a lot of people are coming russians feel comfortable in london we have thousands of them who doing business who just simply leave here and what is very important that the economic relations are going very well and the recent deal between the b.p. and the rusty after was just one of the examples but if you look at the in a broader sense what's going on the to the business this the good indicator is the level of the trade i mean we had maximum twenty three billion dollars before the crisis now we're around for teen billion dollars but we're moving very fast to restore this level and of course britain is the fifth largest investor in the

russian economy and. that means that sometimes you're reading in the newspapers that the climate is not so good you know but if you look at the deeds you'll find that the big business is really interested you know in the big deals and the last meeting of the international committee of trade and investment just show that we had six day mentions directions of the corporations and we are planning to. in different areas like for example. the brits will help us to make the final international financial center we expect to cooperate on the energy efficiency so basically i'm very optimistic about the economic areas of corporation between our two countries and as far as your job case what areas of you target said that you will focus on in terms of corp altshuler frankly i have to to to to the

point to know all the all the areas there so this is politics definitely this is economy this is technology because you know we're building skolkovo with the brits building you know the same center not far from london so basically we're talking about the modernization and they're talking about the corporation based on the knowledge and of course this is culture you know contact between the people these are regime we're in favor of the better conditions you know we want the same conditions as we have with the routine union and we're ready you know to move in this direction and definitely will try you know to see good reaction you know from the u.k. on the. i mean the whole area because you know there are no small questions in the by the relations you head of the press department at the ministry in moscow how do you assess the british press particularly the notes taken up by tabloid newspapers to think that percy's people can get an accurate perspective on international

affairs from that practice well i think i think that the first of all the british press is global that is very important so when i was in moscow you know always reading you know the british newspaper because they're not concentrated just in the local issues the taking the issues globally and in this sense they're very competitive second you know the reserve growing internet. and the third what is very interesting to me is that. the in britain you're trying to find the new ways how you know to present the news and the last idea of the murder you know to issue the the new let's say the hebrew between the new space between the i mean in internet in the in the printed version it's a very interesting it's very challenging question and of course definitely it's very interesting you know for the russian press because you know if you look at the

russian internet you know it's it's basically the same as in the u.k. i mean they're just coping a lot of things but if you have a global look at the press of the u.k. i would like to say that the get. adequate picture was going on in the world and on the national level too and what impact do you think british press coverage has on you carrying out your duties its ambassador well for me it's very important because. definitely in bus the should read very carefully the newspapers because the first official information second you have commands and the third this is you know you just can't live with. the u.k. still harbors people sought under the russian legal system people that they sell ski. advice recently mocked. the subject of the knowledge of claims ever made me u.k. commercial courts and what do you think it would take for the u.k. to change its position on that kind of cooperation with russia that well this is

a long story but this seems to me that. there are some legal procedures and definitely we have to follow this legal procedures and you know just you just cannot say you know in general. this is there are some specific case and of course we have to deal with the every specific case you know case by case basis so i would say that you know you just change something globally. there are some i mean we have positions you know. on this matter and i think that we have to continue the dialogue between two countries and of course this dialogue is going on the level of the. legal authorities and of course on the political i'm going to be pushing for the u.k. to start some cooperation with russia on matters like. i'm not going just this is a long story i would like to say that for example if there are some rules in every

country and for example when you are talking about the. people who. who were asking you know you know to bring to russia you know definitely we would like to have the situation when the british hear us there is very important for the for the dialogue and are you suggesting that not herring you now. sometimes not sometimes yes ambassador you have got to thank you very much thank you. discover it. and become. what nature can give you.

a song from. these claims stunts on t.v. . news today. these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. showing corporations are the day.

the egyptian president. expects with. the minority group. a surprise visit by the president renews concerns over transport security in russia. u.s. politicians famous for the. democracy. object. with

more on those stories in fifteen minutes. with. thanks indeed for joining us this is sports that they are i would like. the zero from one to russia loose to run in their first match of twenty eleven. presume for france a superb record against brazil continues our live blue dog in the samba boys and another of whedon's tonight's friendly. and sick note three time grand slam champion maria sharapova of the policy. that's been a less than stellar start to the new football year for russia dick advocates men losing in their opening game of twenty eleven against iran but as richard from port

fate reports the result wasn't the only news where the story of the night. this could be seen as the start of a new era for russian football it's the first time a national team has played a friendly match of a neutral venue a dummy has been very well received by dick of the cats and the rest of the russian national football team obscenities here are absolutely second to none while the temperature has been very mild in the low to mid twenty's which makes a very refreshing change for most of russia which is covered by a blanket of snow the moment. the only thing lacking was spectators have imagine played in the boy as was originally supposed to be the plan b. attendance figure would have been much higher nevertheless interest in the match has been high such as the large ex-pat russian population in the u.a.e. is the only or no we've got enough that i don't know exactly will influence the choice of the city but if the game was played in don't lie we would have had more russian spectators to support our national side. nevertheless a couple of fires and russian fans still managed to make the game the majority

travelling from all around the emirates charlotte. i don't know how many russian fans have come to the game to support our football loose maybe couple thousand but they're much more iranian fans here just a just as this is a form of i feel at home now there are so many russians here russian flags everywhere we're all in high spirits and hope that our players will not let us down or. iran will russia's opponents and the reigning football federation had actually paid their russian counterparts a sum reaching into hundreds of thousands of dollars to play this game then you chose to host the match was the u.a.e. due to its warm climate and both countries having large export populations here however for the majority of fans who are watching russia play for the first time there was little to cheer about the chances of being at a premium should the second half sort of weary looking russian side the majority of which are still in pre-season ahead of the new russian campaign failed to create

many scoring opportunities while iran would still have undeserved victory in stop which. time you could see that some clothes didn't have the fifty's was new to play against he was thrilled to see it. because you're as coming out of the gulf. there's a good preparation and players that played only those three weeks because those shoes i think this game didn't deserve a winner but those who are in the last we have seen. still some plays these more to be maybe this is football team may return to the gulf region sooner rather than later as it's rumored dick advocaat side will play friendly in qatar in late march it's been a successful experiment by the russian football union to play a friendly mansion a neutral venue for the first time was also given thousands of fans the opportunity to watch russia play live had never previously had by chance but unfortunately they didn't get the result they wanted as russia slipped to one nil defeat after violate iran go richard pombo played darby united arab emirates elsewhere on

a busy night of footballing action from their great record against brazil beating the summer boys one nil and par s dreadful challenge by her nominees on corinne benzema resulted in the visitors being just ten men five minutes before the break the referee left with other options but just the race card and the man had his revenge on the four minutes great work from germany many is on the right setting the real madrid man up for the easiest all finishes one nil the final score frontside the whistle with an i says many times to eating. problems for last year's world cup finalists and i'm told in the netherlands seeing off austria courtesy of some stunning football the run you're getting the fall rolling right before the how far more with the schneider with probably the pool tonight more brilliant build up action on the way to number two a prima fell a the grid for recipient at the end of it all couple of shared second half penalties leaving the final score. elsewhere the

team that beat the dutch in the world cup final last july spain overcame colombia thanks to a silver gold lionel messi nobs the bragging rights christiane rinaldo us argentina soft portugal too long and came from behind to record the first with copenhagen denmark to want germany and england should say couldn't be separated dortmund scotland should northern ireland to use force in the nations cup while russia's next twenty twelve qualifying opponents armenia didn't have a great evening losing out home to juge. after heading teams in the united states on his native netherlands ruud hole it has begun on his russian quest the former european football or of the year touching down in the country chechen republic to take off premier league side f.c. tareq. carrick are a very strong team they work diligently and so far i don't see any weak points they

have a strong soul and great potential there is no reason to go to a team lacking ambition though one should move forward very cautiously only a few people in the netherlands knew about the terror last month now and the whole country knows about us. it's a new start as well for a month by your the togo international join the real madrid last week after a disappointing to your spell at manchester city although his new side lie a full seven points off preferred legal leaders barcelona the rangy striker says they've got the right man at the helm to catch the champions up. you know how to talk to people if you go east only to talk to people to make your notes on what's he want from you and you don't just always important you have the money joe who is to you what you what your specific you know what's he want to do so for me he's very easy to tell you straight from beginning i want to do this i want you to do does does. maria sharapova said to miss the part us open with

a flu bug the world number thirteen who is seated second in the tournament picking up the virus during last weekend's fed cup win over france in moscow the twenty three year old played just one month during that quarter final victory recording a loss though to vergina zano the former world number one says she wanted to play in front son apologized to her fans the russian who has not a stole career through injury missing nine months in two thousand and eight two thousand and nine with a shoulder tear she also withdrew from miami and charleston events in two thousand and ten machines the right elbow on sat on montreal tournaments with us. all right that brings us stateside and to the n.b.a. where the pick of the day's action sol toronto gave a valiant effort but still come up short yet again the visiting some antonio spurs sounding the raptors their fifteenth loss in sixteen games the opening quarter belong to toronto is on the barn yami he scored thirteen points and not twelve minute period and finished the night with twenty nine tim duncan and george hello

playing the given goal to perfection hill putting the spurs up forty three thirty nine in the second of the raptors kept the tempo up though with the martha rules on getting two of his twenty five points in style this is proving to be a more conclusive unit duncan involved in another pass and sequence as the one blur slams at home one hundred eleven to one hundred the final score in canada. just over a week now before cricket world cup champions astraea begin their title defense skipper ricky ponting still recovering from a broken finger so his side lose the ashes for a second straight time last month a must of disappointment ahead of the year's biggest tournament. fair to sound pretty fresh. a month from the sidelines on. looking forward to getting back into it again into back into proper training and then more importantly back into international cricket as i said it's been a wall between between games for me and sitting back watching the gods play the last few weeks have been pretty difficult to decide and fly as well as they have

been very satisfying. and that's where we leave the sport where weather is coming up in just a text he said. hungry for the full story we've got it first hand the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers on. the observed nature and discover its buzy. least a communicate with the wild and learn. test yourself and become free. to. see what nature can give you see.

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