ukraine scraps preparations for a trade agreement with the e.u. after its parliament rejected a bill which is one of europe's main conditions for the deal. braiding afghan homes on immunity from local laws the controversial demands for u.s. soldiers to remain in afghanistan or wrangled over a key gathering of tribal elders. and the plans to launch its own drone program triggered a major concerns with activists warning there be no guarantee they'll be used for peaceful purposes our top stories this hour. from our studio center in moscow this is r.t. with you twenty four hours a day ukraine has decided to hold preparations for

a trade agreement with the it comes after the country's parliament rejected a bill which would have a child former prime minister yulia timoshenko to receive medical treatment abroad all tease and has more on the tricky relations between and brussels. it is a sharp turn around for ukraine's aspirations to sign the e.u.'s association deal next week in vilnius now the ukrainian government says that it has suspended all preparations for signing this document during the eastern partnership summit mostly as the statement from the government. to nullify any potential economic threats to ukrainian economy if this association deal is to be signed basically this means that ukrainian government believes that the cranial economy is simply not ready for signing this association deal the first vice prime minister of the government due to boycott the former energy minister specified that the government is looking to create a three way commission consisting of ukraine russia and the european union to understand

the mechanism of how the ukrainian called economy should work should it eventually sign the association deal but regardless of whether the e.u. association deal would be signed a future this does not affect in any way the gas deals the current gas deals that ukraine has with several international oil and gas companies but at the same time the government has been so keen on pushing this deal on pushing this extraction of shale gas that it completely neglected the warring calls and concerns coming from the countries of colleges have been warning that fracking is a very dangerous process that involves chemicals explosion at the depth of one kilometer and that could seriously poison ground waters and lead to poisoning of general water which the population uses and but in any case experts say that even if you grain starts extracting shale gas from wood soil this will not happen at least until the twenty year twenty. well let's take

a closer look at fracking the method involves breaking up rock at least one kilometer below ground and opponents say there could be grave environmental consequences warning the use of explosives and chemicals contaminates water supplies and pollutes both the ground and the air but advocates of the technique say it will help to solve the energy crisis and create more jobs he you members are deeply divided on the issue while energy giants are pushing for widespread exploration lottie's party boy has been following the resistance of europeans to fracking in their countries. a number of european countries have had large scale anti fracking protests take place recently as sort of the prospect of more drilling has been rolled out across europe but one of the largest anti fracking stories to take place over recent months happened in a mania where locals actually formed a human chain around an area where u.s. oil giant chevron was given the green light by the remaining in government to begin

exploratory drilling now i travelled there to cover the story and i spoke to a lot of the locals there and they are all most of them farmers they live off the fat of the land and for them they were genuinely frightened by the prospect of their groundwater being contaminated their food not being safe to eat they were talking to me about having to safeguard the health for their children as they see it as governments siding with large corporations and not protecting the interests of their citizens who are talking about genuine risks that they see from this technology fracking has been associated with air pollution water contamination water depletion earthquakes and of course climate change the oil and gas companies have spent billions of dollars really selling a story about how fracking is safe and the reality is quite different i

think that's something that anti fracking campaign is an protesters in the u.s. and in europe on no doubt reassured by is that large scale protests and citizens opposition to this technology really does work for example france has just up held a ban against fracking because of the environmental risks involved. fracking is a controversial topic in the u.k. as well where campaigners a setting up protest camps to force their government to ban it well is to talk more on this too and he he but he's a member of the green party in wales and an anti fracking campaigner it well it seems that the u.k. government is determined to go ahead and boost fracking so do you really think you will be actually able to turn the tide here. or remain very optimistic that we will get moments that if you part of the country directly for us and it's mostly with testing applications but if you were very very big to end up local opposition soon

gets all the noise of the local opposition groups and they are part of a nationwide network and you're winning the argument everywhere we go what are what are the basics of your argument struck you get on with this very quickly what are the basics of your argument. we all humans work on different levels i mean the local skylab is the direct threat to its of water supplies and the health risks in the trafficking because genes in the water supply issues. wider levels as a whole issue of the direction of energy policy meaning that our human confines of these world and the global level of course is the implications for global warming and your research coming out the u.k. now suggests that we need to leave two thirds of known fossil fuels in the ground if we're going to stand any chance of avoiding catastrophic climate joins and therefore you know going down the road of exploring for extreme force of fossil fuels is the very last thing we need to do not only augment talking always fossil

fuels of course fracking will definitely mean the closure of any coal plants existing in the u.k. that shortie got to be a better option. always i mean some people are trying to point to as a. status or lesser of two evils but i mean at the end of the day that argument only holds any sway at all if we if we see gas replacing coal when there's no evidence of that happening or his state coal production from the mines is still just as high all that's happening is this huge new around the world too. i think there's any real credibility in the argument until i know what is happening is you know this gas will be used over and above the coal they're not going to ignore economic deposits of coal. in the long term so in the long term this is only going to supplement the use of fossil fuels and therefore it's got to be stopped short of a couple of major economic problems facing people in the u.k. the moment is high energy bills and they seem to be going higher at the moment and of course employment david cameron is saying that fracking will in fact create more

jobs and lower energy bills. well this is the spin to try to put on earlier home literally having solar panels put on my roof some more and if we had one everybody went down that route i mean that's the white energy security model was going to go down thirty eight percent overnight when i get those panels installed to more if everybody went down that road but you do likewise and you know we're not relying on any imports you know we don't even if we did go down the route of exploring fossil fuels what we're going to do when they want out there they are. fixed resources they are going to run out we still faced with the imperative to get to grips with renewables sooner or later and the argument has got to be sooner rather than later and all that's happening through going down the extreme fossil fuel is putting off the imperative even longer other countries of the have taken the initiative already denmark is going to be completely by storm when you were energy's in less than thirty years. the political will and political decision to invest in that

technology now that the technology is there we just need to make those political decisions government is this is backed we've we've linked to to the industry it just fed in each other's nest at the moment and the thanks for joining us live there from the u.k. and heber green party member nanti fracking campaigner thanks a lot for your thoughts. u.s. troops may remain immune to afghan laws and still be carrying out military operations after they're called. mission ends in twenty fourteen that's what a draft security deal suggests the afghan president said he wanted to be signed after the elections despite admitting there is little trust between him and washington the loya jirgah council of elders has started debating the draft and according to the agreement up to sixteen thousand u.s. soldiers will stay for ten more years and possibly beyond will be playing a support role for afghan forces while still being able to carry out military operations against al qaeda and its affiliates it also includes. the exceptional

circumstances now that's an issue that has been extremely difficult for afghans and here's another stumbling block the deal gives american forces immunity to afghan law placing them soley under u.s. military jurisdiction sultanzoy he's a candidate in the upcoming afghan presidential election he says the government is not considering the will of the people i think the afghan president is trying to use this as a personal game the people of afghanistan. and all others who are involved in this country we're tired of or we're tired of bickering and we're also tired of. being playing politics with the lives of people of afghanistan on one hand the president wants to portray himself as a patriot on the other hand he's not able to even take care of corruption a rule of bringing rule of law and good governance that's what the people are suffering from he's trying to distract the people of afghanistan from what he

hasn't been able to do for this country. coming up the first steps to freedom some of the bailed greenpeace activists are reunited with their loved ones while the destiny for the rest of the arctic thirty gang still hangs in the balance a special report on the oil platform stormin cases just ahead. e.u. states are on their way to launching their own drone program that's after leading members of the bloc signed an agreement to invest in new unmanned aircraft technology plans or activists who say it's difficult to determine whether the drones would be used only for peaceful purposes. or has this report. well that group has been dubbed drone club and their intention is to develop a new generation of unmanned aircraft over the next ten years now the reason that they're doing it this is that they believe they're being left behind when it comes to drone technology by countries like the united states and israel currently both

britain and france do operate drones they use the american built report drone interestingly enough though germany has said that they are opposed to the use of any kind of weaponized drones and the european defense agency has being quick to point out the known weaponized uses for drone technology however the use of drones particularly by the united states in countries like pakistan and yemen and the widespread civilian casualties that are being caused well that's left drone technology as a very emotive issue and here in germany the war activists on topic about the decision to develop them here are very very concerned i think that the very nice phrasing that they've tried to say that says for to control human trafficking over that mediterranean airspace and so forth for surveillance purposes i don't see them necessarily helping migrants coming from africa from lampedusa didn't help just to

save any of those people so there is no control about these things they can say is being used for humanitarian purposes but actually they could be used for lethal purposes well this comes after a recent u.n. report that was somewhat damning of drone technology in fact referred to them as being a danger to global security and that by using these type of weapons that encouraged more nations to try and acquire them i spoke to an activist from the german drone campaign who's just attended the drone summit conference in washington back explained to me what's fueling the fears of drone campaign. german drone campaign is against the use of drones for war surveillance and oppression defining what that is needs to be addressed by the international community certainly very many surveillance drones can be weaponized and. using them lethally is integrated very closely with the surveillance capabilities we fear that it will be

used to prevent peaceful demonstrations even in europe and certainly in border control it could be very lethal it's on the borderline of the war situation and if they are ever armed. a mass exodus is bringing christianity in the middle east to the verge of extinction he continued bloodshed in countries like syria and iraq is causing christians to flee their homes or face sectarian violence the details on this story coming up in just a few minutes. as the media leave us so we leave the people. of the scene motions to the. other party

there's a good. shoes that no one is there with the guests that you deserve answers from. politic. dramas the true north. story others you know. old pictures posts. from around the globe in the book.

christians in the middle east facing increasing sectarian violence with the civil war in syria and instability in egypt and iraq forcing them to flee their homes u.k.'s minister for faith has called on western governments this week to protect christianity from becoming extinct in the countries where a mass exodus is taking place reports for many christians in the middle east the arab spring has been wintry at best the international society for human life says that one out of the every five acts of religious discrimination in the world today are perpetrated and carried out against christians nowhere is this more acutely felt than in the middle east and north africa if you look at syria for example we tend to say of the total population is christian a third of them have already fled from the civil war that started two years ago and that number continues to grow after the murder of father best in years nasa last year in two thousand and twelve the threats and the persecution of christians escalated so much so that many today say the night me facing the questions of syria

is the same night me that the questions of iraq have been living under since the invasion in two thousand and three the way oh i believe it is all systematic and planned foreseen christians to leave in iraq for instance less than two hundred thousand christians remain we do have concerns we do hope we can stick to our land syria which is the cradle of christianity we also hope that the pope and heads of christian denominations shall call for denouncing violence and adopting dialogue in all different this year the christian town of mahmoudiya outside of damascus was attacked by rebels tens of soldiers were killed and many residents fled it's still not clear how many of them have not returned to the village and where in. so yeah they have been displaced earlier i visited the town of homes where syrian soldiers took me to the frontline and showed me the

damage the rebels had carried out against a local church one hundred this is the church unfortunately it was not like that before look at this destruction in mass and from here the explosions were coming down on people praying and of course people started crying out for help from us because the priest was raised here and they were captured here in the church elsewhere in egypt to the muslim brotherhood supporters have blamed christians for the armies of president mohamed morsy more than eight hundred christian sites were attacked and some thirty two churches razed to the ground while in iraq after the american invasion back in two thousand and three half of the iraqi christian population lived for middle eastern countries and americans think tank the pew forum says that christians face harassment and oppression in one hundred and fifty nine countries this is maybe three quarters of the countries on the face of the

policy on television. just remind you we have plenty of stories for you on our website including the story sort of a brand new on and off the coast of japan and on the sea volcanic eruption that's created. ash and smoke billowing into the air a bird's eye view video is just a click away on r.t. dot com. one of the world's leading oil producers is on the far end it's not drilling activities that sparked public outrage this time head to our web site and find out what the british oil giant will have to pay for dressing and pulling those posting critical messages on the company's facebook page. several greenpeace activists have just been granted bail by courts in some petersburg bringing the total number to twenty six eleven have already walked free trial for hooliganism and the others will too once their money is posted let's get more now from who is in. lucio there where this hearings have been taking place

bring us up to date what you know so far. sure there will the saga over the greenpeace activists detained for their protest against arctic oil drilling does continue new developments thursday as russia's president vladimir putin weighed in again on the rating his position now he actually praised the. goals which he called noble but he condemned the environmental group for its tactics let's take a listen to what the russian president had to say. on the. when the platform was being stormed it created an emergency situation this could have led to one mistake by operators that. they should not have been distracted from what. can be accomplished by any means but at the same time the state should be leading.

well the russian president in there the u.n. secretary general meanwhile ban ki-moon also spoke out on thursday he urged russia for more leniency towards the activist saying that environmentalists also had a key role to play in society now all of this comes as the courts here in st petersburg continue to grant bail to activist as you had mentioned six more received a bail were released on bail on thursday just to bring our viewers up to date thirty of course had been arrested back in september when the greenpeace activists stormed. the arctic russian security forces later stormed their ship the arctic sunrise arresting all thirty of those continue to be released as you had mentioned the toll now on bail at twenty six people and. the courts here in st petersburg will continue to hear the bail hearing so the story does still continue there thanks very much indeed.

in the u.k. new figures have revealed the country's total personal debt has reached an all time high the rising cost of energy and other household bills are pushing people over the edge with many even facing the risk of losing their homes or is laura smith investigates. heroine london's main shopping dried christmas has already begun with all the exhausting spending that entails but millions of households across britain will be entering the festive season already saddled with unmanageable debts a new report says personal debt has hit one point four trillion pounds as the rising costs of living forces people to borrow to make ends meet debts they ultimately wouldn't be able to repay that one point four trillion is an average of fifty four thousand pounds per household that's almost double what it was ten years ago and almost as much as the country's entire economic output that figure includes

mortgages secured debts but the report warns that owns secured debt has also tripled in the last twenty years britain's fifty five point six billion pounds on their credit cards alone treble what it was fifteen years ago all that says the report has a how ruing effect on people and their relationships. change that chart he sees about half a million people a year in that room so relationships can really kind of pressure pressure on their family life and on the stigma associated with that just makes it really hard for people to deal with their problems and they're about to feel the pinch even more despite historically low interest rates britons have failed to pay off as much debt as their american counterparts and when interest rates rises the bank of england has promised they will as unemployment fulls mortgage payments will go up to

potentially putting thousands of families out onto the street. for summer amused from across the globe and i've been to find a driver has their car into a crowd of protesters and carro. several women injured protests have been sparked by. a woman who was shot the night before through clashes between supporters of ousted president mohamed morsi and these clashes followed a suicide bombing on the sinai peninsula that killed eleven. also. hundreds of protesters literally threw smoke bombs at police who responded with tear gas and brute force broke out in the square in central rome where people had gathered to protest against a high speed rail that was front of the project argue it's a waste of money and would hurt the environment really was timed to coincide with the meeting between italian prime minister and french president in rome to discuss

the plans. this is specter the merican drone strike in northwest pakistan has killed six people police say they are manned aircraft fired at least three rockets at an islamic seminary killing teachers and students two afghan militants were reportedly also among the dead in a separate incident two policemen in a civilian have been killed by an explosion in the south west of the country after a bomb rigged to a bicycle went off in a group of people it's not yet clear who was behind the attack. so that brings up today for the moment more news from just over half an hour from now in the meantime the skyrocketing success of bitcoin is explained by an insider . oh god is. weapons out there. extremists.

thinks. lexis israel. if you're thinking about an alcoholic drink associated with russia it's probably not going to be one that springs into your head but they've been making it here on the black sea coast for more than two thousand kids and there's an industry which really can compete with the best the rest of the world has to offer i've come to meet some of the people growing the grapes and to see if i can find out the secret to the perfect. person i.

was. hello and welcome to worlds apart it's been picturing it is both the world's based save guard against corrupt bankers and potentially the biggest ponzi scheme in the history of humanity why is bitcoin soil stream both in the fluctuations of its value and in their opinions a draw as well to discuss that i'm now i'm joined by patrick marr of general counsel of the bitcoin fallen mr mark i really appreciate your time here thanks for having me now we're recording this program just days after the landmark hearing and

they sat out on the future of digital currencies and one outcome of that hearing was that the value of beat gore and soared past nine hundred dollars and then drop just as sharply do you see that as a positive development that market's reaction well i think it's a positive indicator of sentiment in the coin community. i don't know that i would consider it positive the there are the wild fluctuations in price but you know that this volatility of bitcoin is what makes some people extremely excited about this new digital currency and other people extremely wary of bitcoin and i think that it is also something that droll speculators in and may keep some of the mainstream consumers at bay have you thought of any sort of trash hold value beyond which the steep increases will start impeding the growth of the market for for for the actual

consumers rather than speculators sure well i don't think it has to be either or there are speculators and mass consumer adoption of the u.s. dollar both play a role speculators help with prices. and of course consumers use it for as a currency so i think that's likely to be the trend with big point as well the difference is that the it's supply and demand right now and the demand is far outstripping supply and that drives the price up in these parabolic curves but eventually will will settle in valuation that is fair or for mass consumer adoption and we're not get to that absolutely but i'm sure you heard the bitcoins kept ticks comparing this new currency a to a ponzi scheme or warning of a possible bubble. you know that you know like in the case of housing bubble or high tech bubble the problem was not in the at.