the fate of a foreign journalist kidnapped by syrian rebels remains unknown after a ransom deadline passes for her execution. seismic decision britain lives a suspension on controversial fracking for gas extraction despite the practice being blamed for causing earthquakes. and the response to america's magnitsky act which targets russian officials passes its first reading here in moscow. online on screen international news and comment live from moscow there's been no word about the fate of ukrainian journalists being held hostage in syria after

a deadline for execution set by rebels passed on thursday on her kitchen overhears assisted r.t. along with other media outlets during the syrian conflict was abducted by insurgents two months ago they threatened to kill her if the fifty million dollars ransom wasn't paid or to take up the story. while the deadline has passed with no word as to whether or not she is dead or alive she was reportedly kidnapped by the free syrian army and held for ransom of fifty million u.s. dollars she was taken hostage nearly two months ago and since then has appeared in two separate videos in the first she appeals to the ukrainian government to pay the ransom money and set her free in a second which many believe was made under way as she admits to being a spy but the point needs to be made that just about everyone believes the that this video was made under extreme pressure and doubts the object of mists of what she was saying now reporters without borders amnesty international and a number of other governor. organizations have called on the free syrian army as

well as the syrian national coalition if the laundered that they needed to secure the release saying that this is the first taste of the new nie the widely recognized government at the same time the same rebels in mosul wouldn't have posted a video in which they have said that no russian no ukrainian and no rain in who will leave syria alive so there is deep concern as to her fate. russia says the recent official recognition of syrian rebels by the u.s. and its allies is only fueling the armed conflict in syria moscow also reiterated his position that political dialogue is the only solution to the conflict is all to easy going to spin off report to the past twenty four hours international media has been buzzing with speculation that russia changed its position on the coffin cereal now all the speculation in the media began after on thursday one of the foreign ministry senior officials was misinterpreted when he quoted the syrian syrian

opposition which said that president assad was losing control over the country now there's been an official announcement from the foreign ministry which basically says russia's stance on the issue is still the same and still does not support any side of the conflict it does not plan to shelter president assad although the situation in syria is deteriorating and russia is looking at the possibility of evacuating russian citizens out of there the foreign ministry has stressed once again that there could be only one solution to the conflict which is a diplomatic one without any foreign military intervention it should be based on the principles that we should in geneva which basically call on both sides to immediately and simultaneously put their weapons down start up a little process and for the international community to apply equal pressure on them to do so. the german parliament has approved the deployment of patriot missiles to turkey is now also ready to send up to four hundred soldiers to operate

the batteries following similar decisions by the u.s. and the netherlands all this aim to protect our own crew from potential syrian attacks but historian jeremy salt says there are other reasons for this buildup. the reason for staging the missiles on syria's border is not because of an attack by syria because there's actually no likelihood that syria is going to attack turkey in any case those missiles are to be directed against planes or ballistic missiles not against the artillery shells or mortars that. the the turkish border accidentally so the obvious question is why those patriots there speculation is based on the fact that perhaps they're there as the first step which is clearing and fly zone and direct measurement intervention sometime next year and one has to ask the question who the germans to the british to the americans who don't think it's a point in syria they're not supporting groups that are committed to democracy they're

not supporting groups that committed to a political transition they're not curse supporting groups that are committed to in any way the formation of an open transparent state. where we've got further insight into the various opposition groups in syria as well as how the deployment of nato weapons in turkey may change the balance of power in the region. on our website none of them has managed to keep economic decision making power in the e.u. after the blocks leaders agreed the european central bank should become the main supervisor for banks in the euro zone britain which sticks to its own currency has fared moving to a banking union could make it financially powerless steven wall from the u.k. independence party says the deal won't bring any benefits to his country. but there is a certain code of politicians and advisors in this country who are petrified that they're no longer going to be at the central table of europe enjoying the late night events in the flash cars and hotels that they get the decision making the real buzz of

being there but there are those like me that actually part of that believe that being outside of of this particular cuba would actually influence great great britain's influence would actually rise and we'd be able to trade more easily with the rest of the world because we're freed of these regulations but at the moment you can see that even from the government's own statistics they show that recently trade with the rest of the world has risen dramatically whilst our trade with europe has actually fallen and that's not surprising to ourselves because we see that the rest of the world will resent the east in asia or looking at south america or indeed the middle east and then there's going to be a great push in africa there are countries with rising populations and rising middle class that demand products and we have expertise that could and should be used trading with their. u.k. government has given the green light to the resumption of the controversial gas drilling technique known as fracking but the methods heavily criticised for its

destructive environmental impact including causing massive water pollution and even earthquake earthquakes has more. driller is the only company with a license to conduct fracking in the u.k. but that's all set to change now that the government has given its blessing for the controversial method of extracting shale gas from underground already operates several wells here in lancashire but the device of technology was temporarily banned last year and with good reason to the fracking taking place here. minor earthquake says. it was terrifying. a local and he's doing very little he said i don't know a lot about it well he should know a lot about it you're going. to lie shareholders pockets this is not going to benefit and should be a legacy of toxic legacy for our children hundreds of miles away in london the capital's outspoken mayor cool shell gas all six of the nation's prayers and the

reserves in the bank of america but for residents here in this trying call corner of england it's a blight on their otherwise peaceful community and the prospect of more fracking sweeping the countryside is frightening and they keep talking about it being in people and where those reserves are all the way down i think at the moment about. how much better off will be but. the technology may raise fares but the promise of riches from the rush for shale gas has set politicians pulses racing despite mounting opposition which has spread beyond lancashire shale gas extraction using hydraulic fracturing techniques is a high risk activity which has many benefits for foreign investors or very little for the people of britain. is a dirty energy. it

is a short and not very intelligent solution to production energy. they're going to get money out of the drug program to. bring in corrupt governments were doing anything for money i think it's just sort of resource. so this is not really for the country's best interest to do that way brussels isn't convinced either the european parliament is reportedly considering regulating the putting shale gas industry concerned that britain doesn't know what it's doing by throwing itself wholeheartedly into the controversial practice at the minute we are not self-sufficient and gas and haven't been for a very long time we were but in actual fact we import about half of gas now we see that in the u.s. gas prices are a quarter of what they were i want your truck there sued to output this suit print is much less so there are many reasons why she'll gas if it. would be attractive in

terms of curators and also probably in terms of price stability and that's what's drowning out the warnings bringing down people's energy bills means politicians and big business can press ahead even though those living in the shadow of fracking facilities know that the government is playing with fire. see. more stories to catch up with online including the european court of human rights rules for the first time that a has used torture that's often members of the u.s. intelligence agencies beat a german citizen who was wrongly detained on suspicion of terrorism and got a full report for you to call. just leave like a millionaire the former c.e.o. of the world's largest nickel producer breaks all records in russia with an unprecedented.

a russian build targeting americans accused of violating russians rights is past its first reading it's a response to sanctions on russian officials being put in place by the u.s. well it's going to details. in some from moscow tom who are the americans that the russians want to punish. russia has long said that it would retaliate if this surrogate magnitsky bill was passed by u.s. lawmakers and now it seems that such a retaliate soon is now taking shape the bill proposed and gone has gone through the first reading in the duma targets those that those american

citizens who are accused by russia of abusing the human rights of russians some possible examples of that there have been a number of very emotive and controversial cases in the past few years of russian children adopted by u.s. citizens and in some cases those adoptions have resulted in the deaths or mistreatment of those russian children or in one case one boy was flown home to russia on a flight completely on the companies in another that's of dimitri yakovlev a young boy he was left inside a car and died in extreme heat some russian lawmakers have considered a touching his name to the bill also may may consider cases where u.s. citizens are accused of kidnapping or severely mistreating russian citizens

russia has for a long time so that is opposed to the twenty five year prison sentence given. victor boot he is considered by u.s. prosecutors to be a dangerous arms dealer dubbed the merchant of death but by russia is considered to be a legitimate business man who was kidnapped by the u.s. and russian officials say he is wrongfully imprisoned you say this is retaliation what exactly sparked this response from the kremlin. well the surrogate magnitsky bill was passed by u.s. lawmakers and does roughly the same as this russian bill it targets russians who are accused by the u.s. of of human rights abuses it gets its name from game magnitsky a russian lawyer who allegedly uncovered a vast corruption network involving russian officials he was then

imprisoned himself it was alleged by those he had accused and later died in prison some suspect having been denied medical treatment and possibly having been beaten to death tom thanks very much indeed for that reporting live there from central moscow. well just ahead for you this hour more revelations surface in a case which has been poisoned the ties between russia and the u.k. evidence emerges the former russian intelligence officer alexander litvinenko was in the pay of the british and spanish secret services before his murder six years ago. plus the border stag officially limits the level of law you can show your pet the venue and the legislation upsets the country's one hundred thousand open zoo files and another story after the short break.

the san bernardino california police force was to shrink by eighty officers this year to cover their budget deficit during a local meeting the chief of police laid out the city's problems the sea is facing waves of gang violence theft and drug trafficking but with all the prisons completely overcrowded many of these criminals go right back on to the street and there's just nobody to put more police out there to fight them the police chief really only had one solution offer a given situation go home lock your doors and load your gun and you know what actually that's not that bad of a proposition america's always been a country where people been expected to look out for themselves and i appreciate the police chief's honesty but i know the world we live in and i have a feeling that the second some homeowner shoots a guy who jumps over his fence at night that homeowners are going to go to jail for life you can't expect that a nineteenth century attitude towards crime will be able to work in

a twenty first century world where rapists can sue you because they slipped on your slippery kitchen floor if you want people to be able to defend themselves that's great but you have to allow them the legal liberty to do so or else the criminals will just take over but that's just my opinion. it's technology innovation all the developments around russia we've got the future covered.

r.t. live here in moscow a british inquest review looking at the death of former russian intelligence officer alexander litvinenko is uncovering new details the hearing revealed that was on the payroll of both the u.k. and spanish secret services well though the russian state remains the main target of suspicion was discussed the latest on the case with william duncan he is a media analyst and author of the book the phony litvinenko murder and he joins me live now from the u.s. where you started the case extensively what do you make of these recent revelations that litvinenko was involved not only with the british but also with the spanish intelligence services. well actually they're not new revelations there was talk

about it at the last pre inquest hearing that was held in november and this is looking into had talked about her husband having been involved with british intelligence for some time early in the case she denied absolutely that he had been involved with british intelligence but later changed her story well at a preliminary hearing in london the court was told there's enough evidence to implicate the russian state have you seen anything to confirm that. well that's certainly been the focus of a lot of the news coverage the past twenty four hours but as i read the transcript of what happened in the case and the report of the the attorney for the coroner i saw some things slightly different what they said was that they reviewed the information that had been assembled by the british government by the prosecutor and then by the police and based on that there was at first glance

a. case to implicate the russian state. but the attorney for the coroner took good more extensive look at the evidence of but that his his report on that was redacted from the read from the proceedings why would the crimean want to kill him. i have no idea i don't know whether the kremlin was involved or if it was why it might have been who would have benefited then from his money do you think. that awfully hard to say it's difficult for me to understand why the russian state would be so concerned about a relatively insignificant character like. the crimean has offered to cooperate in the inquest to send them to. well their requests came in sort of at the

last minute before the hearing and i guess there hasn't been a decision yet on whether they will be named as an interested party you've written a book the phony comodo why phony. because there hasn't been any real basis in fact for much of the news reports that it appeared about the litvinenko story for instance he's been called a former spy but there's no evidence that he ever was a spy and in fact his wife denies that he ever had been a spy. what about the way the media covering all of this they love a spy story and i know that you've been looking at the way the media has reacted to this story what do you make of it over the past year well a lot of the media coverage right from the start let's in case it was a matter of i think media manipulation where press releases and photos were handed out by people who had an axe to grind in this case and the news media pretty much

picked up on that and ran with it but you were saying earlier that there was a question of the fact that he was responding on it it seems pretty clear doesn't that he did actually with the k.g.b. at one stage and now we're seeing the official evidence that he was also spanish intelligence services or if it wasn't a spy what was he doing. well his wife said that he gave it but. that's not exactly the role of the spa. and what about generally though now we're seeing of course when this broke out this really did create a major stumbling block between russian and british relations do you see them eventually improving or actually getting worse as the actual inquiry approaches which is beginning next year it really depends on how each side britain the russian federation how they handle it i don't know whether this inquiry is going to produce honest results in some ways that appears. on the other hand the

russian response has not been very effective. in fact that for the most part there's really been no response to a lot of the false information that's been put out until it's been yankee case. thank you very much indeed we'll leave it there william dunkley media analyst and author of the book the phony living and come out alive from the u.s. we appreciate i think you want to some other international news now for you here on up to thirteen people have reportedly been injured today in violence in egypt city of alexandria head of the constitutional referendum due to be held supporters of the president have gathered for major rallies in the capital no position meanwhile his campaign for another. is a risk group backing the president referendum follows two weeks of demonstrations by protesters and loyalists which led to clashes in the capital. israel's foreign minister has resigned following accusations of money laundering

and breach of trust and we do lieberman was chants on thursday but denied committing any crime the move comes ahead of israel's upcoming parliamentary elections where the right wing party of lieberman in the prime minister netanyahu was predicted to win a majority. the shooting has been reported in an elementary school in the u.s. state of connecticut a government has been killed and at least one other person. according to local authorities police forces have been sent to the site in newtown while officials have put all local schools into lockdown. germany's getting tough on heavy petting parliament passed a new best unity law banning interspecies relationships that's upset thousands of germans who files who say the loves of their lives will be taken away hotties peter all of that has more in a beastly story. mom's best friend and sometimes more but. i

need an animal to be happy life i did not have it there would be something missing . levels. but i can fall in love with your animal and the sexual relationship is not out of the question. these people make up some of the estimated one hundred thousand zero files in germany and. it started slowly and more like child's play some kids playing doctor with each other and it's not necessarily sexual but somewhat small experimentation that leads you further down that path. technically it has been illegal since the killer trees animal welfare laws were relaxed in one nine hundred sixty nine that sex with animals was dropped from the start books. it is led to a boom in the practice and the proliferation of websites and even brothels devoted to it after new laws approved this week come into force the practice will again be considered illegal this group claim there will be

a witch hunt when it comes into force. the way this law is written means that all you need is a rumor or accusation for the agency to get involved in take your pet away it also affects not just those who practice best theory where for example anymore has certain issues and all you need is a suggestion that this could have happened for sex and you got into an accusation spiral that reminds you of very dark times in german history. these you affiliate campaigners say that here in the german parliament there legislating against morality however the law makers themselves say that it's only the welfare of the animals that they care about. we are not policy and morality but we are improving animal protection law we would like to specify that it is forbidden to call some lives were sexual relationship with the line is when you cause suffering to an animal for your personal sexual gratification. denmark sweden and belgium

currently the only e.u. states with philly a law that leaves the prospect that these countries could become a destination for a zoo a fellow tourism german animal rights activists hope the move by the bomb the star will become a europe wide band yes yes we would support a european wide band and be fairly t. where stand behind other nations and we need to catch up. just outside of berlin as one of the largest animal shelters in europe consent is a major issue while those involved an animal welfare say must be addressed as dogs are loyal even when they're abused they're still going to look as if they're. hed be especially when it gets enough to eat ducks will be happy whatever you dictate but that is not a sign that the dog is enjoying it and those in relationships with our littles though confident that their love is legitimate in the face of the future.

they fantasize about castrating we are taking my animals away for our friend has found a razor blade in this post with a note do it yourself so we don't have to letters don't arrive too often but they arrive every now and then in the subway someone was yelling at me calling me names i'm concerned that attacks could become physical without an office. these are all over our t.v. jeremy. will be back with more news for in about thirteen minutes from now in the meantime we've got you want to trip to discover russia's northern port city of moore and that's. his day starts at five am even earlier in the winter tending to his flock of three hundred sheep in the mountains in pain. thirty five years old it wasn't the life he jumped out of having studied accounting but he dition and familial duty dictated

that he would take on the care of these animals after his father. he's just made camp at their winter farm stage setting up his ute the traditional two fenian round tent made of diskin. his beauty back amongst his family as his job is a lonely one and tough going out in all weathers braving extremes of plus to minus forty degrees celcius says there are there are certain difficulties there's not enough time for everything i'm almost alone in my sister works with my mother my mother is seventy five she's very old and i miss mountains when i'm in town i spend a lot of time here. so on most of us it simply carrying out the work that his father did and his father before him nothing has changed over many many centuries and that's half the problem it's hard work and many people don't want to come into the industry now and it's really fit there could die out altogether. and

it's difficult to manage everything alone i used to have people who helped me but they were no good they didn't take care of the sheep with all their heart they hurt the cattle dogs. with more people leaving than coming to the countryside the regions government is having to act making the life of a herd and more attractive they're promising largest subsidies for produce and livestock and organizing cooperatives for the sale of day products to ensure the herd it gets a higher fairer price i asked sympathizes with those youngsters leaving for an easier more profitable life there in their publics capital because ill but he no longer wishes to join them he enjoys his pastoral way of life they're looking for a helper who shares his enthusiasm with more time on his hands he says matter of fact he can start to look for you wife.