the first country to meet putin visit after stating he will run for the presidency next year. life for studios here in central moscow this is. ukraine's ex prime minister is jailed for seventy is yulia tymoshenko was found guilty of abuse of power was signing gas deals with russia two years ago. he was following events from outside the court where tomasz and co supporters have been involved in scuffles with police . at times it seemed that the tension would go over the top with the supporters of units of thousands of them trying to organize a march through the streets of kiev and being dispersed by the police with no real brutality but still some pushing and shoving and the situation was really explodes and still several people were injured in the pushing and shoving with the police one woman was saw as she was taken to hospital having fallen from a stage or from

a staircase or something like that inside the courtroom of course it was very tense as well while the judge was reading out the verdict units in a sankoh was over shouting the judge was screaming abusive words at him saying that this decision this verdict was not done in accordance with the criminal law but was orchestrated by president viktor yanukovych indeed the reaction from the former prime minister when she learned that she's to spend seven years in prison to have her property confiscated and to pay out almost two hundred million u.s. dollars and that was very much furious. no of the retiree and regime or its verdict will stop me the trial showed that the constitution and justice had been trampled on to food i urge you to begin the struggle it's a very difficult and important moment we have to protect ukraine against the authoritarian regime don't give up when her stand that the protesters several thousand of them will remain in the key of central street for another. week at

least to follow the developments and to see whether their leader would be set free or any any other development could happen to her well moscow has been saying all along that those deals back in two thousand and nine were signed in full accordance with international law and with the two countries legislation and that the reaction which we have already received from the russian foreign ministry is saying almost the same that the court which had the verdict delivered basically neglected the fact that russia believed that that the deals were signed a law fully and the verdict itself has something over and so i russian pretext that is what we've been hearing from the russian foreign ministry clear it is unhappy with the other way things are going because we know that the russian foreign minister and president medvedev have been saying that this case should be transparent and that the gas deals were completely legitimate. lets you know just give them today's verdict has already received critical response from european union officials with calls for the e.u.

to rethink its relations with ukraine new push for reports now from brussels. there's been a whole stol reaction from the people in europe here the european union's from policy chief catherine ashton says that she's been following the verdict and that the european union says its whole relations with key of as a result of this verdict we've had the e.u. saying is deeply disappointed with the judge's decision the e.u. commission added there are serious consequences for by that relations and earlier today the european commission's they hoped for a review of this of this verdict on appeal i mean we've wanted to see changes in ukrainian law so this sort of case contact and again the head of the european parliament regrets the verdict of tomasz oco and is calling for a review of the case on appeal now ukraine wants to enter the european union has been discussing a free trade agreement and the ukraine president is actually due here in brussels next week to discuss the first steps to joining the european union but the sounds we're getting here from brussels is that this may be put on hold and in fact

stopped if if this case is not reviewed let's now listen to an expert for more details on this case the european union has already made it clear that if you use this child very dearly it takes a great deal this trial doesn't like to see opposition politicians in prison and i think there is every chance that the european union may take some strong measures such as freezing the talks with ukraine frankly there is no chance at all of ukraine joining the so there were serious doubts about whether key of would actually go through with the ukraine would actually be able to join the european union but this verdict on yulia timoshenko really seems to put the entry of ukraine into the european union into the long grass. james share from the russia and eurasia program at chatham hell says ukraine may try to use the case to review its gas agreements with russia. there is

a down to russian subtext because they are trying to find the maximum or justification for false second alteration of the gas agreements no to save the agreements that julia temple shan't quarrel entered into in two thousand i moved to one contract and then secondly a supplementary agreement so they were illegal is utterly bizarre the first president to look closely each there is someone in the limits of these it's when he couldn't get the kharkiv accords with president meet the agents in april two thousand and ten he therm the validity of the accords that you are to machine equal kluge with prime minister push it so that this is just one of many absurdities in this whole drama unfolding. washington's also condemned the ukrainian vote it with key u.s. lawmakers saying it's an alarming new step in the decline of democracy in the

country and a website we're interested in your opinion on this story and today we're asking you what the machine co sentence nene's what about half of you believe that it's simply a politically motivated mockery almost a third think it's a clever ukrainian point to avoid pain from russian gas and the rest is split between two options whether the sentence is just as well or it's a fatal error of blocking ukraine's road to the e.u. log on to r.t. dot com as you say you could hear from. american authorities claim they've uncovered an iranian government plot to assassinate the saudi ambassador to the u.s. to iran has rejected the accusations calling it america's latest propaganda attack but he's got a gun has the latest from the u.s. capitol. u.s. attorney general explicitly said that the u.s. will be holding the uranium government accountable for the plots to kill the ambassador of saudi arabia to the united states also the u.s. is accusing iran of conspiring to stage two bombings at the really embassy in

washington and at the embassy of saudi saudi arabia and washington and here is how the u.s. department of justice came out with those those accusations the f.b.i. and the u.s. drug enforcement agency have arrested a new rhenium born u.s. citizen in a sting operation his name are. u.s. investigators say the man tried to plot the assassination of the saudi ambassador to the united states and was ready to pay one and a half million dollars for the murder and for that according to the americans this the rainy and men turned to members of the mexican drug cartel who turned out to be undercover f.b.i. operatives investigators say are bobsy are wired one hundred thousand dollars to an f.b.i. undercover bank account sort of as a down payment for the assassination that he has allegedly ordered we also know that he was arrested in september this year the attorney general said the man confessed in the plot and said he was directed by high ranking you raney and

officials fear mongering against iran has been going on for many years that let me remind you that the state department has listed iran as a state sponsor of terror since nine hundred eighty four and it seems now the war mongering has reached a tipping point first minutes into the statement of the attorney general without having any details let alone prove her agast words in american mainstream channels beating the drums of war saying things like we need to step up activities to undermine their government we need to step up cooperation with saudi arabia and israel and things and other things along these lines some experts believe that undermining the government of iran has been a long time coveted goal of the united states it's not clear how this incident will play out but it definitely makes the drums of war louder here in washington. went to war activist brian becker says the u.s. may be exploiting the situation for its own geo political aims i think we should treat the story by attorney general holder and the u.s.

government with extreme skepticism because i do not believe this would be in the interests of iran but i think what the u.s. is planning to do is intensify sanctions and possibly prepare for some kind of military operation against iran of course invading iran i think is out of the question at this time around is a country of eighty million people with a formidable army the u.s. is bogged down in afghanistan and can't really leave or doesn't want to leave iraq as carrying out a war against libya so that's a problem but i think that we can see and i think this whole event is designed to ratchet up tension confrontation economic sanctions additional pressure and growing political isolation if they can by the united states against iran. you with or to you live still ahead in the program america's chief corporate protests are now targeting societies richest as demonstrators on the so-called millionaire's march had for the houses of some of new york should wealthiest tycoon. still to come but

first five years in captivity as a hostage is coming to an end for israeli soldier gilad schalit following an emergency cabinet meeting the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu announced a deal has been agreed with hamas involving a prisoner swap for of a thousand palestinian militants or for more i'm joined by correspondent paula slant she is in tel aviv paula it's a breakthrough of course softer more than five years of stored to go sheesh and so what's going to happen next. what we've just been hearing from the hamas political bureau chief khaled mashal speaking from damascus and he called this a national id cheeseman the for the palestinian people he expressed regret that not more palestinian prisoners were being released as part of this deal now throughout the seed me to stay there has been an emergency cabinet meeting in jerusalem that has now finished with the israeli government giving its nod to this prison a deal what we do understand is that some one thousand palestinian prisoners will

be released for this one israeli soldier gilad schalit the details as we have been suggest that some three hundred fifty prisoners will be released in the initial stage that will be taken to egypt this is a deal that was brokered by egypt and is happening on egypt and soil at that stage another one hundred and fifty prisoners will be released i mean finally when the lad returns to israel the final number of prisoners will be released among the prisoners being released are a launch number of women are prisoners of all ages from all political factions and also from jerusalem the west bank and gaza what is the to kill really significant is that there are also a number of prisoners that israel in the past has said it will not include in a prisoner swap and these are presidents with so-called blood on. hands among them marwan barghouti now he is the leader of one of the factions of the fact that he has five life sentences on him and tel aviv in the posse there was no way that he would be included in this deal the fact that he is does point to the israeli prime

minister benjamin netanyahu changing course and that is some of the analysis that he needs this deal so much more than the egyptians do and netanyahu has been under a lot of domestic pressure both politically and economically they were social protests here for several months and also with the regional changes that have been happening he is at pains to gain an opportunity to reassert himself so certainly he has a lot more interest in this then does hamas in terms of changing the criteria of the deal now a good lunch and it was kidnapped back in june two thousand and six it was a cross border raid women actions from gaza took him across he has not been heard of since there was very little communication in fact it was only one or two incidences when the israelis were actually be notified that he was still alive the latest information we have is that this deal will see gilad coming back to israel possibly as soon as the beginning of next month no consequences that could do the

middle east peace project. well the consequences of this deal on the mideast peace process are quite significant it has been quite some time that israelis and palestinians have not been holding any kind of direct negotiations it wasn't so long ago that the palestinians declared a state is all did not accept this but at the request of the mid east quartet the two sides agreed to resume peace talks and those peace talks will resume at the end of next week in jordan so certainly there is not a lot more pressure on these raids to recognize the palestinian statehood in light of this deal going forward one of the problems though for israel has been that it doesn't want to create an incentive for kidnappings and there is an element. among israeli society who feel that this deal is really too high a price to pay but certainly the majority of israelis are very satisfied with this field and here in israel tonight there is a lot of excitement that finally after years of captivity and israeli soldiers

coming home paula thanks very much indeed for that live report from tel aviv. to other news now here on r.t. russia and china boosting cooperation in a bid to balance out the economic and political dominance of western countries prime minister vladimir putin is in beijing to solidify diplomatic ties and overcome trade hurdles. is following the meeting. it's important to mention that this was the prime minister vladimir putin's first visit since announcing his candidacy in the upcoming presidential elections and some say it signals a change in focus for russia for many years the west took center stage when it came to the country's political agenda but trying as economic progress has mosco look in the east both asians have supported each other throughout the years and this is related to sulfur and sea developments and security and of course they also share similar political views and that was proven just recently when both countries

vetoed the european draft he was security council resolution condemning syria russia and china are also both members of the brig's group and along with brazil india and south africa and the continued economic uncertainty in europe and the u.s. has seriously undermined their dominance of the global political stage paving the way for emerging countries like china and russia and prime minister putin said the us is now using as though monopoly as the only global reserve and that's have a negative effect on their financial policy. i never said the us was a parasite on the global economy but i do think it's feeding off the monopoly of the u.s. dollar as a single global currency the problem is it's not only for the world economy america's economy as well because it leads to a violation of financial discipline when it comes to the e.u. vladimir putin said that greece is a big problem but it could be resolved if countries weren't afraid to take action

he said that russia and china should lead there were for national financial systems and that the role of the brics books to become more important on the world stage. i think it's time to talk about reforming existing institutions and first of all i mean global financial institutions such as the international monetary fund and world bank and you we agree that the role of the brics countries in these organizations must be in. given the growing importance of our country's economies. so there is a lot of big hopes and best plans but both premier said that they're confident that they have established appliance that will make sure that they become a reality but of course as more on the story on our website including details of all the deals already sealed in beijing that's just one click away for dot com it's online all the time. now some of the new york tycoons could come face to face with the rage of anti wall street demonstrators hundreds of activists are

camping outside the homes of the elite in protest against the widening gap between the rich and poor in america we're now joined by our she is in new york exactly who are the people that anti corporation protest as a venting their fury towards. well these people on the list are the five wealthiest residents of new york city bill and as you were mentioning in the introduction to the story this rage has already been unleashed here in new york city hundreds of demonstrators began visiting the homes of those on this list and those names include rupert murdoch c.e.o. of news corp jamie diamond c.e.o. of j.p. morgan chase the crowd went from one home to another and as they were walking along park avenue their doorman outside of the buildings on on park avenue were actually cheering in support of these protesters now the reason they're holding this

demonstration that is in conjunction with occupy wall street is because they want to bring to light the fact that the new york state's two percent tax on millionaires expires at the end of this year and new york city residents say that ninety nine percent of new yorkers will be suffering because a lot less revenue will be going to the city and this state and this is of course in their eyes basically a toxic giveaway to the wealthiest americans living in the nation and this goes along with with the fight that is being spearheaded by occupy wall street they argue that the wealthiest americans and corporations are benefiting the most and reaping the most rewards now when this group that is doing this millionaire's march taking part in it got to the home of of the c.e.o. of j.p. morgan chase jamie dimon there were actually police barricades set up outside of his building and there was

a woman that lives in that building that came outside and told the demonstrators that she actually supports them one person that was walking in this group at least one of them maybe more is actually employed a sixty three year old teacher that says that she will be losing her health benefits because of budget cuts in new york now this is what's taking place in. but we should also inform our viewers that in boston there was a mass arrest that took place following clashes that broke out between the demonstrators of occupy boston and hold these officers there was more than a hundred people reportedly a rusted and there was some images that we did see a note of police officers getting physical with us veterans that were taking part in occupy boston in d.c. in washington d.c. at least six people that were taking part in an occupy demonstration there were arrested this is what one hundred or more protesters went inside of the u.s.

senate building and attempted to hang a banner that said tax the rich there might have been another banner too but clearly this shows that this occupied movement is not limited to one city in the u.s. it's not limited to new york it's expanding across this entire nation we're talking about expansion arena they're also reports the campaign is now spreading beyond the u.s. so what do we know about. well what we're being told by those that are at the top of this occupy wall street movement is on saturday this this demonstration this movement this campaign is going to go global it's called an international day of action against banks and there will be movements taking place everywhere from the london to las vegas organizers are see that occupy demonstrations will be taking place in at least two hundred sixty cities throughout

the world so this is just a brief glimpse of what we're talking about taking place today in the u.s. might be a brief glimpse of what's to come once we hit saturday but clearly what we see is there is frustration that is spreading all across the u.s. and parts of the world over all over the economic disparities between the rich and poor thanks very much indeed for that update coming to terms coming from. from you to us live from new york thank you very much indeed marina well that brings up to date for the moment it's coming up to twenty two minutes past the hour interview with more to understand she's the former chief accountant for the european commission who's now a member of the european parliament for the u.k. independence party and she says that brussels only cares about propping up the e.u. political project regardless of the cost that's coming right up next i'll be back with some of our main news stories in about seven minutes.

i'm talking to martha an address and who is now a member of the european parliament for the u.k. independence party which she was formerly the european commission's chief accountant while she was in that job she raised concerns about flaws in the commission's accounting system which she said left it vulnerable to fraud dress and thanks for talking to us today now were you a euro skeptic when you joined the commission as chief accountant no i was not a euro skeptic in fact i thought you were a project was

a project of cooperation i thought you were sharing solutions among the different member states so i was quite on earth to be able to be part of the european union and also on or to be part of our ministry to reform that they were undergoing what happened or what did you find out to make you change your mind when i found out that he had no control on the payments they were making out of the european union budget basically you know they didn't ask if people qualified to get the funding from the european union and i was responsible for the signature of those it's so i had the highest responsibility and i thought i needed to know if i was playing to the right person and for the right purpose and they just didn't care and they didn't allow me to make change use to be able to determine if we were making

the right pane or others didn't see it like that they did that in fact you were fired for blowing the whistle do you think everything's changed since i don't think anything has changed i now see it in the budgetary control committee so all the committee in the parliament that oversee the payments out of the budget and i see it in the budget committee of the committee that oversees the planning of the budget and in both committees i can see that if the have no respect for european taxpayers' money. and i don't see that fundamental changes that they should make have taken place you know once anybody who makes a payment in normal words would take care that the payments would ask the questions what is this payment going to what is the purpose and this questions are not asked by the commission the solution is to blame the member states or we gave the money

to the u.k. so you carrie who is committing the irregularities well yes but you paid the money out the to us the proper questions they dealt do you think brussels is capable of reform is there a will to tighten that up no i don't think that is any will to tighten this practices because they have a different agenda they want to promote the european union project and to promote this project they want to be able to get the money to the people who will support the project not the people who really care about the usual fronts in a proper way not the people who are going to use this funding to grow the economy for certain member states but the people who will promote the european union project where in times of austerity at the moment and members all across europe are cutting testate spending is there any sign that brussels is doing the same now absolutely you know last night we spent six hours up proving in the budget

committee the two thousand and twelve budget and they have what they are asking for over a four percent increase i would even ask for decreases but fundamentally saying we should that least for the huge the allowances for the emmy please and they don't want to believe them you know we are now in the middle of a crises and people saying well the year budget has nothing to do with price but. i will give you an example greeks was brought into the european into the eurozone when they didn't qualify to get into the u.s. now people say greece lives. maybe in that account but. commission has asked that this ticks off its uterus that who should have challenge the figures and they didn't challenge they kept side ten years later they realize

something is wrong but they are there they have one thousand people working in you are stacked to analyze the figures they should have come up another thing the budget was used to grow the economy of all these countries that came into the universal. griefs got sixty billion pounds in the last twenty years out of the european union budget the question is were there the money euro zone countries are staring down the barrel of a gun basically what e.u. grandees are talking about is in forcing more fiscal union in the face of economic collapse which seems like a desperate measure who stands to gain the most from keeping europe together i think the. director is generally the bureaucracy in brussels who stands to gain those people who have been pushing the project all along and they want this european union where they will hold the power over all the member states and

finally as a euro skeptic do you feel anywhere vindicated by what's going on in the eurozone at the moment. sadly yes i feel indicated because you know if people had heard and had some sort of responded to my claims ten years ago all. maybe this wouldn't have happened so yes i feel vindicated but it's sad to say this because we could have prevented all that's happening today not trying to us and thank you very much thank you. wealthy british style sun moves from time to time. markets why not scandals. find out what's really happening to the global economy in cars a report on. the

trip front page this is all a teachable stories now in the south and washington excuses to rather a tariff off as the u.s. claims it's uncommon an iranian link assassination time targeting the saudi ambassador us to your state hillary clinton says new penalties against iran the only way while because none of the public rejects pool accusations. i'm breaking news this hour free after five years as a hostage israel announces that its soldier get out shelling has to be freed in exchange for one thousand palestinians in a deal with. ukraine's ex prime minister was sentenced to seven years in jail for abusing power when signing gas contracts with russia for example clashes between supporters and police the court's decision of also got a harsh response from.