is why you should care. the spanish capital shaken by violence riot police clashed with demonstrators calling for an end to a draft bill that would see. an authorized. mass demonstrations taking place in kiev this time with tens of thousands of pro-government protesters voicing their support for the president while more high profile foreign politicians sweep into ukraine. shaking off international lenders to become the first country to break free from a bailout program the government warns of severe challenges ahead. state of the nation address saying russia will stand firm in order to protect its

values but it's not. on anybody's. top stories of today and all of the week thanks for joining us for the weekly on our international. news team welcome to the spanish capital madrid has become the scene of bloody violence as police brutally clashed with protesters just outside the parliament. i restart twenty three people have been injured all three thousand strong rally was hijacked by a mob of the thai police vehicles protesters set cars alight and hold bottles several arrests were made crowds in socal the congress building furious over

a draft law that would see demonstrators slapped with fifty fines activist doris but i got the protesters i'm not afraid of the government and they will continue to make their voices. she said we need this is only the beginning and most of those we need a lot of and which to stop this terrorist nation he wouldn't want this year to end without at least starting to demonstrate against his strong will see and yes this is only the beginning because it will take some months for the launch to be considered and adopted yes it could have easily achieved what we want to meet that it's not the last time we need more people as this protest was mostly spontaneous if you want to make our voices heard now we wanted to say look if you always wanted imus movietone be able to shut us out and we are going to be very happy that members up on that for you meanwhile some spaniards have decided to literally live in caves stuck between a rock and a hard place the cave dwellers are being forced to leave their subterranean homes here on r.t. international we report from the city of broad nada citizens are defending their

right to stay put. now mass rallies have been gathering steam in kiev this week opposition and pro-government activists showing up in their thousands standing just meters away from each other we're giving you live pictures right here on the program it's ultimately the main square in the ukrainian capital where protesters have been camped out for weeks now outside kiev continues to attract foreign politicians u.s. senator john mccain being the latest to a right. to make sure that every effort is made to make sure that ukraine is aligned with europe and he's there along with another u.s. lawmaker to meet with ukraine's opposition as well as government officials and then all planning to tour the opposition protest camps meanwhile ukraine's president has suspended the deputy security and defense secretary as well as kiev city chief being investigated for allegedly ordering the use of force against demonstrators

two weeks ago parties pull scott is in kiev and he's met with some of the protesters directly in independence square. conditions a tough temperatures alone but protesters remain determined. we are here to fight for our freedom it is our right because ukraine must be in europe we will stay here until victory. at the end of the day the majority of people who are here are protesting against this government the government made of the band. for more than three weeks demonstrators have come down from independence square initially unhappy at the government postponing plans to forge closer ties with europe but their focus has since widened now a change in government is the goal as expressed in this tweet from one opposition leader vitaly klitschko who says the main issue is the resignation of president yanna coaches putrid administration. here's how pursed followed police attempts to

remove protesters blockades and choose day night despite apparent orders not to use force some scuffles broke out america's top diplomat john kerry said washington was disgusted by the events while assistant secretary of state victoria nuland took to independence square to hand out food and warm drinks to both police and protesters sanctions were even threatened all policy options including sanctions are on the table in our view but obviously that still is being. e.u. foreign policy chief catherine ashton was also in town holding talks with both sides leading some to question why there's such a high profile presence of officials from washington and brussels review paean union should should back off you should recognize that the democratically elected government of the ukraine which has. made a decision in should respect that decision but often the e.u.

doesn't respect the decisions of democratic nation states we say that when they've been asked to vote again other nations in various referenda the same is being happy is happening in the ukraine in an effort to break the deadlock president on a coach who face to face with leaders concessions were made to including an amnesty for all prisoners arrested but using the demonstrations he also promised there's no alternative to close the e.u. integration saying he could be ready to sign the association agreement by march that's if they can agree on more favorable terms for ukraine's already weak economy well tensions have been heightened over the last twenty four hours or so following the arrival of thousands of throat government supporters who were staging their own rally just yards away from independence square but sides remain resolute but only one making conciliatory noises signaling that those political standoff is far from over r.t. kiev ukraine. let's take

a closer look at how the events unfolded in kiev over three weeks ago a government decision not to sign an association agreement with the e.u. sparked public outrage protesters flooded central kiev paralyzing the city attempts to disperse the crowds turned violent right on the night of november thirtieth the next day opposition protesters stormed the presidential headquarters driving a bulldozer right into a police caught on now the pro e.u. protests then turned anti government but the opposition failed to push through a no confidence vote against the cabinet now foreign diplomats. descend on kiev to lend their support to the crowds meeting with the opposition even offering little snacks to keep them alive and well but the government is still seeing plenty of backing as well as with mass rallies taking place in its favor tens of thousands of people have turned up to show their support for president victorian activists arrived from all across ukraine to rally for stability and show trust in the

country's government while the european parliament has called for a snap election in ukraine as a way to try and appease the opposition protests rayna rubbed the editor in chief of the younger newspaper says the e.u. is simply fuelling the divide even for. only a tactic to further increase the tensions and because. the e.u. and behind it need to have. the blood and they want the whole thing i think they want to crane back in the western food as it was after the orange revolution with european government agreed to any snap election did we have snap elections. in you know hundreds of thousands of people who went on the streets demonstrating against. the taxpayers' money being squandered on banks there's no we don't

have the these demonstrations down in our media and. club. and russia's foreign minister has criticised the e.u. for putting pressure on kiev saying it has nothing to do with the interests of the ukrainian people it had online to r.t. dot com for more on that story. joining us here r.t. international russia's president vladimir putin gave his annual state of the nation address this week he touched upon topics from the economy to international politics he's a champion of russia's traditional values and stressed the country is capable of defending itself. going off was inside the kremlin. it's traditionally become the place to be to find out the president's vision of the present and his plans for the

future every year russia stop politicians businessmen economists and elites gather at the kremlin to listen to his annual address first head of just returned from there as well and here are some of the key points why the world had to make russia isn't looking a dummy needing the rules but that doesn't mean it has to stop protecting its sovereignty and traditional values through it like a state on the we know that there are even more people around the globe who support our position in terms of ensuring traditional values these are the values of traditional family and the value of human life including religious life that is not only material life but also spiritual of course this is a conservative position but the point of conservatism is not that it hinders the movement forward and upward but that it precludes the movement backwards downwards back towards chaos and a barbaric state. was another point in the president's speech or specifically recent breakthroughs in syrian chemical weapons. program and these are examples

that diplomacy still works by the time when russia. suggested. the process of chemical desirable in stars and syria. very few countries in the world were keen to support the so-called obama option which would have been yet in. as a country so i think this is a very important lesson. of crisis of this type should this old u.s. plans to build an anti missile defense system in europe one of the biggest sticking points in moscow's relationship with washington was of course also talked about the president's message was simple without a threat from iran just building it. does say the shield is a threat to its national security and putin says powering up russia's military is one of the ways to protect against it. you know when you're looking at what you do

if you're in a city that was more space that it's a no country should harbor illusions of achieving military dominance over russia we will never let it happen russia is ready to meet those challenges both political and technological that we've got all the potential needed our military doctrine as well as our military equipment allow us without a doubt to ensure russia's security point before going to the current situation in cream which you said moscow respects the desire of those partners who want to be cool to be used as long as decisions aren't made by heads you know beast and. small fourteen moscow. island the past an important milestone on its road to financial recovery this weekend became the first state to break free from the eurozone bailout program the government says the country's economy is improving and can now go on by itself and as artists are still reports there's still a long way to a full recovery. two thousand and ten arlie received an eighty five billion euro

bailout package for the tips of national creditors out for a company. that massive a balance sheet problems three years on our live is set to become the first bailout country in the euro zone to exit the program by receiving the a law loan installment now three years ago the government took the decision to stand behind its banks a decision that still remains controversial among many in this country nevertheless it's been the three years of sacrifices that people here tell me the government has had to impose separately more than two hundred fifty a stay already mesures cuts deep cuts in spending on the public sector we've seen a rise in unemployment to be seen higher taxes and wages now the government right now is trying to call this a victory by saying that they've regained economic sovereignty and also trying to dispel any warnings that the country may need a second bailout moving forward however despite the confidence. officials have been trying to put forward those irishman that i've been speaking to tell me that on the

ground there really isn't much pause for celebration part of it has come through the worst of the crisis but we shouldn't underestimate the size of the crisis because of. the banking sector which in turn resulted from. the banking system. citizens and taxpayers have to pick up. the banking system there may be some in europe may be tempted to look at our lives and see it as the poster boy for thirty . years something that you'd be hard pressed to find someone here who would rather we be accepting of that especially since they're well aware of just how fragile our lives economy is moving forward reporting from dublin. are still to come of the program here on our international. border one hundred twenty code if civilians are reportedly taken hostage by islamist rebels. but the ethnic minority called it once again in the crossfire.

so you don't know if you're confident that the irish people won't be asked again to stab in. the back why be why the private banks like the end of any costs and start after hopkins whether to be funny now economically again what always happens is the . central bankers and politicians they say this will never ever happen again and it keeps on company but we have to ensure is that if this does company can it doesn't such a classic police make an awful cost for tots. right to see. her street. and i think you're.

on a reporter's twitter. instagram. we're highlighting the headlines of today and all of the week here on c international australia's high court has overturned the country's first bill allowing same sex couples to marry less than a week after it came into force on another blow to gay rights india upheld a law criminalizing homosexuality has gone h.-a can now reporting on the growing number of countries rejecting gay marriage. most western countries already recognize in some form the right of gay couples to get married in

adult children but in other parts of the world there is the opposite train in less than a week. we've been married and we've been on there it's really just days after the nation's capital allowed same sex couples to get married the high court there struck down that decision saying regional forum said no right to decide the matter to live in a relationship of loves and trusts to do any seven australian couple things saw their marriage annulled. australia's high court ruled that gay marriage was even legal because the marriage act only recognizes marriage between a man and a woman and only the parliament can change the legislation the most recent attempt to change the law in the australian parliament failed last year polls in the country show support for gay marriage stands at fifty three percent. and offered it absolutely at my saying that in our history britain jumping through hoops to try to make sure that every tree on the planet has its natural environment

from far east that we would be challenging the definition of marriage which creates exactly that environment for a child requiring that it's between a man or woman you need the supreme court is just me against sex illegal again since the nineteenth century india has had a ten year sentence on the statute books for cornel in the course against the order of nature four years ago a lower court found it unconstitutional the supreme court just brought the law back into force by making a similar argument don't feel silly and judges only the nation parliament has the right to change it but with the overwhelming majority of indians against same sex marriage and with a conservative nationalist group leading in the upcoming elections in legislative change in the next two years is highly unlikely you have about it would the. all the communities of this country. and each of the means.

something similar this december. voted in a referendum to outlaw same sex marriage. the most powerful the population. changes in the constitution in the tug of war between those who are and those who are not allowed to say i do the conservative view on marriage seems at least at the moment to be prevailing in many parts of the world. and our team has lined up all the stories we're covering a few on our website including this right here a miracle for streaming conditions for others a severe winter storm is forcing government offices in some parts of the middle east to close. people are left to enjoy the scenery you can log on to watch dot com to watch that video right there. plus as must surveillance causes even more controversy across the globe going head to our web site to find out what an english artist has invented passed down the street detected.

for now on the program a style of life is under threat in an ancient settlement in spain where authorities have renewed attempts to a victim dozens of cave dwelling families from their homes throughout the week dozens of activists have been protesting the eviction they deem unlawful and unfair . and off was welcomed in one of the rather unconventional. hammering out an existence on the outskirts of granada sprucing up a front yard with some of the best views in town it's an eclectic community that's literally burrowed into a mountain the residents of the hill of san miguel have converted dozens of caves into bona fide homes. we've been living here for to die is not and we need not a look in here it's the kind of place when neighbors helped each other out. it

may not be a life of luxury there's no running water or electricity but for residents like anna that's not a problem when it does that i believe long and lay their eggs we've done nothing but we've got everything here. but those who have made their home here may have their days are numbered although they've lived here for years now the city council has been fighting to get them off the land. these aren't proper houses and it isn't a residential area of the city and that the caves are unsafe for any humans it's not a myth it could be going to collapse at any moment of it it's an argument this resident simply doesn't buy one tony opara has lived on the hill of san miguel for more than eight years he believes the city is over exaggerating the dangers in order to help developers get their hands on the land i am actually one of the first united fans here and that's why because you sort of already. i mean i think of it said with the

arcs to protect the roof. they need to be done even in a venue and he's willing to do everything to keep on living here and have a. big. house where your coming from you given the city council wants to clean up the hill years ago developers announced plans to turn this area into a tourist attraction and we think that's what is really behind their vision. for now only eight caves are facing the risk of a vixen burma is one of the residents who could lose her home she too suspects and i'll tear your motive that would be like giving us a city council wants to shut down the king but they don't want to. that's why we think they really just want to. the land to use it for their own purposes and other concerns cited by the officials is sanitation the caves they say are dirty and the area has been described as a slum that sits above the city we made

a very clean not so they the residents the city council isn't likely to abandon its plans to evict the residents but for the people living in the caves of san miguel giving up is simply not an option reporting or we're not a space for our tea and the captain of our let's get some other global headlines for you in brief with a suspected grenade attack on a bus has left at least four people dead in kenya's capital nairobi more than thirty people reportedly injured it's the latest in a string of assaults that have killed thirteen people since the beginning of the week kenya has experienced an increase in violence over the last several years with much of it blamed on somali and rebel groups. but you. know there are the police right there clashing with several hundred demonstrators in mexico city over a recent increase in the cost of the metro fair prices have skyrocketed in the mix

in the capital by up to sixty seven percent making a ticket for one of the most expensive in the world had the salaries that nobody a campaign called well i'll jump so people taking collective action by leaping over the turnstiles instead of. the protesters are blaming corruption for the high cost of trying. now this week in syria al-qaeda linked rebels reportedly abducted one hundred twenty codes from a village very close to the turkish border but the news was released on friday by the u.k. based observatory for human rights it said that all the captives were taken to an undisclosed location. a kurdish rights activist explains the reasons why kurds are being targeted by these groups of islamist rebels. they could not get civilians all from the village of north or ninety eight two hundred dollars to sixty one northeast of us from the videos of job those venues us holds and it's going to.

also a supporter of secularism in syria or egypt every just sectarian agenda as those of the modern groups or an oppositional down position or those of kerry seems dummy's day islamists target kurds is secular tendency which is directed toward establishing a multi-religious a multipass leak there is a ton of mistreatment indeed traditional seating to this and. are still to come here on t.v. it has been years since i joined the e.u. ochs on a boycott now sits down with the country's minister for european affairs to discuss the price it had to pay to be a part of the blog and whether it's been worth that worlds apart is coming your way . just imagine a foreign leaders like alexander lukashenko or vladimir putin just showed up an anti e.u. protest and all garia greece are hungry to urge people to leave the e.u.

and join up with eurasian customs union obviously the mainstream media would be on fire screaming that this is part of an attempt to usurp democracy and steal the country's away some sort of imperialist agenda and you know what they might be right about that but the weird thing is that for some reason the mainstream media isn't talking about foreign politicians speaking to and or possibly agitating protesters in ukraine like speaker of the lithuanian parliament loreto. an e.u. vice president got sick proto c. of h. and former polish pm jaroslav kaczynski he had the european union brassfield is just fine for their politicians to go to foreign countries and fire up protestors to start a pro e.u. revolution but then all their journalist write about is how russia is trying to put pressure on ukraine to to not. e.u. the obvious hypocrisy of this stinks all the way up the boss scale but that's just my opinion.

hello and welcome to worlds apart this year marks fortune years since arlen joined the european union but you don't see much celeb rationing here and that may be due to the fact that few have paid a higher price for this integration than the arash people each one of whom already contributed almost nine thousand tourists in taxes to effectively saved are the euro was that worth it well to discuss that i'm now enjoying by the country's minister for european affairs pascal donahue mr donahue thank you very much for your time i know that when arlen was celebrating the thirty if thirtieth anniversary of joining the euro there was this whole program of exhibitions and conferences to celebrate their kitchen but we don't see. that level of celebration

this time around and i wonder whether it is due to all this territory or perhaps it reflects maybe a broader more skeptical reassessment of joining the e.u. well the main reason for the change in diet mood is the scale of the economic crisis that audience health insurers over the last five years. we have gone through a period in which our economy went to a very sharp decline we saw on employment go up do we had to deal with a very very difficult. crisis within our banking system. and because of all of dos it's understandable that people are not really at the mood to celebrate anything. because of the. the difficulty that many people feel balled up in said we are seeing for the first time now in five years some signs that the scale of difficulty is coming to an end we're seeing our private sector create

jobs for the first time now since two thousand and eight and our economy is now one to thirty year of growth. hope if you were to come back in a few more years time to look at the next face of where we stand you'll see a very big difference from where we are now well i mean did hope to see a big difference couple of years from now but i think some would argue that one of the reasons why people are so skeptical about this whole european integration people in ireland i mean was it because of them having to incur all that private banking doubt upon themselves and. i wonder whether you think that aren't would have been pressured then obligated to be all that banking that if it wasn't a member of the e.u. citizen number of assumptions in your question that i would challenge i think they're wrong the first assumption is that there is a majority of people skeptic skeptical of the number and as a certainly increased from what i'm saying it has increased but that's very

different from saying are inferring that the majority of people are against going to sever edgerton i think you know this is not just isn't growing we were able to as an inference in your introduction as well on your question the. a majority of people are against the level of integration of where we stand in our relationship with europe at the moment. that's not to say that the russian now oh for why people are accepting dot integration is to say that house changed over time we joined the european union as a country whose level of income was below the european average despite everything that's happened we're now at least in line with and ahead of us in some cases in terms of your specific question regarding banking destiny that's a very very controversial question in our politics let alone european politics. but i think there's a number of factors.