when ballooning got a new lease of life she switched to the ambitious task of making balloon envelopes elaine has ballooned several times including flights aboard balloons of her own making. zenith all those lost balloons during a festival in a mosque it was a very long time ago i even flew over the kremlin and it was so much fun will do no such fine some band but back in one thousand nine hundred one or one thousand nine hundred two. it was an amazing. fellow. of his. that's a nice piece of material and so easy to handle. qualities of primary importance in our business is what you think of intentionally messed it up so you'll fall out of the sky that never absolutely not

a great job was very well done religiously and. the company repairs the existing believes as well as making new ones it receives several damaged envelopes a month this part of the balloon is subjected to wear and tear more often than others after the envelope is repaired and the new one is ready the test start. because i own nigel is the main believing tester of the to law office factory none of the balloons made by the company will be launched unless he gives the go ahead. are going to include us total our best gets met european standards. they were not as good in the old days but now there are russia's best guys in the who are just as true i can't afford to pay the price but. i would buy one if they were not so expensive that. michelle knight golf is a veteran russian era know what he's been involved with aviation for fifty four

years is a boon designed by training he's built seven of them with his own hands. first to go ballooning when he was fifty three years old he looks forward to celebrating his seventy fifth birthday in flight the contest balloons at any time under any conditions one hundred flights a year is a minimum. sure to go flying his old ways and blissful whatever the conditions. were up and moving out i'm involved as a normal position. in the balloon is in working order as it should be. that hopefully we'll get no complaints from the guys in about us.

to look at the ils this is not what i call flying it would in general i don't see being tethered is the definition of florida only with the out there who truly flying. a hot air balloon can only be in free flight during the daytime it's a common roll fold balloonists in the world the bus good house to touch down before sunset. unlike balloons in free flight tethered balloons are allowed to be launched even in the dock in that case the burner illuminates the balloon from the inside. pilot's refer to this phenomena. known as the good organizers of the past to go ask festival of balloonists came up with the idea for this spectacle to attract tourists.

their current simpatico are such that early morning is the best time for taking to the skies the convoy of balloonists normally starts out of five o'clock in the morning to head towards the starting line. the success of the flight primarily depends on the wind no matter how skillful the pilot might be balloonists get weather forecasts and reports about the force and direction of the wind from ground control safety services but then there is a simpler way of determining the winds direction the whole crew takes part in preparations for a flight normally it includes four people a technician carries out checks to satisfy himself that the balloon is in working order. have a good flight. balloons are raised into the sky by the pilot and the navigator

but whether the crew will get home depends on those who stay on the ground. once a balloon lands the crew has to be retrieved from the spot. sometimes inexperienced teams responsible for retrieval can't find crews landing at dusk therefore those unfortunate balloonists have to spend the night out in the open not he'll shock me oh there's another x. air force pilot. during competitions he is often charged with the task of ensuring the crew safe return to earth his job is retrieving crews of balloonists from

wherever they might land. rainbow rainbow pick up as calling day rate pick up i can hear you. wonderful. nial has had special training to learn how to get his bearings in different conditions whether in the woods or mountains but tracking a balloon through the streets of a town is a skill in its own right. the problem with tracking a balloon flying over a city or another population center is that there is a mass of people. you need to have a good knowledge of the city's top dog are free and the floods. all right you don't want invariably ends up happening. is you get stuck in traffic. which is just great. like you know and i mean. this is a very convenient place. from here we can see where balloons are going where they

are likely to touch down. of the prophet. can you see our balloon rising over this town it's over by the hill. how far a balloon can fly depends on the wind what's most important is to make sure that it lands in such ways to make it easy for the retrieval truck to get it. bring the rainbow pick up calling are you coming in times working for you for. that pickup head down right away ok we're coming. to. pick up can you see us we can see you very well. but. a. couple of the.

nile loses three or four kilograms of weight in a week of intense retrievals the crew puts the billing together and takes it apart several times the envelope weighs one hundred twenty to one hundred fifty kilograms . i think about what we entrust our very lives to this envelope for them which we make sure that no stones get in the way back up which might damage it but if the authorities doing. each gas tank weighs fifty kilograms if you add that to the burner in the basket the retrieval people will be hard put to collect it all. pylon. pylon. refusing to.

hand them now we're all. on face value ballooning is a simple affair behind the scenes it is a vigorous combination of efforts by a crew an escort truck and those who help build the balloon these people define rain snow bitter cold and scorching heat truly they're afraid of only one thing missing the ability to take to the skies. the sky does not misunderstand the sky does not judge the sky very simply is.

russia insists that an end to the bloodshed in syria will only be found if both government and opposition forces lay down their arms and that's while western countries keep up their regime change rhetoric and recall their ambassadors from damascus also. because. it's worked for many many years for the seats where the mother paula votes why do we need. to tell us what we can and cannot do fury in the u.k. as a notorious terrorist suspect dubbed al qaida spiritual leader in europe. and allowed to go back to the streets of london after the european court of high human rights

forbids his deportation legal questions over legality of u.s. drone attacks on pakistani soil with a fresh strike just days after a reporter field evidence that dozens of civilians were killed by america's undermanned bankrupt. and a growing tensions between egypt and the us triggered by cairo's crackdown on western n.g.o.s lead to an egyptian military delegation cutting short his visit to washington. a very warm welcome to you from all of us here at r.t. more scar i'm rule research on the syrian opposition says that the city of homs has come under the heaviest attack in days of fighting between armed groups and

government forces activists say hundreds of people have been killed while shelling the government denies the assault on its own people while local journalist diana nema says reports coming from homes are difficult at this point to verify it. it seems like the situation hamas has been asked to wait here for the last five days with fear fierce fighting between now what they call themselves the free syrian army and the military forces by the syrian government the syrian government has cording to its official sources has reported many casualties on the ground that have fallen in the last few days almost it's really hard to determine what's really going on on the ground there because of safety issues to reach the place and confirm the. definite numbers. according to that's what according to activists say that the syrian military has

basically. some parts of the city government house completely refuted any type of involvement that they have actually. shelled on its own people in the city of almost blame it on the terrorist groups that have been taking active role in the city they are spread all over the place there and causing many casualties the government also has issued a statement today that the security forces were able to kill tens of terrorists that belong to these terrorist groups that they also believe that are being backed by for and for an influence on the ground well powell should use the clout to put pressure on both the syrian government and the opposition to lay down their gauge and talks rushers foreign minister says such as if it's a needed to help solve the country's crisis so he left off was commenting on his

recent trip to damascus and are going to go. right on the heels of the recent visit of the russians allegation to syria president bashar last that has said that he is willing to go to great plains 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 in fact both sides in the syrian conflict both the government and the opposition are saying that russia must perform

a mediating duty in order to resolve this conflict all russia has stressed the importance of putting pressure not just on the current on the current government in syria but on the opposition as well russia's foreign minister has expressed that thought in damascus and he has reiterated that third earlier today that it was really if 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 confirm they are ready to begin negotiations without putting forward any conditions . but instead of putting pressure on the opposition most of the world community seems to be pulling out its envoys from syria grounds italy and spain are among the latest countries to have recalled their ambassadors to syria they're also the gulf nations which have not just recalled their own voice to the country but have sent

out syrian ambassadors from their respective countries thereby effectively. and in diplomatic relations with damascus and of course there is the. bending rhetoric from the from washington the white house seems determined that the separatist are lost the days are numbered there is staying there they're not they cannot imagine they cannot imagine any negotiations with the current syrian government and the message that particularly the western countries seem to be sending to the armed rebels in the country is the green light for them to intensify the fighting is a ridiculous reporting there and in light of the recent security council fall out of the moscow and beijing blocked a draft resolution on syria we spoke to russia's envoy to the u.n. for tony can explain that one of the main reasons for not letting the text pass through was that it put pressure only on the syrian government while russia

believes the rebels must also be held accountable for the escalation of violence. 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 not trying to justify anybody but simply trying to be analytical is that as the monitoring mission of that i believe was there and 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 city is what would also would also require the opposition forces to show restraint and not to exercise their military coup out

that was in fact the key issue over which our efforts to have a consensus that is illusion of the security council failed. let's get more details on this now ahmed joined live by adult aleutian professor at university in jordan thank you for coming on r.t. today the u.s. is looking for ways to help the syrian people but barack obama said america is not going to arm the opposition do you think a helping hand offering weapons could be extended by other countries the gulf states for example. well i think that is pretty clear that the rebels have been receiving arms from abroad and syrian television has been showing almost daily shipments of arms being smuggled into syria via lebanon turkey and other border crossings so where is all of these weapons coming from

these weapons are coming from all over the place and since the rebels are being supported by the g.c.c. and by nato it is safe to assume that they are getting their financing and their weaponry from the same sources that are offering them political cover and financial backing so as you're saying if weapons really are indeed coming in across the border from lead but on and turkey then those barhai in these weapons shipments what are their motives here are they striving for the assad regime to be toppled if so how can they benefit. well i think after so many months of military operations by the rebels in syria at this pretty clear that what we are dealing with here is definitely not a peaceful protest but an armed rebellion supported from abroad by the same

powers that invade iraq and libya as so basically what we are dealing with here is an armed rebellion that does not express the will of the syrian people we are dealing with western military political and security. and to syria and what what what was mentioned a little while ago from new york it is exactly the case when there is a syrian army withdrew from any town or city it was taken over by armed rebels we did not see a mouse of demonstrations and the neighborhoods or towns that the syrian army pulled out of on the contrary what we saw was an armed and full question why armed gangs that terrorized the people and wreak hey book on the area so

of course what they want to do is stop all the syrian regime and why do they want to topple the syrian regime do they stand for freedom or democracy as they claim on the contrary what they want is to have a puppet regime and the moscow that would obey the dictates of washington and the nato let me just add very quickly that the syrian opposition so far has been refusing vehemently to speak to the syrian government so it is not the syrian government that has been refusing to speak to the opposition on the contrary the syrian government has been calling for dialogue over and over again for the last few months. but we have seen that kinds of opposition in the media from i mean i do apologize for interrupting you here but if you as you say the opposition has been reluctant if not defined in joining us with the sort of the opposition not coming to the negotiating table with the government moscow has been trying to bring both

sides to the negotiating table in the theory both sides said well hypothetically that might work do you think is it possible that both sides could come together and talk to resolve this bloody crisis. i think that both russia and china have created the butler conditions for the opposition to accept dialogue with the government the veto is helping peace more than anything because it is sterling the forum by the opposition that cannot count on the foreign intervention as happened in libya and iraq to topple of the regime and there are four and five the veto is creating better conditions for the opposition to come to the negotiating table and in that sense the vehicle is fostering peace and helping put an end to the bloodshed in syria so i agree completely with the solution as dialogue and

at the same time it was very important to focus the light on the armed operations of the syrian opposition and here let me remind you that even the so-called peaceful opposition that is located within syria and i'm not talking about the syrian national council here even those of listen to some of those spokespersons agree and support and that the operations of the rebels so what we have here is there is a full scale insurgency but it has a military as well as political scales and we have to pay attention to both scales not just one of them so i think you know if you want to as you say to i'm sorry to interrupt you again but as you say we have a basically a rebel insurgency here many are calling it civil war also many say that it's not just a domestic issue but there are massive regional implications with external players

to anybody my lucia wish we had more time for this a professor at university in jordan thank you for joining us on r.t. today thank you thank you very much. well we also have an entire section dedicated to syria on our website c dot com also online we're asking for your thoughts about the outcome of russia's efforts to unravel the complex situation there let's bring up the numbers from our web site see how you're voting out this hour more than half of you believe the west will find a way to remove assad regardless of peace talks while a fifth think that even if an agreement is reached the opposition will not honor it now the rest of you split it almost evenly between where the talks between us and the opposition will fail although both parties will reach a much needed compromise of this hour do cause your vote we're standing by it odd dot com. now a quarter past the hour here in the russian capital as outrage sweeps britain after the european court of human rights blocked the deportation of qatada dubbed osama

bin laden's right hand man in europe it's the latest in a string of questionable judgments that have a over ruled domestic decisions. laura smith explains now patience with the e.u. continues to run things. a silver in land with its queen its own currency and its own parliament was made by someone else this building houses what we in the u.k. call the supremes 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 at home 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 de railed and it was never never anticipated of the second world war after the holocaust off the terrors 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 stroudsburg there's a backlog of up to eight years and when cases are decided judgments are written bizarre in two thousand and ten the court decided to give prisoners the rights to vote 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 of 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 ated 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 laden's right hand man in europe can't be deported back to jordan where he's now g. to be released on to the streets of britain this is somebody who stands up and publicly. hatred about everything that our democracy is and stands for and yet we can't get rid of him because of the european convention on human rights sitting in strasburg of forty seven judges one from each signatory country so far so for.