well the cycling team saxo bank are standing by him contador is able to compete again in august after his two year ban was backdated although that still means he will miss the. tour de france and elin picks. as a team is the support of battle. because we want to do good things that is correct that's why we have supported him in this case all the way. and we still do when we look at the ruling today we see no reason not to support him to do a long time but of course. when i we have to sit down together. and talk about the future. i wish that he wants to continue with the team i can only say that my intention will be to same. in contrast contador has little sympathy from the world anti-doping agency its president john far he has branded contador a cheat and says the court ruling was

a clear warning to cyclists dope. and simple fact is that anyone who has a prohibited substance in their system. is h. it. it's as simple as that the argument then comes as to what was the method what was the nature of how that prohibited substance got into the system. or treat affectively the moment you've got that substance in there and that analysis disclosed and tested this was very comprehensive way back as well another major legal battle in sport is looming this time to help medal hopefuls are not a room shy to represent russia at this summer's london olympics the pentathlete was born in lithuania but has obtained a russian passport although her native country is now stopped from competing. as the story. just a week after turn in twenty four and with multiple world cup wins under her belt do

not are you shy to should be a shoo in for the fast approaching london games or so you would think because for these modern pentathlon to second the increase are now a huge doubt in beijing in two thousand and eight she competed for leaf janja but has since married a russian and was granted a russian passport and though do not has been cleared to fly the russian flag at other major events she needed the formality of permission from the league here and an olympic committee to go to london but her request was denied. but i think the sports officials and some patriots are against me but a lot of ordinary people still support me he could say we feel any split in two over this a lot of people have been leaving the country to earn money elsewhere and some may think they've come to russia to roll in cash which is not the case donato went on to say she was on the verge of tears and her mother cried twice at last month's meeting in leaf yanira the sports summit has threatened her entire career and she

described it as a circus while the reporter at the time culture a traitor she knows the chances are slim that she'll be given the go ahead to compete in london but she's focusing on are the tournament standing and if lead should first of all think of quality training and preparing for events if i don't make the olympics after all i'll have other important events to get ready for the european and world championships are no small matters. so potentially a massive blow for russia which counted on the room shouted to deliver in the british capital they plan to appeal at both the court of arbitration for sport and the international olympic committee but no one is under any illusions have a medal hopes to remain. but the leader of the not that is our leader and will compete in other events this year but her mission won't undermine the russian squad because measures have been taken to regroup it's not a happy situation but we still hope for podium places in london. is already setting

his sights on the real games in twenty sixteen well russia also have a strong message contingent including athens and beijing champion and dreamy save to cheer on in london. r t let's switch to football where it is it is semi final state the africa cup of nations ivory coast star studded squad take on mali in the gabba nice capital of it but we'll be elephants have big name players including managed to city tour and chelsea's didier drogba and that's made them favorites for the trophy and i ricotta produced an impressive three nil win over co-host equitorial guinea in the last eight but despite their obvious talent their coach is always wary of the opposition. we go forward with what i would say is a lot of cohesiveness because we know that everything we've achieved is fragile and that in a game or a certain situation it could all crumble so we're being very prudent to deserve our country we're trying to be wise. in the other game tonight garner will be seeking

to reach the final for the second time in a row they take on zambia at the barter stadium in equitorial guinea but their build up hasn't been ideal garner were forced to cancel their monday training session after their flight from dearborn wrist delayed however they remain the favorites although zambia are the surprise package of the tournament after their three no win over sudan in the last eight. meanwhile they were in spain athletic bilbao have reached the final of the copper del ray after an emphatic six to win over there and this second leg when last night we go through a three on the aggregate ending around this is fairytale run in which they have beaten the likes of the reality test danielle and racism handa in the final athletic bilbao will face either barcelona or valencia to play their second leg tonight barcelona have home advantage after drawing one one volunteer in the first game and are boosted by the return of anderson yes there are over three games who have taken part in training this week pastor of fighting for titles on four fronts

at the moment and their manager says his players are up for the challenge. and we have the chance of playing in the fourth final of the season and i think the players are aware of but this is a challenge sport gives you these new opportunities of being able to repeat some to make this after achieving so much in the past we've already pleaded difficult corded phone first leg of the semifinal. in other news can you write in and has marked his return to formula one with the fastest time on the first day of pre-season testing they finished back behind the wheel with this after spending two years away from the sport competing in the world ready championship but he blew away any cobwebs with a blistering lap time during testing interest in spain he took just under one minute and twenty seconds which was just ahead of force india's paul di resta red bull's mark webber was more than a tenth of a second back reichen in a former f one world champion said everything had gone to plan but he obviously

wasn't getting carried away. i don't think it makes any difference i mean testing doesn't. cure anything. you try to do the things what is necessary to cover it for the season. times on the contrary risings. planning to do before we started today. and you boxing tournament gets underway in moscow this evening although organizers will be hoping it runs a bit more smoothly than the way in after the main star failed to show up clumpy in welterweight ignacio mendoza wasn't there after his cry was delayed he's a record of thirty three victories from forty one fights needs to take on heavy. vidia the russian has won all fifteen of his bags in sixty three kilograms while a top the billing for the real boxing t.v. event which brings together fighters from around the world also on the card is

russian cruiserweight good quality he has thirty three wins on just one defeat and could be a handful for is to make an opponent which is hope. i give him a lot of respect to choose the fight with because i never know much about him you choose to fight me so i give my whole lot of respect how to fight has turned me down. you know he chose the five it's like your mother was pretty disorder just put my. next step to the level of crime and crime and i know this is the next step toward some kids and to step back a step or second i got to go over to get to my next step. well definitely at the top of their sport of the new york giants and they are still lapping up their super bowl triumph thousands of fans lined the streets of manhattan to cheer the side that beat the new england patriots on sunday confetti wafted through the air as the team hoist the vince lombardi trophy for make littering blue and white float after cruising through the canyon they were on in the city hall before travelling to new jersey for

a rally at the met life stadium. welcome to them that brings us to the end of the sport more later. question is that so much. which of course you want to hear facebook's initial public offering is being called a very big deal and many hold the party on we've the entire tech sector but is the .

wealthy british style holds a spot on the bottom. of the. markets why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy in cars a report on. he's .

a polar approach to the syrian a dilemma washington's stepping up its rhetoric for regime change in syria ignoring moscow's attempts to bring both us and the opposition together for peace talks. the rift between the e.u. and the u.k. grows into a chasm after the european court of human rights paves the way for the release of osama bin laden's right hand man in europe. and washington's top military official will head to cairo to try and suspend a criminal charges against american n.g.o.s as egypt's military leaders crack down on the western activists to help to steer them to power last year. and from

a business test the ruble has advanced against the dollar to its highest level and five months on the back of strong oil prices join me for a full business bullets and in twenty minutes time. well why there's life in the heart of moscow this with me. the situation in syria will not improve unless both sides shift from the battlefield to the negotiating table that is the message from rushers foreign minister. who recently returned from the capital damascus let's get some more details on this now across of a live to all of these are. going to tell us what is the situation on the ground just a day off to russia's delegation left here. well right now in syria there were reports

coming from the city of homes that the heavy artillery that they have a shelling is continuing on the city also there are some unconfirmed reports saying that the army troops are moving towards the center but of course most of these reports are coming in from sources which our ability to do with the armed syrian opposition none of them can really be confirmed as there are really no reliable sources on the ground in syria syrian t.v. at the same time is reporting that armed rebels have taken and have attacked all the refineries just outside of homes and have said those on the fire of course of that all of this comes. right on the heels of the recent visit of the russians allegation to syria polling which president bashar lost that has said that he is willing to go to great lengths in order to bring still peace in the country he has promised to go through with major reforms among them a referendum on constitution which should take place some time in march he's also but he's also said that he's more than willing to sit down for talks with the with

the syrian opposition on their part that the syrian national council which until now has been refusing for any negotiations with the current syrian government saying that it is illegitimate now the syrian opposition has said that they are willing to sit down and and carry out a dialogue with the syrian government but they have said that. russia must provide a road map for those negotiations and backs both sides in the syrian conflict both the government and the opposition are saying that russia must perform and mediating duty in order to resolve this conflict let's have a listen to russia's foreign minister said sergey lavrov. on the matter. but it was really we have suggested that certain parties capable of influencing the opposition groups especially those based outside syria will try to convince those groups to begin negotiations parties with influence on damascus have been trying to convince the authorities to do the same as i have mentioned the syrian authorities

confirmed they are ready to begin negotiations without putting forward any conditions. well unfortunately instead of putting pressure on the syrian opposition with the world community seems more that more than determined to pull out their on voice from the country and russia's foreign minister has also extend has also expressed his opinion on this matter. i don't find it easy to comment on this because i don't want to give an impression that all these processes have a certain logic behind them we don't see any logic in them just as much we didn't understand the hurry decision to suspend the arab league observers mission to syria therefore i don't think that the ambassador's response helps create conditions favorable for implementing the league of arab states initiative just. france to a belgium italy and spain are among the latest countries to help hold out you have

recalled their ambassadors from syria and of course there is the the un but on one bending rhetoric from a the from washington the white house it seems determined that the that separate us our last six days are numbered they're saying they're there or not they cannot imagine they cannot imagine any negotiations a with the current syrian government also the all reports that the pentagon is looking at its military capabilities in in case of military options in the syria now of course they have said that they have not provided or they're not going to provide any military aid to the armed rebels in the country but they have also mentioned that no option is off the table when it comes to the situation in syria of course all of this is coming in the wake of recent a recent diplomatic row it's the united nations security council which effectively splits the security council into with russia and china vetoing the draft resolution

on syria and the other countries seem more the. determined to see the target to see the current government out of its position and get the message that said particularly the western countries seem to be standing. on rebels in the country is the green light for them to intensify the fighting. parties are going to live in moscow thank you meantime in the light of the recent a un a security council fallout so when moscow and beijing blocked a draft resolution on syria we spoke to russia's ambassador to the body of a tummy tuck and says that piling pressure only on the assad regime gives a unilateral advantages to the rebels who are also to blame for the violence in syria. the latest round of military confrontation in syria started a couple of days before that resolution draft resolution was put to vote and the reason i'm here i'm trying not trying to justify anybody but simply trying to be analytical is that as the monitoring mission of that i believe was there and that

as the situation was evolving everybody saw that the government troops were pulling out of certain towns or certain quarters and in cities that territory was taken over by armed rebel groups that would mean that the the armed confrontation will continue and escalate and that was the reason for which were brought our amendments to the text of the draft resolution which would not only require the government to pull out its forces from from the cities but would also would also require the opposition forces to show restraint and not to exercise their military coup out every conflict. needs to be resolved through negotiations but there are two ways really in my view one is a frontal attack against the regime something which i'm afraid has been happening lately including from some international important international players the

advocates of regime change there been trying to. resolve the crisis through frontally the toppling of the current government in the mosque but this is this would mean bloodshed and civil conflict and. conflict which would be spreading beyond the borders of syria but the other the more rational way the only way which the international community should be supporting. trying to put the parties to the table to bring them to the table and to arrange. among them in order to find a political solution without further bloodshed. and president of the arab lawyers association. says the reluctance of some states to support moscow's mediation efforts is nothing out of the ordinary he says it's simply a case of history repeating itself. this is very clearly an attempt by the west to thwart any effort of settlement because i don't think the western powers whether it's the u.k. u.s.

france or the europeans and certainly the arab countries the gulf countries are really playing according to the rules that are being laid down to them by the americans they are the people who are trying to explore any possibility we've seen this before and. when the west were supporting the opposition and they were i mean. anybody who wanted to have a dialogue with the government regardless of whether they were. not they were accused of being. stooges of the government or their agents of the government or they are not the path between now and this is the time that they are doing now at the present moment i think in terms of the opposition in syria and i fear that this is really why all of the russians are trying to get the opposition to talk to the government because that's the only way you can resolve the problem i think they will stop those people from even the opposition from discussing with the government

sitting with them and this is really where they've done the same thing in libya where civilian and peaceful protests were converted into an armed conflict so that it gives the pretext for the west to intervene. we've also got an entire section dedicated to syria on our website of course r.t. dot com there were also got a poll going on asking you what you think will come of possible peace talks let's bring out the numbers for this hour here on r.t. the vast majority of you believe that the west will find a way to remove assad regardless of peace talks about a fifth belief that even if an agreement is reached the opposition will not honor it eighty percent say that the talks are doomed and won't achieve anything and the same number of you voted for the talks will bring long lasting it's hard to vote now. we're still tallying the numbers here. while i still to come of the program here for you are the greek economy goes on sale

a fresh years are up in athens as the austerity public rails against what they see as a fire sale of the nation's. ten minutes past the hour here in moscow. sweeps britain after the european court of human rights cleared the way for the release of qatada. bin laden's right hand man in europe is the latest in a string of questionable judgment sort of over ruled domestic decisions and as aussies laura smith explains patients with the e.u. is rapidly running thin. a silver in land with its own queen its own currency and its own parliament law was made by someone else this building houses what we in the u.k. call the supremum court but in practice it supremes in name only despite

being the highest court in the land when it comes to human rights if you don't like the way your case is going or you can take his abroad to france and decisions made in strasburg could overrule any may taya the european court of human rights was set up after world war two to avoid the persecution of minorities by the state but now it's been the railed and it was never never anticipated of the circle or war after the holocaust off the terrace perpetrated by certain tyrannical governments but the court now would be protecting the criminal and not the victim. delays in control of a sea have dogged the european court in strasburg there's a backlog of up to eight years and when cases are decided judgments are often bizarre in two thousand and ten the court decided to give prisoners the right to vote after a petition by john hirst who spent much of his life behind bars after killing his

landlady the u.k. is still refusing to implement the ruling it makes me physically ill it would probably mean to give the vote to anyone who is in prison aside it could also cost a fortune but the last time that we looked at this the cost of complying with judgments on the european convention of human rights was about two point one billion pounds a year that's three point three billion dollars plus another two point eight billion in a susi dated one off costs in other areas an immigration ruling means a convicted nigerian rapist gets to stay in the u.k. because of his right to a family life. and most recently the european court of human rights ruled hate preacher abu qatada dubbed bin lardons right hand man in europe can't be deported back to jordan he's now g. to be released on to the streets of britain this is somebody who stands up and

publicly. hatred about everything our democracy is in stands for and yet we can't get rid of him because of the european convention on human rights sitting in strasburg forty seven judges one from each signatory country so far so fair except none of them were elected by the people of the countries they're making law for we've got a system of law and order in this country has worked for many many years for the seat or the mother of all parliaments why do we need strasburg or brussels to tell us what we can and cannot do the answer is we don't so therefore british law for british people those who aren't calling for the u.k. to pull out of the european convention on human rights all together are demanding reforms to stop strides berke making decisions on what should be sovereign issues the court has to be more focused on fundamental civil and political rights not interfering in the daily lives. and in the ministration of the criminal justice

system and in the member states of the council of europe without reforms there's a risk of throwing the baby out with the bathwater as nations pull out of the human rights court undermining it leaving those in countries with weak human rights protections entirely vulnerable laura smith r.t. london. meanwhile our would be rioters in the u.k. could soon come face to face with a military grade chemical agents the u.k. government being asked to clarify its stance on the use of incapacitating nerve gas although banned from use in a war there are fears it could actually be adopted by british riot police the full story standing by for you at r.t. dot com. also on our web site a holy war for america and raised catholic priests are preparing for a legal fight with president obama saying his new health insurance policies are quote an attack on a religion. washington is sending

a top official to egypt to tackle kairos crackdown on u.s. nonprofit groups where they played a pivotal role in the popular uprising that toppled president mubarak last year but are now falling victim to egypt's new military leadership. has been following the events egypt's new government crackdown on n.g.o.s has raised many questions and they may want to is why now the groups many of which funded by washington have been on the ground here for a while they were at the vanguard of the uprising against mubarak that eventually brought the supreme council of the armed forces to power last february and no one has ever seems to care about these two cases income is going to lead to take criticism to the new military leadership maybe it's car or the slow pace of reform some of them are used by the other agents. they are quoting people of your work. and they're the ones that evolution. when the radicals live there

this is very much a dangerous world the rhetoric this is pushing little prosecutors really seventeen this is an advocacy group to react to this and in america germans and egyptians are now facing trial for illegally using foreign funds to promote and run in the post mubarak country activists how would claim they are the victim of scarves reluctance to give up power with dreaming the people about with their brights but the scaf looking for enjoy. some against the regime and all that might be the round up of activists has also netted the sun if you asked mr taishi secretary. for the fueling tension between cairo and washington. isn't simply because. of them in a sort of plans for. i don't think that he has leading at all in the thing at all so this is.