hold the other hand going into the second leg of their time with the legacy offer a one one draw at the most dire on wednesday twenty four hours previously athletic bilbao into the first leg lead over mirandize. meanwhile a russian striker roman pavlyuchenko is to finalise his move to a community of moscow from tottenham later on thursday for a fee thought to be around thirty million dollars public says the move back to russia was driven by his desire to play regular first team football. to some sad news from the world of boxing mohammed ali is legendary coach angelo dundee has died at the age of ninety he was best known for working with ali and helping him become the world underlain picture the court a man also worked with fifteen other world champions including sugar ray leonard and george foreman he was inducted into the boxing hall of fame in one thousand nine hundred. moving to tennis and maria sharapova has held her first training session in moscow head of this weekend's fed cup quarter final with spain the twenty four year old has only have a plate in three fed cup matches but after a couple of injury plagued the world number three weeks the australian open final

last week told richard she's hoping to continue her good early season form by helping russia which the fed cup semi. to be in the finals of a grand slam that's when you know he's going to be down to two and you know for me to be able to come to moscow in a few days obviously a tough transition going to the call but it's like that for everyone and you know i think we just have to make the quarter just once but i'm happy that we have a home match instead of away and i can actually be in my home country and it's sort of last time you played for a cup of russia because for french. hopes he said give me you know motivation this time because you know last year you know it's a team effort and i think that's really how it happened on and i didn't have a good first day and then the next day you know the whole team kind of raise their level and one zero two so it's just it's such a different environment than what we're used to whereas when you lose a match and then you kind of out and they lose a match you still have a chance and that's what makes it so special here do you feel more confident now

because i mean you're getting to be. but helping to put what happened in two thousand and one two thousand and eight behind you and just moving forward even that you want to get into a point or hurdle kind of to get to the stage of being in a final it's great for me to to have. an opening where i haven't been in the second week of a grand slam is a really good achievement for me and you know to be number three in the world is great as well just one final question obviously a huge year for you with the ground so i'm trying to get on the ground sometimes. i mean this is part of a region where you're playing fed cup trying to get in the libyan team and it wouldn't mean to you or the olympics has meant so much for me since i was a young kid that was really what we always looked forward to and one day in tennis when i was young wasn't that big and it was always all the winter sports that i watched and i. beijing with the shoulder surgery. going to fix everything which means i'm now in basketball during league top sixteen have extended their lead at the top of group j.

with a home victory over italian side a seven the host took the bull by the horns right from the start winning the opening quarter twenty points to twelve continue to press in the second increasing their advantage to sixteen points by half time and they don't account top score for the mix with sixteen including this two pointer to make it forty two twenty two midway through the third period because untamed then took their foot off the gas the firmly held on to their lead fifty nine forty for the final score that. mean more. group a olympiacos registered their first win of the top sixteen. fs of turkey at home eighty three sixty five. top scored for the hosts with eighteen points. staying with basketball and in the n.b.a. indiana have beaten minnesota are on the road where the pacers scored more than one hundred points for only the second time this season it was a pretty close affair during the first two quarters but the visitors would stop pulling away late in the third danny granger top school with thirty six points

including this three pointer to make it sixty fifty two in favor of the paces here granger was then involved in an all to cation with kevin love but the referees managed to calm the players and avoid a massive brawl granger also shined in the final period adding several crucial points as indiana when i win his one hundred nine points to ninety nine. the women's figure skating where russia has never claimed a single olympic gold medal however with two years to go into the sochi winter games there's plenty of hope that that run will see the end of a dime in has been to meet one of the most promising young russians in the sport i believe in something over. singles this is the only discipline in which in a big gold medal has eluded such a big figure skating nation like russia added insult nicholas is one of the few overing major hope for the moment anticipated ladies graeme in the sport first of

all in sochi twenty fourteen at the age of fifteen foot because hillary clinton the russian domestic three times ahead and he's the world junior championships in ten to eleven. least she has already proved destroyed when she's a fighter and this is something you cannot teach that's given by god she's one of those who can compete and can achieve top results and that's a fact the put up a genius of bradley wish i was for it when my mom took me to skating skinny and just to test my capability for skating with professional coaches all the kids around started crying when they fell down but i suit up and kept moving forward step by step and the coaches knew that my mother and said what was strongly recommend that you make her continue and that's how i started to figure skating was was according to the international skating union is rankings so because currently

the world's number seventeen what has plenty of time to fine tune the skills with head coach wife w.c. surgeon ben ian of a there is a. heavy scene that's to come on you should have completed that element every single jones is just in place just a goodish and absent down at the first every use winter olympics in israel but in general certainly gold was edged placard teaming another russian hopeful it is evident that the mission to get on the line and be at the russian championships in innsbruck the outcome was opposite they always get compared to each other they can . peter against each other and that's ok it's just like even if you should graciously see within rivalry which only gave a boost to russian men's figure skating as for the girls only time will tell who's better they're both still growing because we have a good relationship i would say we're friends every usually picks an inspiration we'll it together in the same apartment but when it comes to the ice rink it gets

tough which is do battle for survival. there is still a lot to be done for. to fulfill her huge potential. thing as always being there in hand i can best mentality you know which i like to see chances and i always take the risks of doing things which are difficult for me sometimes i mean i don't do well during warm up and my coach tells me to leave some pokey out of her program but i always dare to do them i think to myself i'm strong i'm true that i can do this this is what nobody can teach and so to go one has a. better feeling than i think. and finally with one hundred twenty seven days left until the start of your i twenty twelve excitement is growing across the host countries the ukrainian city of china cassy which isn't even hosting the games has dedicated its annual ice festival to the tournament

which takes place in ukraine and poland this summer i think has several sculptures including famous football and try things as football fever sweeps across the country. continue to support this is a gathering vego zone every year they stand it's related to euro twenty twelve the fame is for the cubs heroes and everything related to the upcoming tournaments. well i'm looking forward to it already that's all the sport for now i'll have more faith in a couple of hours. the

close up team has been to the whole bar of screen. where the country's mineral wealth starts its way across the ocean. now our team goes to the area. was named after lenin but looking to a different character to represent itself. for local businesses are striving to build the aviation capital of russia. and for the four by fours are made and can be tested to the limit. welcome to the illyana screech of. russia close up on r t.

means of protection can be used. when global supremacy is at stake. between two thousand and five and two thousand and nine u.s. has spent fifteen billion dollars in the praise states 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 the country's entire military budget when things becomes the best for.

russia refuses to back the latest u.n. draft resolution on syria unless it's a matter to you clearly were a lot of military intervention and an arms embargo on damascus. german chancellor angela merkel arrives in china hoping to secure support from its pretty good partner in times of crisis on board the western policy on iran. as the international community called on israel to stop building homes on occupied land palestinians who live there are trying to stop what they call terrorism at the hands of israeli settlers.

one pm in the russian capital you're watching. russia says it will veto the latest u.n. security council resolution on syria unless the draft is changed while moscow admits progress has been made it's yet to see a text that explicitly rules out military intervention russia is also reluctant to stop selling equipment to damascus saying that would leave syria at the mercy of unrecognized rebel forces armed with weapons smuggled from abroad says he has more . russia says it won't accept even a hint of an embargo on arms embargo when it comes to syria and its reasoning for this is pretty simple it says firstly that the weapons and arms are that russia provides to syria cannot be used against demonstrators thus don't influence anything that goes on inside syria when it comes to this conflict now secondly russia says that it is only following its legal obligations it's following its international contracts with syria and it's not breaching any international laws at

all and most importantly it says that the lessons of libya need to be large because when an arms embargo was put in place on libya what ended up happening was government forces were embargoed but the opposition groups continued to receive openly arms from abroad and this is something that they don't want to see in syria and russia says it's time for the west to stop pretending like armed groups don't exist over there. it would seem logical if there is a conflict let's not supply arms because we saw what happened in libya in an imperfect world this would have meant the following no weapons with the government much opposition point just to get them from anyone that's what that would mean especially now our security council colleagues refuse even to admit the presence of groups they will not condemn them. being supplied with weapons and we say ok hullo contracts longstanding relations with syria they will start supplying even more to the opposition groups they did in libya the arab and western backed regime

change resolution calls for the. syrian president to step down if this does not happen within fifteen days further measures could take place and russia says no thanks we've seen this similar scenario in libya and this particular case moscow says what's important is for talks for syria to exercise its sovereignty for the opposition and the government to sit down together moscow has offered russia as the center stage for these negotiations but it's important to say that russia still. believes that a consensus can be found within the united nations security council it says that broad resolutions that are dangerous should not be put on the table that can split the council and really aggravate any sort of conflict and it continues to call for the importance of arab observers to are remain working on the ground. the u.s. as well as its european and arab allies are committed to pushing president assad out of power but what if the analyst benjamin barber says forcing

a regime change is a bad idea that's already plunged other arab countries into turmoil the case of libya the case of yemen and a number of other countries egypt also suggest that you have to be careful what you wish for the west is rather critical of the recent insurgency is a good thing only to find that insurgency often means. fractionalization splintering various groups up against one and the triumph over time forces that are welcome to the west and one for displaced nobody i think did what will happen if assad is overthrown molecules or steps down and no one really knows what the outcome is likely to be the west is hoping it will be less supportive of hezbollah less supportive of iran and less supported by us and that could mean no one really knows what it's going to look like so the fact is would you support insurgencies you're basically taking a very difficult bet on uncertainty. still ahead three this hour candidates versus

the air critics. of the president of. you know i don't know you know. the careless comments of u.s. politicians to american credibility on the international stage. ron heads back to talks with the un but israel and america still want more military pressure piled on the islamic state we've got the details just ahead. german chancellor angela merkel has called on china the biggest buyer of iranian oil to use its influence to persuade iran to renounce its possible nuclear weapons ambitions merkel is on her a fifth visit to china where she's trying to change beijing stance on iran and get it to support a western resolution on syria also on the agenda seeking support for the eurozone merkel's to hold talks with chinese leaders to try to win investment in the euro

professor simon shan of the chinese university of hong kong believes that china needs an ally to counter the u.s. dominance. i think actually there are fewer reasons of truth to a lot of the china. in the year old actresses but that's not the only reason you is cooperating with the states to social and. that is the lives of your member transit it wish to. the chinese the. knowledge of the use of this shooting to increase the oil imports from your own so that is to say going to gender but then the only chunk of germany has to convince china she should not work well with iran in exchange of germans foreign of their support and china's needs some. support when you're still in the united states and there's a sense in china. and so commons of china by the united states right now and

doesn't really understand the united states in asia pacific so are trying to do some balancing acts of power so this one of the many important matters that china wish to engage. in so. getting a lot on to our website or to harm to give us your piano on the possible result the chancellor merkel's visit to china let's take a look at the site now so far thirty eight percent think that visit world help germany access new markets and almost a third of voters believe they see in the world stand a helping hand here we can see you are sixteen percent say that china will move closer to the western position on iran and north to believe a meeting or band with chinese support for un security council resolution on syria well you know us now what do you think by logging on to our website are. now over to cakes and business. hello there enough gold has advanced to the highest level in eight weeks and the cycle of the day is

a whole class to continue climbing why join me in twenty minutes in the business bulletin to find out. piecing relations back together over a split u.n. inspectors say they're on track to solving the deadlock over iran's nuclear program . will head back to the country later this month after wrapping up three days of what they called positive and constructive talks in tehran but despite hopeful feedback from the u.n. a group of american lawmakers want washington to bully iran into submission the top military official in u.s. ally israel even says all possible means should be used to disrupt tehran's nuclear program investigative journalist robert perry thinks the drums are for regime change. there's been almost a consensus not just in the united states in the intelligence community but even in some degree in israel that the iranians have not made the decision to move ahead to build a nuclear weapon obviously there's belief that they are developing expertise that

can be used in the future for such a decision if they were to make one so. if iran is sincere about its lack of interest in a nuclear weapon and if the west is willing to show some more flexibility in terms of how they're willing to negotiate on this i think there could be some resolution a many people in the west do want regime change in iran they would like to see the removal of this islamic republic there's been a lot of propaganda in the west against iran but i do think that there's this there is an opportunity here for. for rand to make to achieve some openings but that may not be enough to satisfy many of its critics who would like to see a real change in government and we have more news on iran on our web site r.t. dot com how were the petrodollar who profits most from the economic sanctions on iraq and what payback is likely to follow the expert opinion first. also on

line fighting racism with digital tools learn how an international activist group has dealt a blow to american and british white supremacists. plus bombed out of the easel the appetite for contemporary art grows as being option houses announced rising profits from sales with top rb i was looking at. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so for like sleep you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and 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. of. me. the limited. to. commit we want to. much. was.

if you. could take three months for charges. free. free. free. world free blog video for your media project free video gondar teach dot com. the blunders of u.s. politicians have inspired jokes and parodies for decades as a campaign for a twenty while action heats up candidates mistakes are in the limelight once again but their critics aren't laughing as marina board now reports some believe the comments made show nothing more than ignorance and disregard for world affairs. every four years america's top job is up for grabs. with each new election comes

a new batch of candidates with compromising foreign policy credentials when i ask me who is the president of you beki beki beki beki stands i'm going to say you know i don't know do you know i'm afraid that it's a very hard struggle particularly given the situation on the iraq pakistan border you can actually see why russia from land here in alaska africa was a country on the brink on the brink of complete meltdown and chaos geographically illiterate us candidates have supplied comedians with endless material but all jokes aside some presidential hopefuls vying to lead the world's most powerful armed forces know very little about america's military interventions so you agree with president obama libya or. libya. forming a cohesive sentence on geopolitics can be

a struggle i do not agree with the way he handled it for the following reasons. you know that's that's a different line differentiating between friends and enemies it's also a challenge obviously got to stand with our north korean allies in the case of republican candidate mitt romney mixing up presidents and prime ministers can be coming i think that president bush represents a real threat to the. stability and peace of the world the overarching ignorance on international affairs has caused american political commentator bill maher to conclude i think anybody could be president in this dumb country ok sort of like at this point now where i think if you're going to be it when you register to be a candidate you also have to go take a test about foreign affairs and if you fail the test we might get you one chance to take it again and then i'm say sorry go run you know for city

council in your little town in alaska if a country with the world's highest national g.d.p. is being represented by politicians with a deficit on international affairs the biggest consequence is likely to be america's credibility around the world and even who we target and let me finish with this i just get lost in a blizzard of words there this is where it gets really dangerous for united states of america it's like wait a minute how could they possibly be right about terrorism how could they be right about north korea are going to be right about iran so-called nuclear program when their candidate doesn't even know that there's a north and south korea i think the u.s. is why and so then the world has this very paranoid view of the united states because of the candidates not understanding basic facts or understanding basic principles of international law which unequivocally prohibit torture and if i were president i would be willing to use waterboarding i think it was very effective for me and i agree the consistent streak of foreign policy blunders made by u.s.

presidential. hopeful's is quite humorous but it could also be considered a national tragedy if most candidates campaigning to be leader of the so-called free world simply don't know enough about the world outside of america's borders. r.t. new york. has some world news in brief for you this hour at least seventy four people have been killed and over one thousand injured in clashes between rival football fans in egypt the violence happened in the city afford state after an upset victory by the home team top club fans stormed into the field after the game and armed with sticks stones and even forty seven people have been arrested in connection with the trouble and troops have been deployed to the city to prevent further clashes officials fear the death toll could rise further. american the fan secretary leon

panetta says the u.s. will seek to and 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 seven hundred u.s. troops and tens of thousands of local civilians have died since the two thousand and one invasion. pakistan's supreme court says it will charge the country's prime minister with contempt for not reopening an old corruption case against the president the trial is set to start in just over a week and could c.p.m. use a browser be. jailed for six months the court has long to manatee reopening of aggression case against president asif ali zardari dating back to the late ninety's but the government has refused it insists the president enjoys immunity from prosecution while in office. a deep freeze and habeas no have.