our top stories today here on ukraine. free trade deal with the e.u. with kiev refusing to meet one of the vital steps demanded by europe integration. economic goals political differences the turkish prime minister is in a rush to discuss business disagreements on syria could dominate. british soldiers say they are prepared to die in a hunger strike to get pension rights. we report on how those extreme measures.

thank you for sharing your friday with us here on our. headlines for this hour. ukraine has suspended work towards a free trade deal with the e.u. the country's parliament voted against a draw that would have led jailed former prime minister yulia timoshenko get medical treatment abroad a europe had demanded her release as a prerequisite for further integration. looks at decision. two months ago it was talented as a done deal on thursday ukraine's government all but completely ruled out an association agreeing with the e.u. would be signed next week instead we're building trade ties with russia and c.i.s. was made the priority at. some stage of ascending to the top than this one is unfavorable. the one hundred eighty degree turnaround comes after months of openly voiced concerns that ukraine's economy would simply collapse if it forms

a free trade zone with the e.u. which in turn promised no compensations on potential losses you think it is a lucky escape really because i think that this deal was bad news for the ukraine it would be like somebody today go back in time to nine hundred twelve and buying a ticket for the titanic it would have been a national suicide for the ukrainian government to sign this just a few days before the move moody's downgraded ukraine's economic index to a breeder fault level that led the government to openly admitting that they already ailing economy was not ready for a leap of faith. we haven't gotten the clear signal from our european neighbors that the losses which we had suffered in the last four months will be compensated by entry new markets and european markets will need to hold the work of a dozen or more enterprises but our country can't afford firing tens of thousands of workers. but the real bone of contention is the fate of jailed former prime minister yulia timoshenko the e.u. has been insisting she must be either set free or at the very least be allowed to

travel to germany for medical treatment or there would be no deal continues failings of the parliament to pass any such laws suggested that letting in a quote which biggest rival out only eighteen months before the country's election was clearly not on the president's wish list finding himself now between a rock and a hard place on sunday and which will watch tens of thousands hit the streets for the anniversary of the two thousand and five orange revolution and just like nine years ago it has every chance to be a very loud protest alexy russia ski r.t. reporting from kiev in ukraine. and the decision to postpone further integration has split the ukrainian parliament have a right here. oh. boy. pretty tough to mistake that the opposition booing the parliament's refusal to allow team a shanker to get medical treatment abroad further statements on postponing the idea of european integration were met with calls for the president in the twenty now around a thousand activists launched

a protest against the decision call calling for a mass rally on sunday and the date coinciding with the beginning of the orange revolution by geo political analyst f william angle he believes the e.u. really has nothing to offer ukraine in the first place. i suspect that the ukrainian. political leadership but as it has a delusional view of what the e.u. would bring for your cranium economy of course a they long to be accepted as a western european nation and so forth since the breakup of the soviet union but right now the e.u. is in a kind of a death spiral the e.u. has little right now to offer a crane and if you create a ukrainian business political. leaders were. looking at the thing more realistically they would concentrate on building stronger bridges to the east because the future of europe western europe not simply ukraine but the

future of western europe in my view lies with eurasia in the sense of russia china . and with the trade pact with europe now on hold kiev has said to restore its close economic ties with the russian commonwealth earlier we discussed the pros and cons with the venture capital host katie pill. according to the energy minister of the ukrainian energy minister he seems to think that it's all about economics and that it makes sense for ukraine to stay away from the e.u. free trade zone at the moment a lot of that's to do the father of we rein in on the economy is now in during the third recessions it's two thousand and eight and they've got a widening deficit to contend with dwindling foreign reserves not perceived. foreigners over so well what about that don't grade because this is. absolutely from the big three s. and p. moody's and fitch or reduce them to near and around the junk status that the likes

of cyprus and greece and that really is a dangerous zone to be sitting on and it gets worse than that because even conversations about nafta gatt which is their symbolic gas company is the equivalent of russia's gas pramod the u.s. is exxon mobil being sold on to a foreign buyers if ukraine doesn't go to the e.u. free trade deal then what are the other options here what they'd have to come back to the drawing table renegotiate russia's union which is where bellary some kazakstan and potentially armenia sit in we've got exports of twenty five percent going to russia at the moment that would have to be fortified as well as that we've also got gas discount going to discuss i thought i heard. we know that ukraine relies upon those if they were to go the european way they would have to forfeit. so we're seeing a bit of a bit of a dodging on both sides absolutely use not happy with clear decision not to allow

you to get medical treatment i mean economically there are huge advantages to going towards the e.u. but they are long term in the short could ukraine default in its ambitions potentially because they would lose an immediate two billion a year. good to have you with us today racism doesn't get you far in politics perhaps except in parts of israel reports on one man who won reelection on promises to build a truly jewish city with as few christmas trees as possible. the hawaiian island. modified food companies look at how the g.m.o. movement is reverberating across the world. but for now on the program russia and turkey will attempt to cement their economic ties later strong differences on middle east politics which could prove the main sticking point the turkish prime minister meets the russian leader today in. syria

expected to be one of the most contentious topics during the talks i spoke about it with. with these kinds of meetings it's often just as much the international context what's not officially on the agenda that matters as the topic that the two sides will formally discuss which is the economy now that does bring us to syria russia and turkey have been at odds over over the civil war the conflict in that country the last time the turkish prime minister was right here in st petersburg very different climate heated disagreements turkey is of course one of the strongest supporters for the syrian rebels in fact of the largest faction of the opposition the syrian national council is headquartered based in turkey there's been some concern about for instance the illegal flow of arms over the border from turkey into syria something that turkey does but still an issue and there have been high level diplomatic spats the worst incident for instance was back in october

twenty twelve when a russian syrian passenger plane was stopped by turkey accusing russia of shipping essentially the mission to the government now back in august when the chemical attack outside of damascus took place turkey had been one of the strongest voices calling for intervention international intervention in syria since then we've seen a little bit of a tempered position basically the two sides now do agree that the geneva two talks as the diplomatic effort the attempt for the diplomatic resolution to syria has been called both sides do agree that this is really what needs to take place now also not officially on the agenda but still an important issue in this time as a force of iran this is one issue that the two countries do really see eye to eye on there is of course that new round of talks currently underway in geneva turkey is not of course taking part in those negotiations but through various officials

they have voiced their support for iran's nuclear program support for that program of course as long as it remains a business relationship between the two. country certainly has not been overshadowed by the disagree even such as syria only germany is a bigger trading partner for turkey than russia certainly the two countries have a longstanding relationship that's not likely to be overshadowed by any means by these political disagreements over syria. now the russian and turkish leaders are likely to discuss iran tomic ambitions while in some petersburg at the same time as nuclear talks between tehran and six world powers and to that day in geneva today that will be in focus for cross talk. about any chances of a true breakthrough being achieved unless the p five plus one in particular the united states and france are willing to stick to understanding that the radio and thought they had reached at least verbal

e on some of these issues i you know i don't think the rain ians are going to feel they're not going to feel comfortable with going ahead with an agreement it's a matter of trust i mean do we have that here and if it's not here yet what does it take to create that level of trust then the rest of it is a lot of details think that if iran doesn't soften its position on those three points the negotiations are not likely to deal. i. cross talks a bit later here on to today for now good soldiers from nepal offered to sacrifice their lives while fighting for the british army and dozens of conflicts over two centuries also showing their residents to die for their own cause as well launching a hunger strike to demand they get the same pension as any of the soldier. smith spoke to protesters who say the u.k. government has simply. how long is it now since you last had

anything to eat starting sixteen days. in freezing temperatures and biting wind. starved himself for more than two weeks right on the prime minister's doorstep we second highest pain per hundred years. our ancestors. my. grandpa's day won many many wars but. then they sent them bad putrid. fish of warriors from nepal because of being recruited into british army regiment spent two hundred years during which time they've fought and died for britain all over the world most recently in iraq and afghanistan but there's never been parity with their british cohorts in pay or conditions despite their sacrifice

it was only in two thousand and nine that has won the right to live in the u.k. and there's still no equality retired to get paid just a third of the pension of u.k. based soldiers something they say is an affront to their dignity our demand is not more. that is only one kind of human being in the world and they must there must be treated equally they must be respected equally if they do not internalize this thing then demands in for a peaceful and prosperous war it is impossible parliament's now announced an inquiry into the situation prompting writes to start eating again but inquiries take time and there's no guarantee that at the end the demands will be met they have high hopes after all it's taken twenty years and a hunger strike to get to this point laura smith r.t. . many more news stories coming your way after the break including

a report on the controversial issue of fracking that's igniting debate not just in europe but all around the world. they all told me my language as well but i will only react to situations i have read the reports. like the pollution and no i will leave them to stay current to comment on your latter part of the month to say exists or k.l. a car is on the docket no god. no more weasel words when you made a direct question simply prepared for a change when you throw a punch be ready for a. printout of speech and let him down the freedom to cost.

dramas the chance to be ignored. stories others refuse to notice. the faces changing the world lights never. so picture of today's leaves. on demand from around the globe. local. t.v. . quarter past the hour here in moscow if you're just joining us welcome to the program today the e.u. is considering much tighter regulation of fracking a controversial new method of drilling for energy companies could be forced to prove they're not damaging the environment let's have a closer look at the practice here and its risks on t.v. because ultimately the method involves breaking up the rock at least one kilometer below the ground and to create fracking fluid water is mixed with chemicals like

your rainy i'm in mercury and then pressured into the ground and during this process toxins are released from the system contaminating nearby groundwater are now up to seventy percent of the poisonous fluid is left in the ground and is not biodegradable and the rest of it evaporates releasing gases all the way up into the atmosphere advocates of the technique say it will help to solve the energy crisis and perhaps even create more jobs. has been following the resistance of europeans to this controversial practice. 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 for 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 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 face 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 launch for peroration xah 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 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

something that anti fracking campaign is an protesters in the us and in europe are no doubt reassured by is that large scale protests and citizens of position to this technology really does work for example france has just up held a ban against fracking because of the environmental risks involved. in reporting that now digital money for real life situation university of nicosia in cyprus now becoming the first institution to accept coins as. payment to study for a master's in science those details on the web site for you this hour. have a look at this giving endangered species a chance a grizzly bear a set of. polar bear cubs thanks to russian scientists and all the girls in the newsroom say. all the details right now dot com.

one of. the. pleasure to have you with us here on our t.v. today i'm sure. twenty minutes past the hour here in the russian capital. in israel as a multi-ethnic community of jews arabs and christians but the mayor is very open about his desire to change that and his openly racist views were no barrier to his reelection.

my goal is to have as few arabs as possible blunt direct. issue with me shop was ninety five percent of the same but only five percent will say to the media i'm sorry i'm the only one who does say i have to stay true to what i believe she has never shied away from controversy the mayor of nazareth elite is known for building neighborhoods for jewish citizens only banning christmas trees from schools and boasting that he stopped the arab population in the city from growing among his friends he comes prime minister benjamin netanyahu and now. other term in office if you notice in the that israel is first a jewish state and then a democracy the same goes for nazareth anyone can live here if they think there will ever be a church or mosque they can keep on dreaming but nazareth elite is in fact and if weakly mixed city one in five of its residents is arab it borders the biblical and

much larger nazareth often called the arab capital of israel out of him shamgar am i up from him as a ref and other villagers come here to get away from their crowded areas and improve their living standards. stay we was born here he's been trying to get an arab school in the city but it's not going to happen on this mayor's watch in this country when they get to the power to think if they go extreme right. if he becomes more racist then he will have more people to vote for him to claim make cheviot finkelstein angry she supports cap so and says their desire to live in a jewish city is what the country's founding fathers in visaged visit masha go wild in the day he is what is keeping me here because i know that if it wasn't for him we would lose our home this is without a doubt a war of existence recent municipal elections or gap so reelected with fifty two

percent of votes his post as promised a jewish city forever gets those election campaign was soaked with racist undertones which many fear are now dangerously close to intrigue israeli political mainstream the most disturbing aspect he takes pride in it in a way a microcosm of israel the city's battle to preserve its jewish identity is infused with history religion and discrimination depending which side you're on policy r.t. nazareth elite northern israel. a life in the capital rigor opens up the r.t. world after now that's where the number killed while the collapse of a super. the roof is on the rise eighteen people now confirmed dead including three rescuers were trying to pull victims from the debris it's thought up to thirty people are still trapped the tragedy happened a peak time as people did their shopping after work on the roof mail for the name because of the weight of soil being used to build a winter garden on top of. a string of attacks across iraq killing forty eight

the deadliest took place in the city north of baghdad where a car bomb ripped through a crowded market killing thirty one iraq is seeing its worst violence in years more than five thousand killed in just the last eight months we've got a timeline marking all the victims who have died since the invasion of two thousand and three at r.t. dot com. japan's fukushima nuclear power plant workers have successfully removed the first nuclear fuel rods from a cooling pool twenty two of the unused assemblies were transferred to a safer place but there are more than one and a half thousand potentially damage assemblies still to deal with at the current operation considered one of the most dangerous ever attempted in nuclear history. and on the other side of the pacific the u.s. government also has a nuclear problem how to store its waste twenty seven billion dollars put to the

side but what was actually spent on breaking this that might try to find the answer . we're all familiar with the ongoing nuclear powder keg of fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant but here in the u.s. there's another nuclear problem that this government just can't solve the storage of nuclear waste is the department of energy is supposed to have a program in place to manage and store radioactive waste which is why the d o e s collected these from nuclear power plant operators to the tune of twenty seven billion dollars over the past few years but in two thousand and ten obama decided to abandon plans to develop the yucca mountain nuclear waste depository in the data leaving us with no long term storage site so what did the twenty seven billion dollars in clean up fund end up being used for that turns out absolutely nothing. now a hole why an island has pasta lol banning companies which produce genetically modified

food from operating on its territory a modified crops would also be restricted to indoor structures and experimenting with new types of plants has been prohibited but it is with a concern it's from the set of a food safety she believes the and mood is beginning to reverberate all around the world. this is actually a movement which is spreading across the country move actually is the second week in hawaii there's the band obviously on the big island but also another piece of legislation that was cool why which severely restricts and makes the chemical companies to regulate and report the chemicals that they're using on the land there are a couple of states in the country that have actually passed labeling laws except they have a clause in them that says other states have to join them before those are actually active so this is a big movement that's happening it not only in the united states but particularly

all across the rest of the world people wanting to have a healthy people source of food. for let's get the latest gizmos and gadgets for you here on our to you the latest from the world of science and technology means one thing technology update coming your way. in my research i randomly came across a sad statistic according to the montpelier a center for the constitution only twenty eight percent of americans have actually read the constitution although the overwhelming majority claimed that they understood some of it and now we see why the constitution especially the bill of rights are getting whittled away the average person doesn't really know what their secret covenant with the government actually says which means the government can get away with reinterpreting the agreement to suit their needs and not yours because no one is the wiser but if you think i'm going to say blue ridge american

how dare you then you are wrong the problem is that any kind of philosophy or ideology or just even asking why seems to be getting out of favor in educational systems all over the western world and beyond i mean shouldn't the average american be taught in school about you know america and like the constitution and capitalism how can the society advocate praise or defend values they don't have any idea about please let's get the stuff back into the educational system but fascist my opinion . hello and welcome to technology updates on today's show we learn about the technology that keeps the moscow michal rolling. new serving

a modern techniques make waves in the oil industry. and we take a peek through the innovation looking glass in this month's focal point. but first today's technology means the robotic help as a no longer exists today science fiction making many will. of life both easy and safe and this is especially true if this next robotic dream team. brains overbroad . the world is a dangerous place so robots are frequently used to scout out areas and perform tasks too hazardous for humans in addition to the classic humanoid design is often sense in nature for inspiration this is resulted in myriad weird and wonderful creations but even if we have to go in harm's way a robots will put us back together again if things go wrong however building a machine capable of such precision in highly demanding environments still requires a human touch. set up in st petersburg twenty three years ago the accounts

employs around a thousand people it's forged a name for itself as a top supplier of high tech inspection and maintenance robots for the nuclear and oil and gas industries the company is ships around twenty thousand pieces of equipment to twenty three countries around the world but the applications of his products on just limited to earth day a concert even manufactured components for space ship docking mechanisms and electro mechanical fuel valves for launch vehicles we caught up with the company's deputy director to find out more. about the company's mission is to ensure complete control over manufacturing processes and high tech product development because we have over three hundred engineers and specialists who from project scope document drafting and process development and implementation of create the technology to make the product which is then manufactured using the equipment located on our site here so there's still a samples tested and delivered to client. one of the secrets behind the company's

cosmic success is it takes months of production facilities which occupy around five thousand square meters and continue to grow many of the economy products play a vital part in the safe operation of energy production facilities so failure is simply not an option so three ensure the quality of his. equipment's remains top notch the company's hundred cakes the best machines from supply is around the world while all these high end machinery may cost a pretty penny the full cycle production means that the company can design and build the products at the. disability is not only the company oldest in the likes of general electric but also resulted in a rather motley crew. since two thousand and five for the new oil and gas and space industries. an assembled an entire family of robots and it continues to grow the first generation includes a pipe inspection robot which uses ultrasounds to check for defects corrosion and irregular.