these are the images. from the streets of canada. today. russian billionaire playboy jumps into the presidential race the country's third wealthiest person has formally announced he'll be running for russia. people go again but this time it's the supporters of the victorious united russia party. opposition claims the results of the parliamentary vote. greece's second rescue package amid skepticism over the efficiency of the emergency measure against the backdrop of widening cracks within the e.u. . to a new level to shut down america's west coast ports. take place in new york and

corporate demonstrations also face this monday. international news and comment live here from moscow this is twenty four hours a day candidates have been throwing their hats into the ring ahead of russia's upcoming presidential runoff one of the world's richest men russian businessman. has formally announced he's running in the election next march and he. has more on the man. he is number three on russia's rich list and get kind of a jack of all trades not only does he have a fortune of estimated eighteen billion dollars he's also an avid does good ball player in fact he owns the new jersey nets basketball team he's an avid skier and while in the french alps he's actually been involved in

a high class prostitution scandal of course french authorities later have cleared him of all charges and extended their apologies which were accepted this is not his first foray into politics he was the leader of the right cause party in russia just earlier this year if you left out party however due to disagreements with other party members although at the time profit of said that he did so because of the pressure from the kremlin and of course in the upcoming presidential elections will have to run against other candidates who have already said they're willing to run for the presidential elections and that of course is the premise of us with putin and at the head of the fair russia party now michel prophet of did not specify what exactly is going to be on the heels election campaign he said everything that he has to say he will state in due time to the announcement that we will run for presidential term has made it into the twitters our worldwide top trends so that is quite an accomplishment already so we have just to wait and see in order to find

out what exactly has in store well let's get more reaction on announcement from. russia specialist at the university of london how does the sea change the look of the presidential race. well it makes it more interesting because he's a very good mathematician these are financing he's a businessman he's a sports personality he actually owns a. basketball team in america he's internationalist so therefore he's a name that people will recognize and he would bring some. useful vigor if you like to the proceedings one would expect him to articulate some views from a purely economic point of view he hasn't much experience of politics but you can argue about finance you can argue about the way ahead for russia but he represents the wealthiest part of the russian population doesn't he just mentioned his wealth

and his status how much support is he really likely to gain in the election and what kind of people do you think will actually stand behind him. he may in fact attract the new urban class in moscow and st petersburg and you could read a book in places like that the people some of the people who are demonstrating last week the young professionals the under thirty five's and so on they want a voice. basically they want to participate in policymaking. think their voices are not being listened to they could feel the future of russia and they want politicians like you loves to garner who will stand as world they've been there for twenty years therefore you don't need new blood. pressure of may in fact offer that but of course being an extremely rich man he's not going to attract the poorest population joke of the trade communist voters so i would see him really going for the new middle class the new urban class young professionals of the people who would like to be like provider of you mentioned those people who were taking part

in the mass protests recently in the russian capital and indeed in other parts of russia just how significant is the timing of his announcement for his candidacy in the light of what we've just been seeing here. i think it's quite right that he now offers his candidacy because he's got now what is good three four months to take your latest views and think presidential politics the election in march would be what you initially think it was four years ago when it was a foregone conclusion you would win so you will have various candidates because a lot of political views. actually participate with a population. of the young urban elites will hope there will be real participation they'll be able to articulate their views and prokhorov will enter into a debate with them and articulate views and then he can present that policy and say this is what these people want democratic candidate and i matriculated democratic

but some would be quite right in being quite suspicious about him when they're not taking him seriously because in a recent blog he said that he saw no alternative to vladimir putin as president he said that whether russian people like it or not putin is so far the only figure who can manage this inefficient state machine now we see a u.-turn why is he running for the presidency then after saying those words just a few days ago. well one of the things is difficult to work out is why he became head of a political party early this year and then he gave it up. that is love sort of print feeling and so on so probably a little part of you he's learning he obviously is very very good at business he wouldn't become so rich if he hadn't been and he is obviously could work in the united states somebody who can take over and the ball team and participate in american life must have some good qualities but he's going to be tested politically

he has the financial skills the business skills and so on the politics is different drawn to require different skills and is interesting that he would say that putin was the only candidate before the elections to the duba i know he's changed his mind i think he senses that russian politics is changing but of course put in the still the lead candidate and it's up to prokhorov really to a ticket that views projected. for the future a still young and he can look forward to. the future if you wishes to become president there are many people russia would say if you are as rich is that what you need to become a politician. because that is. extremely difficult position to be martin thank you so much for your thoughts there joining us live there in london russia specialist at the university of london thank you thank you well thousands of people been gathering again in the center of moscow in reaction to the recent parliamentary vote supporters of the united russia party that won the election of

stage rally following a series of mass protests against the results but in a culture never has been following developments in the heart of the russian capital . several thousands of people who came here. in this square which is right. from moscow these are the memories so that united russia party various again nations to use ropes not some points united russia and its leadership prime minister vladimir putin and president putin the detail how this really comes after a series of other demonstrations in the center of moscow following the parliamentary elections that took place on the boys on december the results started to fancy that has been going on for several days now there being allegations of a lot wrong and violations people have been coming to the streets hoping protest on the support of themselves the biggest protest so far it's a place to settle they intend nine thousand people and the number given by the turn ministry gathered steam one of the mosque in the central squares to the east there

just ration their number one demand was to be returned to those basically people onces to the new polling monthly elections to take place in russia. medina coaching over that and we've got much more on the developments around the parliamentary election in russia on our website dot com you can head to the freezer section of our website to check out a picture gallery of russia's biggest rally in two decades you'll also find firsthand accounts of last week's events online as well as reactions and in depth analysis. to you tube channel all kinds of footage from the demonstrations. more news today violence flared up. these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. operations are today.

how do you wall street protesters across the west coast are trying to blockade some of america's busiest ports from portland to san diego but while they fight their cause on one side of america on the other riot police are busy arresting demonstrators in new york well for more let's cross now to parties. she's there in our washington studio what's the latest we know on those massive marches in an attempt to shut down the ports there. well bill i'll start with new york there have been meso rest in new york we don't know the numbers as of yet but we'll know more as well as we receive police confirmation where we're also getting reports that five people from the occupy wall street media team has been arrested they were providing a live stream of the protests on the internet so that's new york occupiers has marched there in solidarity with their fellow protesters on the west coast where thousands are taking on ports from california to alaska to disrupt what they

describe as an economic machine that benefits the wealthiest individuals and corporations and this has been the message of the whole occupy movement which started three months ago the protesters are marching on ports in san diego. and portland in the state of oregon seattle and tacoma in the state of washington and courage in alaska so we're getting reports that the protesters have shut down several terminals in portland and los angeles or we're keeping a close eye on the police reaction there police in l.a. have issued a warning that if the crowd does not disperse they will use chemical agents police officers riot gear are moving are there are on the move in o'loghlin so a lot going on on the west coast right now we might see a lot more arrests coming or maybe another brutal crackdown on protesters with the

use of tear gas rubber bullets something that we have seen in the past goldman sachs the fifth biggest u.s. bank by as it is a major target of occupy demonstrators who are on a march to shut down the ports right now they say they want to cut into profits of the company that spurred the financial crisis goldman sachs' owns half of one of the planet's largest transportation and shipping outfits they're going to these going to risk it seems the protest is a still trying to be. well bill so far authorities have been quiet successful in cracking down on these peaceful protesters across the united states dismantling their camps evicting the demonstrators around five thousand peaceful protesters have been arrested in the last three months and those arrests don't don't even make it to the headlines anymore they've become business as usual dozens of demonstrators get arrested every week over the weekend fifty five people were arrested is san francisco this latest poll police raid in san francisco has

effectively clear if it is last remaining occupy protest camp so on a different greece has a story as has been shutting down those camps throughout the country and many occupiers i think higher fears that their message is their mission to gather with those hands to thanks very much indeed going to washington. international austerity inspectors the so-called troika are in greece to put in place a second lifeline for the debt ridden country things never devoted default in december after it received a volatile cash injection but still remains at risk now says cracks are widening in the e.u. off to what's considered a major divisions between britain and other members of the brussels summit. has more. it's not easy running a business even a small one like this german company which produces isolation materials for gas turbines loans taxes salaries competition it's enough to keep any business man's

head busy but mainly still wonder why rules different when it comes to the big buck or in this case the euro and i don't even when a business takes a loan and country back in and says it's bankruptcy i think a state which keeps accumulating debt has to do the same it's no different from a company in that sense you don't borrow money if you know you can't pay it back but for some reason often this doesn't seem to be the case for the eurozone and let's take greece for example besides billions of euros which have already been allocated to bail it out even leaders have approved yet another tranche the aim is to hurt athens pay off its three hundred sixty billion euro debt preventing it from going under and taking others with it but many fear the tactic will not work its all about physics review no matter how strong a material is like this piece of metal with the right amount of pressure it will break. and unfortunately for the euro zone the laws of physics are called universal

for a reason. meanwhile the pressure is rising the latest e.u. summit in brussels showed the economic crisis is creating cracks in the union britain walked out of a deal put forward by germany and france to revise the e.u. treaty and create a fiscal union with a tighter grip on finances but analysts to warn the integration we may take too long with some countries facing a possible referendum on the deal i actually think this fiscal union won't get off the ground because i think there's every chance the euro is going to crash meanwhile inspectors from the so-called troika which consists of the european commission the european central bank and the international monetary fund are looking to provide afghans with a new one hundred thirty billion euro bailout i would call it the lying circus the banks who are trying to save the next who are put on the line with bad

loans to corrupt governments and. waiting and expecting european taxpayers to pay their bills especially the bonus bills sure christmas is big in europe but bailing out the euro for the sake of the banks is becoming one expensive present the dozens of protests that have rocked the e.u. this year alone are a clear sign of discontent over austerity and bailouts and it's highly unlikely the new set of handouts for greece will be greeted with any fast of cheer is going out of germany. well on our website r.t. dot com we're interested in your opinion on what can be done to save the struggling . i think of the green we can see that so far most of you think that the monetary union should simply be dissolved what about thirteen percent say the eurozone should expel the weakest members about a tenth think a single currency requires a single government and a minority view support sanctions imposing financial discipline what's your view to

r.t. dot com and have your say good to hear from. u.s. troops in iraq of handed over the large military base to iraqi forces ahead of the december thirty first withdrawal president barack obama has met with iraqi prime minister nouri al maliki in washington to discuss the next phase of their country's relationship while his talk about the future of iraq is brian becker of the anti answer coalition joining me live from washington d.c. well the troop withdrawal from iraq will mark the end of a near us so how will the what the last nine years be remember do you think. well i think you can only remember the last nine years in iraq as one of the great crimes great tragedies of modern times iraq was at peace with the united states and didn't threaten the united states it had no weapons of mass destruction it was not connected to september eleventh it was the victim of an premeditated aggression by the united states and britain. more than hundreds of thousands of iraqis have died

five million were made into refugees two million internally two million externally the country was shredded formerly united country was divided along ethnic sectarian lines and now the united states is leaving. it's not paying reparations for its crimes those who committed these this grievous assault this is this war of aggression are going around on book tours making lots of money and the u.s. is building an embassy unlike any other u.s. embassy in the history of u.s. diplomacy the u.s. embassy in downtown baghdad has sixteen thousand people scheduled to work there eight thousand of whom will be a private army and the state department budget for that is about twenty five to thirty billion for the next five years so we're seeing the legacy of a formally independent country now ravaged by occupation and i think a semi colonial type relationship not all of the u.s. troops will be going though obviously some training forces left behind in some sort

of support capacity but should the iraqi security forces actually fail to keep the country in order what is the likelihood that american troops combat troops will return. well i think one of the things on the zero on the agenda today between obama and he is a finding a way for the u.s. military to go in explicitly as i mentioned with sixteen thousand personnel at the u.s. compound in downtown baghdad that compound is one and a half square miles the size of ninety four football fields and eight thousand of them are armed guards that's a very considerable military force private contractors but under u.s. direction i think the u.s. is planning to move in but not to keep iraq safe it's really moving in in order to maintain a strategic leveraging power over iraq as it retains nominal sovereignty by the way i want to mention that in this meeting president obama is being pressured by human rights activists and legal scholars including former u.s.

attorney general ramsey clark demanding that the former foreign minister of the iraqi government to reach as these has been handed over now by u.s. forces. and who is scheduled to be executed that he should be protected that too is a kind of rendition. let's talk about other implications here as well sectarian violence inside iraq of course that is a real threat could not become a pretext for others to intervene once u.s. combat troops have gone or supposed to go and as you'll see. yes i think the united states has deliberately divided the country along ethno sectarian lines before people didn't go around in iraq saying i'm a sunni i'm a shiite i'm a i'm a christian there was a relative unity a national identity of iraqis but in order to break up the resistance to break up those who are resisting the occupation after march two thousand and three the united states relied on financing in our mean ethno sectarian units and now says

today that this could be the pretext for foreign intervention of course there are many in the middle east who have an interest in the outcome of iraq certainly its neighbors do certainly turkey does which has certain designs on i'm part of turkey part of iraq but i think the basic issue right now will be whether of the iraqi people can rise to the challenge having resisted the occupation and find a new level of national unity i think of course that's the primary goal right now becca thanks very much indeed for joining us live in washington from the director of the direction of the don't succumb edition thank you. but remember you can find more stories comments and honest is on our website let's have a quick look at what's in store for the moment if you should log on right now ground control to the. russian satellites to the stars communications between space travelers and. in these times of austerity it seems christmas has been taken back to basics and hungry scantily clad centers have been bringing some

festive cheer to the streets of budapest you can find out what they were running for on our website dot com. a famine themed credit card is hitting the u.s. markets just in time for holiday shopping but it relates to one of the most painful episodes in ukraine's history when a famine across the soviet union claim three million ukrainian lives alone and reports there are many in kiev who view the move as u.s. banks attempting to cash in on tragedy. almost a decades on ukraine still mourns those who died in the 1930's famine in the u.s.s.r. known here as the whole of the more and it's a rare example where political forces more used to in fighting put aside their

differences to unite in common cause now the ukrainian diaspora in the united states is joining in remembrance in a rather peculiar fashion to the application for the whole of the lot of credit card. will be able to allow the south asian. and one of our branches the catastrophic nine hundred thirty two nine hundred thirty three famine claimed at least three million lives in ukraine alone with several more million perishing across what is now central russia and kazakstan some one key of insist it was an act of genocide directed against ukrainians most school says it was caused by criminal agricultural policies of stalin's government but those behind the credit card project claim they're driven by remembrance motives only putting all his story debates aside you know what it's another good mechanism to have knowledge and more remember thanks to the political elite and civil organizations it is well known in ukraine. besides there are only

a few living witnesses left and there already are old. however it's not only about the intangible one percent of each purchase made with a holder more card will be allocated to a special charity fund ukraine's main monuments commemorating the 1930's famine was built in two thousand and eight amid recession and millions of us dollars were used from the state budget people behind the hole the more credit card project say that the money they raise may be used to build more monuments and memorials this apparently benign initiative however was met with an avalanche of criticism in ukraine and that's not only because there are practically no survivors left who could be helped with the money raised this political analyst says buying groceries with a famine inspire. card is a blasphemy if the idea is completely immoral it's an attempt to popularize a great tragedy and use it for commercial needs i can only think of a proven tragedy the holocaust but the jews are not putting that on

a credit card in fact such an attempt was made by a u.s. company in two thousand and nine the blue card but it had no direct reference to the holocaust and it's not so popular across the atlantic where the whole of the more card will be more successful can be seen when it hits the market in late december just in time for christmas shopping. r.t. reporting from kiev in ukraine. headlines is coming away in a few minutes with me before that the latest business here in r.t. stay with us for that. thank you bill i have a welcome to our business update this hour the russian economic ministry believes there's a risk the price of oil could collapse next year if the crisis deepens this would have a profound impact on the country's economy ever value of the currency artie's business . expense. or the ruble is currently thirty one to the dollar pessimistic traders

or is there no will have you believe there's a twin risk in twenty twelve of the ruble weakening to dangerous and unseen hoy's first you have the political instability with reports that up the whole four million people come out onto the streets of moscow to protest the recent alleged fraud in the parliamentary elections second you have the leaked report from russia's economic ministry that there's a growing risk the oil price will fall from the current hundred dollars a barrel to eighty or even sixty dollars in the wake of the eurozone crisis now today the o.e.c.d. warned that russia's for too dependent on oil revenues so low oil prices will be disastrous at the high school of economics here in moscow has calculated all that could push the ruble to fall to five against the dollar if we have a look at the historic ruble exchange rate this century will see it's never actually going above thirty seven to thirty six point two in two thousand and nine so reports like this of forty five to the dollar have investors worried because it

often brings with it we currencies bring with it things like inflation another nasties that traders don't like we mostly the presidential aide. has been highly critical of these claims he says the high school of economics has an anti government boyers and he thinks that all price and the exchange rate will remain stable. let's have a look at the markets now for us oh it's lower and concerns that you have might fail to temper stack prices brant is trading at one hundred seven dollars per barrel and average guy is that just over one hundred dollars out here. stocks are plunging at midday after moody's investor service said last week see european fiscal pact will not deter it probably considering the credit ratings of people in european union nations the dow jones fell one point three percent with semiconductor make him tell me to have percent approve of projected revenue in the final for the european stock markets closed lower as well before she lost one point eight percent while the dax and it over a quarter of

a percent and the red banks led the declines shares of lloyds banking group dropped seven percent in london in frankfurt commerzbank an alliance. down six percent and here in russia both in my eyes it's close over three and a quarter of a percent long as well let's have a look at some individual shovels and mines next which is the biggest lenders and their banks have reversed from thirty games that finished in the red of a close down over three percent gas producing over take all four percent that's despite news that the company plans to invest one thousand billion dollars in more than gas production in twenty twenty one taking the shares finished also in the red you know we did better than in its peers that's despite reports two of its independent board members have quit the company. that's all for this hour join me in fifteen minutes from boreham.

the big.