larry from the western bank of the volga are not great in number there are only fifty or sixty thousand of us in the world these days that is why we seek to stick together in order to safeguard our language culture and of course the land where we live in the same is to be mutinous but when. the burial site is the only one of its kind in the region cattle breeders of and in the rainy and tribe were buried here in the second millennium b.c. the time when the egyptian pyramids were built when excavation work was over scientists restored the burial place to its original appearance. this is a hearing in the water with twenty eight men between the ages of eighteen and twenty five are buried here there was also a woman and a man who was forty five to fifty years old when he was buried we think he was a blacksmith those men had died in battle arrowheads have been found and some of

the skeletons the skulls of other men were fractured with an axe in. the romas convoy suddenly stops at the edge of a swamp it's too dangerous to drive any further the traveler spend a good deal of time walking around the frozen silt when they manage to measure the swamps depth everybody realizes that attempting to cross the swamp is out of the question. we can't go any further here we'll have to look for another routes the ice of a year off to thin and there is one and a half meters of water underneath it. however another road makes up for their misfortune it leads to what for centuries has been known locally as the fortress mountains. the maori people who lived here a long time ago used it as

a hideout against intruders legend has it that the maori people were terrified of being caught by the of new forest creatures covered with hair who had chosen to settle in the mountains caves. were black haired women with enormous breasts. if they felt their breaths were a hinderance when they were on the move they slung them over their shoulders. like you were they had little contact with people. everybody was afraid of them. these happened and long time ago. there were lunch forests with tall trees.

legends about to go in a muddy screeching that been handed down over the centuries by one mouth to mouth of a trophy knows a great many ancient stories relating to the maori people. one of them tells a story of an old oak tree several generations of mari people of post and it changed for the rest. of the good it will go with the local people regard this tree as sacred it is around one thousand years old while the old healers living in this village say the oak tree used to help make women fertile and restore the mill of beat oh well. there's giant of a tree is seven meters thick and more than thirty meters tall some scientists believe the mari el oak is russia's oldest. and medieval

mary city is found several kilometers away from the ancient oak in the middle ages the maori sought protection from invaders by building their settlements in and out of the way places one of them is high on the bank of a river in the garden district. natural obstacles provided protection for the inhabitants of these fortifications. in eight hundred thirteen maori people came to this grove from all over the region to pray for a russian victory over napoleon people in the surrounding villages still tell the story of the maori who sacrificed twenty six horses to the gods. but. now it's time for you of guinea and vera to join other worshipers at the all maria prayer in appealing to the gods they do so to the singing of an exodus touched sacrificial animals. this is followed with

a meal shared by all those taking part in the ritual giving out food from enormous pots to bring the merry people together according to their beliefs all these people get closer to the gods by eating in this way. mari people from all over have come here even those living in moscow and st petersburg. everywhere in russia try to be here for these press service. before nightfall the romans finally find what they set out for at the start of the expedition the depression. seeing and norma's pit in the very center of a field they hold their vehicles at a safe distance from it is the people living in this village used to plough these fields and grow crops on it. but. there were awakened by loud

noises. when they came here they were surprised to see a large crater in the middle of a field in water at the bottom. scientists have found a subterranean stream beneath the depression when it erodes the top layer of the soil the ground sinks. this slope is very slippery and very steep i get scared at times i might be buried by sliding rocks a prospect i don't particularly relish ok i'm almost there now which there is no water here local people prefer not to descend into the depression because this kind of cataclysm might happen at any time. some good at that there is much to be learned from such expeditions people think that such things are only found in faraway lands but they are much closer to home.

thank. you have gainey come in she coughed was pleasantly surprised just as he and his wife vera were about to head home off to the service. you get a good to come here for a moment. the priests white cap was ceremonially placed upon his head as a token of great respect. for. those that know i'm not able to keep a low profile far more stand on the sidelines i will have to be directly involved in the prayers of just ordinary people cherish hope that they will look to me with hope and in my words as i express their sentiments in front of the sacred tree of ovation for i wish you good sales and happiness. the committee called couple

has taken a plunge into the ancient faith of the people. by coming here they have truly experienced the joy of communion. they hope it will stay with them for the whole. until the next president that will once again bring the maori people together.

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syria brushes off fresh arabic initiatives targeting the assad regime while washington and stuart to be limbering up for military action. athens approves draconian new austerity measures as the city exploded rage of what protest to say is a sellout of national sovereignty to foreign interests. taking stock of the basics health care education housing around of that putin scrutiny as he outlines plans for social reform his latest election article. untainted by association the ethics of london's twenty twelve olympic games are undermined by

controversial sponsorship deal with a chemical giant in the infamous bhopal disaster which claimed tens of thousands of lives in india. you're watching r t a very warm welcome to our top story now the mask has swiftly rejected a brand new arab league package of initiatives on syria the proposal backs the opposition and calls for a joint arab un peacekeeping force in the country with more on this let's cross live to artie's arena who is in cairo where he was meeting i mean it looks as though the arab league is determined to tighten the screws on assad regime. absolutely tightening the of. the. brady and place pulling out the observers mission and of course calling for the un peacekeeping

force these are the main three points of agreement which the arab league has come up with during their meeting in cairo on this sunday no of course the syrian situation is going to be discussed further during the u.n. nationalist embley in the u.n. general assembly pardon me in new york i which is to happen later monday while all of this is going on the violence in syria continues of course it's really hard to confirm exactly the reports of the people who have been killed or wounded most of the recovery from unconfirmed sources there is a media blackout in the countries that it's really hard to say whether or not really hundreds of people are being driven out on the weekly basis as the activists who are affiliated with the opposition have a tendency to claim however at the moment we do know that. the syrian opposition fighters have received really strong support not just from the arab league members but also from some of the more and expected sources for example

from al qaida and now it's important to mention that syrian officials did say it did. press the point that a lot of those armed rebels were supported by those statements were rebuked but now some intelligence from iraqi officials suggest that in fact al-qaeda militants are fighting alongside armed rebels in syria of course you have to remember also the increasing pressure from washington d.c. just recently the u.s. state department has published photographs claiming that those photographs show the artillery tanks are situated in the syria what exactly those photos were supposed to prove is not quite clear as most people by now have seen actual pictures and images after. sandor tillery on the ground in syria. so as the international community come up with a new alternative ideas to tackle the crisis. there's not really look like you have

of course we have to think back to these so-called friends of syria which isn't quite completely formed coalition but it's sort of in the lives of several countries including the arab league states and being strongly supported by the united states and. u.k. who are going to be meeting in tunisia. later this month in order to discuss what is being once. the further actions that they should be taking in regards to assuming of course moscow stands on the matter continues to be. leaving it up to the syrian people to decide what they want to do with their own country. that all sides involved in a conflict should lay down their arms and resolve this issue of violence peacefully . ok r.t. correspondent in the sky thank you for that. well author and journalist in return see things the u.s. and al qaida could end up fighting side by side in syria to safeguard common

interests we know the united states and the european union. all but military intervention. could happen should happen some sources even saying british sure special forces already in the ground maybe there is already foreign intervention we know there is some going to foreign intervention we have good about it is. in syria now once again the united states and european union states as usual supporting al qaeda. in afghanistan prior to nine eleven will they never learn it is shocking to hear american statesman like john. presumably u.s. troops and al qaeda are side by side fighting against president assad of syria this really shows up what exactly americans are doing are not protecting the interests of u.s. citizens and lawyer opinion leaders our very statement to back any armed attacks we

saw with lethal consequence in aleppo twenty eight dead in december forty four dead in damascus this is this is getting out of hand this is getting dangerous but the u.s. has continued its calls for regime change saying it's only a matter of time before the assad government collapses and as history shows washington may find a way around the barriers including the u.n. if it decides to push through its agenda on syria. what's in that mandate having failed to reach international consensus on syria it's been a complete waste of time washington prepares to act around the un for the time being the administration firmly rules out any form of u.s. military intervention in syria but the pentagon is busy laying out an attack strategy on syria just in case should the president call for action experts say history shows the absence of international consensus would not be an obstacle to

washington if it decides to go ahead with intervention the united states sees the u.n. as a tool of convenience if the u.n. is supple and going along with the united states then the united states is fine to have a u.n. sanction for its actions but when the u.n. and the people of the world or the countries of the world resist then the united states says the u.n. is unwilling to do its job and then uses other instruments like nato or other military arrangements they did that in the case of yugoslavia they did that in the case of the iraq war whenever the u.n. doesn't go along the u.s. then says well to heck with you one will use some other instrument for the exercise of american power last year the u.n. security council authorizes nato to protect civilians in libya but the mission resulted in regime change the libyan authorization of force was very specific and it didn't authorize regime change in the countries that partook in their operation clearly you know actually it's for exceeded the u.n. mandate and that operation i think that's symbolic of the fact that these libya

that these u.n. mandates really are meaningful in terms of international law and it's just the reality of it nato countries have flooded libyan rebels with weapons despite a u.n. arms embargo u.s. government wants the u.n. but they want the u.n. to do the u.s. bidding way the united states uses the united nations in regard to the israeli palestinian question is very emblematic when the united nations passed resolutions which it has done repeatedly demanding that the israelis get out of the west bank and earlier gaza and earlier this summer. the united states didn't enforce those resolutions they didn't demand that they be enforced when it came to the united nations saying the palestinians have a right to be a recognized state the united states acted as if there was a crime against humanity that the united nations there take up the issue of palestinian rights we can see here a manipulation of the united nations when it does what the united states wants fine but when it stands with the palestinian people which it has repeatedly over and

over again then the united states government republican or democrat from a way to condemn the united nations. the u.s. also did not support the resolution on syria put forward by russia which would call for all sides in the conflict to stop the violence and to start a dialogue instead he chose to take sides in a civil war. right now one might describe the u.s. that you do towards the u.n. as use it if needed go around it if you don't like it but while an approach to the world body might suit washington it makes for a bad recipe for the ability i'm going to check on reporting from washington r.t. . or more in-depth discussion on the standoff in syria coming up in twenty minutes time becka to this day so when stanley says there's no unity and opposition and that's a calls for military intervention unsupported by solid facts with a taste of the interview. although both sides deny differences in in military

intervention essentially in political differences there is different trends in the syrian opposition mainly between people who support outside intervention and protest. so you've got groups like the syrian national council which are now openly in favor of a no fly zone which to me seems ridiculous because there isn't any even right now the syrian regime for all its many crimes there's no crimes that is people so no fly zone just seems a political pretext very. unprecedented humiliating solo of greece's sovereignty and future just if you have greek protesters to be approval of a massive new austerity package where the bill was passed as running battles tore through the capital with buildings looted or set ablaze by raised more out of three hundred m.p.'s one hundred ninety nine votes in favor many of those who were thrown out of their parties those thirty measures were demanded by greece's international

creditors turn for a second one thirty billion euro bailout athens needs the cash to pay off interest on its massive debts to keep its rapidly shrinking economy from defaulting greek journalist. explains more from the capital. with the greek hello make yours have finally passed this austerity package it was a crucial vote always have seen violence hard violence in the streets of afghans it was the worst day since the violence we hardly in two thousand and eight we have seen i guess young people. who did the youth breaking marbles throwing molotov cocktails and then their policemen answering throwing tear gas is we have seen fires all in the streets are around the scene that must wear on greek parliament they. also looted many many stores around around the streets

and these. include even lowering the minimum wage by twenty percent this is very hard because the net wages. that somebody will receive its four hundred thousand euros and with unemployment. being much higher than twenty percent so people say that they will not stay at home they will continue to riyadh and we will continue to demonstrate on the other hand people are really angry and we expect more violence. more germany's finance minister wolfgang schauble it has declared that promises aren't enough anymore saying that greece will have to implement reforms to prove it's not a bottomless pit but investment advisor young says whatever happens in greece there's no saving it from a collapse that will be felt across europe. in every possible respect greek greece

is not a tragedy and it is due and the reason for that is simply because the reason no way that they are going to be able to implement whatever austerity they're talking about against such a backlash of public opinion whatever happens there the problem for the rest of the euro zone is that not only we have to basically be prepared to defend the whole integrity of the euro and actually if you read what's been said behind the behind closed doors you can see there's a spirit that you know what we may have to do three so we may even have to end up ditching portugal from the euro zone but we're we have to defend is italy and that's really going to fall on the shoulders of the technocrat mario monti government and this is going to be our how to close make a bent during the course of at the latest april does the euro survive at the moment i think probably a shrunken euro it sixty forty it can do but ultimately we're going to see swinge in recession even worse of the recession read out of we've already been receiving

through why do european union and that's bad for everybody in the world ultimately within the next maybe it weeks greece is going to be forced to default and that's going to be quite cataclysmic but artie's cross-talk program also focuses on greece's financial predicament coming your way next hour hidden costs of the bailout rescue. the exchange is clear in germany you give me the cash to survive given my debt problem i'll give you my sovereignty but will the public actually comply will they agree to accept the pain of this austerity and will they agree it is to men the most important sovereign aspect which is your first school your budget to technocrats in brussels that are not answerable to your population through. they're not managing the greek economy there's nothing and that's. might be provocative here but that's all it is the. monetary fund.

plays assess the country's education system examined its health care and they the foundations for new housing policies and now in his latest prediction that a festival in the putin lays out his plans for social reform in russia party's peeta over some of the details of his proposed changes. let me if it was outlining his plan for social change in russia should he be elected president in march now the main areas he's been looking at the education system in the country saying that everybody should have the ability to be able to to raise their social standing to education to work also paying those who educate you know teachers and doctors with long being among the groups in russia that don't really get the the levels of pay we see in other countries as a something a lot of it wants to put right he outlined

a plan that could see them receive it receive a two hundred percent pay increase by twenty eight teen pensions also an issue that vladimir putin was addressing he praised the fact that russia had to raise the age at which a person can receive their state pension like many countries around europe to do however he does acknowledge the fact that the state pension in russia isn't enough in fact he does acknowledge that one in every eight russians lives below the poverty level and in many of those are of pension age now we also heard him discuss birth rates want to see an increase in the birth rate in russia and give to give more money to families to encourage them to have a second child and in some regions that have seriously low birth rates and more even more money to encourage them to have safe third or fourth child now all those extra children are going to mean that are going to be more houses and housing was another issue that the prime minister was addressing he wanted to see an increase in a number of homeowners number of people getting on the property ladder and in order

to do this one of the key issues that have to be tackled was corruption in the construction industry is the prime minister saying that around two thirds of the cost of buying a house in russia at the moment could actually go towards the shady end of the construction industry something which he wanted this he stomped out in order to allow more people to buy their own homes. all of the reporting there were you can find more analysis of putin's published election articles on our website r.t. dot com here's a taste of what else is lined up feeling like today spectacular photos from japan rising to its feet once again eleven months after a devastating blow about the animals spot this instruction was beyond repair. and sky high ambition for russians would be a.b.h. in capital as a city that built one of the world's largest planes down the gauntlet to its competitors.