ukraine witnesses its largest protests in almost a decade hundreds are injured government buildings were assaulted and both sides accuse each other of provocations also. the founder of the left part of hope but the question is the party will get a voice to those who feel by the current government british leftists return to the grass roots in a challenge to what they call a rotten establishment that has sold out of the country's working class ideals. and first world problem mass addiction to a single drug in yemen is being blamed for a nationwide shortage of drinking water the top stories this.

hour from a studio center in moscow which just turned eight pm this is international ukraine's association agreement with the e.u. may not be completely dead to rule the ukrainian president and the head of the european commission of agreed further discussions needed he have earlier shelved the deal triggering a wave of mass protests which turned into violent writing on sunday when r.t. election he joins me live now in kiev well in the light of the fact that the president said he might now start talking again with the european authorities are the crowd still there any signs of them going home perhaps. yes what we're seeing right now in central kiev may only be a fraction of what happened here yesterday how many people gather was literally several hundred thousand people and some estimates even went as far as saying that there was more than a million people in the streets although that is a bit exaggerated as far as we could see in any case the protesters still here the

protesters barricaded themselves in central park not letting anyone inside saying that this is their protest site and they will stay here for as long as it's needed for the president and the government to step down just to give you an impression of how tense it is here i'll tell you a little episode i witnessed some some time ago in front of one of the barricades a fire truck stopped at one moment and as i later learned that this fire truck was on its way to the central part of the city to take out a domestic place but the protesters thought that they barricade is due to be taken down by this fire truck and literally hundreds of them rushed to the barricade and stood forming a human over a human wall and this is basically how tense it is nobody knows where it's going to go nobody knows whether the police might actually try to disperse the protesters and the situation is still hanging by a thread especially after yesterday's after sunday's events in front of the president's office building when hundreds clashed with the police and police it

dented violence for ukraine with flash bangs tear gas rocks thrown at the police it was all hell breaking loose and this event of yesterday pretty much signified how the protest has changed from being completely about one thing to a completely another thing and being a peaceful protests turned violent protest in my report i'm looking at how the protest has changed and who may actually be standing behind it. last week it was all about the willingness to be in europe this time ukrainians are suggesting their president should burn in hell the language of the protest changed dramatically after last friday's dispersal of a peaceful protest. it's still not completely clear who incited the violent attacks and. city hall and the president's office some accuse ultra right wing supporters others say it was provocative whoever it was the group was prepared and very well organized adding fuel to the debate around who masterminded the clash is the continuous appearance of european politicians at kiev spro tests the vice president

of the european parliament a prominent politician from a nice way to end the leader of the polish opposition all made their mark at the rallies do you know these people on the streets a great asset to the opposition there are huge arguments in the discussions with president gen coverts for now he doesn't want to begin talks the fact that they are essentially on the ground in kiev cheerleading the protestors on calling for a revolution in the country this is a tantamount to the regime change that has been called for in german newspapers earlier today this is a most agreed just violation of the united nations charter and international law violation of sovereignty and the not interference in the domestic affairs of other states and i think russia cannot take the whole world community cannot take this. act lightly. some in ukraine believe that these protests could go well beyond just words and disturbances on the streets the people in the street very often are not

rational because you it's very difficult to control the crowd once you get to one hundred thousand two hundred fifty thousand two hundred thousand it takes all really a mind of its own and becomes text it can become extremely violent protesters have firmly barricaded themselves in central kiev saying they would not leave until both the president and the government step down with that scenario being highly unlikely the fate of the country is once again hanging by a thread. reporting from kiev in ukraine. and we just heard that president putin has issued a statement on the developments there in ukraine saying that kiev was well prepared from the outside these actions particularly time for the future presidential elections and the ukrainian opposition is either not a control of what's happening or is simply a smokescreen for extremism and he says that the actions there is not a revolution but rioting to destabilize the gentleman well to talk more about the

developing situation in ukraine let's talk. legal expert joining us live in london would you agree then with president putin that in fact this is not all about the e.u. issue this is more about these stabilizing the government it's a domestic internal political issue. what it is that is certainly true in that it's quite clear now that what what is being demanded is the overthrow of the government the overthrow of a democratically elected legitimate government and president the president made a decision of the government made a decision about twelve days ago that they were not going to go ahead with the trade agreement with the european union now there are forty entitle to do that if people don't agree don't agree with that decision then the right way to deal with that is to campaign it in in an election which is only about fourteen months away for the government to be changed democratically called into the law and the

constitution and for the new president whoever he is to then go ahead with this with this agreement what is what we're looking at now is on a completely different we're looking at a demand for the president and the prime minister and the government to be removed from power by people in the streets but it looks as if the president himself is being coerced now into perhaps making another decision on this issue he's already said he's going to talk to the head of the european commission do you think actually he is being pushed by the events there in kiev and being forced perhaps to make a u. turn. another one i think i still think that is on likely i would however say that mr hugh nuke of each has not perhaps acted particularly firmly in this matter he went on with this association agreement which is perhaps not in his interests or indeed ukraine's interest right up until almost the last moment he then suddenly reverse himself. creating the situation in the streets that

we have now and in terms of his actual handling of the protests themselves he has shown less than the firmness and clarity that one would look for in a situation such as that but the police have been handling it unlike sort of suit saying that he hasn't handle it firmly but the police have been accused of handling it far too firmly and now they're being pelted with all sorts of objects and and suffering as a result in the fact of having their hands tied because they've been in condemned by the ukrainian government for overreacting on sunday. what that's what that's exactly correct and i should add by the way that idea personally think that they did out overreact there were people camped out in the square about a thousand of them the people were dispersed that's never attractive but nobody a couple of people were injured nobody was killed thirty five people were detained

and quickly released. i don't really see that this is completely out of proportion to what riot police are expected to do now. what then happened is that the prime minister and the president instead of supporting the police the police actually went out and criticized it which of course means that the police themselves are very unsure what to do in this situation because they're afraid that if they do anything they will be criticized by the authorities themselves. there's an argument about whether it might have been better to leave those people in the square alone that the protests were dying down but to actually criticize the police for doing what was essentially their job seems to me a very strange thing to do. what about those reports of polish politicians being present there apparently helping the the opposition what why would poland have an interest for ukraine to move closer towards the e.u.

than obviously towards russia. but when one has here to go back long into history poland has always had an interest in the ukraine. right back in the nine hundred twenty s. and thirty's. the poles were looking to try and extend their influence into the ukraine. partly i have to say in order to weaken russia and there are some politicians in poland who are very much committed to that strategy it's important to say not all people in poland are far from it but some people in poland and actually i personally think that's very unwise because poland doesn't ultimately have the strength to conduct this sort of policy it's complicating its relations with russia it's involving poland in internal ukrainian politics and it's playing a game far beyond. xander thank you very much indeed for joining us live there from

london alexander. thank you well we're just learning at the moment that at a meeting with foreign diplomats the ukrainian prime minister said that the protesters are now preparing to siege the parliament so clearly tensions really ratcheting up there in kiev and the ukrainian prime minister has said despite this despite the actions of the opposition he is now ready for dialogue with the protesters and we're also learning that there has been confirmed that the head of the kiev police force has been fired he's now gone and also the authorities are issuing an order for the police not to use force to peaceful protesters but they want the opponents to be restrained as well so clearly they do want more in order still to be imposed in kiev but want the police to use. more restraint on the way that they're handling peaceful protesters let's take a look now at how the ukrainian unrest has been unfolding now in the past couple of weeks and in the past few hours protests in kiev began on november the twenty first

soon after the government said it was suspending a major trade deal with the european union and run. it's on the capital's independence square last just another week with several thousand demonstrators and police occasionally engaging in scuffles then on friday night however security forces ran out of patience and raided the camp using sheer force to disperse the crowd and authorities were quick to ban any protests in the city center but this is only serve to encourage the activists and the opposition took a day to regroup and left the square only to return in the hundreds of thousands to retake the heart of the capital and call for a revolution now the protestors are controlling the mayor's office they've tried to storm the presidential palace and they're demanding he resigns along with the entire government and now we're learning as i just mentioned a few minutes ago that the protesters are preparing to lay siege to the parliament there in kiev so keeping a close eye of course on the situation there in the ukrainian capital on r.t. dot com there you can find all the news updates is one of the most striking videos

and photos from the protests and the rioting. weary of what they see as the broken promises of britain's ruling factions activists are laying the foundation of a new alternative left unity party its aim is to revive the working class ideals of the labor party which they say now indicates is a big business cilia finds out whether the time is right to change. this area right here in front of the house of parliament the house of commons a scene of numerous protests from those who are against the bedroom. or the very high cost of living that's simply unsustainable for many in this country the two thousand and thirteen to the social attitudes found that about seventy five percent of people here the political system is not working for them so they're just not going to solutions i don't look for another solutions here the sound of the office of the left unity party hoping this party will give

a voice to those who feel resentment by the current government we conservatives and stooges. class war on the poorest people in this country and labor's doing nothing about it britain is different to the rest of europe in most of the european countries have a project to lift people in poverty if that's the best they can do with the economy we can think of a better way but it can't load has been for the sake of the u.k. and the puppets party have done all good right by creating a part of the seriously. we want to do the left to change overnight but it. is not a recent thread of citizens reaching a point where they are looking for the truth of which they feel simply do not exist within the walls of the. reporting from london. the left unity party will be eager to point out that david cameron has gathered some of britain's richest businessmen and industrialists around him for

a trip to china after the break we report on the visits where the prime minister is going into overdrive to secure beijing's favor and. international inspectors say nothing about the terrible labor conditions of migrant workers building stadiums for the twenty twenty two football world cup that after the break. what is the fate of the house of saud its list of complaints against washington is long and getting longer the saudis are furious over western dealings with iran disappointed that obama didn't bomb syria and one of its only real friends in the region is israel given all of this can the house of saud afford what it calls an independent one paul. says the media leave us so we leave the people. of the same bush and secure the. visible. shoes that no one is asking

with the guests that you deserve answers from it's all politics. are. we speak your language. use programs and documentaries in spanish what matters to you. a little tonnage of angola's stories. here. the spanish. visit. the afghan president has accused washington of holding back deliveries of fuel and aid says the u.s. is trying to pressure him into signing a security deal which would allow american troops to stay and afghanistan after

twenty fourteen when all t's got to cohen joins me now live with the details from washington gonna explain to us what this latest is all about. well bill washington is very determined to sign the pact by the end of this year in order for u.s. troops to not to withdraw completely from of ghana's them by the end of two thousand and fourteen the deal that the u.s. is pushing forward would leave fifteen thousand troops behind when the assembly of afghan elders the tribal leaders endorse the security deal with the u.s. most recently president karzai indicated that he was not in a hurry to sign it now he accuses the u.s. of quote applying pressure and creating dependency by cutting our fuel supplies to several army and police units the afghan military now heavily relies on the coalition read the you was for fuel vehicles logistics and other supplies and hamid karzai has hardly been an independent leader after all he also has power to the u.s. and now he faces the challenge of showing his people that he can stand up for them

despite this dependency washington makes it very difficult for him so how can a deal be agreed on can something be reached here. well that's a that's a very difficult question every week or so sometimes more often we hear the president we hear president karzai demand the u.s. stop killing civilians last week he condemned the drone strike that killed the toddler he said american forces are not respecting the life and safety the safety of afghan peoples houses the immunity of u.s. forces from prosecution is the key part of this deal afghans demand justice and what they when when civilians get killed what they get is apologies and sometimes not even that and how it karzai as well as the majority of afghans are saying apologies are not enough going to thank you very much indeed for that got to come live in washington. among

controllable first for one more in yemen is threatening to leave the whole nation short of water and the country's capital is almost chewed it's over drawn already as artie's lucy kerman of reports. it's midday in sun up like clockwork each afternoon these now means fill up with people behind cut oh my god is the essence of nature if we don't sure we're not alone banned in many countries but legal in yemen the leaves contain amount of hot it and almost everyone shoes more than ninety percent of men going to the world health organization at this market countless realities and plenty of customers. so when so this is about five dollars worth of thoughts chewing the substance moving around the national past time somebody will say i'm national a dataset without knowing anything about it but the action comes out of

a whole one that the country as a whole is that is the home for the idea to logically yemen has no shortage of problems but a shortage of water could make some not the first world capital to run dry current is one of the main culprits. yemen is chewing itself to death the country is limited water resources and ninety three percent of the extracted water goes to agriculture and that's mostly to grow pot amid the rugged landscape on the outskirts of the capital got trees as far as the eye can see if they can be harvested all year round and the farmers here say they earn more cash from drugs than food it takes an incredible amount of water to irrigate these got fields the more you pump in the faster these trees grow but even here it's taking its toll of the thirty wells that serve at this village ten have already gone dry and two more are on the verge. in some no the

consequences are already visible those who can afford it by their water from these trucks the rest struggle to get by however they can there are public taps but. the water is often dirty and shortages are common the city's groundwater could be depleted in less than a decade but for the poorest residents it's as good as gone should be talking about soldering out of what in ten years has actually it's run out of water it's a matter of definitions now. and that's not the. country we have the most serious what's the problem in the world. it's a race against time and one that yemen is losing but here the evenings belong to cart men gathered together to talk smoke and chew their chosen a scapes for a country that has precious few of them and for now escaping the water crisis will simply have to wait another day. r t sanaa yemen.

qatar has done nothing about the horrendous conditions migrant workers are forced to toil under the spotlight global outrage a team from the international trade union confederation visited the country which is set to host the twenty twenty two football world cup and described how they were shocked by tales of terror we can now talk to the general secretary sharon borrowed sharon shocked telephone exactly what was seen what the team discovered. well qatar is a modern day slave state workers. are encouraged to go there they're invited in to come and work to help build this incredibly wealthy guitar they arrive to find the contractor torn out elaborately to be paid half of the wages they were promised we make with workers who of course so did all they have been paid for some seven months and when they actually big the workers of the employer for money for themselves or their families back home will take out his wallet and your give them

you know a few dollars this is just unacceptable and of course then at the end of the contract or if they are under abuse or they can't work anymore for this employer did trapped in the country because you need the same person who owns you the employer to actually sign your exit and give back your passport good things are not acceptable right do you think we would be having this discussion if cattle wasn't hosting the world cup in twenty twenty two. look i think we absolutely would be having this discussion and while there is only two places in the gulf states who have this terrible exit these are where you are literally trapped in the country and it doesn't matter whether you're a poor migrant worker who we of course talk to many of all whether you're a professional you know the man who actually was invited in to set up the al-jazeera children's television in his wife his professional partner tracked in

that country as well so it's an insidious part of the can file a system that must be overcome ok this has got to be a comma so how can it be overcome you are talking about your organizations talking about it do you think anything will happen at all less i should say that thief threatened to withdraw the tournament from catherine do you think action will then be taken well i think the choice is in the hands of the qatari authorities favre will report back to the executive in march they've already sensitive blather is said after meeting with our officials that they want to labor rights in qatar they understand this is a risk for the game so let's say the ilo is talking to were to tie the international labor organization that sets the standards but in the end qatar has a choice they can build this incredibly wealthy nation with it and give dignity and rights to workers or they can build it of the back of enslaved workers will appoint

exactly that expect every is exactly that issue how come one of the world's wealthiest countries would resort to this sort of slave labor coated afford to pay people properly and given proper conditions what's happening what's the reason because it absolutely can afford to pay people probably and you've asked the question that everybody us why would they want this international reputation will respond i would point major construction companies other infrastructure and service companies in an environment where the risk is so great. in the foulest system we've already got a commitment from the major recruitment companies that they would kill they would set up being. managed recruitment and employment contracts probably with employers we know that if you put life into rights and freedom of association in place you can have the workers voice that will start the day in terms of the safety record that will guarantee of a nondiscriminatory way these choices are in the hands of the guitarist and we

encourage them to make the right choice sharon borrow general secretary the international trade union confederation live on r.t. thank you very much for joining us a year after meeting the dalai lama it appears that human rights concerns have taken a back seat for david cameron who's working to secure investment from china the british prime minister is on a state visit there with more than one hundred businessmen in tow and they are desperate for beijing's favor david cameron lavish praise on china stressing at every turn that britain was its best friend in europe the pm even promised to personally champion beijing's interest in europe that after china pledged millions to buy a share in the u.k.'s nuclear industry europeans there were more guarded fearing that unrestricted trade would give china too much power european parliament member glyn ford questions david cameron's motives. trying is clearly a very big and important power in the increasingly important if you want any country in the world to see china as an opportunity. because if it cameron is

saying that there should be a e.u. china free trade agreement many of us would agree with that at least in principle but actually less than ten days ago there was an e.u. china summit one this is very firmly ruled out. trade competencies. at the moment lie entirely with the european union the assumption nothing david cameron can do or unless he's actually saying to china that we're certain to leave. now for some more global headlines that this our world update protesters have been involved in violent clashes with police around key government buildings in the thai capital running battles erupted as demonstrators continued to demand the prime minister's resignation. is refusing to step down saying it would be unconstitutional the weekend large protests brought parts of bangkok to a standstill. thousands of opposition activists are marching one juror us to reject the official results of this week's national election they say the vote was rigged

and that their candidate castro is the white filled with she at the procession following coffin of a party supporter who was killed by security forces hours before the demonstrations began. with me in the team in just over half an hour from now in the meantime people of his expert panel on the political perspectives of saudi arabia. ukraine is in a tough spot right now trying to figure out whether to join the e.u. or the arrangements custom union it would be nice if they would you know maybe allow the populace to vote for their future via referendum but sadly it looks like the politicians will be making a historic decision i can see why some people want to look west and some people want to look east but i don't understand why so-called ukrainian nationalists want so desperately to join the e.u. first off any nationalist groups in the e.u. are automatically demonised as right wing extremists and in the politically correct

west patriotism is pretty much a dirty word generally nationalist like their culture and the people who are part of it but if you look at migration trends within the e.u. we see that the slavic part of it is flooding western europe looking for work i have many relatives from the slavic part of the e.u. and almost all of them have to work abroad and might sound nice to be able to work in europe but the reality is that ukrainians will probably be paid even less than bulgarians rumanians to clean toilets in london ukrainian nationalists don't have to like russia or join the customs union or join any bloc of countries but advocating a future for themselves the e.u. seems absolutely backwards at least to me but that's just my opinion.