this is artie coming to live from moscow marina joshie welcome to the program iranians hiring mexicans to assassinate the saudi ambassador in america the details of a complicated plot the u.s. government says it has uncovered officials in washington say to rein in agents try to hire members of a mexican drug cartel to carry out the attack allegations to iran dismissed as a comedy show. has the latest from the u.s. capitol. the u.s. attorney general explicitly said that the u.s. will be holding the uranian 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 israeli embassy in washington and at the embassy of saudi arabia also in washington and here is how the u.s. department of justice came up with those accusations the f.b.i. and the u.s. drug enforcement agency have arrested a new raney and born u.s.

citizen his name monsoor are burps yar u.s. investigators say the man tried to plot the assassination of the saudi ambassador to the united states and for that according to the americans this iranian man turned to members of a mexican drug cartel who turned out to be undercover f.b.i. operatives turn a general said the man comes fast in the plot and said he was directed by high ranking iranian officials firmly denies the allegations saying it is a comedy show fabricated by america saudi arabia on the other hand the allegations seriously and thanked u.s. authorities for thwarting the alleged assassination attempt of their ambassador fear mongering against iran has been going on for many years now let me remind you that the state department has lists that you ran as a state sponsor of terror it seems now war mongering has reached a tipping point basically the questions asked in the u.s. media now come down to this one will the u.s.

retaliate or not as if everyone saw it coming and now here it is what they are not bringing up is possible motives behind accusations like that whether those accusations make any sense at all why would the government of iran want to kill the saudi ambassador in washington with the rainiest actually taking into consideration the potential fallout i heard wag's you heard on american mainstream channels beating the drums of war saying things like we need to step up activities to undermine the government if you ran of course we need to step up cooperate. with saudi arabia and israel speaking of cooperation with saudi arabia the us has brokered the largest arms deal with saudi arabia in its history worth sixty billion dollars the u.s. would justify its enormous contribution to further militarization of the week as for iran's some experts believe that undermining the government if you ran 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 beat louder here in washington

you can report in there and michael sure a former cia intelligence officer says there are a lot of holes in the allegations against this apparent iranian backed plot. one of the biggest problems in the united states for for telling what the terrorist threat is in our country is that the f.b.i. runs these sting operations and then claims great credit for breaking up a plot that wouldn't have existed except that they lured somebody into doing it my initial reaction is if the iranians wanted to kill a saudi ambassador why do it in the united states when it would cause a war between the united states and iran do it in thailand do it in cambodia do it in saudi arabia but why do it here i think what you need to keep in mind is that the saudis want the iranians destroyed the israelis want the iranians destroyed the congress in the united states is owned by israel and so the congress wants iran

destroyed and this is an opportunity for them to push for war and so i think we have to be very careful until we find out exactly who is behind this plan to the iranians are as much a threat to the united states as my shoes are to the united states but what we don't need is any kind of a conflict with the iranians because what that will do is bring the whole islamic world down on top of us so i have for you the program no desire to be a hero tiny slovakia and now the saudi plans to increase its bailout fund and willing to dig into its own pocket to bail out in that country. and the latest final hurdle for the serbia and its campaign for a long desired membership but recognizing cause of a could be higher down belgrade points to. pushing through energy deals and boosting cooperation with the aim of balancing our big anomic and political dominance of the west russia's prime minister is on

a visit to china where an important agreement on the price of oil is already in place artie's marina cossar of a has more. that's. prime minister putin had more of an economic flavor rather than a political one he met with the local governments officials including the chinese president and the prime minister and they all talked about the importance also increase in volatile trade as well as developing other key areas of interest like aviation and technology now it's important to mention that this was prime minister putin's first visit since announcing his candidacy in the upcoming presidential elections and some say that it's a signal of a change in focus for russia for many years the west of course dominated the country's political agenda and now it seems with china's economic progress most school may be looking east both countries have supported each other throughout the years on various issues and they also have similar political views and we saw that just recently when both countries vetoed the european draft of the un security

council resolution condemning syria and of course both countries are also members of the brig's group along with brazil india and south africa and the economic uncertainty in europe and the u.s. has seriously undermined the dominance of the global political agenda all of europe and the us paving the way for a merchant economies like russia and china not actually prime minister putin said that the role of the brakes were to become more important on the international scene. i think it's time to reforming existing institutions 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 enhanced given the growing importance of our countries' economies he wasn't here alone he was here with a huge delegation including a russian a businessman who are all here to look and so make business deals with local companies and they did that so all that they got here was seven

a billion dollars worth of agreements including want to set up a mutual investment fund well also trade as i mentioned earlier was a key issue. prime minister vladimir putin said that they expect the trade turnover to reach at least seventy billion dollars this year with the overall goal being two hundred billion dollars by twenty twenty china is already russia's a number one trade partners and they're now working towards switching gears and making their relationship even stronger and developing their ties were in acosta reporting there from china now for more on this coming together of russia and china we can cross live now to michael ross get from the national university of singapore michael thanks very much for being here with us and the program well as our correspondent has just reported the talks have been pretty packed there so in your opinion of what has been achieved and what's the significance of what has been achieved there. well marina i think the real story is that prime minister putin

visit is no merit is not merely setting the stage for his presidency for next year but basically he is there to solidify his idea of the region union that he has. in mind for for years to come for the next decade so basically. in the last two decades the sign was a sign the russian relations of all over time and it has the relationship has progress from peaceful co-existence in the early one nine hundred ninety s. to strategic partnership in the in two thousand and two now to what they have what they call comprehensive strategic partnership and cooperation so the relationship has progressively improved over time and as both countries realize the importance of the charter both economically and politically. well what's interesting though that china is the first place that prime minister of poison when to visit after he announced that he will be running for the presidency again and many acts were to

actually have seen significance and that fact so how do you interpret this i mean do you think that it's sort of means a shift of foreign policy eastwards. and i think it's prime minister putting wants to set an impression that he is basically already managing and the most vital relationship in russian foreign policy in the next decade which will be which will be focused on china and remember. you know problems to putting is that. you know this his visit me most is bhopal out of popularity back home because of these elections and he needs chinese investment to develop the russian far east so for him it's a very important mission at the right time just before the elections and it's also very important for would you because as you know in towers terms will expire next year and he needs to solidify his legacy his political legacy and by signing

a long term energy supply deal with the russians he may be able to do that. oh another interesting fact is that both china and russia are members of the brics bloc so building up partnership to balance out the dominance of the west is one of the stated aims in all of this visit in your opinion how realistic is that goal. but basically both china russia capitalizing on the fact that the west is sort of stalling and then it has its facing a lot of problems so they see it as a opportunity to to increase the geopolitical influence and but much of it will depend on how it plays out in the future i think what is really important is that both countries have a lot of domestic issues a lot of domestic problems that they need to solve out so the domestic agenda is actually more important. than the geopolitical or the regional focus so i think it will depend on how much the they agree on some of the key issues for example in

the shanghai cooperation organization russia wants to bring india on board and chinese on the on the really liking the fact so and there are issues for example russian military assistance to get in and then others so they will be a lot of you know it so that the idea is that the both countries are not really. understand the pragmatically that they are important to each other but at the same time to have a they facing complex and complicated issues that will have to be resolved down the line all russia and china have been enjoying strengthening partnership lately for the past two years or take so what kind of reaction do you think to russian china's joining bishops are we likely to see from the west. well i think the worst of course watching the chinese chinese on the russian relationship closely especially prime minister putin will go back to most likely he will go back to his presidency next year and all that you know that the policies will be.

shaped toward toward you know the different aspects of global agenda but particularly you know security issues so. it's to be seen but as i mentioned prime minister putin is there not only to solidify his presidency and sure but basically to get the chinese on board and basically try to strengthen the relationship with the chinese for the big idea of the eurasian union that will define his presidency for the next decade. all right michael roscoe from the national university of singapore thanks very much indeed for sharing your views with us here and on our t.v. . during his chinese visit russia's prime minister was the republican who gave an interview to the state broadcaster outlining the priority for the two nations put in so that a motion for a technological breakthrough in the aviation aircraft building are some of the areas where he wants to see the partners working together you can read

a full interview on r t dot com. also online for you american police argues divert taliban that occupy boston protest to vietnam war veterans were injured by officers and up to one hundred people arrested. hamas officials have agreed a prisoner swap deal with israel that secures the release of over one thousand palestinians in exchange for jewish soldier gilad shalit has been held in captivity in gaza for five years and is often used by israel as justification of its blockade of the strip are his policy reports on the deal palestinians are claiming as their success. i must finish school bureau chief khaled mashal speaking from damascus and he called this a national achievement for the palestinian people he expressed regret that not more palestinian prisoners were being released as part of this deal now throughout this evening tuesday 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 shalit the details as we have them 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 returns to israel the final number of prisoners will be released among them marwan barghouti now he is the veto 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 does hamas in terms of changing the criteria of the

deal now if you like chile it was kidnapped back in june two thousand and six it was a cross border raid women issues from gaza took him across he has not been heard of since he was really little communication in fact it was anyone watching 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 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 to care of 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. resume at the end of next week in jordan so certainly there is now a lot more pressure on the israelis 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 further kidnappings and there is an element

among israeli society who feel that this deal is really too high a price to pay. policy reporting there the jailing obvious range for a prime minister has sparked outrage on the streets of kiev half lot of criticism from russia the u.s. and the e.u. . was given a seven year sentence for abusing her powers while signing gas contracts with russia she also have to pay two hundred million dollars in damages to ukraine's state gas company well let's cross now live to kiev where i think you're chef you've got the latest for us so lots of protests on the streets of ukrainian capital yesterday as we've seen but what are we seeing today. well the situation is still pretty much tense to because several hundred protesters supporters ovulate supercycle the country's former prime minister was still stations in their in their tents down here on this city's main street on the main street of key of and i reckon they're planning to stay here for at least another week despite that their

leader has been jailed for seven years and there have been no indications so far that she would have the verdict and that she could be released any time soon with a presidential pardon on any other possibility like that the supporters of victory on the povich who were also stationed here at the main street of key in front of the court building for three months they have removed their tent camps and now of course it is a lot quieter than in the last three months still the simmering tensions on tuesday rocked the capital of course there were thousands of thousands of people here the biggest protests we've seen so far in the last three months now it's a lot calmer but we can all say for sure whether this this is just another quiet before the storm and whether we'll see any more protests anytime soon maybe the protesters are just simply taking a break but for now the situation is calmer when the stand that these people who

are here behind me on the station besieging the court if there will be a taking there for. into the appeal court if the former prime minister decides to appeal against a verdict made on tuesday wasn't he in the past few hours the reaction at home has been quite vocal but what has been their international reaction to the verdict. the international reaction has been furious. regardless of where you look with which part of the world everyone have been very disappointed with the verdict the united states washington said that had to be released the european union different parts of it also expressed their concerns and indignation over the verdict sentencing the country's former prime minister to seven years in prison and confiscating all of her property russia also reacted furiously to this decision saying that those gas deals which were signed back in two thousand and nine were completely

legitimate they stress that once again and saying that the decision by the. in fact neglected russia's concerns over the legitimacy of these of these gas deals in two thousand and nine and also the russian foreign ministry stated that the decision by the purchase court is in fact has or has in fact some and side russian pretext in it so definitely the reaction has been furious from all over the world kiev now finds itself in a very very difficult situation when to stand out according to the european union that any possible agreement on the association of the european union and ukraine would now be canceled and some even say that. the invitation to mr young president of ukraine to attend a meeting in brussels in the nearest future could be even counseled so of course the ukrainian leadership now finds itself in a very difficult situation and experts are predicting some possible steps from the president about which even possibly a presidential pardon to. ukraine's former prime minister we have certainly

following all the developments and will bring the latest information as we get it well be looking forward to that certainly i think thanks very much indeed for keeping us up to date live here chef your reporting there from kiev. serbia has long been looking to follow in the footsteps of nations like slovakia by joining the e.u. and it will move a step closer when the european commission puts forward serbia as a candidate for membership later on wednesday but one big compromise still lies ahead recognizing kossovo as a sovereign state r.t. sara for three ports. starting a new life together and in doing so you're going to want to ensure you chasing your partner wisely so when you can trust to have your best interests at heart. we love each other and we love our country too we wouldn't give up on each other and we won't give up on our land you know here's a ceremony in casa very little time when the churches divides once again the focus

of international attention this couple social commitments. this is our territory that's not going to change. that marriage is very similar to the partnership that serbia and. that's if the membership the better so where's the riches of poorer in sickness and in health you're going to have to stand by your choice as many countries and they're learning the hard way but many marriages the reality is often far from picture perfect times the union could be filled with uneasy compromises and the biggest hurdle in serbia's potential membership just how . close of a question if it came down to it and had to say every light in the recognizing what with the grace response i think we have a long way to go and we will certainly do everything we can to avoid such you know

question to be put in front of so serbia cannot give up on its constitution and on its territory and serbia in the same time is not willing to give up on its european integration so it solves really. you know unresolved so it is already done much to have its potential suitor fulfilling many of the quite serious step by the we can see to be an option the rest of the final war crimes suspect wanted by the hague in connection with the yugoslav was in the one nine hundred ninety s. that many said believe that the country. it's now firmly on the right track he says visits from the lead is now being seen as a positive. light finally be about to see some of the action because they could be the deal breaker that isn't much moves that have to be eased to intentions so he has got many many more hoops to jump over before he can get anywhere close to

membership and as is often the case sometimes these unions bull nuisance of any particular love necessity gives up or need to integrations. you know jeopardy to become isolated once again and we know how we feel when your eyes only when your eyes only to you cannot fight. diplomatically for your legitimate national interest despite that is assertions that it will never recognize an independent kosovo in reality both grazie you aspirations are going to make it very difficult for the government to make any decisive action when it comes to serve. some take a look at some other stories from around the world a series of bomb attacks targeting iraqi security forces have rocked baghdad killing fourteen people and injuring another sixty officials say their word least three explosions with suicide bombers targeting local police stations the attacks came just days after iraq asked for more than five thousand u.s.

military trainers to stay on past the formal that was droll date of december thirty first. u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton says she's planning to leave politics next year for a more private life she says she'll leave the state department after barack obama's first term saying she believes he will be elected for a second clinton has been in the political spotlight since ninety nine three when she became america's first lady before being elected senator for new york in two thousand and one she now says she has no desire to stay in the public eye. brings us up to date here on r.t. i'll be back with a headline shortly before that we'll take a look at what's happening in the world of business with. hello and a very warm welcome to our business update russia and china are close to a gas deal it's been on the cars for many months with both sides haggling over the

price talking to the chinese media prime minister putin explained a solution being impasse had been found there are russian and chinese companies will find immediately beneficial solution we are aware of the needs of china china is aware of opportunities reserves are very big and able to meet the demands of our chinese friends. in september the countries agreed on a new deal to the supply of almost seventy billion cubic meters of gas over thirty years how well they still haven't managed to sign a final agreement as china says the price is too high. let's have a look at those figures oil prices are heading down the sol that soft one of the lawmakers voted against an overhaul of europe as bailout found under the u.s. this senate was president obama's half a trillion dollar plan to create jobs and got its global oil demand growth forecast citing weak economic outlook industrialized nations. the european markets saw

edging lower off just like your rejected the plan to expand the eurozone rescue fund late tuesday this sunday most financial stocks lower all across the continent the puts it is dropping a quarter of a percent on the taxes losing overhaul that sent the solid. and russia the r.g.s. in the minus six back into positive territory of both gaining around one percent the south let's have a look at some of the individual share moves in the mice it's roussel has surged more than three percent that soft of the world's biggest aluminum producer of course a one point seven billion dollar loan from china to fund a smell to inside there are no rules to nickel is also love of the russian daily better misreports than mine i'm a new government approval for its program citing the letter from the russian and to trust regulator russia's grain and sugar producer is down more than one percent on the news the country's government may tax grain exports once they reach twenty four million metric tons will be here. so we have time for no fool stories check all

website that start to dot com slash business. the longest big game hunting history. she was trying to stall and. what sprung the traps they laid for him. on the radio we have the surge walks

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a report. back watching i.q. here's a look at the top stories for us charges to the iranians with allegedly plotting to kill the saudi arabian ambassador. washington as part of a major terror attack american officials say they are committed to holding iran accountable but iran reject the accusation of calling them a joke. the russian premier is meeting the chinese leader in a visit to boost cooperation and balance out the financial and political dominance of the west on the first day bottom of putting reached a set of important remains on an acute crisis. and israel strike a long awaited prisoner swap deal that will see george soldier gilad shalit freed in exchange for over a thousand palestinians has put her.