the death toll could rise further. passenger a ferry carrying around three hundred fifty people has sunk off the coast of papua new guinea the boat was travelling between the cities of kimba and law when it went missing the ship's operator said it lost contact with the vessel on thursday after it sent a distress call search and rescue helicopters are heading to the area. american advance secretary leon panetta says the u.s. will seek to end its combat operations in afghanistan next year speaking at a nato summit he said the country wants to switch to a role of supporting and training afghan forces the decade long presence of u.s. troops there has cost us around six billion dollars a year around seventeen hundred u.s. troops have died since the two thousand and one invasion. and deep freeze and have the snow have led to at least eighty deaths across eastern europe forty three people have died in ukraine alone where temperatures have plummeted to minus

thirty degrees celsius in bosnia a rescue helicopter airlifted emergency food and evacuated dozens from snow blocked villages weather forecasters say the subzero temperatures are expected to last until friday. telling what it's calling on israel to stop building settlements on occupied palestinian territory and go back to peace talks palestinians living in the area say they're being terrorized by israeli settlers who want to force them out many are now turning to technology as a means of self-defense or at least the turns has the story. this footage is being filmed with nasa on a watch as camera he's the palestinian who's been pushed to the ground fine israeli soldier just moments earlier his friend took his camera and started filming. one of the worst of it over literally i know that it was me it. was a little i was totally oh no no. no no no no

scenes like those happen almost weekly here in the hebron hills and across the palestinian territories for years they went unrecorded until an israeli human rights organization distributed cameras to nasser and dozens of other palestinians to capture glimpses of every day reality in an occupied zone the number one reason for settler attacks against palestinians on their property is the lack of law enforcement by israeli authorities this sends a clear message to violence settlers they will act with impunity they will not be made to pay their fair price for their actions but more and more they are being courted book after footage like this has been made public the extremists often strike in the dead of night sitting fire to mosques and painting wars with the words placed the term as a threat to israeli security forces of the heavy price will have to pay if they try to break down settlements and other goods to take control of all the land and expel palestinians the settlers let loose wild animals on the agricultural land so they

destroy the crops we've seen instances where saddam was run over palestinians with their cars and shoot at unarmed palestinians it's on the increase. guy batavia is an israeli activist who gave up his day job so he could volunteer full time to teach palestinians about the camera project he says settlers think twice when they see a lens pointed in their direction although it didn't stop him recently from breaking his arm and beating him all over his body at a protest in support of a palestinian farmer whose land have been stolen by a settlement but we were about fifteen activists in. and the settlers in the wouldn't care about the cameras actually. it's one of the people that they were with. on the ground there with their cameras. all the cameras not only did israeli police do nothing while bones

were broken and one section attempted to knife or protester but israeli activists say police beat several of them up what's more for the first time israeli woman activists say they were sick she harassed and assaulted by both male and female israeli extremists but that hasn't dampened the enthusiasm of nasa and others to film what's going on and hold the israeli security forces and settlers accountable that i missed when the settlers see the cameras of course they don't do what they would usually do the cameras haven't stopped have just changed the way the settlers attackers now they do it mostly when it's impossible to show their checker from the side before they attack to see if we have cameras with us ok the settlers are accused of carrying out violent attacks against random palestinian civilians damaging their property more recently however they're charged with targeting israeli soldiers and police and a face in the homes of left wing israeli activists israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has vowed to crack down on jewish extremism in the west bank but with his

government supporting settlement expansion that promise means precious little to those on the receiving end of the violence policy r.t. television. that brings us up to date here on r.t. and the business is next with kate. merino welcome back to the business program this hour global stock markets have had the best start to the year for almost two decades they've risen an average five point eight percent in january helped by signs of acceleration growth in the u.s. and improvements in the european debt problems corporate results have also mostly been above expectations banks the miners have been the best performing sex's which shares up more than nine percent. so let's see how the markets are doing right now we'll get started with those oil prices could prices are indeed mixed this hour

then now near the lowest level in six weeks ounce on news that u.s. stockpiles increase small in expenses and gasoline folds with ten. right now you can see the light sweet it is just a fraction that in red territory on the brant is just a fraction into pulls of thirty. throughout this hour and into the asian markets on the wrong size following on from the gains in the u.s. and also off to sort of a signal that global manufacturing improved in january come makers are among the main gainers on the nikkei with over three percent become to visit us sellers rose nine point three percent. meanwhile consumer electronics group shot fifteen percent the news is expected to report a record net loss of three point eight billion dollars for the current this week get out for now tools are on the rise in hong kong where paychecks b. c. are almost always descends. it's no less than one hour ahead of the opening bell in

moscow the russian markets closed in the fourth quarter wednesday tracking the global rally as european officials moved closer to solving the debt crisis both indices added around. one of the home runs with the yachts yes reaching a four month high looking ahead to the day's trade mark rubenstein something i have seen much of hoping news the general mood will continue to be but less still movements are likely ahead of the key takes up later in the session we're going to get a very important i say the most important piece of marker data these days this is u.s. labor market report. it's it's a general labor every port that's going to come out before u.s. market opens expectations that american economy created hundred fifty thousand new jobs fall into a gain of two hundred thousand back in december a lot of investors will be waiting for that number and we have seen on the

sidelines with might see a pause in there ali if we look at the valuations they're still not very demanding and if you look at the russian market for example it is trading at less than six times earnings and just back in june a trade at about a half nine times earnings so there's been a very significant drop in the valuations in the market and in the indexes and also in the valuations of their of the russian companies. the global banking sites is getting increasingly anxious about its future according to a new survey by consultancy you see it shows concerns about new. banking and nationalizations have reached the highest level in thirteen years b w c has polled by almost six to come tryst the debt crisis in the euro zone is considered the biggest risk the survey has also shown that russian banks are less prepared to face the economic dangers than the foreign rivals. the business and i'll be back

next hour of the russian market because well i can see join me the fifty five minutes. a soulless substance. cannot touch like

a well trained army. villages in ruins. for thailand where time stands still. all becomes a sea of nothingness. the mysterious suns of russia. are. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so for lengthly you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize that everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harpur welcome to the big picture.

it. means of protection can be used. in global supremacy. between two thousand and five and two thousand and nine u.s. has spent fifteen billion dollars in the price paid for the entire program that we are dealing with right now here in two thousand and eleven is another hundred and

fifty billion dollars that's larger than many country's entire military budget. things because the best for. your watching our tv's are the top stories russia refuses to back the latest u.n. draft resolution on syria unless it's a managed to clearly roll out military intervention and an arms embargo on damascus moscow's against regime change and wants the blame for the bloodshed in syria for you on the government and the armed opposition. german chancellor angela merkel is in china calling on a country to help the financially crippled e.u. by investing in the euro and pushing for a change of heart by they seem to wards the recent iran sanctions. plus as the

international community calls on israel to stop building homes on occupied land palestinians live who. there are trying to stop what they call terrorism at the hands of israeli settlers israel's promise to clamp down on the perpetrators but the continued support for settlement construction is sending a mixed single. and now our spotlight host algor knopf talks to russia's minister of communications about the latest technology that will be used to prevent fraud in the country's upcoming presidential elections that's next here on our team. well for the. science technology innovation all the news developments from around russia we've. covered.

how again a welcome to spotlight. on today's. show . the upcoming presidential election in russia is going high tech in a bit to prevent vote from. two hundred thousand the webcam. polling stations across the country video feed will be available on the internet making of election more transparent the first effort will cost about billion dollars the price some critics say is too high so is it really worth it. possible to implement the project given a month before election day. russia's minister of communications.

half a year ago russia the european internet users rating becoming the market with the highest number of online users some seventy million people served on the internet regularly and most of them social networks in december. alleges election fraud work coordinated by facebook expected in february and march and song ensued of the polling stations. in response to the anxious web users official say in order to provide uninterrupted access to all of the cameras the overall. bandwidth russian networks will be increased by fifty percent. almost a shovel and welcome to the show thank you very much for being with us well let's start with the webcams which is is it really a process unprecedented in world history to have webcams inside the polling stations. perhaps not but the big stance you know well being as you've said it

two hundred thousands of webcams on stations all over the country in each and every polling station and to have a network with two thousand webcams transmitting single tenuously doing unlimited number of uses it is unprecedented in the world history of very high technology just how detailed will be i mean the picture what will be the quality of the cameras will they really allow the viewers to see some irregularities that may happen during the world there will be two cameras on the. station and their proximity speed of transmission will be five hundred twelve the second it's pretty high quality and initial but you may see one it's not

a very high definition but it's enough to to see to see the details so there will be two of them one will show the. station. with wide angle so we will see the whole the whole while the whole. second one will be directed at the boxes and the vote and boxes and then. after. the board will be finished the boxes will be removed and the table will be put in the same place where the commission will count the voices listen you are directing the cameras. at the polling boxes at the ballot box as they are coming from but when i go to. do that i have a literary but they were the real i was going out of the notice so nobody will see you i mean the boxes where you drove where will your good job. not where you. put

the sign on the bottom so the place where you where you actually make your choice there will be no you will fill in the bottom of the never ask your folder couldn't you just put it inside. the camera will be put above you know. the face not to see how they will not see they will not see my face so there is nothing. constitutional and democratic and i think that people can can protest against as we see it it is not a decision that was taken just for the government there is an advisory council including members of the central voting commission. of political parties. from the next week on leaving from this week on there will be representatives of the headquarters of the registers candidates so everybody will see. how the procedures are made what are the requirements and how it will go on during the

election well as they say it doesn't matter. in matters who's counting it that there is such a state and at the counting of the of the voices of the votes is is one of the most . contradictory well while at moments in the in the whole and the lection process so you say that those tables where the counting will take place will be under the cameras too but will it be possible. i mean using these cameras to see whether this eager surely if but this is so as lattimer put it if i put it in here. just just just give me this is probably not but you will see how many of the kind of this is going to be going to be explained or maybe explained by the commission members but it is a suggestion and one of the political parties. the vote of counting. the

president of the commission shows the result into the camera so. it will be you are just the sound and safety. so this will be a special new procedure salute during the counting of the vote to make it to make make it more transparent absolutely not visible will everybody well any user and in turn get free access to those webcams where will it be sort of a limited number you know on the beach that limitation is supposed to be accessible to every user and so the spirit of the theoretical rather silly move theoretically the system is a well constructed to allow. to twenty five million. you know people. to see during the day one hundred million two hundred people similar to honestly. sixty thousand viewers.

camera at every given moment i do get a figure and i'm sorry like the traffic around the russian internet lection day may reach five point four petabyte which five point four million terabytes which it's incredible. absolutely if you take you tube you know that every day the use of upload on this resource about four years of video every day what we will have with the system is going to be five hundred years. within a day. after the election on the election morning russia will have the most advanced internet in the world absolutely absolutely as far as the video conferencing and probably. medicine and facilities for those matters are concerned here so it will be the case with

a shot of well one thing is watching the election which is fun of course for years is for for for for for for of bureaucrats for for party politicians but another thing is having access to the archive say after the election somebody says there was there were irregularities and one of the police stations who will have the official access to the fs archive are very specific station recorded by the webcams. this is more of us political question and it concerns directly the election legislation of russia so it tends to be decided upon the within the political class the wall you know and the with just latest as we see it but anyway there will be him. if the entire procedure within every. voting. district will be. registered twice

in a double way so one is going to be. on the computer that will serve the cameras and the second one is going to be in the data centers in the central data centers of the com so their respective glow chance that any air. is going to be lost and well know what interests me is look like a week to week after the election if there is information and then there has been for all that will the representatives of the civil society have that possibility through a court decision not otherwise to get a fair shot recordings take them to court and look at them and make a decision whether it was a fraud or not so there will be such a mechanism to show that absolutely absolutely absolutely that it's impossible to watch two hundred thousand cameras period a year absolutely to watch you up with. the previous question concerning the. the

theoretical but the physical possibility of due to watch all of them. then that flicks network into the united states and its three hundred thousand view a simple tell us we try to work to watch some mission it takes almost a third of the entire capability of the unit you see internet so if it's going to be more the internet will collapse even in the states. by now we've got much weaker internet so we we are considering not a restriction about the. possibility of registration so everybody who's going to watch the vote on the fourth of march. is invited to to use his facebook of contacts to cure cancer or whatever account also young turks

account to. register himself in the network and to have a private cabinet to show which you know what cultists he's going to visit they're not showing on the fourth of march and then this way under the porch on the side is going to go on the first of february so within the month we're going to calculate the capability of networks that is going to be needed for the most popular with cations and probably increase so you'll hear here to the demand. increase for those with where the demand will be the most you know. popular says shove the live rushes minister our communication spotlight will be back shortly after we take a break so don't go away stay where you are we'll continue this interview in less than an.

the close up team has been through the whole bar of screeching for the country's mineral wealth starts its way across the ocean. now our chief goes to the area. once named dr len in good looking to a different character to represent itself. for local businesses are striving to build the aviation capital of russia. that's where the four by fours are made and can be tested to the limit. welcome to the screeching. russian close up on our teeth.

welcome back to spotlight i'm algor norman just a reminder that my guest on the show today is sharply minister of communications of the russian federation mr shurtleff we're talking about the high tech high tech collections the you webcams that are going to be installed as a matter of fact this was the initiative of prime minister putin in the way oh he's one of the candidates and actually the main candidate for presidency and they're coming election so but it wasn't his idea actually from the very beginning as well what it originally inside your ministry was that the internet community who came up with this idea first putting on cameras it was his own idea. of being absolutely because a year and

a half ago when there were in the summer of two thousand and ten there were huge from forest fires. to rebuild the burned down villages and i don't want to say yeah it was the idea to install the permanent members of the construction site or something to control those circumstances absolutely and he was he was very pleased with the lower when there was effecting it to deal with that project absolutely i did work yeah and the cameras are still there you remove them remove the construction work was done but they. had to think of a place where to put the cameras and he decided to put them in a post here after. ross to look calm is the company behind this time in the main provider of these cameras you know the whole system well the operation is worth like thirteen billion rubles what other karen tease of the transparency of the whole of the whole deal of the held up ration the whole project well.

there's some consists of two parts one of them. the price of the equipment itself that will be installed in the building. but the other part is the cost of the upgrade of the entire. network so when the price of the equipment is two and a half. billion rubles and the rest is in your wallet and is the world nine and a half was going to work through the network but if you consider the comparable programs in other states and some will not appear as huge as you but is now a look in brazill. they're going to invest about six billion dollars in upgrading the internet just to reach jamila supposed. to make electronic services possible it's hundred and eighty will and rules we.